PIB Summary- 13th February, 2022 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Maharaja Surajmal

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The Prime Minister pays tributes to Maharaja Surajmal on his Jayanti

Maharaja Surajmal

• Maharaja Suraj Mal or Sujan Singh was a Hindu Jat ruler of Bharatpur in Rajasthan was born in 1707.
• Under him, the Jat rule covered present-day Delhi and districts of Agra, Aligarh, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Hathras, Kanpur, Mathura, Meerut, and Muzaffarnagar.
• Modern historians describe him as “the Plato of the Jat tribe” and “Jat Odysseus”, because of his political sagacity, steady intellect and clear vision.
• Lohagarh Fort was built in the 18th century by Raja Suraj Mal and is the only fort in India that no one in history has won.
• After the defeat of the Marathas by the Afghans in the Third Battle of Panipat, Maharaja Suraj Mal gave food and shelter to thousands of Maratha survivors and received them with tender warmth and hospitality, giving free rations to every Maratha soldier or camp follower.
• Suraj Mal was killed in an ambush by the Rohilla troops in December 1763 near Hindon River, Delhi. 
• In addition to the troops stationed at his forts, he had an army of 25,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry when he died.

Agricultural Products Export Development Authority [APEDA]

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Agricultural Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) celebrated its 36th Foundation Day.

Achievements of APEDA

• APEDA has played an active role in increasing the export of agricultural products to USD 20.67 billion in 2020-21 from USD 0.6 billion in 1986 when it was founded.  
• APEDA also helped expand the export basket to 205 countries.
• The share of APEDA exports constituted 49% of overall agri-product exports in 2020-21 out of which, Cereals and fresh horticulture comprised 59%, Cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed items 23% and animal products 18%.
• Exports of agricultural and processed food products under APEDA increased,
  (i) To USD 20.67 billion in 2020-21,
  (ii) From USD 9.31 billion in 2010-11
  (iii) USD 19406 million In 2018-19
  (iv) In the financial year 2021-22 (April-December), APEDA has exported agricultural and processed food products worth USD 17,465 million.
• The export growth between 2020-22 has been achieved despite the disruption in supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic due to the visionary approach, aggressive and consistent efforts of APEDA.

Various Initiatives by APEDA

• APEDA has promoted IT-enabled activities for ease of doing business in the promotion and development of exports from India.
• APEDA has undertaken initiatives like paperless office, APEDA Mobile App, phase-wise delivery of online services, monitoring and evaluation, uniform access, and virtual trade fair with an aim to take export of agricultural products to a new level.
• APEDA has been focusing on the promotion of exports of locally sourced Geographical Indications (GI) tagged as well as indigenous, ethnic agricultural products.
  (i) Currently, there are 417 registered GI products and of them, around 150 GI tagged products are agricultural and food GI.
• A Farmer Connect Portal has also been set up by APEDA for providing a platform for Farmer Producers Organisations (FPOs) or Cooperatives to interact with exporters.
  (i) Around 3,295 FPOs/FPCs and 3,315 exporters have been registered in the portal .
• For promoting use of hybrid technology, APEDA has integrated a Blockchain solution into its GrapeNet traceability platform.
  (i) GrapeNet is a web-based certification and traceability software system for monitoring fresh grapes exported from India to the European Union
  (ii) After the success of traceability implementation in the grapes sector, the same was replicated for peanut (Peanut.net); Organic products (Tracenet) and meat products (Meat.net).
• The APEDA website provides online facilities for the issuance of Registration-cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC), Registration-cum-Allocation Certificate (RCAC) and submission of financial assistance schemes applications.
• The Government of India initiated the development of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), and APEDA is designated as the Secretariat for NPOP.

Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) Scheme

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The Government has approved the continuation of Modernisation of Police Forces scheme.

Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) Scheme

• The MPF scheme is an umbrella scheme initiated in 1969-70.
• Objective: To reduce the dependence of the State Governments on the Army and other Central forces to control internal security and law and order situations by equipping the State Police Forces adequately and strengthening their training infrastructure.
• The scheme comprises all relevant sub-schemes that contribute to modernization with a Central outlay of Rs.26,275 crore.

Key features of MPF Scheme

• To develop operationally independent high-quality forensic sciences facilities in States/Union Territories for aiding scientific and timely investigation through modernization of resources.    
• A central outlay of Rs.18,839 crore has been earmarked for security related expenditure for Jammu & Kashmir and insurgency affected North Eastern States and Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas.
• With the implementation of the ‘National Policy and Action Plan’ for combating LWE, the LWE violence incidents have come down drastically.
  (i) These schemes include Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Most LWE Affected Districts & Districts of Concern to consolidate the gains.
• For raising of India Reserve Battalions, Central outlay of Rs.350 crore has been approved.
• Central sector scheme of ‘Assistance to States & Union Territories for Narcotics Control with an outlay of Rs.50 crore.

River Devika project

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The Union Minister said that the historic River Devika project will be completed by June 2022.

Devika River

• Devika river holds great religious significance as it is revered as the sister of Ganga.
• Devika, a small rivulet flows through Udhampur in Jammu & Kashmir.
• The river originates near Sudhmahadev and it merges with Suryaputri Tawi at Venisung and this confluence is a place of worship.
• The river again appears near Gangera in Udhampur.
• Devika manifests itself in the form of small rivulets at Sudhmahadev, Udhampur, Jindrah, Purmandal and Uttarvehni after which it merges with Basantar.
• As it appears and disappears in many places, Devika is also known as Gupt Ganga.

River Devika project

• The project being built at the cost of over Rs 190 crore is said to be North India’s first river rejuvenation project and will offer a unique destination both for pilgrims and recreation tourists.
• The project includes the construction of three sewage treatment plants, a sewerage network of 129.27 km, the development of two cremation ghats, protection fencing and landscaping, small hydropower plants and three solar power plants.
• The construction of the project started in 2019 under the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP).
• The completion of the project will result in the reduction of pollution and improvement in water quality.