World’s largest grain storage plan unveiled

GS Paper - 3 (Economy)

The Union Cabinet approved the constitution of an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to facilitate the “world’s largest grain storage plan in the cooperative sector”.

Why does India need a grain storage plan?

• India, the most populous country in the world, accounts for 18 per cent (1.4 billion) of the global population (7.9 billion). However, it accounts for only 11 per cent (160 million hectare) of the arable land (1,380 million hectare) in the world.
• Also, India runs the world’s largest food programme under the National Food Security Act, 2013, that covers about 81 crore people.
• Therefore, to ensure food security of a billion plus population, a robust network of foodgrain storage facilities becomes essential.
• At present, India has a foodgrain storage capacity of 145 million metric tonnes (MMT) against the total food production of 311 MMT—leaving a gap of 166 MMT. In the absence of sufficient storage facilities, foodgrains are sometimes stored in the open, which results in damage.
• According to the Ministry of Cooperation, several countries have better storage capacities. For instance, against the total foodgrain production of 615 MMT, China has a storage capacity of 660 MMT. USA, Brazil, Russia, Argentina, Ukraine, France, and Canada are among other countries with the capacity to store more food grains than they produce.
• India has a storage capacity of 47 per cent of its total foodgrains production. At the regional level, only a few southern states have the storage capacity of 90 per cent and above. In northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it is below 50 per cent.

Who is in the IMC?

• The Union Cabinet has approved an IMC for the scheme, to be constituted under the Chairmanship of Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah.
• Three other ministers — Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Piyush Goyal, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and Pashupati Kumar Paras, Minister of Food Processing Industries and Secretaries will be members of the committee.
• The IMC will “modify guidelines/ implementation methodologies of the schemes of the respective Ministries as and when need arises, within the approved outlays and prescribed goals” for facilitation of the scheme, “by creation of infrastructure such as godowns, etc. for Agriculture and Allied purposes, at selected ‘viable’ Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).”

US wants to rejoin UNESCO

GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) announced that the United States will rejoin it in July, four years after it left the agency (along with Israel), alleging that UNESCO was biased against Israel. The move to rejoin will face a vote by UNESCO’s member states and is expected to pass easily.

What is UNESCO?

• UNESCO is a UN agency tasked with furthering international cooperation and peace through the promotion of educational, scientific and cultural causes.
• For instance, it designates locations globally as World Heritage Sites, which means international recognition and possible funding.
• The United States was a founding member of UNESCO in 1945.

What made the US leave UNESCO?

• The issue goes back to 2011, when UNESCO inducted Palestine as a member. This led to the US halting the agency’s funding, worth millions of dollars, under then President Barack Obama.
• Notably, Palestine is not recognised as a sovereign state by the United Nations. It was included as a non-member observer State over Israel’s objections in 2012, meaning it could participate in General Assembly proceedings but lacked voting rights.
• In 2013, Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, told the Associated Press that his country supported the United States’ decision to stop its funding, saying it was “objecting to the politicisation of UNESCO, or any international organisation, with the accession of a non-existing country like Palestine”.
• The Palestinians claim the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip — territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war — for an independent state. Israel says the Palestinians’ efforts to win recognition at the UN are aimed at circumventing a negotiated settlement and meant to pressure Israel into concessions.
• Israel and the United States termed the inclusion of Palestine, UNESCO’s previous criticism of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem and naming what it said were ancient Jewish sites as Palestinian heritage sites as examples of anti–Israel bias.
• US laws, owing to the country’s historical ties with Israel, prohibit funding to any UN agency that implies recognition of the Palestinians’ demands for their own state. But this was negotiated recently through an agreement in 2022 that allowed for giving UNESCO funds again.

RBI Governor named 'Governor of the Year'

GS Paper - 3 (Economy)

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das was awarded the "Governor of the Year" at the Central Banking Awards 2023 in London. Central Banking is a London-based international economic research journal.

What

• Das is the second RBI governor to receive the award after Raghuram Rajan, who was given the title in 2015.
• Das “cemented critical reforms, overseen world-leading payments innovation, and steered India through difficult times with a steady hand and well-crafted turn of phrase.
• The organisers added that Das’ tenure which began in 2018, “has been marked by a series of grave challenges, starting with the collapse of a major non-banking firm, moving through the first and second waves of the coronavirus, and then, in 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its inflationary impact”.
• The organisers of the Central Banking Awards 2023 spoke about the collapse of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) in September 2018 which led to a liquidity crunch in the Indian banking system.
• A handful of other firms collapsed in the subsequent months, including Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank, which had lent heavily to an infrastructure finance firm that went bust.
• Das was also credited for “appearing as a voice of calm amid the fear” during the Covid-19 pandemic by the organisers. The statement by the organisers also talked about Das’ opposition to crypto assets in India.

Flashback

• Das is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, who is currently serving as the 25th governor of the RBI.
• He has worked for both the central government and the Tamil Nadu government in several capacities, such as the economic affairs secretary, the revenue secretary, and fertilisers secretary.

VAIBHAV Fellowship Programme

GS Paper - 2 (Education)

The Government has launched a new fellowship programme to connect the Indian STEMM diaspora with Indian academic and R&D institutions for collaborative research work leading to sharing of knowledge, wisdom, and best practices in the frontier areas of science & technology.

More about the Scheme

• The Vaishvik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) fellowships programme to be implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology,
• The fellowship would be awarded to outstanding scientists/technologists of Indian origin (NRI/OCI/PIO) who are engaged in research activities in their respective countries.
• The 75 selected fellows would be invited to work in 18 identified knowledge verticals including quantum technology, health, pharma, electronics, agriculture, energy, computer sciences, and material sciences amongst others.
• It envisages collaboration between scientists of Indian Diaspora with Indian Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), Universities, and/ or public funded Scientific Institutions
• The VAIBHAV Fellow would identify an Indian Institution for collaboration and may spend up to two months in a year for a maximum of 3 years.
• Fellowship would include fellowship grant (INR 4,00,000 per month), international and domestic travel, accommodation and contingencies.
• The VAIBHAV fellows are expected to collaborate with their Indian counterparts and help initiate research activities in the host institution in the cutting-edge areas of Science and Technology.

Vaibhav Summit

• The VAIBHAV Summit is a collaborative initiative by S&T and Academic Organisations of India to enable deliberations on thought process, practices and R&D culture with a problem solving approach for well-defined objectives.
• The VAIBHAV initiative aims to bring out a comprehensive roadmap to leverage the expertise and knowledge of global Indian researchers for solving emerging challenges.
• By bringing the Indian Overseas and Resident academicians/scientists together a structure of association will be evolved.
• The aim of the summit is to reflect in-depth on the collaboration and cooperation instruments with academia and scientists in India.
• The goal is to create an ecosystem of Knowledge and Innovation in the country through global outreach.