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The committee recommended downsizing FCI by outsourcing many of its tasks to state govt., public sector bodies & private companies. Grain procurement, especially in production surplus states like Punjab, Haryana etc, should be delegated to State governments. FCI should focus more on its price support operations in Eastern states like UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam etc. where the majority of the farmers are small and marginal.

Agriculture and Allied sector plays a vital and critical role in the process of economic development of India by reducing poverty, unemployment & inequality, income diversification, ensuring food security and achieving sustainable development. In recent years, Indian agriculture and rural areas are undergoing a considerable change. Rural India is becoming less and less agricultural, and allied activities are becoming an important part of livelihood strategies.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), National Cooperatives Development Corporation (NCDC) and all scheduled Banks shall be the Nodal Loaning Entities. FIDF would provide concessional finance to State Governments/UTs and State entities, cooperatives, individuals and entrepreneurs etc., for taking up of the identified investment activities of fisheries development.

The total horticulture production was highest in case of Uttar Pradesh followed by West Bengal. India witnessed the shift in area from food grain towards horticulture crops over the last five years. Operation greens aims for price stabilisation, reduction in post-harvest losses, increase in food processing capacities and setting up of a market intelligence network.

According to IMF, the global output growth has been estimated to decline to 2.9 per cent in 2019 (from 3.6 per cent in 2018 and 3.8 per cent in 2017). India also experienced a downturn in the auto industry and manufacturing exports.
Continued global trade tensions could delay the recovery in the growth of global output, which may constrain the export performance of the country. Further, escalation in US-Iran geo-political tensions may increase the price of crude oil, depreciate the rupee and weaken net FPI inflows.

Better tax administration, widening of TDS carried over the years, anti-tax evasion measures and increase in effective tax payers base have contributed to direct tax buoyancy.
Over the last few years, the contribution of Non-debt Capital receipts has improved in the total pool of Non-debt receipts. However, the receipts from recovery of loans and advances have been declining over the years.

Budgetary expenditure on subsidies has seen significant moderation through improved targeting and considerable restructuring and reclassification of Central sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the recent years.
Apart from budgetary spending, Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR) have also been mobilized to finance infrastructure investment since 2016-17. These EBRs are not taken into account while calculating the Fiscal Deficit. However, they are considered in the calculations of Government Debt.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released World Energy Outlook for the year 2019.IEA is an autonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1974 to help countries collectively respond to oil supply disruptions.
Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS): This scenario provides a detailed sense of the direction in which today’s policy ambitions would take the energy sector.
Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS): This scenario charts a path fully aligned with the Paris Agreement by holding the rise in global temperatures to “well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit to 1.5°C”, and meets objectives related to universal energy access and cleaner air.
Current Policies Scenario: The Current Policies Scenario is a baseline picture of how global energy markets would evolve if governments make no changes to their existing policies and measures.

Gahirmatha, located in Odisha, is known as the world’s largest Olive Ridley rookery. The species is recognized as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red list and is placed under Appendix 1 of CITES. These turtles spend their entire lives in the ocean, and migrate thousands of kilometers between feeding and mating grounds in the course of a year. The Coast Guard had launched the ‘Operation Oliva’ exercise as part of its annual mission to ensure the safe mid-sea sojourn of breeding Olive Ridley sea turtles.

Germany is one of the most important global partners for S&T cooperation. India and Germany have High Technology Partnership Group (HTPG) for identifying specific opportunities for high technology collaboration under the “Make in India” programme. Germany and India also cooperate on the issue of UNSC expansion within the framework of G-4