11.03.22 Daily [Andhra Pradesh] APPSC Current Affairs

As part of its efforts to increase awareness of the importance of biodiversity, theAndhra PradeshState Biodiversity Board (APSBB) has proposed an action plan for the development of biodiversity parks anddigitalmuseums in all districts. The proposal has been approved by forest and environment ministerBalineni Srinivasa Reddy.

Digital kiosks will be set up in the identified places after the district collectors accord permission to the board to set up a unit. These kiosk have been manufactured in and will be transported from Kerala, Ch Yamini said.
The digital museums will be free of cost for students, while ticket prices will be around 10 for others. Students can gain free entry into the museums by displaying their ID card at the entrance.

Andhra Pradesh has 14,157 biodiversity management committees (BMCs), of which just 13 are at the zilla parishad level, 661 at the mandal level, 120 at the municipality or municipal corporation level and 13,363 at the gram panchayat level. The government has taken a number of institutional measures to protect biodiversity in the state, of which a key component is the Biodiversity Conservation Act, 2002. The Act is enforced jointly by the Centre and the states.

Indias first 100 per cent women-owned industrial park began operations in Hyderabad. Promoted by the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) in partnership with the State government, the park has 25 units, representing 16 diverse green category industries, all owned and operated by women.

The FLO industrial park, the first-of-its-kind park in the country, was established over 50 acres in Sultanpur near Patancheru with an investment of Rs 250 crore. The park has already garnered tremendous interest from women entrepreneurs to run and operate their businesses

The park has also created amenities to offer a homely environment for women by keeping in mind the necessities of working women entrepreneurs, including designing creches and playschools. The FLO also plans to set up similar multi-industry women industrial parks in various States and a centre of excellence for skill development in Phase II.

TheMSME ministry launched an innovative scheme to promote creativity, adoption of latest technologies and increase awareness about importance of intellectual property rights among MSMEs.

The scheme is an amalgamation of the incubation, design andIPR(intellectual property rights) schemes of the ministry.

It would act as a hub for innovative activities, besides facilitating and guiding development of ideas into viable business prepositions that can benefit society directly and can be marketed successfully.

Launching the scheme,MSMEMinister Narayan Rane said the scheme will help the MSME sector, which accounts for a major share in the country’s exports and manufacturing.

Under the scheme, the ministry would provide financial assistance for innovation, design and IPR protection.

The IPR vertical of the scheme aims at enhancing the awareness of these rights among MSMEs and taking suitable measures for the protection of ideas, technological innovation and knowledge-driven business strategies.

Similarly, under the innovation vertical, untapped creativity would be supported and promoted besides adoption of latest technologies in MSMEs.

The Innovative scheme provides financial assistance up to Rs.5 lakh for a foreign patent, Rs.1 lakh for a domestic patent, Rs.2 lakh for GI registration, Rs.15,000 for design registration and Rs.10,000 for a trademark in the form of reimbursement.

The Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti scheme will help India attract investment from all over the world for improving the infrastructure of the country.

It begs mention here that logistics and supply chain costs account for around 12% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in India at present. This is much higher when compared to the global average of 8%.

The Indian Railways first Gati Shakti cargo terminal was commissioned in the Asansol division of Eastern Railway. The cargo terminal seeks to augment railways earnings to the tune of about Rs 11 crore per month.

This is the first such terminal to be commissioned by Indian Railways since the publication of GCT policy in December, 2021. The Maithan Power project was initiated in 2009 and the power generation was started in the year 2011.

The Smart Event Tracking System (SETS), which is a new tool on Google Maps-based planning and analysis that has been deployed to tackle the growing problem of cattle getting run over by trains.

The software has been made functional in Agra Division and it will be adopted by other divisions in the future, depending on further results. According to officials, the SETS map the kilometre stamps on electrical masts along the rail tracks and feed the exact location of a cattle run over into the system. As a result of this, managers are able to identify the location instantly where the cattle run over occurred as well as spot a pattern.

According to the report, the system is particularly important for the North Central Railway zone, which saw more than 6,500 of the 26,000 cases of cattle run over that were recorded in the year 2020-21.

Dubai has adopted the first law of its kind in the emirate that regulatesvirtual assets, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.

The Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law is aimed at creating an advanced legal framework to protect investors and provide international standards for virtual asset industry governance that will promote responsible business growth in the emirate.

The UAE government is taking concrete steps to establish a strong digital economy and make use of the advantages provided by digital transformation.