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4th, September, 2022

 

 

Topic: Sanskrit Utkarsh Mahotsav in Himachal.

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

Importance for Prelims: Himachal Current Events

Importance for Mains Exam:

  • PAPER-IV: GENERAL STUDIES-I: Unit III: Topic: Latest Initiatives in Education.

 

What is the news?

  • Chief Minister presides over Sanskrit Utkarsh Mahotsav at Sundernagar.

Who organized this?

  • Sanskrit Utkarsh Mahotsav organized under the joint aegis of Sanskrit Bharti Himachal Pradesh and Department of Language, Art and Culture at Sundernagar in Mandi district.

 

What CM shared?

  • Chief Minister said that Himachal Pradesh was known as ‘Dev Bhoomi’ and it becomes the duty of this divine land to accord proper respect to ‘Dev Vani’.
  • He said that with this concept in mind, the State Government decided to accord second language status to Sanskrit.
  • The State Government has also fulfilled the demand of bringing Sanskrit College Dangar under the control of the State Government.
  • Sanskrit Bharti has worked in Himachal Pradesh since the year 1999 for Sanskrit to be included in our public behavior and speech. He said that Sanskrit Bharti is bringing the richness of Sanskrit language to every section of the society by organizing various types of training classes.

 

Education Minister Govind Singh Thakur shared:

  • The State Government has decided to teach the Sanskrit language from 3rd standard from next year. He said that under the able leadership of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Sanskrit was declared as the second language of the State.

 

Why important?

  • Sanskrit was a ‘Dev Bhasha’ and the ‘Dev Bhoomi’ was the first State in the country to give true respect to the Sanskrit language.
(Source: HP Government)

 

 

Topic: 1.5 lakh farmers given Rs 2,600 Cr benefits in 5 years: the APMC chairman in Himachal.

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

Importance for Prelims: Himachal Current Events

Importance for Mains Exam:

  • PAPER-V: GENERAL STUDIES-II: Unit III: Topic: Enactments made by the Himachal Pradesh Government to protect and promote the interests of agrarian society.

 

What is the news?

  • About 1.5 lakh farmers have been provided benefits to the tune of Rs 2,600 crore in the past five years, said Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Chairman Naresh Sharma.

Support Initiated by State Government:

  • The state government also bears the increased 6 per cent GST imposed on cartons and packaging material. About one crore boxes will be allocated to apple growers this season.
  • The government has reintroduced subsidies on insecticides, fungicides and other medicines, which will now be available only in Horticulture Department centers. Subsidy on agricultural equipment has also been restored.
  • Special emphasis is being laid on setting up a fruit-based processing units like of wine and cedar to ensure remunerative prices for their crops to farmers.
  • A subsidy of Rs 20 crore on anti-hale nets had been given till December 2021 and 1,823 farmers had benefited from it.

 

Challenges still there shared by APMC Chief:

  • 100 per cent import duty on apple and a four-time compensation for land acquired for road construction, which are not under the purview of the government.
  • A high-powered committee had been constituted to resolve the issues of apple growers and companies that purchase the fruit would have to follow the 2018 government notification regarding the colour and weight of apple.

 

About APMC:

 

What is APMC?

  • APMC means the Agricultural Produce & Livestock Market Committee established under the provisions of APLM Act.

 

What is APMC Yard?

  • Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Yard / Regulated Market Committees (RMC) Yard is any place in the market area managed by a Market Committee, for the purpose of regulation of marketing of notified agricultural produce and livestock in physical, electronic or other such mode. -The place shall include any structure, enclosure, open space locality, street, including warehouse/silos/pack house/cleaning, grading , packaging and processing unit present in the Market Committee of the defined market area.

 

How can an APMCs join e-NAM?

  • States (State Agriculture Marketing Boards) interested to integrate their APMCs /mandis with NAM are required to carry out following reforms in their APMC Act.a) Single trading license (Unified) to be valid across the state) Single point levy of market fee across the state; and) Provision for e-auction/ e-trading as a mode of price discovery.

 

How APMCs get benefitted from e-NAM?

  • Benefits from e-NAM for an APMC are :-Free Software for System integration/ Automation of recording transactions- Complete information on trade- Real time arrival recording- Analyze price trends, arrival and trading activities- Automated record of financial information- Reduction in man-power requirement.

 

What is e-NAM?

  • National Agriculture Market (eNAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.The Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is the lead agency for implementing enemy under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India.

 

VISION:

  • To promote uniformity in agriculture marketing by streamlining of procedures across the integrated markets, removing information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promoting real time price discovery based on actual demand and supply.

MISSION:

  • Integration of APMCs across the country through a common online marketing platform to facilitate pan-India trade in agriculture commodities, providing better price discovery through the transparent auction process based on quality of produce along with timely online payment.

 

How many APMCs are linked to e-NAM?

  • Currently there are 1000 markets that are linked to the e-NAM network from 18 states and 3 UT’s.

 

What is the role of eNAM in agricultural marketing?

  • To promote uniformity in agriculture marketing by streamlining of procedures across the integrated markets, removing information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promoting real time price discovery based on actual demand and supply.
(News Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Topic: Centre’s nod to Rs 229-cr STP for Shimla

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

Importance for Prelims: Himachal Current Events

Importance for Mains Exam:

  • PAPER-VI: GENERAL STUDIES-III: Unit III: Topic: Issues, concerns, policies, programmes, conventions, treaties and missions aimed at environment protection, and dealing with the problem of climate change.
  • PAPER-IV: GENERAL STUDIES-I: Unit II: Topic: Human Aspects: Quantitative, Qualitative and Temporal characteristics of Population, Urbanisation pattern.

 

What is the news?

  • Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj today said that the Central government had approved a Rs 229-crore sewage treatment project (STP) for Shimla. The project would be completed by 2025 and cater to the population of Shimla for the next 30 years.
  • The minister said to rejuvenate and lay a new sewerage in Shimla, a detailed project report had been submitted to the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO).
  • Also The minister said the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO) had approved the project.

Who funded this Project?

  • Funded by the World Bank under the program.

 

Need of this Project shared by the Minister:

  • The minister said Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL) had taken up the project to lay the sewerage. “Shimla is expanding and the government aims to provide sewerage linkage to those still deprived of the facility,”.

 

How this Project will work?

  • The minister said that the existing sewerage line would also be upgraded by laying six-inch diameter pipes.
  • The project has two components. One is to lay fresh linkage to the houses and another is to upgrade the existing lines. The SJPNL will complete the project by 2025.
  • There are some households dependent upon septic tanks for sewage disposal. The project will end the dependency on the septic tank. Areas of Dhali and Mashobra would also be linked to the facility under the scheme.
(News Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Topic: Cashless Travel in HRTC Buses

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

Importance for Prelims: Economic and social development – sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics, social sector initiatives, etc.

Importance for Mains Exam:

  • PAPER-VI: GENERAL STUDIES-III: Unit III: Topic: Concept of Eco-Tourism and green tourism and their role in sustainable development of the State.
  • PAPER-V: GENERAL STUDIES-II: Unit I: Topic: Good governance.

 

What is the news?

  • Himachal Pradesh, passengers will be able to travel cashless in HRTC buses.
  • The corporation management has tendered the purchase of 4,500 e-ticketing machines for the convenience of the passengers.
  • By November, these machines would be made available to the conductors in all the buses of the corporation.

How it will work?

  • Through touch screen e-ticketing machines, passengers will be able to pay the fare through all types of cards and mobile wallets.

 

Why important?

  • For the first time in Himachal Pradesh, passengers will be able to travel cashless in HRTC buses.
  • Trough hi-tech e-ticketing machines, passengers will be able to pay fares through smart cards, debit cards, credit cards, besides Google Pay, Phone Pay, BHIM UPI. It is being claimed that the new ticketing machines equipped with chip readers will read the card faster. The e-ticketing machine will read the card as soon as it comes in contact with it.

Current Ticketing Machines:

  • In 2010, HRTC started using ticketing machines instead of issuing manual tickets to passengers in buses. At present, the conductors of the corporation are using machines which are about seven years old.
(Source: Amar Ujala)

 

 

Topic: Sindoor Vermilion plants in Himachal.

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

Importance for Prelims: General issues on environmental ecology, bio-diversity and climate change that do not require subject specialization.

Importance for Mains Exam:

  • PAPER-VI: GENERAL STUDIES-III: Unit III: Topic: Latest developments in science and technology for harnessing agriculture, horticulture, medicinal and herbal resources in the country.

 

What is the news?

  • In Himachal Pradesh too, farmers will now be able to earn lakhs of rupees by growing vermilion plants.

It is native to which place?

  • Some seeds of the Bixa Orellana plant of vermilion, which is native to South America, were brought from Maharashtra, whose germination process was trialed in the herbal garden Neri in Hamirpur district, which was successful.

 

Climate Required:

  • The climate of sub-tropical regions have been found suitable for this plant.

 

Botanical Name:

  • There is a medicinal value of vermilion plants, whose botanical name is Bixa Orellana. Many people also know it by the names Sindoori, Kapila. Sindoor has special significance in married women and worship.

 

Uses:

  • Talking about medicinal properties, apart from being antipyretic, antidiarrheal, anti-diabetic, its juice is used to make important medicines. It works as a panacea to increase the speed of blood and to purify the blood and increase the power of the heart. It has the kalpa of Pard and Gandhak. Although it does not have any side effects, its consumption is not beneficial for a person of pitta prakriti, as it is a hot semen chemical.
  • Sindoor is also used in various cosmetics, lipstick making, hair coloring and nail polish etc.
(Source: Amar Ujala)