UPSC: PIB Summary and Analysis Jan 16

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund For Sportspersons

  • Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund For Sportspersons (PDUNWFS) was set up in March, 1982 with a view to assisting outstanding Sportspersons of yesteryear, living in indigent circumstances who had brought glory to the Country in sports.
  • The Scheme ‘Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons’ provides for lump sum financial assistance for medical treatment to outstanding sportspersons now living in indigent circumstances.
  • Provision of pension has been done away with as there is already a Scheme of Pension for Meritorious Sportspersons.
  • Now, lump sum ex-gratia assistance is given to the Sportspersons or their families for medical treatment etc.

 

 

DST-Intel Collaborative Research for Real-Time River Water and Air Quality Monitoring

  • Recognizing the importance of developing the online River Water and Air Quality Monitoring (WAQM) systems, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Intel are collaborating to jointly initiate “DST-Intel Collaborative Research for Real-Time River Water and Air Quality Monitoring” soliciting proposals from Academic/Research Institutions and providing grant-in-aid support to the selected project(s).
  • This Programme is very critical for the restoration, conservation and preservation of the environment.
  • The aim of this initiative is to develop key technologies for sensing, communication and analysis of large-scale data collected from autonomous networks of perpetual/long-lived sensor nodes, followed by integration and deployment for water and air quality monitoring in real-time.
  • The program will be administered by the binational Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF).

Goal

  • The goal of this research would be to enable the development and eventual deployment of low-cost, low-power, autonomous wireless sensor networks to provide a fine-grained view of several critical water and air quality metrics over large geographic areas (cities, rivers, watersheds etc.).

Significance

  • The development of such an end-to-end solution comprising of several individual research elements can also potentially impact environmental quality monitoring systems in diverse contexts such as urban, domestic and industrial settings.
  • These online sensor networks for river water and air quality monitoring will provide the pre-remedial quality status and would enable to assess efficacy of post remedial interventions based on real time reliable factual data.
  • This real time data will significantly further strengthen and complement the Missions of National priority like Namami Gange Programme and others by serving as critical data feeders for pre and post treatment analysis.

 

 

NIRMAN – SAMVAAD

  • In a major initiative to ensure expeditious implementation of ambitious Railway Infrastructure Development Plans, Ministry of Railways is organizing a “Mega Conclave”
  • The Conclave named as “NIRMAN – SAMVAAD” is being organized by Railways PSU Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL) which is a dedicated arm of the Ministry of Railways for fast track implementation of railway projects.
  • The Conclave will provide an opportunity to discuss the impediments/constraints faced in implementation of the projects and to seek suggestions to remove bottlenecks and bring about efficiencies in project execution on Railways.

Participants

  • Senior Officers of Railway Board, Zonal Railways, CPSEs and top executives of about 400 construction and consultancy companies will be participating to deliberate upon the issues/impediments being faced by the industry and arriving at possible remedies thereof.

Projects

  • The ambitious Infrastructure Development Projects of Indian Railways include Doubling Projects, Electrification Projects, Hill Railway Projects, Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and High-Speed Projects on diamond quadrilateral.

 

 

NITI Aayog initiates the first course on Sustainable Urban Planning using Remote Sensing and GIS

  • The First Global Initiative on Academic Network GIAN course on Sustainable Urban planning using remote sensing and Geographic Information System, GIS has been launched at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur’s outreach center in NOIDA.
  • This course is being conducted under the Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN) Program of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and actively supported by NITI Aayog and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
  • This course aims to give participants state-of-the-art remote sensing and GIS skills which will allow them to rise to the challenge of managing the rapidly changing urban environment of Indian cities.
  • Focus will be on issues such as water resource management, water pollution and strategic emplacements for water treatment facilities.

 

 

Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA)

  • The Sangeet Natak Akademi established by the Government of India in 1953, is India’s National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama.
  • It is responsible for the promotion and preservation of the performing arts of the country, and works to achieve these goals by means of specially designed programmes in various fields.
  • One of the important activities of the Akademi is to recognize the contribution of outstanding musicians, dancers and theatre artists, bestowing on them its Fellowship and Awards.
  • The ultimate aim of the activity is to create benchmarks in the practice of the performing arts.

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

  • It is the highest national recognition given to practicing artists, gurus and scholars.
  • It carries a purse money of Rs. 1,00,000/-, a shawl, and atamrapatra (a brass plaque).
  • The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) are national honours bestowed by the Republic of India on performing artists as well as teachers and scholars in the field of performing arts.
  • The recipients are selected by the Akademi’s General Council, consisting of musicians, dancers, theatre artists and scholars in these disciplines, and nominees of the Government of India and of the States and Union Territories of the India Union.
  • The number of awards given annually is 33 at present and, till date over 1000 artists has been honored.

 

To ace UPSC current affairs section, read more PIB articles here.

Comments

Leave a Comment

Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published.

*

*