Daily Current Capsules

10 May 2023

Science and Technology

SVASTIK (Scientifically Validated Societal Traditional Knowledge)

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about SVASTIK + NIScPR) + Mains ( GS III – awareness in the field of S&T)

What’s the NEWS

• As a part of the national initiative for communicating India’s scientifically validated traditional knowledge to the society branded as SVASTIK (Scientifically Validated Societal Traditional Knowledge), CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (NIScPR) hosted the first meeting of the Water, Ecology & Environment Sub-committee
• SVASTIK aims to conserve the practice of the right tradition, inculcate a scientific temper of verifying traditional practices scientifically and instill confidence in the citizens regarding the scientific value of our traditional knowledge/practices.
• As a part of this initiative, simplified creative content on India’s traditional knowledge is being disseminated through various digital platforms in English, Hindi, and different regional languages to cater to a wider audience.

Know! about NIScPR

• CSIR-NIScPR, a newly formed institution of CSIR after the merger of CSIR-NISCAIR and CSIR-NISTADS
• CSIR-NIScPR has been actively involved in the conservation and promotion of traditional knowledge through its various activities such as the publication of ‘The Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge’ and its acclaimed projects including ‘Wealth of India’, a monumental documentation of India’s flora, fauna and minerals, and ‘Traditional Knowledge Digital Library’ which was later established as a separate Unit under CSIR Headquarters.

Health

SAKSHAM Learning Management Information System

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about SAKSHAM) + Mains ( GS II Health)

What’s the NEWS

• Union Health Ministry launches SAKSHAM Learning Management Information System

Know! about SAKSHAM

• SAKSHAM (Stimulating Advanced Knowledge for Sustainable Health Management) is a Learning Management Information System (LMIS) of MoHFW.
• This digital learning platform has been developed by the National Institute of Health & Family Welfare (NIHFW), New Delhi.
• SAKSHAM is a dedicated and unified platform for providing online training and medical education to all health professionals in the country.
• This digital learning platform will ensure inclusive capacity building of health professionals from primary health centers located in rural and remote areas all the way up to tertiary care and corporate hospitals in metropolitan cities.
• Currently SAKSHAM: LMIS is hosting more than 200 public health and 100 clinical courses through online mode.
• Health professionals can register themselves for these courses on the portal through the URL: https://lmis.nihfw.ac.in/ and get the certification after undergoing requisite training and qualifying the required assessment criteria.

Prelims Factoids

YUVA PRATIBHA

What’s the NEWS

• With an aim to promote Indian music at the grassroots level on a national scale by identifying and recognizing the new and young talent in various singing genres, MyGov in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture is launching a YUVA PRATIBHA – Singing Talent Hunt
• The Singing Talent Hunt is a unique opportunity for citizens across India to display their singing talent and skills and gain national recognition

Bilateral Relations

Integrated Check Post(ICP) Petrapole

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about ICP Petrapole – location) + Mains ( GSII Bilateral relations)

What’s the NEWS

• Union Home Minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various development projects of the Land Ports Authority of India and Border Security Force (BSF) in West Bengal
• Home Minister also inaugurated Maitridwar at ICP Petrapole,

Know! about LPAI

• The Land Ports Authority of India or LPAI is a statutory body (created through the Land Ports Authority of India Act, 2010) working under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing border infrastructure in India.
• It manages several Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) all across the Borders of India.
• There are currently nine Land Ports operational in India at Attari, Agartala, Petrapole, Raxaul, Jogbani, Moreh, Sutarkandi, Srimantapur, and PTB at Dera Baba Nanak

Connecting Border Villages

• The central government is working on building strong infrastructure in border areas and efforts are being made to provide benefits of welfare schemes in border villages like other villages of the country, while also improving connectivity in these villages

Initiatives are taken to enhance the efficacy of LPAI

• Several initiatives have been taken for the Land Ports Authority of India in the last 5 years.
• These include Port Automation System, Land Port Management System, Land Port Digital Security and Monitoring System, Digital Port Asset Management System, Suvidha Portal, an Integrated Check Post at Attari, and providing passenger amenities at the Agartala Land Port.

Prelims Factoids

Bharat EMart

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about Bharat EMart)

What’s the NEWS

• India Post signed an MoU with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Tripta Technologies

Know! about Bharat EMart

• The MoU facilitates the operationalization of a portal called ‘Bharat EMart’, which will provide the facility of pick-up of consignments from the premises of traders and will ensure delivery at the doorsteps of the consignees across the country
• It is believed that it will benefit eight crore traders associated with CAIT.
• India Post in the recent past has entered into similar agreements with Government e-Marketplace (GeM), Regional Centers of Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED), to provide pick-up and delivery of parcels at the doorsteps of the consignees.
• Shortly, India Post will onboard itself on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform, being developed by the Ministry of Commerce as a logistics service provider.

Know! the Services provided by Indian Post

• India Post is a modern and multiple service provider. Today, it provides banking, insurance, and the last-mile delivery of benefits of several welfare schemes run by the Government to every village through its network of 1.59 lakh Post Offices.

Associated terms

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)

• It is a private non-profit Section 8 company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of the Government of India to develop open e-commerce.
• It was incorporated on 31 December 2021 with an initial investment from the Quality Council of India and Protean eGov Technologies Limited (formerly NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited).
• ONDC is not an application, an intermediary, or software, but a set of specifications designed to foster open interchange and connections between shoppers, technology platforms, and retailers.

Infrastructure Development

BEE’s Star Labelling Program

What’s the NEWS

• As per the data from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, for split Room Air-Conditioners (RACs), the overall energy efficiency improvement is 43% for 1-Star and 61% for the 5-Star level. On the other hand, the overall energy efficiency improvement for window RACs is 17% for 1-Star and 13% for 5-Star level.

Know! about the Star Labelling program

• The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) launched the Star Labelling program for fixed-speed Room Air Conditioners (RACs) in 2006 as a voluntary initiative, and the program became mandatory in 2009.
• BEE revised the energy performance thresholds (Minimum Energy Performance Standard-MEP) for RACs covered under the program on a biennial basis from 2009 – 2018.
• In 2015, BEE launched a voluntary labeling program for inverter RACs and made the program mandatory in January 2018.
• The labeling program for RACs now covers both fixed and inverter units under the same labeling scheme.
• The split AC rating plan also includes the cassette and floor-standing/ceiling-mounted type RACs.
• The efficiency of a RAC is defined in terms of the Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER), which is the ratio of the cooling output (in Watts) to the total power input (in Watts) at standard rating conditions.
• This means the higher the EER, the more efficient the air conditioner.

Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER)

• In 2018, BEE adopted an improved rating methodology that factors in variance in temperature across the various climatic zones in India and operating hours
• The new metric is called the Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER), which is the ratio of the cooling seasonal total load (in kWh) to cooling seasonal energy consumption (in kWh).

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving

TEAM CL/GKP