PIB Summary- 15th January, 2022 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Fisheries Startup Grand Challenge

Why in News

Recently, the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying In association with Startup India, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry inaugurated the Fisheries Startup Grand Challenge.

About Fisheries Startup Grand Challenge:

• The challenge has been launched with an objective to provide a platform to start-ups within the country to showcase their innovative solutions within the Fisheries and Aquaculture sector.
• The solutions should be devised for resolving issues across the fisheries value chain for increasing aquaculture productivity from the current national average of 3 tons to 5 tons per hectare, doubling exports earnings and reducing post-harvest losses from 25% to 10%.
• The challenge is expected to foster start-up culture within the sector and to establish a strong foundation of the entrepreneurial model, the Department of Fisheries has earmarked funds to the tune of Rs. 3.44 Crore for the challenge

About Importance of Fisheries for India

• The India is the second major producer of fish through aquaculture in the world.
• The India is the 4th largest exporter of fish in the world as it contributes 7.7% to the global fish production.
• The fish constituted about 10% of total exports from India and almost 20% of agriculture exports in 2017-18.
• The fisheries and aquaculture production contribute around 1% to India’s GDP and over 5% to the agricultural GDP.
• Around 28 million people are employed in the fisheries sector in India.
• The sector has immense potential to more than double the fishers and fish farmers’ incomes, as envisioned by the government.

eSanjeevani

Why in news?

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare visited the eSanjeevani teleconsultation facility at the CGHS headquarters to physically witness the sessions where consulting doctors provided tele-consultation.

What is E-Sanjeevani?

• Ministry eevani AB-HWC) in the hub and spoke model and patient to doctor (eSanjeevani OPD).
• E-Sanjeevani OPD (out-patient department) is a telemedicine variant for the public to seek health services remotely; it was rolled out on 13th of April 2020 during the first lockdown in the country.
• e-Sanjeevani OPD is a Govt of India flagship telemedicine platform developed by the Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC), Mohali under the aegis of MoHFW, Govt of India.
• It provides free consultations to any Indian citizen.
• However, with covid cases surging, the demand for doctors is up while the supply has reduced due to doctors being pulled out for covid ward duties.
• It enables virtual meetings between the patients and doctors & specialists from geographically dispersed locations, through video conferencing that occurs in real-time.
• At the end of these remote consultations, eSanjeevani generates electronic prescriptions which can be used for sourcing medicines.
• Andhra Pradesh was the first state to roll out eSanjeevani AB-HWC services in November 2019.

Benefits of telemedicine

• Transportation: Patients can avoid spending gas money or wasting time in traffic with video consultations.
• No missing work: Today, individuals can schedule a consultation during a work break or even after work hours.
• Childcare/Eldercare Challenges: Those who struggle to find care options can use telemedicine solutions.