Prelim Bits 29-06-2018

Poshan Abhiyan/National Nutrition Mission

Recently, Ministry of Women and Child Development has organised TECH-THON for POSHAN Abhiyaan.
PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment (POSHAN) Abhiyan strive to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies.
It targets to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anemia and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
Mission 25 by 2022 – Although it targets to reduce stunting by 2%, Mission would strive to achieve reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022.
It may include the following nutrition strategies and interventions

Behavior change communication is the key component of POSHAN Abhiyaan for converting it into Jan Andolan (People’s movement).
All the States and districts will be covered in a phased manner i.e. 315 districts in 2017-18, 235 districts in 2018-19 and remaining districts in 2019-20.
It will be funded 50% by the Government of India and 50% by World Bank or other Multinational Development Banks.
The Executive Committee is the Apex body for all Nutrition related activities under the POSHAN Abhiyaan.
National Council on India’s nutritional challenges under chairmanship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, has been set up under the POSHAN Abhiyaan.

Aspirational Districts Programme

NITI Aayog will release the First Delta Ranking of the Aspirational Districts Programme.
The parameters are Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure through 49 key performance indicators.
The ranking will measure the incremental progress made by districts between March 31, 2018 and May 31, 2018.

DISHA initiative

District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DDCMC) is named as “DISHA” by the Ministry of Rural Development.
It is for effective development coordination of almost all the programmes of Central Government.
It monitors the implementation of 28 schemes and programmes of Ministry of Rural Development and other Ministries to promote synergy and convergence for greater impact.
The main purpose of this committee is to coordinate with Central and State and local Panchayat Governments.
The Chairperson of the committee will be the senior most Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) elected from the district, nominated by the Ministry of Rural Development.
The other Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) representing the district will be designated as Co-Chairpersons
DISHA Week is being celebrated from 25th to 29th June, 2018 to mark the successful completion of 2 years of the District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee (DISHA).

Global Environmental Facility (GEF)

India recently announced that it will increase grants to $15 million to GEF for the next 4 years.
GEF was established in 1991 as a pilot program in the World Bank to assist in the protection of the global environment and to promote environmental sustainable development.
The UNDP and UNEP and the World Bank were the three initial partners implementing GEF projects.
In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, the GEF was restructured and moved out of the World Bank system to become a permanent, separate institution.
Today it is an international partnership of 183 countries, international institutions, civil society organizations and the private sector that addresses global environmental issues.
Since 1994, the World Bank has served as the Trustee of the GEF Trust Fund and provided administrative services.
GEF funds are available to developing countries and countries with economies in transition to meet the objectives of the international environmental conventions and agreements.
The GEF is a financial mechanism for 5 major international conventions

1. The Minamata Convention on Mercury,

2. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs),

3. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD),

4. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and

5. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The GEF, although not linked formally to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (MP), supports implementation of the Protocol in countries with economies in transition.
The GEF has 18 agencies as the operational arm of the GEF.
These agencies work closely with project stakeholders to design, develop and implement GEF-funded projects and programs.

Black Beauty

Black Beauty is a Martian meteorite from which mineral zircon can be extracted.
Recently, Scientists has analyzed grains from zircon to determine the red planet Mars crust.
They examined a chunk of Mars that streaked into the Saharan Desert and was discovered in 2011.
They have found that outer layer hardened 4.547 billion years ago, only 20 million years after the birth of the Sun.
Mars is thought to have a dense metallic core with a radius of about 1,800 km, consisting primarily of iron, nickel and sulphur.
The core is surrounded by a largely dormant mantle some 1,500 km thick made mainly of silicon, oxygen, iron and magnesium.

Convention on Biodiversity

In a recently published journal “Science”, an international team of scientists expressed concern over Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
They said that CBD is hindering biodiversity research and preventing international collaborations due to regulations that have risen due to its implementation.
The CBD is aimed at conserving biological diversity, sustainably using biological components and fair and equitable sharing of benefits (with local or indigenous communities) that may arise out of the utilisation of genetic resources.
Equitable sharing of benefits was delineated in the Nagoya Protocol, which came into effect in 2014.
It has hampered the research due to national-level legislations instituted by countries under the CBD, obtaining field permits for access to specimens for non-commercial research has become increasingly difficult.
India is also a signatory to CBD.

Source: The Hindu, PIB