PIB Analysis : 20th & 21st February

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PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

  1. Agricultural Science Congress 
  2. VIVID 2019
  3. Operation Digital Board
  4. Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG)
  5. Waste to Wonder Park

1 . Agriculture Science Congress

About Agriculture Science Congress

  • The National Academy of Agricultural Science in collaboration with the ICAR and Indian Agricultural Research Institute will be organizing XIV Agricultural Science Congress at New Delhi from February 20-23, 2019 on the theme “Innovations for Agricultural Transformation”.
  • The four-day event will include technical sessions, plenary sessions, public lectures, farmers sessions, poster presentations, inter-university student elocution contest, panel discussions and number of satellite meetings. Moreover, ASC-AgriTech-2019 exhibition will be a major event in this Congress.
  • The theme of the Congress, “Innovations for Agricultural Transformation”, is central to the national complementary pledges of building a New India and Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022.
  • The Congress will provide an intellectually rich multi-stakeholder platform for discussing and critically analyzing veritable disruptive innovations for transforming agriculture and food systems to reshape India.
  • The Congress will showcase agriculture not only as the main source of employment and livelihood security for nearly 50 percent of India’s population, bulging to be the largest in the world by 2025, but also as a business opportunity, service provider, industry, and ecosystem protector. 

2 . VIVID 2019

Context : “VIVID-Vision Insight and Voices as India goes Digital”- the District Informatics Officer (DIO) meet, is being organised by National Informatics Centre (NIC) on 21st and 22nd February, 2019. The meet is held as an initiative to interact with the DIO’s and to share their experiences as well as contribution, as digital change-makers at the grass-root level in the States. 

About VIVID 2019

  • VIVID started in 2017, as an annual event, with the objective to empower NIC officials in the field of technology. Continuing its tradition from previous years, VIVID 2019 will be a landmark event for NIC. VIVID this year would once again provide a cohesive and extensive platform for interaction and knowledge sharing,
  • The National meet will cover a wide range of relevant topics in various technical sessions sessions including Emerging Technologies (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Big Data Analytics), Cyber Threats & Counter Measures (Changing Digitisation Paradigm & its impact on Security), Enterprise Level Applications, and many other relevant topics.

3 . Operation Digital Board

Context : In a bid to go digital in classrooms, the Human Resources Development Ministry on Wednesday launched ‘Operation Digital Board’. The programme will be implemented in schools from this academic year.

Background

  • Operation Blackboard is a centrally sponsored programme which was started in 1987 immediately after the Rajiv Gandhi NPE of 1986 was released to supply the bare minimum crucial facilities to all primary schools in the country.
  • The objective of the scheme is providing students studying in primary settings with the necessary institutional equipment and instructional material to facilitate their education.
  • There is a provision to provide salary for an additional teacher to those primary schools that have an enrolment of more 100 students or for a consecutive period of two years. In the ninth five year plan the scheme was extended to all upper primary schools as well.

Operation Digital Blackboard

  • ‘Operation Digital Board’, the aim of which is to have digital and interactive boards in every classroom
  • Digital boards will be available for students from class 9 to 12 in schools, in addition, to classes in higher education institutions.
  • In total, there are around nine lakh classrooms, including seven lakh classrooms in schools and two lakh in universities and colleges. “All these classes will have digital boards by 2022. The board will have all the relevant material, tutorials, and with this we would enter the age of film class model

4 . Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG)

Context : Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has unveiled its new product, the Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG), an innovative solution to meet the ever-increasing need for drinking water worldwide, today at Aero India 2019.

About Atmospheric Water Generator

  • BEL’s Atmospheric Water Generator can be used to generate water straight from the humidity present in the atmosphere.
  • BEL’s Atmospheric Water Generator employs a novel technology to extract water from the humidity present in the atmosphere and purify it.
  • It uses heat exchange for condensing the atmospheric moisture to produce pure, safe and clean potable water.
  • The AWG comes with a Mineralisation Unit, which is used to add minerals which are required to make the water potable. The AWG is configurable in static and mobile (vehicular) versions and is available in 30 litres/day, 100 litres/day, 500 litres/day and 1,000 litres/day capacities.
  • The Atmospheric Water Generator can be used to provide drinking water in community centres and public places like health care centres, schools, colleges, offices, railway stations, bus stands, airports, sea ports, off-shore oil rigs, military establishments, remote field areas and remote establishments and residential complexes.
  • The Atmospheric Water Generator is being manufactured by BEL in collaboration with CSIR-IICT and MAITHRI, a start-up company based in Hyderabad.

5 . Waste to Wonder Park

Context : A theme park featuring a 60-ft Eiffel Tower, a 20-ft Taj Mahal and replicas of five other wonders of the world built using 150 tonnes of industrial and other waste in south Delhi, was thrown open to the public on Friday. 

Features of the Waste to Wonder Park

  • Seven wonders of the world: The park has replicas of the seven wonders, namely, Taj Mahal, Great Pyramid of Giza, Eiffel Tower of Paris, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Christ the Redeemer Statue of Rio De Janeiro, Rome’s Colosseum and the Statue of Liberty of the United States of America.
  • Composition of sculptures: Around 150 tons of scrap, including 90 tons of industrial waste and waste automobile parts has been collected by SDMC and been put together for making these sculptures of the seven wonders of the world.
  • Appearance of the replicas: The replicas of these seven wonders made out of waste have been given a bright and finished look with old sodium lights installed within them, to highlight their features. This has created a breathtaking sight during evening and night hours, marking it as a captivating tourist spot.
  • People behind the construction: As many as five artists, seven supporting artists and 70 welders and helpers were involved in the completing all the stages of this project to make it a reality. It was conceived as an idea from a similar park in the city of Kota, Rajasthan, according to Dr Puneet Kumar Goel, Commissioner, SDMC who was quoted in a PTI report.
  • Green energy utilized by SDMC: SDMC has installed three windmills in the park of one kilo-watt (KW) each, three solar trees of five KW each and rooftop solar panels of ten KW. The entire park has been lit up solely through renewable energy.

6 . AERO INDIA 2019

About AERO India 2019

  • Aero India Exhibition which is organised every two years has already carved a niche for itself globally as a premier aerospace exhibition, with eleven successful editions organised since 1996.
  • More then 60,000 business visitors and 1,00,000 general visitors attended Aero India 2017. Air Show of latest aircrafts of different countries are arranged at the venue during each day of the show for the benefit of visitors.
  • Aero India 2019 will provide a significant platform in bolstering business opportunities in International aviation sector. A rapidly growing economy and opening up of defence production to private sector, have given a major fillip to the defence industry in India. It has also become a hub for defence businesses in Asia. 
  • The logo for Aero India 2019 is inspired by the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). 
  • The tagline for Aero India 2019, “The Runway to a Billion Opportunities” was created to communicate India’s value proposition in addressing the immense opportunities in the Aerospace and Aviation sectors in India today. 

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