Amazon India launches online pharmacy service

 Amazon India, an e-commerce firm, rolled out Amazon Pharmacy, foraying into the online medicine segment that has significant gained momentum during the COVID-19 led lockdown and even after unlocking.

The service has been initially introduced in Bengaluru and company plans to conduct pilots in other cities too going forward.

This is on the back of Government imposed lockdown and social distancing to prevent COVID-19 from spreading, customers have move to online consultation, treatment, medical tests, and medicine delivery. There is huge demand seen by healthcare start-ups Practo, NetMeds, 1mg, PharmEasy and Medlife along with increase funding activity, like ed-tech platforms, which outperformed all other sectors among start-ups.

“As a part of our commitment to fulfil the needs of customers, we are launching Amazon Pharmacy in Bengaluru allowing customers to order prescription-based medication in addition to over-the-counter medicines, basic health devices and Ayurveda medication from certified sellers. This is particularly relevant in present times as it will help customers meet their essential needs while staying safe at home," an Amazon spokesperson said.

India’s digital health market will increase to US$ 4.5 billion in this financial year, compared with US$ 1.2 billion in FY20, as per the data by RedSeer Consulting. It is estimated that the market of the digital health will expand to US$ 25 billion in FY25, compared with its pre-COVID estimate of US$ 19 billion. The largest majority will be held by medicine delivery segment.

There has been increase in user interest and demand post COVID that is seen by bigger healthcare firms like Practo, 1mg, Medlife, PharmEasy, Netmeds as well as smaller start-ups like BeatO and mfine, as people spend on boosting their immunity, treat illnesses through online consultations and buy medicines online.

Mfine, a Bengaluru-based on-demand healthcare service, have grown 3-4 times in recent months. E-health platform Practo Technologies too registered a 600 per cent growth in online consultations since the lockdown started in March, with 70 per cent of all users being first-time telemedicine users and 45 per cent from smaller cities.

Several countries are trying to shift healthcare delivery on to the internet, incentivise telemedicine, encourage online medicine bookings and use chatbots to answer patient queries.

Online Performance Dashboard "Empowering Tribals, Transforming India" developed by M/o Tribal Affairs launched

 

Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and ShriRamesh Chand, Member NITI Aayog inaugurated the “Online Performance Dashboard “Empowering Tribals, Transforming India” developed by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) on 10th August 2020. The launch was made during the meeting taken by NITI Aayog to review the progress of CSS / CS Schemes of MoTA in the light of national development agenda, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), strategy for New India and other policy initiatives. It may be mentioned that the SDGs were adopted in September 2015 as a part of the resolution, 'Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'. At the Central Government level, NITI Aayog has been assigned the role of overseeing the implementation of 17 SDGs in the country. In the meeting, officers of MoTA led by Mr Deepak Khandekar made presentation on various e-Initiatives undertaken by it during last one year.

Shri Amitabh Kant congratulated the Ministry on digitalization of various schemes and their integration with Performance Dashboard “Empowering Tribals-Transforming India”. Sh. Ramesh Chand, Member NITI Aayog also complimented Ministry for its efforts in achieving Output-Outcome goals framed by NITI Aayog.

Performance Dashboard is an interactive and dynamic online platform that showcases updated & real-time details of 11 schemes / initiatives of the Ministry for achieving these SDGs. The Dashboard captures performance of five Scholarship Schemes of Ministry wherein every year about 30 lakh underprivileged ST beneficiaries reap benefit to the tune of Rs 2500 crore (US$ 354.66 million). NITI Aayog was briefed that Ministry has recently got 66th SKOCH Gold Award for “Empowerment of Tribals through IT enabled Scholarship Schemes” under the guidance of DBT Mission. While carrying out national evaluation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes focused on social inclusion, as a part of its mandate for NITI Aayog, KPMG has recognized the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Portal of Ministry of Tribal Affairs as a best practice in e-governance which has brought about greater transparency, accountability and radical improvement in service delivery to Scheduled Tribe students. Dynamic Dashboard captures details of tribal students from one State to different States and to different countries.

The Dashboard also displays the details of functional schools under Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) scheme, schools under construction and district wise details of students in various EMRS schools.  Ministry also provides funds to various NGOs working in area of Education and Health. The Dashboard maps district wise NGO details, funds given to NGO and beneficiaries’ details.  For all schemes and initiatives, information up to District level in respect of each scheme has been compiled.  In respect of Centrally Sponsored Scheme like Post Matric and Pre-Matric Scholarship, the data is shared by States. Ministry of Tribal Affairs also monitors STC (Schedule Tribe Component), wherein 41 Ministries spend a fixed percentage of their budget for welfare and development of Scheduled Tribes. In 2019-20, budget of Rs 51,000 crore (US$ 7.24 billion) was allocated by 41 Ministries in more than 275 schemes.  The performance of all these Ministries can be seen on various parameters in the Dashboard.  The links to various e-initiatives of the Ministry are also given in the Dashboard.  The Dashboard is part of Digital India Initiative to work towards empowering Scheduled Tribes and will bring efficiency and transparency in the system. The joint initiative of the Ministry with Facebook under-going Online as Leaders (GOAL) program and Sickle Cell Support Corner can also be viewed. The Dashboard has been developed by Centre of Excellence of Data Analytics (CEDA), organization under National Informatics Centre (NIC) with domain name (http://dashboard.tribal.gov.in).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches platform for "Transparent Taxation - Honouring the Honest"

 

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched a platform for “Transparent Taxation - Honouring the Honest” today through video conferencing.

Speaking on the occasion he said that the process of Structural Reforms in the country has reached new heights today. The Prime Minister said the platform of “Transparent Taxation - Honouring the Honest, has been launched to meet the requirements of the 21st century taxation system. He elaborated that the platform has major reforms like Faceless Assessment, Faceless Appeal and Taxpayers Charter.

He said that Faceless Assessment and Taxpayers Charter have come into force from today while the facility of faceless appeal will be available for citizens across the country from 25th September i.e. Deen Dayal Upadhyay's birth anniversary. The new platform apart from being faceless is also aimed at boosting the confidence of the taxpayer and making him/her fearless.

The PM said that the focus of the Government in the last six years has been “Banking the Unbanked, Securing the Unsecured and Funding the Unfunded” and that the platform of “Honouring the Honest” is in the similar direction.

The Prime Minister praised the role of honest taxpayers in nation building and said that making the lives of such taxpayers easy is the responsibility of the government. “When the life of an honest taxpayer of the country becomes easy, he moves forward and develops, then the country also develops and leaps forward,” PM added.

The Prime Minister said the new facilities launched today are a part of the Government’s resolve to provide maximum governance with minimum government. He said that every rule, law, and policy are made with an emphasis of them being people centric, public friendly rather than power centric. He said that the use of the new governance model is yielding good results.

The Prime Minister said that an atmosphere is being created where primacy is being given to duty to execute all works. This is the result not because of force and fear of punishment but because of an understanding of the holistic approach that is being adopted. He said the reforms being launched by the Government are not in piecemeal but those aimed at delivering results with holistic perspective.

The Prime Minister said the country’s tax structure needed fundamental reforms as the earlier tax structure was developed from the one created during pre-independent times. Even the several changes made during the post-independent times did not alter its fundamental character, he said.

The Prime Minister said that the complexity of the earlier system made it difficult to conform.

He said that simplified laws and procedures make it easy to comply. One such example is the GST, he said, which replaced dozens of taxes.

The Prime Minister said that the latest laws reduced the legal burden in the tax system where now the limit of filing cases in the High Court has been fixed at up to Rs 1 crore (US$ 0.14 million) and up to Rs 2 crore (US$ 0.28 million) for filing in the Supreme Court. Initiatives like the 'Vivaad Se Vishwas' Scheme pave the way for most of the cases to be settled out of court.

Prime Minister said that the tax slabs have also been rationalised as a part of the ongoing reforms where there is zero tax up to an income of Rs 5 lakh (US$ 7,093.20), while the tax rate has reduced in the remaining slabs too. He said India is one of the countries with lowest Corporate Tax in the World.

The PM said the ongoing reforms aim at making the tax system Seamless, Painless, Faceless. He said the Seamless system works to resolve the problems of a taxpayer instead of entangling him further. By being Painless he said, everything from technology to rules should be simple. Referring to the Faceless system he said there is no need for a direct contact between the Taxpayer and the Income Tax Officer in all matters of scrutiny, notice, survey, or assessment.

Referring to the launch of Taxpayers Charter, the Prime Minister said that it is a significant step where the taxpayer is now assured of fair, courteous, and rational behaviour. He said the charter takes care of maintaining the dignity and sensitivity of the taxpayer and that is based on a trust factor and that the assessed cannot be merely doubted without a basis.

Referring to the reduction of the scrutiny of the cases by at least four times in the last six years from 0.94 per cent in 2012-13 to 0.26 per cent in 2018-19, Prime Minister said this itself is a reflection of the trust that the Government is laying on the returnees. He said in the last 6 years, India has seen a new model of governance evolving in tax administration. Amidst all these efforts, he said the number of people filing income tax returns has increased by about 2.5 crore in the last 6-7 years.

The Prime Minister however said that it can also not be denied that only 1.5 crore people pay the taxes in a country of Rs 130 crore (US$ 18.44 million). Shri Modi urged people to introspect themselves and come forward to pay the taxes due.

The Prime Minister said this would help in the making of a Self - Reliant India, AtmaNirbharBharat.

Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar launches Krishi Megh

 

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Mr Narendra Singh Tomar today virtually launched the Krishi Megh (National Agricultural Research & Education System -Cloud Infrastructure and Services) along with the KVC ALUNET (Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Chhatr Alumni Network) and Online Accreditation System for Higher Agricultural Educational Institutions (HEI).

The Union Minister emphasized that the Government of India-World Bank funded National Agricultural Higher Education Project is designed for strengthening the national agricultural education system in the country with the overall objective to provide more relevant and high-quality education to the agricultural university students that is in tune with the New Education Policy - 2020. Shri Tomar accentuated the need to save and preserve the important research-based data in a prompt digitized form to enable its access anywhere in any corner of the country and the world. He also stressed on enabling private investments in agriculture. The Minister regarded the Krishi Megh as a step forward towards digital agriculture of New India as has been envisaged by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare said that 2-3 ICAR Institutes should be made research centres of international repute. He also stressed on providing the real time data to the researchers.

Shri Kailash Choudhary, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare complimented ICAR for establishing the Krishi Megh that integrates the ICAR-Data Centre at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi with the Disaster Recovery Centre at the ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad. The Minister regarded the initiative as a revolution in agriculture.

Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR) underlined about 58 Universities which have been supported in various categories under the ICAR National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP). The Director General highlighted about 377 students (UG, PG and Ph.D.) who have received international training / internships along with the training provided to around 120 faculty members in the various International Universities. He also stressed on maximizing the use of internet technology / digitalization. Dr Mohapatra highlighted the main features of the Krishi Megh that is equipped with the latest AI / Deep learning software / tools kits for building and deploying of deep learning-based applications through image analysis, disease identification in livestock, etc. He stressed that the Krishi Megh is a new chapter in digital India enabling the farmers, researchers, students and policy makers more equipped with updated and latest information regarding agriculture, research, education and extension in digital form generated by ICAR institutes and State Agriculture Universities.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr R.C. Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), ICAR briefed about the main objective of the programme. He highlighted the development of the KVC ALUNET that has been a result of an idea of social networking for the alumnus of the Agricultural Universities. He stressed that this shall enable the alumni of all the 74 Agricultural Universities in connecting with each other and making it possible to assist the students in internship, placements and to provide support to their alma maters.

Mr Edward William Bresnyan, Task Team Leader, World Bank regarded the ICAR’s initiative as a game changer that will bring a major transformation in the agricultural education system. The senior officials of ICAR and its institutes also virtually participated in the programme.

Key Features of Krishi Megh

• For meeting the services and infrastructure needs of Digital Agriculture of National Agricultural Research and Education System (NARES). The existing Data Centre (ICAR-DC) built during 2012 shall be strengthened with cloud computing infrastructure.
• NARES-Cloud Infrastructure and Services with its constituents ICAR-DC and ICAR-Krish Megh provide a robust and dynamic platform to meet the growing IT needs of the NARES system with the deployment of mission critical applications such as e-Office, ICAR-ERP, Education Portal, KVK Portal and mobile apps, ICAR institute websites, Academic Management System, Alumni Portal, e-Courses of UG and PG level etc.
• Under NAHEP, the out-reach of existing ICAR Data Center is broadened to cover the Agriculture Universities enabling them to host their websites and IT solutions.
• In the present COVID-19 situation, 24x7 availability of IT applications through have made it possible to work from home as well as to collaborate with fellow scientists through video conferencing.
• ICAR-Krishi Megh at NAARM Hyderabad is synchronized with ICAR-Data Center at ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi has been built to mitigate the risk, enhance the quality, availability and accessibility of e-governance, research, extension and education in the field of agriculture in India.
• NAARM, Hyderabad has been chosen as it lies in different seismic zone w.r.t. ICAR-Data Center at ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi. Hyderabad is also suitable as skilled IT manpower is available along with other suitable climatic conditions such as low humidity level which is controllable in the data center environment.
• This new Centre has latest AI/Deep learning software/tools kits for building and deploying of deep learning based applications such as disease and pest identification using image analysis, detection of maturity and ripening of fruits through image analysis, disease identification in livestock etc.

Over 5 lakh applications received under PM SVANidhi scheme; Number of loan sanctions under the scheme crosses 1 lakh

 The number of loan sanctions and number of applications received under PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme have crossed the mark of 1 lakh and 5 lakhs respectively within 41 days of commencement of the lending process on July 02, 2020.  The PM SVANidhi scheme has generated considerable enthusiasm among the street vendors, who have been looking for access to affordable working capital credit for re-starting their businesses post COVID-19 lockdown.

The PM SVANidhi Scheme was launched by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs under the ambit of ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’. It aims at facilitating collateral free working capital loans up to Rs 10,000 (US$ 141.86) of 1 year tenure, to about 50 lakh street vendors in the urban areas, including those from the surrounding peri-urban/ rural areas, to resume their businesses post COVID-19 lockdown. Incentives in the form of interest subsidy @ 7 per cent per annum on regular repayment of loan, cashback up to Rs 1,200 (US$ 17.02) per annum on undertaking prescribed digital transactions and eligibility for enhanced next tranche of loan have also been provided.

PM SVANidhi Scheme envisages bringing ‘Banks at the door steps’ of these ‘nano-entrepreneurs’ by engaging the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and the Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) as lending institutions in addition to Scheduled Commercial Banks - Public and Private, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks, SHG Banks etc. The onboarding of the vendors on digital payment platforms is a very important component to build the credit profile of the vendors to help them become part of the formal urban economy.

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the implementation partner for the scheme. A graded guarantee cover is provided, on portfolio basis, to these lending institutions through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) to encourage lending to street vendors.

The street vendors mostly operate their businesses on very thin margins. The micro-credit support under the scheme is expected to provide not only major relief to such vendors but also help them climb the economic ladder. Use of an integrated IT Platform (pmsvanidhi.mohua.org.in), Web Portal and Mobile App, has enabled the Scheme to extend its reach and benefits to this segment of society with the objective of minimum government and maximum governance.

Atal Innovation Mission and Dell Technologies Launch Student Entrepreneurship Programme 2.0

 

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, in collaboration with Dell Technologies today launched Student Entrepreneurship Programme 2.0 (SEP 2.0) for young innovators of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs).

Following the outstanding success of SEP 1.0, the second series was kick-started in the presence of Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog; Alok Ohrie, President and MD, Dell Technologies; R. Ramanan, Mission Director, AIM; and Dr Anjlee Prakash, Chairperson, Learning Links Foundation.

“Today, I am full of optimism, as I witness the promising innovations by the young pioneers of ATLs. These innovators make me wonder what the young children of this nation can achieve when given the opportunity to think unconventionally to combat challenges faced by their fellow citizens. As we conclude SEP 1.0 and launch SEP 2.0, I am excited to see the impact that these innovations will create in the country,” said NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar.

SEP 2.0 will allow student innovators to work closely with Dell volunteers. They will receive mentor support; prototyping and testing support; end-user feedback; intellectual property registration and patenting of ideas, processes, and products; manufacturing support; as well as the launch support of the product in the market.

Dell Technologies India President and Managing Director Alok Ohrie said, “Dell is leveraging emerging technologies to empower students to craft their own experiences, thereby enabling them to develop an innovative mindset. We are extremely delighted with the outcome of the first Student Entrepreneurship Programme and look forward to what the next batch has in store. Our strong partnership with NITI Aayog has further enabled us in expanding our vision of technology for social good and encouraging budding entrepreneurs.”

Speaking on the occasion, AIM Mission Director R. Ramanan said, “Atal Innovation Mission aims to create over a million neoteric innovators and potential job creators of the country. Our partnership with Dell Technologies in spurring the entrepreneurial capabilities of the budding Atal Tinkering Lab innovators through the Student Entrepreneurship Programme encourages young aspiring school students, as well as creates a value-adding recognition platform for innovative talent across the country.”

SEP 1.0 began in January 2019. Through a 10-month-long rigorous programme, the top 6 teams of ATL Marathon—a nationwide contest where students identify community challenges and create grassroots innovations and solutions within their ATLs—got a chance to transform their innovative prototypes into fully functioning products, which are now available in the market.

As many as 1500 innovations were submitted in the last season of ATL Marathon. After two rigorous rounds, 50 teams were selected for the Student Innovator Programme. More than 75 per cent of the winning teams were from tier-2 cities and/or rural areas, and more than 60 per cent from government schools. Around 46 per cent of the winning team students were girls. The teams were then mentored by Atal Incubation Centres for months via the Student Innovator Programme 2.0. Consequently, the top eight teams were felicitated by President of India Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 14 November 2019. The top eight will now take their prototypes to product through SEP 2.0.

AIM Mission Director R. Ramanan congratulated the six teams: “Over the past few months, you have shown the grit and mettle to become an entrepreneur. Your perseverance has resulted in you becoming the ‘co-founder’ of your own start-ups and enterprises. This is the true essence of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.” He added that industry partnerships such as these are critical to nurture the inventiveness of young students and will enable them to create our planet a better place.

Hyderabad to host Medtronic's largest global R&D centre outside US

 

Global leader in medical technology, Medtronic plans to invest Rs 1,200 crore (US$ 170.24 million) in scaling up and expanding its current research and development centre into a modern engineering and innovation hub in Hyderabad.

This investment will make Medtronic Engineering and Innovation Centre (MEIC) as the largest global R&D centre outside of the United States for the company. The investment will be focused on building new capabilities in the region, setting up ultra-modern labs including high-end robotic-assisted surgery equipment.

"Medtronic's investment in India is a testament to our commitment to the region and we are proud to be collaborating with the government of Telangana on this major investment in the country," said Mr Omar Ishrak, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the board.

"The expansion of MEIC will help us use medical technology to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life for patients around the world, which is also aligned with the government's vision to improve access to healthcare for patients in India," he said.

The discussion between the state government of Telangana and Medtronic regarding the modalities of investment has been going on for two years. In 2016, during his visit to the United States, Minister for Industries and IT KT Rama Rao and his team of officials met Mr Ishrak.

Though, the partnership was finally announced this month via a virtual meeting. "We are delighted that Medtronic has chosen Hyderabad as its largest R&D base outside the United States and intends to create about 1,000 jobs in the next few years," said Mr Rao.

"It is indeed a great honour for the city to host this centre and it is a testimony to Hyderabad's growing prowess in the medical devices sector," he said.

India's exports of non-basmati rice in first two months of FY21 jumps 52.5 per cent

 

India’s exports of non-basmati rice in the first two months of FY21 has jumped 52.5 per cent to 11.13 lakh tonnes from 7.3 lakh tonnes in the same period of FY20.

The major buyer of non-basmati rice was Africa and it is expected that volumes will increase further when Bangladesh starts importing this variety.

“Africa is depending on India for rice supply this year as Thai rice prices have skyrocketed. Non-basmati rice will do well this year,” said Mr BV Krishna Rao, president, All India Rice Exporters Association.

Mr Rao is positive that Indian non-basmati rice exports will touch FY18 levels when the country exported 8.64 million tonnes. “Exports of non-basmati rice subsequently went down in the next two years and in FY20 we had achieved exports of 5.04 million tonnes. This drop in non-basmati rice was because the government increased the minimum support price of paddy and farmers were not interested in exports. Also, the government had procured huge quantities of rice. That is why the exports went down,” added Mr Rao.

There will be new opportunities once Bangladesh too starts Indian non-basmati rice exports. “Either they will directly buy from private players or they will buy through government-to-government scheme. Whichever way it happens, it will provide a fillip to the country’s rice exports,” Mr Rao added.

“Rice consumption has increased in Bangladesh as people are staying indoors due to the coronavirus outbreak. Eating out has stopped. This is increasing the demand for rice in the country” said Mr Suraj Agarwal, CEO, Tirupati Agri Trade.

The decision of the Bangladesh government on import of rice from India is expected by the end of this week or early next week.

It was seen that Bangladesh imposed an import duty of 55 per cent on rice, but traders said the government is likely to bring down import duty on rice to 18 per cent.

According to the Bangladesh food ministry, import of rice is important as there is slow down in the procurement of rice and paddy due to a lack of interest among millers and farmers to supply the cereal to public warehouses.

Bangladesh government's food office could meet 20 per cent of its paddy procurement target of 8 lakh tonnes and 45 per cent of its rice procurement target of 11.5 lakh tonnes. And if it progresses this way, then the target of paddy procurement is unlikely to be achieved within the deadline of 31 August.

Indian Railways to introduce 'Kisan Rail', a special Parcel Train from Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur (Bihar) tomorrow

 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). 

Indian Handicrafts Industry & Exports

 

The handicrafts sector is of importance to the Indian economy as it is one of the largest employment generators and account for a significant share in the country’s export. The state and regional clusters contribute significantly to handicrafts export. The Indian handicrafts industry is fragmented with more than seven million regional artisans and over 67,000 exporters/export houses promoting regional art and craftsmanship in the domestic and global markets.

Key Markets and Export Destinations

Handicraft export from India decreased 3.35 per cent y-o-y during 2019-20 to reach US$ 3.53 billion. During this period, export of various segments stood as below:

• woodwares at US$ 761.02 million
• embroidered & crocheted goods at US$ 578.26 million
• miscellaneous handicrafts at US$ 1,003.57 million
• handprinted textiles and scarves at US$ 336.49 million
• imitation jewellery at US$ 220.97 million
• artmetal wares at US$ 452.22 million

Indian handicrafts are exported across geographies, with the top 10 destinations being the US, the UK, the UAE, Germany, France, Latin American countries (LAC), Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Australia.

Recent Developments

Government of India increased incentive rates under the Merchandise Export from India scheme (MEIS) to seven per cent from five per cent for handicraft items which will help exporters to recover the input costs involved in the production of handicrafts and will lead to competitive pricing and boost export.

Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts

The Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) is the apex Government body and operates under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. EPCH has the distinction of being considered a ‘model council’, a self-sustaining body that self-finances all its promotional activities.

Handicraft exports from India increased by almost 2 per cent year-on-year to US$ 3.39 billion in FY20 (till February 2020).

Source:
Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH)