News in Shorts: 19 February 2025

Bharat Tex 2025

Context: Recently, the Prime Minister addressed the Bharat Tex 2025 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

About Bharat Tex 2025

• Objective: Showcase India’s textile heritage and prospects for a developed India (Viksit Bharat).
• Scope: Covers the entire textile value chain, including raw materials, finished products, accessories, machinery, chemicals, and dyes.

Key Achievements of India’s Textile Sector

• Export Growth: 7% increase in textile and apparel exports in the last year.
• Global Ranking: India is the 6th largest exporter of textiles and apparels globally.
  • Contributing 8.21% to the country’s total exports in 2023-24. 
• Export Target: Aim to increase textile exports from ₹3 lakh crore to ₹9 lakh crore by 2030.
  • The sector holds a 4.5% share in global trade, with the United States and European Union accounting for 47% of India’s textile and apparel exports.
• Employment: Textile industry contributes 11% to India’s manufacturing sector and is one of the largest employment providers.

Government Initiatives and Policies

• Mission for Cotton Productivity: To ensure reliable cotton supply and make Indian cotton globally competitive.
• Focus on Technical Textiles: Promotion of indigenous carbon fiber and high-grade carbon fiber manufacturing.
• MSME Support: Expansion of MSME classification criteria and increased credit availability in the 2025 budget.
• Samarth Scheme: Skill development for the textile value chain through National Centres of Excellence.
• Handloom Promotion: Over 2,400 marketing events organized in the last decade; creation of the India-hand-made e-commerce platform for handloom products.

The ‘AI for Entrepreneurship’ Program

Context: The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), and Intel India have launched the ‘AI for Entrepreneurship’ program to promote AI education and entrepreneurial thinking.

Key Highlights of the Initiative

• Objective: To make AI concepts easy to understand and encourage young innovators to think like entrepreneurs.
• Target: To train 1 lakh youth by 2025 with essential AI and business skills.
• Broader Vision: Supports India’s goal of fostering innovation and inclusivity in learning.

Key Features

• Helps youth understand AI in a simple and practical way.
• Teaches how AI can be used for business growth and problem-solving.
• Covers entrepreneurial strategies for launching AI-driven businesses.
• Designed to be accessible for both urban and rural learners, ensuring equal opportunities.
• Participants who complete the module will receive a joint certification.

$LIBRA

Context: Criminal fraud charges have been filed against the Argentinian President for promoting the $LIBRA cryptocurrency token leading to financial losses for investors.

• Rug Pull: $LIBRA’s trading price was almost zero at launch which surged to almost $5 and its market cap flew past $4 billion.

About $LIBRA

• Developed By: It is a cryptocurrency which was developed by KIP Protocol (a Web3 company building a decentralised AI framework) and entrepreneur Hayden Davis.
• Hosted On: the Solana blockchain platform offering  fast transaction speeds at low fees.

About Cryptocurrency

• It is a digital or virtual currency secured by cryptography and based on a network that is distributed across a large number of computers
  • Crypto: It refers to the various encryption algorithms and cryptographic techniques such as elliptical curve encryption, public-private key pairs, and hashing functions.
• First Cryptocurrency: The first cryptocurrency was Bitcoin, which was founded in 2009
• Technology: Most cryptocurrencies exist on decentralized networks using blockchain technology
  • Blockchain is a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers.
• Decentralised System: Cryptocurrencies generally are not issued by any central authority which makes them theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation.
• Digital currency: Cryptocurrency are purely a digital currency which  is stored in digital wallets and is exchanged also digitally.
• Types: 
  • Utility:  They serve specific functions on their respective blockchains.
    • Examples: XRP and ETH are two examples of utility tokens.
  • Transactional: Tokens designed to be used as a payment method.
    • Example: Bitcoin
  • Governance: These tokens represent voting or other rights on a blockchain
    • Example: Uniswap.
  • Platform: These tokens support applications built to use a blockchain,
    • Example: Solana.
  • Security tokens: Tokens representing ownership of an asset, such as a stock that has been tokenized (value transferred to the blockchain).
    • Example: Buying MS Token will gain partial ownership of the Millennium Sapphire

National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations” (NAKSHA)

Context: The Union Minister of Rural Development and Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare will inaugurate the National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations (NAKSHA) at Raisen, Madhya Pradesh. 

About NAKSHA

• Coverage: It will cover 152 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across 26 States and 3 Union Territories (UTs).
• Nodal Ministry: The Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development
• Aim: To create and update land records in urban areas to ensure accurate and reliable documentation of land ownership
• Technical Partner: The Survey of India will be responsible for conducting aerial surveys and providing orthorectified imagery, through third party vendors. 
• Other Partners: 
  • The end-to-end web-GIS platform will be developed by the Madhya Pradesh State Electronic Development Corporation (MPSEDC)
  • Storage facilities will be provided by the National Informatics Centre Services Inc. (NICSI). 
  • States and Union Territory Governments: They will conduct field surveys and ground truthing using the orthorectified imagery
• Funding: The NAKSHA pilot program is expected to cost approximately ₹194 crore, fully funded by the Government of India.
• Advantages: 
  • This initiative will empower citizens, improve ease of living, enhance urban planning, and reduce land-related disputes.
  • The IT-based system for property record administration will foster transparency, efficiency and support sustainable development.

National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)

Context: Several West Bengal colleges were disappointed after the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) shifted the inspection from physical to online mode.

About National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)

• It is an autonomous body funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• It was established in 1994.
• Key Functions and Objectives:
• • Assessment and Accreditation: NAAC conducts assessments and accredits colleges, universities, and other recognized Higher Educational Institutions (HEI). 
  • Quality Status: The primary goal is to derive an understanding of the “Quality Status” of the institution. 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru.