17 Aug 2023: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Summit on Traditional Medicine
2. Reforms for Mobile User Protection
3. MoU with Trinidad and Tobago
4. Central Water Commission
5. Nanoindentation Technique

1. Summit on Traditional Medicine

Syllabus: GS-2, Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Prelims: Summit on Traditional Medicine

Mains: Significance of traditional medicine

Context:

More than 75 nations participated in the first-ever global Summit on Traditional Medicine.

Details:

• The first World Health Organization Global Summit on Traditional Medicine was inaugurated at Gandhinagar on 17 Aug 2023.
• The summit was held alongside the G20 health ministerial meeting, to mobilize political commitment and evidence-based action on traditional medicine, which is a first port of call for millions of people worldwide to address their health and well-being needs.
• It was co-hosted by GOI and WHO.
• It served as a platform for all stakeholders, including traditional medicine workers, users and communities, national policymakers, international organizations, academics, private sector and civil society organizations, to share best practices and game-changing evidence, data and innovation on the contribution of traditional medicine to health and sustainable development.
• In light of the growing demand for traditional medicine, WHO, with the support of the Government of India, established in March 2022 the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine as a knowledge hub with a mission to catalyse ancient wisdom and modern science for the health and well-being of people and the planet.

Significance of Traditional Medicine:

• Throughout history, traditional medicine has been at the heart of households and communities in their effort to enhance the health and well-being of people.
• Even today, about 40% of pharmaceutical products have a natural basis, and landmark drugs derive from traditional medicine, including aspirin, artemisinin, and childhood cancer treatments. 
• The industry for wellness and natural products, and herbal medicines is expanding.

2. Reforms for Mobile User Protection

Syllabus: GS-2, Governance

Prelims: Reforms for mobile user protection

Mains: Security in the telecom sector

Context:

Two reforms were introduced for mobile user protection to promote a cleaner and safer digital ecosystem.

Background:

• With the increasing digitalization of social-economic activities in the country, the use of telecom resources, including mobile services, is increasing rapidly for availing of online services. 
• Digital connectivity is an enabler of social, economic and transformational mobility.  
• Hence, it is important to promote the safe utilization of telecom resources in order to facilitate the protection of mobile users.

New Reforms for Mobile User Protection:

• KYC Reforms
  • To combat the misuse of printed Aadhaar documents, demographic details will be securely captured by scanning the QR code on printed Aadhaar cards. This step ensures the integrity of customer information and adds an extra layer of security.
  • In cases of mobile number disconnection, a safeguard has been instituted. Disconnected numbers will not be reassigned to new customers for a duration of 90 days, preventing any unauthorised use or potential security breaches.
  • Subscribers seeking to replace their SIM cards will now be required to undergo a complete KYC process. During this period, there will be a 24-hour suspension of outgoing and incoming SMS facilities, contributing to heightened security during the transition.
  • The reforms also introduce facial-based biometric authentication in addition to thumb impressions and iris-based authentication, providing an array of secure verification methods for Aadhaar E-KYC.
• Point of Sale (POS) Registration Reform

• • This reform introduces the process for mandatory registration of franchisees, Agents and Distributors (PoS) by Licensees. This will help in eliminating the rogue PoS who by fraudulent practices issue SIMs to anti-social/anti-national elements.
  • The PoS registration process includes indisputable verification of PoS by the Licensee. The process mandates a written agreement between the PoS and the Licensees. If a PoS indulges in any illegal activities, it will be terminated and blacklisted for a period of 03 years. All the existing PoS will be registered as per this process by Licensees within 12 months.
  • This will help in identifying, blacklisting and eliminating rogue PoS, from the licensees’ system and provide an encouragement to the upright PoS.
• These reforms will bolster telecom security, prevent fraud, and ensure customer protection in the digital realm.

3. MoU with Trinidad and Tobago

Syllabus: GS-2, International Relations

Prelims: India Stack

Context:

India signed an MoU with Trinidad and Tobago on sharing India Stack.

Details:

• Both sides agreed to cooperate in the areas of digital transformation by means of capacity building, training programmes, exchange of best practices, exchange of public officials and experts, development of pilot or demo solutions, etc.
• Since June 2023, India has already signed MoUs with countries namely Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Papua New Guinea and Antigua & Barbuda to share India Stack while many countries like Mauritius, and Saudi Arabia have shown interest and are at an advanced stage of finalizing cooperation on IndiaStack. 
• The UPI which is also a part of India Stack, has been accepted in France, UAE, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
• Indiastack.global
  • It is a global repository of key projects implemented under India Stack like Aadhaar, UPI, Digilocker, Cowin Vaccination Platform, Government e-Marketplace (GeM), DIKSHA Platform and Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission. 
  • It is expected to help position India as the leader in building Digital Transformation projects at a population scale and prove to be of immense help to other countries which are looking for such technology solutions.

4. Central Water Commission

Syllabus: GS-2, Government bodies

Prelims: Central Water Commission, Mobile App Floodwatch

Context:

Central Water Commission launched a mobile application called ‘Floodwatch’.

About Floodwatch Mobile App:

• The application was launched by the Central Water Commission (CWC) with the aim of using mobile phones to disseminate information related to the flood situation and forecasts up to 7 days on a real-time basis to the public. 
• The in-house developed user-friendly app has readable and audio broadcast and all the information is available in 2 languages, viz. English and Hindi. 
• A key feature of the app includes real-time flood monitoring where users can check up-to-date flood situations throughout the country. 
• The app utilizes near real-time river flow data from various sources. 
• The app also provides flood forecasts at the nearest location where users can check the flood advisory at the station nearest to them.
• Other key features of the App:
  • Forecast using an Interactive Map where users can check the CWC Flood Forecast (up to 24 hours) or Flood Advisory (up to 7 days) either by directly selecting the station from the map or the user can also search for the name of the station in the search box. 
  • Provide State-wise/Basin-wise Flood Forecast (up to 24 hours) or Flood Advisory (up to 7 days) which can be accessed by selecting specific stations, state-wise or basin-wise from the dropdown menu.

5. Nanoindentation Technique

Syllabus: GS-3, Science & Technology

Prelims: Nanoindentation technique

Context:

Indian scientist develops novel method to improve the accuracy and precision of nanomechanical testing technology.

Details:

• A novel method to test the nanomechanical properties of materials at very minute scales with high precision and accuracy has been developed by an Indian scientist in collaboration with two international institutions.
• The new methodology not only significantly improves the precision and accuracy of what is known as nanoindentation technique or testing of mechanical strength, but enables testing at much higher rates, thus facilitating high throughput.
• With conventional testing methods not always feasible at nanoscales, which are usually of the order of 1/100th of the diameter of a human hair, the nanoindentation technique was invented by Dr. Warren Oliver (KLA Corp.) and Dr. John Pethica (Oxford University) in the 80s and the analysis procedure was proposed by Dr. Warren Oliver and Dr. George Pharr (Texas A&M University) in their seminal work which had a huge impact on a broad spectrum of scientific research.
• The technique has been widely used to measure the strength of semiconductor devices and structural materials that have ubiquitously penetrated every aspect of our daily life through electronic gadgets. 
• The technique has been used for a wide range of applications from identifying cancerous cells to establishing how meteorites are formed in deep space.
• In developing the new methodology, Dr. Sudharshan Phani of the Advanced Nanomechanical Characterization (ANC) Centre at Centre for Engineered Coatings, International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad, collaborated with Dr Oliver at KLA and Prof. Pharr.
• The novel approach involved a combination of extensive modelling and simulation to understand the material response during an indentation test and subsequent tailoring of the methodology to improve precision and accuracy. The modelling results have also been validated by experiments under extreme conditions. 

Read the previous PIB articles here.