26 July 2018: UPSC Exam PIB Summary & Analysis

Read the daily PIB update and stay up-to-date on current affairs for the UPSC exam

Kargil Vijay Diwas  

• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has paid homage to soldiers on Kargil Vijay Diwas.
• “On Kargil Vijay Diwas, a grateful nation pays homage to all those who served the nation during Operation Vijay. Our brave soldiers ensured that India remains protected and gave a befitting answer to those who tried to vitiate the atmosphere of peace.
• India will always remember with pride, the outstanding political leadership provided by Atal Ji during Operation Vijay. He led from the front, supported our armed forces and clearly articulated India’s stand at the world stage”, the Prime Minister said.

Space Research: Linking with Contemporary Needs

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), since its inception, has been driven by the objective of harnessing the benefits of space technology for national development and improving the lives of the people.
• The satellite enabled data and services are being used to improve the living standards of people.
• These include Television broadcasting, Direct-to-Home, ATM, Mobile communication, Tele-education, Tele-medicine and advisories on weather, pest infestation, agro-meteorology and potential fishing zones.
• Satellite data is also used for crop production estimation, crop intensification, agricultural drought assessment, wasteland inventory, identifying ground water prospect zones, inland aquaculture suitability and disaster risk reduction, which indirectly benefits the people.
• Other measures include  (i) institutionalisation of space applications in many Ministries/Departments, (ii) conduct of training sessions on space technology based applications at LBSNAA (DoPT) and training of  Deputy Secretaries as part of  ISTM Programs (DoPT).

Reservation in Promotion for Employees

• The Supreme Court in Special Leave Petition (Civil) No.30621/2011 has passed the following order on 17.5.2018:-
  • “It is directed that the pendency of this Special Leave Petition shall not stand in the way of Union of India taking steps for the purpose of promotion from ‘reserved to reserved’ and ‘unreserved to unreserved’ and also in the matter of promotion on merits..”.

• Further, in the matter related to Special Leave Petition (Civil) No.31288/2017 connected to Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No.28306/2017, the Supreme Court held as under on 05.06.2018:-
  • “Heard learned counsel for the parties, Learned ASG has referred to order dated 17.05.2018 in SLP(C) No.30621/2011. It is made clear that the Union of India is not debarred from making promotions in accordance with law, subject to further orders, pending further consideration of the matter. Tag to SLP (C) No.30621 of 2011.”
• Based on interim Orders/directions of the Supreme Court dated 17.05.2018 and 05.6.2018, Department of Personnel and Training vide Office Memorandum No. 36012/11/2016- Estt.(Res-I) {Pt-II} dated 15.06.2018 requested all the Ministries/Departments of the Government of India to carry out promotions in accordance with above directions of the Supreme Court on existing seniority / select lists subject to further orders which may be passed by the Supreme Court.

“Innovate India Platform”

• R Ramanan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission and Shri Arvind Gupta CEO, MyGov today launched the “#InnovateIndia Platform”, a collaboration between the Atal Innovation Mission and MyGov, a citizen centric platform of the Government of India.
• The InnovateIndia portal will serve as the common point for all the innovation happening across the nation.
• Launching the platform, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission said that the “InnovateIndia MyGov-AIM portal creates the much-needed innovations platform for registering both grassroots and deep-tech innovators at a national level. Those searching for a critical innovation can leverage the portal advantageously for the benefit of the economy as well as national social needs.”
• Some of the features of this platform are:

1. The platform is open to all Indian citizens
2. The users can View, comment, share, and rate the innovations crowd sourced on the Innovate India platform
3. View the leaderboard which is calculated based on the votes on each innovation.
4. Citizens can share their/organizations/someone else’s innovation on the platform by login to the MyGov website
5. These innovations can also be shared on various social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter

• “India has been a very innovation-oriented society, but our challenge has been a structured approach to innovation, capturing them and building an ecosystem to take them global. The current government initiative to capture and support innovation from ground up, is aimed at creating a structured ecosystem to encourage, enhance and develop India’s innovative character”, said Shri Arvind Gupta, CEO MyGov.

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