Topics
- International North South Transport Corridor
- Promotion of Agroforestry in the silk sector
- Food Waste Index Report 2021
International North South Transport Corridor
Context:India proposed the inclusion of strategically located Chabahar Port in The International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) that proposes to connect the country with Russia via Iran.
About corridor:
- This trade route is 7200 Km long and the transport of freight is through a multi-mode network of Road, Ship, and Railways.
- This route connects India and Russia through Iran and Azerbaijan.
- the major objective of the INSTC corridor was to reduce the time taken, costs incurred, and increase connectivity between major cities like Mumbai, Moscow, Astrakhan (located in Russia), Baku (Azerbaijan), Tehran, Bandar Abbas and Bandar Anzail (All located in Iran).
- The earlier trade route connecting India and Russia was through the Suez Canal.
- Russia, India, and Iran are the founding member states of INSTC. The agreement was signed in 2002.
- There are 13 member states of the INSTC project. The list of member states is given below.
- India
- Iran
- Russia
- Azerbaijan
- Armenia
- Kazakhstan
- Belarus
- Tajikistan
- Kyrgystan
- Oman
- Turkey
- Syria
- Ukraine.
Bulgaria is the Observer State.
Promotion of Agroforestry in the silk sector
Context:The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare signed a MoU with the Central Silk Board on a convergence model for the implementation of Agroforestry in the silk sector
- It is under the ongoing Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF) Scheme.
- This initiative in sericulture sector is especially targeted for augmentation of sericulture host plants e.g. Mulberry, Asan, Arjuna, Som, Soalu, Kesseru, BadaKesseru, Phanat, etc. to be cultivated both as block plantations and border or peripheral plantations on farmlands.
Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF) Scheme
- The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC & FW) has been implementing the SMAF since 2016-17 as part of the recommendation of the National Agroforestry Policy 2014.
- India was the first country to have such a comprehensive policy which was launched at the World Agroforestry Congress held in Delhi in February 2014.
- SMAF aims to encourage farmers to plant multi-purpose trees together with the agriculture crops for climate resilience and an additional source of income to the farmers, as well as enhanced feedstock to inter alia wood-based and herbal industry.
- It is operational under the funding pattern 60:40 (Central government: State government) basis for all states except for 8 states of North East Region, the hilly states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand where it would be 90:10 fund sharing. For Union Territories (UTs), the assistance will be 100% from the Central government.
The Central Silk Board
- It is a Statutory Body, established the Central Silk Board Act, 1948.
- It functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles, having head quarter at Bengaluru.
- It is a national organization for overall development of silk sector in India
Food Waste Index Report 2021
Context:Recently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released the Food Waste Index Report 2021.
Key Findings
- As per the UNEP report, estimated 931 million tonnes of food were wasted across the world 2019 and around 690 million people had to go hungry.
- The agency also highlighted that this amount of wasted food can circle the Earth seven times.
- It has revealed that 17% of all food available at consumer level (11% in households, 5% in food service and 2% in retail) was wasted in 2019
- The agency further highlighted that, on the global per capita stage 121 kgs of consumer food is wasted per year out of which 74 kgs waste is generated from the households.
United Nations Environment Programme
- The UNEP is a leading global environmental authority established on 5th june 1972.
- It sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for global environment protection.
- Major Reports: Emission Gap Report, Global Environment Outlook, Frontiers, Invest into Healthy Planet.
- Major Campaigns: Beat Pollution, UN75, World Environment Day, Wild for Life.
- Headquarters: Nairobi, Kenya.