UPSC: PIB Summary and Analysis Jan 11

Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time Information (SFOORTI)

• In a major digital initiative to help plan the traffic flows and optimize freight operations, Ministry of Railways have launched Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time Information (SFOORTI) App for Freight Managers which provides features for monitoring and managing freight business using Geographic Information System (GIS) Views and Dashboard.

Salient features of SFOORTI Application are as below:

• With this application, movement of freight trains on Geographic Information System (GIS) view can be tracked.
• Both passenger and freight trains can be tracked over Zones/Divisions/ Sections in single GIS View.
• Freight business can be monitored.
• Comparative Analysis of Zonal/Divisional Traffic.
• Analysis of new traffic captured and traffic lost.
• This app provides a Bird’s eye view of all Freight Assets in a single window.
• Provides end to end Rake movement on Geospatial view
• Expected Traffic at Interchange points to evaluate daily performance can be viewed.
• Performance of each zone and divisions with respect to loading and utilization of freight assets can be viewed.
• Sectional performance monitoring for sections, divisions and zones shall help in traffic routing.
• Freight terminal and sidings can be better monitored to ensure better turnaround of rakes.

International Dharma-Dhamma Conference

• Nalanda University, in collaboration with the Centre for Study of Religion and Society, India Foundation, Ministry of External Affairs and the Vietnam Buddhist University, is organising the conference
• The event is being organised as part of the commemorative events to celebrate the Silver Jubilee year of ASEAN-India Dialogue Partnership, with support of the Union Ministry of External Affairs.
• The central theme of the conference is the ideal state and just social order based on dharmic principles.
• Through this conference it is aimed to facilitate crosspollination of ideas and foster harmony at the global level. In the present era of globalization it is all the more needed to integrate the world through the common bond of Dharma-Dhamma which provides strong thread of interconnectedness.
• Thus, the conference seeks to explore the shared values of the dharmic traditions, which may provide the guiding light to the troubled world today.

Seven Summits

• The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass.
• The Seven Summits achievement has become noted as an exploration and mountaineering accomplishment
• After scaling of Mt Everest in 2005, IAF launched a unique and unprecedented series of mountaineering expedition ‘Mission Seven Summits’ with an aim to fly the tricolour and the IAF flag on the highest peaks in every continent.

Details

• Indian Air Force becomes the first organisation in India to have completed ‘Seven Summits’, indeed a rare feat to achieve
• IAF with such ventures lives truly to its motto ‘Touch the Sky with Glory’.