- IMAC to be domain awareness centre
The issue in news
The Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) will soon become a National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) centre, with all stakeholders having their presence there.
Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC):
- Navy’s IMAC is the nodal agency for maritime data fusion set up after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
- Approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in 2012, the IMAC became operational in 2014 at a cost of 450 crore. It is located in Gurugram.
- It is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence System (NC3I), which was established to link the operational centres and lower echelons of the Navy and the Coast Guard spread across the country’s coastline, including the island territories.
- The IMAC tracks vessels on the high seas and gets data from the coastal radars, white shipping agreements, Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) transponders fitted on merchant ships, air and traffic management system and global shipping databases.
Note:
- After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, all fishing vessels more than 20 m long are mandated to have AIS transponders installed.
- At any point of time, there are 11,000-12,000 vessels present in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) as of now. This shows the magnitude of the challenge in tracking vessels.
- As part of improving transparency on maritime traffic on the high seas, the Navy had been authorised to conclude white shipping agreements with 36 countries and three multilateral constructs.
- So far they have been concluded with 22 countries and one multilateral construct, of which 17 and the one multilateral agreement had been operationalised.
- RE-Invest 2020
The issue in news
PM inaugurates RE-Invest 2020.
About RE-Invest 2020:
- The 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (RE-Invest 2020) is organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
- The theme for RE-Invest 2020 is ‘Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition’.
- The event is showcased as India’s biggest renewable energy event.
- The 3-day event includes conferences and exhibitions on renewables and future energy choices for manufacturers, developers, investors and innovators.
- RE-Invest 2020 (which will be a digitally-enabled global platform) aims to accelerate the worldwide effort to scale up the development and deployment of renewable energy and connect the global investment community with Indian energy stakeholders.
- The first such event was held in 2015 followed by a second one in 2018.
- Honey FPOs
The issue in news
Inauguration of Honey FPOs under the “Formation & Promotion of 10,000 FPOs” Scheme.
Main points
- The Honey FPO Programme of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) has been inaugurated.
- The Honey FPOs made by the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP) under the aegis of the National Bee Board (NBB) and NAFED will help its members in:
- Upgrading their skills in scientific bee keeping
- Setting up state-of-the-art infrastructural facilities for processing honey and allied beekeeping products like bee’s wax, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom, etc., quality control laboratories, collection, storage, bottling and marketing centres.
- NAFED, through its empanelled Cluster Based Business Organisation (CBBO), ISAP, has initiated the formation and promotion of FPOs of beekeepers and honey collectors in 5 states of India.
About NAFED:
- NAFED is an agricultural cooperative organisation established with the objective of promoting cooperative marketing of agricultural produce to benefit farmers.
- It was established in 1958 to promote the trade of agricultural products and forest resources.
- With its headquarters in New Delhi, it is today one of the largest procurement as well as marketing agencies for agricultural products in India.
- It is the nodal agency to implement price stabilization measures under Operation Greens. Read more about Operation Greens in BYJU’S CNA dated February 2, 2018 under the Economy Section, at the linked article.
National Beekeeping and Honey Mission:
- It is a central sector scheme for the overall promotion and development of scientific beekeeping in mission mode to achieve the goal of “Sweet Revolution” in the country.
- It aims to achieve its goal by giving thrust on capacity building & trainings, specific focus on women, input support for promotion & production, setting up of Integrated Beekeeping Development Centres (IBDCs), other infrastructures, digitization/online registration, etc., processing, value addition, market support, etc. & R&D under 3 Mini Missions (MMs)-MM-1, MM-2 & MM-3.
- The mission is carried out by the National Bee Board under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
About National Bee Board:
- The main objective of the National Bee Board (NBB) is the overall development of beekeeping by promoting scientific beekeeping in India to increase the productivity of crops through pollination and increase the honey production for increasing the income of the beekeepers/farmers.
- The Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) registered the National Bee Board as a society in 2000. The Board was reconstituted in 2006.
- SDG Investor Map
The issue in news
UNDP and Invest India launch the SDG Investor Map for India.
Main points
- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Invest India have launched the SDG Investor Map for India, laying out 18 Investment Opportunities Areas (IOAs) in six critical SDG enabling sectors, that can help India push the needle forward on Sustainable Development.
- SDG Investor Maps translate SDG-needs and policy priorities into actionable investment opportunities.
- They identify concrete, investable solutions to increasingly pressing needs at the country level.
- By mapping the overlaps and gaps between public sector priorities and private sector interest, the SDG Investor Map lays out pathways that can bring together private-sector investment and public sector support for six SDG-enabling sectors including Education, Healthcare, Agriculture & Allied Activities, Financial Services, Renewable Energy & Alternatives and Sustainable Environment.
- Notable IOAs include ‘Online Supplementary Education for K12’ (Education), ‘Tech-Enabled Remote Care Services’ (Healthcare), ‘Digital Platforms to service input/output needs of farmers to enable easy access to markets’ (Agriculture) and ‘Access to credit by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Low-Income Groups especially through digital platforms for Income Generating Purposes’ (Financial Services).
Invest India:
- Invest India is a non-profit venture under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
- As the national investment promotion and facilitation agency, Invest India focuses on sector-specific investor targeting and development of new partnerships to enable sustainable investments in India.
- It was set up in 2009.
- India – Finland MoU
The issue in news
India and Finland sign MoU for developing cooperation in the field of environmental protection and biodiversity conservation.
Main points
- The MoU is a platform to further advance Indian and Finnish partnership and support, exchange best practices in areas like prevention of air and water pollution; waste management; promotion of circular economy, low-carbon solutions and sustainable management of natural resources including forests; climate change; conservation of marine and coastal resources, etc.
- The MoU will strengthen technological, scientific and management capabilities and develop bilateral cooperation in the field of environmental protection and biodiversity conservation on the basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefit with due respect to the promotion of sustainable development.
5 . Awards for Tiger Conservation
The issue in news
Recently Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR – Uttar Pradesh) won international award
TX2 for doubling the number of tigers in the past four years.
Transboundary Manas Conservation Area or TraMCA (India- Bhutan border) received the Conservation Excellence Award for 2020.
Main points
- TX2 Award is given to one site that has achieved remarkable and measurable increase in its tiger population since 2010.
- Conservation Excellence Award recognises one site that has achieved excellence in two or more of these five themes:
- translocation/prey augmentation),
- Tiger and prey population monitoring and research (tiger Effective site management,
- Community based conservation,
- benefits and human-wildlife conflict mitigation and Habitat and prey management.
- Enhanced law enforcement & protection & ranger welfare improvement,
TX2 Goal
- TX2 stands for ‘Tigers times two’, signalling the goal to double wild tigers.
- It is a global commitment to double the world’s wild tigers by 2022.The goal has been set by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) through the Global Tiger Initiative,
- The Pilibhit Tiger Reserveis situated in the Pilibhit district and Shahjahanpur District of Uttar Pradesh, forming part of the Terai Arc Landscape, in the upper Gangetic Plain Biogeographic Province.
- Some river originating from the reserve, which is also the catchment of several others like Sharda, Chuka and Mala ,Khannot.
- The habitat is characterized by sal forests, tall grasslands and swamp maintained by periodic flooding from rivers.
- The Sharda Sagar Dam extending up to a length of 22 km (14 mi) is on the boundary of the reserve.
- It lies along the India-Nepal border in the foothills of the Himalayas and the plains of the Terai in Uttar Pradesh. It is part of the Terai Arc Landscape. It is one of India’s 50 Project Tiger Tiger reserves.
- The Manas Tiger Reserve in India and Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan Bagged Conservation Excellence Award For efforts to increase the tiger population.
- The recognition was for the TraMCA comprising the 500 sq. km.
- Manas National Park in Assam and the 1,057-sq. km. Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan.
- They form the core of this biologically outstanding transboundary region that is home to tigers, elephants, rhinos and more than 1,500 species of mammals, birds and vascular plants.
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