Bihar Affairs
The microgrid revolution in Bihar
It is a project that has touched the lives of some 44,000 households, spread across 240 villages. To put it simply, these people now have something they never had before electricity.
Nothing can capture the project better than this data point: In January 2018, India had 63 microgrids, or networks that generated and distributed electricity in a particular area, with generation capacity of 1.9 MW. A year down the line, this number has increased by at least 373 microgrids and 12.8 MW of capacity, not counting the 11,961 standalone systems.
Bihar has built the countrys largest microgrids, standalone systems cluster. The country could draw useful lessons from it. The experience of companies like Mera Gao Power and Husk Power in providing microgrid and standalone solutions to UN-electrified villages has not been good, mainly because of collection issues and interference from local powers.
National and International Affairs
Agristack Project
The Department has commenced the work for creating Agristack in the country. In order to create Agristack, the department has finalized the core concept of India Digital Ecosystem of <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture (IDEA) which lays down a framework for Agristack. For this, a Task Force was constituted and in furtherance, a concept paper on IDEA was prepared and comments were invited from subject experts, farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and general public.
Agristack is a federated structure and ownership of data is with the States only.
Access to federated Farmers Database is with Government only. No private company is involved in developing the federated Farmers database. As of now, the federated database is being built by taking the publicly available data as existing in the Department and in various data silos in Government.
Gokul Grams under Rashtriya Gokul Mission
The Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, under Rashtriya Gokul Mission has released funds for setting up of 16 Gokul Grams with the aim of conservation and development of indigenous bovine breeds in a scientific and holistic manner.
Setting up of Biogas Plant was also included as one of the component under Gokul Grams and their performance evaluation has not been carried out. They have not been connected with the Gobardhan Yojana as the said scheme was not in place during the inception of Gokul Gram component under RGM.
Due to implementation of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission and other measures taken by Government of India milk production in the country has increased from 146.31Million Tonnes in 2014-15 to 220.78 Million in 2021-22 that is by 6.3% per annum during the last 8 years. Value of output of milk is more than Rs.9.32 lakh crore during 2021-22 which is the highest on all <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture products and is even more than the combined value of Paddy and Wheat. The scheme is the playing an important role in enhancing milk production and productivity of bovines to meet the growing demand of milk and making dairying more remunerative to the rural farmers of the country. The scheme is leading to multiplication of elite animals of indigenous breeds and increased availability of indigenous stock.
World Banks flagship Gender Toolkit launched
A Gender Toolkit based on Enabling gender responsive urban mobility and public spaces was launched by Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner a session conducted by the and the Chennai Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority.
The World Banks toolkit aims at bringing under spotlight the gender issues surrounding mobility and city design. Cities are experienced differently by men, Women and gender minorities and our toolkit provides tools to understand and address gender disaggregated mobility patterns, strengthen policies and develop Infrastructure to meet the needs of women and gender minorities, said Gerard Ollivier, lead transport specialist, India.
A Gender Toolkit based on Enabling gender responsive urban mobility and public spaces was launched on Thursday by Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi at a session conducted by the World Bank and the Chennai Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority.
The World Banks toolkit aims at bringing under spotlight the gender issues surrounding mobility and city design. Cities are experienced differently by men, women and gender minorities and our toolkit provides tools to understand and address gender disaggregated mobility patterns, strengthen policies and develop infrastructure to meet the needs of women and gender minorities, said Gerard Ollivier, lead transport specialist, India.
The toolkit is a two-volume guide brought out by the World Bank that details a four-pillar implementation framework for urban bodies to design a gender responsive urban mobility and public spaces programme.
Assessing the ground situation is the first pillar and includes understanding gender differences in mobility patterns, safety concerns, gaps in policy and infrastructure.