14-12-22 Daily-Haryana-HPSC Current Affairs

The names of lesser known criminals from Haryana surfacing in Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewalas killing and perpetrating crime in neighbouring states set the alarm bells ringing in the Haryana Police, which has decided to draw up a list of unknown criminals from the state through participatory policing.

Under the gram prahari initiative being prepared, the state police intend to reach out to the villagers for gathering information about missing youth.

However, with no data available on other criminals whose names cropped up in connection with the gangs and the murder, the police have also decided to tap the villagers to gather information.

The gram prahari scheme is essentially aimed at getting intelligence input about little-known criminals

In order to bridge the Agriculture Infrastructure gap by empowering agriculture and villages and boosting private investment, the Government of India launched a Central Sector Scheme of financing facility under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund. The AgricultureInfrastructure Fund (AIF) is a medium-long term debt financing facility through interest subvention and credit guarantee support on loans for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets.

Under the scheme, Rs. 1 Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans with interest subvention of 3% per annum and credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE for loans up to Rs. 2 Crores to the eligible beneficiaries include farmers, FPOs, PACS, Marketing Cooperative Societies, SHGs, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Agri-entrepreneurs, Start-ups, and Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public-Private Partnership Projects for creation of post-harvest management infrastructures like Supply chain services including e-marketing platforms, Warehouses, Silos, Pack houses, Assaying units, Sorting & grading units, Cold chains, Logistics facilities, Primary processing centres, Ripening Chambers etc.

Community farming assets eligible under Agri Infra Fund includes: Organic inputs production, Bio stimulant production units, Infrastructure for smart and precision agriculture, Projects identified for providing supply chain infrastructure for clusters of crops including export clusters, Projects promoted by Central/State/Local Governments or their agencies under PPP for building community farming assets or post-harvest management projects.

To implement the budget announcement 2020-21, a Committee was constituted on Kisan Rail and Krishi Udan. The Committee constituted a sub-committee for detailed deliberation and preparation of concept note under convenership of Executive Director, Railway Board.

Ministry of Railways after due deliberation with Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has started operating Kisan Special Trains for transportation of perishable horticulture / agriculture products, dairy, fisheries etc. These trains are multi-commodity, multi-consignor/consignee services, running in a time-tabled manner with stoppages at all major stations.

The first Kisan Rail was flagged off from Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur (Bihar) by Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Shri Piyush Goyal, then Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry on 7th August 2020, for transportation of perishable agriculture/horticulture products, dairy, fisheries etc.

Currently, a total of 2359 trips of Kisan Rail trains have been operated on 167 routes, wherein nearly 7.9 lakh tones of consignments have been transported.

The routes for Kisan Rail are decided on demand received from farmers and other stakeholders. Whenever a demand for Kisan Rail for a particular route is received, arrangements are made by the concerned Zonal Railway for supply for rakes and operation of Kisan Rail train, duly considering the operational feasibility of the proposed route.