PIB Summaries 07 February 2022

CONTENTS:

1. One District, One Product
2. Initiatives for Women and Children

One District, One Product

Focus: GS III- Agriculture

Why in News?

Lakadong Turmeric has been identified under The One District, One Product (ODOP) Initiative under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, as a product with excellent potential for growth and export for West Jaintia Hills. 

Details:

• ODOP partnered with AGNIi Mission, one of the nine technology missions under the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council to identify Indian innovative technologies that can play a transformative role in the end-to-end processing of Lakadong Turmeric, starting with leveraging payload drones (UAVs) to transport the turmeric in large quantities.
•  Lakadong Turmeric from West Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya is one   of   the   world’s   finest turmeric varieties with the highest curcumin content of 7-9% (in comparison to 3% or less in other varieties), is fast becoming a game changer in the economy of the district.
• The State of Meghalaya has applied for a Geographical Indication tag for Lakadong turmeric. 
• The percentage of curcumin and oleoresin content in turmeric determines the demand by the industry along with the price.
• India is the largest producer and exporter of turmeric (APEDA, 2019).
• India exported US$ 236.5 million worth of turmeric in 2018 from US$ 182.53 million in 2017.
• Turmeric is a positive crop; it improves health and is not water guzzling. 
• Inspite of the highest curcumin content and excellent potential for domestic sales and export, Lakadong turmeric faces severe market access issues due to the remoteness of the location, topography and terrain.
• Thus, buyers have to incur additional costs to transport the goods from the villages via local pick-up trucks till the major transporters’ loading point.
• Additional costs of transportation and delays in the same act as barriers / disincentives for the buyer in the process of procurement.

About One District, One Product

Nodal: Ministry of Food Processing Industries(MOFPI). 

• The ODOP initiative is aimed at manifesting the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India to foster balanced regional development across all districts of the country.
• The idea is to select, brand, and promote One Product from each District of the country
  • For enabling holistic socioeconomic growth across all regions
  • To attract investment in the District to boost manufacturing and exports
  • To generate employment in the District
  • To provide ecosystem for Innovation/ use of Technology at District level to make them competitive with domestic as well as International market

Objectives of the scheme:

• Preservation and development of local crafts / skills and promotion of the art.
• Increase in the incomes and local employment (resulting in decline in migration for employment).
• Improvement in product quality and skill development.
• Transforming the products in an artistic way (through packaging, branding)
• To connect the production with tourism (Live demo and sales outlet – gifts and souvenir)
• To resolve the issues of economic difference and regional imbalance
• To take the concept of ODOP to national and international level after successful implementation at State level.

Initiatives for Women and Children

Focus: GS-II: Social Justice (Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population) GS-I: Indian Society (Issues related to women and children)

Why in News?

The Ministry of Women and Child Development in order to promote and enable women to access education, health and financial services, to support children in difficult circumstances and to alleviate malnutrition, has  taken initiatives which includes various legislations and implementation of various schemes 

Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009

• The Right of you to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE) describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between the age of 6 to 14 years in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution.
• The title of the RTE Act incorporates the words ‘free and compulsory’ – which means no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education.
• ‘Compulsory education’ casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary education by all children in the 6-14 age group.
• The act mandates 25% reservation for disadvantaged sections of the society where disadvantaged groups include SCs and STs, Socially Backward Class, Differently abled.
• It also makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age-appropriate class.
• It had a clause for “No Detention Policy” which has been removed under The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2019.

It lays down the norms and standards related to:

1. Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs)
2. Buildings and infrastructure
3. School-working days
4. Teacher-working hours.

The 86th amendment to the constitution of India in 2002, provided Right to Education as a Fundamental Right in part-III of the Constitution by inserting Article 21A which made Right to Education a fundamental right for children between 6-14 years.

Code on Wages, 2019

• The Code on Wages, 2019, also known as the Wage Code consolidates the provisions of four labour laws concerning wage and bonus payments and makes universal the provisions for minimum wages and timely payment of wages for all workers in India.
• The Code repeals and replaces the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.
• The new Act links minimum wage across the country to the skills of the employee and the place of employment.
• It seeks to universalizes the provisions of minimum wages and timely payment of wages to all employees irrespective of the sector and wage ceiling.
• It seeks to ensure “Right to Sustenance” for every worker and intends to increase the legislative protection of minimum wage.
• A National Floor Level Minimum Wage will be set by the Centre and will be revised every five years, while states will fix minimum wages for their regions, which cannot be lower than the floor wage.

Code on Social Security, 2020

• The Code on Social Security, 2020 is a code to amend and consolidate the laws relating to social security with the goal to extend social security to all employees and workers either in the organised or unorganised or any other sectors.
• The Social Security Code, 2020 brings unorganised sector, gig workers and platform workers under the ambit of social security schemes, including life insurance and disability insurance, health and maternity benefits, provident fund and skill upgradation, etc.
• For the first time, provisions of social security will also be extended to agricultural workers also.
• The act amalgamates nine central labour enactments relating to social security.

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code Bill, 2020

• The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code Bill, 2020 spells out duties of employers and employees, and envisages safety standards for different sectors, focusing on the health and working condition of workers, hours of work, leaves, etc.
• The code also recognises the right of contractual workers.
• The code also brings in gender equality and empowers the women workforce. Women will be entitled to be employed in all establishments for all types of work and, with consent can work before 6 am and beyond 7 pm subject to such conditions relating to safety, holidays and working hours.
• For the first time, the labour code also recognises the rights of transgenders. It makes it mandatory for industrial establishments to provide washrooms, bathing places and locker rooms for male, female and transgender employees.

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 replaced the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 to comprehensively address children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection.
• The Act changes the nomenclature from ‘juvenile’ to ‘child’ or ‘child in conflict with law’. Also, it removes the negative connotation associated with the word “juvenile”.
• It also includes several new and clear definitions such as orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children; and petty, serious and heinous offences committed by children
• The act includes special provisions to tackle child offenders committing heinous offences in the age group of 16-18 years.
• It mandates setting up Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees in every district. Both must have at least one woman member each.
• The Act included several new offences committed against children (like, illegal adoptions, use of child by militant groups, offences against disabled children, etc) which are not adequately covered under any other law.
• All Child Care Institutions, whether run by State Government or by voluntary or non-governmental organisations are to be mandatorily registered under the Act within 6 months from the date of commencement of the Act.

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao

• Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao is a campaign of the Government of India that aims to generate awareness and improve the efficiency of welfare services intended for girls in India.
• BBBP is a national campaign and focussed multisectoral action in 100 selected districts low in Child Sex Ratio (CSR), covering all States and UTs.
• This is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Main Objectives of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme are:

1. Prevention of gender-biased sex-selective elimination.
2. Ensuring survival & protection of the girl child.
3. Ensuring education and participation of the girl child.
4. Protecting rights of Girl child.

Pradhan Mantri Matri Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)

• Pradhan Mantri Matri Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a maternity benefit program run by the government of India since 2017.
• It is a centrally sponsored scheme being executed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age or above for the first live birth.
• It provides a partial wage compensation to women for wage-loss during childbirth and childcare and to provide conditions for safe delivery and good nutrition and feeding practices.
• Implementation of the scheme is closely monitored by the central and state governments through the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana – Common Application Software (PMMVY-CAS).
• All Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM), excluding those who are in regular employment with the Central Government or the State Governments or PSUs or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force are the target beneficiaries including PW&LM who have their pregnancy on or after 1st January 2017 for the first child in the family.

Janani Suraksha Yojana

• The Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme which is being implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and infant mortality by promoting institutional delivery among pregnant women.
• Basically, it is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Health Mission (NHM).
• Under the JSY, eligible pregnant women are entitled for cash assistance irrespective of the age of mother and number of children, for giving birth in a government or accredited private health facility.
• The scheme also provides performance-based incentives to women health volunteers known as Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) for promoting institutional delivery among pregnant women.
• The scheme focuses on the poor pregnant woman with special dispensation for states that have low institutional delivery rates, namely, the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Jammu and Kashmir. (These states have been named the Low Performing States (LPS) under the scheme and the remaining States/UTs have been named the High Performing States (HPS).)

Working Women Hostels scheme

• The Working Women Hostels scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• It aims to ensure safe accommodation for women working away from their place of residence.
• To provide safety for working women, a provision has been made to keep security guards and to install CCTV Cameras in Working Women Hostels.
• To provide quality of stay for working women, provision has been made to provide safe and affordable accommodation with clean and well-ventilated day care centres for the children of inmates, medical first-aid and providing washing machines and geysers/solar water heating systems.

Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development implements a centrally sponsored Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme (erstwhile Integrated Child Protection Scheme – ICPS) under the umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme for supporting the children in difficult circumstances.
• Under the scheme institutional care is provided through Child Care Institutions (CCIs), as a rehabilitative measure.
• The programmes and activities in CCIs inter-alia include age-appropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care, counseling etc.
• Under the non-institutional care component, support is extended for adoption, foster care and sponsorship.
• Further CPS also provides for “After care” services after the age of 18 years to help sustain them during the transition from institutional to independent life.
• The details of CCIs supported under CPS along with the number of children residing in them as informed by the States/UTs is Annexed.

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme

• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is a government programe in India which provides food, preschool education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.
• The scheme was launched in 1975, discontinued in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai, and then relaunched by the Tenth Five Year Plan.
• In addition to fighting malnutrition and ill health, the programme is also intended to combat gender inequality by providing girls the same resources as boys.

Mission Poshan 2.0

• Mission Poshan 2.0 was announced by the Finance Minister as a part of the Union Budget 2021-22 – aimed at improving and strengthening nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes.
• The supplementary nutrition programme and the Poshan Abhiyaan has been merged to launch Mission Poshan 2.0.
• Mission POSHAN 2.0 will prioritize 112 aspirational districts and develop practices that will nurture health, wellness & immunity of children and pregnant women thereby making a concerted effort towards eradicating malnutrition from its roots.