About the Global ICT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities: The Global ICT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities is a capacity building project that helps youth with disabilities to overcome their limitations and challenge themselves for a better future by providing them with access to ICT and related experiences, improving their ability to leverage information and social participation while setting ICT agendas for participant countries related to disabilities and boosting international cooperation and exchange.
The objective of the event is to leverage IT skills among youth with disabilities and also to spread awareness about the application of Information and Computer Technology (ICT) in enhancing the quality of life of persons with disabilities especially in Asia-Pacific region.
Participants: This year around 100 youth with disabilities (visual disability, hearing disability, locomotor disability and intellectual disability/developmental disorder) from 18 countries are participating in the event.
The competition is focused on strategies for strengthening IT skills of youth with disabilities as a critical requirement for enhancing their access to information and communication services on an equal basis with others. It is being held with a total of four events including e-Tool Challenge to evaluate the skills of using the MS Office programme and e-Life Map Challenge to evaluate the online information search ability in specific situations.
Significance of ICT: Today, we have plethora of applications and softwares across the world that can be used for improving the life skills of persons with disabilities to enable them to lead the dignified life such ICT tools can work as communication bridge for the persons with disabilities. The use of ICT can reduce digital divide and expand social integration of persons with disabilities across communities and counties by creating an accessible global information network.
Way ahead: India has always been in the forefront of software development in the world. However, there is a need to create deeper and wider awareness about the application of ICT at the grass root level for empowering the person with disabilities.
The report is released by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The report, released ahead of the 10th annual World Pneumonia Day, on November 12, reviews progress and gaps in coverage of interventions to “protect against, prevent and treat” pneumonia and diarrhoea.
Highlights of the report: Even as vaccine coverage has significantly improved in India, other interventions against pneumonia and diarrhoea, the two major causes of child deaths in the country, declined in last one year.
ORS coverage dropped by 13 percentage points, exclusive breastfeeding by 10 percentage points, whereas access to pneumonia care decreased by four percentage points in one year. With a total of 2,60,990 deaths of children under 5 years of age due to pneumonia and diarrhoea, India continues to top the list of 15 countries with the most casualties. While 1,58,176 children under 5 died of pneumonia, diarrhoea accounted for 1,02,813 deaths in 2016.
Female children in India lose out on vaccination despite improvements in full immunisation coverage. Only 78 females were fully immunised for every 100 males fully immunised in poor areas of Delhi. Addressing these disparities can help reduce pneumonia and diarrhoea burden.
Globally, pneumonia and diarrhoea cause 1.36 million deaths in children in the same category in 2016. Over two thirds of the global burden of pneumonia and diarrhoea mortality occurs in just 15 countries. Despite significant reductions of disease in recent years with improvements in access to and use of health interventions, nearly half a million pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths still occurred in just India and Nigeria.
The report lists exclusive breastfeeding, vaccination, access to care and use of antibiotics, oral rehydration solution, and zinc supplementation as key interventions to help prevent and treat pneumonia and diarrhoea.
The primary goal of joining AMF TCP by India to bring down emissions and achieve higher fuel efficiency in transport sector.
What is Advanced Motor Fuels Technology Collaboration Programme? AMF TCP is an international platform under the framework of International Energy Agency (IEA) for co-operation among countries to promote cleaner and more energy efficient fuels & vehicle technologies.
The activities of AMF TCP are deployment and dissemination of Advanced Motor Fuels. It looks upon the transport fuel issues in a systemic way taking into account the production, distribution and end use related aspects.
AMF TCP also provides an opportunity for fuel analysis, identifying new/ alternate fuels for deployment in transport sector and allied R&D activities for reduction in emissions in fuel intensive sectors.
India and Other Members: Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has joined AMF TCP as its 16th member in May, 2018. The other member Countries of AMF TCP are USA, China, Japan, Canada, Chile, Israel, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Thailand.
Benefits for India: India’s association with AMF TCP will help in furthering its efforts in identification & deployment of suitable fuels for transport sector for higher efficiency and lesser emissions. The benefits of participation in AMF TCP are shared costs and pooled technical resources.
The duplication of efforts is avoided and national Research and Development capabilities are strengthened. There is an information exchange about best practices, network of researchers and linking research with practical implementation.
After becoming member, India will initiate R&D in other areas of its interest in advanced biofuels and other motor fuels in view of their crucial role in substituting fossil fuel imports.
About the Global Cooling Innovation Summit: The Summit is a first-of-its-kind solutions-focused event that will bring together leaders from around the world to explore concrete means and pathways to address the climate threat that comes from the growing demand from room air conditioners.
The event is jointly organized by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, along with Rocky Mountain Institute, Alliance for An Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), Conservation X Labs and CEPT University.
Global Cooling Prize: The summit will also see the launching of Global Cooling Prize— Mission Innovation challenge that aims to spur development of a residential cooling solution that has at least five times (5x) less climate impact than today’s standard.
Global Cooling Prize is a competition with global reach and participation to achieve dramatic breakthroughs in cooling technologies. The objective of this competition would be to develop a cooling technology that requires radically less energy to operate, utilizes refrigerants with no ozone depletion potential and with low global warming potential, and has the potential to be cost-effective at scale.
Significance: This awards programme will call world-wide attention to the most promising ideas across the globe. This award will celebrate successes and facilitate endeavours of innovators through providing recognition, encouragement and support.
The award will also be able to build a collaborative platform that can utilize the potential of researchers so that public research contributes towards fostering innovation and create impact which is of social and economic good.
This recognition will not only recognise the eminent contributions to clean energy research development and demonstration, but would also motivate younger researchers to focus on innovations needed in clean energy domain to make world a better place to live.
The 25th edition of SIMBEX, an acronym for “Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise” is being held off Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. SIMBEX 2018 will be the largest edition since 1994 in terms of scale and complexity.
Context: The world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor made “his” debut at the ongoing fifth World Internet Conference in east China’s Zhejiang province.
Key facts: The AI news anchor has a male image with a voice, facial expressions and actions of a real person. He learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor.
The AI news anchor was jointly developed by Xinhua and the Chinese search engine company, Sogou.com. The AI anchor has become a member of reporting team and can work 24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms, reducing news production costs and improving efficiency.