Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills
- It was launched by the Minister of Human Resource and Development.
- It is to provide industry apprenticeship opportunities to graduates in non-technical fields, passing out from the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS).
- The objective is to enhance the employability of Indian youth by providing ‘on-job work exposure’ and stipend.
- It is a program basket comprising the initiatives of three Central Ministries,
- Ministry of Human Resource Development- introduction of BA/BSc/BCom (Professional) courses in the higher educational institutions
- Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship - National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS)
- Ministry of Labor& Employment- National Career Service (NCS)
- The primary scheme will be operated in conjunction with National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS).
- The scheme will be implemented by the Sector Skill Councils (SSCs).
- The SHREYAS portal will enable educational institutions to log in and provide their respective demand and supply of apprenticeship.
Sustainable Alternative towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT)
- It is an initiative aimed at providing a Sustainable Alternative towards Affordable Transportation.
- It is a developmental effort that would benefit vehicle-users as well as farmers and entrepreneurs.
- Compressed Bio-Gas production plants are set up under the initiative by inviting Expression of Interest from potential entrepreneurs.
- It has a four-pronged agenda of
- utilising more than 62 million metric tonnes of waste generated every year in India
- cutting down import dependence
- supplementing job creation in the country
- reducing vehicular emissions and pollution from burning of agricultural / organic waste.
- Bio-gas is produced naturally through a process of anaerobic decomposition from waste / bio-mass sources.
- The wastes are agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc.
Tree cover and Forest Cover
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change defines ‘forest cover’ in India as “all lands, more than one hectare in area with a tree canopy density of more than 10%”
- Similarly ‘tree cover’ is defined as “tree patches outside recorded forest areas exclusive of forest cover and less than the minimum mappable area of 1 hectare”.
- There is a third measure known as Tree outside forest (TOF).
- The ‘India State of Forest Report 2017’ defines TOF as “trees existing outside the recorded forest area in the form of block, linear & scattered size of patches”.
- Since tree cover measures only non-forest patches that are less than 1 hectare, it is only a part of TOF.
Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework
- Reserve Bank of India took 3 more commercial banks out of the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework.
- It is a framework under which banks with weak financial metrics are put under watch by the RBI.
- Banks are monitored under the three parameters
- capital ratios
- asset quality
- profitability
- It has three risk threshold levels (1 being the lowest and 3 the highest) based on where a bank stands on these ratios.
- It is intended to help alert the regulator as well as investors and depositors if a bank is heading for trouble.
Arabian Desert
- The Arabian Desert is the largest desert of Asia and covers a major portion of Arabian Peninsula.
- The largest part of the desert lies in Saudi Arabia.
- It also covers neighboring countries such as Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq and Jordan
- Rub’al-Khali, which makes up the most part of this desert, is the largest continuous area of sand in the world.
- Numerous desert insects, including mosquitoes, fleas, ants, termites, beetles, locusts, spiders, butterflies and caterpillars dominate the landscape.
Feni
- It is popular local traditional brew (liquor) distilled from the cashew fruit.
- Cashew feni was given the Geographical Indication tag as manufactured goods.
- The name feni is derived from Sanskrit word ‘phena’ meaning froth or foam.
- It is also distilled from fermented toddy from coconut palm.
- It is prepared in a typical Portuguese way that does not entail the use of electricity in the process.
Source: PIB, The Hindu, Business Standard