Weekly PIB Analysis | PIB News Analysis 4th Week 23rd to 31st May’ 2022

Table of Contents

PM expresses happiness about ASHA workers getting WHO Award

Context:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his happiness on the occasion of entire ASHA workers getting awarded the WHO Director General’s Global Health Leaders’ Award.

Background:

The World Health Organization tweeted that more than 1 million ASHA workers have been honoured with the WHO Director General’s Global Health Leaders’ Award for their tremendous work in linking the community with the health system.
In response to the tweet, PM Modi congratulated all the ASHA workers for their achievements.
He appreciated the female volunteers and said that they are the frontline warriors in ensuring the nation’s health.
With the help of ASHA workers, rural people can access primary healthcare facilities. Their dedication and determination are admirable.

ASHA workers:

The Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers are volunteers from within the community who are trained to provide information and aid people in accessing the benefits of various healthcare schemes of the government.
They act as a bridge connecting marginalized communities with facilities such as primary health centres, sub-centres, and district hospitals.
The role of these community health volunteers under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was first established in 2005.
ASHAs are primarily married, widowed, or divorced women between the ages of 25 and 45 years from within the community.
They must have good communication and leadership skills; should be literate with formal education up to Class 8, as per the program guidelines.

Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal

Context:

The Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal has completed 5 years.
The Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal (FIF) was established after the abolishment of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

Working of the FIF portal:

The Foreign Direct Investment proposals are required to be filed on Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal (FIF Portal).
The FIF portal is managed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
The proposals filed on FIF Portal are forwarded to the concerned Administrative Ministry. The proposals are also sent to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for necessary security clearance, wherever required.
Automated alerts through SMS and emails to concerned ministries/departments and periodic reviews of the pendency of FDI proposals are being undertaken.
Regular training sessions are also being conducted to educate ministries/departments regarding the judicious and expeditious processing of FDI proposals.

Digital India BHASHINI – India’s AI led language translation platform

Context:

The Ministry of State for Electronics and Information Technology has held brainstorming with Researchers & Start-ups to shape strategy for Digital India BHASHINI.
BHASHINI stands for BHASHa INterface for India, the National Language Translation Mission (NLTM).

Details:

The Bhashini Platform will make Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) resources available to Startups and Individual Innovators in the public domain.
Mission will create and nurture an ecosystem involving Central/State government agencies and start-ups, working together to develop and deploy innovative products and services in Indian languages.
Mission Digital India Bhashini also aims to increase the content in Indian languages on the Internet substantially in the domains of public interest, particularly, governance-and-policy, science & technology, etc.

PARAM PORUL

Context: A supercomputer named PARAM PORUL was inaugurated at NIT (National Institute of Technology) Tiruchirappalli under the National Supercomputing Mission.
Delving deeper:

PARAM PORUL is a state-of-the-art supercomputer developed under Phase II of the National Supercomputing Mission.
The National Supercomputing Mission is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Science and Technology.
The components of the system have been manufactured and assembled within the country along with an indigenous software stack developed by C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing).
This is in line with the vision of Make in India.
PARAM PORUL system is based on Direct Contact Liquid Cooling technology to obtain high power usage effectiveness and thereby reduce the operational cost.

NIRDESHAK VESSEL

Context
The Nirdeshak vessel was launched in Kattupalli, Chennai.
Nirdeshak vessel

The Nirdeshak vessel is the second of the four Survey Vessels (Large) (SVL) Project.
- The first vessel named “Sandhayak” was launched in December 2021.
It is being built as a Public-Private Partnership model by Garden Reach Shipbuilders Engineers (GRSE), a defence PSU in collaboration with L&T shipbuilding for the Indian Navy.
The ship has been named after the Nirdeshak Vessel which was an Indian Naval Survey ship decommissioned after 32 years of service in 2014.

Project ‘NIGAH’

Context

Project NIGAH was launched by the Delhi Customs in Gurugram.

Project NIGAH

Project NIGAH is an initiative to track containers by using ICTM (ICD Container Tracking Module).
- Inland Container Depot (ICD) – ICDs are also called dry ports as they handle all customs formalities related to the import and export of goods at these locations.
- ICDs are common user facilities with public authority status equipped with fixed installations and offering services for handling and temporary storage of import/export laden and empty containers carried under Customs control.
ICTM has been developed in collaboration with the custodian Gateway Rail Freight Limited (GRFL).
Project NIGAH will facilitate better visibility of the container movement inside the ICD.
The project will assist Customs to expedite long-standing containers and monitor timely clearances, thereby enhancing the Ease of Doing Business and ensuring lead preventive checks.

Lavender Festival

Context

India’s ‘First Lavender Festival’ was inaugurated in Bhaderwah.

Lavender Festival

The country’s first ‘Lavender Festival’ was inaugurated in Bhaderwah which is regarded as the birthplace of India’s Purple Revolution.
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) which functions under the aegis of the Ministry of Science and Technology conducted the Lavender Festival 2022.
The festival was conducted as a part of the Union Government’s Aroma Mission which is in line with the “One Product one District” initiative.
The aim of the festival is to increase the income of farmers associated with Aroma Mission by encouraging and motivating them to adopt the value addition of the aromatic plant they are growing in their fields.
In India, the lavender crop is cultivated in low rainfall regions and on the slopes of hills of Himachal Pradesh(HP) and Uttar Pradesh(UP). The lavender crop is also successfully grown in the Kashmir valley region

Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022

Context

The Prime Minister of India inaugurated Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022.

Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022

Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022 is touted to be India’s biggest Drone Festival and is held in New Delhi.
It is a two-day event which will see the participation of over 1600 delegates, consisting of government officials, armed forces, central armed police forces, Public Sector Units (PSUs), foreign diplomats, private companies, drone startups, etc.
The PM interacted with Kisan drone pilots and startups in the drone exhibition centre.
The festival will also see the presentation of virtual awards of drone pilot certificates, product launches, a display of a ‘Made in India’ Drone Taxi prototype and demonstrations.

Indian Business Portal

Context

Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry launched the Indian Business Portal.

Indian Business Portal

Indian Business Portal is an international trade hub for Indian exporters and foreign buyers.
It has been developed by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) in partnership with GlobalLinker
- FIEO is the apex trade promotion organisation in India set up by the Ministry of Commerce and the private trade and industry sector in 1965.
It is a Business-to-Business (B2B) digital marketplace set up to facilitate SME exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and increase their sales globally.
Indian Business Portal is the only such marketplace in India that is exclusive for exporters.

C3iVazra

Context

A Security Operation Centre (SoC) called C3iVazra has protected the computers and monitored highways across the country.

C3iVazra

C3iVazra is a Security Operation Centre (SoC) installed in 2021.
A security operations centre (SOC) is a facility that is composed of an information security team responsible for monitoring and analysing an organisation’s security status.
The SoC is the first in the country and was set up based on fully open-source components and integration.
C3iVazra was developed by the cyber-physical systems Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) or C3iHub set up at IIT Kanpur which is an R&D centre on cybersecurity in the country.
C3iVazra has provided advanced monitoring support by gathering real-time events, and log feeds from the endpoints, packet data from the network and the internet, and by processing these feeds to generate threat intelligence and ensure network security of the organization.
C3iVazra has increased efficiency in incident response, reduced the impact of security breaches, and has provided better reporting, log analysis, and retention facilities.

Railway Protection Force

Context

The Railway Minister honoured meritorious, distinguished & gallant members of the Railway Protection Force.

Railway Protection Force

Railway Protection Force is a security agency working under the ownership of Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways.
Railway Protection Force was established by the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957.
The Railway Protection Force has the authority to search, arrest, investigate, and prosecute offenses committed under Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1966 and the Railways Act, 1989.

PM pays tributes to Veer Savarkar on his Jayanti

Context:

The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Veer Savarkar on his Jayanti.
On May 28, 1883, Veer Savarkar was born in a Hindu Marathi family in Nashik, Maharastra.
He got the nickname ‘Veer’ for his bravery from a young age.
Veer Savarkar was famously known as Swatantryaveer Savarkar, and he was a well-known politician, social reformer, freedom fighter, and an institutor of Hindutva doctrine.
Veer Savarkar was profoundly impacted by his elder brother Ganesh Savarkar in his initial childhood days.
Veer Savarkar established a secret institution called Abhinav Bharat Society in 1904 with his elder brother, Ganesh Damodar Savarkar.
He established student institutions like Free India Society and was associated with India House.
During his teenage years, Veer Savarkar created a youth institution, Mitra Mela (Group of Friends), which worked towards bringing revolutionary and national ideas.
Apart from this, Veer Savarkar initiated one of the most influential social reform campaigns against untouchability in India. He created the Patit Pavan Temple in the Ratnagiri district to permit entry to all Hindus, including people from the Dalit community.

PM CARES For Children Scheme

Context:

The Indian Prime Minister is scheduled to release benefits under the PM CARES for Children Scheme.

Background:

PM CARES for Children Scheme was launched in 2021 to support children who have lost both the parents or legal guardian or adoptive parents or surviving parent to Covid-19 pandemic.
The Scheme sought to ensure comprehensive care and protection of children by providing health Insurance, Education and Financial Support till they attain the Age of 23 Years. The children would be provided boarding and lodging, scholarships, financial support of Rs. 10 lakh on attaining 23 years of age and also health insurance.

Details:

Prime Minister will transfer scholarships to school going children.
A passbook of PM CARES for Children, and health card under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana will also be handed over to the children.

Shakti B

Context:

The Ministry of Power has asked the Central Electricity Authority of India to determine the eligible quantity of domestic coal for power plants using coal under Shakti B taking into account 10% imported coal for blending.
Given the large-scale shortage of domestic coal supplies, the Power Ministry had advised all generators to blend 10% of imported coal for power generation.

Shakti B:

Shakti B is the window for power plants having untied capacity to bid for coal, to generate power using this coal and sell it in the exchange under Day Ahead Market (DAM) or the DEEP portal.
DEEP (Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price) is a e-Bidding and e-Reverse auction portal for procurement of short-term power by DISCOMs. The web portal seeks to ensure seamless flow of power from seller to buyer.

National AI Portal (INDIAai.gov.in) celebrates its second anniversary

Context:

The National AI Portal celebrated its second anniversary on 30th May 2022.

Background:

As the national AI portal turns two, a virtual celebration was held on 30th May 2022.

What is National AI Portal?

The National AI Portal is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and NASSCOM.
The portal aims to create and promote a unified AI ecosystem in the country to drive excellence and leadership in knowledge creation to develop an AI-ready robust workforce for the future.

ASTRA Mk I

Context:

The Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with Bharat Dynamics Limited for supply of ASTRA MK-I missile and associated equipment for the Indian Air Force & Indian Navy.

Details:

ASTRA MK-I is a Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Air to Air Missile (AAM).
ASTRA MK-I BVR AAM has been Indigenously Designed & Developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
It has been bought under Buy (Indian-IDDM) category.
Air to Air missile with BVR capability provides large Stand Off Ranges to own fighter aircraft which can neutralise the adversary aircraft without exposing itself to adversary Air Defence measures, thereby gaining & sustaining superiority of the Air Space.