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<keyword id="22976106" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="indoor" source="keywords">Indoor</keyword> <keyword id="19900550" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="air-pollution" source="keywords">air pollution</keyword> is a bigger <keyword id="21117961" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="health-risk" source="keywords">health risk</keyword> than <keyword id="20543591" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="outdoor" source="keywords">outdoor</keyword> air pollution in India, and sometimes cities are cleaner than nearby villages where <keyword id="22976772" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="household-pollution" source="keywords">household pollution</keyword> is higher, according to the country's two top policy experts. Addressing the India <keyword id="20445293" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="clean-air" source="keywords">Clean Air</keyword> Summit (ICAS) 2024, Principal Advisor, <keyword id="19904190" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ministry-of-Health-and-Family-Welfare" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Ministry of Health and Family Welfare" meta.hostid="83" meta.entityid="Ministry of Health and Family Welfare">Ministry of Health and Family Welfare</keyword>, Soumya Swaminathan said, "Studies done in Delhi have shown that women's average exposure to high levels of <keyword id="20827287" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="black-carbon" source="keywords">black carbon</keyword> (women <keyword id="19895006" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="WHO" source="keywords">who</keyword> are mostly at home) is as much as auto-rickshaw passengers going around outdoor exposed to the ambient air pollution in Delhi, resulting in high systolic blood pressure." "Cities contribute less than 20 per cent to the overall state emissions, wherever they have been assessed, but household emissions predominate, ranging between 20 per cent and 40 per cent. Across the country, we are seeing is that sometimes cities are cleaner than the surrounding villages where household air pollution predominates," she said at the summit organised by think-tank Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy. This builds a strong case for expanding the scope of India's National Clean Air Programme (<keyword id="20133150" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NCAP" source="keywords">NCAP</keyword>), which currently focuses on non-attainment cities. Air pollution is a major threat to public health and contributes to a significant amount of morbidity as well as mortality. Apart from PM2.5 and PM10, short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon, methane, ozone, and hydrocarbons have the potential to harm the environment and warm the atmosphere even more than CO2. Black carbon can cause chronic respiratory illnesses, lung cancer, emphysema, pneumonia, asthma, heart disease, and low birthweight. "In terms of reducing our life expectancy, globally, PM2.5 is contributing to about 2.3 years of life lost. Just below that is tobacco. In fact, there's so much attention on tobacco and global frameworks for control, but not the same level of attention has been paid to PM2.5 and certainly not the same level of commitments," Swaminathan said. The impact of air pollution is not limited to public health but has a significant economic cost as well. Recently, the World Bank published a study highlighting that air pollution has resulted in a loss of around USD 8.1 trillion in 2019, which is 6.1 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). "We are always talking about air pollution as a problem but studies also show a strong economic case for action on clean air. There are significant positive consequences to investing in cleaning up the air in terms of the return on investments. We know air pollution is not just bad for our health, but it's also bad for agriculture, because it reduces the sunlight that's reaching the crops and it's bad for our economy or any country's economy as it deters people from coming and living or visiting those places," Swaminathan added. Kalpana Balakrishnan, Director, WHO Collaborating Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, said that the main barrier to shifting to clean cooking fuels that can help reduce household air pollution levels is finance. "If we give free LPG to women for two years, they are unlikely to shift back to biomass cooking even if you remove the subsidies," she said. Through Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) launched in May 2016, more than 100 million households in India received LPG cylinders by the end of March 2023. Studies shows over 50 per cent of the households that received new LPG cylinders under PMUY did not choose to refill it even once. Around a third of the world's population - 2.4 billion people globally (including 500 million people in India) - still lack access to clean cooking solutions. Although the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG) claims that the country's household LPG "coverage" stands at 99.8 per cent, the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2019-21 (NFHS-5) shows that 41 per cent of the population still cooks on biomass.

Indoor air pollution poses greater health risk than outdoor: Experts

Ahead of the union <keyword id="19936553" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="budget" source="keywords">budget</keyword> 2024, which is set to be presented on the 22nd July, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman kicked off pre-budget consultations on 19th June. In their pre-budget memorandum to the <keyword id="19900485" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="finance-ministry" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="finance ministry" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="finance ministry">finance ministry</keyword>, the <keyword id="20366533" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="PHD-Chamber-of-Commerce-and-Industry" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry">PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry</keyword> proposed 10 reforms it deemed essential for <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India" source="keywords">India</keyword>’s journey towards <keyword id="19916816" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Viksit-Bharat" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Viksit Bharat" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Viksit Bharat">Viksit Bharat</keyword>. Amongst the proposals submitted were introducing reforms to enhance the share of the manufacturing sector in India’s <keyword id="19904293" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="GDP" source="keywords">GDP</keyword> to 25% by 2030, and the expansion of the <keyword id="19981334" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="PLI-scheme" source="keywords">PLI scheme</keyword> beyond its existing scope of 14 sectors. In addition to this, <keyword id="20366532" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="PHDCCI" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="PHDCCI" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="PHDCCI">PHDCCI</keyword> also emphasised on rationalising direct taxes for the middle class, infrastructure enhancement and smart village development, with special focus on tier-2 and 3 cities. As per Sanjeev Agrawal, President, PHDCCI, “In order to strengthen the share of the manufacturing sector in the country's GDP, we recommend the status quo on the corporate tax rate at 22% for existing companies and 15% for new manufacturing companies incorporated after October 1, 2019. The middle class must be spared from the 30% tax rate and this rate must be applicable only to those with taxable income above Rs. 40 lakh, this will support consumption demand in this country”. In addition to this, PHDCCI also emphasised on strengthening linkages between universities and industries for bettering research and development activities in the country, and also appealed for reducing cost of doing business. Here’s a snapshot of some prominent demands placed forth by the PHDCCI ahead of the budget : <ol><li>Change in NPA classification limit from the present 90 days to 180 days</li><li>Fostering AI education, skill development and competitiveness in the service sector</li><li>Increase agricultural exports to US$100 billion in the next 3 years via increased public investments in infrastructure,</li><li>Ensure the presence of schools within a radius of 1 km, colleges within a 10 km radius and universities within a 25 km radius in the next five years.</li><li>Make health centres available within the radius of 1 km and hospitals within the radius of 10 km.</li><li>Propose a Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (VDS) for legal cases older than 10 years, offering settlement opportunities at a nominal 15% penalty. </li></ol>

Bolster manufacturing sector, consumption this budget: PHDCCI to FinMin

<keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> has embraced technology in every field of activity. It is adopting smart farming methods through technology and innovation in the agriculture sector and this may prove to be a game changer in the days to come by substantially raising farmers income. How is this method beneficial? Smart farming involves the application of sensors and automated irrigation practices. It can help monitor agricultural land, temperature and soil moisture. This would enable farmers to monitor crops from anywhere. Moreover, smart farming can help integrate digital and physical infrastructures, which would benefit small farmers. Agri-based startups can reach out to the farmers and help them gain access to such viable and cost-effective solutions. Agri-based, tech-driven startups have been very innovative in assisting farmers and revolutionising farming techniques. They have also addressed one of the most powerful headwinds (climate change) through climate-smart farming. In a unique move, the Indian government is implementing a <keyword id="12166469" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Digital-Agriculture-Mission" source="Orion">Digital Agriculture Mission</keyword> (DAM), which includes India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA), Farmers' Database, Unified Farmers Service Interface (UFSI), funding to the states on the new technology (NeGPA), revamping <keyword id="3182679" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mahalanobis-National-Crop-Forecast-Centre" source="Orion">Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre</keyword> (MNCFC), Soil Health, Fertility and profile mapping. According to a report published by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) in 2019, there were more than 450 argi-based tech-driven startups in India as of 2019. This number has skyrocketed in the last two years as the sector witnessed a surge in investments and funding. Agri-based tech-driven startups have been very innovative in assisting farmers and revolutionising farming techniques. They have also addressed one of the most powerful headwinds (climate change) through climate-smart farming. Under the NeGPA programme funding is given to the governments in various Indian states for Digital Agriculture projects using emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), Internet of Things (IOT), Block chain etc. Adoption of drone technologies is being done too. To promote smart farming, the government promotes startups in the agriculture sector and nurtures agri-entrepreneurs. The 'Per Drop More Crop' component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC) aims to increase water use efficiency at the farm level through micro irrigation technologies like drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. PMKSY is a scheme initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The <keyword id="87560" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Council-of-Agricultural-Research" source="Orion">Indian Council of Agricultural Research</keyword> (ICAR) promotes innovation, extension and education in agriculture. A total of 1,575 field crop varieties were released for different agricultural crops during 2014-21. During 2014-21, 91.43 crore agri-advisories were provided to farmers through mobiles. ICAR developed 187 mobile apps on different farm and farmer related services during 2014-21. The agriculture sector plays a vital role in enriching India's economy. Agriculture accounted for almost 17.8 per cent of India's Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2019- 20. According to the World Bank's collection of development indicators, employment rate in the Indian agriculture sector stood at 41.5 per cent in 2020. From a socio-economic standpoint, agriculture is a vital sector which requires focus and awareness at all levels. According to India Brand Equity Foundation, the rising population and changing diets have created a huge pressure on land in India. Farmers are struggling to keep up as crop yields level off, soil degradation rises, water shortage increases, biodiversity declines, and natural calamities become more frequent. Furthermore, agriculture accounts for almost 14 per cent of India's total greenhouse gas emissions. In the meantime, the NITI Aayog (erstwhile Planning Commission of India) conducted a study entitled "Efficacy of Minimum Support Prices on farmers", in 2016, which found, among other things, that MSP declared by the government has encouraged 78 per cent of the farmers covered under the study for adopting improved methods of farming such as high yielding varieties of seeds, organic manure, chemical fertilizer, pesticides and improved methods of harvesting etc. Additionally, oilseeds, pulses and copra of Fair Average Quality (FAQ) are procured from registered farmers under Price Support Scheme of the umbrella scheme of Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA), as per its prescribed guidelines. The Indian national Budget for 2018-19 had announced the pre-determined principle to keep Minimum Support Price or MSP at levels of one-and-half times of the cost of production. Accordingly, government has increased the MSPs for all mandated Kharif (including wheat), Rabi and other commercial crops with a return of at least 50 per cent over all India weighted average cost of production from the agricultural year 2018-19. Moreover, India's National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) is the only source of enrolment for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), on which farmer applications from various designated sources including banks/financial institutions are entered. Specific cut-off dates have been prescribed for enrolment of farmers, debit of premium, remittance of farmers' premium to concerned insurance company and uploading of data of farmers on NCIP. The <keyword id="603825" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ministry-of-Food-Processing-Industries" source="Orion">Ministry of Food Processing Industries</keyword> (MoFPI) has been incentivising setting of food processing industries through central sector umbrella scheme �Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY), Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI) and centrally sponsored scheme �PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme across all the country. Under scheme of creation of infrastructure for agro processing clusters, a component scheme of PMKSY, the scheme is aimed at development of modern infrastructure and common facilities to encourage entrepreneurs to set up food processing units based on cluster approach and also to create modern infrastructure for food processing closer to production areas and to provide integrated and complete preservation infrastructure facilitates from the farm gate to the consumer. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/india-must-pitch-for-rupee-as-dollar-distancing-might-be-finally-happening-sbi-ecowrap/articleshow/93513940.cms">India must pitch for Rupee as dollar distancing might be finally happening: SBI Ecowrap</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/snapchat-comes-to-india-with-exclusive-features-heres-how-much-it-costs-and-how-to-sign-up/articleshow/93513880.cms">Snapchat+ comes to India with exclusive features — here's how much it costs and how to sign up</a>

Smart farming can prove to be a game changer in the coming days

<keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> is set to deploy drones to gather atmospheric data that is currently collated by sending sensors through weather balloons released from at least 55 locations across the country twice every day. The sensors embedded in a radiosonde, which is a telemetry instrument carried by a weather balloon, record atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind direction and speed as the hydrogen-filled weather balloon soars up to 12 km height and transmit data to the ground receiver through radio signals. However, weather balloons and radiosondes are unretrievable as they drift afar from weather stations that release them in the atmosphere. We are now exploring the possibility of using drones to gather this atmospheric data which is crucial for weather forecasting, M Ravichandran, Secretary, <keyword id="158211" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ministry-of-earth-sciences" source="Orion">Ministry of Earth Sciences</keyword>, told PTI. Various studies have suggested that specialised drones equipped with sensors to gather weather data could be an efficient successor to the traditional weather balloons. The <keyword id="6355166" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india-meteorological-department" source="Orion">India Meteorological Department</keyword> (<keyword id="6366970" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="imd" source="Orion">IMD</keyword>) gathers weather data from 550 locations across the country through weather stations and uses radiosonde observations which are then fed into forecasting models to issue weather forecasts. The drones have a key advantage over weather balloons as they can be controlled and guided to fly at low as well as high altitudes. The IMD plans to use drones to gather data from up to five km altitude and compare it with data gathered using the traditional weather balloons. It has invited industry and academia to join the demonstration of the capability of drone technology for weather observations. It is expected that drones should be capable, economically feasible, easily deployable and recoverable and should be technically comparable or superior to currently deployed radiosondes for upper air observations up to the boundary layer of upper air atmosphere, the weather office said. While the flight of a weather balloon usually lasts for up to two hours, the IMD expects to gather data using drones during a 40-minute flight. If successful, a key benefit would be reducing the wastage of radiosondes as the IMD loses more than 100 such instruments every day as weather balloons cannot be retrieved after their flight. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/2-out-3-indians-are-facing-digital-payment-issues-due-to-poor-network-connectivity/articleshow/92076595.cms">A survey suggests that 2 out 3 Indians are facing digital payment issues due to poor network connectivity</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/galaxy-z-fold-4-is-expected-to-come-with-1tb-internal-storage-and-snapdragon-8-gen1-chipset/articleshow/92074564.cms">Galaxy Z Fold 4 might be Samsung's most expensive foldable phone — here’s everything you need to know</a>

India is all set to replace weather balloons with drones

<ul><li>Currently, various departments of the government have separate apps for reporting hailstorms, providing market price information and more. </li><li>The new <keyword id="13490890" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="super-app-for-farmers" source="Orion">super app for farmers</keyword> will combine everything that farmers need in a single place. </li><li>Apart from this, the app will also provide access to new research and development, technologies, best practices for harvesting, and more, in a single place. </li></ul>The Indian government is reportedly looking to build a super app for farmers in the country, bringing several critical features like weather and market updates, advisories for different zones, government schemes and everything else under one single umbrella. According to a report by the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/now-government-plans-to-launch-super-app-for-farmers/articleshow/90504378.cms">Economic Times</a>, this super app will combine several apps launched by various government departments under the <keyword id="2290680" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="ministry-of-agriculture-and-farmers-welfare" source="Orion">Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare</keyword>. Some of these apps include AgriMarket which lets farmers get the market price of crops within 50KM of their current location. The Bhuvan Hailstorm app lets agriculture officers catalogue crop loss due to hailstorms. The Kisan Suvidha app lets farmers access weather information, dealer details, market prices, advisories and more. Other apps currently offered by the government include <keyword id="3294108" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="pusa-krishi" source="Orion">Pusa Krishi</keyword>, MKisan, <keyword id="13490889" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="shetkari-masik" source="Orion">Shetkari Masik</keyword>, Farm-o-pedia, among others. “The compilation of different apps under a super app at one place will help the farmers in choosing from a bouquet of services as per their requirements. The focus will be to aggregate these apps to further ease the process of searching a relevant app,” the ET report stated, quoting an unnamed ministry official. Combining all the services under a single umbrella would make it easier for farmers to access the relevant information with a single click. Apart from this, the new super app for farmers will also include access to research and development, information about new technologies in farming, harvesting, and more. It is not clear when the government will launch the new super app, but we should know more in the coming weeks. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/electric-scooters-are-catching-fire-in-india-should-users-be-worried/articleshow/90496840.cms">Electric scooters are catching fire in India – should users be worried?</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/whatsapp-is-testing-increasing-file-size-limit-from-100mb-to-2gb/articleshow/90487646.cms">You might soon be able to send up to 2GB of files on WhatsApp</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/international-flights-from-india-may-see-a-drop-in-prices-in-the-coming-days/articleshow/90497379.cms">International flights from India may see a drop in prices in the coming days</a>

You Searched For "agriculture ministry" and got 5 results

Indoor air pollution poses greater health risk than outdoor: Experts

PTI

Bolster manufacturing sector, consumption this budget: PHDCCI to FinMin

Ira Alok Puranik

Smart farming can prove to be a game changer in the coming days

IANS

India is all set to replace weather balloons with drones

PTI

India might be building a super app for its farmers, combining weather, market updates, advisories and more in one app

Rounak Jain

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