“The greatest mistake of a soul is non-recognition of its real self and can only be corrected by recognizing itself.”
Lord Mahavir
“आत्मा की सबसे बड़ी गलती अपने असली रूप को न पहचान पाना है और इसे केवल आत्मज्ञान प्राप्त कर के ही ठीक किया जा सकता है।”
भगवान महावीर
The Jammu and Kashmir Government recently sought GI tag for Gucchi mushroom. The Gucchi mushrooms are highly expensive and are full of health benefits. 500 grams of Gucchi mushrooms cost Rs 18,000.
Recently, GI Tag was provided to Saffron of Jammu and KashmirGucchi mushroom is a species of fungus belonging to the family Morchellaceae. They are pale yellow in colour with large ridges and pits on their cap. They are raised on a large white stem. The Gucchi mushrooms are locally called “Thuntoo”.
The Gucchi mushrooms prefer soil with limestone base. They also grow in acid soils. The Gucchi mushrooms are usually found in early spring.The time of fruiting of the mushrooms varies locally from February to July. In Canada, they appear only after June.
The Gucchi mushrooms cannot be cultivated commercially. They grow in the conifer forests of Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. It takes months for the villagers to collect these mushrooms, dry them and bring them to the market. The Gucchi mushrooms grow in clusters on logs of decaying wood, humus soil and leaves. They may not grow in the same spot the next season. This makes the process of collection more tedious. Due to these reasons, the Gucchi mushrooms are highly expensive.
The Guchhi mushrooms cannot be cultivated commercially for their nature of germination. They germinate and grow in low temperature soil. They usually appear after fires. The fruiting of Gucchi mushrooms require alkaline conditions produced by wood ash mixed with water. These criteria make commercial cultivation of Gucchi highly challenging.
The Gucchi mushrooms are rich in vitamins, potassium and copper. They are also rich in Vitamin-D. further they are rich in antioxidants that prevent health issues such as heart diseases and diabetes.
On January 18, 2021, the Institute of Nuclear medicine and allied Sciences (INMAS) operating under DRDO handed over 21 bike ambulances called Rakshita to the Central Reserve Police Force. The ambulances have been created on Royal Enfield Classic motorcycles.
on January 18, 2021, the Union Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan inaugurated burns and plastic surgery block in in AIIMS Delhi. The unit will provide state-of-the-art care in the field of burns management and Research. The Minister dedicated the block to Sushruta, father of plastic surgery.
India and France are to conduct a 5 day air exercise Ex-Desert Knight 21 near Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The exercise will provide operational exposure and will share best practices towards enhancing combat capability .
On January 18, 2021, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the National Road Safety Month.
Bilkis dadi, the face of the Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protests, and social activist and writer Harsh Mander of Karwan-e-Mohabbat were presented the Quaide Milleth Award for Probity in Political and Public Life at the India Islamic Cultural Centre, New Delhi.
On January 18, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed Bhoomi Pooja of Ahmedabad metro rail project Phase II and Surat metro rail project.
On January 18, 2021, India and Japan signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote the movement of skilled workers from India to Japan. The agreement covered for 14 categories of specified skills.
On January 17, 2021, Pakistan felicitated a team of 10 Nepali climbers for making history by becoming the first to scale the world’s second highest mountain K2 in winter. The Mountain is located in Gilgit-Baltistan side of Karakoram range.
On January 18, 2021, the UK Government unveiled a new laws to protect the cultural and historical heritage of the country in the form of statues and monuments. This was done to ensure that they are not removed at a whim.
The music producer Phil Spector died at the age of 81 in the US on January 16, 2021. He was a revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his wall of sound method.
On January 18, 2021, the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju launched the Khelo India state centre of Excellence.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas recently launched SAKSHAM awareness campaign. The campaign was launched to spread awareness about green energy.
The campaign will spread awareness about clean energy. It is a one-month long people centric fuel conservation campaign. The campaign is to be launched by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA). The campaign is to create awareness in seven key drivers namely greater reliance on domestic sources to drive bio-fuels, moving towards gas based economy, cleaner use of fossil fuels, achieving renewable targets with the set deadlines, increased use of electric vehicles to decarbonize mobility, increased use of cleaner fuels and digital innovation across all energy systems.
The PM-KUSUM scheme covers grid connected renewable energy power plants, grid connected agriculture pumps and solar water pumps. The scheme aims to install 10,000 MW of decentralised grid connected renewable energy power plants. It will install standalone off grid solar water pumps to fulfil irrigation needs. Also, it will solarise the existing grid-connected agriculture pumps. With this the farmers can sell the surplus solar power generated to the Discoms.
The programme aims to achieve a cumulative capacity of 40,000 MW of Rooftop solar power projects by 2022. In a grid connected rooftop solar power project, DC power generated is converted into AC power using power conditioning unit and is then fed into the grid. The main objective of the solar programme is to promote solar power generating plants among the residential, institutional and community establishments.
The main aim of the policy is to provide a framework to promote large grid connected wind-solar hybrid system. It aims to encourage new technology and way-outs involving combined operation of solar and wind power plants.
The policy was notified in 2015. The main objective of the policy is to develop offshore wind energy in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. The policy has identified eight zones that have cumulative offshore wind energy potential of 70 GW.
Recovery efforts cannot be gender-blind, because, as the saying goes, “gender-blind is not gender-neutral.” There are four areas where government policy can help ameliorate long-standing issues.
In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, female labour force participation in India and South Asia was 20.5% and 23.5%, respectively (ILO estimates, World Bank database). Comparable estimates for males were 76% and 77%, respectively. The Middle East and North Africa are the only regions with lower female participation than South Asia.
The pandemic has made this situation worse. It has hit women disproportionately — because they work in sectors that have been the hardest hit; work more than men do in the informal economy; or because they are the primary caregivers at home.
Owing to Covid-19, global female employment is 19% more at risk than male employment (ILO estimates). For India, economist Ashwini Deshpande estimates that compared to men, women were 9.5% less likely to be employed in August 2020 compared to August 2019. Ominously, girls are at greater risk of losing their human capital — in India, there is a 30% increase in new registrations on matrimonial websites, and, in South Asia, an additional 200,000 girls are expected to be forced into child marriages this year (Lancet).
Recovery efforts cannot be gender-blind, because, as the saying goes, “gender-blind is not gender-neutral.” There are four areas where government policy can help ameliorate long-standing issues.
First, address child care-related issues, a critical barrier to women’s labour force participation. The biggest dividends will come from focusing on women in the informal sector. In India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, 76, 89, 71 and 66% of working women, respectively, are employed on own account or as family workers (ILO). The Integrated Child Development Scheme provides some support, but it is not a full-time child care solution. The “Sangini Centres” of Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) provide full-day child care for 0-5 year olds, including nutrition, health and child care. Women using these centres report a monthly income increase of between ₹500-1,000. Similar centres will have to be significantly expanded. As for the formal sector, governments can mandate paternity leave on a use-it-or-lose-it basis, as one way to get men to share in infant care duties.
Second, tackle the digital divide. In India in 2019, internet users were 67% male and 33% female, and this gap is even bigger in rural areas. This divide can become a barrier for women to access critical education, health and financial services, or to achieve success in activities or sectors that are becoming more digitised. To address this, partnerships between the public and private sectors will be most effective. Actions will need to address affordability of phones and computers, female digital literacy and its social context and inadequate technical content dedicated to women and girls.
Third, in the formal sector, use the income tax system to push female labour force participation. Women have a higher elasticity of labour supply than men (their labour supply is more responsive to their take-home wages) — lower income taxes for women can incentivise their participation. In India, given the abysmally low rate of female participation, such a move will not have a significant impact on public finances. This can be compensated with a much smaller tax increase on male employees, if needed. This could help create incentives for female employment within households.
Fourth, mainstream gender-disaggregated data collection and monitoring. What is measured gets acted upon. Globally, major gaps in gendered data and the lack of trend data make it hard to monitor progress. A UN Women Initiative called “Making Every Woman and Girl Count” was launched in 2016 to help prioritise gender data, ensure regular production of quality and comparable gender statistics, and ensure that data are accessible and used to inform policy. In India, too, significant gaps in data on the girl child prevent a systematic longitudinal assessment of the lives of girls. This needs to be corrected.
The best way to “not waste the crisis” is to ensure that women come back stronger. Women in India and other parts of South Asia can become a critical part of the recovery.
Sanjay Kathuria is senior visiting fellow, Centre for Policy Research and adjunct professor, Georgetown University.
Source: Hindustan Times, 19/01/21
“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.”
Hellen Keller
“विश्वास वह शक्ति है जिससे उजड़ी हुई दुनिया को पुनः रोशन किया जा सकता है।”
हेलन केलर
The United Nations recently released the report “International Migration 2020 Highlights”. According to the report, the Indian diaspora is the largest in the world. More than 18 million people from India were living outside India as of 2020.