Table of Contents
Saras Collection:
The Indian government launched the Saras Collection on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal.
- It is a unique initiative by the GeM, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and Ministry of Rural Development.
- The Saras Collection showcases daily utility products made by rural Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and aims to provide SHGs in rural areas with market access to Central and State Government buyers.
- The on-boarding of the SHGs has been initially piloted in the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
- Under this initiative, the SHG sellers will be able to list their products in 5 product categories, namely (i) handicrafts, (ii) handloom and textiles, (iii) office accessories, (iv) grocery and pantry, and (v) personal care and hygiene.
Gilgit- Baltistan:
Gilgit-Baltistan, formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. The External Affairs Ministry issued a strong protest over an order by the Pakistan Supreme Court allowing the government to hold elections in the region of Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Located in northern Pakistan. It borders China in the North, Afghanistan in the west, Tajikistan in the northwest and Kashmir in the southeast. It has a regional assembly and an elected Chief Minister. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) also passes through this region.
- The British sold it, along with the rest of Jammu and Kashmir, to the Dogra ruler of Jammu, Gulab Singh, after defeating the Sikh army in 1846, but retained controlled over the area through a lease extracted from the Maharaja.
- This lease was last renewed in 1935. In 1947, a British army officer of the rank of Colonel imprisoned Maharaja Hari Singh’s governor in the region and handed over the area for accession to Pakistan.
African Swine Fever:
African swine fever virus is a large, double-stranded DNA virus in the Asfarviridae family. It is the causative agent of African swine fever. The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs; some isolates can cause the death of animals as quickly as a week after infection.
Assam is gearing up to tackle African Swine Fever. Around 2,800 pigs have died in Assam since February due to the virus making the state the epicenter of ASF in India.
- ASF is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects domestic and wild pigs, typically resulting in an acute form of hemorrhagic fever.
- It was first detected in Africa in the 1920s.
- The mortality is close to 100 percent, and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop it spreading is by culling the animals.
PAHAL:
Partnerships for Affordable Healthcare Access and Longevity is USAID (United States Agency for International Development) flagship innovative financing platform to promote health financing models and provide catalytic support to social enterprises (IBMs) for improving access to affordable and quality healthcare solutions for the urban poor communities, with a focus on Tuberculosis, Maternal and Child Health and WASH.
PAHAL has built a platform that provides unparalleled access to social enterprises for reducing cost and improving access to quality healthcare services.