Pib Daily 31st Jan 20

Pib Daily
 34th Surajkund International Crafts Mela starts from 1st Feb
 First fruit Train sent to JNPT for Exports
 National Consultation on the review of Beijing +25
 IAF’S AN-32 Lands at LEH with Indigenous Bio-Jet Fuel
 INS Airavat Reaches Madagascar for Flood Relief under Operation Vanilla
 Economic survey: would be covered separately
Pib Daily 31st Jan 20

1]. 34th Surajkund International Crafts Mela starts from 1st Feb

About

 The Surajkund Mela is unique as it showcases the richness and diversity of the
handicrafts, handlooms and cultural fabric of India, & is the largest crafts fair in the
world
 The Mela is organized by the Surajkund Mela Authority & Haryana Tourism in
collaboration with Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs.
 For the 34th Surajkund International Crafts Mela-2020, the state of Himachal Pradesh
has been chosen to be the Theme State.
 At least 20 countries & all the states of India will be participating in the Mela
 This mela is a custodian of the heritage crafts involving use of traditional skills that are
fading away due to cheap machine made imitations, and a special section is earmarked
for showcasing of these heritage crafts.
 In 2013, the fair was upgraded to an international level and in 2015, a record number
of 20 countries participated in the Mela and Lebanon was the Partner Nation and
Chhattisgarh, the Theme State.
 Uzbekistan is the Partner Nation for the Year 2020.
Pib Daily 31st Jan 20

Objectives

 To organise, manage and run the Surajkund International Craft Mela at Surajkund
Faridabad with a view to promote handicrafts, handlooms with the aid of craftsmen
invited from all over the country.
 To identify languishing and lesser known crafts and to introduce them to patrons.
 To display crafts and loom techniques by organising demonstration sections in the Mela
grounds.
 To undertake the promotion of export of handlooms and handicrafts.
 To set up an environment in which rural crafts traditions could be displayed and to
project the traditional rural ambience of a typical village near Delhi for travellers who
may not have the time or means to visit an Indian village.

2]. First fruit train sent to JNPT for Exports

News: Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority(APEDA), along
with State Government of Andhra Pradesh and one of the largest member exporter of banana,
dispatched the first shipment of 890 MTs of high quality bananas,loaded in 43 refrigerated
containers,from Tadipatri, Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in
Mumbai yesterday for export to international markets

 Government of India under Agri Export Policy has notified banana cluster in Anantpur
and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh.
 More than 500 farmers cultivating bananas in more than 1800 hectares have been
trained to boost the production and export of the fruit from Anantpur and nearby
districts
 The bananas are being exported under the brand name ‘Happy Bananas’. Farmers from
Putlur region in Anantapur and Pulivendula in Kadapa district are exporting ‘Green
Cavendish’ bananas to many international markets

Significance

 More than three thousand farmers with an annual production of over 1 lakh MTare
being handheld for exports directly.
 The efforts of APEDA with the support of the State Government and exporters are likely
to provide a good opportunity for India to increase its share in world trade of banana.
Pib Daily 31st Jan 20

3]. National Consultation on the review of Beijing +25

News: To mark of 25 years of the adoption of Beijing Platform for Action, Ministry of Women &
Child Development (MWCD), the National Commission for Women (NCW) and UN Women
organized a National Consultation on the Review of Beijing+25, to galvanize all stakeholders to
implement actions that remove the most conspicuous barriers to gender equality.

Objective

 To bring together civil society and the women and youth of India, gender equality
advocates from all walks of life, in a national public conversation on the urgent actions
that need to be taken for the realization of gender equality.
 To assess progress and challenges to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action in India over the past 5 years, discuss lessons learned, priority
actions required to realized gender equality and the empowerment of women by 2030,
discuss emerging areas that have impact on women’s empowerment.

Beijing + 25

 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the 4th World Conference on Women and adoption
of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), (Beijing + 25)
 The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, was one of the largest
ever gatherings of the United Nations, and a critical turning point in the world’s focus on
gender equality and the empowerment of women.

BPfA
In 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action for Equality, Development and Peace (BPfA).

 The BPfA is an agenda for women’s empowerment.

 It reaffirms the fundamental principle whereby the human rights of women and the girl
child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights.
 As an agenda for action, the BPfA seeks to promote and protect the full enjoyment of
all human rights and fundamental freedoms by women throughout their lives.
Pib Daily 31st Jan 20

12 critical areas
The BPfA addresses twelve critical areas of concern requiring particular action towards the
advancement of women:

 Women and poverty (A)

 Education and Training of Women (B)
 Women and Health (C)
 Violence Against Women (D)
 Women and Armed Conflict (E)
 Women and the economy (F)
 Women in Power and Decision-making (G)
 Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women (H)
 Human Rights of Women (I)
 Women and the Media (J)
 Women and the Environment (K)
 The Girl Child (L)

4]. IAF’S AN-32 Lands at LEH with Indigenous Bio-Jet Fuel

News: On 31 Jan 2020, IAF achieved another milestone, when an AN-32 aircraft of the Indian
Air Force, powered with a 10% blend of Indian bio-jet fuel took-off from Kushok Bakula
Rimpochee Airport, Leh.

Significance: This is the first time that both engines of the aircraft were powered by the bio-
jet indigenous fuel.

 Evaluating the performance of bio-jet fuel under tough conditions (like at Leh) is
important from operational perspectives.
 It validates the capability of the aero-engine to operate smoothly with bio-jet fuel at the
extremities of the operational envelope.
 This successful test flight also demonstrates IAF’s capabilities to absorb newer
technology, while sponsoring indigenization.
 IAF’s efforts would assist in reducing carbon footprint and India’s dependence on crude
imports.
Pib Daily 31st Jan 20

About bio-jet fuel

Bio-jet fuel is produced from non-edible ‘Tree Borne Oils’, grown and procured from the tribal
areas of Chhattisgarh state.

 The technology to produce this fuel was developed by CSIR-IIP in 2013, but could not be
tested and certified for commercial use due to lack of concurrent aviation test facilities
in the country.
 In 2018, the IAF sponsored this project and channelized its human and material
resources for the complete range of fuel testing

5]. INS Airavat Reaches Madagascar for Flood Relief under Operation Vanilla
News: INS Airavat arrived at the port of Antsiranana (Madagascar) on 30 Jan 20 to undertake
relief operations after floods from heavy rains have led to a crisis in the region.

 The relief operations to be undertaken by INS Airavat under Operation vanilla will be
the first by a foreign nation after heavy rains lashed Madagascar and inundated the low
lying farmlands leading to massive loss of life and property.

Operation Vanilla

 Operation Vanilla was launched as a disaster relief measure to the disaster Cyclone
Diane hit areas of Madagascar.
 Madagascar is part of “Vanilla” island nations, from which the operation derived its
name.
 Madagascar along with Seychelles, Réunion, Mauritius, Comoros, Mayotte, is known as
vanilla islands since they grow this orchid in abundance.
 Last year, the Indian Navy had sent three of its ships to provide relief to neighbouring
Mozambique which was hit by deadly cyclone Idai.
 INS Sujata, INS Sarathi and INS Shardul were sent to the south-east African country for
humanitarian assistance and were able to rescue over 200 people.

INS Airavat

 It is the third Shardul-class amphibious warfare vessel of the Indian Navy.

 It was built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers in Kolkata at Yard.
 It had completed basin trials in May and began its sea trials in July 2008.
Pib Daily 31st Jan 20

 On 19 May 2009, It was commissioned at the Eastern Naval Command in

Visakhapatnam.
 The meaning of Airavat in Hindi is the mount of god Indra, the elephant Airavata, as
mentioned in the Rigveda
 Airavat consists of an anti-roll flume stabilisation system.
 It has smoke curtains to hinder the spreading of smoke and toxic gases in case of fire.
 Battle damage control systems.
 If fully loaded, she can operate independently at high seas for up to 45 days.