Prime Minister lays foundation stone of 6 lighthouse projects; PMAY (Urban) Awards-2019 Conferred

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid the foundation of six Light House Projects (LHPs) in Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).

• These will be developed as a part of the Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) initiative under which 1,000 houses at each location are to be constructed in a year (12 months), using six distinct technologies.

• Five incubation centers also set up under affordable sustainable housing accelerators - India (Asha-India) initiative launched.

• 'NAVARITIH' (New, Affordable, Validated, Research Innovation Technologies for Indian Housing) - certificate Course on innovative construction technologies was also released.

• A Compendium of 54 innovative housing construction technologies which were identified through GHTC-India was released.

• PM Modi Announced annual awards for excellence in implementation of (PMAY-U) Mission:

• The PM gave away annual "Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Awards-2019" for excellence in six categories for the implementation of PMAY-U. The PMAY(U) awards were instituted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA) in 2019

Key Special Category Awards:

• Best Performing UT (Union Territory Project Monitoring Tools-AP
• Policy Initiatives- Gujarat

• Best AHP on Private land- gujarat
• Best ISSR Project -Gujarat
• Best AHP on Public Land- Madhya Pradesh
• Community Mobilisation initiatives- Jharkhand
• Convergence -Chhattisgarh

TRIFED signs MoU with DAY-NRLM to boost livelihoods of SHG Women & Tribal Populations

• TRIFED (Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India) the commercial wing of Ministry of Tribal Affairs has signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Deen Dayal Antyodaya- National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) for undertaking economic support programmes to boost the livelihoods of Tribal populations of the country & Women Self Help Groups (SHGs).

• The two organizations agreed to work together to achieve the goal of enhancing the livelihoods of Tribal beneficiaries & women in India.

• NRLM & TRIFED will work for development of common facility centres like warehouses for storage, primary processing of agricultural, horticultural and MFPs under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005) and other schemes.

DAY-NRLM:

• Launched by MORD in June, 2011.

• To create an effective & institutional platform for the rural poor to enable them to increase household income through livelihood enhancement & improved access to financial services.

• To cover 7 crore rural poor households across 600 districts, 6000 blocks, 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats & 6 Lakh villages and support them for livelihood collectives in a period of 8-10 years.

About TRIFED:

• Managing Director - Pravir Krishna
• Head Office - New Delhi

India to co-chair Regional Forum to Conserve Wildlife Habitats: Asia Protected Areas Partnership (APAP).

• India is all set to co-chair the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)-supported Asia Protected Areas Partnership (APAP), a regional forum to conserve wildlife habitats for three years. In this tenure India will assist other Asian countries in managing their protected areas.

• India will replace South Korea which held this position for three years till November, 2020. Notably APAP is chaired by IUCN Asia and co-chaired by an APAP country member.

• Formally launched at the IUCN World Parks Congress in Australia in 2014, it is a platform that enables collaboration to help governments and other stakeholders for more effective management of protected areas (PA),

• Members: 21 from 17 countries.

• 17 Member Countries are - Thailand, Viet Nam, Laos, Maldives, Malaysia, China, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, India, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Japan.

About International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN):

• IUCN Council President- Xinsheng Zhang
• Headquarter- Gland, near Geneva, Switzerland

GRSE Delivers 8th & Final Ship of MK IV class 'IN LCU L-58' to Indian Navy

• Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata, West Bengal delivered the Landing Craft Utility (LCU) MK IV class vessel 'IN LCU L-58' (Yard 2099) to the Indian Navy (IN). The ship will serve in the Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC), which is India's 1st & only tri-service command.

• LCU L-58 is the 106th Warship built & delivered by GRSE, which is the highest number of warships delivered by any Indian Shipyard.

• LCU L-58 is the final ship in the series of 8 LCUs being manufactured by GRSE for the Indian Navy.

• LCU is a boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment & troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles & troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers.

GRSE commences production of 1st of 8 anti-submarine ships:

• On December 31, 2020 GRSE commenced production of the 1st of 8 Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts for the Indian Navy (ASWSWC).

• Indian Navy & GRSE signed a contract worth INR 6, 311 crores for the construction of 8 Anti-Submarine ships in April, 2019.

• The ships will be equipped with modern weapons, sensors like hull mounted sonar, torpedo launchers & rocket launcher to detect & destroy sub-surface targets in coastal waters.

• Delivery of ships are expected to begin from October, 2022

• Indian Navy had signed contracts for 16 ASWSWCs with GRSE, Kolkata & Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi for construction of 8 ships each.

About Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE):

• Chairman & Managing Director - Rear Admiral V K Saxena, IN (retired)
• Headquarters - Kolkata, West Bengal

KVIC Unveiled 1st of its Kind Government E-commerce Portal "e-Khadilndia.com"

• The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME), Government of India unveiled the e-commerce portal - https://www.ekhadiindia.com. This is a first of its kind government online shopping platform to enhance rural economy and promote self reliance.

• KVIO Ventures Private Limited, a special purpose company has been incorporated under public private partnership with KVIC to sell the products of Khadi and village Industries Institutions under the trademark "Khadi India".

• This is the first ever effort of the Ministry of MSME and KVIC in online and business-to-consumer (B2C) outreach

About KVIC:

• Chairman- Vinai Kumar Saxena
• Headquarter - Mumbai, Maharashtra

J&K, NAFED sign MoU to improve the Horticulture Marketing

• The Union Territory Administration of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED). The agreement will give a major thrust for marketing the Horticulture Produce.

• NAFED and the J&K Government will work on branding & marketing of fruit crops & establishment of market linkages for exotic, non-seasonal vegetables & flowers in the metro cities of India.

• As part of the agreement, NAFED will invest INR 1700 Crores for Implementing High Density Plantations across 5500 Hectares in the next 5 years (2021-25).

• NAFED will establish 20 Farmer-Producer Organization, one in each district.

• It will also construct 3 cold storage clusters - one each in North Kashmir. South Kashmir & Kathua at a cost of INR 500 Crores.

About National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED):

• Chairman - Bijender Singh
• Headquarters - New Delhi