Insights Daily Current Events, 17 November 2015

Next generation missile to be test-fired

The Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM), which can intercept incoming targets at a range of 80 km, is all set to be test-fired from a naval warship this month.

LR-SAM, also known as Barak NG (next generation), is being co-developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from India and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) of Israel.
The missile has been successfully test-fired against a flying target in Israel in November 2014.
The project was approved in 2005 with an initial funding of Rs. 2,606 crore and was to be inducted in 2011 but has been delayed due to technical difficulties.

sources: the hindu.

Paper 2 Topic: Indian constitution.

Demystifying the Constitution for students

The ministry of Human Resources Development has decided to observe constitution day in all schools across the country on November 26^th.

The ministry has asked schools to engage in activities related to the Constitution.
Circulars have also been sent by the CBSE and ICSE to schools to read the preamble of the Constitution in the school assembly.
Schools have also been suggested to conduct essay competitions or quizzes around the Constitution.

Why November 26^th?

It was on November 26, 1949, that the Constitution was adopted in the Constituent Assembly following which the Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950.

sources: the hindu.

Paper 1 Topic: urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

AMRUT Action Plans for 81 cities approved with total project outlay of Rs.5,748 cr

Union government has approved Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Action plans for 81 cities in 5 states. The five states are Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Mizoram.

The total project outlay is Rs.5,748 cr. Central assistance will be provided to an extent of Rs.2,440 cr while the rest would be contributed by state governments and urban local bodies.
The fund will be used to enhance basic infrastructure including water supply and sewerage connections.
State Annual Action Plans(SAAP) of each state is formulated by integrating Service Level Improvement Plans(SLIP) of each AMRUT city in respective state.
Half of the urban households in these selected cities do not have water supply and sewerage connections.

AMRUT:

AMRUT is the new avatar of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

AMRUT adopts a project approach to ensure basic infrastructure services relating to water supply, sewerage, storm-water drains, transportation and development of green spaces and parks with special provision for meeting the needs of children.
Under this mission, 10% of the budget allocation will be given to states and union territories as incentive based on the achievement of reforms during the previous year.
AMRUT will be implemented in 500 locations with a population of one lakh and above.
It would cover some cities situated on stems of main rivers, a few state capitals and important cities located in hilly areas, islands and tourist areas.
Under this mission, states get the flexibility of designing schemes based on the needs of identified cities and in their execution and monitoring.
States will only submit state annual action Plans to the centre for broad concurrence based on which funds will be released. But, in a significant departure from JNNURM, the central government will not appraise individual projects.
Central assistance will be to the extent of 50% of project cost for cities and towns with a population of up to 10 lakhs and one-third of the project cost for those with a population of above 10 lakhs.
Under the mission, states will transfer funds to urban local bodies within 7 days of transfer by central government and no diversion of funds to be made failing which penal interest would be charged besides taking other adverse action by the centre.

sources: the hindu, pib.

Paper 3 Topic: Food processing and related industries in India- location and significance.

Mega food park in Telangana

Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal recently laid the foundation stone of the first Mega Food Park in Telangana.

The park is promoted by Smart Agro Food Park Pvt. Ltd. at Village Lakkampally and Chimrajpally in Telangana.
This is the first Mega Food Park in Telangana and will be set up with the project cost of Rs. 108.95 crore in an area of 78 acres.
The Mega Food Park will have strong backward linkage and three Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) will be set up at Medchal, Medak and Nalgonda.
The Park is expected to provide direct and indirect employment to about 6000 people and benefit about 30,000 farmers in its catchment area.
Ministry of Food Processing Industries has sanctioned two more Mega Food Parks to be set up in Khammam & Mahboobnagar districts in the State.

Mega Food Parks Scheme:

The Scheme of Mega Food Park aims at providing a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing wastages, increasing farmers’ income and creating employment opportunities particularly in rural sector.

Aim of the Scheme: The Scheme is aimed at providing modern infrastructure facilities along the value chain from farm gate to the market with strong backward and forward linkages.

Details:

They facilitate the efforts to increase the level of processing of agricultural and horticultural produce, with particular focus on perishables, in the country and thereby to check the wastage.
The Scheme has a cluster based approach based on a hub and spokes model. It includes creation of infrastructure for primary processing and storage near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) and Collection Centres (CCs) and common facilities and enabling infrastructure at Central Processing Centre (CPC).
The PPCs are meant for functioning as a link between the producers and processors for supply of raw material to the Central Processing Centres.
CPC has need based core processing facilities and basic enabling infrastructure to be used by the food processing units setup at the CPC. The minimum area required for a CPC is 50 acres.
The scheme is demand-driven and would facilitate food processing units to meet environmental, safety and social standards.

Implementation and financial assistance:

Mega Food Park project is implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which is a Body Corporate registered under the Companies Act. State Government/State Government entities/Cooperatives applying for setting up a project under the scheme are not required to form a separate SPV.
The financial assistance for Mega Food Park is provided in the form of grant-in-aid at 50% of eligible project cost in general areas and at 75% of eligible project cost in NE Region and difficult areas (Hilly States and ITDP areas) subject to maximum of Rs. 50 crore per project.

What benefits these food parks provide?

Reducing post harvest losses.
Maintainance of the supply chain in sustainable manner.
Additional income generation for the farmers.
Shifting the farmers to more market driven and profitable farming activities.
It will be a one stop shop where everything will be available at a single location.
As per experts, it will directly employ 10,000 people.
This integrated food park will help reduce supply chain costs.
It will also reduce wastage across the food value chain in India and improve quality and hygiene to create food products in the country.

sources: pib.

Insights Daily Current Events, 17 November 2015