IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

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After Pakistan, China asks for UNSC meeting to discuss Kashmir

News

• China has formally asked for “closed consultations” in the U.N. Security Council to discuss India revoking the special status to Jammu and Kashmir after Pakistan wrote a letter on the issue to Poland, the Council President for the month of August.

Emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council

• Pakistan formally called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss India revoking the special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
• After India revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s (J&K) special status and announced the bifurcation of the State into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh, Pakistan announced that it will approach the UN Security Council against New Delhi’s decision.
• India has categorically told the international community that its move to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution removing the special status to Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter and has also advised Pakistan to “accept the reality”.

Chief of Defence Staff

News

• In a major decision for higher level military reforms and tri-service integration, Prime Minister announced the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who will be above the three Service Chiefs.
• The modalities are expected to be finalised in the next few months.

Tri-service integration

• The creation of the CDS will eventually lead to the formation of tri-service theatre commands intended to create vertical integration of the three forces.
• The CDS will be a single-point military adviser to the government and synergise long term planning, procurements, training and logistics of the three Services.
• This is expected to save money by avoiding duplication between the Services, at a time of shrinking capital expenditure within the defence budget.
• The creation of a CDS to act as a single point military adviser to the Prime Minister on strategic issues was one of the key recommendations of the Kargil review committee on higher military reforms after the 1999 conflict.

Indian crew aboard Iranian oil tanker released in Gibraltar

News

• The Indian Captain and three other Indian crew members aboard an Iranian oil supertanker were released of all charges by authorities in Gibraltar, even as the U.S. Department of Justice made a last-minute claim on the vessel.
• The arrested crew members the Master, Chief Officer and two Second Mates were aboard the Panama-flagged supertanker that was detained off Europa Point in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the Spanish coast.

 No exchange of sweets at Attari-Wagah border post

News

• There was no exchange of customary Indian sweets by the Border Security Force with the Pakistan Rangers at the Attari-Wagah border owing to heightened tension between the two nations.

Tension between the two nations

• On the occasion of Pakistan’s Independence Day on August 14 too there was no exchange of sweets and greetings between BSF and Pakistan Rangers personnel.
• Officials of the BSF, controls the 553-km-long barbed wire fenced international border between India and Pakistan in Punjab.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Booming agritech sector aims at solving supply chain woes

News

With Indian farmers facing post harvest losses amounting to a whopping ₹93,000 crore, a slew of agritech start-ups are now trying to bridge that gap with demand driven cold chains, warehouse monitoring solutions and market linkages that can significantly boost farmer income.

Findings

• According to a new study, these efforts to create supply chain efficiency are the focus of more than 50% of India’s booming agritech industry, which has received 300% more funding in the first half of 2019 than in the whole of 2018.
• India is home to more than 450 startups in the agriculture technology sector, of the global total of about 3,100.
• Year-on-year growth in India has been at a rate of 25%.
• With regards to funding, the start-ups received 10 times more money in 2017-18 than in 2013-14. Over the same period, funding for global start-ups only doubled.
• Corporates and investors are playing a vital role with over $200 million in the last 18 months coming for B2B start-ups, with technology innovations that are aimed directly at the farmer.

16% of produce going waste

• According to government data, post-harvest losses are highest in the fruit and vegetable sector with as much as 16% of produce going waste.
• Some of the biggest agritech deals have been aimed at addressing this issue, creating direct market linkages through digital platforms such as Ninjacart and Crofarm.
• These could support evolving business areas such as farm to fork, or direct delivery of produce from farmers to hotels, restaurants and cafes.
• Other innovations include image sensing for quality grading, storage monitoring based on the Internet of Things and the digitisation of mandis, as well as farmer producer organisations.

Technology solutions to increase crop productivity

• Other start-ups offer technology solutions to increase crop productivity, using big data analytics, Artificial Intelligence and remote sensing to improve land management, crop cycle monitoring and harvest traceability.
• Another group aims at solving farmers’ credit issues, providing low cost and timely financing for agricultural equipment and allowing access to low cost digital loans using virtual credit cards.

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