Facts in News

Facts in News

Blue Nature Alliance

• It is a collaboration led by Conservation International, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Global Environment Facility, Minderoo Foundation and the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation.
• Launch: April 20, 2021
• Aim: To protect 5% of the world ocean in five years.
  • To protect and conserve the large areas of the ocean from damaging fishing practices, pollution, and climate change.
• Target areas: Antarctica, Seychelles, Canada, Palau, Western Indian Ocean, Fiji, Tristan da Cunha, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean.
• Need: Oceans are integral to human survival, helping to regulate rainfall, weather, and even oxygen levels in the air.
  • According to the Marine Protection Atlas, around 7% of global oceans have been designated as protected areas, but only 2.7% is considered “fully protected.”
    • Marine Protection Atlas was launched by the Marine Conservation Institute in 2012 to provide the best available information on marine protection all over the world.  

United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC)

• India has been elected to three key bodies of the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC).
• The three year term begins on January 1, 2022.
• These bodies are:
  • Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ)
    • Based in Vienna.
    • It acts as the principal policy-making body of the United Nations in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. 
    • The CCPCJ has 40 member states that are elected by ECOSOC.
  • Executive Board of UN Women
    • UN Women is about gender issues.
    • The Executive Board of UN Women consists of 41 members.
  • Executive Board of the World Food Programme
    • It is WFP’s supreme governing body. 
    • Comprising 36 states members of the United Nations or Member Nations of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the board provides intergovernmental support, policy direction and supervision of the activities of WFP. 
• UN ECOSOC: 
  • One of the six principal organs of the United Nations. It was established by the UN Charter in 1945.
  • Responsible for coordination, policy review and recommendations on social, economic and environmental issues.
  • On 14 September 2020, India was elected as a member of the United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women (UNCSW), an ECOSOC body.

Image Courtesy: UN

Van Dhan Vikas Yojana

• Van Dhan Vikas Yojana is promoting and backing tribal entrepreneurship in a big way.

• It was launched on 14th April 2018.
  • It is a component of the ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP’.
  • MFP includes all non-timber forest produce of plant origin.
  • MSP is a system of agriculture in India, in which the government declares the purchase price of certain crops and guarantees them in case the farmer is unable to garner such prices in the open market.
• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) as the nodal agency at the National level.
  • TRIFED is the apex national organisation involved in the improvement of the livelihood and empowerment of these tribal people.
• It is a 100% centrally funded scheme.
• Aims: To improve tribal income through value addition of MFP like non-timber items such as bamboo and other grasses, edible or useful roots, seeds, fruits, flowers and plants, etc.
  • Collection and sale of MFPs contribute 40-60 % of tribal annual earnings and further value addition helps in tripling or quadrupling their income.
• A large number of tribal community owned Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs) have been set up in predominantly forested tribal districts.
  • A ‘Kendra’ generally constitute 15 tribal Self Help Groups (SHGs), each comprising up to 20 tribal non-timber MFP gatherers or artisans, i.e. about 300 beneficiaries per Van Dhan Kendra.

M Narasimham 

• Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Maidavolu Narasimham, famously known as the father of Indian banking reforms, passed away
  • He was awarded Padma Vibhushan award in the year 2000.

Role and Contributions

• He was the 13th governor of RBI and he served as the central bank head from May 2, 1977, to November 30, 1977.
• After his short term as RBI governor, he served as India’s executive director at the World Bank and later at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• He was the first and so far the only governor to be appointed from the Reserve Bank cadre, having joined the Bank as a Research Officer in the Economics Department.
• Committees headed:
  • Committee on Financial System, 1991: It was set up by then finance minister Manmohan Singh as part of the overall economic reforms.

• The Committee of Banking Sector Reforms, 1998:It recommended the dilution of government equity in nationalized banks to 33% and suggested that the RBI nominees on bank boards step down. 
  • It also recommended a phased reduction in the Statutory Liquidity Ratio to 25% over five years.

• Narasimham is also credited with recommending the setting up of regional rural banks (RRBs) as subsidiaries of public sector banks. 

Global Youth Mobilization Local Solutions campaign

• United Nations agencies and youth organisations have come together to launch a unique campaign named the Global Youth Mobilization Local Solutions to involve the youth of the world in building their lives impacted by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

• It is mandated to fund youth in communities impacted by the pandemic to take up innovative programmes to rebuild lives.
• It is being supported by six of the world’s largest youth organisations:

• World Alliance of Young Men’s Christian Associations
• World Young Women’s Christian Association
• World Organization of the Scout Movement
• World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
• The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award

#FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge

• The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology announced a #FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge to accelerate the adoption of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the Government.
  • Open-source software requires no licensing and need not be bought.
  • Its source code is open for everyone to download, examine, and improve upon if they can, with an acknowledgement to the original software coder or the company. 
• The Challenge calls upon FOSS innovators, technology entrepreneurs and Indian Startups to submit implementable open-source product innovations in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) with possible applications for Govtech in Health, Education, Agriculture, Urban Governance etc.