PIB Analysis : 25th, 26th, 27th & 28th October

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Vishwa Shanti Stupa
2. DEFCOM 2019
3. Indian Genome Mapping
4. RFID based Port Access Control System 
5. Postal ballot paper
6. Shakti 2019
7. Facts for Prelims : Rudrashila

1 . Vishwa Shanti Stupa

About Vishwa Shanti Stupa

• Vishwa Shanti Stupa is a major tourist attraction at Rajgir. Rajgir is a popular pilgrim destination for Buddhists.
• Nichidatsu Fujii (1885-1985), a Buddhist monk from Japan and also the founder of the Nipponzan-Myohoji Buddhist sect. Nichidatsu Fujii set an example for world peace through Peace Pagodas.
• In series of establishing peace pagodas world over he established one such peace pagoda at Rajgir which is called Vishwa Shanti Stupa.
• Vishwa Shanti Stupa is the tallest peace Pagoda in the world standing tall at 400 meters and houses four statues of Lord Buddha on the four side-corners of the stupa.
• The four statues on four corner-sides of stupa depict the four phases of life of Lord Buddha. These statues are made of gold. These statues depicting, birth, enlightenment, teaching and passing away of Lord Buddha are symbolical of Lord Buddha’s teachings and transient life.

Pagoda

• A pagoda is a type of stupa which provides equality for worship and gathering at one place for common cause.
• The Nipponzan-Myohoji sect has been successful in spreading the views of Lord Buddha for peace and harmony among people.
• These stupa or Japanese Pagoda are excellent example of oriental style of architecture. Though all of the pagodas are not built under the guidance of Nichidatsu Fujji, most of them have been built either under his guidance or under his recommendations.

Rajgir

• Rajgir was the capital of the Magadh Mahajanpad (State) when Patliputra was not formed. In those days it was called Rajgrih. Rajgir or Rajgrih means the home of Royalty.
• Buddha not only spent many years in Rajgir but also delivered sermons here and proselytized emperor Bimbisar at the Griddhakoota hill.
• The Jivekarmavan monastery was the favorite residence for Buddha. Even Bimbisar gave Venuvan Vihar to Buddha for his residence.
• It is said that it was at Rajgir that physician treated Buddha, Jivak after he was injured by his cousin Devdatta.
• The teachings of Buddha was penned down at Rajgir and it was also the venue for the first Buddhist Council.

2 . DEFCOM 2019

About DEFCOM

• DEFCOM seminar is jointly organised by the Corps of Signals and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
• It is a symposium for collaboration between the Indian armed forces, academia, research and development organisations, and the Industry on aspects pertaining to Information and Communications Technology.
• DEFCOM 2019 will seek to deliberate on the theme, “Communications as a Decisive Catalyst for Jointness”.’

3 . IndiGen Initiative

Context : The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has conducted Whole Genome Sequencing of 1,008 Indians from different populations across the country

About IndiGen Genome Project

• IndiGen programme aims to undertake whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India.
• The objective is to enable genetic epidemiology and develop public health technologies applications using population genome data.
• The IndiGen initiative was undertaken by CSIR in 2019, which was implemented by the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.
• The programme is a culmination of a six-month project by the CSIR in which 1000 Indians, had their genomes scanned in detail. They were chosen from across the land to represent the width of genetic variability.
• IndiGen is funded by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) India through grant MLP1809

Aim

• To test if it’s possible to rapidly and reliably scan several genomes and advise people on health risks that are manifest in their gene
• Understand the variation and frequency of certain genes that are known to be linked to disease.

Benefits

• The outcomes of IndiGen will have applications in a number of areas including faster and efficient diagnosis of rare genetic diseases,
• The ability to decode the genetic blueprint of humans through whole genome sequencing will be a major driver for biomedical science.
• the whole genome data will be important for building the know how, baseline data and indigenous capacity in the emerging area of Precision Medicine.  
• The outcomes of the IndiGen will have applications in a number of areas including predictive and preventive medicine with faster and efficient diagnosis of rare genetic diseases, he added.

4 .  RFID based Port Access Control System 

Context : The Minister inaugurated Ease of Doing Business-Implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based Port Access Control System (PACS) at Kolkata Dock System (KDS).

About the System

• RFID based Port Access Control System (PACS) will provide single window system to the Port users for obtaining permit/ pass through 100% cashless transaction.
• The operational efficiency of KDS will also be increased due to system driven gate operation.

Benefits

• Enhance operational efficiency through reduced labour intensive workflow processes
• To have systematic and secured entry, movement & exit of men and vehicles
• Augment and strengthen the security at all the gates and within port premises
• To automate and speed up movement and activity within ports
• To generate visibility of activities within and around gates/port area
• To control the access/movement to authorized time & zones
• To track every movement of vehicle across the port
• To trace each movement and alert on anonymous pattern of activity
• To record all movements of individuals & vehicles to create verifiable historical audit trail
• To prevent revenue leakage and any malpractices at the gates
• To comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security ( ISPS) code

5 . Postal ballot paper

Context : Election Commission of India has started working on detailed guidelines and SoPs to facilitate the process of postal ballot paper for Absentee voters of essential services, Senior citizens of more than 80 years and marked PwD electors.

Background

• After studying the needs of those citizens, who are unable to come to the polling stations due to the degree of their disability as well as those who are left out their due to engagements in various capacities in the discharge of essential services e.g., railways, state transports and aviation etc.,  the Commission made the recommendation to Ministry of Law and Justice and on 22 October 2019, the Central Government amended the Rules accordingly.

Salient features of these amendments

• A concept of ‘absentee voter’ has been introduced and defined for the elections;
• ‘Absentee voter’ means a person belonging to such class of persons as may be notified, under clause (c) of section 60 of the Act, and who is employed in essential services as mentioned in the said notification, and includes an elector belonging to the class of senior citizen or persons with disability [rule 27 A (aa)];
• ‘Person with disability’ means a person flagged as person with disability in the data base for the electoral roll;
• ‘Senior citizen’ for the purpose of this Part means an elector belonging to the class of absentee voters and is above 80 years of age;
• In case of an absentee voter, the application shall be made in Form 12D, and shall contain such particulars as specified therein, and shall be duly verified by the Nodal Officer for the absentee voter, other than senior citizen or persons with disability, which shall reach the Returning Officer within five days following the date of notification of election;
• in the case of absentee voter, postal ballot paper shall be returned to the centre provided for recording of vote under sub-rule(3) of rule 27F, subject to any direction that may be issued by the Election Commission in this behalf.

Implications

• These two categories of voters- senior citizen of more than 80 years of age and PwD electors marked in the electoral roll –will have now choice of voting either as absentee voter or as a regular voter on the poll day.
• If any of the electors belonging to these categories intends to vote early, then as per the amended Rule 27 C of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, he/she shall make an application in a new Form 12 D, which shall reach the Returning Officer within 5 days following the date of notification of election.
• After the receipt of such application, the elector will be issued a postal ballot paper, which shall be deposited in the specified centre after recording of vote.

Learning Zone

Postal voting is a type of voting in elections whereby Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot Papers (ETPB) are distributed to electors and returned by post

 Service voters belonging to Armed Forces or forces to which provisions of Army Act, 1950 are applicable, have the option of either voting through postal ballot or through a proxy voter

While prisoners are not allowed to vote, people under preventive detention can cast their votes through postal ballots as well
 

6 . Shakti-2019

About Shakti 2019

• Series of  ‘Exercise SHAKTI’ between India and France commenced in year 2011.
• Its a biennial exercise and  is conducted alternately in India and France
• The joint exercise will focus on Counter Terrorism operations in backdrop of semi-desert terrain under United Nations Mandate.
• The training will focus primarily on high degree of physical fitness, sharing of drill at tactical level and learning of best practices from each other.
• The exercise aims at enhancing understanding, cooperation and interoperability between the two Armies. The exercise will culminate in a 36 hrs long validation exercise which will involve neutralization of terrorists in a village hideout.

7 . Facts for Prelims

Rudrashila

• Rudrashila is a white water rafting expedition cundertaken by Kalidhar Battalion
• Whitewater rafting is an outdoor recreational activity which employs an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water.
• Whitewater Rafting received its name because the raft is the inflatable boat that you ride to paddle through the rough waters and rapids. ‘White‘ water comes because the frothing rapids of a guzzling river make the water appear white.