Indian-American named World Agriculture Prize laureate

Indian-American named World Agriculture Prize laureate

Indian-American professor R Paul Singh has been named as the 2015 Global Confederation for Higher Education Associations for Agriculture and Life Sciences World Agriculture Prize laureate.

• The award was announced at the annual GCHERA conference, held last week at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon.
• The award will be formally presented on September 20, during a ceremony at Nanjing Agricultural University, Jiangsu Province, China.
• R Paul Singh is known for niche research areas of agricultural sector such as freezing preservation, energy conservation, post-harvest technology and mass transfer in food processing.
• Under a NASA contract, his research group has created food- processing equipment for a manned mission to Mars. He had also contributed in establishing and evaluating food-engineering programs at various institutions throughout the world including in Brazil, Portugal, Peru and Thailand.

About the World Agriculture Prize:

The World Agriculture Prize will be awarded to an academic/faculty member from a higher education institution working in the disciplines relating to the agricultural and life sciences – including but not limited to agriculture, forestry, natural resources, food, bio based products, bioenergy, rural development and the environment. Such disciplines are inclusive of both the natural and social sciences.

• The World Agriculture Prize will be awarded in recognition of the academic/faculty member’s life time achievements.
• The Prize aims to encourage the global development of the mission of higher education institutions in education, research and innovation in the agricultural and life sciences by recognizing the distinguished contribution of an individual to this mission.
• The Prize was proposed by Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU) on 20 October 2012 on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of Nanjing Agricultural University and was established by the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for the Agricultural and Life Sciences (GCHERA) Board on 28 October 2012.
• Nanjing Agricultural University generously sponsors the GCHERA World Agriculture Prize. The prize will be 50,000 USD.

Sources: TOI, gchera.

National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015

The Union Cabinet recently gave its approval for the India’s first integrated National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015.

• The Policy acknowledges the need for an effective roadmap for promotion of entrepreneurship as the key to a successful skills strategy.
• The previous National Policy on Skill Development was formulated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2009 and provided for a review after five years to align the policy framework with emerging national and international trends.

Details:

• The Vision of the Policy is “to create an ecosystem of empowerment by Skilling on a large Scale at Speed with high Standards and to promote a culture of innovation based entrepreneurship which can generate wealth and employment so as to ensure Sustainable livelihoods for all citizens in the country”.
• To achieve this Vision, the Policy has four thrust areas. It addresses key obstacles to skilling, including low aspirational value, lack of integration with formal education, lack of focus on outcomes, low quality of training infrastructure and trainers, etc.
• The Policy seeks to align supply and demand for skills by bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry engagement, operationalising a quality assurance framework, leverage technology and promoting greater opportunities for apprenticeship training.
• Equity is also a focus of the Policy, which targets skilling opportunities for socially/geographically marginalised and disadvantaged groups.
• Skill development and entrepreneurship programmes for women are a specific focus of the Policy.
• In the entrepreneurship domain, the Policy seeks to educate and equip potential entrepreneurs, both within and outside the formal education system.
• It also seeks to connect entrepreneurs to mentors, incubators and credit markets, foster innovation and entrepreneurial culture, improve ease of doing business and promote a focus on social entrepreneurship.

Sources: PIB.

National Skill Development Mission

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the institutional framework for the National Skill Development Mission in keeping with the commitment made during the Budget Speech for 2015-16.

About the National Skill Development Mission:

The National Skill Development Mission aims to provide a strong institutional framework at the Centre and States for implementation of skilling activities in the country.

• The Mission will have a three-tiered, high powered decision making structure. At its apex, the Mission’s Governing Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, will provide overall guidance and policy direction. The Steering Committee, chaired by Minister in Charge of Skill Development, will review the Mission’s activities in line with the direction set by the Governing Council. The Mission Directorate, with Secretary, Skill Development as Mission Director, will ensure implementation, coordination and convergence of skilling activities across Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments.
• The Mission will also run select sub-missions in high priority areas.
• The National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and the Directorate of Training will function under the overall guidance of the Mission.
• The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) provides a natural home for the Mission, organically linking all three decisions making levels and facilitating linkages to all Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments.

Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh has been awarded the 2015 World Food Prize.

World Food Prize Awarded for Enhanced Food Security

Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh has been awarded the 2015 World Food Prize.

• This prize honors Fazle’s unparalleled achievement in building the unique, integrated development organization BRAC, which is headquartered in Bangladesh and operates programs in 10 other countries around the globe. It is said to be the world’s largest NGO.

About BRAC:

• The organization, originally known as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, was created as a temporary relief organization to help the country recover from the 1970 typhoon that killed about 500,000 people and the subsequent war fought in 1971 to win independence from Pakistan. Bangladesh was once listed as the second poorest country in the world.
• BRAC has grown into one of the world’s largest nongovernmental organizations focused on alleviating poverty — estimated to have helped more than 150 million people out of poverty in Africa and Asia and is expanding efforts to 10 additional countries.

About the World Food Prize:

The World Food Prize was created by Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 to recognize scientists and others who have improved the quality and availability of food. Norman Borlaug is also known as the father of the green revolution.

• The award carries a monetary reward of 250,000 dollars. The foundation that awards the $250,000 prize is based in Des Moines, Iowa.
• Since 1987, there have been 40 individuals who have won the World Food Prize and they come from a broad array of specialisations, from presidents to seed scientists and irrigation pioneers.
• So far, seven Indians have won this award.

India is now a $2-trillion economy

India is now a $2-trillion economy

According to a recently released World Bank report, India’s GDP has crossed the $2-trillion mark in 2014 and at present stands at $2.067 trillion. After taking 60 years to reach the $1-trillion mark, India has added the next trillion in just seven years.

What else the report says?

• Going by income, India is still in the lower middle income category.
• India’s gross national income per person has risen to $1,610, which converts to Rs 1,01,430 by present exchange rate.
• India is among the world the fastest growing economies this year.
• Despite its increase in per capita gross national income (GNI), India has remained in the ‘lower middle income’ category ($1,046-$4,125).
• The report also shows that India would become an ‘upper middle income’ country ($4,126-$12,735) in 2026. This will put it in the category China occupies now. But, it will take India till 2039 to reach the ‘upper middle income’ level, at the assumed growth rate.

The World Bank’s data on gross national income per capita show Bangladesh, Kenya, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Paraguay, Argentina, Hungary, the Seychelles and Venezuela have shifted their income categories for the better. For example, Bangladesh, Kenya, Myanmar, and Tajikistan are now ‘middle income’ countries from being ‘low income’ nations.

GNI (Gross national income) is the sum of value added by all resident producers plus any product taxes (less subsidies) not included in the valuation of output plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from abroad.

BLACK MONEY RULES NOTIFIED

BLACK MONEY RULES NOTIFIED

The Union government has notified the rules under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act.

Details of the Notified Rules:

All deposits made in an undisclosed overseas bank account since opening will be clubbed while assets like immovable property, shares and jewellery will be valued at fair market price for levy of tax and penalty under the new black money law.
All overseas income and assets, including the ones voluntarily declared within the 90-day compliance window ending September 30, will be valued in rupee terms.
The fair market value of assets like bullion, jewellery or precious stone, immovable property, drawings, paintings, archaeological collections, and sculptures or work of art, will be “its cost of acquisition” or the price that the asset “shall ordinarily fetch if sold in the open market on the valuation date”, whichever is higher.
As per the rules, for shares and securities, the fair market value will be the higher of the cost of acquisition or average of the lowest and highest price on the date of valuation.
The rules also provide a formula for calculating the fair market value of an unquoted equity shares and provided a methodology for calculating the interest of a person in a partnership firm, association of persons or Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).
The rules also say that in case the person disclosing foreign income does not have a PAN, he or she would be required to apply for it.

Govt releases socio-economic and caste census for better policy-making

Govt releases socio-economic and caste census for better policy-making

The union government recently released socio-economic and caste census (SECC) 2011.

• This is the first paperless census conducted on hand-held electronic devices by the government.

Details of the Census:

• According to the census, there are a total number of 24.39 crore households in the country, of which 17.91 crore live in villages. Of these, 10.69 crore households are considered as deprived.
• The census says that 23.52% rural families have no literate adult above 25 years, suggesting a poor state of education among rural masses.
• The census indicates that one out of three families living in villages is landless and depends on manual labour for livelihood. The deprivation data reveal that 5.37 crore (29.97%) households in rural areas are landless deriving a major part of their income from manual labour.
• As many as 2.37 crore (13.25%) families in villages live in houses of one room with ‘kaccha’ walls and roof.
• 53%, or 3.86 crore, families living in villages belong to SC/ST categories.
• 6% of all rural households in the country pay income tax.
• As for sources of income, 9.16 crore households (51.14%) depend on manual casual labour followed by cultivation (30.10%).
• 5 crore (14.01%) rural families are dependent on income from other sources which include government service, private sector and PSUs.
• 08 lakh households fall back on ragpicking while 6.68 lakh depend on begging and charity alms.
• Transgenders comprise 0.1% of India’s rural population. Andaman & Nicobar islands, West Bengal, Gujarat, Odisha and Mizoram have the highest proportions of transgenders.
• 6% of rural Indians were unmarried, 40% are currently married and 3.5% are divorced.
• Daman and Diu lead the country in the proportion of their rural population that has remained unmarried — at 55.9%, this is far higher than the national average. Chandigarh, on the other hand, has only 23.2% of its population that has never married.

The rural development ministry has taken a decision to use the SECC data in all its programmes.

Data on Literacy:

• The Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC) has found that 36% of the 884 million people in rural India are illiterate. This is higher than the 32% recorded by the Census of India 2011.
• Of the 64% literate rural Indians, a more than a fifth have not even completed primary school. The SECC also found that only 5.4% of rural India has completed high school with a mere 3.4% having graduated from college.
• This poor state of rural education is reflected in the fact that 23.5% of rural households had no adults above the age of 25 who are literate – one of the categories of deprivation measured by the SECC.
• The performance within States is hugely varied, with an alarming 47.6% of rural Rajasthanis remaining illiterate, compared to 9.3% in Lakshadweep and 11.4% in Kerala.
• Delhi performs the best when it comes to percentage of its rural population that has completed graduate studies – at 9.6%, its performance is almost thrice as good as the national average.

Cabinet nod to central irrigation plan, national common agri market

The Union Cabinet has cleared the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchaee Yojana (PMKSY), which, with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore spread over a period of five years starting from 2015-16, aims to provide irrigation to every village by converging the various ongoing irrigation schemes.

A sum of Rs 5,300 crore has been allocated in the current financial year for the programme. That apart, officials said another proposal from the department of agriculture to create a national common agriculture market, by digitally integrating more than 580 regulated mandis or wholesale markets across the country by 2017-18 with an allocation of Rs 200 crore has also been okayed.

"Both the proposals have been cleared by the union cabinet, but a formal announcement would be made on Thursday," a senior official told Business Standard.

News agency PTI said that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had also extended by a year the ban on holding of onion stock beyond the prescribed limit. The order empowering states to impose stock limits on traders for holding onion and ban hoarding beyond the set limit, expires on July 2.

Under the national agriculture market scheme, the central government will identify 50 mandis across five states in the first phase, who will granted an allocation of Rs 30 lakh for setting up of hardware and infrastructure for digital integration. The funding will not be available for private mandis, but they will have access to the e-platform. After the rollout in 50 mandis, the implementation would be handed over by Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium, an arm of the department of agriculture, to another agency.

GREENER PASTURES

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore for five years cleared   Scheme to rely on decentralised planning and encourage states to draw up district and state irrigation plans   The plans will focus on three main components which is water sources, distribution network and water use application   In total, 75%of the grant will be given from central government, while states have to bear the remaining 25%   The scheme aims to club investments under several other irrigation programmes under one roof at the field level   The national agriculture market scheme plans to integrate 580 regulated mandis via a common platform in three yrs, with an allocation of Rs 200 crore

ISRO Chairman: New Space roadmap soon, but tackling the backlog comes first

A.S.Kiran Kumar took charge as the eighth Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation; Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission in January this year. In his first media interview, the veteran space scientist recently shared with Madhumathi D.S. the urgencies of the 46-year-old organisation and what lies ahead. Edited excerpts:

What is the track you would like to put ISRO on, immediately and in the future?

ISRO has a large number of projects assigned by the government. First, I want to make sure that backlogs, whatever there are, are addressed immediately. My first set of activities has been to take stock of our total deliverables and how well we are prepared to completing them - in communication, remote sensing satellites, launch vehicles or for realising hardware.

A firm action plan is taking shape in the next two to three months ... for completing the tasks already assigned to ISRO in two or three years. Then we will come out with a long-term vision.

Look at what we need to complete, look at what we need to work on in the near future and look a little farther into future - I'm in this process right now.

Could you specify a few priorities?

One of the major [issues] has been the development of the GSLV launch vehicle, [delayed] because of the various issues we faced.

You also have to first solve some of the existing problems - facilities, people, the GSLV Mark II [launcher which uses the indigenous cryogenic engine.] We are streamlining the entire Mk II activity. We have a good visibility for its cryo engine. For the heavy-lift GSLV Mk III, the indigenous development of its cryogenic engine is progressing satisfactorily.

This is the first set of activities I am trying to complete.

Where do you see the challenges?

User demands have been changing a lot, the requirements are far more than before. We have to see how these are [accommodated.] Nobody is going to accept programmes that get delayed for a decade. For example, the IRNSS navigation satellite series should have been completed during the previous Five-Year Plan period [by 2012]. But we will be completing it only by March next year. Likewise we must complete a large number of launches in reasonable time.

In the next one year we have seven launches and want to increase the number beyond that. We have facility bottlenecks. The way people work will also have to change. Everything will have to happen in a much more vigorous way [than until now].

Earlier we were engaging 12-15 departments to use our capability. Now the government is keen on using Space technology-based tools for a much larger number of departments.

It also demands greater industry interactions for getting many more things done.

What is the big picture that you see for ISRO, say by 2025 and beyond?

We should firm up our newer geostationary launch vehicle technology activities. R&D is going on for the semi-cryogenic engine to lift much heavier payloads.

It would obviously be about improving communication capability, transponder availability. We plan to bring in a high-throughput Ka-band satellite. A suggestion is to work with international [partners]. The [four-tonne] GSAT-11 would be our parallel approach.

We would also use two GSLV MkIII flights, of December 2016 and 2017, to demonstrate next-generation satellite technologies.

For the long term the planetary science body ADCOS [Advisory Committee for Space Sciences] is looking at missions such as Mars-2, Venus and a few asteroids. Chandrayaan-2 and Aditya are in progress.

The Reusable Launch Vehicle's technology demonstrator called Hypersonic Experiment is coming up, although the RLV itself will be a long way off.

There is this old grievance about shortage of transponders, mainly for the broadcast industry.

Obviously there are delays of the past. The GSLV development did take time and so also many communication programmes. We are moving on that and increasing capacity. Our ability to provide basic requirements of security cannot be compromised.

When we talk about space-based communication or transponders we should have a vision that is different from completely commercial. We should make sure we have the capability to influence the way things are happening in the country, influence and regulate the huge market, such as in terms of the service cost to the public.

You mentioned having greater interactions with industry. How do you propose to do it?

We are setting up teams to address this and plan to firm it up over the coming months. The objective is to transfer activities wherever we can. Recently the government approved 15 future PSLVs. A substantial portion of these launchers gets done in industry. In the future, may be a full launch, too, without compromising the security aspect.

How do you view the future societal role of Space?

Though there are other significant [land-based] efforts, linking remote places will be possible only through the Space segment. There is a big [Digital India] plan for enabling people down to the gram panchayat level in 250,000 villages with digital data of 20 mbps. About 20,000 villages are difficult to reach.

As the provider of the Space infrastructure, we would have a significant role in this plan, starting with a connectivity of 2 mbps. We are doing trials now in the North East. It could be for tele-medicine, tele-education, banking, village resource information or local phone connections.

ISRO is now working on a Space law.

Enacting a full-fledged Space Law has become a requirement as more and more private enterprises enter this business. It will clarify many existing issues and resolve certain ambiguities.

A draft has been circulated [to experts] and we hope to submit it to the government by the end of the year.

What is the status of the arbitrations in the Antrix-Devas contract case? Was it a trigger for the law?

The arbitration cases are going on. It is a long drawn out process with a binding on time. They have to give a verdict.

Not quite a trigger. Space is being used more and more for non-civil activities. The law should ensure Space is not misused. Who will be liable if private launches happen and all kinds of objects are put in space? These activities will have to be spelt out while enabling commercial opportunities.