RAJASTHAN

Now, insurance for vegetable, fruit farmers

FARMERS growing vegetables and fruits in Rajasthan are to get insurance for their crops from now. Agriculture minister Prabhu Lal Saini on Monday said that Prime Minister’s Modified Weather Based Crop Insurance has been implemented in the state and tenders will be issued this week.

Farmers in the state were getting insured for the crops under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). In this scheme, if crops suffer damage due to weather calamities then the damage is assessed by the revenue department based crop cutting experiment and regular yield data.

This PM Modified Weather Based Crop Insurance is applicable on crops which do not have regular yield data, that is fruits and vegetables. The parameter of this insurance is decided on the conditions of adverse weather such as dry spell, excessive rains, excessive cold etc. The payout is decided on the data of temperature, rainfall and humidity along with adverse weather conditions.

The vegetables and fruits are commercial crops, therefore, farmers growing fruits and vegetable will have to bear insurance premium of 5%, while the remaining premium of 95% will be equally shared by centre and state governments.

In PMFBY, farmers of kharif crops give 2% premium and of rabi crops give 1.5% insurance premium and remaining is borne50% each by the state and centre governments.

According to horticulture department data, in 2016-17, vegetables were grown on 1,70,132 hectares and production was 46,84,063 metric tonne, while fruits were grown on an area of 53,092 hectares and production was 9,61,597 metric tonne.

INTERNATIONAL

· U.S. and South Korea agree to suspend joint military exercise scheduled for August

South Koreaand the United States have agreed to suspend all planning activities regarding the “Freedom Guardian” military drill scheduled for August.
Last year, 17,500 American and more than 50,000 South Korean troops participated in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills, although the exercise is mostly focused on computerized simulations rather than live field exercises that use weapons, tanks or aircraft.

NATIONAL

· Now, water ATMs at more than 100 railway stations across India

State-of-the-art water ATMs are now available at more than 100 railway stations across the country, supplying purified water to passengers at low cost.

The Indian Railway Tourism and Catering Corporation (IRCTC) had tied up with water technology venture, Swajal, last year for the installation of such water ATMs. These ATMs dispense water at 104 railway stations across 14 states in the country. Out of these 104 railway stations, 30 per cent are high-footfall ones and 70 per cent are rural stations.

The scheme was included in the Union Budget of 2016 and aims at generating around 40,000 jobs across the country. The water ATMs are useful to passengers who can fill up their water bottles at the station premises and avoid buying expensive packaged water. Also because these ATMs promote the use of degradable material, use of plastic will also reduce.

The initiative has made a huge leap in reducing the use and careless disposal of plastic water bottles by travellers, as the water dispensed through the ATMs is available in water cups or passengers can bring their own containers.

Its water technology purifies water up to ten filtration stages and dispenses water up to 10,000 litres per hour in some locations. They can also dispense water in different quantities – 300 ml, 500 ml, 1 litre, 2 litres and 5 litres.

· Govt extends the ban on import of milk products from China for 6 months

The government has further extended the ban on import of milk and its products, including chocolates, from China for six months till December 23.

Prohibition on import of milk, milk products (including chocolates, chocolate products, candies, confectionary food preparations with milk or milk solids as an ingredient) from China is extended for a further period of six months, i.e., till December 23, 2018 or until further orders.

The ban was first imposed in September 2008 and later extended from time to time. The last ban imposed by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) ended on June 23 this year.

The ban was imposed on apprehensions of the presence of melaminein some milk consignments from China. Melamine is a toxic chemical used for making plastics and fertilisers.

Although India does not import milk, milk products from China, it has imposed the ban as a preventive measure.

India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of milk. It produces around 150 million tonnes of milk annually.

Uttar Pradesh is the leading state in milk production followed by Rajasthan and Gujarat.

· IGNOU and health ministry tie up to train 14 lakh professionals

The Union Health Ministry signed an agreement with Indira Gandhi National Open University(Ignou) as part of its attempt to train 14 lakh youth in healthcare sector over the next four years to meet the growing demand for skilled professionals.

Under the initiative, 10 short term training programmes have been launched in the health sector, while 2,700 First Responders have been trained across 12 states, and over 200 master trainers and 35 state Government Training Institutes oriented to run such courses.

The agreement signed for skilling the country’s youth in healthcare programmes will be a big support for the Modi government’s flagship healthcare programme Ayushman Bharat which aims to establish 150,000 Health and Wellness Centres across the country.

The courses under Skill India will ensure that the programmes have a defined curriculum which will yield maximum quality benefit to candidates training in them. All the courses under this initiative are aligned to National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF).

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