Electronics manufacturing in India to grow 30 per cent annually for next 5 years: IT Secretary

 The electronics manufacturing is expected to increase at an annual rate of 30 per cent over the next five years and clock Rs 11.5 lakh crore (US$ 163.14 billion) additional production during this period, said electronics and IT secretary Mr Ajay Prakash Sawhney.

The exports of the electronic products are also estimated to grow in the range of 40-50 per cent annually over the next five years, he added.

"Electronics manufacturing in India has been growing quite significantly. We have registered 23 per cent cumulative annual rate of growth over past five years. Now in this journey the growth is expected to be 30 per cent year on year for next five years," said Mr Sawhney at the Invest India Exclusive Investment Forum - Japan Edition.

He added that India has seen an increase in mobile manufacturing from 6 crore handsets five years ago to 33 crore at present, and meeting over 90 per cent of country's mobile phone requirements through domestic production.

"Last year we have seen spurt of 25 per cent. In next five years, growth in exports could be 40-50 per cent year on year at a bare minimum," Mr Sawhney said.

There are around 22 domestic and international firms, including iPhone maker Apple's contract manufacturers as well as Samsung, Lava, Dixon and so forth, that have lined up with proposals for mobile phones production worth Rs 11 lakh crore (US$ 156.05 billion) over the next five years.

Union Minister Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “These proposals under the government's Rs 41,000 crore (US4 5.82 billion) production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile phone manufacturing are expected to create around 12 lakh jobs, 3 lakh direct and 9 lakh indirect employment opportunities in the country”.

Mr Sawhney further added that Japanese companies have enormous expertise and market share in capital goods which are used in the factories that manufacture electronic goods, digital displays, semiconductors, and India is looking forward to their engagement in the domestic market.

"I would say India and Japan have a tremendous complimentary position, especially in the electronics sector. It is time for us to bring in more investment from Japan into India, more technologies into India," Mr Sawhney said.

Jubilant FoodWorks enters FMCG space; sets up direct competition with HUL, Nestle

Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, which operates Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts outlets in India, announced its entry in FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) segment with a range of ready-to-cook sauces, gravies and pastes.

It has stepped into the Rs 500 crore (US$ 70.93 million) ready-to-cook condiments space, setting up direct competition with packaged foods makers including Nestle, Hindustan Unilever and Dr Oetker.

It has launched a range of sauces and pastes through its new brand 'ChefBoss' that will initially be available for consumers across e-commerce portals.

JFL senior VP (new business) Mr Vikran Sabherwal said, “Demand for ready-to-cook food products has been increasing over the last few years on account of busier lifestyles of consumers and their desire to explore different cuisines at home. During COVID we have seen an acceleration of this trend and therefore an exponential growth in demand for ready to cook products.”

The sale of these products will start soon with Amazon (National), Flipkart Supermart (NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru) and Milkbasket (NCR).

The company also plans to expand product availability by adding more e-commerce platforms as well as retailing through supermarkets and hypermarkets in the near future.

Mr Shyam S Bhartia, chairman, and Mr Hari S Bhartia, co-chairman, Jubilant FoodWorks, said, "We are delighted to enter the Indian FMCG segment with 'ChefBoss'. This brand is based on our sound understanding of the Indian consumers' taste preferences and our commitment to provide the best quality products. Our research suggests that consumers now, more than ever before, are looking to explore and add new dishes to their cooking. We believe ready to cook products that are quick and easy to make, are the right solution to aid consumers in the endeavour to broaden their culinary expertise."

Indian Railways to introduce 'Kisan Rail', a special Parcel Train from Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur (Bihar) tomorrow i.e. August 07, 2020 on weekly basis

 

In the Union Budget 2020-21, Minister of Finance had made an announcement ‘to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat, and fish’. It was also stated that the Indian Railways will set up a KISAN RAIL.

As announced in the current year’s Union Budget by Finance Minister, Indian Railways is introducing first “Kisan Rail” from Devlali to Danapur tomorrow on 07/08/2020 at 11:00 hrs from Devlali. The train will be flagged off via video conferencing by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchyati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal. The event shall be attended by other dignitaries from Maharashtra. The train will run on weekly basis with initial composition of 10 +1 VPs. The train will reach Danapur at 18:45 hrs. on next day covering the journey of 1519 kms. in 31:45 hrs.

The train will provide seamless supply chain of Perishable produce. This train is a step towards realizing the goal of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022. Indian Railways aims to help double farmers’ income with the launch of Kisan Rail. This train will help in bringing perishable agricultural products like vegetables, fruits to the market in a short period of time. The train with frozen containers is expected to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of fish, meat, and milk.

Over Central Railway, Bhusawal Division is primarily an Agro based division. Nasik and surrounding region produce huge quantity of fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, other perishables, onions and other agro products. These perishables are mainly transported to areas around Patna, Prayagraj, Katni, Satna etc.

This train has been provided scheduled halts at Nasik Road, Manmad, Jalgaon, Bhusaval, Burhanpur, Khandwa, Itarsi, Jabalpur, Satna, Katni, Manikpur, Prayagraj Chheoki, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar and Buxar.

The chargeable rates for major pair of stations are as under:

Freight per Tonne:

Nasik Road/Devlali to Danapur	Rs 4001	US$ 56.75
Manmad to Danapur	Rs 3849	US$ 54.60
Jalgaon to Danapur	Rs 3513	US$ 49.83
Bhusawal to Danapur	Rs 3459	US$ 49.07
Burhanpur to Danapur	Rs 3323	US$ 47.14
Khandwa to Danapur	Rs 3148	US$ 44.65

Indian Railways have earlier run single commodity special trains like Banana Specials etc. But this will be the first ever multi commodity trains and will carry fruits like Pomegranate, Banana, Grapes etc and vegetables like Capsicum, Cauliflower, Drumsticks, Cabbage, Onion, Chillies etc. Aggressive marketing is being done with local farmers, loaders, APMC and individuals. Demand is being aggregated. It is expected that the train will be patronised well and will be a great help to the farmers, as freight of this train will be charged as per parcel tariff of normal train (P Scale). 

Record 24016 MT Fertiliser Production during July 2020 in FACT

 The Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT), a PSU under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers is on a Turnaround path, breaking records in Production and Sales during the year.

As per a Statement of FACT, company Achieved highest Monthly ‘Ammonium Sulphate’ production during July 2020 (24016 MT), surpassing previous best of 23811 MT in January 2020.

 FACT has been manufacturing two fertilizer products NP 20:20:0:13 (Factamfos) and Ammonium Sulphate, mainly for the South Indian market.

Company could optimize its fertilizer production by implementing suitable adaptations in its operation schedule, raw material planning, logistics and product despatch, for safe operation during COVID times.

Ministry of Agriculture funding start-ups under the innovation and agripreneurship component of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana in 2020-21

The Union Government accords very high priority to the agriculture sector. In order to contribute directly and indirectly to enhancing the income of farmers by providing opportunities to them and to provide employment to youth, start-ups are being encouraged. A component, Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development programme has been launched under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana in order to promote innovation and agripreneurship by providing financial support and nurturing the incubation ecosystem. These start-ups are in various categories such as agro-processing, artificial intelligence, digital agriculture, farm mechanisation, waste to wealth, dairy, fisheries etc.

DAC&FW has selected 5 Knowledge Partners (KPs) as Centres of Excellence.  These are -

• National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad,
• National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) Jaipur,
• Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) Pusa, New Delhi,
• University of Agriculture Science, Dharwad, Karnataka and
• Assam Agriculture University, Jorhat, Assam

24 RKVY-RAFTAAR Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs) from across the country have also been appointed. 

The following are the components of this scheme:

• Agripreneurship Orientation - 2 months duration with a monthly stipend of Rs 10,000 (US$ 141.86)/- per month.  Mentorship is provided on financial, technical, IP issues etc.
• Seed Stage Funding of R-ABI Incubatees – Funding upto Rs 25 lakh (US$ 35,466.02) (85 per cent grant & 15 per cent contribution from the incubatee).
• Idea/Pre-Seed Stage Funding of Agripreneurs – Funding up to Rs 5 lakh (US$ 7,093.20) (90 per cent grant and 10 per cent contribution from the incubatee).

The institutes issue calls for application for their programmes and based on a rigorous process of selection through various stages and a training of two months, the final list of start-ups that are to be funded through grants-in-aid are finalised. Training on technical, finance, intellectual property, statutory compliance issues etc. is provided. Mentoring of start-ups through monitoring of milestones and timelines is part of the programme.

Some start-ups that are being incubated offer the following solutions -

• Activx Animal Health Technologies branded as Vetzz, is a network of Veterinary Doctors which provides immediate connect with customers i.e. animal owners via real time tele consultation and doorstep visits.
• SNL Innovations -  InnoFarms provides fruit and vegetable pulp processed directly at the farm using an in-house developed Monoblock fruit processing platform (on-wheels) to convert fruits to pulp with shelf life of up to 1 year with complete traceability from farm to customer.
• EF Polymer developed an Eco-Friendly Water Retention Polymer with an aim to solve the water scarcity crisis for farmers. This start-up made a super absorbent polymer designed to absorb water in the soil, retain it for a long time, and supply to the crops as required.
• Among the start-ups that have been selected are several start-ups led by women such as A2P Energy Solution that uses AI to track waste biomass and then works with farmers to collect it. On one side it generates additional income for farmers and on the other side A2P converts the collected biomass into Next Gen biofuels like energy pellets, green coal, and bio oil.
• Kyari Innovations is working on mitigating human wildlife conflict pan India and internationally. They have created an innovative product called ANIDERS- Animal Intrusion Detection and Repellent System. This device works like a mechanized scarecrow that can protect farmlands from animal intrusions.
• Agsmartic Technologies, has a vision to improve crop yield by precise irrigation and disease management though a data driven approach by using AI, IoT and computer vision. Their product Croplytics® is a combination of hardware and software solution that integrates ground sensor data and satellite imagery to translate data into actionable information for creating a precise model for irrigation.

Apart from the above mentioned 6 start-ups, there are many more with innovative solutions to improve the farming eco system and augment farm household incomes.

In all, a total of 346 start-ups in the agriculture and allied sectors are being funded for a sum of Rs 3671.75 lakh (US$ 5.21 million) in this phase. This fund will be released in instalments. These start-ups were trained for two months at 29 agribusiness incubation centres (KPs and RABIs) spread across India. These start-ups will lead to employment to youth. Besides, they, directly and indirectly, will contribute to enhancing the income of farmers by providing opportunities to them.

For more details on Agri-entrepreneurship, RKVY website: https://rkvy.nic.in may be visited.

BYJU's acquires code training app WhiteHat Jr for US$ 300 million

BYJU’s, an online education platform, has acquired Mumbai-based education technology (edtech) start-up WhiteHat Jr in an all-cash deal worth US$ 300 million. This marks BYJU’s entry into the fast-growing computer code training segment targeted at high school and college students.

It is company’s fifth and largest acquisition to date. Osmo, a maker of educational games, was last acquired by it for US$ 120 million in its first-ever purchase of a US company in January 2019.

WhiteHat Jr. is a coding platform that was founded in November 2018. It aims to provide students with computer coding skills and targets pupils from classes 9-12. It helps kids aged 6 to 14 years build commercial-ready games, animations, and apps online using the fundamentals of coding. The company offers four levels of courses including beginner, intermediate, advanced, and professional.

Recently, WhiteHat Jr had announced their plans to expand to other global markets like Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand and already has a presence in the US market since February 2020.

This acquisition will help BYJU’s expand its portfolio and increase the course offerings on the platform for school students in India. It has plans to make further investment into WhiteHat Jr’s technology platform, product innovation while expanding the teacher base to cater to demand from new markets, according to a company statement.

“Technology is at the centre of every human interaction today and we had set out to create a coding curriculum that was being delivered live and connected students and teachers like never before. Integration with a visionary company such as BYJU’S will help take this idea to new heights and help unleash the remarkable creative potential of kids at a global scale," Mr Karan Bajaj, founder, WhiteHat Jr.

“Empowering children with the right future skills has always been part of our vision at BYJU’S and coding fits well into this. WhiteHat Jr’s coding product capabilities, combined with our pedagogy, expertise and scale, will help expand our learning offerings for school students," added Mr Byju Raveendran, chief executive, BYJU’s.

Goa joins MyGov Citizen Engagement Platform; 12 states had already launched their MyGov Platforms

Dr Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister of Goa, launched the MyGov Goa portal, on 4th August 2020 in an online event making Goa join the MyGov Citizen Engagement Platform for enabling participative governance. “MyGov Goa portal will go a long way in strengthening public participation in the governance process and allow the state to connect to nationwide audience allowing citizens to participate in different forums and give their view/inputs on government policies/schemes,” he said at the launch.

MyGov (mygov.in), the Government of India’s citizen engagement and crowdsourcing platform, aims to promote active citizen participation in governance and policymaking. Since its launch on 26th July 2014, MyGov has adopted multiple engagement methodologies like discussions, tasks, innovation challenges, polls, surveys, blogs, talks, quizzes and on-ground activities by innovatively using internet, mobile apps, IVRS, SMS and outbound dialling (OBD) technologies. MyGov user base has expanded to more than 1.25 crore and millions of citizens engage with MyGov on its social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. MyGov has also recently launched its channels on new age Apps like Share chat and Roposo. MyGov’s Helpdesk on WhatsApp and Newsdesk on Telegram has greatly augmented Govts communications on COVID-19.

In order to engage with citizens at the State level, MyGov has enabled state instances to crowdsource ideas and creative content for state specific initiatives in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) mode. 12 states had already launched their MyGov platforms State Instance, namely, Maharashtra, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. With consistent efforts of MyGov Team and respective state government’s support, the initiative has been a great success and is able to efficiently achieve its objective.

Smt Jennifer Monserrate, Minister of Information Technology, Government of Goa, expressed her views on MyGov Goa and stated that MyGov Goa portal will encourage people of the state to share their thoughts, ideas and suggestions with the Government in areas related to various policies, programs, schemes etc.

Shri Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov India, spoke about how MyGov had become a preferred platform for promoting active participation of citizens in Governance and development.

Citizens may enrol on www.goa.mygov.in and share opinions, ideas, and suggestions with the Government.

Equipment-free, a simple paper-strip based naked-eye fluoride ion detection and quantification kit in drinking water to evade Fluorosis-based disorders

Fluorosis is a crippling disease resulting from deposition of fluorides in the hard and soft tissues of body due to excess intake of fluoride through drinking water/food products/industrial pollutants over a long period. It results in dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis, and non-skeletal fluorosis. Easy detection of fluorides in water can help preventing the public health hazards.

Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, have developed an equipment-free fluoride ion detection and quantification in drinking water with the naked-eye. It can be operated by non-experts for household use to evade Fluorosis-based disorders.

The technology developed by Dr Jayamurugan Govindasamy and his team involves a push-pull chromophore based on 2,3-disubstituted 1,1,4,4-tetracyano-1,3-butadienes (TCBDs) that changes colour upon exposure to fluoride ion. The identified chromophore (C3-phenyl, C2-urea functionalized TCBD) is the result of a systematic study seeded by the Early Career Research (ECR) Award and further supported by the Ramanujan Fellowship grant of DST received by Dr Govindasamy. The results were recently published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry. The researchers designed urea as an unusual donating moiety instead of traditional donor moieties, such as amines, to obtain better optoelectronic properties. The charge-transfer (CT) property that arises through-bond in aniline donor is usually quenched due to photoinduced electron transfer (PET) mechanism. Whereas upon introducing urea as an electron donor, the CT exhibited both spaces as well as through bond due to “Field-effect”. Thus, partial overcoming of PET process, which led to white light emission.

Later, they extended its applicability in sensing of biologically relevant fluoride, as it is well known that fluoride can bind with urea via H-bonding interaction. Thus, the combination of the push-pull chromophore with urea turned out to be an ideal system for the same. The INST scientists have optimized the synthesis of this chromophore in the laboratory scale

Furthermore, the design and synthesis can be slightly modulated to increase the sensitivity from 3 ppm to less than 1 ppm. Currently, the INST team is working in this direction. The major cost involves only the synthesis of the chromophore, making it affordable and accessible.

Currently available, commercial kits for F– detection need analytical methods, mainly spectrometers (mobile or static). Some colorimetric detection kits are available, but they have some handling issues like work only with pH<1 (use of HCl), etc. The kit developed by the INST scientists’ scores above these in its ease of usage.

Although a vast number of reports are available for chromogenic and chromo-fluorogenic receptors in solution, only a limited number of reports which studied solid-phase detection. However, all those receptors suffer some drawbacks such as they generally exhibit color change only in organic medium and inorganic fluoride source, competing for affinity towards other anions such as acetate and phosphate, with a relatively high minimum detection limit of 10–30 ppm, work only with concentrated HCl, use of metals, delayed response, etc. while some works only with UV-lamp and chemically treated paper.

The non-planar push-pull chromophores sense fluoride ion with the naked eye in both solutions- as well as solid-phases.

The invention has been protected by filing the patent (202011028595). This work was supported by DST-SERB through the Early Career Research Award and Ramanujan Fellowship to Dr Jayamurugan Govindasamy.

Several companies sell solution-based photometric as well as colorimetric sensor kit, including few Indian companies. However, there is no single product based on low-cost paper-strip available to bring down the cost of the kit as well as easy handling by layman.

Currently, one German company sells a paper-strip test kit for detection of HF with sensitivity of upto 20 ppm that too works only with hydrochloric acid (pH<1). This kit developed by INST can be used by non-expert, with high sensitivity up to 3 ppm in aqueous/DMSO 1:1 condition and with only DMSO upto 1 ppm and free of dangerous chemicals and equipment.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana Phase-I: April 2020 to June 2020; States/UTs distributed 93.5 per cent of allocated food grains for the period April-June 2020 among NFSA beneficiaries: Food Corporation of India

As per reports available from Food Corporation of India, all States/UTs combined have lifted about 118 LMT (99 per cent) of three-month food grains from FCI depots/central pool for distribution of additional free of cost food grains among NFSA beneficiaries. Further, all States/UTs combined have reported a distribution of over 111.52 LMT (93.5 per cent) of allocated food grains for the period April-June 2020. According to FCI, 37.5 LMT (94 per cent) food grains distributed in the months of April and May 2020 covering about 75 crore beneficiaries in each month and 36.54 LMT (92 per cent) food grains in the month of June covering about 73 crore beneficiaries.

Earlier, in March 2020, pursuant to the announcement of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) to ameliorate the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, the Department of Food & Public Distribution had started the implementation of “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY)” for a period of three months i.e. April, May and June 2020, so that the poor and vulnerable beneficiaries under NFSA do not suffer on account of the non-availability of foodgrains during the unprecedented time of crisis.

Under this special scheme, about 81 Crore NFSA beneficiaries covered under both categories of NFSA, namely Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Householders (PHH), are being provided with an additional quota of free-of-cost foodgrains (Rice/Wheat) at a scale of 5 Kg per person per month, over and above their regular monthly entitlements.

Accordingly, on 30th March 2020, the Department of Food & Public Distribution had conveyed State/UT-wise total allocation of about 121 Lakh MT of foodgrains (about 40 LMT per month) to all States/UTs and FCI for distribution to all NFSA beneficiaries during the period of three months April-June’ 2020 i.e. Phase-I of the scheme.

17 crore man-days employment provided and Rs 13,240 crore paid to migrant labourers under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan in 6 weeks

The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA), launched to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers returning to villages and similarly affected citizens in rural areas, in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, is now empowering villagers with livelihood opportunities in 116 districts of six states. The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan is acting on mission mode to provide employment to migrant workers who have returned to their native villages of these 6 states namely Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

By the sixth week itself, a total of about 17 crore man-days employment has been provided and Rs 13,240 crore (US$ 1.88 billion) has been spent so far in the of pursuit of objectives of the Abhiyaan. A large number of structures have been created under GKRA so far including 62,532 water conservation structures, 1.74 lakh rural houses, 14,872 cattle shed, 8,963 form ponds, 2,222 Community Sanitary Complex, 5,909 works have been taken up through District Mineral Funds, 564 Gram Panchayat have been provided internet connectivity, 16,124 candidates have been provided skill training through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) during the Abhiyaan.

The Abhiyaan’s success so far is due to convergent efforts of 12 Ministries/ Departments and State Governments, which are giving higher quantum of benefits to the migrant workers and rural communities. The stage is set for longer term action for a long-term initiative for jobs and livelihoods for those who chose to stay back in villages.