07 Mar 2024: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies 
of the State of Goa Bill, 2024
2. Uttar Poorva Transformative Industrialization Scheme, 2024
3. IndiaAI Mission
4. PM Ujjwala Yojana
5. Four Major Key Initiatives of Agriculture Sector
6. Exercise Sea Defenders-2024
7. ChipIN Centre
8. NITI Aayog’s – ‘NITI for States’ Platform

1. Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024

Syllabus: GS-2, Polity

Prelims: Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024

Mains: Scheduled Tribes and their issues

Context:

Cabinet approved the introduction of the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024 in Parliament.

Details:

• The bill has provisions empowering the Election Commission to make amendments to the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008 and readjust the seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa for the Scheduled Tribes of the State.
• It is aimed at ensuring that the constitutional rights of the Scheduled Tribes in the State of Goa are safeguarded.
• Salient features of the bill:
  • It empowers the Census Commissioner to ascertain and determine the population of the Scheduled Tribes in the State of Goa after taking into account the population figures of the tribes which have been declared as the Scheduled Tribes after publication of Census 2001.
  • It empowers the Election Commission to make necessary amendments in the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008 for the purpose of giving proper representation to the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of Goa by readjustment of constituencies in the Legislative Assembly.

Read more about delimitation in the linked article.

2. Uttar Poorva Transformative Industrialization Scheme, 2024

Syllabus: GS-2, Govt schemes

Prelims: Uttar Poorva Transformative Industrialization Scheme, 2024

Mains: Schemes for the northeast region of India

Context:

The cabinet approved the proposal of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade for the Uttar Poorva Transformative Industrialization Scheme, 2024 (UNNATI – 2024) for 10 years from the date of notification along with 8 years for committed liabilities at a total cost of Rs.10,037 crore.

Details:

• It is a Central Sector Scheme for the development of industries and the generation of employment in the states of the North East Region. 
• The scheme’s main objective is to generate gainful employment, which will lead to the area’s overall socio-economic development.  
• It will create productive economic activity in the manufacturing and service sectors.
• DPIIT will implement the scheme in cooperation with the states. 
• For the scheme’s implementation, districts are categorised into two:
  • Zone A (Industrially Advanced Districts)
  • Zone B (Industrially Backward Districts)
• 60% of the outlay of Part A has been earmarked to 8 NE states and 40% on a First-In-First-Out (FIFO) basis.
• The proposed scheme envisages approximately 2180 applications, and it is anticipated that direct employment opportunities of about 83,000 will be generated during the scheme period. A significant number of indirect employment is also expected to be generated.

3. IndiaAI Mission

Syllabus: GS-3, Economy/S&T

Prelims: IndiaAI Mission

Mains: AI in India

Context:

Cabinet approved the IndiaAI Mission to strengthen the AI innovation ecosystem.

IndiaAI Mission:

• The IndiaAI mission will establish a comprehensive ecosystem catalyzing AI innovation through strategic programs and partnerships across the public and private sectors. 
• By democratizing computing access, improving data quality, developing indigenous AI capabilities, attracting top AI talent, enabling industry collaboration, providing startup risk capital, ensuring socially impactful AI projects and bolstering ethical AI, it will drive responsible, inclusive growth of India’s AI ecosystem.
• It will be implemented by the ‘IndiaAI’ Independent Business Division (IBD) under Digital India Corporation (DIC).

IndiaAI Mission Components: 

• IndiaAI Compute Capacity 
  • Build a high-end scalable AI computing ecosystem
  • AI compute infrastructure of 10,000 or more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), built through public-private partnership
  • AI marketplace to offer AI as a service and pre-trained models to AI innovators
• IndiaAI Innovation Centre
  • Will undertake the development and deployment of indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) and domain-specific foundational models in critical sectors
• IndiaAI Datasets Platform
  • Streamline access to quality non-personal datasets for AI Innovation
• IndiaAI Application Development Initiative 
  • Will promote the AI applications in critical sectors for the problem statements sourced from Central Ministries, State Departments, and other institutions
  • Aimed at large-scale economic transformation
• IndiaAI FutureSkills
  • To mitigate barriers to entry into AI programs
  • Increase AI courses in undergraduate, masters-level, and Ph.D. programs
  • Set up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India
• IndiaAI Startup Financing
  • To support and accelerate deep-tech AI startups and provide them streamlined access to funding to enable futuristic AI Projects
• Safe & Trusted AI
  • Enable the implementation of Responsible AI projects including the development of indigenous tools and frameworks, self-assessment checklists for innovators, and other guidelines and governance frameworks

Significance:

• The mission will propel innovation and build domestic capacities to ensure the tech sovereignty of India.
• It will also create highly skilled employment opportunities to harness the demographic dividend of the country. 
• The IndiaAI Mission will help India demonstrate to the world how this transformative technology can be used for social good and enhance its global competitiveness.

4. PM Ujjwala Yojana

Syllabus: GS-2, Govt schemes

Prelims: PM Ujjwala Yojana

Context:

Cabinet approves continuation of Rs.300 targeted subsidy to PM Ujjwala Yojana Consumers.

Details:

• The Union Cabinet had approved the continuation of the targeted subsidy of Rs.300 per 14.2 kg cylinder (and proportionately pro-rated for 5 kg cylinder) for up to 12 refills per year to be provided to the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) during FY 2024-25.
• The total expenditure will be Rs.12,000 crore for the financial year 2024-25.  The subsidy is credited directly to the bank accounts of the eligible beneficiaries.

Read more about the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in the linked article.

5. Four Major Key Initiatives of Agriculture Sector

Syllabus: GS-3, Agriculture

Prelims: Various schemes for the agricultural sector

Context:

Union Ministers inaugurated four major schemes of the agricultural sector namely, Revamped Soil health card portal & mobile application, School Soil Health Programme, Krishi Sakhi convergence Programme and Central Fertilizer Quality Control and Training Institutes’ portal.

Details of the four schemes

Revamped Soil health Card Portal and Mobile Application:

• Soil health card portal has been revamped and mobile application has been introduced for soil sample collection and testing. 
• Portal has features such as soil lab registry, realtime status of labs, labs mapped with geocoordinates, real-time data of soil sample collection, test in labs, and soil card generation facility.
• App-based QR code-enabled soil sample collection system has been introduced in the Soil Health Card Mobile Application. 
• Portal also includes fertilizer management, emoji based Soil health card, nutrient dashboard, and heat maps of nutrients.

School Soil Health Programme:

• Agriculture Department in collaboration with Department of School Education and Literacy has undertaken a pilot project on school soil health programme. 
• Under the project, 20 soil labs were set up in 20 schools of Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalaya in rural areas. 
• Study modules were developed and training was given to students and teachers.
• This project has been scaled to 1000 schools.
• The Ministry of Agriculture will set up soil labs in these schools in collaboration with NABARD.
• The programme will provide students with the chance to conduct experiments, analyze soil samples, and explore the fascinating biodiversity within the soil. By engaging in practical activities, students will develop critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and a holistic understanding of the interconnectedness of ecosystems.

Krishi Sakhi Convergence Programme:

• Krishi Sakhis play a pivotal role in implementing schemes like the National Mission of Natural Farming (NMNF), Bio Resource Centres, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), and many more.
• Till date, around 3500 Krishi Sakhis have already been trained and the program is being simultaneously implemented in 13 states.
• The convergence program will further revolutionize the initiative.

Fertiliser Quality Control System (FQCS) Portal:

• This is a web-based application with a configurable workflow developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
• The portal keeps and maintains a record of fertiliser sample collection, fertiliser testing and analysis reports.
• The portal helps in the automation of the manual activities involved in fertiliser testing.
• It will help in online tracking of the status of the sample.

6. Exercise Sea Defenders-2024

Syllabus: GS-2, IR; GS-3, Security & Defence

Prelims: Sea Defenders-2024

Context:

USCG Ship Bertholf reached Port Blair on 07 Mar 2024 for a joint exercise with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). 

Exercise Sea Defenders:

• The joint exercise between the Indian and the US Coast Guards is codenamed Exercise Sea Defenders.
• It is scheduled to take place on 09-10 Mar 2024 off the coast of Port Blair.
• The exercise will simulate scenarios relevant to maritime piracy and asymmetric threats, including simulated drone attacks on commercial merchant traffic, joint maritime search and rescue operations, major firefighting, marine pollution response, and counter-drug interdiction exercises. 
• Additionally, a simulated medical evacuation will be conducted to enhance readiness in emergency situations.
• This exercise underscores the importance of international cooperation in addressing maritime challenges. 
• It reaffirms the longstanding partnership between the Indian Coast Guard and the United States Coast Guard which is an important component of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

7. ChipIN Centre

Syllabus: GS-3, Science and technology

Prelims: ChipIN Centre

Mains: Semiconductor industry in India

Context:

ChipIN, the one-stop centre for chip designers across the country, gets a fillip with support from semiconductor industry leaders.

Details:

• ChipIN Centre is one of the biggest of existing facilities, offering a plethora of design flows, aiming to bring the chip design infrastructure to the doorsteps of the semiconductor design community in India. 
• It is a centralized design facility, not only hosting the most advanced tools for the entire chip design cycle (i.e. Front-end design, Back-end design, PCB design & analysis, etc. for Digital, Analog, RF & Mixed Signal designs), going up to 5nm or advanced node but also provides aggregate services for the fabrication of design at foundries and packaging. 
• Currently engaged with about 10,000 students from 120 academic institutions and 20 start-ups, the ChipIN Centre aims to provide access to state-of-the-art EDA Tools to 85,000 students at B.Tech, M.Tech and PhD levels to design semiconductor chips.
• Now, at the 4th Semicon India futureDESIGN Roadshow in Kerala, the semiconductor industry further extended support to the ChipIN Centre in the form of EDA Tool offerings to start-ups and academia, Veloce Emulator, etc.
• MeitY also announced financial support for 2 more semiconductor design startups/MSMEs under the DLI scheme.

8. NITI Aayog’s – ‘NITI for States’ Platform

Syllabus: GS-2, Polity & Governance

Prelims: ‘NITI for States’ Platform

Context:

Union Minister launched the NITI Aayog’s – ‘NITI for States’ Platform.

About the ‘NITI for States’ Platform:

• It is a comprehensive digital initiative designed to empower states and union territories (UTs) in their pursuit of national development goals. 
• NITI for States offers a centralised repository of valuable resources, including best practices, policy documents, datasets, and NITI Aayog publications, spanning various sectors and cross-cutting themes like gender and climate change. 
• This launch is expected to help strengthen cooperative federalism and empower data-driven governance.
• Key Features of the ‘NITI for States’ platform:
  • Extensive Knowledge Base: 7,500 curated best practices, 5,000 policy documents, 900+ datasets, 1,400 data profiles, and 350 NITI Aayog publications.
  • Multilingual Accessibility: The platform will be available in 22 major Indian languages and 7 foreign languages.
  • Capacity Building Initiatives: Tailored digital training modules for officials at various levels (block, district, and state) in collaboration with relevant institutions.
  • Expert Help Desk: Specialised guidance through partnerships with leading institutions allows states and UTs to address specific challenges.
  • Data Integration: Leverages data from the National Data & Analytics Platform (NDAP) for comprehensive and actionable insights, fostering data-driven decision-making.
• Significance/Impact:
  • Accelerate digital transformation of governance
  • Empower frontline functionaries at the district and block levels 
  • Foster cooperative federalism and strengthen good governance practices through knowledge sharing and cross-learning among states and UTs

Read previous PIB articles here.