PIB Analysis : 3rd & 4th March

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Kumbh Mela Guiness World Record
2. Sampriti 2019
3. Centre for Disability Sports
4. Construction Technology India
5. Young Scientist Programme
6. National Common Mobility Card & SWAGAT, SWEEKAR

1 . Kumbh Mela Guiness World Record

Context : Prayagraj Kumbh Mela 2019 has been placed in the Guinness World Records

About the Record

• Prayagraj Kumbh Mela 2019 has been placed in the Guinness World Records in three sectors.
• It includes largest traffic and crowd management plan, the biggest painting exercise of public sites under paint my city scheme and  biggest sanitation and waste disposal mechanism.

2 . Sampriti 2019

Context :  As part of the ongoing India Bangladesh defence cooperation, a joint military exercise Sampriti-2019 is being conducted at Tangail, Bangladesh from 02 March to 15 March 2019

About Sampriti 2019

• The aim of the exercise is to increase mutual cooperation, bonhomie and camaraderie between the two armies through interoperability and joint tactical exercises. 
• A company group from Bangladesh Army and an equal number from Indian Army are taking part in the two-week long exercise that will see them hone their tactical and technical skills in countering insurgency, counter terrorism and aid to civil authorities for disaster management in an UN peace keeping scenario involving a combined deployment at a battalion level.
• In this eighth edition of the exercise which started way back in 2009 as a platoon level exercise and graduated to company level exercise in 2015 onwards, both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered during simulated UN peace keeping operations. 

3 . Centre for Disability Sports

Context : A‘Centre for Disability Sports’will be set up at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh

About Centre for Disability Sports

• Centre will be registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, which is to function under the name of Centre for Disability Sports, Gwalior.
• Improved sports infrastructure created by this Centre will ensure effective participation of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in sports activities and also enable them to compete at national and international levels.
• Setting up of the Centre will develop a sense of belonging in Divyangjan to facilitate their integration in society.  
• The Centre will have an Outdoor Athletic Stadium, Indoor Sports Complex, Basement Parking Facility; Aquatic Centre having 2 Swimming Pools, one covered Pool and an Outdoor Pool; High Performance Centre with classrooms; medical facilities; Sports Science Centre; hostel facilities for athletes, support facilities including accessible lockers, dining, recreational amenities and Administrative Block

4 . Construction Technology India

Context : More than 2500 delegates from 32 countries participate in CTI-2019. Rajkot, Ranchi, Indore, Chennai, Agartala & Lucknow Identified to Locate Lighthouse Projects to Serve as Live Laboratories- Ground Breaking Targeted For June 2019

About Construction Technology India

• The conference identifies proven, innovative and globally established technologies for use in the Indian context.
• Technology providers, researchers, start-ups, developers, academia, public sector agencies and other domain experts participated in the event.
• The Construction Technology India (CTI) will be a biennial event.
• National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) and Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) will be taking the lead with the support of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in hosting this event.
• This event will become a regular feature in the international event calendar for construction sector where the leading entities in this space across the world would be making their presence here.

5 . Young Scientist Programme

Context : Indian Space Research Organisation has launched a special programme for School Children called “Young Scientist Programme” “YUva VIgyani KAryakram” (YUVIKA) from this year

About the Programme

• The Program is primarily aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the younger ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities. ISRO has chalked out this programme to “Catch them young”.
• The residential training programme will be of around two weeks duration during summer holidays and it is proposed to select 3 students each from each State/ Union Territory to participate in this programme every year covering CBSE, ICSE and State syllabus.
• Those who have finished 8^th standard and currently studying in 9^th standard will be eligible for the programme.

How Students will be selected

• ISRO has approached the Chief Secretaries of the respective States/ Administrators of Union Territories in India to arrange for the selection of three students from each of their State/UT and communicate the list to ISRO.
• The selection is based on the academic performance and extracurricular activities, which is clearly mentioned in the selection criteria already circulated to Chief Secretaries of States/ Administrators of UTs. Students belong to the rural area have been given special weightage in the selection criteria.

6 . National Common Mobility Card & SWAGAT, SWEEKAR

Context : Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched today One Nation, One Card for transport mobility at a function in Ahmedabad today. The Indigenous Automatic Fare Collection System based on One Nation One Card Model i.e. National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) is the first of its kind in India.

About National Common Mobility Card

Background

• Public Transport is extensively used across India as the economical and convenient mode of commuting for all classes of society. Cash continues to be the most preferred mode of fare payments across the public transport.
• However, there are multiple challenges associated with the cash payment e.g. cash handling, revenue leakages, cash reconciliation etc.
• Various initiatives have been taken by transit operators to automate & digitize the fare collection using Automatic Fare Collection System (AFC). The introduction of closed loop cards issued by these operators helped to digitize the fare collection to a significant extent. However, the restricted usability of these payment instruments limits the digital adoption by customers.

About AFC System

• AFC System (gates, readers/validators, backend infrastructure etc.) is the core of any transit operator to automate the fare collection process.
• The major challenge associated with AFC system implementation in India till now is the lack of indigenous solution provider.
• Till now, AFC systems deployed at various Metros are from foreign players. In order to avoid the vendor lock-in and create an interoperable system, there was a need to develop indigenous standards and AFC system under Make in India initiative.
• In order to ensure a seamless travel across metros and other transport systems in addition to retail shopping and purchases, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) came out with the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) Program. 

About National Common Mobility Card Programme

• A committee was formed with representatives from National Informatics Centre (NIC), Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Ministry of Finance with an objective to develop the vendor agnostic interoperable ecosystem for NCMC including indigenous AFC System and banking interface. 
•  NPCI was given the mandate to develop the specifications for card & terminal to support the NCMC ecosystem. Based on the best global practices and dynamics of Indian market, the committee recommended EMV based Open Loop Card with stored value as NCMC
• CDAC was entrusted the task of finalization of NCMC specification for AFC system including the interface with Bank server. CDAC worked in collaboration with NPCI to complete this activity. Thereafter, BEL was roped in for making Gates & Reader.
•  The Gate & Reader prototype has been made by BEL. This is the first gate and the reader which has been manufactured by an Indian company. This is also the first indigenous payment reader which has been certified as per International standards. India joins the very few elite nations who have indigenous capacity on gate and reader production.

Advantages

• NCMC Ecosystem offers the value proposition for customers as they need not to carry multiple cards for different usage. Further, the super quick contactless transactions will improve the seamless experience. For operators, NCMC ecosystem brings common standards for implementation without vendor lock-in.
•  This will also help in higher digital payments penetration, savings on closed loop card lifecycle management cost and reduced operating cost. The rich data insights may be used by operators for business intelligence leading to efficient operation. 
• With NCMC Ecosystem, Banks will get an access to segments which are highly driven by cash but stickiness in nature. NCMC Ecosystem will further help government in digitization of low value payments and reduced cost for the entire ecosystem. 

About SWEEKAR and SWAGAT

• India’s First Indigenously Developed Payment Eco-system for transport consisting of NCMC Card, SWEEKAR (Swachalit Kiraya: Automatic Fare Collection System) and SWAGAT (Swachalit Gate) is based on NCMC Standards.
• These are bank issued cards on Debit/Credit/Prepaid card product platform. The customer may use this single card for payments across all segments including metro, bus, suburban railways, toll, parking, smart city and retail. The stored value on card supports offline transaction across all travel needs with minimal financial risk to involved stakeholders. The service area feature of this card supports operator specific applications e.g. monthly passes, season tickets etc. 
• Ministry of Housing &  Urban Affairs brought to the fore the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) to enable seamless travel by different metros and other transport systems across the country besides retail shopping and purchases.