Centre awards nine GI tags to take total to 432, Kerala bags five

• Attappady Attukombu Avara (beans), Attappady Thuvara (red gram), Onattukara Ellu (sesame), Kanthalloor-Vattavada Veluthulli (garlic), and Kodungalloor Pottuvellari (snap melon) are the latest Geographical Indications that have been registered.
• The unique features of the products, imparted by the agro-climatic conditions of the geographical area of their production, are the basis for getting geographical indication tag.

Attappady Attukombu Avara:

• Attappady Attukombu Avara, cultivated in the Attappady region of Palakkad, is curved like a goat’s horn as its name indicates.
• Its higher anthocyanin content compared to other dolichos beans imparts violet colour in the stem and fruits.
• Anthocyanin is helpful against cardiovascular diseases along with its antidiabetic properties.
• Other than this, calcium, protein, and fibre content are also high.
• The higher phenolic content of Attappady Attukombu Avara imparts resistance against pest and diseases, making the crop suitable for organic cultivation.

Attappady Thuvara:

• Attappady Thuvara is having seeds with white coat.
• Compared to other red grams, Attappady Thuvara seeds are bigger and have higher seed weight.
• This delicious red gram, which is used as vegetable and dal, is rich in protein, carbohydrate, fibre, calcium and magnesium.

Kanthalloor-Vattavada Veluthulli (garlic):

• Compared to the garlic produced in other areas, the garlic from the Kanthalloor-Vattavada area of Devikulam block panchayat in Idukki contains higher amount of sulphides, flavonoids, and proteins.
• It is rich in allicin, which is effective against microbial infections, blood sugar, cancer, cholesterol, heart diseases, and damages to blood vessels.
• The garlic cultivated in this area is also rich in essential oil.

Onattukara Ellu (sesame):

• Onattukara Ellu and its oil are famous for its unique health benefits.
• Relatively higher antioxidant content in Onattukara Ellu helps in fighting the free radicals, which destroy the body cells.
• Also, the high content of unsaturated fat makes it beneficial for heart patients.

Kodungalloor Pottuvellari (snap melon):

• Kodungalloor Pottuvellari cultivated in Kodungalloor and parts of Ernakulam is consumed as juice and in other forms.
• This snap melon, which is harvested in summer, is an excellent for quenching thirst.
• It contains high amount of Vitamin C.
• Compared to other cucurbits, nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, fibre and fat content are also high in Kodungalloor Pottuvellari.

Wayanad rice festival promotes climate-resilient crops

• The initiative aims to sensitise people to the significance of conserving traditional crops that have the ability to withstand harsh climatic conditions.
• Thanal has been organising annual “rice field weeks” since 2012.
• The festival also sets the stage for knowledge sharing and co-creation of knowledge between tribal farmers and experts.
• Thanal also launched the Rice Diversity Block (RDB) at Panavally under the Save Our Rice campaign in 2009, with a collection of 30 varieties of rice.
• Most of the varieties were collected from Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
• Many varieties are drought-resistant and flood-tolerant, while others have aromatic and medicinal properties.
• The Thondy variety, a traditional and popular rice among the people in Wayanad a few decades ago, could compete with any hybrid rice in terms of productivity.
• Black rice varieties are rich in minerals like zinc, iron and other nutrients.
• India had nearly 1.5 lakh varieties of rice, with about 3,000 varieties unique to Kerala.

Ban on use of Glyphosate and other Pesticides

• Glyphosate is a widely used herbicide that can kill certain weeds and grasses.
• Glyphosate works by blocking an enzyme essential for plant growth.
• First developed in 1970, glyphosate is scientifically N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine under the IUPAC system of nomenclature.

Application:

• In India, glyphosate use was approved only for tea crop and non-crop areas for control of weeds.
  • Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the major tea plantation states in India.
• In India it goes by various brand names, including Roundup, Glycel, and Brake.
• But glyphosate consumption is higher in states that do not have tea crops.
• It is being widely and indiscriminately used in paddy fields by farmers.

Consequences:

• The surface casting activity of vertically burrowing earthworms almost ceased after three weeks and reproduction of soil dwellers reduced by 56 per cent within three months after herbicide application.
• There are long-term negative consequences for honey bee navigation, contamination of water bodies and serious health hazards.

India is confident of forming a bio-fuel alliance with other countries, says Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri

• The E20 fuel is a twenty percent blend of Ethanol and eighty percent of fossil based fuel.
• The introduction of E20 fuel has the motive of reducing the reliance on fossil based fuels for building a more sustainable society for the future and to reduce vehicular emissions.
• It is expected to reduce air pollution, being lesser polluting than petrol.
• The government foresees oil import savings to the tune of Rs. 30,000 crores annually.

Ethanol fuel

• Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic drinks.
• It is most commonly utilized as a motor fuel, primarily as a biofuel addition in gasoline. Biomass is commonly utilized for making ethanol, such as corn or sugarcane. India''s abundance of sugarcane production is pivotal to the push towards ethanol based fuel.

Flex engines:

• Flex engines are those that can run at any ratio of ethanol blending from E20 to E100.
• These types of engines and cars are not new.
  • The Fiat 147, launched in 1978 in Brazil, was the first production car to run solely on ethanol.

Amit Shah to chair Eastern Zonal Council meeting in Kolkata today

• The idea of creation of Zonal Councils was mooted by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1956.
• The Zonal Councils are the statutory bodies.
• They are established by an Act of the Parliament, that is, States Reorganisation Act of 1956.
• The act divided the country into five zones (Northern, Central, Eastern, Western and Southern) and provided a zonal council for each zone.
• The present composition of each of these Zonal Councils is as under:
• The Northern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh;
• The Central Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh;
• The Eastern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal;
• The Western Zonal Council, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli;
• The Southern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• North Eastern Council:
  • The North Eastern States i.e. (i) Assam (ii) Arunachal Pradesh (iii) Manipur (iv) Tripura (v) Mizoram (vi) Meghalaya and (vii) Nagaland are not included in the Zonal Councils and their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972.
  • The State of Sikkim has also been included in the North Eastern Council vide North Eastern Council (Amendment) Act, 2002 notified on 23rd December 2002.

Structure of Zonal Councils

• Chairman The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these Councils.
• Vice Chairman - The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
• Members- Chief Minister and two other Ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.
• Advisers- One person nominated by the Planning Commission for each of the Zonal Councils, Chief Secretaries and another officer/Development Commissioner nominated by each of the States included in the Zone.
• The main objectives of setting up of Zonal Councils are as under:
  • Bringing out national integration;
  • Arresting the growth of acute State consciousness, regionalism, linguism and particularistic tendencies;
  • Enabling the Centre and the States to co-operate and exchange ideas and experiences;
  • Establishing a climate of co-operation amongst the States for successful and speedy execution of development projects.

Functions:

• Each Zonal Council is an advisory body that has the authority to discuss any issue on which the Union and one or more of the States represented therein, as well as some or all of the States represented therein, have an interest in common.
• It also has the authority to recommend a course of action to the Central Government and the governments of the individual States concerned.
• In particular, a Zonal Council may discuss, and make recommendations with regard to:
  • any matter of common interest in the field of economic and social planning;
  • any matter concerning border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-State transport;
  • any matter connected with or arising out of, the re-organization of the States under the States Reorganisation Act.