PIB Analysis : 25th March

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Chinook Helicopters
2. Young Scientist Programme
3. IMPRESS, IMPRINT, SPARC
4. HADR

1 . Chinook Helicopters

Context : IAF formally inducted the CH 47 F(I)- Chinook heavy lift helicopters

About Chinook Helicopters

• IAF had signed a contract with M/s Boeing Ltd in September 2015 for 15 Chinook helicopters.
• The first batch of four helicopters has been delivered on schedule and the last batch is to be delivered by March next year
• These helicopters will be deployed in the Northern and Eastern regions of India.

Importance

• The addition of heavy-lift CH 47 F(I) helicopter is a significant step towards modernisation of Indian Air Force’s helicopter fleet.
• The helicopter has been customized to suit IAF’s future requirements and capability roadmap.
• The helicopter has a fully integrated digital cockpit management system, advanced cargo handling capabilities and electronic warfare suite that complement the aircraft’s performance.
• The helicopter is capable of airlifting diverse military and non military loads into remote locations.
• This modern, multi-mission-capable, heavy-lift transport helicopter will enhance our heli-lift capability across all types of terrain to the full effect
• These helicopters will be deployed in northern and eastern regions, the IAF said. Besides Chandigarh, another unit will be created at Dinjan in Assam.

2 . Young Scientist Programme

About Young Scientist Programme

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched a special programme for School Children called “Young Scientist Programme” “YUva VIgyani KAryakram” (युिवका) from this year.
• 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 covering state, CBSE, and ICSE syllabus.
• Those who have just finished 9th standard (in the academic year 2018-19) and waiting to join 10th standard (or those who have started 10th Std just now) will be eligible for the programme.
• The selection will be based on the 8th Std marks. A few seats are left for the programme from various states.
• The selection is based on the academic performance and extracurricular activities. Students belonging to the rural area have been given special weightage in the selection criteria.

3 . IMPRESS, IMPRINT, SPARC

IMPRESS

• The scheme, named Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS), is expected to fund 1500 projects. Rs. 414 crore have been allotted to the scheme, that is 20-25 lakh rupees would be allotted per project. The scheme would run for four cycles. 
• The projects funded through IMPRESS should focus on all relevant Social Sciences area such as  state and democracy, urban transformation, media culture and society, employment skills and rural transformation, governance innovation and public policy, innovation and , agriculture and rural development, social media and society, politics law and economics.

IMPRINT

• IMPRINT is the first of its kind MHRD supported Pan-IIT + IISc joint initiative to address the major science and engineering challenges that India must address and champion to enable, empower and embolden the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance. This novel initiative with twofold mandate is aimed at:

1. Developing new engineering education policy
2. Creating a road map to pursue engineering challenges

• IMPRINT provides the overarching vision that guides research into areas that are predominantly socially relevant.

SPARC

• Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) is a scheme which will encourage research collaborations between Indian universities and some of the leading universities of the world. The SPARC scheme is furthering the already launched GYAN scheme. 
• The quality benchmark for SPARC is that only such Indian institutes can apply which are in top 100 NIRF ranking or top 100 NIRF subject ranking. For foreign universities the benchmark is either top 500 of QS ranking or top 200 of QS subject ranking. 

4 . HADR

• HADR is the name of rescue and relief operation undertaken by Indian Navy in Mozambique