Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 7th Nov 2021

Agritech, also known as Agtech, comprises technological innovations and capabilities that change how food and other agricultural products are grown, harvested, packaged, stored, transported, processed and sold - making the farm-to-table process more efficient, sustainable and safe.

POTENTIAL IN INDIA

• Currently, it is estimated that there are about 600 to 700 agritech startups in India operating at different levels of agri-value chains. Many of them use artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), etc, to unlock the potential of big data for greater resource use efficiency, transparency and inclusiveness.
• Ninjacart, Dehaat, and Crofarm (Otipy) are a few of the many startups that are redefining the agrifood marketplace.
• Dehaati Beej Se Baazar Tak is a full-stack agri service startup that engages through B2F (business-to-farmer) and F2B models. It uses data science, agriscience and analytics to nurture a thriving ecosystem of farmers, micro-entrepreneurs and institutional buyers. Crofarm is a F2B digital supply chain that manages logistics, inventory and supply oBf fresh produce directly from farms to retail chains like Big Bazaar, Reliance Retail, BigBasket and Grofers
• The agritech startups have a growing footprint. Dehaat is present in Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh, working with 6,50,000 farmers through 1,890 Dehaat Centres.
• The startups have had a demonstrated impact. Ninjacart reduced wastage to 4 per cent compared to up to 25 per cent in traditional chains through demand-driven harvest schedule. Logistics optimisation enabled delivery in less than 12 hours at one-third the cost in traditional chains. Farmers’ net incomes are reported to have increased by 20 per cent.

WHAT HAS INDIA DONE

• ‘AGRI UDAAN’- Food and Agribusiness Accelerator 2.0 was announced by the ICAR-NAARM Technology Business Incubator (TBI), a-IDEA and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad’s (IIM-A) incubator Center for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). The objective of this programme was to help the selected innovative startups to scale up their operations in the agricultural value chain for any effective improvement in the field of agriculture.
• Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a central sector scheme that will enable a financing facility of Rs.1 lakh crore for funding agriculture infrastructure projects at farm-gate and aggregation points such as farmers producers organisations, primary agricultural cooperatives, startups and entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector.
• A component, Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development programme has been launched under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana in order to promote innovation and agripreneurship by providing financial support and nurturing the incubation ecosystem. These start-ups are in various categories such as agro-processing, artificial intelligence, digital agriculture, farm mechanisation, waste to wealth, dairy, fisheries etc.
• Agri-hackathon 2020 was organised by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare in association with IARI, Pusa, New Delhi. It will bring together the most important stakeholders from industry & government alongside India’s young bright minds.Also it will collaborate creative startups and smart innovators who will build new, fast and frugal solutions to tackle the big questions we’re facing today.

WHAT NEXT

Agritech startups-led e-commerce platforms have the potential to steer the shift from government-controlled agricultural markets towards more demand-driven digital markets. However, the sustainability and scalability of these ventures will be critical over time. There is likely to be a lot of churning, with many ventures falling out, others consolidating through mergers and acquisitions. In India, the biggest challenge will be to sustain and scale up the farmer outreach.

The startup-FPO partnership can be further strengthened by incentivising the FPOs under the central government’s programme to add 10,000 new FPOs by 2024. The network of agritech startups, incubators, accelerators and investors needs to work closely with policymakers, academia, think tanks, and government departments to develop a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of the agrifood sector. This will also enable the government and policymakers to leverage the existing agritech pool and co-create solutions for shared value.

If policies, institutions and partnerships can harness the current momentum, the startup ecosystem can be the next-generation technology revolution in the agrifood sector.

ENVIRONMENT & GEOGRAPHY

NEWS

Scientists and advocates point to polar bears, marked as “threatened” on the endangered species list, as the white-hot warning signal for the rest of the planet.

THE STATE OF SEA ICE

• Arctic sea ice — frozen ocean water — shrinks during the summer as it gets warmer, then forms again in the long winter. How much it shrinks is where global warming kicks in, scientists say. The more the sea ice shrinks in the summer, the thinner the ice is overall, because the ice is weaker first-year ice.
• The Arctic has been warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. In some seasons, it has warmed three times faster than the rest of the globe.
• Reason for warming
  • “Arctic amplification”
  • Essentially, white ice in the Arctic reflects heat. When it melts, the dark sea absorbs much more heat, which warms the oceans even more quickly

THE POLAR BEAR CONNECTION

• There are 19 different subpopulations of polar bears in the Arctic.
• Bears in southernmost regions are really in trouble
• Shrinking sea ice means shrinking polar bears, literally.
• In the summertime, polar bears go out on the ice to hunt and eat, feasting and putting on weight to sustain them through the winter.
• They prefer areas that are more than half covered with ice because it’s the most productive hunting and feeding grounds.
• The more ice, the more they can move around and the more they can eat.
• One sign of problem - A higher proportion of cubs are dying before their first birthdays.
• Polar bears are land mammals that have adapted to the sea. The animals they eat — seals and walruses mostly — are aquatic.
• In recent years the sea ice has retreated far offshore in most summers. That has forced the bears to drift on the ice into deep waters — sometimes nearly a mile deep — that are devoid of their prey

The overnight rain in chennai that lasted recently  was reportedly the heaviest since 2015

Why the rain

North East monsoon

• Northeast Monsoon, also known as the ‘primary monsoon of Tamil Nadu,’ that brings sufficient rains to the state
• Tamil Nadu’s coastal districts get 60% of the annual rainfall and the interior districts get about 40-50% of the annual rainfall from the North East monsoon.

Low pressure formation

• The meteorological department predicted a formation of low pressure over the Bay of Bengal moving towards the northern Tamil Nadu coast with moderate rain in the coming days ahead of the formation of the low pressure.
• A cyclonic circulation was over north coastal Tamil Nadu, southeast of Bay of Bengal and a low-pressure area was formed
• Chances of squally winds of 40 kmph to 50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph might prevail over the sea

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

Northeast Monsoon

• Though much less heard of, especially in the north of the country, the northeast monsoon is as permanent a feature of the Indian subcontinent’s climate system as the summer monsoon.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) recognises October to December as the time for the northeast monsoon.
• During this period, rainfall is experienced over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh, along with some parts of Telangana and Karnataka.

HOW ARE CYCLONES FORMED

• Cyclones are centred on areas of low atmospheric pressure, usually over warm ocean waters near the equator.
• The warm moist air over the ocean rises from the surface in the upward direction, resulting in the formation of the low-pressure zone over the surface. Air from the surrounding region, with higher pressure, pushes into the low-pressure area.
• The cool air becomes warm and moist and rises again, thus the cycle continues. As the warm air rises, the moisture in the air cools thus leading to the formation of cloud.
• The whole system grows gradually and becomes fast with time. As a result of this, an eye is created in the centre, which is the low-pressure centre into which the high-pressure air flows from above, thus creating a cyclone.

Bathukamma festival was screened on Burj Khalifa

ABOUT

Bathukamma

• Floral festival celebrated predominantly by the Telangana and some parts of Andhra Pradesh.
• Celebrated for nine days during Durga Navratri
• Starts on the day of Mahalaya Amavasya and the 9-day festivities will culminate on "Saddula Bathukamma" or "Pedda Bathukamma" festival on Ashwayuja Navami, popularly known as Durgashtami which is two days before Dussehra.
• Beautiful flower stack, arranged with different unique seasonal flowers most of them with medicinal values, in seven concentric layers in the shape of temple gopuram.
• Means ‘Mother Goddess come Alive’ and Goddess Maha Gauri-‘Life Giver’ is worshipped in the form of Bathukamma , the patron goddess of womanhood, Gauri Devi.
• Also regarded as the Spring Festival of Goddess Gauri.
• All the women are dressed colorfully and form a circle around ‘Bathukamma’ and dance before immersing it to the nearest water body.

CHHATH POOJA

Politicisation of Ban on Chhath Pooja is being witnessed

ABOUT

• Hindu festival dedicated to the Sun god and his wife Usha in order to thank them for bestowing the bounties of life on earth.
• The Goddess who is worshipped is known as Chhathi Maiya (also known as Usha, wife of the sun god).
• Meaning of word - sixth
• Festival is celebrated on the sixth day of the month Kartika of the Hindu lunar Bikram Sambat calendar.
• Rituals:
  • Observed over a period of four days.
  • Include holy bathing, fasting, standing in water for long periods of time, and offering prayers and food to the setting and rising sun.
• Who observe it - The main worshipers, called Parvaitin, are usually women. However, many men also observe this festival as Chhath is not a gender-specific festival.
• Regions: The festival is observed most elaborately in Mithila Province of Nepal, Terai-Madhesh region of Nepal, Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and UP. It is also more prevalent in areas where migrants from those areas have a presence.

• In a bid to expand research in electrical vehicle technology, the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, has launched laboratories at the Centre for Automotive Research and Tribology (CART). These labs will conduct battery research and work on charging infrastructure and automotive health monitoring.
• Indian boxer Akash Kumar became the 7th Indian male boxer who won a medal at the World Boxing Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia