Covid imapct: Seafarers stranded at the sea

 

Around 400 shipping companies have signed the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change. The outbreak of pandemic has impacted every individual. Restrictions imposed by the government to control the spread of Covid-19 did toss the lives of seafarers. Crew changes were restricted. It left more than four lakh of them stranded as per the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).  

IMO established Seafarer Crisis Action Team (SCAT) to support the stranded seafarers and supporting their family/ friends by providing relevant information about their status. The Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change is ahead with four key points being 

• Recognition as the key workers,
• Access to covid-19 vaccine
• Increase collaboration between ship operators and charterers to support crew changes 
• Ensure air connectivity between key maritime hubs for seafarers

Companies that signed the declaration include, AP Moller-Maersk, oil firms BP and Shell, consumer giant Unilever and mining groups Rio Tinto and Vale, maritime transporters, unions, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and other supply chain partners. 

The Maritime Union of India urged to consider seafarers as the key workers. It followed the announcement on Maritime India Vision 2030. The vision focuses on establishing a regulatory authority under the Indian Ports Act and developing Maritime Development Fund (MDF). 

 

 

 

Mention of Aajeevika Mission in Mann Ki Baat

 Backgroud of Mann Ki Baat

The radio programme, Mann Ki Baat, was introduced by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. Radio was chosen as the medium of communication since not many households have television connection.  Through this medium, 90% of the population is reachable. The first broadcast was on a Vijayadashami day in October 2014. The programme also featured an episode with former US President Barack Obama in the year 2015.

The programme has been well-received among the urban population in the metropolitan cities. A survey conducted among six cities in India has revealed that 66.7% listen to the radio programme and find it's content useful. It widened the scope for All India Radio, the cost of ads being the major source of revenue was higher during this programme. The programme was well-received in Bihar, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh while Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh marked the lowest awareness, a survey by AIR in 2017 revealed.

Aajeevika Mission

 

Among various things mentioned by our PM in the January 2021 episode of Mann Ki Baat, let us discuss on Aajeevika Mission. He stated that tribal women who were daily wage workers at a rice mill in Jabalpur used the scheme to capital along with savings and started a rice mill. The Aajeevika- National Rural Livelihoods Mission was launched by the government in 2011, succeeded by Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana in 2015, for promoting self-employment of the rural population. The World Bank supports the programme.

 

Schemes include Rural self-employment training institutes encourage a trainee to take bank credit and commence a micro-enterprise; Start-up village Entrepreneurs Programme; and Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana to support transport facilities thereby providing self-employment. The target is to cover seven crore rural households, across six lakh villages in the country, through the set-up of Self Help Groups in eight to ten years.