1.African Swine Fever

Why in News:

• Recently, the Centre has advised the Assam state government to go for culling of pigs affected by the African Swine Fever (ASF).

Highlights:

• It is being advised to divide the affected areas into zones and go for culling accordingly.
• In April, there were reported deaths of pigs due to the Classical Swine Fever (CSF).
• Both ASF and CSF are different from Swine Flu (H1N1) and do not affect humans.

About African Swine Fever:

• It is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects and leads to an acute form of Hemorrhagic fever in domestic and wild pigs.
• It was first detected in Africa in the 1920s.
• Its mortality is close to 100% and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop its spread is by culling the animals.
• It is not a threat to human beings since it only spreads from animals to other animals.
• It is a disease listed in the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)Terrestrial Animal Health Code and thus, reported to the OIE.

About OIE- World Organisation for Animal Health:

• It is an intergovernmental organisation responsible for improving animal health worldwide.
• In 2018, it had a total of 182 Member Countries. India is one of the member countries.
• Its standards are recognised by the World Trade Organization as reference international Sanitary Rules. It is headquartered in Paris, France.

2. Sariska Tiger Reserve

Context:

• Sariska Tiger Reserve is recently seen in news.

About Sariska Tiger Reserve:

• It is located in Aravali hills and forms a part of the Alwar District of Rajasthan.
• It is Immensely rich in flora and fauna, and is famous for Royal Bengal Tiger.
• It has populations of leopards, Nilgai, Sambar, chital etc. It also shelters a large population of Indian peafowl, crested serpent eagles, sand grouse, golden backed woodpeckers, great Indian horned owls, tree pies, vultures,etc.
• It is declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1955 and was declared the tiger reserve later in 1978, making it a part of India’s Project Tiger.
• Kankarwadi fort is located in the center of the Reserve and it is said that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had imprisoned his brother Dara Shikoh at this fort in struggle for succession to the throne.

3. Kisan Sabha Application

Why in News?

• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has launched the Kisan Sabha App recently to connect farmers to the supply chain and freight transportation Management System.

Aim:

• To provide the most economical and timely logistics support to the farmers and increase their profit margins by minimizing interference of middlemen and directly connecting with the institutional buyers.

Highlights:

• The portal connects the farmers, transporters, Service providers (like Pesticides/ Fertilizer/ Dealers, cold Store and Warehouse Owner), mandi dealers, customers (like big retail outlets, online stores, institutional buyers) and other related entities for timely and effective solution.
• Kisan Sabha also works for people in the agriculture services sector such as dealers of fertilizers/ pesticides, who can reach out to more farmers for their services.
• It would also prove to be useful for those associated with cold stores or godowns.
• KisanSabha also provides a platform for people who want to buy directly from the farmers.
• Kisan Sabha has 6 major modules taking care of Farmers/Mandi Dealers/Transporters/Mandi Board Members/ Service Providers/Consumers.

Significance:

• The App will act as a single stop for every entity related to agriculture, be it a farmer who needs better price for the crops or mandi dealer who wants to connect to more farmers or truckers who invariably go empty from the mandis.
• It will also help in providing best market rates of crops by comparing nearest mandis, booking of freight vehicles at cheapest cost thereby giving maximum benefit to the Farmers.

 

4. The Saras Collection

Why in News?

• The Union Ministry of Rural Development launched “The Saras Collection” on the Government e Marketplace (GeM) portal, recently.

Saras Collection:

• A unique initiative of GeM and the DeenDayalAntyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development, the Saras Collection showcases daily utility products made by rural self-help groups (SHGs).
• It aims to provide SHGs in rural areas with market access to Central and State Government buyers.
• Under this initiative, the SHG sellers will be able to list their products in 5 product categories, namely (i) handicrafts, (ii) handloom and textiles, (iii) office accessories, (iv) grocery and pantry, and (v) personal care and hygiene.

DAY-NRLM:

• DAY-NLRM aims to reduce poverty through promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment while creating skilled wage employment opportunities.
• The scheme supports building social capital and ensuring financial linkages to alleviate poverty and enhance the quality of the life of Rural Poor Women.
• It has ambitious plans on innovations for alternate channels of financial inclusion like digital finance, creating value chains around rural products and improving market access, rural enterprise and strengthening community institutions.

GeM:

• Government e Marketplace (GeM) is a 100 percent Government owned Section 8 Company set up as the National Public Procurement Portal for procurement of goods and services required by Central and State Government organizations.
• GeM provides an online, end to end solution for procurement of goods and services for all Central Government and State Government Ministries, Departments, Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs), local bodies and autonomous organisations.
• The platform reduces human interventions in procurement and enables transparency, cost savings, inclusiveness and efficiency of faceless standardized public procurement.