Daily Current Capsules

23 and 24 August 2023

One Week One Lab (OWOL) programme

• With an aim of highlighting the scientific and technological connect of laboratories with multiple tiers of society, CSIR has initiated a unique ‘One Week One Lab’ (OWOL) programme that was launched by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology

Know! about OWOL

• One Week One Lab, a theme-based campaign of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) is being organized to ignite the minds of young innovators, students, start-ups, academia ad industry to look for opportunities through deep tech ventures.
• Under this program various Institutes of CSIR, one after the other in every successive week, will show case their exclusive innovations and technological breakthroughs to the people of India.
• Each of the 37 premier Laboratories/Institutes of CSIR spread across the country will participate in the CSIR’s One Week One Lab Campaign.
• One Week One Lab Campaign is being organized under overall guidance and supervision of the Ministry of Science & Technology.
• Organized at CSIR- Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CGCRI), Kolkata

Know! about CSIR-CGCRI

• Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CGCRI) is one of the first four laboratories decided to be set up under the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research
• The Institute was formally inaugurated on August 26, 1950.
• Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CGCRI) is a Kolkata-based National Research Institute
• It focuses on the area of glass, ceramics, mica, refractories e

National Judicial Data Grid

• National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is a database of orders, judgments and case details of 18,735 District & Subordinate Courts and High Courts created as an online platform under the eCourts Project.
• Data is updated on a near real-time basis by the connected District and Taluka courts.
• It provides data relating to judicial proceedings/decisions of all computerized district and subordinate courts of the country.
• All High Courts have also joined the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) through web services, providing easy access facility to the litigant public.
• NJDG works as a monitoring tool to identify, manage and  reduce pendency of cases.
• It helps to provide timely inputs for making policy decisions to reduce delays in disposing of cases and helps in reducing case pendency.
• It also facilitates better monitoring of court performance and systemic bottlenecks, and, thus, serves as an efficient resource management tool.
• To track cases related to land disputes, Land Records data of 26 States have been linked with NJDG.

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) Microsite

• The National Health Authority (NHA) had announced 100 Microsites project for accelerated adoption of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) across the country.
• Mizoram becomes the first state in India to operationalize an ABDM Microsite in its capital city Aizawl.
• Under this, all healthcare facilities including the private clinics, small hospitals and labs in the region shall be made ABDM-enabled and will offer digital health services to the patients.
• The 100 Microsite project under ABDM is an important initiative for reaching out to the bulk of small and medium scale healthcare providers from the private sector.
• The concept of Microsites was envisaged to provide a strong impetus to healthcare digitization efforts across the country.

Know! about ABDM Microsites

• The ABDM Microsites are defined geographical regions where focused outreach efforts would be made to onboard small and medium scale private healthcare providers.
• These Microsites would be majorly implemented by State Mission Directors of ABDM while the financial resources and overall guidance would be provided by NHA.
• An interfacing agency under this program will have an on-ground team to reach out to the healthcare providers in the area.
• This team will spread awareness about the benefits of ABDM and will help the service providers to join the core registries under ABDM besides promoting the use of ABDM enable digital solutions for regular clinical documentation.
• Patients will be able to link the health records generated at these facilities with their Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHAs) and will be able to view and share these records using any ABDM-enabled Personal Health Record (PHR) application on their phones

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)

• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will connect the digital health solutions of hospitals across the country with each other.
• The Mission will not only make the processes of hospitals simplified but also will increase ease of living.
• The Digital Ecosystem will also enable a host of other facilities like Digital Consultation, Consent of patients in letting medical practitioners access their records, etc.
• With the implementation of this scheme, old medical records cannot get lost as every record will be stored digitally.

eCourt project

• The Wide Area Network (WAN) Project under eCourts project is aimed at connecting all District and Subordinate court complexes, spread across the country using various technologies like OFC, RF, VSAT.
• This forms the backbone for the eCourts project ensuring data connectivity in courts across the length and breadth of the country.
• Many courts under the eCourts project are located in far flung areas, termed as Technically Not Feasible (TNF) sites, where terrestrial cable cannot be used.
• These sites are being connected using alternative means like RF, VSAT, Submarine cable etc.

Project Inception

• The Department of Justice awarded the prestigious eCourts’ WAN project to BSNL at a cost of Rs. 167 crores for establishing Wide Area Network (WAN) connecting 2992 district and subordinate court complexes across the country including 547 court complexes with no connectivity.
• An online monitoring tool prepared by NIC for tracking real-time progress and monitoring of pan – Indian Wide Area Network (WAN) project against the set baselines was launched on 7th September, 2018.

White Shipping Information Exchange

• Chief of the Naval Staff and Commandant of Philippine Coast Guard signed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for exchange of White Shipping Information
• The SOP was signed in New Delhi during ongoing visit of the Commandant, Philippine Coast Guard to India.
• The signing of the SOP between Philippine Coast Guard and Indian Navy would facilitate operationalization of information exchange on merchant shipping traffic, which will contribute to enhanced maritime safety and security in the region.

LCA Tejas successfully test-fires indigenous ASTRA Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missile off Goa coast

• Tejas, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) LSP-7 successfully fired the ASTRA indigenous Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile off the coast of Goa
• The missile release was successfully carried out from the aircraft at an altitude of about 20,000 ft.
• All the objectives of the test were met and it was a perfect text book launch.

Know! about ASTRA

• Astra is an Indian family of all-weather beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
• ASTRA missile – engage and destroy highly maneuvering supersonic aerial targets
• Designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and other laboratories of DRDO.
• Built to function across weather conditions, and during both day and night, the system is being developed to meet ‘specific requirements
• A beyond-visual-range missile (BVR) is an air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) that is capable of engaging at ranges of 20 nmi (37 km) or beyond.

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC)

• The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has dismissed an appeal filed by Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd. challenging the Order passed by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) with regard to violation of the rights of consumers by the company for sale of domestic pressure cookers to consumers in violation of mandatory BIS standards.

Know! about NCDRC

• The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) of India is a quasi-judicial commission in India which was set up in 1988 under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
• Its head office is in New Delhi.
• The commission is headed by a sitting or retired judge of the Supreme Court of India.
• Purpose – To provide inexpensive, speedy and summary redressal of consumer disputes, quasi-judicial bodies have been set up in each District and State and at the National level, called the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission respectively.

Central Consumer Protection Authority

• It is a regulatory authority set up under Section 10(1) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 in relation to matters affecting rights of consumers by individuals or entities following improper trade practices or by display of inappropriate or wrong advertisements affecting public interest and helps promoting consumer trust by enforcing the rights of consumers through effective guidelines.
• Central Consumer Protection Authority replaced the previous The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and is formed as per The Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• The new act has been incorporated with additional consumer concerns like treating misleading advertisements and providing wrong information regarding quality or quantity of goods or provision of services as an offence.

15th BRICS Summit

• Prime Minister participated in the 15th BRICS Summit held under South Africa’s chairship, in Johannesburg
• The leaders held productive discussions including on global economic recovery, partnership with Africa and the Global South and reviewed the progress made on the BRICS agenda so far.
• This is the first in-person summit of BRICS comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, since 2019.

BRICS 2023 Highlights

• The BRICS countries, Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa, convene for a BRICS Leaders’ Summit annually.
• As the Chair of BRICS, South Africa is focusing on the theme, ‘BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism’.
• The BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — agreed at their annual summit to make Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates full members from January 1.

P.M Speech Highlights

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue in Johannesburg. The meeting saw participation from the guest countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, along with the leaders of the BRICS countries.
• During his intervention, Prime Minister called for the BRICS to be the voice of the Global South.
• He underlined India’s close partnership with Africa and reaffirmed India’s commitment to support Africa in its development journey under Agenda 2063.
• Prime Minister extended invitation to countries to be a part of international initiatives such as International Solar Alliance, One Sun One World One Grid, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, One Earth One Health, Big Cat Alliance and Global Centre for Traditional Medicine.
• He also offered to share India’s Digital Public Infrastructure Stack

Khanan Prahari App

The mobile app

• Khanan Prahari, which allows citizens to report incidents of illegal coal mining through geo-tagged photographs and textual information, is a significant step taken by the Ministry of Coal towards curbing illegal coal mining activities.
• The corresponding web portal called as Coal Mine Surveillance & Management System (CMSMS) has been developed in association with the Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Application & Geoinformatics, Gandhinagar, and CMPDI, Ranchi.
• The objective of the Khanan Prahari mobile app and CMSMS web portal is to encourage public participation through reporting about illegal coal mining.

Key features of the Khanan Prahari mobile app include:

• Reporting Incidents: Users can easily report incidents of illegal mining by taking photographs and providing comments on the incident. The app allows for the geotagging of photographs by enabling the GPS location feature.
• Confidentiality: The user’s identity is kept confidential, ensuring privacy and security.
• Complaint Tracking: Complainants receive a complaint number, which they can use to easily track the status of their reported complaints on the Khanan Prahari mobile app.

Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar

• The Government of India, in association with State Governments, is launching an ‘Invoice incentive Scheme’ by the name ‘Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar’ to encourage the culture of customers asking for invoices/bills for all purchases.
• The objective of the scheme is to bring a cultural and behavioural change in the general public to ‘Ask for a Bill’ as their right and entitlement.

The details of the Scheme are as under:

• The Scheme will be launched on 1^st September, 2023.
• This scheme will initially be launched as a pilot in the States of Assam, Gujarat & Haryana and UTs of Puducherry, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
• All B2C invoices issued by GST registered suppliers (registered in the States of Assam, Gujarat & Haryana and UTs of Puducherry, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu) to consumers will be eligible for the scheme. Minimum value for invoices to be considered for a lucky draw has been kept at Rs. 200.
• Invoices can be uploaded on Mobile Application ‘Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar’ available on IOS and Android as well as on web portal ‘web.merabill.gst.gov.in’
• All residents of India will be eligible to participate in this Scheme irrespective of their State/UT. Maximum 25 invoices can be uploaded by an individual on App/web portal in a month to be considered for lucky draw.
• For each uploaded invoice an Acknowledgement Reference Number (ARN) will be generated which will be used for the draw of prizes.
• Winning invoices will be picked by a method of random draw at regular intervals (monthly/quarterly).

Launch of Tele-Law 2.0

• Committed to fulfill the Constitutional mandate of Article 39 A to ensure Access to Justice, Department of Justice (DoJ) is celebrating its Tele-Law 2.0
• The event is seminal as it commemorates the reaching of 50 Lakh milestone, that earmarks rendering of pre-litigation advice to the common citizens through the use of technology.
• It also integrates this legal advice service under Tele-Law with legal representation services under Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono) programme.
• This would enable the common citizen to access legal advice, legal assistance and legal representation through a single registration and single gateway of Tele-Law.
• The event is being organized by Department of Justice and is supported by CSC e- Governance Services India Limited.
• The event exemplifies the Government’s vision to strengthen the legal aid eco-system and to ensure “Justice for All”.

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