PIB Analysis : 17th October

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Ex Eastern Bridge-V
2. Innovation Index
3. Skandagupta
4. Facts for Prelims : National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS)

1 . Ex Eastern Bridge – V

About EX Eastern Bridge – V

• Indian Air Force is participating in a Bilateral Joint exercise with Royal Air Force Oman (RAFO), named EX EASTERN BRIDGE-V,
• For the first time, MiG-29 fighter aircraft will be participating in an International Exercise outside India. IAF contingent comprises of MiG-29 and C-17 aircraft. MiG-29 will be exercising with Royal Air Force Oman’s Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16 and Hawk.
• The exercise will enhance inter-operability during mutual operations between the two Air Forces and will provide an opportunity to learn from each other’s best practices.
• The participation of Indian Air Force in the exercise will also promote professional interaction, exchange of experience and operational knowledge. Besides strengthening bilateral relations, it will also provide a good opportunity to the air-warriors to operate in an international environment.

2 . Innovation Index

Context : NITI Aayog launches India Innovation Index 2019

About Innovation Index

• Recognizing the role of innovation as a key driver of growth and prosperity for India, NITI Aayog with Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner has released the India Innovation Index 2019.
• The study is an outcome of extensive research and analysis, which looks holistically at the innovation landscape of India by examining the innovation capabilities and performance of Indian states and union territories.
• The aim is to create a holistic tool which can be used by policymakers across the country to identify the challenges to be addressed and strengths to build on when designing the economic growth policies for their regions.
• The index attempts to create an extensive framework for the continual evaluation of the innovation environment of 29 states and seven union territories in India and intends to perform the following three functions- 1) ranking of states and UTs based on their index scores, 2) recognizing opportunities and challenges, and 3) assisting in tailoring governmental policies to foster innovation.

About India Innovation Index 2019

• The India Innovation Index 2019 is calculated as the average of the scores of its two dimensions – Enablers and Performance.
• The Enablers are the factors that underpin innovative capacities, grouped in five pillars: (1) Human Capital, (2) Investment, (3) Knowledge Workers, (4) Business Environment, and (5) Safety and Legal Environment.
• The Performance dimension captures benefits that a nation derives from the inputs, divided in two pillars: (6) Knowledge Output and (7) Knowledge Diffusion.

Results

• Karnataka is the most innovative major state in India. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh form the remaining top ten major states respectively.
• The top ten major states are majorly concentrated in southern and western India. Sikkim and Delhi take the top spots among the north- eastern & hill states, and union territories/city states/small states respectively. 
• Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh are the most efficient states in translating inputs into output.
• The index shows that the innovation ecosystem of the country is strong in south and western parts of India. In fact, three of the top five major states are from southern India. Delhi and Haryana seem to be an exception to this rule and seem to be doing well on the Index. Thus, there seems to be a west-south and north-east divide across the country.
• The states have been bifurcated into three categories: major states, north-east and hill states, and union territories / city states / small states. Karnataka is the leader in the overall rankings in the category of major states. Karnataka’s number one position in the overall ranking is partly attributed to its top rank in the Performance dimension. It is also among the top performers in Infrastructure, Knowledge Workers, Knowledge Output and Business Environment.
• Among the category of major states, Maharashtra performs the best in the dimension of Enablers. This implies that it has the best enabling environment for innovation, even though the state comes in at the third position in the overall innovation index.

3 . Skanda Gupta

About Skandagupta

• Skandagupta was a Gupta Emperor of northern India. Skandagupta succeeded his father Kumaragupta I as the ruler of Gupta empire. He ruled from 455 A.D. to 467 A.D. His rule was marked by wars against the Pushyamitras and the Hunas.
• His Bhitari pillar inscription suggests that he restored the Gupta power by defeating his enemies, who may have been rebels or foreign invaders.
• He repulsed an invasion by the Indo-Hephthalites (known as Hunas in India), probably the Kidarites.
• Hunas war and possibly other wars must have proved a great strain on the financial resources of the empire. This is reflected in the coins of Skandagupta. The gold coins issued by the Skandagupta were comparatively small in number and of only single type. They also show depreciations in the purity of gold.
• He is generally considered the last of the great Gupta Emperors. The Gupta genealogy after him is unclear, but he was most probably succeeded by Purugupta, who appears to have been his half-brother.

4 . Facts for Prelims

About National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS)

• National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS), a web-based application, scalable architecture and latest NIST compliant software with standard data format.
• The proposed NAFIS solution is envisaged to consolidate all Fingerprint data available with States/UTs over 5 million for creation of a national level searchable fingerprint database.