PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Smart India Hackathon – 2020
- MyGov Platforms
- ATL Tinkering Marathon 2019
- ShadeSmart
- Fluorosis
- Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development programme under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
- UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition
- India Water Resources Information System
1 . Smart India Hackathon – 2020
Context : The Grand Finale of fourth edition (Software) of Smart India Hackathon – 2020 concluded on August 4, 2020.
About Smart India Hackathon
- Smart India Hackathon is a nationwide initiative to provide students with a platform to solve some of the pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving.
- The first three editions SIH2017, SIH2018 and SIH2019 proved to be extremely successful in promoting innovation out-of-the-box thinking in young minds, especially engineering students from across India.
About SIH 2020
- 70 organizations participated in the Hackathon this year as Problem Statement creators.
- Central ministries/ Departments such as Indian Space Research organisation, Bureau of Police Research & Development, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Women and Child Development etc., along with State Ministries/Departments, such as Government of Sikkim, Government of Goa, Government of Bihar etc., and other private industries, such as the Amazon Web services, Yamaha motor Services etc. were partners in the SIH 2020.
- Total of 243 problem statements, based on 11 themes were worked upon during this edition of SIH.
- Some of the problem statements seen this time included Tracking & Tracing of Fake News, UAVs for Disaster Identification and alerting System,Network connectivity in remote areas, Designing innovative methods to prevent blackmailing and frauds against women specific cases and many others.
- Several Problem statements were also associated with “ Atma-Nirbhar Bharat”, including “E –Marketplace wherein tribals can promote, market and sell tribal produce such as handicrafts, arts, paintings, minor forest products etc. on line with provision of delivery and e-payment and promotional discounts” given by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
- ISRO being the largest contributor in SIH 2020 Problem statements was so amazed by the work done by student teams that Associate Director, Space Application Centre – ISRO announced an additional surprise prize of Rs 25000 to the three teams.
- ISRO Nodal Officer, Shri Nilesh Desai expressed his happiness at the efforts, perseverance and quality of the work carried out by the participating teams covering a vide variety of themes likes remote sensing data processing using AI/ML technique, geomatics, smart communication and navigation.
Themes
- Smart Communication
- Healthcare & Biomedical Devices
- Agriculture & Rural Development
- Smart Vehicles
- Food Processing
- Robotics & Drones
- Waste Management
- Clean Water
- Renewable Energy
- Security & Surveillance
- Miscellaneous
2 . My Gov Platforms
Context : Dr. Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister of Goa,launched the MyGov Goa portal, on 4th August 2020 in an online event making Goa join the MyGov Citizen Engagement Platform for enabling participative governance.
About MyGov Citizen Engagement Platform
- MyGov (mygov.in), the Government of India’s citizen engagement and crowdsourcing platform, aims to promote active citizen participation in governance and policymaking.
- Since its launch on 26th July 2014, MyGov has adopted multiple engagement methodologies like discussions, tasks, innovation challenges, polls, surveys, blogs, talks, quizzes and on-ground activities by innovatively using internet, mobile apps, IVRS, SMS and outbound dialing (OBD) technologies.
- MyGov user base has expanded to more than 1.25 Crores and millions of citizens engage with MyGov on its social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn and Twitter.
- MyGov has also recently launched its channels on new age Apps like Sharechat and Roposo. MyGov’s Helpdesk on WhatsApp and Newsdesk on Telegram has greatly augmented Govts communications on COVID19.
- In order to engage with citizens at the State level, MyGov has enabled state instances to crowdsource ideas and creative content for state specific initiatives in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) mode.
- 12 states had already launched their MyGov platforms State Instance, namely, Maharashtra, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
3 . ATL Tinkering Marathon 2019
Context : Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog declared the results of its flagship national annual innovation Marathon challenge ATL Tinkering Marathon 2019 held over 5000+ Atal Tinkering Labs across the country and announced 150 winners of the Marathon.
About ATL Tinkering Marathon
- Atal Tinkering Lab Marathon is organised by the Atal Tinkering Labs of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and the NITI Aayog in an effort to identify India’s best student innovators.
- It is a six-month-long nationwide challenge across six different thematic areas, namely, clean energy, water resources, waste management, healthcare, smart mobility and agriculture-tech.
- This is open to all students under the age of 18 years.
- Students of top 30 innovations will be trained on business and entrepreneurship skills, including intellectual property, effective communication, making an elevator pitch, etc.
- These top 30 innovations have been identified from 20 different States/UTs from across India.
- The winners are being awarded with several prizes including a three month-long ATL Student Innovator Program (ATL SIP) in partnership with the industry and start-up incubators.
- The goal of the student innovator program is to test the innovations in the community.
- The ATL Student Innovator Program is an effort to institutionalize a mechanism, where high school students can work with university incubators to pursue their innovative and entrepreneurial ideas along with their education.
2019 Marathon
- This year, the challenge was executed by AIM in partnership with MyGOV on MyGov’s Innovate Platform.
- With the central theme as “Research, Ideate, Innovate, Implement – Mindful Innovation for the greater good”, this year’s marathon was uniquely designed by the students themselves.
- Phase-I of the challenge included crowdsourcing of the problems faced by students in the communities surrounding them. Phase-I saw about 4300+ entries.
- Phase-II included voting on the shortlisted problem statements. About 5000+ votes were garnered as the students chose the problems that resonated with them the most. The Marathon, this year had a strong focus on Research preceding the Innovations.
- Four different problem areas were shortlisted on the basis of Phase I and Phase II – Enabling a Sustainable Environment and Justice, Enabling Outcome Driven Quality Education, Enhancing Health and Hygiene, Ensuring Inclusivity and Equality.
- The students identified community problems of their choice in one or more of the above four problem areas and developed innovative solutions in the form of working prototypes or minimum viable product (MVP).
- The final phase of solution development received over 1191 entries from students across 29 States and UTs of the country. After a robust evaluation process, top 150 teams were selected. 42% of the winning teams are from rural areas and 57% are from government schools. About 45% of the winning team students are girl students.
- The winning teams have been offered several awards to help them take their innovative solutions to the next level, and present those at various national level platforms.
- The winning teams will be awarded a mix of opportunities to hone their prototypes in collaboration with AIM’s partners. These include a Student Innovator Program with Atal Incubation Centers, Student Internship Programs with IBM, Digital Internship Program with Adobe. Further, the top all-girl teams will get an exclusive chance to refine their ideas under the guidance of Dell Technologies.
4 . Shadesmart
Context : The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India has developed novel external shading solution for windows in residential and commercial buildings under the project Habitat Model for Efficiency and Comfort.
Background
- Indian building sector has realized the importance of energy efficiency but it is yet to be effectively integrated in the construction industry.
- Smart, dynamic shading devices to keep rooms cool in climate zones and latitudes of India and low energy technologies for air-conditioning can help progress towards energy efficiency in the country, a large part of which experiences high-temperature conditions.
About Shadesmart
- The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India has developed novel external shading solution for windows in residential and commercial buildings under the project Habitat Model for Efficiency and Comfort.
- The shading system named as “ShadeSmart” has been developed as an innovative and cost-effective solution for achieving indoor comfort with reduced electricity consumption in air conditioning and lighting.
- Shade Smart changes its configuration depending upon the Sun’s position. For example, when the Sun is in the East direction, East façade windows will be shaded, once the Sun is in South orientation during noon ShadeSmart configuration on East changes to provide unobstructed external views and glare-free daylight.
- In the international market, many movable shading devices are available, however, since ShadeSmart is locally produced in India, it becomes an economically viable energy-efficient solution which every building may integrate in order to achieve energy efficiency.
About Radiant Cooling Technology
- Radiant Cooling is achieved through radiant heat transfer, as against regular convective air conditioning is efficient and gives better quality of thermal comfort.
- At present, energy and comfort audits of existing radiant cooled buildings, energy simulations, and finally, construction of a Demonstration Habitat is being undertaken. Besides, the process to integrate radiant cooling in the National Building Code is being undertaken.
- Radiant cooled buildings have an extremely high potential of energy-saving (60-70%). Standard protocols for operation of radiant cooled buildings and adaptive thermal comfort standards for radiant cooled buildings in India will make it convenient for the masses to adopt radiant cooling technology.
- Due to the COVID 2019 Pandemic, conventional air cooling, which involves re-circulation on return air, is being perceived as harmful to the health of occupants. In this scenario, Radiant Cooling, which employs 100% fresh air supply, is expected to gain popularity and higher acceptance rates in the air-conditioning industry
5 . Fluorosis
About Fluorosis
- Fluorosis is a crippling disease resulting from deposition of fluorides in the hard and soft tissues of body due to excess intake of fluoride through drinking water/food products/industrial pollutants over a long period.
- It results in dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis, and non-skeletal fluorosis. Easy detection of fluorides in water can help preventing the public health hazards.
6 . Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development programme under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
Context : The Union Government accords very high priority to the agriculture sector. In order to contribute directly and indirectly to enhancing the income of farmers by providing opportunites to them and to provide employment to youth, start-ups are being encouraged.
About Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development programme
- A component, Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development programme has been launched under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana in order to promote innovation and agripreneurship by providing financial support and nurturing the incubation ecosystem.
- These start-ups are in various categories such as agro-processing, artificial intelligence, digital agriculture, farm mechanisation, waste to wealth, dairy, fisheries etc.
- The institutes issue calls for application for their programmes and based on a rigorous process of selection through various stages and a training of two months, the final list of start-ups that are to be funded through grants-in-aid are finalised. Training on technical, finance, intellectual property, statutory compliance issues etc. is provided. Mentoring of start-ups through monitoring of milestones and timelines is part of the programme.
DAC&FW has selected 5 Knowledge Partners (KPs) as Centres of Excellence. These are –
- National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad,
- National Institute of Agricultural Marketing(NIAM) Jaipur,
- Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) Pusa, New Delhi,
- University of Agriculture Science , Dharwad, Karnataka and
- Assam Agriculture University, Jorhat, Assam
- 24 RKVY-RAFTAAR Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs) from across the country have also been appointed.
The following are the components of this scheme:
- Agripreneurship Orientation – 2 months duration with a monthly stipend of Rs. 10,000/- per month. Mentorship is provided on financial, technical, IP issues etc.
- Seed Stage Funding of R-ABI Incubatees – Funding upto Rs. 25 lakhs (85% grant & 15% contribution from the incubatee).
- Idea/Pre-Seed Stage Funding of Agripreneurs – Funding up to Rs. 5 lakhs (90% grant and 10% contribution from the incubatee).
7 . UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition
Context : Virtual Event on UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition to Odisha Communities on 07 Aug 2020.
Background
- It has been observed that when people at tsunami risk receive accurate warnings in a timely manner, they can take life-saving actions, reduce losses and speed up response. Through the continuous effort of scientists and emergency management officers, there has been substantial improvement in tsunami warnings and timelines by deploying better sensors, accurate models and concurrent multiple modes of dissemination.
- However, the success of a warning is measured by what actions people take once the respective authorities issue a public warning. Surviving a tsunami depends on the ability of an individual in the hazard zone to recognize warning signals, make correct decisions, and act quickly.
About Tsunami Ready
- Tsunami Ready is a community performance-based programme initiated by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO to promote tsunami preparedness through active collaboration of public, community leaders, and national and local emergency management agencies.
- The main objective of this programme is to improve coastal community’s preparedness for tsunami emergencies, to minimize the loss of life and property and to ensure a structural and systematic approach in building community preparedness through fulfilling the best-practice indicators set by the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS) of UNESCO-IOC.
- Fulfilment of the guidelines ensures communities have a strong end-to-end tsunami early warning and mitigation system with a particular focus on community awareness and preparedness to respond.
- To implement and monitor the implementation of Tsunami Ready and IOWave Exercises in India, Ministry of Earth Sciences established a National Board under the chairmanship of Director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Centre (INCOIS) with members drawn from Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), Andaman & Nicobar Islands Directorate of Disaster Management (DDM) and INCOIS.
Tsunami Advisories in India
- The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC), INCOIS is the nodal agency to provide tsunami advisories to India.
- INCOIS is also providing tsunami advisories to Indian Ocean region (25 countries) as a Tsunami Service Providers as the responsibility assigned by IOC-UNESCO.
- To create awareness and preparedness about the tsunamis, INCOIS regularly organizes Tsunami Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) workshops, training sessions and seminars for state and district level Disaster Management Officials (DMOs) of the coastal states.
- ITEWC at INCOIS also conducts IOWave Tsunami mock exercises biannually in coordination with ICG/IOTWMS and conducts at National level mock exercises alternative years in coordination with Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and State Disaster Management Agencies (SDMA) to strengthen the readiness to handle the emergency situations with stakeholders. The recent tsunami mock exercises i.e. IOWave18 (September 2018) and Multi State mega mock exercise (November 2017) were great examples on building a tsunami resilient community. To strengthen communities further, ITEWC-INCOIS coordinating with the DMOs for implementation of Tsunami Ready programme in India.
Tsunami Ready Recognition to Odisha Communities
- The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), Odisha has now implemented the Tsunami Ready programme in two villages viz., Venkatraipur in Ganjam District, Noliasahi in Jagatsingpur District.
- The National Board, after the verification of implementation of the indicators at those villages as per guidelines, decided to recognize them nationally and recommended to UNESCO-IOC for the recognition.
- Based on the National Board recommendations, UNESCO-IOC has approved the recognition of two communities viz., Venkatraipur and Noliasahi as Tsunami Ready Communities.
- With this recognition, India is the first country to implement Tsunami Ready in the Indian Ocean Region and Odisha is the first state.
8 . India Water Resources Information System
Context : The Ministry of Jal Shakti has launched a new version of the India Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS) with new functionalities and features.
Background
- Water is key to life and development. Judicious use of water resources assumes utmost importance, particularly when increasing population, urbanization and related development creates additional pressure on available resources.
- Good planning of any resource requires a strong data base and a reliable information system. To address this need, the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS), under the National Hydrology Project, launched the first version of India Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS) in July, 2019. Since then, a number of new functionalities and features have been added into the system.
About India Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS)
- Portal contains information related to Water Resources through dashboards for rainfall, water levels & discharge of rivers, water bodies, ground water levels, reservoir storages, evapotranspiration and soil moisture, as well as modules on water resources projects, water bodies, hydro-met data availability and tools for GIS layer editing.
- India WRIS is, at present, receiving data from many central and state agencies like CWC, CGWB, IMD, NRSC, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat etc. on regular basis. Data from other agencies is also being integrated into the system, so that it becomes a comprehensive platform for any data related to water and land resources.
- The MoJS has established a dedicated organization, National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) to maintain and update India WRIS.
Features
- Through this portal, any stakeholder can visualize the information in a user friendly manner, as well download the information in the form of excel reports and graphs.
- The key features of the system are Water information easily made available to users and general public, for decision makers, water managers, farmers & experts, Direct access to hydro-met information from Central and State agencies, Real-time data available with one click, Variety of modules for different needs, Latest technologies, continuous development and improvement.
Benefits
- Various user groups can utilize the information as follow like farmers and farmer Welfare Associations can plan crops and cropping pattern based on the rainfall, water availability in storages and ground water aquifers and with changing times the associations can involve youth for utilizing the data appropriately as real time data is available on this web site. Individuals can use the data as per their requirement, to know the availability of water in their locality, ground water level, Level of water in the nearby river and such many facts.
- Planners and Administrators can utilize this data of their States, Basins for proper utilization of water and to reduce the impact of Flood and Drought.
- Decision support System (DSS) can be developed. Researchers can utilize the data for water related studies and Modelling purposes as the data frequency required for such studies is available.
9 . Facts for Prelims
Abanindranath Tagore
- Abanindranath Tagore is a singular figure in modern Indian art.
- Abanindranath painted a range of subjects. He had a leaning towards painting images with historic or literary allusions.
- He liked to paint sets of images dealing with a theme or a text such as the ‘Arabian Nights’ or the ‘Krishna Leela’. He also enjoyed painting theatrical subjects.
- Literature and drama held great respect for him and he was an elegant and accomplished writer.
- As a modernist at heart who was guided more by his sensibility than his training, he transformed the post-Renaissance academic realism into which he was trained with his series of contacts with oriental art into something more supple and responsive to the imaginative flights of his mind.