06.07.22 Daily [Andhra Pradesh] APPSC Current Affairs

With the demand for edible oil inAndhra Pradeshand neighbouring states increasing, the area under oil palm cultivation in the state will increase to over 3.17 lakh hectares in the coming four to five years with a target of over 25,000 hectares every year.

The has drafted an action plan to increase the oil palm cultivation by replacing paddy, tobacco, subadul, casuarina, and eucalyptus to benefit the farmers. Speaking to TOI, additional director of Horticulture, KBalaji Nayak, said AP stands in first position in oil palm cultivation with 1.81 lakh hectares, and 1.32 lakh farmers in eight districts spread over 229 mandals.

The consumption of palm oil has increased by 10 to 15 per cent in the state in the past few years due to various reasons including the edible oil crisis due to Russia-Ukraine conflict. The consumption may further increase in the coming days. Not only the middle class but the upper middle-class families are also consuming the palm oil in the state.

The Union Government introduced National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm(NMEO-OP) scheme to encourage oil palm on large scale which they wanted to fully tap for the benefit of farmers. Under oil palm mission, an area of 1.36 lakh hectares is proposed to be covered in the state.

As per 2020 report on medical certification of cause of death (MCCD) compiled by the registrar general of India, maximum number of certified deaths in Bihar occurred due to Circulatory System diseases (30.4%).

Deaths due to Respiratory System diseases andCovidaccounted for 2.4% and 7.3%, respectively, in 2020.

Of the 4,25,047 deaths registered in 2020 in Bihar, only 14,591 were medically certified, the lowest in the country. Category wise illness related deaths are of those which had been certified medically. This is much below the countrys Average of 22.5%. Data on deaths due to various kinds of illnesses suggest that after circulatory system diseases, 10% of the certified deaths were due to the symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings.
The third highest deaths was due to Covid and certain infectious and parasitic diseases. Country-wise figure shows that deaths due to Covid-19 accounted for 8.9% of medically certified deaths.

The Centre is facing an uneasy situation as three BJP-ruled states Gujarat,Uttar Pradeshand Madhya Pradesh have demanded the restoration of wheat allocation to them under the national scheme,NFSA. The demands have been made at a time when the Centre is struggling to somehow meet the mandatory stocking norms for wheat as on October 1 and March 2023.

Following a record fall in wheat procurement, the Centre on May 14 had reduced wheat allocation under theNational Food Security Act(NFSA) by nearly 40% for 10 states, including these three, to tide over any shortage while claiming that the decision was taken after consultation with state governments.

Gujarat, Karnataka and Meghalaya were the best performers in developing startup Ecosystems for entrepreneurs last year, according to the latest ranking by the Centres Department for Promotion of and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and J&K were in the next category of top performers.

In the previous report in 2019, Gujarat and Andaman and Nicobar Islands were best performers, while Karnataka and Kerala were top performers. There are three other categories: Leaders, aspiring leaders, and emerging startup ecosystems. Tamil Nadu, UP, and Punjab are among the eight states and UTs in the leaders category. TN and UP were in the emerging startup ecosystems category in 2019. Rajasthan, Delhi and MP are among the 11 in the aspiring leaders category.

The study looks at areas like institutional support to startups, access to markets, incubation support and funding support. This year, three areas were added to the framework, including capacity building of enablers, mentorship support and fostering innovation & Entrepreneurship. India has the worlds third biggest startup ecosystem, after the US and China.

The state-specific reports for each of the 31 participating entities include a comprehensive analysis of the respective ecosystem and an overview of the strengths and priority areas for the future. Policy interventions have been high on the governments agenda.

Karnataka was ranked best performer for launching an engineering research and development policy to attract sector-focused incentives, and creating regulatory sandboxes for startups to avail exemption from state and municipal laws.

recently released the Global Findex Database 2021. As per report, account ownership has increased worldwide.

Report notes that, three out of four adults are having a financial account today. Despite that, 1.4 billion adults have no bank account.

In developing countries; wage payment, from private sector or government sector, for 20 percent of adults was made into an account.

Around 91% of these recipients were involved in digital payment from their account.

70 percent of adults used their account to store Money for cash management. Around half of the adult used their account for saving money and half adults used it to borrow money.

Global Findex Database 2021 suggests that, 39% of adults or 57% of those having a financial institution account chose to open their first account at a financial institution in order to receive money from the government or to receive wage payment.