Ministry of Tourism works in close collaboration with various stakeholders for the development of tourism in the country. Different mechanisms to seek synergy and convergence with stakeholders are:

i. National Conference of State Tourism Ministers which are held to discuss various issues related to the development of tourism sector in the country. ii. National Tourism Advisory Council which serves as a ‘Think Tank’ of experts in the field of tourism and advises the Ministry on various tourism related issues. It includes representatives of various Union Ministries, Trade and Industry Associations and Individual Experts in the field of travel and tourism management.

iii. The Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee on Tourism Sector (IMCCTS) facilitates resolution of Inter-Ministerial issues involved in the development of tourism in the country. iv. Meetings/Consultations held from time to time to take suggestions/inputs from stakeholders in tourism sector for the development and promotion of tourism in the country.

The promotion of tourist destinations and products is primarily the responsibility of the concerned State Governments/Union Territory Administrations. However, Ministry of Tourism promotes India as a holistic destination including historical significance of various tourism sites to boost tourism in the country. Several initiatives/programmes implemented throughout the country are:

i. Launched the Swadesh Darshan Scheme with a vision to develop theme based tourist circuits.

ii. Launched the National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) Scheme for holistic development of identified pilgrimage destinations.

iii. Launched the Adopt a Heritage Projectfor development and maintenance of tourist amenities at heritage sites/monuments and other tourist sites. iv. Development and promotion of ‘Niche Tourism’ products to attract tourist with specific interest and to ensure repeat visits for the unique products in which India has a comparative advantage.

v. Launched 24x7 toll free Multi-Lingual Tourist Helpline. vi. Promoting India as a holistic tourism destination including its various tourism sites and products through Incredible India 2.0 Campaign.

vii. Providing facility of e-Visa for 5 sub-categories i.e. e-Tourist visa, e-Business visa, e-Medical visa, e-Medical Attendant visa and e-Conference visa for nationals of 169 countries. viii. Revamp of Incredible India Website having information on tourism sites/destinations in different States/Union Territory Administrations.

ix. Launch of the Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Programme on an online digital platform to provide basic, advanced and refresher courses for tourist facilitators. x. E-Visa has been further liberalized and the visa fee has been substantially reduced.

xi. New mountain peaks have been opened for Mountaineering/Trekking to give boost to adventure tourism in the country. xii. Lowering of GST on hotels rooms with tariffs of ₹1,001 to ₹7,500/night to 12% and those above ₹7,501 to 18% to increase India’s competitiveness as a tourism destination.

A total area of 27.77 lakh hectares is covered under organic farming in the country under Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) and 3rd party certification.

Government of India has been encouraging organic farming in the country through the dedicated schemes namely Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY- Centrally Sponsored scheme, in all states & UTs) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development of North East Region (MOVCDNER -Central Sector scheme for North Eastern Region). Both the schemes aim at promotion of cluster/ Farmers Producer Organization (FPO) based chemical free, low input cost, sustainable organic farming and support farmers from input procurement to market linkages. Organic Farming has also been supported under other schemes viz. Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Network Project on Organic Farming under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Third party certification of organic farming is promoted by Agriculture Processed Food and Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce.

Management Agricultural National Institute of Extension (MANAGE), Hyderabad conducted impact study for the scheme Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) during 2017. It is reported that there was 10-20% reduction in cost of cultivation (cost saving) and 20-50% increase in net returns to organic farmers. Price premium( up to 30%) was also observed in some clusters, which were nearer to large cities and had good linkages with large markets.

In the last 3 years, 115314 and 2050 number of capacity building trainings/ workshops conducted for the farmers in the country under PKVY and MOVCDNER scheme respectively, while the no. of farmers participated in the workshops are 14.93 lakhs and 82294 respectively. In U.P 2300 workshops were conducted and 31000 farmers participated. Apart from states, National Centre of Organic Farming (NCOF), Ghaziabad, a subordinate office of Department of Agriculture Cooperation (DAC&FW) also conducts regular certificate course on organic farming (CCOF), trainings to farmers/ extension staff skill development training on Organic Growers & Vermicompost for promotion of organic farming and its techniques.

Under protected cultivation component of MIDH, assistance is also provided for creation of polyhouses which protects the plants from adverse climatic conditions and provides an appropriate amount of light, temperature, humidity, carbon-dioxide etc. to achieve optimum yield with excellent quality. Since inception of MIDH scheme i.e. from 2014-15 to till date an additional area of 2380.49 ha has been brought under Green house structures like polyhouses.

The Government is implementing the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) – Oilseeds and Oil Palm to increase production of oilseeds and domestic availability of edible oils.

The NFSM–(OS&OP) is under implementation in 29 States and has three subcomponents namely, Oilseeds, Oil palm and Tree Borne Oilseeds (TBOs). The main objective is to increase oilseeds production & productivity and area expansion under oil palm & TBOs cultivation. The oilseeds production which was 27.72 million tonnes in 2008-09 increased to 32.26 million tonnes in 2018-19 with productivity increase from 1006 to 1265 kg/ha. during this period. The edible oil production in the country which was 6.34 million tonnes in 2008-09 increased to 10.44 million tonnes in 2018-19. An area of 3.30 lakh ha has been covered under oil palm upto 2018-19.

More than 12 per cent of total cropped area in the country is used for cultivation of oilseeds. To reduce import dependency, besides NFSM (OS&OP), Government of India is promoting pulses and oilseeds cultivation in rice fallow areas of six eastern states (Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal) since 2016-17 and from 2019-20, six more states (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) have been included to bring additional area and production of pulses and oilseeds.

With a view to provide social security net for the Small and Marginal Farmers (SMF) as they have minimal or no savings to provide for old age and to support them in the event of consequent loss of livelihood, the Government has launched a new Central Sector Scheme, namely, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY). Under this Scheme, a minimum fixed pension of Rs.3,000/- is provided to the eligible small and marginal farmers, subject to certain exclusion clauses, on attaining the age of 60 years.

It is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme, with entry age of 18 to 40 years. The beneficiary can opt to become member of the Scheme by subscribing to a Pension Fund managed by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The beneficiary is required to make a monthly contribution of between Rs.55/- to Rs.200/- to the Pension Fund, depending on the age of entry into the Scheme, with provision of equal contribution by the Central Government.

Exit from the scheme may be voluntarily or on failure of contribution or on demise. On exit from the scheme, the beneficiary will receive his/her accumulated share and the Government’s contribution will be deposited in the LIC Fund. After the subscriber’s death, the spouse or heir shall be entitled to receive 50% of the pension as family pension, provided he/she is not already an SMF beneficiary of the Scheme. On the death of the subscriber during the period of contribution, the spouse shall have the option of continuing the Scheme by paying regular contribution.

All Small and Marginal Farmers in the country, who are of the age of 18 years and above and up to the age of 40 years, and who do not fall within the purview of the exclusion criteria, are eligible to avail the benefits of this Scheme.

The Scheme aims to cover around 3 crore beneficiaries. As on 14/11/2019, 18,29,469 farmers in the country have been registered under the Scheme, including 61,496 farmers of Gujarat. The State-wise details are annexed. The ratio of contribution to be made by small and marginal farmers and the Union Government under this Yojana is 1:1. Government contribution under the Scheme is equal to the monthly contribution made by the farmer, which varies from Rs.55/- to Rs.200/- depending on the age of entry. The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is the Pension Fund Manager for the Scheme.

PM-KMY Scheme aims to cover around 3 crore Small and Marginal Farmers. A budgetary provision of Rs.900 Crore has been made for the year 2019-20. There is no State-wise allocation of funds under the Scheme.

Apart from the electronic and print media, wide publicity has been given to the Scheme through social media as well. The implementing agencies, the State / UT Governments and the Common Service Centres (CSCs), have also been roped in for wide publicity through their own resources. The Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) of the CSCs who are field level functionaries, have also been provided incentives for ensuring maximum enrolment of farmers under the Scheme.

Government enacted that National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) in July 2013 with an intended coverage of upto 75% of rural population and upto 50% of urban population for receiving highly subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System. One of the guiding principles of the Act is its life cycle approach wherein special provisions for supplementary nutrition have been made for pregnant women and lactating mothers and children in the age group of 6 months to 14 years.

Every pregnant woman and lactating mother is entitled to meal, free of charge, during pregnancy and six months after the child birth, through the local anganwadi, so as to meet the specified nutritional standards and also maternity benefit of not less than rupees six thousand to partly compensate for the wage loss during the period of pregnancy and also to supplement nutrition.

Every child in the age group of six months to six years, is entitled to age appropriate meal, free of charge, through the local anganwadi so as to meet the specified nutritional standards

In the case of children, up to class VIII or within the age group of six to fourteen years, whichever is applicable, one mid-day meal, free of charge is provided every day except on school holidays, in all schools run by local bodies, Government and Government aided schools, so as to meet the specified nutritional standards.

State Government through the local anganwadi, also identify and provide meals, free of charge, to children who suffer from malnutrition, so as to meet the specified nutritional standards.

National Food Security Mission (NFSM) was launched in 2007-08 to increase the production of rice, wheat and pulses through (i) area expansion and productivity enhancement, (ii) restoring soil fertility and productivity, (iii) Creating employment opportunities and (iv) enhancing farm level economy. Coarse cereals were also included in the Mission from 2014-15 under NFSM. The interventions covered under NFSM include cluster demonstrations on improved package of practices, demonstrations on cropping system, Seed distribution of high yielding varieties, farm machineries/resources conservation machineries/tools, efficient water application tools, plant protection measures, nutrient management/soil ameliorants, cropping system based trainings to the farmers etc.

NFSM continued during 12th Five Year Plan with the target of additional production of 25 million tonnes of food grains. Beyond the 12th Plan, the mission is being continued with new additional target of 13 million tonnes of foodgrains from 2017-18 to 2019-20. The country achieved bumper production of foodgrains during 2017-18 at 285.01 million tonnes. As per 4th Advance Estimates total foodgrains production achieved during 2018-19 is 284.95 million tonnes. NFSM is being implemented in identified districts of 29 states in the country.

The supplementary nutrition programmes envisaged under the National Food Security Act for pregnant women and lactating mothers and children upto the age of 14 years are operating smoothly and no proposal to reassess these programmes is under consideration of the Government.

Giving all States, irrespective of their population and size, an equal number of seats in the Rajya Sabha. All members, irrespective of their parties’ strength in the House, the same amount of time to speak in debates.

Need for Rajya Sabha: The Upper House of the Indian Parliament traces its direct history to the first bicameral legislature introduced in British India in 1919 as a consequence of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms.

Unlike the US Senate which ensures equal representation for all federal units (each state having two representatives), India’s Rajya Sabha does have more members from populous states.

Even though Indian states are ‘mere administrative units’ which don’t enjoy a constitutionally-assured permanence, their continued existence over all these years and the constitutional separation of power has given them the nature of autonomous units in their own spheres. Therefore, the ‘state-wise’ identity cannot be ruled out completely. India’s Rajya Sabha has equal powers to the Lok Sabha except for money bills, where it has no jurisdiction.

Is the Rajya Sabha essential? The contemporary argument against it comes from two primary angles: The first one suggests that a Lok Sabha that has representation from several regional parties more than adequately represents a federal country. The second argument charges that the Rajya Sabha has become a haven for losers in elections, crony capitalists, compromised journalists and party fundraisers.

What can be done? It is virtually impossible to abolish the Rajya Sabha without adopting a new Indian Constitution. The bicameral nature of the Indian Parliament is likely to be interpreted as a “basic structure” of the Indian Constitution, rendering it incapable of being amended. Even if this were to be tested, it would be ensnared in a judicial process for a very long time. It is much more practical to try and reform the Rajya Sabha than seeking to abolish it.

Reforms needed: Have members of the Rajya Sabha be directly elected by the citizens of a state. This will reduce cronyism and patronage appointments.

This step should be combined with equal representation for each state (say, five members) so that large states do not dominate the proceedings in the House. This streamlined Rajya Sabha should remain deliberative, but there should be deadlines set for responding to bills initiated in the Lok Sabha.

The quorum of the Gram Sabha meeting for passing such a resolution shall be one-tenth of its members.

What is Gram Sabha? The term Gram Sabha is defined in the Constitution of India under Article 243(b). Gram Sabha is the primary body of the Panchayati Raj system and by far the largest.

It is a permanent body. The power to annul a decision of the Gram Sabha rests with the Gram Sabha only.

Composition: Persons, those who are above 18 years of age. Living in the village. Whose names are included in the electoral rolls for the Panchayat at the village level.

Powers and functions: Constitution mentions that Gram Sabha exercises such powers and performs such functions at the village level as the Legislature of a State may, by law, provide.

Important and specific functions of Gram Sabha: To help implementation of the development programmes and schemes of the Panchayat. To identify beneficiaries for different programmes and schemes. However, if the Gram Sabha fails to identify such beneficiaries within a reasonable time, the Gram Panchayat shall identify the beneficiaries.

To solicit support — in cash or kind or both and voluntary labour — from the public for community welfare programmes. To support the programmes of mass education and family welfare.

To promote unity and harmony among all sections of the society in the village. To seek clarification from the Mukhiya, Up-Mukhiya and other members of the Gram Panchayat about any particular activity, scheme, income and expenditure. To discuss and recommend appropriate action with regard to reports of the Vigilance Committee.

Other related matters brought to the notice of the Gram Sabha. To consider levy of taxes, rates, rents & fees & enhancement of rates thereof. To consider all such matters as may be referred by the Gram Panchayat for its decision.

Key concerns: The scheme has failed to reach at least 49% of all mothers who would have delivered their first child (an estimated total of 123 lakh for 2017 according to the researchers).

Given the stipulated conditions, the scheme brings under its ambit 23% of all births and pays full benefits to a mere 14% of all births, which was at 270.5 lakh for 2017.

Only 66% of pregnant women and 69% of nursing women knew about the scheme. Only 8% of pregnant women and 23% of nursing mothers received some benefits.

Hurdles in implementation: An application form of about 23 pages, a slew of documents such as mother-child protection card, Aadhaar card, husband’s Aadhaar card and bank passbook aside from linking their bank accounts with Aadhaar. The requirement to produce the husband’s Aadhaar card results in excluding women who may be living with men they are not married to, single mothers and those who may be staying at their natal home.

Women must also have the address of their marital home on their Aadhaar card, which often results in newly weds being either left out or forced to go from door-to-door when pregnant and needing rest and care.

About PMMVY: Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a maternity benefit rechristened from erstwhile Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY). The IGMSY was launched in 2010. The scheme is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women.

It provides a partial wage compensation to women for wage-loss during childbirth and childcare and to provide conditions for safe delivery and good nutrition and feeding practices.

They receive a cash benefit of Rs. 5,000 in three instalments on fulfilling the respective conditionality, viz. early registration of pregnancy, ante-natal check-up and registration of the birth of the child and completion of first cycle of vaccination for the first living child of the family. The eligible beneficiaries also receive cash incentive under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). Thus, on an average, a woman gets Rs. 6,000.

Exceptions: The maternity benefits are available to all Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) except those in regular employment with the Central Government or State Government or Public Sector Undertaking or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force.

Funding: The scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under which cost sharing ratio between the Centre and the States & UTs with Legislature is 60:40 while for North-Eastern States & three Himalayan States; it is 90:10. It is 100% Central assistance for Union Territories without Legislature.

Need for special attention: Under-nutrition continues to adversely affect majority of women in India. In India, every third woman is undernourished and every second woman is anaemic. An undernourished mother almost inevitably gives birth to a low birth weight baby. When poor nutrition starts in-utero, it extends throughout the life cycle since the changes are largely irreversible.

Owing to economic and social distress many women continue to work to earn a living for their family right up to the last days of their pregnancy. They resume working soon after childbirth, even though their bodies might not permit it, thus preventing their bodies from fully recovering on one hand, and also impeding their ability to exclusively breastfeed their young infant in the first six months.

India is the present Kimberley Process (KP) Chair. The plenary is being hosted in New Delhi in November 2019.

What is the Kimberley Process? The Kimberley Process is an international certification scheme that regulates trade in rough diamonds. It aims to prevent the flow of conflict diamonds, while helping to protect legitimate trade in rough diamonds. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) outlines the rules that govern the trade in rough diamonds.

The KP is not, strictly speaking, an international organisation: it has no permanent offices or permanent staff. It relies on the contributions – under the principle of ‘burden-sharing’ – of participants, supported by industry and civil society observers. Neither can the KP be considered as an international agreement from a legal perspective, as it is implemented through the national legislations of its participants.

What are Conflict diamonds? “Conflict Diamonds” means rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments. It is also described in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.

Who is involved? The Kimberley Process (KP) is open to all countries that are willing and able to implement its requirements. The KP has 55 participants, representing 82 countries, including the European Union and its Member States counting as a single participant. KP members account for approximately 99.8% of the global production of rough diamonds.

In addition, the World Diamond Council, representing the international diamond industry, and civil society organisations, such as Partnership-Africa Canada, participate in the KP and have played a major role since its outset.

How does the Kimberley Process work? The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) imposes extensive requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as ‘conflict-free’ and prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate trade.

Under the terms of the KPCS, participating states must put in place national legislation and institutions; export, import and internal controls; and also commit to transparency and the exchange of statistical data.

Participants can only legally trade with other participants who have also met the minimum requirements of the scheme, and international shipments of rough diamonds must be accompanied by a KP certificate guaranteeing that they are conflict-free.

Rough diamond trading under the KPCS: As per the Scheme, each shipment of rough diamonds being exported and imported by crossing an international border be transported in a tamper proof container and accompanied by a validated Kimberley Process Certificate. The shipment can only be exported to a co-participant country in the KPCS. No uncertified shipments of rough diamonds are permitted to enter a participant country.

It is released by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). IMD is a business education school based in Switzerland. The ranking is based on the performance in three main categories — investment and development, appeal and readiness.

Performance of countries: The top of the table is still led by European small and mid-size economies. These countries all share high levels of investments in education and a superior quality of life. Switzerland in the first and Denmark in the second position firmly lead the ranking for the seventh year in a row, followed by Sweden, Austria and Luxembourg.

Performance of India: India has slipped 6 places to 59 rank. This is due to low quality of life and expenditure on education. India is also lagging behind fellow BRICs countries – China ranked 42nd on the list, Russia (47th) and South Africa (50th).

India also witnessed one of the sharpest declines among Asian economies owing to low quality of life, negative impact of brain drain, and the low priority of its economy on attracting and retaining talents.

The drop is a combination of several factors including expenditure on education (per student) and the quality of education which may be linked to the GDP growth.

There are other issues such as the effectiveness of the health system and women’s participation in the labour force.

What is it? The Starlink network is one of several ongoing efforts to start beaming data signals from space. Under the project, the company intends to evolve into a constellation of nearly 12,000 satellites.

The aim is to provide low-cost and reliable space-based Internet services to the world. The project announced in 2015, has now 122 satellites in the orbit.

Significance of the project: The project ensures that reliable and uninterrupted Internet services are universally available in every part of the globe.

Currently, about 4 billion people, more than half the world’s population, do not have access to reliable Internet networks. And that is because the traditional ways to deliver the Internet — fibre-optic cables or wireless networks — cannot take it everywhere on Earth. In many remote areas, or places with difficult terrain, it is not feasible or viable to set up cables or mobile towers. Signals from satellites in space can overcome this obstacle easily.

Geostationary orbit is located at a height of 35,786 km over the Earth’s surface, directly above the Equator. Satellites in this orbit move at speeds of about 11,000 km per hour, and complete one revolution of the Earth in the same time that the earth rotates once on its axis. To the observer on the ground, therefore, a satellite in geostationary orbit appears stationary.

Advantages: Signals from geostationary orbit can cover a very large part of the Earth. Signals from one satellite can cover roughly a third of the planet — and three to four satellites would be enough to cover the entire Earth. Also, because they appear to be stationary, it is easier to link to them.

Then what’s the issue? There is a time lag — called latency — between a user seeking data, and the server sending that data.

And because data transfers cannot happen faster than the speed of light (in reality, they take place at significantly lower speeds), the longer the distance that needs to be covered the greater is the time lag, or latency. A transmission from a satellite in geostationary orbit has a latency of about 600 milliseconds.

How low earth orbit seeks to solve this issue? A satellite in the lower orbit, 200-2,000 km from the Earth’s surface, can bring the lag down to 20-30 milliseconds, roughly the time it takes for terrestrial systems to transfer data.

Concerns over LEOs: Owing to their lower height, their signals cover a relatively small area. As a result, many more satellites are needed in order to reach signals to every part of the planet.

Other issues include: Increased space debris, increased risk of collisions, and the concern of astronomers that these constellations of space Internet satellites will make it difficult to observe other space objects, and to detect their signals.

It is the Joint Exercise between the Qatari Emiri Navy and the Indian Navy, Za’ir-Al-Bahr (the Roar of the Sea).

The latest edition is being held in Doha. Aim: To strengthen cooperation and enhance interoperability between the two navies.

Launched by Ministry of Sports within the ambit of National Sports Development Fund (NSDF). It aims at identifying and supporting potential medal prospects for upcoming Olympic Games.

It will provide selected sportspersons customized training at institutes having world class facilities and also other necessary support is being provided to the elite athletes. It will also provide a benchmark for selection of athletes on par with international standards.

Under it, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and federations, which are members of Mission Olympic Cell (MOC), will be nodal agencies for disbursal for fund. They will make payments directly to beneficiary person and institution concerned on behalf of athletes.