PIB Summary- 16th January, 2022 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

IT industry can play a key role in raising services exports to $1 trillion a year

Context

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, has assured leaders of India’s top IT companies that the Central government will give full support to the sector to accelerate growth and help India’s Services exports reach $1 trillion in a decade.

Service Exports from India:

• Services exports are likely to be about $240 billion to $250 billion, which is lower compared to merchandise exports but has the potential to grow rapidly.
  (i) India is on track to achieve its merchandise exports target of $400 billion currently.
• India is the world’s seventh-largest services exporter.
• The sector has received the highest foreign direct investment, accounting up for 53% of the total inflows between 2000 – 2021.

Way Forward

• The Minister added that reaching $1 trillion should be the ambition and mission of the IT companies.
• The Minister welcomed the IT industry’s proposal to start IT hubs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, which would generate jobs and help develop the regions.
• The Centre would assist IT companies by providing all the necessary infrastructure and facilities in towns.
• The IT industry can make a big contribution to Services exports by focusing on new technology and products that can make India a bigger global player in the sector.
• The minister told the leaders of the IT industry to focus on high-tech products.
• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) should provide the required assistance to the IT industry to help it grow rapidly and contribute to India’s export of Services.

INDIAN NAVY PASSEX WITH RUSSIAN NAVY

Context

The Indian Navy’s indigenously designed and built guided-missile destroyer, INS Kochi, exercised with Russian Federation Navy’s RFS Admiral Tributs in the Arabian Sea. 

PASSEX Exercise

• The Indian Navy conducts PASSEX exercises regularly with units of friendly foreign navies.
• The exercise showcased cohesiveness and interoperability between the two navies and included tactical maneuvers, cross-deck helicopter operations and seamanship activities.
• The Exercise reflects the strong long-term strategic relationship between the countries and particularly in defence cooperation in the maritime domain.
• India has conducted PASSEX Exercises with the US, Russia, the UK, Indonesia and others.

India’s Naval Exercises

MeitY invites applications under the Chips to Startup (C2S) Programme and Design Linked Incentive (DLI) for domestic Semiconductor manufacturers

Context

In line with the Prime Minister’s plan to transform India into a semiconductor hub, the Ministry of Electronics and Information (MeitY) has sought applications under its Chips to Startup (C2S) Programme and Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme.

Chips to Startup (C2S) Programme

• The Program aims to train 85,000 high-quality and qualified engineers in the area of Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) and Embedded System Design.
• The plan is to develop 175 ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), Working Prototypes of 20 System on Chips (SoC) and an IP Core repository for 5 years.
• The cabinet approved a Rs 76,000 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for semiconductors for boosting semiconductor and display fabrication production in the country.
• The program would be implemented in 100 academic and R&D organizations across the Country, including IITs and NITs.
• C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing), under MeitY, will serve as the nodal agency for the program.

Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme

• The scheme is a part of ₹76,000 crore package that the government has announced.
• The scheme aims to nurture at least 20 domestic companies involved in semiconductor design and facilitate them to achieve turnover of more than ₹1500 Crore in the next 5 years.
• Under the Scheme, financial incentives and design infrastructure support will be extended to domestic companies, startups and MSMEs working in the fields of semiconductor design.
• C-DAC will be the nodal agency for the program.
• The scheme has three components,
  (i) Chip Design infrastructure support: C-DAC will set up the India Chip Centre to host the state-of-the-art design infrastructure and facilitate its access to supported companies.
  (ii) Product Design Linked Incentive: reimbursement of up to 50% of the expenditure up to ₹15 Crore per application will be provided as financial support to the approved applicants who are engaged in semiconductor design.
  (iii) Deployment Linked Incentive:  an incentive of 6% to 4% of turnover over 5 years up to ₹30 Crore per application will be provided to applicants whose semiconductor designs are deployed in electronic products.
• The Scheme will take a pre-emptive approach to Identify the Products of national priorities and implement policies for their indigenisation thereby resulting in import substitution in strategic sectors.

“Purple Revolution” is Jammu & Kashmir’s contribution to “Start-ups India”

Context

The Union Minister said that “Purple Revolution” is Jammu & Kashmir’s contribution to “Start-ups India”, an initiative that was launched by the government in 2016.

Purple Revolution

• Around 500 farmers across villages in Doda of Jammu & Kashmir had their incomes quadrupled after shifting from maize to lavender.
• The first-time cultivators were distributed free lavender saplings and those who have cultivated lavender before were charged Rs 5-6 per sapling.
• According to experts, Lavender oil sells for Rs 10,000 per litre.
• About 40 litres of lavender oil is produced in one hectare of land.
• Lavender water separated from lavender oil is used to make incense sticks.
• Hydrosol, formed after distillation from the flowers, is used to make soaps and room fresheners.
• In 2016, the central government launched the ‘Aroma Mission’ to boost the cultivation of plants like lavender that have aromatic medicinal properties.

Aroma Mission

• Launched in 2016, to boost the cultivation of plants like lavender that have aromatic medicinal properties.
• The mission aims to bring transformative change in the aroma sector through desired interventions in the areas of agriculture, processing and product development.
• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu (IIIM Jammu), are the nodal agencies of the mission.

Significance

• The mission has contributed to the development and nurturing of the essential oil-based aroma industry in the country.
• The mission has benefited the industry, farmers and next-generation entrepreneurs.
• CSIR’s Aroma Mission is generating new avenues of self-livelihood and entrepreneurship.

Achievements

• The Mission has generated 10 to 12 lakh man-days of rural employment.
• More than 500 tonnes of essential oil worth Rs.60 crores was produced.
• Currently, with the Mission, important medicinal and aromatic plants are being cultivated in 6,000 hectares of land.