PIB Analysis : 1st, 2nd and 3rd November

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. India – Germany Relations
2. UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) 
3. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)
4. Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems
5. UAN REGISTRATION, E-INSPECTION AND DIGI LOCKER
6. SCOJTEX – 2019 
7. Facts for Prelims : MANAGE, CPGRAMS, CENTER 2019, India International Science Festival (IISF) 

1 . India – Germany Relations

Political Relations

• After the Second World War, India was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany.
• There have been regular high-level visits from both sides, including at the highest level. Chancellor Merkel visited India in 2007, 2011 2015 and 2019
• Today, India regards Germany as an important partner in its quest for a new political role in the region and the world for its ambitious economic reform programmes and for the development of the country’s industrial sector. Relations here are based on the May 2000 Agenda for the Indo-German Partnership in the 21st Century, which has since been updated by further joint declarations.
• Of particular importance are the Indo-German intergovernmental consultations, where the two countries’ Cabinets have held joint sessions every two years since 2011, alternately in Germany and India (most recently in May 2017 in Berlin).
• Cooperation takes place in areas such as energy, business, vocational training, culture and science, security and agriculture.
• Germany and India share a common interest in maintaining the rules-based international order, particularly in the maritime domain. The joint fight against global terrorism is becoming more and more important. Cyber security is an area in which Germany and India frequently hold similar views.
• Tried and tested forms of cooperation have developed in the United Nations and other multilateral forums, such as working with Japan and Brazil in the Group of Four (G4) to reform the United Nations and the Security Council

Defence Cooperation

• India-Germany Defence Cooperation Agreement (2006) provides a framework for bilateral defence cooperation.
• The defence dialogue mechanisms include High Defence Committee meetings at the level of Defence Secretaries. Both sides have had detailed discussion on defence cooperation during the visit of German Defence Minister to India in May 2015.
• Delegations of the National Defence College (NDC) and College of Defence Management (CDM) have visited Germany in 2016 and 2017.

Sister City Arrangements

• Some of the States and Cities of both countries have entered into twinning arrangements. Karnataka and Bavaria (Germany) have Sister States arrangement since 2007.
• Similarly, Mumbai and Stuttgart (Germany) are sister cities since 1968.
• In January 2015, Maharashtra and Baden-Wurttemberg (Germany) signed an MoU to establish a Sister State relationship.

Economic relations

• Germany is India’s largest trading partner in Europe. India was ranked 24th in Germany’s global trade during 2016. Bilateral trade in 2016 was valued at €17.42 billion.
• Apart from traditional sectors, knowledge-driven sectors hold good potential for collaboration.
• Germany is the 7th largest foreign direct investor in India since January 2000.
• There are more than 1600 Indo-German collaborations and over 600 Indo-German Joint Ventures in operation. A Fast-Track System for German companies has been set up in DIPP, as agreed between the two sides at the 3rd IGC.
• The Make in India Mittelstand (MIIM) Programme was launched by the Embassy of India, Berlin in September 2015. It aims at facilitating the entry of German Mittelstand (MSMEs) into India.

Science & Technology

• Indo-German Science & Technology cooperation started with the signing of the Intergovernmental S&T Cooperation Agreement in 1971 and 1974.
• Today, Germany is one of the most important global partners for S&T cooperation. Presently, there are more than 150 joint S&T research projects and 70 direct partnerships between the Universities of both countries.

Development Cooperation

• Germany has been an important development cooperation partner for several decades. Total bilateral Technical and Financial Cooperation since it began in 1958, amounts to €15.93 billion.
• Energy, sustainable economic development and environment & management of natural resources are priority areas under development cooperation.

Culture

• India and Germany have a long tradition of academic and cultural exchange. Max Mueller was the first scholar of Indo-European languages who translated and published Upanishads and Rigveda.
• There has been growing interest in Germany in Indian dance, music and literature as well as motion picture and TV industry, in particular Bollywood.

Indian Diaspora

• There are about 1,69,000 people of Indian origin (2017 figures) in Germany including both German and Indian Passport holders.
• About 15,000 Indian students are pursuing various courses in Germany. Around 800 German students are studying or doing internships in India. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) facilitates joint research, training and exchange of young scientists/research scholars.

Recent Visit

• At the invitation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, German Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel visited India from 31 October – 1 November 2019 for the fifth round of Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC). Main decisions taken in the meeting is as follows
  • Strengthening Cooperation in the Field of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation
  • Expanding frontiers of Trade and Investment through Innovation and Knowledge
  • Taking Action for Climate and Sustainable Development
  • Bringing People Together
  • Sharing Global responsibility

2 . UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) 

Context : UNESCO has designated Mumbai as a member of UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the field of FILM and Hyderabad in the field of GASTRONOMY.

About UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) 

• The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. 
• The 180 cities which currently make up this network work together towards a common objective: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.
• By joining the Network, cities commit to sharing their best practices and developing partnerships involving the public and private sectors as well as civil society in order to: 
  • strengthen the creation, production, distribution and dissemination of cultural activities, goods and services;
  • develop hubs of creativity and innovation and broaden opportunities for creators and professionals in the cultural sector;
  • improve access to and participation in cultural life, in particular for marginalized or vulnerable groups and individuals;
  • fully integrate culture and creativity into sustainable development plans.
• The Network covers seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Arts, Media Arts, Film, Design, Gastronomy, Literature and Music.
•  The Creative Cities Network is a privileged partner of UNESCO, not only as a platform for reflection on the role of creativity as a lever for sustainable development but also as a breeding ground of action and innovation, notably for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

About the News

• UNESCO has designated Mumbai as a member of UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the field of FILM and Hyderabad in the field of GASTRONOMY
•  Previously, 3 Indian cities were recognized as members of UCCN, namely-
  • Jaipur-Crafts and Folk Arts(2015)
  • Varanasi-Creative city of Music (2015)
  • Chennai-Creative city of Music(2017)
• Ministry of Culture is the nodal Ministry of Government of India for all matters in UNESCO relating to culture.

3 . Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)

Context : Giving a fillip to electric-mobility in India, the Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and Information & Broadcasting, Shri Prakash Javadekar today flagged off e-vehicles, procured by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at an event in New Delhi. The Electric-vehicles are supplied by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)

About EESL

• EESL is promoted by the Ministry of Power Government of India as a Joint Venture of four reputed public-sector undertakings – NTPC Limited, Power Finance Corporation Limited., REC Limited, and POWERGRID Corporation of India Limited
• Objectives
  • To carry out and promote the business of Energy Efficiency and climate change including manufacture and supply of energy efficiency services and products.
  • To Provide consultancy services in the field of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects, carbon markets, demand side management, energy efficiency, climate change and related areas.
  • To act as resource center in the field of Energy Efficiency and take up the activities of Capacity Building, Training and other related activities.
  • To carry out such other activities as offered by the Central Govt., Bureau of Energy Efficiency or any other agency related to Energy Efficiency and Climate Change.

Recent Initiatives

• EESL has aggregated demand by procuring electric vehicles in bulk to get economies of scale. These electric vehicles are being provided to Government entities by EESL on lease/outright purchase basis to replace the existing petrol and diesel vehicles taken on lease by various Government organizations.
• The cars on lease are intended to replace the present leased vehicles in various organizations and EESL will take 90% of the present lease rent that the organizations are paying to their vendors to provide e-vehicles, thereby saving the costs as well. The lease rental will be between 5-6 years during which the vehicles will be maintained by EESL.
• EESL has completed procurement of 10,000 e-cars. These e-cars are being provided to Government entities on lease/outright purchase basis. Till date, 1,510 e-cars have been deployed/under registration. For charging e-cars, 300 AC & 170 DC chargers have also been commissioned. EESL has signed MoU with various PSUs, Government departments, Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana.

National E-Mobility Programme

• The objectives of the programme is to provide an impetus for Indian vehicle manufacturers, charging infrastructure companies, fleet operators, service providers, etc. to gain efficiencies of scale and drive down costs, create local manufacturing facilities, grow technical competencies for the long-term growth of the electric vehicle (EV) industry in India and to enable Indian EV manufacturers to emerge as major global players.
• Create a sustainable demand for e-vehicles to ensure manufacturing in India thereby promoting Make-In-India
• Promote Lithium-Ion Battery manufacturing in India to enable lower cost of ownership and operations of e-vehicles as batteries account for 50-60% of cost of e-vehicles
• Reduce dependence on oil imports and promote power capacity addition in India thereby enhancing energy security of the country
• Reduce GHG emissions from the transport sector.

4 . Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems

Background

• Cyber-Physical System and its associated technologies, like Artificial Intelligence (Al), Internet of Things (loT), Machine Learning (ML),  Deep Learning (DP),  Big Data Analytics,  Robotics,Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication, Quantum encryption (Quantum Key Distribution), Data Science & Predictive analytics, Cyber Security for physical infrastructure and other infrastructure, have pervaded and is playing a transformative role in almost every field of human endeavour all most in all sectors.
• It has become imperative for government and industries to be prepared to adopt these emerging and disruptive technologies in order to remain competitive, drive societal progress, generate employment, foster economic growth and to improve the overall quality of life and sustainability of the environment.

Details

• The Mission addresses the ever increasing technological requirements of the society, and takes into account the international trends and road maps of leading countries for the next generation technologies. The mission implementation would develop and bring:

1. Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and associated technologies within reach in the country,
2. adoption of CPS technologies to address India specific National / Regional issues,
3. produce Next Generation skilled manpower in CPS,
4. catalyze Translational Research,
5. accelerate entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem development in CPS,
6. give impetus to advanced research in CPS, Technology development and higher education in Science, Technology and Engineering disciplines, and
7. place India at par with other advanced countries and derive several direct and indirect benefits.

Impact

• CPS technologies provide a cutting edge to a Nation’s scientific, engineering, and technological innovative capabilities; support other missions of the government, provide industrial and economic competitiveness and have truly became a Strategic Resource. Volume, scale and complexity of emerging applications demand continued evolution of new technologies for the foreseeable future.
• The proposed Mission would act as an engine of growth that would benefit national initiatives in health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, strategic cum security, and industrial sectors, Industry 4.0, SMART Cities, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) etc.
• CPS is an integrated system of upcoming technology, which in turn is being taken up on priority basis by countries in the race for development. CPS will indeed bring a paradigm shift in entire skill sets requirement.
• The job opportunities will be enhanced through the Mission by imparting advanced skills and generating skilled manpower as per the requirement of the industry/ society. As Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Start-up Ecosystem is an integral part of the proposed NM-ICPS, the start-ups will also create a number of technology driven job opportunities in CPS and allied areas. Accordingly, it is estimated that, about 40,000 jobs will be created in the short term and about 2,00,000 in long term.

Benefits

• The Mission will feed the Central Ministries/ Departments and State Govts and also the Industry to effectively use the CPS technologies in their projects and schemes for the benefit of the society.

5 . UAN REGISTRATION, E-INSPECTION AND DIGI LOCKER

Context : Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment launched 3 Apps: UAN REGISTRATION, E-INSPECTION AND DIGI LOCKER, developed by Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) at its 67^th Foundation Day

Details of the Apps

• Online Facility for UAN generation by worker: Now any workers can obtain Universal Account Number (UAN) directly on EPFO website which enrolls them for PF, Pension and Life Insurance benefits and a worker need not depend on his employer alone for UAN. This is in the direction of ease of living and ensuring universal social security.
• EPS Pensioner’s PPO in DigiLocker website/Application (APP) EPFO integrates with DigiLocker of NeGD to create depository of electronic PPOs which is accessible to individual pensioners. This is a move towards paperless system and ease of living for pensioners.
• e-Inspections: Digital interface of EPFO with employers: The E-Inspection Form would be available in user login of employers not filing ECR which enables employer to inform either closure of business or unpaid dues with proposal for payment. It will nudge employers for compliant behavior and prevent undue harassment of non-willful defaulters and eliminate inspector raj.

6 . SCOJTEX – 2019 

Context : Union Minister of Home Affairs Shri Amit Shah will inaugurate the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Joint Exercise on Urban Earthquake Search & Rescue (SCOJtEx-2019) 

About SCOJTEX

• On the initiative of Government of India, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is hosting “Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Joint Urban Earthquake Search & Rescue Exercise (SCOJtEx.)-2019” of all 08 SCO member countries, with the aim to rehearse the disaster response mechanism, share knowledge, experience, technology & also for  mutual coordination, etc. 
• This exercise shall also provide an opportunity to enhance the coordination & co-operation involving multi-agency operations in an earthquake scenario.
• The participants of all 08 member countries namely China, India, Kazakhastan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan shall be participating in this exercise.
• The main focus of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Joint Exercise on Urban Earthquake Search & Rescue (SCOJtEx-2019) shall be to test the region’s preparedness and resilience towards effective activation of Inter- governmental interaction for immediate response.
• Besides above, representatives from International Search & Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), Asian Coordination Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA), Brazil, Mongolia, South Africa have been invited as observers. Representatives from the embassies of all SCO member nations, heads of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and representatives of other stakeholders shall also be participating in this exercise.

7 . Facts for Prelims

MANAGE

• MANAGE was established in 1987, as the National Centre for Management of Agricultural Extension at Hyderabad, by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India as an autonomous Institute, from which its acronym ‘MANAGE’ is derived.
• In recognition of its importance and expansion of activities all over the country, its status was elevated to that of a National Institute in 1992 and re-christened to its present name i.e., National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management.
• MANAGE is the Indian response to challenges of agricultural extension in a rapidly growing and diverse agriculture sector.
• The policies of liberalization and globalization of the economy and the level of agricultural technology becoming more sophisticated and complex, called for major initiatives towards reorientation and modernization of the agricultural extension system.
• Effective ways of managing the extension system needed to be evolved and extension organizations enabled to transform the existing set up through professional guidance and training of critical manpower. MANAGE is the response to this imperative need.
  

Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) of DARPG

• The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG), is the nodal agency of the Government of India in-charge of policy making, monitoring and coordinating departments for public grievances.
• The Allocation of Business Rules, 1961 delineated the mandate for the same. These rules have allocated work relating to (i) redress of public grievances (in general) and (ii) grievances pertaining to Central Government agencies, to the DAR&PG.
• Centralized Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) is an online web-enabled system over NICNET developed by NIC, in association with Directorate of Public Grievances (DPG) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). CPGRAMS is the platform based on web technology which primarily aims to enable submission of grievances by the aggrieved citizens from anywhere and anytime (24×7) basis to Ministries/Departments/Organizations/State Governments who scrutinize and take action for speedy and favorable redress of these grievances.
• Tracking grievances is also facilitated on this portal through the system generated unique registration number.

India International Science Festival

• IISF, organized jointly by Science & Technology -related Ministries and Departments of the Government of India and Vijnana Bharati (Vibha), is an annual festival to celebrate the achievements of India’s scientific and technological advancements with students, innovators, craftsmen, farmers, scientists and technocrats from India and abroad.

CENTER 2019

• CENTER 2019 is the SCO joint military exercise,
• Russia conducted ‘CENTER 2019’ in Orenburg aimed at evolving drills of the participating armies in the fight against international terrorism.