Current Affair 1:

Gujarat’s Dhordo village gets UNWTO recognition

 

News:

 

 

Dhordo village in Gujarat has earned recognition from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) for being one of the Best Tourism Villages in 2023. The villages were named during the UNWTO General Assembly, taking place this week in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Dhordo, located in the Great Rann of Kutch, is known for its annual Rann Utsav, which celebrates the region’s rich cultural heritage, traditional arts, music, and crafts.

Launched in 2021, the Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO initiative is part of the UNWTO Tourism for Rural Development Programme. The Programme works to foster development and inclusion in rural areas, combat depopulation, advance innovation and value chain integration through tourism and encourage sustainable practices.

As in previous editions, the villages are evaluated under nine key areas:

1. Cultural and Natural Resources
2. Promotion and Conservation of Cultural Resources
3. Economic Sustainability
4. Social Sustainability
5. Environmental Sustainability
6. Tourism Development and Value Chain Integration
7. Governance and Prioritization of Tourism
8. Infrastructure and Connectivity
9. Health, Safety, and Security

The initiative comprises three pillars:

Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO: Recognizes outstanding rural tourism destinations with accredited cultural and natural assets, a commitment to preserving community-based values, and a clear commitment to innovation and sustainability across economic, social, and environmental dimensions.

Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO Upgrade Programme: Supports villages on their journey to meet recognition criteria, helping in areas identified as gaps during evaluation.

The Best Tourism Villages Network: a space for exchanging experiences and good practices, learning, and opportunities among its members, and it is open to contributions of experts and public and private sector partners engaged in the promotion of tourism as a driver for rural development.

Current Affair 2:

Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS)

 

The Prime Minister inaugurated the first leg of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), India’s first dedicated mass rapid transit system for regional connectivity called as Namo Bharat Train.

Current Affair 3:

PURPLE ECONOMY (CARE ECONOMY)

 

The Purple Economy, also sometimes referred to as the care economy, obtains its name from the color adopted by many feminist movements.

It represents a new vision of economics that recognizes the importance of care work, empowerment and autonomy of women to the functioning of the economies, wellbeing of societies and life sustainability.

Care work consists of two overlapping activities and can be paid or unpaid: 1) direct, personal, and relational care activities, such as feeding a baby or nursing an ill partner; and 2) indirect care activities or domestic work, such as cooking and cleaning.

Current Affair 4:

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana-Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (PMKSY-AIBP)

 

News:

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched during the year 2015-16,

The major objective of PMKSY is to achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water, enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water saving technologies (More crop per drop), enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal waste water for peri-urban agriculture and attract greater private investment in precision irrigation system.

PMKSY has been conceived amalgamating ongoing schemes viz. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) of Department of Land Resources (DoLR) and the On Farm Water Management (OFWM) of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC).

The scheme will be implemented by Ministries of Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Development.

Programme architecture of PMKSY will be to adopt a ‘decentralized State level planning and projectized execution’ structure that will allow States to draw up their own irrigation development plans based on District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and State Irrigation Plan (SIP).

It will be operative as convergence platform for all water sector activities including drinking water & sanitation, MGNREGA, application of science & technology etc. through comprehensive plan. State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) chaired by the Chief Secretary of the State will be vested with the authority to oversee its implementation and sanction projects.

The programme will be supervised and monitored by an Inter-Ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) will be constituted under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister with Union Ministers from concerned Ministries.

A National Executive Committee (NEC) will be constituted under the Chairmanship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog to oversee programme implementation, allocation of resources, inter-ministerial coordination, monitoring & performance assessment, addressing administrative issues etc.

Government of India has approved implementation of PMKSY during 2021-26 with an overall outlay of Rs.93,068.56 crore (central assistance of Rs. 37,454 crore).

Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) component of PMKSY is for creation of irrigation potential through major and medium irrigation projects.

 So far 53 projects have been completed under PMKSY-AIBP and additional irrigation potential of 25.14 lakh hectare has been created. Six projects have been included after AIBP component of PMKSY 2.0 since 2021-22. Jamrani Dam Multipurpose Project is seventh project to be included in the list.

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