Kisan Suvidha Mobile App
- It is an omnibus mobile app developed to help farmers by providing relevant information to them quickly.
- The following services and information are available on the App -
- Weather Forecast
- Extreme Weather Alert
- Market Price of commodities
- Dealers - Fertilizer, Seeds, Pesticide, Seeds etc.
- Plant protection for 12 major crops
- Agro advisories
- Soil Health card
- Soil testing labs
- Cold Stores &Godowns
- Vet Labs & Diagnostic Centres
- Crop Insurance
- Government Schemes
- A farmer can also get extreme weather alerts like hailstorms or unseasonal rains.
- It is developed by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
- The app is available in 9 languages, English, Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, Oriya, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengla and Telugu.
Pusa Krishi Mobile App
- It disseminates information about the latest technologies developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
- It will help farmers to take the technology to farm fields.
- Details of 185 technologies are available in the App.
- It is developed by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
- It is available in two languages, Hindi and English.
IM-PDS
- Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS) is a new Central Sector scheme.
- It is launched by Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
- The key objectives of the scheme are,
- to integrate the existing PDS systems(portals) of States/UTs with the Central System(portals).
- Introduction of National Portability of ration card to lift foodgrains from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) across the country.
- National level de-duplication of ration cards/beneficiary.
- It will bring more transparency and efficiency in PDS as it will improve the mechanism to identify fake/duplicate ration cards.
- With this government is all set to implement "One nation-One ration card" scheme throughout India by 2020.
Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS)
- It is a scheme for promotion of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 year in rural areas.
- It comes under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- The major objectives of the scheme are,
- To increase awareness among adolescent girls on Menstrual Hygiene
- To increase access to and use of high quality sanitary napkins to adolescent girls in rural areas.
- To ensure safe disposal of Sanitary Napkins in an environmentally friendly manner.
- Funds are provided to States/UTs through National Health Mission (NHM).
- The funds are for decentralized procurement of sanitary napkins packs primarily to rural adolescent girls at a subsidized rate of Rs 6 for a pack of 6 napkins.
- The ASHA will be responsible for distribution of napkins.
- They will receive an incentive of Re 1 per pack sold and a free pack of napkins every month for her own personal use.
- A range of IEC (Information Education and Communication) material has been developed around MHS.
- It is a 360 degree approach to create awareness about safe and hygienic menstrual health practices.
- It includes audio, video and reading materials for adolescent girls.
- MHS is a part of Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, which is to ensure holistic development of adolescent population.
HT Bt cotton – GM Cotton
- Herbicide-tolerant Bt (HT Bt)Cotton is genetically modified cotton crop.
- It is also known as BG-III cotton, an advanced version of Bt Cotton, as it takes care of weeds problem.
- Herbicide is like a poison which is used to destroy unwanted vegetation.
- They are designed to tolerate specific broad-spectrum herbicides, which kill the surrounding weeds, but leave the cultivated crop intact.
- The herbicide-tolerant trait was developed and commercialised by US-based multinational seed giant Monsanto.
- Currently, Bt-Cotton is the only GM crop allowed to be grown in India.
- Herbicide-Tolerant Bt-cotton has unapproved genes which is not permissible in India.
- The herbicide-resistant gene in HT cotton can spread through pollen into biodiversity system leading to transformation of weeds into super weeds.
- It will threaten growth and yields of all crops in future and leads to health hazards.
- But farmers in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra cultivates the unapproved HTBT cotton, as they want improved seeds and technology for better crops.
- In the absence of government approval, production of HT Bt cotton is illegal.
Source: Indian Express, PIB