Vice president urges reforms for better functioning of Parliament

 Shri Naidu voiced concern about the functioning of legislators in the country after release of a book titled “Moving On…Moving Forward: A Year in
Office” on his first year as Vice President
 He suggested five reforms to improve the functioning of Parliament and State legislatures. These include;
1. Code of conduct for legislators both within and outside the Houses,
2. Legislators to resign before changing party and Anti-defection cases to be decided in three months time,
3. Election petitions and criminal cases against political leaders to be decided quickly by special benches of higher courts,
4. A national policy to ensure consistency in having upper houses in States and
5. Cleansing of polity.
 Shri Naidu also urged political parties to consider issues concerning women dispassionately to ensure their safety and dignity and by ending
discrimination against women on the basis of religion and other factors.
 He called for reservation for women in all spheres including in legislatures.
 Stressing that agriculture is the basic culture of the country, the Vice President called for a clear bias towards farmers in resource allocation to
ensure remunerative farming and a robust food security.
 Four themes that Shri Naidu explored which could become national agenda:
1. Untapped demographic dividend,
2. An effective eco-system to ensure sustainable and remunerative agriculture,
3. Orienting scientific and research gains to improve quality of life of people and
4. Enhancing public awareness about the country’s rich cultural heritage and harmonious world view.

Coconut
 India has started exporting coconut oil to Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Till last year, India used to import coconut oil from these
countries.
 Coconut is known to have been cultivated for thousands of years in our country and is an inevitable part of our culture and tradition, religious and
social practices, folklore, food and drink
 In folklore, coconut is the fruit which provides nutrition and is our heritage and legacy.
 India stands first in global coconut production and productivity. The annual coconut production of India is 2437.80 crore and the productivity is
11616 coconuts per hectare. The crop is cultivated in 20.98 lakh hectare. The crop contributes Rs 34,100 crore to GDP. More than one crore
people depend on this crop for their livelihood.
 National Horticulture Mission is implementing various aspirational schemes for the integrated development of coconut in the country and
through these schemes farmers throughout the country get updated on scientific coconut cultivation, product processing, marketing and export.
 Coconut farmers can be led to prosperity only through value addition of coconut. For this, the Coconut Development Board is implementing the
Technology Mission on Coconut programme under which 480 coconut processing units have been established with a capacity to process 274
crore nuts per year.
 Skill development in coconut sector through:
1. Friends of Coconut Tree (FOCT) Training Programme and
2. The Neera Technician training programme
 Research shows:
1. coconut oil has medium chain fatty acids which is disease resistant and heart friendly and
2. virgin coconut oil can prevent premature ageing.
3. virgin coconut oil is effective in curing diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer diseases.
 The government has increased the Minimum Support Price of Milling Copra from Rs 6500 per Quintal to Rs 7511 per Quintal and for Ball
copra from Rs 6785 per Quintal to Rs 7757 per Quintal.
 The government has declared up to 5% incentive in the export value (FOB) in its new Foreign Trade Policy for 2015-20 for the promotion
of coconut product export.
 India has started exporting coconut oil to Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka

Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC)

 Every year September 2 is celebrated as World Coconut Day to commemorate the formation day of Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC).
 APCC is an intergovernmental organization of 18 member countries mandated to promote, coordinate and harmonize coconut developmental
activities of the Asian Pacific region to achieve maximum economic development.
 India is one of the founder members of APCC.
 In India, under the leadership of the Central Government, the Coconut Development Board is celebrating World Coconut Day every year in various
coconut producing states across the country.
 The theme announced by APCC for this year’s World Coconut Day is Coconut for Good Health, Wealth & Wellness.
MOVE Cyclathon

 A cycle rally to promote cleaner, accessible modes of transport organised by NITI Aayog.
 The cyclathon was held in the run up to the MOVE: Global Mobility Summit on September 7, 8 in New Delhi
 The Movelo Cyclathon, organized by NITI Aayog is spreading the message of clean mobility to the Indian public

About ‘Mobility Week’

 ‘Mobility Week’ will see 17 events in 7 days—from 31 August to 6 September 2018.
 These events will facilitate interactions with various stakeholders across the mobility domain.
 Participants include global and Indian leaders from across the mobility sector such as OEMs, battery manufacturers, charging infrastructure
providers, technology solution providers, representatives from the Indian government as well as foreign governments, various inter-governmental
organizations, academia, and policy think tanks.
About MOVE: Global Mobility Summit
 Steeply falling technology costs and business–model innovations are driving the world’s transition to renewable energy and electric
vehicles.
 Against this backdrop, NITI Aayog, in collaboration with various ministries and industry partners, is organizing ‘MOVE: Global
Mobility Summit’ in New Delhi on 7th and 8th September, 2018.
 The Summit will constitute three designated components – The Conclave, Digital Exhibition, and Featured Events.
 It will help drive the government’s goals for vehicle electrification, renewable energy integration and job growth and also speed up
India’s transition to a clean energy economy.
 The Summit, which is the first of its kind, with over 1,200 participants expected from across the world including leaders from the
government, industry, research organizations, academia, think tanks and civil society.
 They will come together and engage with key stakeholders within the rapidly transforming global mobility landscape and to evolve a
public interest framework.
 The issues will be discussed based on 5 thematic papers during the parallel sessions. State specific will also be discussed, to evolve a
shared, connected, zero emission and inclusive mobility agenda for the future.