Union Human Resource Development Minister, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ attended the First Annual Innovation Festival of the MHRD’s Innovation Cell (MIC). MIC organized the first Annual Innovation Festival in coordination with AICTE here today. During this festival, Innovation cell showcased more than 70 top students’ innovations from across India. Minister of State for HRD, Shri Sanjay Dhotre was also present on the occasion.

Union Minister also launched the Smart India Hackathon 2020, Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2020, and Institution’s Innovation Council 2.0. The event also witnessed the release of the Start-Up Policy Document and SIH Report, launch of Technical Teacher’s Training Module, ATAL Academies, Protsahan Mudra Scheme, Vishwakarma Award and the Vice Chancellor’s Meet on the Student Induction Programme, which has bridged the gap between students and teachers through creatively designed programs that have unveiled the best potential of a student outside of the book curriculum.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Pokhriyal said that the MHRD, last year initiated the separate Innovation cell with support from AICTE to foster the culture of innovation in all educational institutions of India. He said that as India aspires to be 5 trillion-dollar economy by 2024, India needs to emerge as global innovation, entrepreneurship and startup hub. He added that considering India’s current demography, youngsters need to be in the forefront of this innovative movement and Indian higher education institutes need to play a key role and emerge as centers of excellence producing global quality research and innovation.

Shri Pokhriyal further said that MHRD’s Innovation Cell with the support of AICTE has undertaken multiple initiatives to ensure that innovation becomes the primary fulcrum of our technical education. He added that All India Council for Technical Education, in its endeavor to bring quality revolution in the standard of technical education of India has undertaken a plethora of activities which includes various schemes, policies, programs and regulations that have evolved to shape the educational domain of India as the ultimate in every sphere and has come forward as emerging giants of global technological warriors.

Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru Airports Awarded on PPP to Harness Investments in Public Sector Online Jobs Portal Launched for Employers and Job Seekers in Aviation Sector

Collection of PSF(SC)/ASF in a Single Pool Account to Cross-Subsidize Smaller Airports 34 RCS Routes Operationalised Connecting 4 Unserved and 4 Underserved Airports in Past 100 Days

100 Days Achievement of Ministry of Civil Aviation Posted On: 11 SEP 2019 6:37PM by PIB Delhi Ministry of Civil aviation has undertaken many initiatives in the past 100 days in the direction of enabling affordable flying and healthy aviation sector growth. Some of the key initiatives are-

India’s tallest Air Traffic Control tower was inaugurated earlier this month at the Indira Gandhi International Airport which will ensure up-scaled services and systems for efficient, smooth and uninterrupted air traffic management.

The airports of Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru have been awarded to a private concessionaire through Public Private Partnership (PPP) to bring efficiency in delivery, expertise, enterprise and professionalism apart from harnessing the needed investments in the public sector.

‘Aviation Jobs’ is a unique web-based portal launched by Ministry of Civil Aviation on 29.08.2019, which seeks to bring together job seekers and prospective employers in the Indian civil aviation sector. It is a common platform for enabling candidates to register their job interests across various sub-sectors. At the same time it facilitates sourcing of information about candidates available in the market by prospective employers with a view to improve prospects for employment or re-employment in the civil aviation ecosystem

34 routes have been operationalized, awarded under round 1, 2 and 3 / Tourism RCS. These 34 RCS routes provide connectivity to 4 unserved (Jharsuguda, Mysore, Kolhapur and Jalgaon) and 4 underserved (Gwalior, Belgaum, Durgapur and Shillong) airports connecting 10 served (Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Goa, Kochi, Rajahmundry and Vizag) airports under the scheme.

As part of Digital initiatives the Ministry has taken up eDGCA project conceptualized to completely automate the processes and functions of DGCA and its constituent directorates as well as to provide a strong base for IT infrastructure and service delivery framework. The work on development of various modules including licensing of pilots is under progress.

DigiSky– an online portal to regulate the entire gamut of activities relating to governance and operation of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS)/Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs)/drones has been made operational. While ensuring safety and security in drone operations, it will also help in promotion of drone technologies.

Esahaj-100% of security clearances pertaining to the Ministry have been made online on Esahaj online portal launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The portal is operational for granting clearances in respect of 24 categories.

DigiYatra Trial for rollout of DigiYatra initiative has been started at Bangalore and Hyderabad airports. The initiative envisages seamless and hassle free passenger travel using biometric technologies to improve passenger experience, reduce queue waiting time as passengers can walk through e-gates by using advanced security solutions. It will remove redundancies at check points and enhance resource utilization.

The 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) which is currently underway at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noidadedicated day 10 to the theme of Drought. The success and challenges of the current tools, methodologies and policies supporting drought preparedness, across the globe were discussed in today’s Conference at the Rio Pavilion Centre.

Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD, Executive Secretary in his opening remarks at the Drought Preparedness Day said “Drought is a major obstacle to achieving sustainable development goal-15. We need to move faster in our fight against drought. Let us dust this villain, and mitigate climate change”.The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. The 17 SDGs are integrated—that is, they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability. The SDG-15 refers to: Protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Mr.Rene Castro, Assistant Director- General, Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department, at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Ms. SamiaMkrumah, President of Kwame Nkrumah Pan African Centre, Ghana were amongst the key dignitaries.

This event highlighted the different causes of drought and also saw launch of a toolbox which is a one-stop shop for all actions on drought. The toolbox is a sort of knowledge bank which contains tools that strengthen the ability of countries to anticipate and prepare for drought effectively and mitigate their impacts as well as tools that enable communities to anticipate and find the land management tools that help them to build resilience to drought.

I&B Minister announces implementation of Accessibility Standard for TV Programmes for the Hearing Impaired Accessibility Standards for Films for the Visually Impaired under examination : Shri Prakash Javadekar Posted On: 11 SEP 2019 6:38PM by PIB Delhi In order to enhance the accessibility of television programmes for the hearing impaired, Union Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar announced the implementation of Accessibility Standard for TV Programmes for persons with hearing impairment. This will be done through the provision of captioning and Indian Sign Language.

Shri Javadekar announced that all news channels will carry a news bulletin with sign language interpretation at least once per day and all TV channels and service providers will run at least one programme per week with subtitles / captioning.

Union Minister of State for Human Resource DevelopmentShri Sanjay Dhotre, launched the Curriculum for Life Skills (JeevanKaushal) designed by University Grants Commission (UGC), in New Delhi today.

While speaking on the occasion, Shri Dhotre emphasized on development of life skills in every individual, as essential part of wholesome learning. He highlighted the problem of prevalent obsession with earning marks in different examinations. Such examination-driven education encourages narrow and selective reading and rote learning, which ultimately leads to deficit in actual learning.

He added that in real life, one also needs to be skilled for coping with diverse situations that one may encounter in life. Highlighting the crucial importance of this new curriculum on life skills, he added that this initiative of UGC will surely lead to improvement in the collective efficiency of country’s young population.

In a major boost for Indian Army, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) today successfully flight tested indigenously developed low weight, fire and forget Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile (MPATGM) in the ranges of Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. The missile was launched from a man portable Tripod launcher and the target was mimicking a functional tank. The missile hit the target in top attack mode and destroyed it with precision. All the mission objectives were met.

This is the third series of successful testing of MPATGM. The missile is incorporated with state-of-the-art Infrared Imaging Seeker along with advanced avionics. The test paves the way for the Army to have developed 3rd generation man portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile indigenously.

About the Market Intervention Price Scheme: It is a price support mechanism implemented on the request of State Governments. It is for procurement of perishable and horticultural commodities in the event of a fall in market prices. The Scheme is implemented when there is at least 10% increase in production or 10% decrease in the ruling rates over the previous normal year.

Its objective is to protect the growers of these horticultural/agricultural commodities from making distress sale in the event of bumper crop during the peak arrival period when prices fall to very low level. The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation is implementing the scheme.

Funding: Under MIP, funds are not allocated to the States. Instead, central share of losses as per the guidelines of MIP is released to the State Governments/UTs, for which MIP has been approved, based on specific proposals received from them.

The area of operation is restricted to the concerned state only. The MIS has been implemented in case of commodities like apples, kinnoo/malta, garlic, oranges, galgal, grapes, mushrooms, clove, black pepper, pineapple, ginger, red-chillies, coriander seed etc.

The countries have also agreed to initiate the review of the ASEAN-India trade in goods agreement to make it more user-friendly, simple, and trade facilitative for businesses.

About AITIGA: The ASEAN–India Free Trade Area (AIFTA) is a free trade area among the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India.

It came into force from January 2010. Under the pact, two trading partners set timelines for eliminating duties on the maximum number of goods traded between the two regions. Based on preliminary ASEAN data, two-way goods trade with India grew by 9.8 per cent from $73.6 billion in 2017 to $80.8 billion in 2018.

Need for review: India is not happy about the fact that its trade deficit with ASEAN has widened significantly since the pact was implemented. A NITI Aayog study reveals that India’s trade deficit with ASEAN doubled to $10 billion in 2017 from $5 billion in 2011.

One of the reasons for the growing deficit is the low utilisation of the FTA route by Indian exporters to ASEAN countries because of difficulties faced in negotiating the rules. A review of the India-ASEAN FTA could help improve utilisation in India by making the pact simpler and more user-friendly.

What is FAW? It is a native of the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the Americas. First detected in the African continent in 2016. Since then, it has spread to other countries such as China, Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

In India: It was reported in India for the first-time in Karnataka. Within a span of only six months, almost 50 per cent of the country, including Mizoram, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, has reported FAW infestations.

What makes FAW dangerous? It is the polyphagous(ability to feed on different kinds of food) nature of the caterpillar and the ability of the adult moth to fly more than 100 km per night.

Given its ability to feed on multiple crops — nearly 80 different crops ranging from maize to sugarcane — FAW can attack multiple crops. Similarly, it can spread across large tracts of land as it can fly over large distances. This explains the quick spread of the pest across India.

How FAW affects output? Till date, India has reported FAW infestation on maize, sorghum (jowar) and sugarcane crops. Maize has been the worst affected as most maize-growing states in southern India have been affected by the pest.

FAW infestation and drought has led to a shortfall of nearly 5 lakh tonnes in output, prompting the central government to allow import of maize under concessional duty. Maize is the third most important cereal crop grown in the country and the infestation, if not checked in time, can wreck havoc.

Background: The height of the dam was increased to 138.68 metres in 2017. The water level in the dam reached 136.04 metres on September 9, 2019, due to heavy rains. The dam is to be filled to its full reservoir level by October 15.

Various issues present: Compensation amounts. Formation of islands due to submergence. Inadequate number of plots and rehabilitation sites. Leveling of land for house construction. Action on people involved in fake registry of land for homes. Rights for the fishing community on the reservoir. Cases of oustees settled in Gujarat. Issues of farmers who have lost land for rehabilitation sites.

Sardar Sarovar project- key facts: Taken up after the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal gave its final award vis-à-vis Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh in 1979. Second biggest dam in terms of volume of concrete used in it. Third highest concrete dam in India. Power generated from the dam would be shared among three states — Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

What’s the concern with the project? Water level in the submergence area of the dam in Barwani and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh is rising steadily.

As per Narmada Bachao Andolan group, 40,000 families in 192 villages in Madhya Pradesh would be displaced when the reservoir is filled to its optimum capacity. According to the World Bank, the project started with very little assessment of resettlement and rehabilitation, and environmental impact.

Why is this project significant and what benefits has it got? Unused Water from Narmada river, which would otherwise flow into the sea, could be used for serving many dry towns, villages and districts of Gujarat.

The project would employ about one million people starting from the start to end of the project. Provide electricity to the unserved regions and also to the farmers. Provide water for irrigation and for drinking purpose. Provide flood protection to an area of about 30,000 hectares which is prone to the fury of floods.

What needs to be done? Task of rehabilitation and resettlement of affected people should be completed immediately. Need of an independent review of the project on continuous basis to fulfil the real objectives of the project.

Studies should take into consideration the seasonal temporal variations in the climate and many other important parameters. Environment safeguards should be put in place.

The 10-point framework: Appoint a national drought management policy commission State or define the goals and objectives of risk-based national drought management policy

Seek stakeholder participation, define and resolve conflicts between key water use sectors Inventory data and financial resources available and broadly identify groups at risk

Prepare the key tenets of the national drought management policy and preparedness plans Identify research needs and fill institutional gaps Integrate science and policy aspects of drought management Publicise the policy and preparedness plans, build public awareness Develop education programs for all age and stakeholder groups Evaluate and revise policy and supporting plans

Indian scenario: Droughts affect 42 per cent of India’s land while another 6 per cent is ‘exceptionally dry plane’; 40 per cent of the country’s population is vulnerable to droughts.

Challenges: Conditions of the political economy often gives governments weak incentives to adopt a risk-management approach.

Other causes include the lack of a holistic approach; integrating analysis and action across sectors and agencies and the political economy of aid.

What India can learn from this? The way to combat frequent droughts lies in evaluating their impacts.

Losses due to droughts need proper estimation. More and better economic analysis could be a decisive factor in moving countries from crisis management to risk management.

What next? It will become a new Article in the Convention and will enter into force in the 97 countries after 90 days — on December 5.

About the 1995 Basel Ban Amendment: Adopted by the parties to the Basel Convention in 1995.

To protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes. The amendment prohibits all export of hazardous wastes, including electronic wastes and obsolete ships from 29 wealthiest countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries.

Basel Convention — Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal: Opened for signature on 22 March 1989 entered into force on 5 May 1992 Parties — 187.

It is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). It does not address the movement of radioactive waste.

Context: Conservation of snow leopards and preservation of people’s cultural values can prevent land degradation of the Himalayan ecosystem, said experts at the ongoing 14th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

How? The snow leopard is the apex predator in the region. Saving it will mean that we will need to save the prey base of herbivores too and to save the prey base will mean preserving the grassland that they feed on. This will automatically lead to the prevention of land degradation.

Key facts: Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Inhabit alpine and subalpine zones at elevations from 3,000 to 4,500 m (9,800 to 14,800 ft).

State animal of Uttarakhand and the National Heritage Animal of Pakistan. Habitat extends through twelve countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. China contains as much as 60% of all snow leopard habitat areas. Llisted on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).

Global Snow Leopard Forum, 2013:12 countries encompassing the snow leopard’s range (Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan). Bishkek Declaration:To protect the species and it’s environment.

Global Snow Leopard and Eco-system Protection Program:It is a joint initiative of range country governments, international agencies, civil society, and the private sector. Goal — secure the long-term survival of the snow leopard in its natural ecosystem.

Paleontologists have identified a new species, named it Cryodrakon boreas, and declared that it could be one of the largest flying animals.

With a wingspan of over 10 metres, it is believed to have flown over the heads of dinosaurs.

The reptile lived over 77 million years ago in what is western Canada today.

This is being constructed on National Waterway-1 (River Ganga) under Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) aided by World Bank.

The First MultiModal Terminal has been constructed at Varanasi over River Ganga. Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system from Allahabad to Haldia was declared as National Waterway No.1. The NW-1 passes through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal and serves major cities and their industrial hinterlands.