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Type: PIB

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-France

    [pib] Exercise VARUNA-2021

    PIB | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: VARUNA-21

    Mains level: Paper 2- VARUNA-21

    Details of the exercise

    • The 19th edition of the Indian and French Navy bilateral exercise ‘VARUNA-2021’ is scheduled to be conducted in the Arabian Sea from 25th to 27th April 2021.
    • The exercise will see high tempo-naval operations at sea, including advanced air defence and anti-submarine exercises, intense fixed and rotary wing flying operations, tactical manoeuvres, surface and anti-air weapon firings, underway replenishment and other maritime security operations.
    • Units of both navies will endeavour to enhance and hone their war-fighting skills to demonstrate their ability as an integrated force to promote peace, security and stability in the maritime domain.
    • On completion of exercise VARUNA-21, to consolidate accrued best practices and enhance interoperability, Indian Navy’s guided-missile frigate INS Tarkash will continue to exercise with the French Navy’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) from 28th April to 1st May 2021.
    • During this period, the ship will take part in advanced surface, anti-submarine and air-defence operations with the French CSG.

    Significance of exercise

    • VARUNA-21 highlights growing bonhomie and showcases increased levels of synergy, coordination and inter-operability between the two friendly navies.
    • These interactions further underscore the shared values as partner navies, in ensuring freedom of seas and commitment to an open, inclusive Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order.

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  • Disasters and Disaster Management – Sendai Framework, Floods, Cyclones, etc.

    [pib] Satellite-based real-time monitoring of Himalayan glacial catchments

    PIB | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Disaster Management

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Glacial Lake Outburst Floods

    Mains level: Paper 3- Mitigating glacial lake outburst flood events

    Melting of glaciers in Himalaya and GLOFs

    • The Himalayan region is home to the largest ice mass outside of the planet’s Polar Regions.
    • The glaciers in the Himalayas are melting at a faster rate creating new lakes and expanding the existing ones.
    • The rising temperatures and extreme precipitation events make the region increasingly prone to a variety of natural hazards, including devastating glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).
    • GLOFs occur when either a natural dam containing a glacial lake bursts or when the lake’s level suddenly increases and overflows its banks, leading to catastrophic downstream destruction.
    • However, the remote, challenging Himalayan terrain and the overall lack of cellular connectivity throughout the region have made the development of early flood warning systems virtually impossible.
    • In their recent work the Scientists point out that the surge of meltwater in mountain streams is most commonly caused by cloud-burst events during the monsoon season (June–July–August) time frame.

    Satelitte-based real-time monitoring

    • Satellite-based real-time monitoring of Himalayan glacial catchments would improve understanding of flood risk in the region and help inform an early flood warning system that could help curb disaster and save human lives, says a recent study.
    • This should be the future strategy to reduce loss of human lives during glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF), said a study carried out by scientists from IIT Kanpur.
    • The IIT Kanpur team suggests that efforts to help mitigate GLOF events in the future should include the creation of a network of satellite-based monitoring stations that could provide in situ and real-time data on GLOF risk.
    • The integration of monitoring devices with satellite networks will not only provide telemetry support in remote locations that lack complete cellular connectivity but will also provide greater connectivity in coverage in the cellular dead zones in extreme topographies such as valleys, cliffs, and steep slopes.

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  • Civil Aviation Sector – CA Policy 2016, UDAN, Open Skies, etc.

    [pib] Drone use permission for feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery

    PIB | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not much

    Mains level: Paper 3- Drone use for covid vaccine delivery

    Conditional drone use exemption for vaccine delivery

    • Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
    • The exemption is granted for conducting feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones in collaboration with IIT Kanpur.
    • The permission exemption is valid for a period of one year or until further orders.

    Entities using drone on conditional drone use exemption basis

    • Conditional drone use exemption has been granted to the below entities for said purposes:
    • Nagar Nigam of Dehradun, Haldwani, Haridwar & Rudrapur for preparation of GIS based property database & electronic tax register.
    • West Central Railway, (WCR) Kota for train accident site & maintaining safety & security of the railway assets.
    • West Central Railway, (WCR) Katni for train accident site & maintaining safety & security of the railway assets.
    • Vedanta Ltd. (Cairn Oil & Gas) also received the conditional drone usage exemption for data acquisition for asset inspecting & mapping.

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  • Agricultural Sector and Marketing Reforms – eNAM, Model APMC Act, Eco Survey Reco, etc.

    [pib] India’s Agriculture trade grows during 2020-21

    PIB | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Agri exports

    Mains level: Paper 3- Agri exports

    Consistent trade surplus in agricultural products

    • India has consistently maintained trade surplus in the agricultural products over the years.
    • The export of Agri and allied commodities during Apr, 2020 – Feb,2021 were Rs. 2.74 lakh Crore as compared to Rs. 2.31 Crore in the same period last year indicating an increase of 18.49%.
    • The imports of Agri and allied commodities during April, 2020 – Feb, 2021 were Rs. 1.41lakh Crore as compared to Rs. 1.37 lakh Crore in the same period last year witnessing a slight increase of 2.93%.

    Commodities that posted positive growth

    • India has witnessed tremendous growth of 727 % for Wheat export.
    • On specific demand from countries, NAFED has exported 50,000 MT wheat to Afghanistan and 40,000 MT wheat to Lebanon under G2G arrangement.
    • Country has witnessed significant growth of 132% in export of (Non-Basmati) Rice.
    • Export of Non-Basmati Rice has gone up from Rs 13,030 crores in 2019-20 to Rs 30,277 crores in 2020-21.
    • This increase in exports is on account of multiple factors, mainly being India capturing new markets namely, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico.
    • Exports were also made to Togo, Senegal, Malaysia, Madagascar, Iraq, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Vietnam, Tanzania Rep and Madagascar.
    • India also enhanced export of Soya meals by 132%. Soya meal has gone up from Rs 3087 crores in 2019-20 to Rs 7224 crores in 2020-21.

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  • Digital India Initiatives

    [pib] National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)

    PIB | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: NIXI

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has inaugurated three path-breaking initiatives for the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI).

    What is NIXI?

    National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) is a not-for-profit organization (section 8 of the Companies Act 2013) working since 2003 for spreading the internet infrastructure to the citizens of India through the following activities:

    1. Internet Exchanges through which the internet data is exchanged amongst ISP’s, Data Centers and CDNs.
    2. .IN Registry, managing and operation of .IN country-code domain and .भारत IDN domain for India.
    3. IRINN, managing and operating Internet protocol (IPv4/IPv6).

    Which are the three new initiatives?

    (1) IPv6 Expert Panel (IP Guru) (https://nixi.in):

    • IP Guru is a group to extend support to all the Indian entities who are finding it technically challenging to migrate and adopt IPv6.
    • In addition to this, the IPv6 expert group will help in identifying & hiring an agency that will help end customer by providing necessary technical support to adopt IPv6.
    • This panel will guide all such Indian entities and help in increasing IPv6 adoption.

    Note: An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two main functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing.

    (2) NIXI Academy (https://training.nixi.in):

    • NIXI Academy is created to educate technical/non-technical people in India to learn and relearn technologies like IPv6 which are normally not taught in Educational Institutes.
    • NIXI academy comprises an IPv6 training portal which is developed with the help of various technical experts in order to provide mass training to the community.
    • The easy-to-use platform helps network operators and educators understand networking best practices, principles and techniques; manage Internet resources better; and use appropriate Internet technologies more effectively.

    (3) NIXI-IP-INDEX (https://ipv6.nixi.in):

    • NIXI has developed an IPv6 index portal for the Internet community.
    • NIXI-IP-INDEX portal will showcase the IPv6 adoption rate in India and across the world.
    • It can be used to compare the IPv6 Indian adoption rate with other economies in the world.
    • NIXI will populate this portal with web adoption in IPv6, IPv6 traffic etc. in the coming days.
    • This portal will motivate organisations to adopt IPv6, provide inputs for planning by technical organisations and research by academicians.

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  • Agricultural Sector and Marketing Reforms – eNAM, Model APMC Act, Eco Survey Reco, etc.

    [pib] E-SANTA: Electronic marketplace to connect Aqua farmers and buyers

    PIB | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Economics Of Animal-Rearing

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: E-SANTA

    Mains level: Aquaculture in India

    Union Commerce and Industry Ministry has inaugurated E-SANTA, an electronic marketplace providing a platform to connect aqua farmers and buyers.

    Note:

    Aquaculture also known as aquafarming is the farming of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, aquatic plants, algae, and other organisms. It involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish.

    Mariculture commonly known as marine farming refers to aquaculture practiced in marine environments and in underwater habitats, opposed to in freshwater.

    E-SANTA

    • The term e-SANTA was coined for the web portal, meaning Electronic Solution for Augmenting NaCSA farmers’ Trade-in Aquaculture.
    • It will enable the farmers to get a better price and the exporters to directly purchase quality products from the farmers enhancing traceability, a key factor in international trade.
    • National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture (NaCSA) is an extension arm of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
    • It will raise income, lifestyle, self-reliance, quality levels, traceability, and provide new options for our aqua farmers.
    • The platform will change the traditional way of carrying out business from a word of mouth basis to become more formalized & legally binding.

    E-SANTA will RAISE the lives & income of farmers by:

    1. Reducing Risk
    2. Awareness of Products & Markets
    3. Increase in Income
    4. Shielding Against Wrong Practice
    5. Ease of Processes

    Its’ utility

    • E-SANTA is a Digital Bridge to end the market divide and will act as an alternative marketing tool between farmers & buyers by eliminating middlemen.
    • It will revolutionize traditional aqua farming by providing cashless, contactless and paperless electronic trade platform between farmers and exporters.
    • It can become a tool to advertise collectively the kind of products the buyers, fishermen & fish producing organisations are harvesting.

    How does it work?

    • E-SANTA is a completely paperless and end-to-end electronic trade platform between Farmers and exporters.
    • The farmers have the freedom to list their products and quote their price while the exporters have the freedom to list their requirements and also to choose the products based on their requirements.
    • This enables the farmers and buyers to have greater control over the trade and enables them to make informed decisions.
    • The platform provides a detailed specification of each product listing and it is backed by an end to end electronic payment system with NaCSA as an Escrow agent.
    • After crop listing and online negotiation, a deal is struck, advance payment is made and an estimated invoice is generated.

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  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    [pib] MANAS Platform

    PIB | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: MANAS Platform

    Mains level: Not Much

    The MANAS App to promote wellbeing across age groups was recently launched.

    Name, acronym and the purpose; thats all. The rest of the theory is of less importance.

    MANAS Platform

    • MANAS is an acronym for Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System.
    • It is a comprehensive, scalable, and national digital wellbeing platform and an app developed to augment the mental well-being of Indian citizens.
    • MANAS was initiated by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and jointly executed by NIMHANS Bengaluru, AFMC Pune and C-DAC Bengaluru.
    • It was endorsed as a national program by the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).
    • It integrates the health and wellness efforts of various government ministries, scientifically validated indigenous tools with gamified interfaces developed/researched by various national bodies and research institutions.

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  • Innovations in Sciences, IT, Computers, Robotics and Nanotechnology

    [pib] NanoSniffer: A Microsensor based Explosive Trace Detector

    PIB | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Indigenization Of Technology

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: NanoSniffer

    Mains level: NA

    A Union Minister has launched NanoSniffer, the world’s first Microsensor based Explosive Trace Detector (ETD) developed by NanoSniff Technologies, an IIT Bombay incubated startup.

    Can you name some explosives?

    NanoSniffer

    • NanoSniffer is a 100% Made in India product in terms of research, development & manufacturing.
    • It can detect explosives in less than 10 seconds and it also identifies and categorizes explosives into different classes. It detects all classes of military, conventional and homemade explosives.
    • It gives visible & audible alerts with a sunlight-readable colour display.
    • NanoSniffer provides trace detection of the nano-gram quantity of explosives & delivers result in seconds.
    • It can accurately detect a wide range of military, commercial and homemade explosives threats.
    • Further analysis of the algorithms also helps in the categorization of explosives into the appropriate class.

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  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    [pib]  ‘Anamaya’ Initiative

    PIB | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: ‘Anamaya’ Initiative

    Mains level: Not Much

    Anamaya, the Tribal Health Collaborative was recently launched.

    Simply keep in mind, the name and purpose.

    ‘Anamaya’ Initiative

    • The Collaborative is a multi-stakeholder initiative of the Tribal Affairs Ministry supported by Piramal Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
    • It aims to build a sustainable, high-performing health eco-system to address the key health challenges faced by the tribal population of India.
    • It will converge efforts of various Government agencies and organisations to enhance the health and nutrition status of the tribal communities of India.
    • This collaborative is a unique initiative bringing together governments, philanthropists, national and international foundations, NGOs/CBOs to end all preventable deaths among the tribal communities of India.

    Terms of references

    • It will begin its operations with 50 tribal, Aspirational Districts (with more than 20% ST population) across 6 high tribal population states.
    • Over a 10-year period, the work of the THC will be extended to 177 tribal Districts as recognised by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

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  • ISRO Missions and Discoveries

    [pib] What are Wolf–Rayet Stars?

    PIB | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Wolf–Rayet Stars

    Mains level: Not Much

    Indian astronomers have tracked a rare supernova explosion and traced it to one of the hottest kind of stars called Wolf–Rayet stars or WR stars.

    Space science-related terms these days are often focused on Gravitational waves, Black holes etc. But basic terminologies are very important and need to be taken care of. For example, a layman may hardly find any difference between Novae-Supernovae, Neutron star, Nebula etc. UPSC often tries to bust you with such basic differences.

    Wolf–Rayet Stars

    • Wolf-Rayet stars represent a final burst of activity before a huge star begins to die.
    • These stars, which are at least 20 times more massive than the Sun, “live fast and die hard”.
    • Wolf-Rayets stars are divided into 3 classes based on their spectra, the WN stars (nitrogen dominant, some carbon), WC stars (carbon dominant, no nitrogen) and WO where oxygen is in dominant quantities.
    • The average temperature of a Wolf-Rayet star is greater than 25,000 Kelvin, and they can have luminosities of up to a million times that of the Sun.

    What have Indian researchers studied?

    • Indian astronomers have conducted the optical monitoring of one such stripped-envelope supernova called SN 2015dj hosted in the galaxy NGC 7371 which was spotted in 2015.
    • They calculated the mass of the star that collapsed to form the supernovae as well as the geometry of its ejection.

    Their findings

    • The scientists found that the original star was a combination of two stars – one of them is a massive WR star and another is a star much less in mass than the Sun.
    • Supernovae (SNe) are highly energetic explosions in the Universe releasing an enormous amount of energy.
    • Long-term monitoring of these transients opens the door to understand the nature of the exploding star as well as the explosion properties.
    • It can also help enumerate the number of massive stars.

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