Cabinet approves MoU between India and Finland for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism #UnionCabinet #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism.

Benefits:

The main objectives of the Memorandum of understanding, inter alia, are:

Establish the basis for a cooperative relationship to encourage and promote successful bilateral cooperation in the field of tourism
Sharing data; knowledge, expertise etc. related to tourism
Sharing experiences in making polices, regulation and standards in planning, implementation and development of tourism policy
Facilitating the identification and expansion of joint projects, pilots and partnerships between companies and organizations through visits, meetings, workshops, co-creation sessions and site evaluations
Exchanging best practices through workshops and study visits for experts of Finland and India on the field of cooperation
Encouraging development of partnerships in the context of multilateral development programs and projects of international Financial Institutions, in which both Participants have common interests
Background:

India and Finland have enjoyed a strong diplomatic and long economic relationship. The two parties now desiring to strengthen and further develop the established relationship have signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Tourism, Government of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Government for the Finland for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism.

Finland is one of the emerging inbound source markets for India. In 2018, 21239 Finnish tourists visited India. The signing of Memorandum of Understanding with Finland will be instrumental in increasing arrival from this source market.

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin completes three years; Union Minister for Rural Development interacts with beneficiaries from five States via Doordarshan; Says Government will fulfil the dream of providing housing for all in Rural India by 2022

Union Minister for Rural Development Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today interacted with the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana -Gramin (PMAY-G) from 5 States namely Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh from the Doordarshan studios in New Delhi and heard their testimonies.

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana was launched on 20th November 2016 with an aim of providing housing for all in rural areas. PMAY-G has completed three years today and, on this occasion, Rural development minister today interacted with the beneficiaries.

While interacting with beneficiaries across these five States, Shri Tomar said that although a housing scheme for rural poor was in existence before the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Government, its implementation was poor and was stuck in a lot of red tape. He said that under the guidance of Prime Minister's vision, PMAY-G scheme was launched on 20th November 2016 and it was made more comprehensive as it included amenities like water, gas, toilet and electricity supply in all the households. Under the PMAY-G, houses are being constructed using New Technologies. Time for Construction of Houses under the scheme has reduced to 114 days from 314 days in 2015-16 due to use of direct benefit transfer (DBT) platform. Under PMAY, the minimum size of a house has also been increased to 25 square meters.

The Union Rural Development Minister further informed that 87 lakh homes in different parts of the country have already been completed and the aim is to have 2 crore 95 lakh houses by 2022. This will complete Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of housing for all in Rural India by 2022.

Shri Tomar further said that Government has ensured that all houses constructed under PMAY-G are designed properly by experts who have made it based on topology, and they are climate resistant homes. The common thing said by most beneficiaries was that their lives have been transformed after getting a 'pucca' house and it has boosted their self-esteem, social status and standard of living.

The main features of the scheme of PMAY-G are:

Identification of beneficiaries as per the housing deprivation parameters and exclusion criteria prescribed under Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 after due verification by Gram Sabha.
Providing assistance for construction of 2.95 crore pucca houses for eligible rural households by March 2022 in phases: - 1.00 crore houses in Phase I (2016-17 to 2018-19) and 1.95 crore houses in Phase II (2019-20 to 2021-22). The target set for 2019-20 is completion of 60 lakh houses, out of which target of 51.05 lakh houses have already been allocated to States/UT.
Enhancement of unit assistance from Rs 70,000 (US$ 1001.5) (IAY) to Rs 1.20 lakh (US$ 1716.9) in plain areas and from Rs 75,000 (US$ 1073.1) (IAY) to Rs 1.30 lakh (US$ 1860) in Hilly States, NE States, difficult areas and IAP districts.
Provision of assistance for construction of toilets amounting to Rs 12,000/- (US$ 171.69) through SBM-G, MGNREGS or any other dedicated source of funding and 90/95 days of unskilled wages under MGNREGS over and above the unit assistance.
Enhancement in the minimum unit size of house from 20 sq. m. (IAY) to 25 Sq. m.
Facilitating willing beneficiaries to avail loan from Financial Institutions for an amount of up to Rs 70,000 (US$ 1001.5).

Cabinet approves the Patent Prosecution Highway programme

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for adoption of Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme by the Indian Patent Office (IPO) under the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks, India (CGPDTM) with patent offices of various other interest countries or regions.

The said programme will initially commence between Japan Patent Office (JPO) and Indian Patent Office on pilot basis for a period of three years only.Under this Pilot programme, Indian Patent Office may receive patent applications in certain specified technical fields only, namely, Electrical, Electronics, Computer Science, Information Technology, Physics, Civil, Mechanical, Textiles, Automobiles and Metallurgy while JPO may receive applications in all fields of technology.

PPH programme would lead to the following benefits for the Indian IP office:

Reduction in time to dispose patent applications.
Reduction in pendency of patent applications.
Improvement in quality of search and examination of patent applications.
An opportunity for Indian inventors including MSMEs and Start-ups of India to get accelerated examination of their patent applications in Japan.
The ambit of the programme may be extended in future, as decided by the Commerce & Industry Minister. The patent offices will frame their own guidelines for implementation of the programme.

Highway projects worth Rs 15 lakh crore ready to be offered in next 5 years: VK Singh

According to Union Minister Mr. V K Singh, infrastructure sector could have a major role in boosting the economy as the government is prepared to offer a basket of highway projects worth Rs 15 lakh crore (US$ 215 billion) in next five years.

He said that the infrastructure has the potential to generate huge employment and give the needed boost to the economic progress. The economy slowdown is a temporary phase, said the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Mr. V K Singh.

He noted that "the sector that is going to make a difference in ensuring that the recovery is fast and the recovery is big is the infrastructure sector - whether it is railways, whether it is road, whether it is airports or whether it is communication".

Mr. Singh was addressing at 'Infra Awards 2019' by Dun and Bradstreet India (D&B India), a provider of global business information.
He added, "We have a basket of approximately Rs 15 lakh crore (US$ 215 billion) projects which have to be given out in this 5 year that are coming up. These include economic corridors, port connectivity, connecting important places, SEZs and tourists' places".

He further stated that the role of infrastructure in restoring the economic growth could be understood from the fact that this was the sector which pulled out the US from the great depression in 1930s. He said with the government's focus on infrastructure, it was possible to achieve the US$ 5 trillion economy target.

HCC for Bogibeel Rail-cum-Road project and Larsen & Toubro for Nagpur Smart City Solutions were among the project award winners on the occasion.

OneLife raises Rs 5 crore in Pre-Series A Funding

Consumer healthcare brand 'Onelife - Live it right', which is owned by Onelife Nutriscience recently has raised Pre-Series A funding of Rs 5 crore (US$ 0.72 million) from a group of High Net worth Individuals (HNIs) from pharmaceuticals & healthcare and chemicals industry.

The funds will be used for geographical expansion, online and offline expansion, marketing and team building, it said in a statement.

"The funds raised will help us strengthen our product range, expand geographies, increase online and offline presence, invest in marketing and brand building and add further talent. We are targeting to achieve three times growth over next 18 months," Onelife Founder Mr. Gaurav Aggarwal said.

The company has around 100 products in the nutrition, wellness and beauty space with its presence in more than 15 cities across West and North India.

27.77 lakh hectares covered under organic farming in the country: Union Agriculture Minister

A total area of 27.77 lakh hectares is covered under organic farming in the country under Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) and 3rd party certification.

Government of India has been encouraging organic farming in the country through the dedicated schemes namely Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY- Centrally Sponsored scheme, in all states & UTs) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development of North East Region (MOVCDNER -Central Sector scheme for North Eastern Region). Both the schemes aim at promotion of cluster/ Farmers Producer Organization (FPO) based chemical free, low input cost, sustainable organic farming and support farmers from input procurement to market linkages. Organic Farming has also been supported under other schemes viz. Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Network Project on Organic Farming under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Third party certification of organic farming is promoted by Agriculture Processed Food and Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce.

Management Agricultural National Institute of Extension (MANAGE), Hyderabad conducted impact study for the scheme Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) during 2017. It is reported that there was 10-20 per cent reduction in cost of cultivation (cost saving) and 20-50 per cent increase in net returns to organic farmers. Price premium (up to 30 per cent) was also observed in some clusters, which were nearer to large cities and had good linkages with large markets.

In the last 3 years, 115314 and 2050 number of capacity building trainings/ workshops conducted for the farmers in the country under PKVY and MOVCDNER scheme respectively, while the no. of farmers participated in the workshops are 14.93 lakhs and 82294 respectively. In U.P 2300 workshops were conducted, and 31000 farmers participated. Apart from states, National Centre of Organic Farming (NCOF), Ghaziabad, a subordinate office of Department of Agriculture Cooperation (DAC&FW) also conducts regular certificate course on organic farming (CCOF), trainings to farmers/ extension staff skill development training on Organic Growers & Vermicompost for promotion of organic farming and its techniques.

Under protected cultivation component of MIDH, assistance is also provided for creation of polyhouses which protects the plants from adverse climatic conditions and provides an appropriate amount of light, temperature, humidity, carbon-dioxide etc. to achieve optimum yield with excellent quality. Since inception of MIDH scheme i.e. from 2014-15 to till date an additional area of 2380.49 ha has been brought under Greenhouse structures like polyhouses.

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha today.

Ministry of Tourism is promoting Buddhist Circuit to increase India's share in global tourism market - Tourism Minister

With a view to showcase and project the Buddhist Heritage in India and boost tourism to the Buddhist destinations in the country, Ministry of Tourism organises the International Buddhist Conclave biennially with participation of tour operators, Media, opinion makers etc. from overseas as well as Indian stakeholders.

MoT has also produced two films viz. 'India - The Land of Buddha' and 'Following the path of the Buddha' which have been promoted on electronic and digital media, and at Road Shows and Know India Seminars etc. organised by the India Tourism Offices overseas. MoT also has a dedicated section for the promotion of Buddhist heritage and destinations on its promotional website.

MoT has identified the Buddhist Circuit as one of the fifteen thematic circuits for development under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme. MoT has sanctioned five projects for Rs. 355.26 Crore under the Buddhist Circuit theme covering the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh and work on all the projects is under implementation.

Financial support is also extended under the Marketing Development Assistance Scheme to approved service providers and State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for promotional activities undertaken by them in the overseas markets such as Sales Tours, Participation in Travel Fairs/ Exhibitions and Road Shows.

Ministry of Tourism (MoT) promotes India as a holistic destination in the tourism generating markets to promote various Indian tourism products and tourism destinations of the country including the Buddhist Circuit to increase India's share of the global tourism market.

The above objectives are met through an integrated marketing and promotional strategy, and a synergized campaign in association with the Travel Trade, State Governments/Union Territory Administrations and Indian Missions. The specific elements of promotional efforts undertaken overseas include advertising in Print, Electronic, Online, Outdoor and Social Media, participation in international Fairs & Exhibitions, organising Know India Seminars, Workshops, Road Shows and India Evenings, Brochure Support, Joint Advertising with Travel Agents / Tour Operators, organising and supporting Indian Food and cultural festivals, publication of brochures and inviting tour operators, media personalities, opinion makers etc. to visit the country under the Hospitality Programme of the Ministry.

This information was given by the Minister of State (I/c) of Culture and Tourism, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

Six more states selected for promoting pulses and oilseeds cultivation: Shri Narendra Singh Tomar

The Government is implementing the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) - Oilseeds and Oil Palm to increase production of oilseeds and domestic availability of edible oils.

The NFSM-(OS&OP) is under implementation in 29 States and has three subcomponents namely, Oilseeds, Oil palm and Tree Borne Oilseeds (TBOs). The main objective is to increase oilseeds production & productivity and area expansion under oil palm & TBOs cultivation. The oilseeds production which was 27.72 million tonnes in 2008-09 increased to 32.26 million tonnes in 2018-19 with productivity increase from 1006 to 1265 kg/ha. during this period. The edible oil production in the country which was 6.34 million tonnes in 2008-09 increased to 10.44 million tonnes in 2018-19. An area of 3.30 lakh ha has been covered under oil palm up to 2018-19.

More than 12 per cent of total cropped area in the country is used for cultivation of oilseeds. To reduce import dependency, besides NFSM (OS&OP), Government of India is promoting pulses and oilseeds cultivation in rice fallow areas of six eastern states (Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal) since 2016-17 and from 2019-20, six more states (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) have been included to bring additional area and production of pulses and oilseeds.

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha today.

Over 18 Lakh Farmers registered under PM KISAN MAAN DHAN YOJANA: Shri Narendra Singh Tomar

With a view to provide social security net for the Small and Marginal Farmers (SMF) as they have minimal or no savings to provide for old age and to support them in the event of consequent loss of livelihood, the Government has launched a new Central Sector Scheme, namely, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY). Under this Scheme, a minimum fixed pension of Rs 3,000 (US$ 42.9) is provided to the eligible small and marginal farmers, subject to certain exclusion clauses, on attaining the age of 60 years. It is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme, with entry age of 18 to 40 years. The beneficiary can opt to become member of the Scheme by subscribing to a Pension Fund managed by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The beneficiary is required to make a monthly contribution of between Rs 55/- to Rs 200/- (US$ 0.78 to 2.8) to the Pension Fund, depending on the age of entry into the Scheme, with provision of equal contribution by the Central Government. Exit from the scheme may be voluntarily or on failure of contribution or on demise. On exit from the scheme, the beneficiary will receive his/her accumulated share and the Government's contribution will be deposited in the LIC Fund. After the subscriber's death, the spouse or heir shall be entitled to receive 50 per cent of the pension as family pension, provided he/she is not already an SMF beneficiary of the Scheme. On the death of the subscriber during the period of contribution, the spouse shall have the option of continuing the Scheme by paying regular contribution.

All Small and Marginal Farmers in the country, who are of the age of 18 years and above and up to the age of 40 years, and who do not fall within the purview of the exclusion criteria, are eligible to avail the benefits of this Scheme.

The Scheme aims to cover around 3 crore beneficiaries. As on 14/11/2019, 18,29,469 farmers in the country have been registered under the Scheme, including 61,496 farmers of Gujarat.

The ratio of contribution to be made by small and marginal farmers and the Union Government under this Yojana is 1:1. Government contribution under the Scheme is equal to the monthly contribution made by the farmer, which varies from Rs 55/- to Rs 200/- (US$ 0.78 to 2.8) depending on the age of entry.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is the Pension Fund Manager for the Scheme.

PM-KMY Scheme aims to cover around 3 crore Small and Marginal Farmers.

A budgetary provision of Rs 900 crore (US$ 128.7 million) has been made for the year 2019-20. There is no State-wise allocation of funds under the Scheme.

Apart from the electronic and print media, wide publicity has been given to the Scheme through social media as well. The implementing agencies, the State / UT Governments and the Common Service Centres (CSCs), have also been roped in for wide publicity through their own resources. The Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) of the CSCs who are field level functionaries, have also been provided incentives for ensuring maximum enrolment of farmers under the Scheme.

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha today.

UPL acquires Chinese agrochem firm for Rs 95 crore

UPL, an agrochemicals major company, has acquired Yoloo (Laoting) Biotechnology, a Chinese agrochemicals firm, for a reported consideration of approximately Rs 95 crore (US$ 13.5 million).

The company entered the list of the top five agrochemicals players globally with over US$ 5 billion in combined revenue and around US$ 1 billion in pre-tax profit after the company announced its largest acquisition of the Arysta LifeScience, an US-based company for an amount of US$ 4.2 billion last year in July.

UPL's Hong Kong subsidiaries will execute the present deal with the Chinese company. 100 per cent shares of Laoting Yoloo based in the Heibei province will be acquired by UPL for an undisclosed amount and in return UPL will issue 25 percent shares of its Hong Kong subsidiary to Beijing Yoloo.

However, UPL source said they will spend around Rs 95 crore (US$ 13.5 million) for the deal.

Laoting Yoloo has over 100 product registrations, about 1,200 distributor contacts and over 240 employees.

The transaction is yet to receive the necessary regulatory approvals and fulfilling other conditions.

"Our goal is to create an open network for agriculture, activating connections across the world's agriculture system. It aims to power new levels of sustainable growth -- for farmers, for producers, for customers, for partners and for societies everywhere. The acquisition will enhance our ability to achieve this purpose," UPL Global chief executive Mr. Jai Shroff said.

The deal between UPL and Arysta LifeScience, an US-based company was completed in February 2019. The acquisition that was worth US$ 4.2 billion was announced in July 2018 and promoted UPL's position in the global agricultural solutions market with US$ 5 billion in combined sales and pretax profit of around US$ 1 billion.

The deal was done after UPL raised US$ 3 billion bank loan and US$ 1.2 billion equity investment from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and TPG.
UPL is strong in India, the Americas, Western Europe and Arysta's strength is in Africa, Russia and Eastern Europe, providing it a global platform for 13,000 products from the new entity.