Current Affair 1:

Delimitation Commission

 

Firstly, let’s understand what delimitation means. The Election Commission of India describes it as the “act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province (state or Union Territory) having a legislative body.” The process may also entail a change in the number of Lok Sabha seats allotted to different states, as well as in the number of Legislative Assembly seats for each state.

What is mention in Constitution about Delimitation?

Article 82 of Indian Constitution provides for delimitation and it says: Upon the completion of each census, the allocation of seats in the House of the people to the States and the division of each State into territorial constituencies shall be readjusted by such authority and in such manner as Parliament may by law determine.

Delimitation Commission:

As per Article 82, Parliament by law enacted a Delimitation Act after every census. Once the Act comes into force, the Central Government constitutes a Delimitation Commission.

Therefore, Delimitation Commission have been constituted four times since independence:

1. In 1952 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1952
2. In 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1962
3. In 1973 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1972
4. In 2002 under Delimitation Commission Act, 2002

 What is the composition of the Delimitation Commission?

Current Affair 2:

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund

 

Objectives of Scheme

To mobilize a medium - long term debt finances facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through incentives and financial support in order to improve agriculture infrastructure in the country. This financing facility will have numerous objectives for all the stakeholders in the agriculture eco-system.

1. Improved marketing infrastructure to allow farmers to sell directly to a larger base of consumers and will improve the overall income of farmers.
2. With modern packaging and cold storage system access, farmers will be able to further decide when to sell in the market and improve realization.
3. Due to improvements in post-harvest infrastructure, government will further

be able to reduce national food wastage percentage thereby enable agriculture sector to become competitive with current global levels.

1. With a dedicated source of funding, entrepreneurs will push for innovation in agriculture sector by leveraging new age technologies including IoT, AI, etc.
2. It will also connect the players in ecosystem and hence, improve avenues for collaboration between entrepreneurs and farmers.
3. With Credit Guarantee, incentive and interest subvention lending institutions will be able to lend with a lower risk. This scheme will help to enlarge their customer base and diversification of portfolio.
4. Refinance facility will enable larger role for cooperative banks and RRBs.
5. With reduced inefficiencies in post-harvest ecosystem, key benefit for

consumers will be a larger share of produce reaching the market and hence, better quality and prices.

Government Budgetary Support

All loans under this financing facility will have interest subvention of 3% per annum up to a limit of Rs. 2 crores. This subvention will be available for a maximum period of 7 years. In case of loans beyond Rs.2 crore, then interest subvention will be limited up to 2 crores.

 

Current Affair 3:

What is molecular ecology and how does it help in conservation?

 

As urbanisation, deforestation, loss of wildlife, and human-wildlife conflicts continue to spiral up, there is a need to use every available tool available, to help protect what is left of the natural world. Molecular ecology is one such tool for conservation and can help in wildlife disease management and forensics in illegal trade.

What is molecular ecology?

Molecular ecology is a hybrid field that combines molecular biology techniques with ecological data to make sense of natural processes such as the growth or decline of populations, formation of new species, extinctions and invasiveness.

Molecular ecology is used to estimate population genetic diversities to aid wildlife breeding and conservation efforts, define species for conservation policy, track diseases, and combat poaching.

What are genetic data and population genetic diversity?

Genetic data from organisms is collected in the form of ‘molecular markers,’ which are biological molecules that may be used to distinguish between species, populations, or individuals.

By studying and documenting the variations in the genes and molecular markers, one can measure the genetic diversity of a population of animals with the help of statistics.

Why is genetic variation important for wildlife breeding and conservation efforts?

Genetic diversity is the fuel for natural selection. It is a source of inheritable variations in characteristics that can allow populations to survive changing environments. Higher the genetic diversity of a population, higher the chance that some individuals in that population can adapt to new environmental conditions. Thus, the population will not go extinct due to any changes.

Large populations typically have high genetic diversities, whereas small populations have low genetic diversities. If the population size of a species drops sharply due to natural disasters or human negligence and anthropogenic activities, its genetic diversity is reduced, creating a genetic bottleneck. When this happens, not only is the population robbed of its potential to survive, it also becomes vulnerable to inbreeding. Inbreeding occurs in small populations, where genetically related individuals are more likely to mate with each other.

Over time, such populations suffer from ‘inbreeding depression’, a condition where genetic variants with harmful mutations begin to accumulate.

How is molecular ecology useful in detecting and managing diseases in wild animals?

Molecular ecology has now become an important part of wildlife disease management. Rapid detection of even low intensities of viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections is now possible using tests based on PCR (polymerase chain reaction — a technique that ‘amplifies’ or makes more copies of specific DNA regions). Currently, PCR-based diagnostic tests allow for the swift detection of a number of diseases in wildlife such as the Kyasanur forest disease (a tick-borne viral disease in South India), Ebola, Nipah, tuberculosis, rabies, and malaria, all of which are directly responsible for endangering wildlife and spilling over into domestic livestock and human populations.

Current Affair 4:

Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme

 

Introduction of any scheme is very important:

This scheme is designed to address the challenges faced by the micro enterprises and to tap the potential of groups and cooperatives in supporting the upgradation and formalization of these enterprises.

About the scheme:

Ministry of Food Processing Industry (MoFPI) has launched the Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan with the aim to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and promote formalization of the sector.

The scheme to be implemented over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with a total outlay of Rupees 10,000 crore. The expenditure under the scheme would to be shared in 60:40 ratio between Central and State Governments, in 90:10 ratio with North Eastern and Himalayan States, 60:40 ratio with UTs with legislature and 100% by the Center for other UTs.

Objectives

The objectives of scheme are to build capability of microenterprises to enable:

• Increased access to credit by existing micro food processing entrepreneurs, FPOs, Self Help Groups and Co-operatives;
• Integration with organized supply chain by strengthening branding & marketing;
• Support for transition of existing 2,00,000 enterprises into formal framework;
• Increased access to common services like common processing facility, laboratories, storage, packaging, marketing and incubation services;
• Strengthening of institutions, research and training in the food processing sector; and
• Increased access for the enterprises, to professional and technical support.

Coverage

Under the scheme, 2,00,000 micro food processing units will be directly assisted with credit linked subsidy. Adequate supportive common infrastructure and institutional architecture will be supported to accelerate growth of the sector.

The Scheme adopts One District One Product (ODOP) approach to reap the benefit of scale in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services and marketing of products. ODOP for the scheme will provide the framework for value chain development and alignment of support infrastructure.

 

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