Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has released the Final Estimates of 2018-19 and 1st Advance Estimates of 2019-20 of Area and Production of various Horticulture Crops. These are based on the information received from different State/UTs and other source agencies.
Highlights of 2018-19(Final) The Total Horticulture Production of the country is estimated to be 310.74 Million Tonne in 2018-19, which is marginally higher than the Horticulture Production in 2017-18.
Increase in Fruits, Flowers, Spices and Honey while decrease in Vegetables, Aromatic & Medicinal Plants and Plantation Crops. Fruits Production is estimated to be around 97.97 Million Tonne, compared to 96.45 Million Tonne of 2017-18.
Vegetables Production is estimated to be around 183.17 Million, which is lesser than the production of 2017-18. Onion Production is estimated to be around 22.82 Million Tonne, which is lesser than the production of 2017-18.
Potato Production is estimated to be around 50.19 Million Tonne, which is lesser than the production of 2017-18. Tomato Production is estimated to be around 19.01 Million Tonne, which is lower than the production of 2017-18.
Highlights of 2019-20 (1st Advance Estimates) Total Horticulture production in 2019-20 (1st Advance Estimates) is expected to be 0.84% higher than 2018-19.
Increase in Vegetables, Aromatics and Medicinal and Plantations is envisaged but decrease in Fruits, Flowers and Spices is expected. The Fruits production is expected to be lower by 2.27% in 2019-20 over 2018-19. It is mainly due to loss in production of Grapes, Banana, Mango, Citrus, Papaya and Pomegranate.
Increase of 2.64 % in production of vegetables in 2019-20 over 2018-19. Increase is mainly due to increased production of Onion, Potato and Tomato. Onion production is expected to be 24.45 Million Tonne (increase of 7.17%) as compared to 22.82 Million Tonne in 2018-19.
Potato production is expected to be 51.94 Million Tonne (increase of 3.49%) as compared to 50.19 Million Tonne in 2018-19. Tomato production is expected to be 19.33 Million Tonne (increase of 1.68%) as compared to 19.01 Million Tonnes in 2018-19.
About GTCI: GTCI, launched in 2013, is an annual benchmarking report that measures the ability of countries to compete for talent. It is released by INSEAD business school in partnership with Adecco Group and Google.
The report measures levels of Global Talent Competitiveness by looking at 70 variables such as ease of hiring, gender earnings gap, and prevalence of training in firms.
Performance of India: India is placed at no. 72. Although more could be done to improve the country’s educational system (68th in Formal Education), India’s key strength relates to growing (44th) talent, due to its levels of lifelong learning (40th) and access to growth opportunities (39th).
The country’s highest-ranked sub-pillar is employability, but the ability to match labour market demand and supply stands in contrast to the country’s poor mid-level skills.
Global performance: Switzerland, the United States and Singapore lead the index.
Key observations: The gap between talent champions and the rest of the world is widening. A similar gap is also seen in the universe of artificial intelligence. AI talent is scarce and unequally distributed across industries, sectors, and nations. More than half of the population in the developing world lacks basic digital skills.
What next? AI policies and programmes should work to minimise negative outcomes and increase access to AI for those left behind.
AI could provide significant opportunities for emerging markets to leapfrog. Some developing countries (e.g., China, Costa Rica, and Malaysia) can become talent champions in their respective regions, while others (e.g., Ghana and India) have significantly improved their capacity to enable, attract, grow, and retain talent over the past few years, and hence can be labelled talent movers.
The emergenceof AI in the workplace requires a massive re-skilling of the workforce. At all levels of qualifications, workers will need training on adaptability, social intelligence, communication, and problem-solving.
Why? Palestinians’ concerns: The main worry is that this initiative will turn Israel’s “temporary occupation (of Palestinian territory) into a permanent occupation”.
The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and believe Mr. Trump’s plan buries the two-state solution that has been for decades the cornerstone of international West Asia diplomacy.
What’s the issue? Under the Oslo Accords of the 1993, both Israel and the Palestinians agreed that the status of settlements would be decided by negotiations. But the negotiations process has been all but dead for several years now. Israel walked into East Jerusalem in 1967, and subsequently annexed it. For Israel, Jerusalem is non-negotiable.
The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Most of the world’s nations look at it as occupied territory.
About the Oslo Accords: Formally known as the Declaration of Principles (DOP), the pact established a timetable for the Middle East peace process. It planned for an interim Palestinian government in Gaza and Jericho in the West Bank.
Oslo II, officially called the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza, expanded on Oslo I. It included provisions for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from six West Bank cities and about 450 towns. Additionally, the pact set a timetable for elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council.
The Details of Oslo Accords: The Declaration calls for: – Israel to withdraw from Jericho and Gaza, and eventually the West Bank. – Five years of limited autonomy for Palestinians in those areas. – Election of Palestinian Legislative Council within nine months. – Establishment of a Palestinian police force. – The question of Jerusalem was left undecided.
Astronomers have recently found that the funnelling of matter into a forming star happens at different rates over time, as per the rotating disc of gas and dust theory. Sometimes the forming star swallows up a huge amount of matter, resulting in a burst of activities in the massive star.
This is called an accretion burst event. It is incredibly rare: only three such events have been observed, out of all the billions of massive stars in the Milky Way.
Need for these understandings: Astronomers don’t yet fully understand how massive stars in our galaxy are formed. So far, observations have only yielded some pieces of the puzzle.
This is because nearly all the known massive stars in our galaxy are located very far away from our solar system. They also form in close proximity to other massive stars, making it difficult to study the environment where they take shape.
So, rotating disc theory helps in understanding these events. With this, the astronomers will be able to develop and test theories to explain how high-mass stars gain their mass.
Maser Monitoring Organisation (M2O): After the first detection of an accretion burst, in 2016, astronomers from around the world agreed in 2017 to coordinate their efforts to observe more.
This led to the formation of the Maser Monitoring Organisation (M2O). The primary goal of M2O is to make the atronomy community aware of the importance of Maser monitoring. It is also to increase the number of sources monitored, the number of transitions monitored at, and increase cadence of observation.
What is a Maser? A maser is the microwave (radio frequency) equivalent of laser. The word stands for “microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”.
Masers are observed using radio telescopes and most of them are observed at centimetre wavelength: they are very compact. A maser flare can be a sign of an extraordinary event such as the formation of a star.
What is Biorock? It is the name given to the substance formed by electro accumulation of minerals dissolved in seawater on steel structures that are lowered onto the sea bed and are connected to a power source, in this case solar panels that float on the surface.
How they are formed? The technology works by passing a small amount of electrical current through electrodes in the water.
When a positively charged anode and negatively charged cathode are placed on the sea floor, with an electric current flowing between them, calcium ions combine with carbonate ions and adhere to the structure (cathode). This results in calcium carbonate formation. Coral larvae adhere to the CaCO3 and grow quickly.
Fragments of broken corals are tied to the biorock structure, where they are able to grow at least four to six times faster than their actual growth as they need not spend their energy in building their own calcium carbonate skeletons.
Padma Awards – one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. They were instituted in the year 1954.
The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.
Categories: Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service;( it is a second degree honour).
Padma Bhushan is awarded for distinguished service of high order. (it is a third degree honour). Padma Shri is awarded for distinguished service in any field. (it is a fourth degree honour).
The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. The award is normally not conferred posthumously. However, in highly deserving cases, the Government could consider giving an award posthumously if the demise of the person proposed to be honoured has been recent, say within a period of one year preceding the Republic Day on which it is proposed to announce the award.