Headlines at a Glance – 24th January 2022
Peru declares ‘environmental emergency’ on coastal area hit by oil spill
Peru declared an environmental emergency Saturday as an oil spill caused by freak waves from a volcanic eruption in the South Pacific keeps spreading. With the 90-day decree, the government said it plans “sustainable management” of 21 beaches tarred by 6,000 barrels of oil that spilled from a tanker ship unloading at a refinery last Saturday. One aim of the decree is to better organize the various agencies and teams working in the aftermath of the disaster, said the environment ministry. The spill followed the stunningly powerful eruption last Saturday of an undersea volcano near the nation of Tonga, unleashing tsunami waves around the Pacific and as far away as the United States.
SOURCE: The Hindu
India emerges as largest exporters of cucumber and gherkins
India has emerged as the largest exporter of gherkins in the world. India has exported cucumber and gherkins to the tune of 1,23,846 metric tonnes with a value of $ 114 million during April-October (2020-21). India has crossed the $ 200 million mark of export of agricultural processed product- pickling cucumber, which is globally referred to as gherkins or cornichons, in the last financial year. In 2020-21, India had shipped 2,23,515 metric tonnes of cucumber and gherkins with a value of $ 223 million. Gherkins are exported under two categories — cucumbers and gherkins, which are prepared and preserved by vinegar or acetic acid and cucumbers and gherkins, which are provisionally preserved. Gherkin cultivation, processing and exports started in India during the early 1990s with a modest beginning in Karnataka and later extended to the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Nearly 15 per cent production of the world’s gherkin requirement is grown in India.
SOURCE: Livemint
Amit Shah launches District Good Governance Index in 20 districts of J-K
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday launched the District Good Governance Index (DGGI) in Jammu and Kashmir, which is the first Union Territory to have such an index. Shah launched the index in the presence of Union minister Jitendra Singh and Jammu and Kashmir’s lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha. Shah said the beginning of this index in Jammu and Kashmir will slowly expand to all other states and a good governance competition will start in every district of the country. Shah said the index will benefit residents of Jammu and Kashmir in a big way as it will work towards improving the district machinery, make districts result-oriented and also improve their delivery mechanism.
SOURCE: Hindustan Times
PM Modi asks districts to set time-bound targets for govt. Programmes
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked District Magistrates (DMs) to work on time-bound targets for 100% saturation of government services and facilities and urged every district to prepare a vision for next two years that aims to increase ease of living for people. Mr Modi, who virtually interacted with DMs and Chief Ministers of select States after reviewing the implementation of various government schemes, said the teamwork of Centre, States and local administration has yielded good results in the Aspirational Districts. The Prime Minister said various ministries of his government have identified 142 districts across 22 States that cannot be classified as ‘backward’ but have lagged behind in one or two parameters.
SOURCE: The Hindu
Govt. to promote Drone use in Agriculture for precision farming in country
In a major boost to promote precision farming in India, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has issued guidelines to make drone technology affordable to the stakeholders of this sector. The guidelines of “Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization” have been amended which envisages granting upto 100 percent of the cost of agriculture drones or 10 lakh rupees whichever is less to the agricultural institutes. The grant will be provided for the purchase of drones by the Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institutes, ICAR institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and State Agriculture Universities for taking up large-scale demonstrations of this technology on the farmers’ fields.
SOURCE: The Indian Express
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