India Records all time high Export of Coir and Coir Products

The export, of coir and coir products from India worth Rs. 2757.90 crore for the year 2019-20, registers an all-time high record, which is around Rs. 30 crore higher than that of the last year i.e. 2018-19 which stood at Rs. 2728.04 crore. 9,88,996 MT of coir and coir products were exported during the year 2019-20 from the country as against 964046 MT exported during the preceding year. While the exports of coir pith, tufted mats, coir Geo-textiles, coir rugs and carpets, coir other sorts, coir rope and power-loom mats registered growth both in terms of quantity and value. The products like hand-loom mats, coir yarn, rubberized coir and power-loom matting showed decline in terms of quantity and increase in terms of value.
  • Coir pith with export earnings of Rs. 1349.63 crore constituted 49% of the total export of coir products from the country.
  • Coir fibre with an export of Rs. 498.43 crore constituted to 18% of the total exports.
  • The value added items put together constituted 33% of the total exports.
  • Tufted Mats topped among the value added products (20% in value).
  • The export of coir and coir products never showed decrease during the period, which shows there is no chance for the coir entrepreneur to worry about the business.
  • The domestic market for coir and coir products also shows an increasing trend.
  • Exports are made through several ports of India out of which around 99% of the Exports of Coir and Coir Products are made through Tuticorin, Cochin and Chennai Ports. The other main ports of export of coir and coir products are Vishakapattanam, Mumbai, Kolkata etc. Small quantities of exports were made through roads from Kannur, Coimbatore and Rexual.
The port-wise details of exports are as under;
Port-wise Export (2019-20)
Sl. No. Port/ Place of Export Qty.
(MT)
Value
(Rs. Lakhs)
1 Tuticorin 519144 122910.39
2 Cochin 217930 107023.69
3 Chennai 238970 43159.93
4 Vishakapatanam 11578 1871.26
5 Mumbai 1145 596.15
6 Kolkata 113 131.89
7 Bangalore 41 58.19
8 Others (By Road) 75 38.63
Total 988996 275790.13
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1638735
India Records all time high Export of Coir and Coir Products
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Clues to climate change in the past are found in fossils, micro-organisms, gases trapped in ice and isotopes, but the laboratory techniques are cumbersome, costly, and time-consuming. Indian scientists have now unraveled a technique using magnetic minerals that is rapid and efficient.
Scientists from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, have tracked Climate change by following the Paleomonsoonal pattern of the subcontinent by harnessing magnetic mineralogy, a technique that is faster and more accurate than existing methods. Magnetic mineralogy is sensitive to changes in ambient chemical and physical processes that result in concentration, grain size, and mineralogy changes.
In the study published in the Sage Journal, Mr. Praveen Gawali and his team of researchers collated and conducted climatic and environmental studies by collecting sediment samples from different environments and climatic domains of India to glean out the information frozen in magnetic minerals in the form of magnetic parameters like magnetic susceptibility, anhysteretic remnant magnetization, saturation induced remnant magnetization, hysteresis loops and curie temperature.
Climate-related studies are carried out with the help of several proxies like fossils, microorganisms, gases trapped in ice, isotopes, and many others. They, however, take inordinate time and efforts to segregate from the original material, and the laboratory techniques are cumbersome. Additionally, the material needed for carrying out different measurements is quite vast. The instruments are also very costly. Indian monsoon and its variabilityhas been studied through different continental (tree rings, paleosols, speleothems, fluviolacustrine sediments, peat deposits, microfossils, magnetic minerals, etc.) and oceanic (foraminifers, isotopes, isotope ratios, organic content of sediments, etc.) proxies. The IIG Scientists used changes in properties of magnetic minerals for their research in India’s Paleomonsoonal pattern, which is a comparatively new technique applied in our country.
The study of these changes unravels physicochemical regime operative in the past, helping to gauge the then prevalent climate pattern. The magnetic minerals are sensitive to physical and chemical environment that they are embedded in. These external changes bring about modifications in the innate structure of these magnetic minerals, transitioning them from one magnetic phase to another. In this process, the magnetic mineralogy also changes, for example, from magnetite to hematite and vice versa. There are also some intermediate phases that draw the attention of the researchers to complex climatic conditions prevalent over a period of time strictly from these magnetic phases.
Generally, the parent rocks from where the sediments are derived do not contain magnetic minerals that are more than 1% by total volume or weight of those rocks. The concentration of magnetic minerals is very low in sediments. However, this is sufficient to carry out climatic studies since these minerals reveal the true nature of climatic and environmental conditions prevalent at the time of their deposition. Once the instruments are installed in a lab (compared to other instruments, these are quite inexpensive), the overhead and maintenance charges are quite moderate, making the measurements, over the years, quite cheap. Additionally, the time taken is also very less. One of the magnetic parameters of a few hundred samples can be measured in a day. All these factors triggered interest at IIG to carry out climatic studies with the help of magnetic minerals.
The mineral magnetic studies have unraveled 4 regional climatic features encompassing the entire Indian subcontinent and 1 localized climatic event. Higher monsoon precipitation in the western part of India between 25-60 ka (thousand years) was shown to be analogous with glacial melt in the Himalayas between 29 and 18 ka. Later, the weakening of monsoon was inferred in the Himalayas, and the hinterland of Arabian sea between 20 and 15 ka, analogically cold, and dry conditions were prevalent at Dhakuri, which led to the formation of loess deposits starting from 20 ka. The monsoon intensification is deciphered in the western and eastern part of India between 13 and 10 ka with major implications in the hinterlands of the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Between 4 and 2.5 ka, Holocene aridity and weakened monsoon was inferred to be prevalent across the subcontinent. The localized feature of Younger Dryas cooling seems to be confined to just the upper reaches of the Himalaya.
Climate is changing at a rapid pace, impacted by natural and anthropogenic activity. The research will help forecast climatic changes with more accuracy and speed.
The forecast of this change has to be accurate and high levels of accuracy can be achieved if we go very far back in time. Thus the present study by IIG with the help of sediments and the accuracy with which the magnetic minerals freeze the environmental and climate conditions will help to screen many different domains in a much faster speed and with high levels of accuracy.

Climatic changes seen across the Himalayan region reveal episodes of monsoonal fluctuations and temperature changes (depiction of temporal changes not to scale).

Holocene climate fluctuations are prominent in the Central India region (depiction of temporal changes not to scale).

Precipitational and temperature changes in South India are seen to alternate between high and low, and warm and cool (depiction of temporal changes not to scale).

Environmental changes from the Indian Ocean and contiguous region having a bearing on the subcontinental climate (depiction of temporal changes not to scale).
[Publication link:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244018822246.
Information frozen in magnetic minerals can forecast climatic changes faster & more accurately
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Indigenous production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) needs to be scaled up to a level where the production is economically viable, says a report which identified a list of APIS that need prioritized manufacturing and the associated advantages.
The report titled ‘Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients- Status, Issues, Technology Readiness, and Challenges’ was brought out recently by Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), an autonomous organization under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.
It was released along with a white paper on ‘Focused Interventions for ‘Make in India’: Post COVID 19’ by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciencesat a virtual function on 10th July 2020. Dr. V K Saraswat, Member S&T Niti Aayog &Chairman TIFAC Governing Council, and Prof. Pradeep Srivastava, Executive Director, TIFAC, Shri. Sanjay Singh, Scientist ‘G’ and Shri Mukesh Mathur, Incharge (F&A), TIFAC were also present on the occasion.

The major recommendations given in the report include focus on engineering and scale aspect of technology development, need for Mission mode Chemical Engineering with defined targets for uninterrupted synthesis of molecules and to create mega drug manufacturing clusters with common infrastructure in India and the technology platform to be developed for biocatalysis towards reducing process steps for cost optimization and for fluorination, Investment on priority in fermentation sector of large capacity and scale supporting techno-economic feasibility, attention to technologies like hazardous reactions, flow chemistry, cryogenic reactions, and membrane technology.
The report further suggests chiral building blocks through biocatalysis for production of niche intermediates involving enzymatic reactions or fermentation as an area of potential exploitation for Indian API industry and focus on antiviral drugs, which require nucleic acid building blocks - Thymidine/ Cytosine Adenine/ Guanine none of which are manufactured in India because of lack of cyanation plants.
The report recommends for Government encouragement of Indian companies working in chemical segments such as steroids, amino acids, carbohydrates, nucleosides, etc., to collaborate for technology development or quick technology transfer as well as the need for closer academia-industry interaction for technology development and commercialization.
COVID 19 pandemic has firmly put the focus of our Nation on being "AtmaNirbhar". The TIFAC White Paper titled ‘Focused Interventions for 'Make In India' post-COVID 19’ brought out the strengths, market trends, and opportunities in five Sectors, including Healthcare, which are critical from country's perspective. This paper strongly brought out the import dependence for APIs, especially from China. In view of changing geo-political scenario and recalibrated trade alignments, it is imperative that India become self-reliant in production of APIs.
The pharmaceutical industry in India is third largest in the world, in terms of volume, behind China and Italy, and fourteenth largest in terms of value. It has a strong network of 3,000 drug companies and about 10,500 manufacturing units with a domestic turnover of Rs 1.4 lakh crore (USD 20.03 billion) in 2019, with exports to more than 200 countries in the world.
Despite a very strong base, due to low-profit margins and non-lucrative industry, domestic pharmaceutical companies have gradually stopped manufacturing APIs and started importing APIs, which was a cheaper option with increased profit margins on drugs. With the availability of cheaper APIs from China, the pharmaceutical industry relies heavily on imports. The imports from China have been increasing steadily and now stand around 68%. To address this, TIFAC has recommended policies to address the requirement of APIs in short & medium term to make our country self-reliant.
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1638810
TIFAC releases report on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients- Status, Issues, Technology Readiness and Challenges
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A digital conclave was organized today to mark 5 glorious years of the Skill India Mission and the World Youth Skills Day.
In his message to the Conclave, the Prime Minister exhorted the youth to skill, reskill and upskill in order to remain relevant in the rapidly changing business environment and market conditions. He congratulated the youth of the country on the occasion and said the world belongs to the youth due to their ability to acquire new skills all the time.He stated that the Skill India Mission launched five years back on the same day has led to creation of a vast infrastructure for skilling, reskilling and upskilling and enhancing opportunities to access employment both locally and globally.Detailed text of the Prime Minister’s message can be seen at:
On this occasion, Union Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dr.MahendraNathPandey said that our youth is the biggest asset and an important force in the economic growth, and social development of the country. We will focus our energies on increasing the versatility of different skills, making them suitable to meet the industry demands with the support of new technologies, nationally and globally.
The Minister of Statefor Power, New & Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, ShriR.K.Singhalso addressed the Digital Skills Conclave.On this occasion, the Directorate General of Training started two regional offices, which were e-inaugurated, one at Union Territory ofLehand another at north eastern state ofManipur. The Lt. Governor of Leh Shri RK Mathur inaugurated the Leh branch.A few State Skill Development Ministers also addressed the Digital Skills Conclave via video messages. These include Minister from Gujarat, Karnataka, Assam, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Inaugural address was given by Secretary, MSDE Shri Praveen Kumar. Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation Shri A.M.Naikalso addressed the conclave.All stakeholders of the system, including the extensive network of trainees going into lakhs, participated in the conclave. An audio-visual was shown about innovative solutions by skill trainees during COVID-19 while another audio-visual was also played on Skill Mapping.
The 5 years of the Skill India Mission have been worthwhile and seen a large number of achievements, including expansion of skill development infrastructure and facilities, and inculcation and support of entrepreneurial spirit:
Skill India Mission: The efforts of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and other Central Government Department Ministries involved in skilling saw more than one crore youth joining the Skill India Mission every year, to meet demand of Skilled Workforce.
Increase in ITI capacity: There has been a substantial increase in the size of the ITI ecosystem, close to 5000 ITIs have been established over the last 5 years with total number of institutes close to 15,000. The enrolled candidates have increased to 27.56 lakh in these ITIs over the last 5 years. The ITI capacity has been increased to 34.63 lakhs, an increase of 85.5% over 2015. Upgradation of ITIs has been undertaken through 63 course curricula upgraded with industry consultations, 35 new trades and 11 Industry 4.0 courses being introduced.
Training Under Pradhan Mantri KaushalVikasYojana (PMKVY):
      1. Under PMKVY, a total of 92 lakhs candidates have been trained so far across 37 sectors in more than 250 job roles PMKVY is a flagship scheme under MSDE.
      2. A special focus was placed on the agricultural sector and 3.42 lakh were trained in special farming. Some special projects were also taken up under which 5514 Jail Inmates and 5549 misguided youth were trained in Delhi.
PMKK: To improve the quality of short-term training, 720+ Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras as Model Skill Centres were opened in 704 districts in India. These are based upon Aspiration, Quality and Self Sustainable principles.
International Collaboration: Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurshipmet officials from counterparts working in skill development across countries like Singapore, UAE, Japan, Canada, Australia to further build capacity for skilled workforce in the country, jointly work on transnational standards and bridging demand for skilled workforce in these countries by collaborating with them and supplying them with trained professionals.
Increased participation in Apprenticeship Programmes: Various initiatives taken on the Apprenticeship intervention saw a 44% increase in enrolment of apprentices and 10% increase in establishments participating in apprenticeship training, as compared to FY 18-19. A total of 8.61 lakhs people have been engaged under National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) with around 85,000 establishments hiring the apprentices.
Jan ShikshanSansthan (JSS) Scheme: During the last financial year, a total of 4.10 lakhs beneficiaries trained under JSS Scheme as compared to 1.67 lakhs trained during 2018-19, 2.5 times increase over a period of six months.
eSkill India Platform: In a technology driven environment, e-learning is pivotal in deepening the reach of skilling opportunities for the Indian youth. NSDC created an e-Skill India, a multilingual e-learning aggregator portal, providing e-skilling opportunities to the Indian youth. eSkill India leverages the skilling opportunities from Indian and global leaders in online learning, by consolidating online courses curated by leading knowledge organizations that share NSDC’s commitment of making India a Skill Capital of the World. eSkill India provides anytime, anywhere skilling —beyond the boundaries of location and time. The courses are available in English, Hindi and 9 regional languages. The learners are guided through self-paced interactive videos and quizzes. The portal has more than 500 courses and close to 2.5 lakh students have registered themselves on it
Vision Report 2025: MSDE has prepared its Vision Report 2025 in consultation with various stakeholders. The Draft Vision Report 2025 was discussed in multiple review meetings held under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, MSDE along with the heads of various wings of the Ministry and attached organizations viz. DGT, NSDA, NSDC and NIESBUD &IIE.
Initiatives for Women:
To mark the celebration of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2020, a two-year programme namely Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) programme was launched by MSDE at IIM Bangalore, Karnataka. The fellowship programme has been conceptualized under the World Bank loan assisted Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) Programme. Out of the total 75 Fellows selected, 32 are women candidates (43 % of the total).
Initiatives for COVID-19:
  1. A Task Force of the Ministry, which was constituted to plan the strategy in light of COVID, has submitted its report on 16/4/20, with its recommendations in the various areas including steps needed to be taken urgently for the growth of the sector, strategies for Framing Policies which were facing obstacles, preparation of Business Plan for Sector Players to start functioning, steps that Ministries can take for encouraging Make in India and to secure and increase India's share in World exports.
  2. While the Ministry had made available all campuses of NSTI/ ITI for isolation/ quarantine facilities, as per reports received so far, 12 NSTI/ ITI buildings have been requisitioned by the District Authorities in light of Corona. Similarly PMKVY training partners have also provided their premises for such facilities, including for a temporary hospital.
  3. Institutions under MSDE ecosystem have been active in manufacture of masks and hand sanitizers. While the JSSs have so far made more than 30 lakh masks, the ITI system has built more than 20 lakh masks, PMKVY Training Partner made 20 lakh masks. Total 70 lakh masks were created to support the local administration.
  4. A number of innovations have been done by ITIs and NSTIs to assist the fight against COVID-19. These include design and development of design robot (to serve food/ medicine to patients) and tele-presentation robot (for enabling tele-monitoring and telemedicine) by ITI Cuttack. ITI Berhampur designed an Aerosol Box which tightly protects the face of the health provider. NSTI developed an aero blaster and handed it to the District Administration for sanitizing the city.
SWADES: A collaborative initiative of the Ministries of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Civil Aviation and External Affairs, SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support) is a skill mapping exercise of the returning citizens under the Vande Bharat Mission. SWADES aims to create a database of qualified citizens based on their skillsets and experience to tap into and fulfil demand of Indian and foreign companies.
ASEEM: In order to improve the information flow and bridge the demand-supply gap in the skilled workforce market, MSDE recently launched ‘Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM)’ portal to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities. The Artificial Intelligence-based platform has been envisioned to strengthen workforce career pathways by handholding them through their journeys to attain industry-relevant skills and explore emerging job opportunities. 24 lakhs candidates trained under the PMKVY and Fee-based courses are available on ASEEM. 1.5 lakhs candidates trained in ITIs under Directorate General of Training have also been added and data captured under SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support) is available for employers. Also, working on adding data of all the 1.2 Crore candidates trained under PMKVY 2.0.
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1638794
Digital conclave organized to mark 5 glorious years of the Skill India Mission and the World Youth Skills Day;
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Sustainable Growth Pillar is an important pillar of India–US Strategic Energy Partnership co-chaired by NITI Aayog and USAID. The SG pillar entails energy data management, energy modelling and collaboration on low carbon technologies as three key activities.
In the joint working group meeting of the Sustainable Growth Pillar on July 2, 2020, an India Energy Modeling Forum was launched.
There exist energy modelling forums in different parts of the World. The Energy Modelling Forum (EMF) in USA was established in 1976 at Stanford University to connect leading modelling experts and decision makers from government, industry, universities, and other research organizations. The forum provides an unbiased platform to discuss the contemporary issues revolving around energy and environment.
In India, there was no formalized and systematic process of having a modeling forum. Even then, various think-tanks/research organizations like TERI, IRADe, CSTEP, CEEW, NCAER, etc., have been consistently developing scenarios and contributing through modelling studies and analyses to provide required inputs to MoEF&CC and other relevant ministries, including NITI Aayog.
The India Energy Modelling Forum will accelerate this effort and aim to:
  • Provide a platform to examine important energy and environmental related issues;
  • Inform decision-making process to the Indian government;
  • Improve cooperation between modelling teams, government, and knowledge partners, funders;
  • Facilitate exchange of ideas, ensure production of high-quality studies;
  • Identify knowledge gaps at different levels and across different areas;
  • Build capacity of Indian institutions.
NITI Aayog will initially coordinate the activities of the forum and finalizing its governing structure. The forum would include knowledge partners, data agencies and concerned government ministries.
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1638779
India–US Strategic Energy Partnership: Sustainable Growth Pillar India Energy Modeling Forum Launch on July 2, 2020
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