Two Minor Forest Produce Tertiary Processing Units to be Set up Under The Project

Trifood Will Enhance Tribal Income and Employment Through Backward and Forward Linkages –Shri Arjun Munda Posted On: 20 AUG 2020 6:05PM by PIB Delhi

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Shri Arjun Munda e-launched the tertiary processing centresof “Trifood Project” of TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs in in Raigad, Maharashtra and Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh here today in the presence of Smt.Renuka Singh, Minister of State, Shri K.C. Padvi, Minister of Tribal Affairs, Maharashtra, Shri Ramesh Chand Meena, Chairman, TRIFED and Shri Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED. Senior officials from the ministries and dignitaries from the two states also attended this virtual inauguration.

Being implemented by TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs in association with Ministry of Food Processing (MoFPI), TRIFOOD aims to enhance the income of tribals through better utilization of and value addition to the MFPs collected by the tribal forest gatherers. To achieve this, as a start, two Minor Forest Produce (MFP) processing units will be set up.

The unit in Raigad, Maharashtra that will be used for value addition to mahua, amla, custard apple and jamun and will produce mahua drink, amla juice, candy, jamun juice and custard apple pulp. The multi-commodity processing centre in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh will be used for the processing of commodities like mahua, amla, honey, cashew, tamarind, ginger, garlic and other fruits and vegetables. These would be made into mahua drink, amla juice, candy, pure honey, ginger-garlic paste and fruit and vegetable pulp.

Congratulating all those involved with this project, Shri Arjun Munda lauded their efforts in reviving the flagging economic condition of the tribal food gatherers. Airing his views on holistic development, he touched upon the aspects of the biodiversity of tribal life and how these should be preserved and enhanced. He said that this project will help in promoting tribal entrepreneurship.

He lauded TRIFED’s efforts in particular in this project, which not only ensures that this bio-diversity is maintained but also forges backward and forward linkages, while promoting the development of the tribals. TRIFED, as the nodal agency for the upliftment of the tribals, has been putting in place several initiatives to alleviate their distress in these unprecedented times. He encouraged the officials working on this ambitious initiative on ground so that this can be replicated across the country. He opined that DMs and DFOs can play a very important role in tribal development.

Speaking on the occasion, Smt Renuka Singh Saruta also appreciated the joint efforts and the vision behind which such a fruitful initiative could be possible in the two neighbouring states. She added that she is hopeful that this initiative will bring in much benefits to the tribal populations in the two states. She hoped that these project will be extended to other tribal states also.

Shri R.C. Meena dwelt upon many such useful schemes and programmes of TRIFED for the betterment of lives of tribals and hoped that this project will serve its purpose in these two states.

Earlier, Shri Pravir Krishna, MD, TRIFED thanked the teams of TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Food Processing Industries and NSTFDC for their work on this initiative. He also spoke about how the TRIFOOD project in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra is an attempt to offer a comprehensive development package for tribals by promoting, employment, incomes and entrepreneurship.

Many different kinds of foodDescription automatically generated The ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value Chain for MFP’ Scheme, in particular,hasalready emerged as a beacon of change in these unprecedented times and has positively impacted the tribal ecosystem as never before. Implemented by TRIFED in association with State Government Agencies across 21 states of the country, the scheme has injected more than Rs 3000 crores directly in the tribal economy so far.

Aided by the Government push in May 2020 wherein the prices of Minor Forest Produce (MFPs) were increased by upto 90% and the inclusion of 23 new items in the MFP list, this flagshipscheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which draws its strength from The Forest Rights Act of 2005,aims to provide remunerative and fair prices to tribal gatherers of forest produces.

The Van Dhan Vikas Kendras/ tribal start-ups, also a component of the same scheme, further complements MSP beautifully as it has emerged as a source of employment generation for tribal gatherers and forest dwellers and the home-bound tribal artisans. 1205 Tribal Enterprises spread across 18500 SHGs have been established to provide employment opportunities to 3.6 lakh tribal gatherers and 18000 Self-help groups in 22 States. The crux of the programme is that it ensures that the proceeds from the sales of these value-added products go to the tribals directly.

The TRIFOOD project aims to converge both the components in its desired merits. In association with MoFPI, the units that will be set up under the Scheme for Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages under the Pradhan Mantri KisanSampada Yojana, will procure the raw material from the Van DhanKendras in the state. The fully processed products will be sold across the country in Tribes India outlets, and franchisee stores. Moreover, TRIFED plans to identify and train tribal entrepreneurs who can also sell the products.

With systems and processes being put in place to make the procurement of MFPs and their processing and value addition a round-the-year process, TRIFED is working towards the successful implementation of the TRIFOOD project and other upcoming ones, so that tribal lives and livelihoods can be transformed and incomes secure.

At a time when the country's economy took a severe jolt due to Covid-19 lockdown, the flagship Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP) implemented by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) progressed at a much rapid pace. Thanks to a major decision of the Ministry of MSME introducing a new&faster mechanism in approving the PMEGP projects, the approval of projects during the first five months of this financial year, i.e. from April 1, 2020 to August 18, 2020, increased by a whopping 44%.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), has approved and forwarded 1.03 lakh project applications to the financing banks as compared to 71,556 projects during the corresponding period last year and thus registering a jump of 44%.

PMEGP is the flagship employment generation program of the Central government and KVIC is the nodal agency for implementing the scheme. The Ministry on April 28, this year amended the guidelines to do away with the role of the District Level Task Force Committee (DLTFC) in approving the PMEGP projects.

The role of DLTFC, headed by the District Collectors, was time consuming. As such, the swift execution of projects under PMEGP and KVIC was demanding doing away with the same as this important scheme required greater priority. As per the amended guidelines, KVIC, the nodal agency for implementing PMEGP scheme, was entrusted the task of clearing the applications from prospective entrepreneurs and forward it to the Banks for taking credit decisions.

During the period from April to August in 2020, financing banks sanctioned 11,191 projects and Rs 345.43 crore margin money was disbursed to applicants as compared to Rs 276.09 crore margin money disbursed for 9161 projects in the first five months of previous year, i.e. 2019. The number of sanctioned projects by banks thus increased by 22% while the disbursement of margin money by KVIC increased by 24% as compared to previous year.

The faster implementation of PMEGP projects this year assumes greater significance as the entire country was under lockdown for most part of these five months. The higher number of projects also signifies the government’s resolve to create self-employment and sustainable livelihood for the people by promoting local manufacturing.

The official logo of Labour Bureau, an attached office of Ministry of Labour and Employment, was launched here today by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment in the presence of Shri Heeralal Samariya, Secretary, MoL&E and Shri D.P.S. Negi, Director General Labour Bureau & Senior Officers of Ministry at Shram Shakti Bhawan, to visually communicate the vision and objectives of the Bureau.

While lauding the efforts Labour Minister mentioned that Labour Bureau was established as a Directorate of Cost of Living at Shimla in the year 1941 with the objective of conducting Family Budget Enquiries and compiling Cost of Living Index Numbers for important centers in the country on a uniform basis.

The need for more comprehensive labour statistics in the context of formulation of labour policy led to the setting up of the Labour Bureau on October 1, 1946 by rechristening the Directorate of Cost of Living with added functions. Since then Labour Bureau is engaged in collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of statistics on different facets of labour at All India level.

Shri Gangwar asked Labour Bureau to increase its outreach by way of total Digitalization of its processes & use of Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence in its day to day operations.

Shri Gangwar underlined the importance of data base in policy making. He called for increased use of Information Technology to make available greater and more accurate data at within a very short time.

Stressing the need for soon moving on to paperless working, Minister expressed confidence that digitisation and artificial intelligence will also help in collection & analysis of a large data in much less time. He further said that as Government is working in providing employment, the accurate data becomes very crucial for this purpose.

On this occasion both Minister & Secretary (L&E) told to media persons that century old 44 Labour acts are being subsumed in four codes, out of this wage code is already enacted & three codes i.e.

The Social Security, Industrial relations & occupational Safety, Health and working conditions have already been Introduced in Lok Sabha and once enacted India’s ranking on “Ease of doing business” will go very high and India will be a dream destination for Investment and Labour Bureau should collect data in Seamless way for this necessary provisions in codes & rules will be provided to give Statutory Powers to Labour Bureau.

Labour Secretary also called upon Labour Bureau to gear up for 100 per cent digitisation and ensuring tracking investigators and surveyors. He asked the Bureau to prepare for data collection in the light of Labour Law reforms which may require changes in forms and types of data collection and methodologies.

The newly launched logo represents that Labour Bureau is a data based organization dealing in data related to workers and work. The logo also represents the three goals that Labour Bureau strives to achieve in producing quality data i.e. Accuracy, Validity and Reliability.

Blue wheel is a cog wheel representing work, choice of blue colour Sinifies that we deal with blue collar workers, the graph is not going up words alone as in real world data has ups & downs because it captures ground reality. A tricolored Graph, matching the colors of the National flag, along with wheat ears, signifying the fruit of rural agricultural labour, has been beautifully placed in the logo.

The mandate of Labour Bureau is to act as a storehouse of important economic indicators like Consumer Price Index for Industrial worker, Agriculture & Rural Labour Numbers for Industrial, Agricultural and Rural Labourers; wage rate indices and data on employment/ unemployment, industrial relations, socio-economic conditions in the organized and unorganized sector of industry etc.

The Labour Bureau is a Apex National Level organization in the field of labour statistics which performs significant functions such as Labour Intelligence, Research, Monitoring/evaluation & training.

The All-India Consumer Price Index Numbers for Agricultural Labourers and Rural Labourers (Base: 1986-87=100) for the month of July, 2020 increased by 3 and 4 points to stand at 1021 (One thousand and twenty one) and 1028 (One thousand and twenty eight) points respectively.

The major contribution towards the rise in general index of Agricultural Labourers and Rural Labourers came from food, with (+) 2.49 points and (+) 2.64 points respectively mainly due to rise in prices of arhar dal, masur dal, ground nut oil, meat goat, poultry, vegetables and fruits etc.

The rise/fall in index varied from State to State. In case of Agricultural Labourers, it recorded an increase of 1 to15 points in 17 States and a decrease of 3 to 8 points in 3 States. Tamil Nadu State with 1216 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh State with 786 points stood at the bottom.

In case of Rural Labourers, it recorded an increase of 1 to 14 points in 15 States and a decrease of 1 to5 points in 4 States while it remained stationary in Rajasthan State. Tamil Nadu State with 1202 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh State with 838 points stood at the bottom.

Amongst states, the maximum increase in the Consumer Price Index Numbers for Agricultural Labourers was experienced by Meghalaya State (15 points) and for Rural Labourers it was experienced by Jammu & Kashmir and Meghalaya States (14 points) mainly due to rise in the prices of milk, meat goat, fish dry, bidi, vegetables and fruits and bus fare etc.

On the contrary, the maximum decrease in the Consumer Price Index Numbers for Agricultural Labourers and Rural Labourers was experienced by Tripura State (- 8points and -5 points respectively) mainly due to fall in the prices of rice, meat goat, fish fresh/dry etc.

Surat And Navi Mumbai Secure Second and Third Position Respectively

Chhattisgarh Declared Cleanest State In >100 ULB Category Jharkhand Declared Cleanest State In +100 ULB Category State Total of 129 Awards Given

SS 2020 Survey Report Released Along With Reports On Innovations And Best Practices And Report On Assessment Of Ganga Towns 4,324 Urban Ulbs Declared Odf So Far

1,319 Cities Certified ODF+ and 489 Cities Certified ODF++ More than 66 Lakhs Individual Household Toilets And Over 6 Lakhs Community/ Public Toilets Constructed

Over 59,900 Toilets Across 2900+ Cities Made Live on Google Maps Cities Of Indore, Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai, Surat, Rajkot And Mysuru Rated As 5-Star Cities, 86 Cities As 3-Star And 64 Cities As 1-Star

SS 2021 To Focus On Wastewater Treatment And Reuse Along With Faecal Sludge, Legacy Waste Management And Remediation Of Landfills

New Performance Category—"Prerak Dauur Samman” Introduced in SS 2021 With Five Additional Sub- Categories -Divya (Platinum), Anupam (Gold), Ujjwal (Silver), Udit (Bronze), Aarohi (Aspiring)

Chakshu Roy and Prachi Kaur, Indian Express, Aug 20, 2020

As the Uttar Pradesh Assembly prepares to meet Thursday (August 20), on its agenda is to ratify salary cuts for legislators, announced amid the Covid-19 breakout by the government when the House was not in session.

Apart from UP, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have announced salary cuts for their legislators to curb state expenditure amid the pandemic. The salaries and certain allowances have been reduced for one year, starting April 2020. With the exception of Bihar (which brought in the cuts through rules), all the other states promulgated Ordinances to bring the changes into effect.

Assam and Maharashtra are in the process of cutting legislators’ salaries, and in Haryana, political parties have agreed that their MLAs will give up a percentage of their pay.

The salaries of MPs have also been reduced by 30 per cent for similar reasons.

What is Uttar Pradesh doing Uttar Pradesh, with 500 legislators, is the largest state Assembly in the country. In 1980, the basic salary of the state’s MLA/MLC was Rs 500 a month. This amount was intermittently revised, and by 2016 they were being paid Rs.10,000 a month. The last upward salary revision was four years ago before the UP state elections, when then-Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had upped the basic salary of the state’s public representatives to Rs 25,000 per month.

Five states have cut salaries and allowances of legislators by 30%; Bihar by 15% Earlier this year, Yogi Adiyanath’s government cut the salary of the state’s legislators by 30 per cent, bringing it down to Rs17,500 per month. This reduction is a temporary measure applicable for a year.

How are elected representatives paid in different states Amid the states that have announced the cut, before this measure, Kerala MLAs received the lowest basic salary at Rs 2,000 per month. Gujarat MLAs had the highest basic salary at Rs78,800. In addition to the basic salary, MLAs across the country receive allowances for office and constituency expenses. They also receive free housing in the state’s capital and concessions for travelling in the state. Legislators also get a small daily allowance for attending a sitting of the Assembly.

MLAs usually determine their own salaries by passing a law in the legislature brought by the government. States like Gujarat and Maharashtra have pegged the salaries of their legislators to the salaries of civil servants in their states.

In one of his last acts as the Union finance minister, Arun Jaitley linked the salaries of MPs to the cost of inflation index, and provided that the salaries will be revised every five years.

How much the salary cuts will help Reducing the salaries of state legislators will result in negligible savings. Bihar, which like Uttar Pradesh has a bicameral legislature, reduced the salaries of its MLAs by 15%. It will save Rs 2.1 crore, 0.001% of its proposed expenditure for the year.

Negligible savings through deductions in salaries For a smaller state like Himachal Pradesh, which put a 30% cut for its 68 MLAs, the saving will be Rs 4.3 crore, 0.009% of this year’s expenditure. UP, which has a budgeted expenditure of Rs 5,12,000 crore, will only end up saving approximately Rs 17.4 crore, 0.003% of its budget.

Authors are from PRS Legislative Research

Context: Supreme Court has delivered its judgement on PM CARES funds.

What’s the issue? The petition was filed by an NGO named Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) had sought a direction to the Centre to transfer the funds of PM Cares Fund to the NDRF.

Highlights of the judgment: The Court has “refused” to order transfer of funds from the PM CARES Fund to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). They “are two entirely different funds with different object and purpose”.

PM CARES Fund, being a public charitable trust, “there is no occasion for audit by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India”. The Court also rejected the request for a new National Plan under the National Disaster Management Act, 2005, to deal with Covid-19 situation.

The court held that there is “no statutory prohibition on individuals to make voluntary contributions to NDRF” under Section 46(1)(b) of the DM Act. The court also declined to intervene with the “minimum standards of relief” and the necessary guidelines issued by the government under Section 12 of the DM Act.

About PM CARES Fund: Set up on March 28, the PM CARES Fund is a charitable trust registered under the Registration Act, 1908.

The trust does not receive any Budgetary support or any Government money. It was constituted with an objective to extend assistance in the wake of public health emergency that is pandemic COVID-19”.

Who administers the fund? Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund and Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance, Government of India are ex-officio Trustees of the Fund.

Context: At a recent meeting, the Punjab Chief Minister asked the Central government to be cautious on the contentious Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, saying it has the potential to disturb the nation’s security.

The meeting was convened following the Supreme Court’s direction to the Centre on July 28 to mediate between the two States to resolve the issue.

How this issue could disturb nation’s security? Pakistan has been making continuous attempts to foment trouble and to try and revive the separatist movement through the banned Sikhs for Justice organisation. The water issue could further destabilise the State.

Punjab’s demands: Suitable amendments should be made to the proposed Inter State River Water Disputes Act to set up a new tribunal, to ensure that Punjab gets adequate water “in a just and equitable manner in keeping with its total demand and securing livelihood of the future generations.”

What is the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal, and the controversy over it? Historical background: The creation of Haryana from the old (undivided) Punjab in 1966 threw up the problem of giving Haryana its share of river waters. Punjab was opposed to sharing waters of the Ravi and Beaswith Haryana, citing riparian principles, and arguing that it had no water to spare.

However, Centre, in 1976, issued a notification allocating to Haryana 3.5 million acre feet (MAF) out of undivided Punjab’s 7.2 MAF.

The Eradi Tribunal headed by Supreme Court Judge V Balakrishna Eradi was set up to reassess availability and sharing of water. The Tribunal, in 1987, recommended an increase in the shares of Punjab and Haryana to 5 MAF and 3.83 MAF, respectively.

The canal: To enable Haryana to use its share of the waters of the Sutlej and its tributary Beas, a canal linking the Sutlej with the Yamuna, cutting across the state, was planned.

A tripartite agreement was also negotiated between Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan in this regard.

The Satluj Yamuna Link Canal is a proposed 214-kilometer long canal to connect the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers. However, the proposal met obstacles and was referred to the Supreme Court.

What is Haryana’s demand? Haryana has been seeking the completion of the SYL canal to get its share of 3.5 million acre-feet of river waters. It has maintained that Punjab should comply with the 2002 and 2004 Supreme Court orders in this regard. Haryana is getting 1.62 million acre-feet of the Ravi-Beas waters.

Context: The Atal Rankings of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2020 has been released.

What is it? Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) is an initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) (Now, it is the Ministry of Education), Govt. of India to systematically rank all major higher educational institutions and universities in India.

ARIIA ranking will primarily focus on 6 main parameters: Programs and Activities on IPR, Innovation, Start-up and Entrepreneurship. Pre Incubation & Incubation Infrastructure & Facilities to Support I&E. Annual Budget Spent on Promoting and Supporting I&E Activities. Courses on Innovation, IPR and Entrepreneurship Development. Intellectual Property (IP), Technology Transfer and Commercialization. Successful Innovation and Start-ups & Funding Innovation & start-ups.

Rank Categorisation- Two Broad Categories:

Publicly Funded Institutions: Sub Categories: Institute of National Importance, Central Universities and Centrally Funded Technical Institutes.

State University & Deemed Universities (Government & Government. Aided) Government and Government/Aided College/Institutes. Private or Self- Financed Institutions:

Sub categories: Private or Self- Financed Universities. Private or Self- Financed College/Institutes.

For the first time, ARIIA 2020 has a special prize category for women only higher educational institutions. This will be the 6th sub- category.

Top Performing of various institutions: IIT Madras under the category of Institutes of National Importance, Central Universities, and Centrally Funded Technical Institutes;

Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai got the top position under Government and Government Aided Universities;

College of Engineering, Pune under Government and Government Aided Colleges; Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar under Private or Self-Financed Universities.

S R Engineering College, Warangal under Private or Self-Financed Colleges. Avinashilingam Institute For Home Science And Higher Education For Women, Tamil Nadu got the first rank in Higher Educational Institutions Exclusively for Women.

Context: The report was released recently.

The index is prepared by Surfshark, a virtual private network (VPN) provider based in the British Virgin Islands.

It seeks to rank countries on internet affordability and quality, and electronic infrastructure, security and government. All parameters have equal weightage.

Performance of other countries: Top 3: Scandinavian countries Denmark and Sweden topped the index, with Canada rounding up the top three. Israel offered the cheapest internet — calculated by considering how much time one must work to be able to afford the cheapest mobile internet and broadband.

Of the total countries, 75% of them have to work more than the global average to afford the internet. Singapore, the UK and the US performed the best on the e-government indicator — arrived at by checking the state of government’s online presence and readiness to employ artificial intelligence technology and help “minimise bureaucracy, reduce corruption and increase transparency of the public sector”.

The UK, France and Lithuania offer the most security — cybersecurity and status of personal data protection. Best Internet Quality- Singapore, Sweden and the Netherlands. The UAE, Sweden and Denmark have the most developed e-infrastructure.

India’s performance: Of 85 countries, India ranked 9th on the internet affordability indicator, and 15th on e-government. Overall, India is ranked 57th. Internet cost- India scored the best on this parameter, leading countries like the UK, US and China.

e-government indicator- India secured 15th position on this, ahead of the Netherlands, China and Belgium. Security- India performed poorly here, standing at 57th position. Internet quality- With a rank of 78, it fell behind countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria and the Philippines.

On electronic infrastructure — focusing on active internet users and information and communications technology adoption rate — India ranked 79th, behind neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Context: As per the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE):

Since 2015, of the 49 blocks cleared for coal mining, 9 were in ‘No-Go’ areas, or regions that were once classified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change as containing very dense forests and hence closed to coal mining.

In 2020, of the 41 blocks put up for auction, 21 feature in the original No-Go list. Currently India is not utilising its existing capacity fully: 67% of the mines auctioned since 2015 are were not operational yet.

What’s the issue? The environment ministry‘s ban on mining in areas of thick forest cover has locked away millions of tonnes of coal reserves.

According to the power ministry, coal shortage is likely to hold up new power projects of over 17,000 mw aggregate capacity. This has triggered debate among the ministries of coal, power and steel on the ‘Go, No-Go’ concept’s merits.

What are ‘No Go’ areas in coal mining? In 2009, the environment and coal ministries had jointly placed the country’s forested areas under two categories – Go and No-Go – and imposed a ban on mining in the ‘No-Go’ zones on environmental grounds.

‘No Go’ areas are those having either more than 10 per cent weighted forest cover (WFC) or more than 30 per cent gross forest cover (GFC).

Is there a need for classifying ‘Go’ and ‘No Go’ areas? The exercise is aimed at prioritising forest areas under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

Besides, Diversion of forest land for coal mining in these areas, which are rich in flora and fauna, will have “avoidable serious adverse impact on forests and wildlife”.

If mining were to continue, even with afforestation and reclamation, it would not be possible to restore the regions biodiversity.

Criticisms of this policy: The concept has no legal standing– They are mandated neither under Forest Conservation Rules, 2003 nor under any circular issued by the ministry of environment and forests.

All India Institute of Ayurveda under Ministry of AYUSH and Delhi Police have jointly launched ‘AYURAKSHA’ for police personnel.

Ayurveda medicines will be provided to nearly 80000 personnel of Delhi Police.

Mysuru zoo has received three Cheetahs from Ann Van Dyke Cheetah Centre, South Africa.

Mysuru is the second zoo to house hunting cheetah in India. Hyderabad zoo has a pair of big cats.

About Cheetah: The cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus,is one of the oldest of the big cat species, with ancestors that can be traced back more than five million years to the Miocene era.

The cheetah is also the world’s fastest land mammal. It is listed as vulnerablein IUCN red listed species. It was declared extinct in India in 1952.

The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” speciesby the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.

Indian Railways has started deploying “Ninja UAVs” (unmanned aerial vehicles) for establishing a drone-based surveillance system in a bid to intensify its security mechanism across its network.

A drone camera can cover a large area, which may require up 10 RPF personnel.

The exercise may lead to a substantial improvement in utilisation of scarce manpower, said a note on drone surveillance issued by the ministry.

Supreme Court collegium elevates 6 advocates as Delhi High Court judges.

The criteria for appointment of a person as Judge of High Court are provided under Article 217 of Constitution, which are: – has for at least ten years held a judicial office in the territory of India; or has for at least ten years been an advocate of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession.

Appointment: On approval by the Supreme Court Collegium, the names of the proposed candidates will be sent to the Ministry of Law & Justice, which will send the names to the President of India.

The President under his sign and seal would issue the warrant of appointment.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that government jobs in the State would now be reserved for its youth only. Necessary legal provisions will be introduced shortly.