Silo Projects

• Silo Projects is an initiative of Food Corporation of India (FCI) to strengthen storage and transportation infrastructure for India’s food grain supply chain.
• It ensures efficient and sustainable storage and movement of essential commodities.
• These silo projects are part of FCI’s broader efforts to ensure food security and reduce losses by improving storage and transportation infrastructure.
• The silos are equipped with modern technology, ensuring better preservation of grains, reducing losses and supporting farmers by providing improved procurement facilities.
• It has successfully developed several state-of-the-art silo projects under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
• These silo projects, built on a Design, Build, Finance, Own & Operate (DBFOO) or Design, Build, Finance, Operate & Transfer (DBFOT) basis, have been developed with private investment and are now fully operational.
• These silos will significantly enhance the FCI's ability to ensure food security in several critical ways that include:
  • Enhanced Storage Capacity
  • Better Preservation
  • Reduced Losses
  • Efficient Handling and Bulk Storage
  • Automated Systems
  • Enables better quality control of stored grains.
  • Built with integrated rail and road transportation links,
  • Facilities designed for mechanized bulk loading and unloading
  • Lower Operating Costs
• Key Highlights of the Silo Projects:
  1. Darbhanga Silo Project (Bihar)
  2. Samastipur Silo Project (Bihar)
  3. Sahnewal Silo Project (Punjab)
  4. Baroda Silo Project (Gujarat)
  5. Chheheratta Silo Project (Punjab)
  6. Batala Silo Project (Punjab)

Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC)

• The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) is the leading capacity building platform of the Ministry Of External Affairs that was instituted in 1964.
• It is one of the oldest institutionalized arrangements for international capacity building having trained officials from 160+ countries in both the civilian and in the defence sector.
• Administering body – Development Partnership Administration-II Division, Ministry of External Affairs.
• The salient features of the ITEC are:
• Annual offerings – Nearly 10,000 fully-funded in-person training opportunities through about 400 courses at 100+ institutes in India.
• Recent achievements – Since 2014, offered close to 100,000 world-class capacity building trainings and scholarships.
• Adaptability – Continued operations during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing online healthcare and governance-related trainings to nearly 10,000 professionals.
• Customization – Responds to country-specific requests for training in specific governance areas.
• The ITEC program utilizes various modalities to meet its capacity-building mandate:
  1. In-person (on-campus) courses.
  2. eITEC – Online trainings using digital delivery platforms.
  3. ITEC-Executive – Short-term, policy-focused, in-person trainings for senior government executives.
  4. ITEC-Onsite and ITEC-Expert – Onsite capacity building assignments carried out by Indian experts.

Paryatan Mitra and Paryatan Didi

• Paryatan Mitra and Paryatan Didi aims to elevate the overall experience for tourists in destinations, by having them meet ‘tourist-friendly’ people.
• It is an initiative of Ministry of Tourism that trains and make awareness to all individuals who interact and engage with tourists in a destination.
• Under the scheme, the training emphasised on the training of women and youth to enable them to develop new tourism products & experiences.
• The new experiences include heritage walks, food tours, craft tours, nature treks, homestay experiences and other innovative tourism products based on the potential of the destination.
• Tourism-specific training is being followed by general training in digital literacy and digital tools to ensure that the experiences they create are discoverable and visible to tourists, nationally and globally.
• It being launched as the piolet projects in 6 tourist destinations across India such as:
  • Orchha (Madhya Pradesh)
  • Gandikota (Andhra Pradesh)
  • Bodh Gaya (Bihar)
  • Aizawl (Mizoram)
  • Jodhpur (Rajasthan)
  • Sri Vijaya Puram (Andaman & Nicobar Islands)
• The vision of the scheme is to welcome one and all to experience Incredible India through Incredible Indians.

Rhesus Monkeys or Macaque (Macaca mulatta)

• Rhesus macaques are familiar brown primates with red faces and rears. (Statement 1 is correct)
• They have close-cropped hair on their heads, which accentuates their very expressive faces.
• Rhesus monkeys can thrive in a variety of climates and habitats. (Statement 2 is incorrect)
• They are accorded ‘Least Concern’ status under the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list. (Statement 3 is correct)
• Habitat – Their natural range includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia, and China.
• Rh (from rhesus) factor – The determination of the Rh (from rhesus) factor in human blood involves reaction with the blood of this monkey, and a rhesus was the first monkey to be rocketed into the stratosphere.
• The rhesus monkey and other macaques are classified in the family Cercopithecidae (the Old World monkeys).
• Behaviour – They live in active, noisy troops that can include up to 200 animals.
• Though these monkeys are good climbers and swimmers, troops spend a lot of time on the ground.
• Diet – It includes roots, fruit, seeds, and bark, but also insects and small animals.
• Human animal conflict – Monkey bites are the second most common animal bites in India (after dog bites), and account for as much as a fifth of all bite injuries.
• The Primate Research Centre in Jodhpur in 2015 estimated that India’s cities see about 1,000 monkey bites daily.
• Indian grey langurs (Semnopithecus entellus) – It is also commonly known as Hanuman langur.
• It stretches from the Himalayas in the north to Sri Lanka in the south and from Bangladesh in the east to Pakistan in the west.
• It is usually used to combat rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).
• Langurs and rhesus monkeys are also often characterised as sworn enemies, with the latter believed to be scared of the black-faced, long-tailed primates.
• There is, however, no scientific evidence to back this claim.
• In 2012, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) of the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, imposed a ban on the use of langurs to scare off monkeys.
• Langurs are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
• Threats – Deforestation and urban expansion has greatly damaged monkey habitat.

Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement or "Treaty of the High Seas”

BBNJ was recently signed by the India to protect the marine life of the ocean that are not owned by India.

• Treaty of the High Seas is an agreement was adopted on June 2023 by the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction convened under the auspices of the United Nations.
• It is an agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction.
• The goal of the BBNJ Agreement is to protect marine life in areas of the ocean that are not owned by any one country.
• Beyond National Jurisdiction are areas start 370 kilometres from any country's coastline and cover 2/3rd of the world's oceans.
• The Agreement addresses 4 main issues, which are:
  1. Marine genetic resources, including the fair and equitable sharing of benefits.
  2. Measures such as area-based management tools, including marine protected areas.
  3. Environmental impact assessments.
  4. Capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology.
• The treaty encourages an inclusive approach that combines traditional knowledge and modern science to protect the ocean.
• This agreement also helps meet the goals of Sustainable Development, especially SDG 14, which focuses on protecting life underwater.
• It bans harmful activities, such as destructive fishing practices and pollution, in the high seas.
• The Agreement is open for signature by all States and regional economic integration organizations from 20 September 2023 to 20 September 2025.
• It supports the target of protecting 30 % of the world's land and sea by 2030 that was set by Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022.

The country is home to more than 2,492 marine fish species, including 91 that are found only in Indian waters. About 50 of these species are considered threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

• So far, 91 countries have signed the BBNJ Agreement, showing a growing global agreement on the need to protect marine life in the high seas.
• Countries like Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia and many in the European Union have also joined this cause.
• India – India has recently signed the BBNJ Agreement to protect marine life in the high seas. (Statement 3 is incorrect)
• The biggest threats to marine life in India include overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction and dredging.