Narendra Singh Tomar, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, addressed the 16th Sustainability Summit 2021 of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) named ‘16th Sustainability Building a Resilient Future Leveraging Science, Technology & Finance’.
- India has entered into the top 10 list of agricultural produce exporters.
Recent Initiatives under the Agriculture sector:
i.So far under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, around Rs 1,57,000 crore has been deposited in the bank accounts of more than 11 crore farmers of India.
ii.The Prime Minister (PM) has launched the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the benefit of other industries including food processing.
iii.To make agriculture profitable for small and medium farmers, infrastructure is being developed near the farms. An Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore has been created and through which, Projects worth more than Rs 4000 crores have been approved.
iv.The farmers also benefited through the Kisan Rails and the Krishi Udaan Yojana.
- India’s 1st Kisan Rail was commenced on 7 August 2020 from Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur (Bihar).
- So far (up to July 2021), 1,040 Kisan Rail services have been operated over 72 routes across India.
- Krishi Udaan scheme was launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on international and national routes to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products.
Note – UK is India’s biggest European research partner, with £400 million of joint investment in research and innovation since 2008.
The Sustainability Summit:
i.It is the annual flagship event of the Confederation of Indian Industry in sustainability, launched in 2006 to raise the bar of dialogue, practice and performance of the sustainable business.
ii.The 16th Sustainability summit is designed to build discussions on the importance of green finance, science and technological innovations that will step up actions for a green and inclusive recovery.
India Became Asia’s 1st Country to Launch a Plastics Pact
World-Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF India) and the CII have collaborated to develop a platform named ‘India Plastics Pact (IPP)’ to promote a circular system for plastics.
- The pact was launched by the British High Commission in India, Alexander Ellis, at the 16th Sustainability Summit 2021 of the CII.
- The pact is supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP).
- India became the 1st Asian country to develop a plastics pact.
- India annually generates 46 million tonnes of plastic waste, of which 40 percent is not collected. Around half of all plastics produced in India are used in packaging.
Key Points:
i.Objective: To keep plastic packaging in the economy and out of the natural environment by developing a unified national framework for a circular economy.
ii.Founding Members: 27 businesses and supporting organisations, including major fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands, manufacturers, retailers and recyclers made their commitment to the IPP as founding members.
iii.IPP’s targets to be achieved by 2030:
IPP define a list of unnecessary or problematic plastic packaging and items and take measures to address them through redesign and innovation.
- 100 percent of plastic packaging to be reusable or recyclable
- 50 percent of plastic packaging to be effectively recycled
- 25 percent average recycled content across all plastic packaging.
Recent Related News:
On July 15-16, CII organized the second edition of Digital Conference & Exhibition ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat – Self-Reliance for Renewable Energy Manufacturing’ virtually in collaboration with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) under its RE-INVEST agenda and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
About Confederation of Indian Industry (CII):
Establishment– 1895
Headquarter – New Delhi, Delhi
Director General – Chandrajit Banerjee
