UN Sanitation and Hygiene Fund
- It will fund countries with high burden of diseases stemming from lack of sanitation services and have the least ability to respond to them.
- The fund is hosted by the UN Office for Project Services, which provides technical advice and project implementation to the UN and its partners.
- The objectives of the Fund are:
- Expanding household sanitation
- Ensuring menstrual health and hygiene
- Providing sanitation and hygiene in schools and healthcare facilities
- Supporting innovative sanitation solutions
New Gecko in the Eastern Ghats
- A new species of lizard Cnemaspis avasabinaem, commonly known as Sabin’s Nellore dwarf gecko, has been discovered in the Eastern Ghats.
- It is the smallest known Indian gekkonid that lives in dry evergreen forest and measures less than 2.9 cm (snout to vent length).
- The most interesting find was that the males lacked femoral pores.
- Generally, most variants of lizards have femoral pores in both the sexes, and the secretions from these pores help in communication.
- In India, 45 species of genus Cnemaspis have been found, of which 34 are from the Western Ghats.
- This dwarf gecko is the twelfth species of the genus to be discovered outside the Western Ghats.
- This discovery suggests that the genus may be even more widely distributed than previously thought.
ECLGS 2.0
- Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 2.0 was expanded by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited (NCGTC).
- Under the scheme, 100% loan guarantee would be provided by NCGTC.
- While the ECLGS 1.0 will remain, the ECLGS 2.0 will cover entities in 26 stressed sectors identified by Kamath Committee, plus the health sector.
- These entities should have a credit outstanding of above Rs. 50 crore and up to Rs. 500 crore as on February 29, 2020.
- It provides a one-year moratorium on loans and four years.
- Facility under ECLGS 2.0 shall be on ‘Opt-in’ basis - to enable eligible borrowers to choose whether they wish to opt in the GECL facility.
- The borrower accounts should be less than or equal to 30 days past due as on February 29, 2020.
- 20% of credit dues will be given as working capital without collateral.
- The rate of interest charged by banks will not exceed 9.25%.
- It will be extended to the scheduled commercial banks, financial institutions, NBFCs, eligible MSMEs/business enterprises, individual borrowers and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) borrowers.
Honey FPO Programme
- Agriculture Ministry has launched five Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) for producing honey.
- These FPOs would be set up with the help of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).
- 5 FPOs - East Champaran (Bihar), Morena (Madhya Pradesh), Bharatpur (Rajasthan), Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) and Sunderbans (West Bengal).
- Through these FPOs, NAFED would help bee-keepers and honey collectors in branding, collective marketing, and also explore overseas markets for them.
- To know more about NAFED, click here.
PLI Scheme to Solar Manufacturing
- The Union Cabinet decided to award ‘Performance Linked Incentive’ (PLI) to solar panel manufacturers.
- While the wind power sector has a strong domestic supply chain, solar power projects are majorly dependent on imported solar panels.
- This scheme for solar PV modules will incentivize domestic and global players to build large-scale solar PV capacity in India.
- It will help India leapfrog in capturing the global value chains for solar PV manufacturing.
Source: Business Line, Down To Earth, Business Standard, Indian Express
