Daily Current Affairs for UPSC Exam- 14 December 2022

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Daily Current Affairs for UPSC 14 December

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC: Daily Current Affairs for UPSC article covers important articles of the day which is important for various competitive exams like UPSC, State PCS, SSC and various Bank Exams.

Phase-II of FAME India Scheme

FAME India Scheme in News

Under Phase-II of FAME India Scheme, 7,45,713 Electric Vehicles have been supported till 07.12.2022 by way of Demand Incentive amounting to about Rs. 3,200 Cr.
Further, MHI has sanctioned 6315 e-buses to 65 cities/STUs/CTUs/ State Govt. entities for intracity and intercity operations across 26 states/UT under the FAME India Scheme.

FAME India Scheme

The Government notified Phase-II of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme for a period of five years commencing from 1st April, 2019 with a total budgetary support of Rs. 10,000 crore.
Phase-II of FAME India Scheme mainly focuses on supporting electrification of public & shared transportation.
Phase-II of FAME India Scheme aims to support through demand incentive 7090 e-Buses, 5 lakh e-3 Wheelers, 55000 e-4 Wheeler Passenger Cars and 10 lakh e-2 Wheelers.
Under FAME India Scheme, incentives are provided to buyers of electric vehicles in the form of an upfront reduction in the purchase price of electric vehicles.

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Steps taken by Government to Facilitate Adoption of Electric Mobility

Increased Demand Incentives: From 11th June, 2021 the demand incentive under Phase II of FAME India Scheme has been increased to Rs. 15,000/KWh from Rs. 10,000/KWh with an increase in cap from 20% to 40% of the cost of vehicle, thus enabling cost of Electric two wheelers at par with that of ICE two wheeler vehicles.
Extension of Phase II of FAME Scheme: on 25th June, 2021 Phase II of FAME India scheme was extended for a period of 2 years upto 31st March 2024.
Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme: government approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for manufacturing of Advance Chemistry Cell (ACC) in the country in order to bring down prices of battery in the country.
- The drop in battery prices will result in cost reduction of Electric Vehicles.
Electric Vehicles are covered under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Automobile and Auto Components, which was approved on 15th September 2021 with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 25,938 crore for a period of five years.
GST on electric vehicles has been reduced from 12% to 5%; GST on chargers/ charging stations for electric vehicles has been reduced from 18% to 5%.
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) announced that battery-operated vehicles will be given green license plates and be exempted from permit requirements.
MoRTH issued a notification advising states to waive road tax on EVs, which in turn will help reduce the initial cost of EVs.

The Editorial Analysis: Reforming WHO

WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (WHO-GCTM)

WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) in News

Recently, Minister of Ayush Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply in Rajya Sabha informed about various aspects of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM).

What is WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM)?

WHO-GCTM is an outpost centre of WHO-HQ (Geneva) funded by the Government of India.
WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine will help establishing strong linkages among the Member States of WHO.
The WHO-GCTM would emerge as a centre of global wellness which will promote the development of medicines and research related to Traditional Medicines and will strengthen evidence-based research, training and awareness about Traditional Medicines.

Scope/Activities of the WHO-GCTM

The activities/scope of work of the WHO-GCTM is as follows:

To act as a mentor for the development and shaping health research agenda, setting international norms and standards, providing technical support to countries, and monitoring & assessing health trends of traditional medicine.
To establish research methodology standards and develop standards for clinical practice and protocols in traditional medicine.
To ensure quality, safety and efficacy, accessibility and rational use of traditional medicine.
To develop norms, standards, and guidelines in relevant technical areas, tools and methodologies for collecting data, undertaking analytics and assess impact.
To build partnerships and collaborations within WHO, and special programs (IARC, WHO Academy, TDR, Alliance for Health Policy Research, Special program on PHC), other UN agencies, WHO collaborative centre networks, international organizations and professional associations, and objective-specific advocacy groups, in areas of relevance to the objectives.
To develop specific capacity building and training programs in the areas of relevance to the objectives and conduct training programs in campus, residential, or web-based, and through partnerships with the WHO Academy and other strategic partners.
To act as a guiding principle in developing guidelines for health technology assessment and health economics inferred from traditional medicine and support countries’ evolving strategies on this.

Agriculture Infrastructure Gap- Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

Agriculture Infrastructure Gap in News

In order to bridge the Agriculture Infrastructure gap by empowering agriculture and villages and boosting private investment, the Government of India launched a Central Sector Scheme of financing facility under ‘Agriculture Infrastructure Fund’.

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

About: The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) is a medium-long term debt financing facility through interest subvention and credit guarantee support on loans for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets.
Benefits: Under the scheme, Rs. 1 Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans with interest subvention of 3% per annum and credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE for loans up to Rs. 2 Crores to the eligible beneficiaries.
Eligible Beneficiaries: They include farmers, FPOs, PACS, Marketing Cooperative Societies, SHGs, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Agri-entrepreneurs, Start-ups, and Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public-Private Partnership Projects.
Purpose: The benefits are given for creation of post-harvest management infrastructures like Supply chain services including e-marketing platforms, Warehouses, Silos, Pack houses, Assaying units, Sorting & grading units, Cold chains, Logistics facilities, Primary processing centres, Ripening Chambers etc.
Community farming assets eligible under Agri Infra Fund includes: Organic inputs production, Bio stimulant production units, Infrastructure for smart and precision agriculture, Projects identified for providing supply chain infrastructure for clusters of crops including export clusters, Projects promoted by Central/State/Local Governments or their agencies under PPP for building community farming assets or post-harvest management projects.

Performance of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

Since the inception of the scheme in Aug 2020, loan amounting to Rs. 13681 Crores have been sanctioned for 18321 projects.
These sanctioned projects have mobilized an investment of Rs. 27184 crores in agriculture sector.
Major projects sanctioned under AIF include 8118 warehouses, 2817 primary processing units, 1936 custom hiring centres, 948 sorting & grading units, 704 cold store projects, 163 assaying units and around 3651 other kinds of post-harvest management projects and community farming assets.
Government is spreading awareness about AIF Schemes by way of sensitising Bankers and other stakeholders through conducting various events, seminars, workshops at various levels to accelerate agriculture infrastructure financing throughout the nook and corner of the country.

Daily UPSC Current Affairs Bits – 13 December 2022