PIB Analysis : 9th & 10th July 2020

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PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

  1. Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Power project
  2. Mongolian Kanjur Manuscripts
  3. Cycles4Change Challenge
  4. ASEEM digital platform
  5. GOAL project

1 . Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Power project

Context : Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will dedicates to the nation the 750 MW Solar Project set up at Rewa, Madhya Pradesh on July 10, 2020.

About Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Power project

  • This Project comprises of three solar generating units of 250 MW each located on a 500 hectare plot of land situated inside a Solar Park (total area 1500 hectare).
  • The Solar Park was developed by the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL), a Joint Venture Company of Madhya Pradesh UrjaVikas Nigam Limited (MPUVN), and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a Central Public Sector Undertaking.
  • Central Financial Assistance of Rs. 138 crore has been provided to RUMSL for development of the Park.
  • After the Park had been developed, Mahindra Renewables Private Ltd., ACME Jaipur Solar Power Private Ltd., and Arinsun Clean Energy Private Ltd were selected by RUMSL through reverse auction for developing three solar generating units of 250 MW each inside the Solar Park.  Rewa Solar Project is an example of the excellent results that can be achieved if there is synergy between Central and State Governments.

Importance

  • The Rewa Solar Project was the first solar project in the country to break the grid parity barrier. Compared to prevailing solar project tariffs of approx. Rs. 4.50/unit in early 2017, the Rewa project achieved historic results: a first year tariff of Rs. 2.97/unit with a tariff escalation of Rs. 0.05/unit over 15 years and a levelized rate of Rs. 3.30/unit over the term of 25 years.  This project will reduce carbon emission equivalent to approx. 15 lakh ton of CO2 per year.
  • The Rewa Project has been acknowledged in India and abroad for its robust project structuring and innovations. Its payment security mechanism for reducing risks to power developers has been recommended as a model to other States by MNRE. 
  • It has also received World Bank Group President’s Award for innovation and excellence and was included in the book “A Book of Innovation: New Beginnings” released by Prime Minister. 
  • The project is also the first renewable energy project to supply to an institutional customer outside the State, i.e. Delhi Metro, which will get 24% of energy from the project with remaining 76% being supplied to the State DISCOMs of Madhya Pradesh.
  • The Rewa Project also exemplifies India’s commitment to attain the target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by the year 2022, including 100 GW of Solar installed capacity.

2 . Mongolian Kanjur Manuscripts

Context : The Ministry of Culture has taken up the project of reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur under the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). The first set of five volumes of Mongolian Kanjur published under the NMM was presented to the President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind on the occasion of Guru Purnima, also known as Dharma Chakra Day

About National Mission for Manuscripts

  • The National Mission for Manuscripts was launched in February 2003 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, with the mandate of documenting, conserving and disseminating the knowledge preserved in the manuscripts.
  • One of the objectives of the mission is to publish rare and unpublished manuscripts so that the knowledge enshrined in them is spread to researchers, scholars and general public at large.
  • Under this scheme, reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur has been taken up by the Mission. It is expected that all the volumes will be published by March, 2022. This work is being carried out under the supervision of eminent Scholar Prof. Lokesh Chandra.

About Mongolian Kanjur

  • Mongolian Kanjur, the Buddhist canonical text in 108 volumes is considered to be the most important religious text in Mongolia.
  • In the Mongolian language ‘Kanjur’ means ‘Concise Orders’- the words of Lord Buddha in particular.
  • It is held in high esteem by the Mongolian Buddhists and they worship the Kanjur at temples and recite the lines of Kanjur in daily life as a sacred ritual.
  • The Kanjur are kept almost in every monastery in Mongolia.Mongolian Kanjur has been translated from Tibetan. The language of the Kanjur is Classical Mongolian.The Mongolian Kanjur  is a source of providing a cultural identity to Mongolia.

Background

  • During the socialist period, xylographs were consignd to flames  and monasteries were bereft of their sacred scriptures.
  • During 1956-58, Professor Raghu Vira obtained a microfilm copy of the rare Kanjur manuscripts and brought them to India. And, the Mongolian Kanjur in 108 volumes was published in India in 1970s by Prof. Lokesh Chandra, former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).
  • Now, the present edition is being published by the National Mission for Manuscripts, Ministry of Culture, Government of India; in which  every volume will have a list of contents indicating the original title of the sutra in Mongolian.

Importance

  • Historical interaction between India and Mongolia goes backcenturies. Buddhism was carried to Mongolia by Indian cultural and religiousambassadors  during the early Christian era.
  • As a result, today, Buddhists form the single largest religious denomination in Mongolia.
  • India established formal diplomatic relations with Mongolia in 1955.Since then, the overwhelming relationship between both the countries has now reached a new height.
  • Now, the publication of Mongolian Kanjur by the Government of India for the Government of Mongolia will act as a symbol of cultural symphony between India and Mongolia and will contribute to furtherance of bilateral relations during the coming years.

3 . Cycles4Change Challenge

Context : The Smart Cities Mission opened the registration for India Cycles4Change Challenge on 10th July, 2020.

About Cycles4Change Challenge

  • The Challenge aims to help cities connect with their citizens as well as experts to develop a unified vision to promote cycling.
  • Cities are encouraged to collaborate with CSOs, experts, and volunteers as they develop and implement their plans.
  • Citizen collaboration will also be a key metric in the evaluation of proposals submitted by the cities.
  • To assist the cities in this aspect, the online portal also features a registration form for CSOs, urban designers, planners, students and other citizens who wish to collaborate with their cities.
  • The challenge was launched on 25th June, 2020 by Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Housing and Urban Affairs.
  • The Challenge is open to all cities under the Smart Cities Mission, capital cities of States/UTs, and all cities with a population of more than 5 lakh population. The Challenge will run in two stages. All eligible cities can register and submit their applications on the portal from 10th until 21st July.

Details of the Challenge

  • The Challenge will run in two stages.
    • Stage One will run until October where cities will focus on piloting quick interventions to promote cycling and developing a scale-up strategy. In October 2020, 11 cities will be shortlisted and will receive Rs. 1 Crore award and guidance from national and international experts to further scale-up the initiatives in Stage Two, which will be held until May 2021.

Importance

  • The need for personalized forms of transport is expected to increase as a response to COVID-19.
  • A recent survey by the ITDP India Programme shows that cycling would increase by 50-65% as cities come out of lockdown.
  • Cities around the world are leveraging the opportunity to expand their cycling networks and public bicycle-sharing systems.
  • As per ITDP, increasing cycling can help cities in a green economic recovery.
  • Investments in cycling infrastructure have economic benefits of up to 5.5 times the initial investment.
  • Cycling for short distances can result in an annual benefit of INR 1.8 trillion to the Indian economy.

Cycling initiatives in India Cities

  • Indian cities have started working towards promoting cycling as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Kolkata has proposed a dedicated cycle corridor by reclaiming parking spaces. The city will conduct a preliminary road survey within four months, after which the project will be implemented by early next year.
  • In Guwahati, The Green lane Foundation, with the support of the Bicycle Mayor of Guwahati and Pedal for a Change, is conducting a survey for citizens to vote for the best routes for bicycle lanes in the city, which will be incorporated into the Challenge.

4 . ASEEM digital platform

Context : In an endeavour to improve the information flow and bridge the demand-supply gap in the skilled workforce market, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) today launched ‘Aatamanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM)’ portal to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities. 

About ASEEM Portal

  • ASEEM portal aims at supporting decision and policymaking via trends and analytics generated by the system for programmatic purposes.
  • ASEEM shall help in providing real-time data analytics to NSDC and its Sector Skill Councils about the demand and supply patterns including – industry requirements, skill gap analysis, demand per district/ state/cluster​​, key workforce suppliers, key consumers​, migration patterns​ and multiple potential career prospects for candidates.​ The portal consists of three IT based interfaces –
    • Employer Portal – Employer onboarding, Demand Aggregation, candidate selection ​
    • Dashboard – Reports, Trends, analytics, and highlight gaps ​
    • Candidate Application – Create & Track candidate profile, share job suggestion ​
  • ASEEM will be used as a match-making engine to map skilled workers with the jobs available.
  • The portal and App will have provision for registration and data upload for workers across job roles, sectors and geographies.
  • The skilled workforce can register their profiles on the app and can search for employment opportunities in their neighbourhood.
  • Through ASEEM, employers, agencies and job aggregators looking for skilled workforce in specific sectors will also have the required details at their fingertips. It will also enable policymakers take more objective view of various sectors.

Importance of the Portal

  • Apart from recruiting a skilled workforce that spurs business competitiveness and economic growth, the Artificial Intelligence-based platform has been envisioned to strengthen their career pathways by handholding them through their journeys to attain industry-relevant skills and explore emerging job opportunities especially in the post COVID era.
  • Besides identifying major skills gap in the sectors ​and providing review of global best practices, ASEEM will  provide employers a platform to assess the availability of skilled workforce and formulate their hiring plans.
  • Aatamanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM) refers to all the data, trends and analytics which describe the workforce market and map demand of skilled workforce to supply. It will provide real-time granular information by identifying relevant skilling requirements and employment prospects.

5 . GOAL project

Context : M/o Tribal Affairs hosts Webinar along with Facebook India for sensitization of MPs from ST Constituencies on GOAL project.

About GOAL Project

  • GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) is an initiative launched by Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in partnership with Facebook India to digitally skill and empower 5000 youth from tribal communities to become leaders of tomorrow by leveraging the power of digital technology.
  • GOAL Project is aimed at identifying and mobilizing 2500 renowned people from industry (policy makers and influencers), teachers, artists, entrepreneurs, social workers etc.  known for their achievements in their domain areas, to personally mentor tribal youths across India. The initiative has been designed to allocate two mentees to a mentor. 
  • The program targets to work in structured phases including preparatory and design phase; selection of mentors and mentees; execution that includes mentoring, training, internships; and follow-up youth economic and leadership activities.
  • The program also seeks to provide handholding support to the youth even after they graduate out for upcoming jobs or self-employment / entrepreneurial initiatives through government schemes. The program seeks to have a strong component of quality assurance, monitoring, concurrent evaluation protocols and uses analytics and technology for continuous improvement, decision making and sustainability.
  • It is targeted to have a 1:2 ratio of mentors and mentees. Each engagement with mentee will be of nine months or 36 weeks:
    • Month 1 to Month 7 (28 weeks): Mentees from tribal communities will be connected to mentors.
    • Month 8 and Month 9 (8 weeks): Shortlisted mentees will get internship opportunities in reputed organizations.
  • No financial remuneration will be provided to any mentor or mentee.
  • Youth from tribal communities between 18-35 years of age can apply to become mentee. It is open for all youth from tribal communities irrespective of whether they are part of any educational institute or not or in any kind of profession or even undertaking any training.
  • Experts in the field of business, education, health, politics, arts and entrepreneurship among others and can inspire, guide and encourage the tribal youth to become village-level digital young leaders for their communitiescan apply to become a mentor.
  • It is not necessary for the mentor to be from tribal or ST background as a condition to apply.
  • Youths from tribal communities can visit their nearest CSC to apply under this program. Once tribal youth is selected in program, they will be provided smart phones with internet access for one year.
  • The project will be delivered digitally using video-based mechanisms such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Mentors and mentees will interact through these apps, and all material will be provided in digital format only.

Benefits

  • Mentees will get following benefits: Smartphone with one-year internet access; Joint certificate of participation by MoTA and Facebook; Letter of recognition by Mentor; Opportunity to intern in a reputed private / government organization; Strong visibility and recognition at local/ state/ national level; Opportunity to interact with industry leaders; and Priority access to Facebook and M/o Tribal Affairs events at State/ National level.
  • Mentees will the following recognition under this programme: Joint Certificate of participation by MoTA and Facebook; Opportunity to interact with like-minded peer group including industry professionals, influencers etc; Priority access to state level events organized by MoTA or Facebook; Profile will be showcased on Portal as Mentor; and Opportunity to meet business and political leaders.

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