PIB Summary- 30th December, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

PM Kisan

Why in News?

In line with the continued commitment and resolve to empower grassroot level farmers, Prime Minister will release the 10th instalment of financial benefit under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme on 1st January, 2022.

About PM KISAN

Nodal: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

• The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme is a Central Sector Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme.
• Under the scheme an income support of 6,000/- per year in three equal installments will be provided to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding/ownership of upto 2 hectares.
• The Scheme initially provided income support to all Small and Marginal Farmers’ families across the country, holding cultivable land upto 2 hectares.
• Its ambit was later expanded to cover all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
• Definition of family for the scheme is husband, wife and minor children.
• State Government and UT administration will identify the farmer families which are eligible for support as per scheme guidelines.
• The fund will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
• There are various Exclusion Categories for the scheme.

Some of the categories of beneficiaries who are NOT eligible for benefit under this scheme are:

• Any institutional land-holders.
• The farmer as well as any member of the family belonging to the following categories:
  (i) Former and present holders of constitutional posts
  (ii) Former and present Ministers/ State Ministers
  (iii) Former or present members of LokSabha/ RajyaSabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils
  (iv) Former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations
  (v) Former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.
  (vi) Any serving or retired officers as well as employees under the Central/ State Government Ministries /Offices/Departments.
  (vii) All retired pensioners who get a monthly pension of Rs.10,000/-or more and belonging to the above category.
  (viii) Any individual who paid their income tax in the last assessment year is not eligible under this scheme.
  (ix)Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.

Atal Innovation Mission

Why in News?

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) NITI Aayog released the second edition of – ‘Innovations for You’- a compendium of innovations focused on agriculture featuring 70 startups supported by Atal incubation Centers (AICs) of AIM and ‘The Ingenious Tinkerers’ – a compendium on the innovations on technology featuring 41 innovations from Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) of India.

About Atal Innovation Mission

AIM is Government of India’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.

Major Initiatives:

• Atal Tinkering Labs: Creating problem solving mindset across schools in India.
• Atal Incubation Centers: Fostering world class startups and adding a new dimension to the incubator model.
• Atal New India Challenges: Fostering product innovations and aligning them to the needs of various sectors/ministries.
• Mentor India Campaign: A national mentor network in collaboration with the public sector, corporates and institutions, to support all the initiatives of the mission.
• Atal Community Innovation Centre: To stimulate community centric innovation and ideas in the unserved /underserved regions of the country including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
• Atal Research and Innovation for Small Enterprises (ARISE): To stimulate innovation and research in the MSME industry.

Flex Fuel Vehicles

Why in News?

Recently, the Government has advised the Automobile Manufacturers in India, to start manufacturing Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFV) and Flex Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) complying with BS-6 Norms in a time bound manner.

About FFV and FFV-SHEV:

• Flex-fuel vehicles (FFV): They have engines that can run on flexible fuel — a combination of petrol and ethanol, which can include up to 100% ethanol.
• Flex Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV): When FFV is integrated along with strong hybrid electric technology, it is referred as FFV-SHEVs.
• In order to accelerate the introduction of FFVs, the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme has included automobile and auto components of flex fuel engines.

Significance of the Move:

• The policy is expected to reduce the demand for petroleum products.
• India presently imports more than 80% of its petroleum requirement, and this also represents one of the biggest outflows of money from the country.
• The wide uptake of ethanol or methanol as a fuel is intended to create an additional revenue stream for farmers.
• This will provide direct benefits to farmers and help in doubling the farmer’s income.
• It is in line with Prime Minister’s vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat and government’s policy on promoting ethanol as a transport fuel.
• This move will drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on a well-to-wheel basis.
• Thereby, helping India to comply with its commitment made at Conference of parties (COP26) to reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030.

Bharat Stage Emission Standards

• The Bharat Stage (BS) are emission standards instituted by the Government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants from motor vehicles.
• The Environment Ministry is responsible for deciding the fuel standard in the country. The Central Pollution Control Board implements these standards.
• The BS regulations are based on the European emission standards.
• Companies can come up with new vehicles with BS VI fuel standards even before the April 2020 deadline. But after the deadline, vehicles that do not comply with BS VI standards will not be registered.
• With the implementation of new norms, pollution levels are expected to come down significantly as the particulate matter (PM) will decrease. About one-third of the air pollution is caused by cars and motor vehicles.

Advantages of BS-VI fuel Over BS-IV Fuel

• In BS-VI fuel, the volume of PM 2.5 ranges from 20 to 40 micrograms per cubic metre whereas in BS-IV fuel it is up to 120 micrograms per cubic metre.
• BS-VI fuel will bring down sulphur content by 5 times from the current BS-IV levels. It has 10 ppm of sulphur as against 50 ppm in BS-IV.
• Sulphur in the fuel contributes to fine particulate matter emissions. High sulphur content in the fuel also leads to corrosion and wear of the automobile engine.
• With BS-VI fuel, for every one kilometre, a car will emit 80% less particulate matter and nearly 70% less nitrogen oxide.
• Air pollutants in BS-VI fuel are much less as compared to BS-IV fuel.
• BS-VI norms also seek to reduce the level of certain harmful hydrocarbons in the emissions that are produced due to incomplete combustion of fuel.