1. बाराबंकी के सरकारी टीचर ने छुट्टी लेकर, फल–सब्जियों की खेती शुरू की, सालाना एक करोड़ हो रही है कमाई

Key points:

1. अमरेंद्र अभी 60 एकड़ जमीन पर खेती कर रहे हैं, 30 एकड़ जमीन पर पारंपरिक फसल और बाकी 30 एकड़ पर फल और सब्जियां उगाते हैं
2. उनकी टीम में 35 लोग काम करते हैं, इसके साथ ही आसपास के गांवों के किसान भी बड़ी संख्या में उनके साथ जुड़े हुए हैं
3. अमरेंद्र कहते हैं कि मैंने तय कर लिया था कि अब जो भी हो खेती ही करना है। मैंने गूगल और यूट्यूब पर थोड़ा खेती के बारे में सर्च किया। फिर केले की खेती का आइडिया मिला। जो किसान पहले से इसकी खेती करते थे, उनके पास जाकर इसके बारे जानकारी जुटाई। खेती की बारीकियों को समझा।
4. अमरेंद्र कहते हैं कि नई तकनीक से खेती की जाए तो इसमें काफी स्कोप है। सिर्फ पारंपरिक खेती के भरोसे नहीं रहा जा सकता है। उन्होंने खेती के लिए नई तकनीक नहीं ली है, गूगल और यूट्यूब पर ही वे खेती के बारे में नई-नई चीजें सीखते रहते हैं। अब उन्हें बहुत कुछ जानकारी हो गई है। वे जिले के दूसरे किसानों को भी खेती सिखा रहे हैं।

(Dainik Bhaskar, 14 October 2020) News Link

1. Madhya Pradesh IFS Officers Plant 54,000 Saplings in a Day, Turn Barren Hill Green

Key points:

1. Bondri hill in the Shahpur division of the forest department is a green haven for birds, hosting plenty of biodiversities. To see the unique spot you will need to take a five-hour drive, covering a distance of 180 kilometres, south from Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. If you had made that drive just three years ago, the picture was quite different (literally). In 2017, the hill was little more than a barren mound. But all of that has changed, thanks to the forest department’s effort to plant 54,000 saplings in a single day!
2. For the uphill task, the officer had one deputy forest ranger, two forest guards and 1,000 labourers, all of whom were planting varieties of bamboo and teak.
3. Gurudas Nulkar, a trustee at Ecological Society of India, Pune, however, says such ecosystems need more diverse plantations. “Planting saplings of limited species only encourages monoculture, and the insect and food diversity is lost. It is suggested to protect the area and plant diverse species of trees only in degraded areas,” he added.

(The Better India, 14 October 2020) News Link

• After 15 Years of Effort, Maharashtra Man Helps Turn Tribal Village to Solar Power

Key points:

1. Chaitram Pawar from Baripada village near Dhule has spearheaded multiple initiatives to promote solar lights, water pumps and cookers in the hamlet
2. With a population of around 1,000 residents, spread across 300 hectares of land, Baripada faced the same acute power shortages that plague thousands of villages across the country.“Being in the interior parts of the region, the village faced a lot of electricity supply issues for years. There is load shedding for almost 12 hours a day, making agriculture activity difficult,” said Chaitram Pawar, a social worker in the village.The 52-year-old Chaitram has been working for 30 years to bring sustainable reforms to the village, working on water conservation, afforestation and promoting sustainable agriculture practices. The social worker is associated with the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, an NGO also helps farmers to understand weather and provide necessary information to protect crops from harsh conditions.
3. The social worker said they deliberately decided on a lower-powered solar water pump. “We had the opportunity to install a water pump for a higher power of 5KW. But we decided that there was no need to withdraw excess groundwater than we need,” he adds.
4. The project officer said that initially 15 per cent of the total contribution was collected from the villagers. The subsidy was passed for the remaining sum. “In 2018, 94 homes got lit with villagers contributing Rs 3.5 lakh while the department spent Rs 19.82 lakh. The next year an additional 82 homes were added, with the entire cost borne by the government – spending Rs 19.76 lakh,” he added.

(The Better India, 14 October 2020) News Link

1. IIT-M Develops Wrapping Material That Can Prevent Food Contamination & Plastic Waste

Key points:

1. The material is both biodegradable and reduces bacterial colonies by 99.99 per cent when compared with an ordinary wrapper.
2. Earlier this week, the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M), announced the development of their Sustainable Antimicrobial Wrapping Material, which they believe will prevent packaged food contamination by bacteria as well as reduce plastic waste. This biodegradable food wrapper reportedly has an in-built antibacterial compound and is safe for consumption.
3. The wrapping material also degrades at various environmental conditions with the rate of degradation varying from 4 to 98 per cent in 21 days, adds Professor Doble.The wrapping material degraded rapidly in moist conditions when compared to dry ones. Hence, they believe, this wrapper can play a major role in plastic waste reduction.
4. At present, researchers are looking for funds to scale up the process and test their product with more food samples.

(The Better India, 14 October 2020) News Link

• Startup in Bharat by Bhartiya
  • After losing their jobs, two engineers from Mandasa in Andhra Pradesh develop a grocery-delivery appKey points:
• A Rupesh and Y Dhilli Rao developed an app to deliver groceries to the residents of Mandasa, Srikakulam at a delivery charge of Rs 9 for purchases below Rs 1,000
• “I ordered vegetables and fruits worth Rs 800 a few days ago and they delivered them in 45 minutes. Instead of going to the market amid the risk of infection, I place the orders on the app. I received the delivery in just half-an-hour after placing the order on the SSV EGrocery app. They charge less than the market price too,” said B Shiva Prasad, a resident of Mandasa.
• Due to the increasing number of cases in the district, they decided to introduce an online shopping app called SSV Egrocery, and met with home delivery facilities and wholesale dealers to procure quality items.

(Your Story, 14 October 2020) News Link

• This startup is making cryptocurrency investing as easy as ordering food

Key points:

1. With 300,000 users already on board, CoinSwitch Kuber has seen rapid growth. The startup expects to onboard over 1.5 million users and hopes to become the most trusted company for cryptocurrency investing in India.
2. Cryptocurrency may not be a favourite of regulators in India, but it is clearly a hot currency for the startups, users as well as investors. And Bengaluru-based CoinSwitch reflects this uptrend.
3. Interestingly, while other companies may have shrunk their operations due to the pandemic or have had to pause the business, CoinSwitch Kuber, a crypto trading platform for India, was launched right in the midst the coronavirus outbreak. The founders say that they saw a spike in growth because traditional markets have been in turmoil due to COVID-19.
4. “We have seen a large number of investors moving to crypto and have seen a huge surge of users on the platform. We have seen over 500 percent growth month-on-month on CoinSwitch Kuber. Today, it is doing over $1 million GMV per day, and reaching 250,000 users with investments to the tune of Rs 300 crore within just 100 days of the launch. We are seeing a lot of first-time users coming to CoinSwitch Kuber and investing in crypto,” Ashish Singhal, CEO and Co-founder of CoinSwitch, tells
5. Started in 2017 by Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni (CTO), and Vimal Sagar (COO) as a global aggregator of cryptocurrency exchanges, the startup offers over 300 coins and 45,000 currency pairs. It launched its India-exclusive INR-crypto on-ramp platform, CoinSwitch Kuber, in June this year. It supports hundreds of cryptocurrencies for users to buy and sell using Indian rupees.

(Your Story, 14 October 2020) News Link

• [Startup Bharat] A bank account for pocket money: Paysack is making finances ‘Funq’ for students

Key points:

1. Kochi-based fintech startup Paysack launched its student banking platform Funq to enable financial institutions to launch and build in-class solutions.
2. “The student community requires a robust but flexible solution for fee payments, automatic reconciliation, digital campus payment, and lending solutions,” says Ricky Jacob, Co-founder of Kochi-based fintech startup Paysack.
3. Founded in 2015, Paysack was initially bootstrapped and based out of Bengaluru. In 2016, to cut down expenses, the startup moved its base to Kochi. Moving forward, between 2015 and 2018, Paysack raised a total of $100,000 funding from friends and family, and a pool of angel investors

(Your Story, 14 October 2020) News Link