19 Jan 2021: PIB Summary & Analysis

January 19th, 2021, PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin
2. National Startup Advisory Council
3. India-EU IPR Dialogue
4. Parakram Diwas
5. Exercise Desert Knight-21
6. MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab
7. India Innovation Index 2020

1. Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin

Context:

PM to release financial assistance to over 6 lakh beneficiaries in UP under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin.

Read more on Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin in PIB dated Nov 20, 2019.

2. National Startup Advisory Council

Context:

The Central Government has now decided to nominate the non-official members on the National Startup Advisory Council.

Details:

• The nominated members represent various stakeholders such as founders of successful startups, veterans who have grown and scaled companies in India, persons capable of representing the interest of investors into startups, persons capable of representing interests of incubators and accelerators, representatives of associations of stakeholders of startups and representatives of industry associations.
• The term of the non-official members of the Startup Advisory Council shall be for a period of two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had constituted the ‘National Startup Advisory Council’ in January 2020 to advise the Government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.

Know more about the National Startup Advisory Council in PIB dated Jan 21, 2020.

3. India-EU IPR Dialogue

Context:

The first India-EU IPR dialogue held to strengthen relations and facilitate enhanced cooperation in the field of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

Details:

• The first India – EU dialogue was held between the EU Commission and India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) virtually.
• The aim of the dialogue was to further strengthen the India-EU relationship & facilitate enhanced cooperation in the field of Intellectual Property Rights.

Also read: What is meant by Intellectual Property Rights?

4. Parakram Diwas

Context:

Government announces 23^rd January to be celebrated as ‘PARAKRAM DIWAS’ every year.

Details:

• The government announced that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary on January 23 will be marked as “Parakram Diwas (Courage Day)”.
• Both the Centre and the Bengal government will begin yearlong celebrations on the day to mark Netaji’s 125^th birth anniversary year.

5. Exercise Desert Knight-21

Context:

Indian Air Force and French Air and Space Force (Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace) will conduct a bilateral Air exercise, Ex Desert Knight-21 at Air Force Station Jodhpur from 20 to 24 Jan 2021.

About Ex Desert Knight:

• It is a bilateral air exercise between India and France.
• The French side is participating with:
  • Rafale
  • Airbus A-330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT)
  • A-400M Tactical Transport aircraft
  • 175 personnel (approx.)
• Indian Air Force aircraft participating:
  • Mirage 2000
  • Su-30 MKI
  • Rafale
  • IL-78 Flight Refuelling Aircraft
  • AWACS and AEW&C aircraft
• The exercise is unique as it includes fielding of Rafale aircraft by both sides and is indicative of the growing interaction between the two premier Air Forces.

Background:

• As part of Indo-French defence cooperation, Indian Air Force and French Air and Space Force have held six editions of Air Exercises named ‘Garuda’, the latest being in 2019 at Air Force Base Mont-de-Marsan, France.
• As measures to further the existing cooperation, the two forces have been gainfully utilising available opportunities to conduct ‘hop-exercises’.

6. MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab

What’s in News?

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will establish a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in the country, in collaboration with AWS.

Purpose of the Lab:

• To accelerate quantum computing-led research and development and enable new scientific discoveries.

Significance:

• The MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab will provide quantum computing as a service to government ministries and departments, researchers, scientists, academia, and developers, to enable advances in areas such as manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, and aerospace engineering.
• AWS will provide hosting with technical and programmatic support for the Lab.
• This MeitY initiative will provide scientific, academic, and developer communities access to a quantum computing development environment aligned with the government’s science and technology priorities.

Background:

• Quantum computing is an emerging field that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to build powerful tools to process information.
• It has the potential to solve computational problems that are beyond the reach of classical computers, and lead to new breakthroughs that can transform chemical engineering, material science, drug discovery, financial portfolio optimization, machine learning, and more.
• The initiative is expected to boost India’s ongoing efforts in developing Quantum Computing Applications.
• This is in line with one of the core missions of MeitY which is to identify and deploy technologies to promote innovation and discovery to help India advance and achieve a more sustainable future.

7. India Innovation Index 2020

Context:

NITI Aayog to launch the second edition of the India Innovation Index 2020.

Details:

• The India Innovation Index 2020 seeks to rank the states and union territories based on their relative performance of supporting innovation, and to empower them to improve their innovation policies by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
• The first edition of the India Innovation Index was launched in 2019.

Read all about the Index in PIB dated Oct 17, 2019, under the headline “India Innovation Index 2019”.

Read previous PIB here.

January 19th, 2021, PIB:- Download PDF Here