21 Mar 2023: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Area Office
2. Guidelines to Address Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC)
3. Asia’s largest 4m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT)
4. NTPC signs MoU with Indian Army
5. Onshore Indian Innovation

1. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Area Office

Syllabus – GS2, Important International Institutions.

Prelims – ITU Area Office, Bharat 6G Vision Document, CBuD

Context – Shri Modi to inaugurate ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Area Office and Innovation Centre in New Delhi.

Details –

• India signed a Host Country Agreement in March 2022 with ITU for setting up an Area Office.
• The ITU is the United Nations’ specialised agency for information and communication technologies (ICT). It is headquartered in Geneva and has a network of regional offices, field offices and area offices. The Area Office in India will have an Innovation Centre which makes it unique from other area offices.
• The Area Office in India will serve countries – India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Iran and Afghanistan resulting in enhanced cooperation amongst nations.
• The Prime Minister will also unveil the Bharat 6G Vision Document and launch the 6G R&D Test Bed.
  • Bharat 6G Vision Document – It is a document prepared by the Technology Innovation Group on 6G (TIG 6G) that was formed in November 2021 to develop a roadmap and action plans for 6G in India.
  • 6G Test Bed will provide a platform for startups, MSMEs, etc. to test and validate the evolving ICT.
• The Prime Minister will also launch the ‘Call Before You Dig (CBuD)’ App.
  • It is a tool developed for preventing damage to underlying assets like optical fibre cables.
  • Uncoordinated digging and excavation results in a loss of about Rs 3000 cr every year to the country. This app will connect excavators and asset owners and illustrates the ‘Whole of Government Approach’ in the governance of the country.

2. Guidelines to Address Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC)

Syllabus – GS3, Conservation, Man-Wildlife Conflict.

Prelims – 14 guidelines to mitigate HWC.

Context – GoI releases 14 guidelines to address Human-Wildlife Conflicts.

Details –

• The fourteen guidelines released are developed under the Indo-German cooperation project on HWC mitigation.
• There are ten species-specific guidelines for mitigating human-elephant, -leopard, -snake, -Gaur, -Rhesus Macaque, -Crocodile, -Bear, -Blue Bull, -Wild Pig, and Blackbuck conflict.
• There are four guidelines on cross-cutting issues. These include-
  • Guidelines for cooperation between the forest and the media sector.
  • Crowd management in human-wildlife conflict-like situations.
  • Occupational health and safety in the context of human-wildlife conflict mitigation.
  • Addressing health emergencies and potential health risks arising out of human-wildlife conflict situations. 
• A review of these guidelines is planned to take place every five years from 2023 onwards.
• These guidelines aim to facilitate a common understanding among key stakeholders, on what constitutes effective and efficient mitigation of HWC in India.

3. Asia’s largest 4m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT)

Syllabus – GS3, Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology.

Prelims – International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT)

Context – Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurates Asia’s largest International Liquid Mirror Telescope in Uttarakhand.

Details –

• Dr Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology inaugurated Asia’s largest 4-metre International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT)  in Devasthal, Uttarakhand in the presence of Lt. Gen (Retd.) Gurmeet Singh, Governor of Uttarakhand.
• The telescope is positioned at an altitude of 2450 m at Devasthal Observatory Campus of ARIES (Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences) and is ready to explore the deep celestial sky.
• The telescope is designed to survey the strip of the sky passing overhead each night, allowing it to detect celestial objects like supernovae, space debris, asteroids, etc.
• The ILMT is the first liquid mirror telescope exclusively designed for astronomical observations and the largest aperture telescope in India at present. It is also the first optical survey telescope in the country.
• During the scanning of the strip of the sky every night, the telescope will generate 10-15 Gigabytes of data which will permit the application of Big Data and AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) algorithms that will be implemented for classifying the objects observed with ILMT.

4. NTPC signs MoU with Indian Army

Syllabus – GS3, Infrastructure – Green Energy

Prelims – NTPC REL and Indian Army

Context– NTPC REL has signed an MoU with the Indian Army for setting up Green Hydrogen Projects.

Details –

• NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd. has signed an MoU with the Indian Army for setting up Green Hydrogen Projects in army establishments on BOO (Build, Own and Operate) model. The aim is to reduce complex logistics, reduce dependence on fossil fuels and accelerate decarbonisation.
• Joint identification of potential sites would be undertaken for setting up green hydrogen projects. 
• NTPC REL is a subsidiary of NTPC Limited and currently, it has a portfolio of 3.6 GW RE capacity under construction. NTPC Group has ambitious plans of 60 GW of RE capacity by the year 2032 and currently, it has 3.2 GW of installed RE capacity.
• NTPC has taken several initiatives in the Green Hydrogen field-
  • Commissioned hydrogen blending with a piped natural gas project in Gujarat.
  • Currently, executing hydrogen-based mobility projects in Delhi & Ladakh and a green methanol project in Madhya Pradesh.

Also read – National Green Hydrogen Mobility Project

5. Onshore Indian Innovation

Syllabus – GS3; Science and Technology; Indigenisation of Technology

Prelims – GIFT IFSC, IFSCA

Context – Panel formed to onshore Indian Innovation to GIFT IFSC. 

Details –

• The IFSCA (International Financial Services Centres Authority) has set up a committee of experts to formulate a roadmap to onshore Indian innovation to Ahmedabad’s GIFT IFSC.
• The panel, headed by former Reserve Bank executive Director G Padmanabhan, would suggest measures to encourage the Indian fintech and startups domiciled abroad to relocate to GIFT IFSC.
• The panel will also identify issues that may be critical for the development of GIFT IFSC as a global fintech hub and suggest measures to encourage new fintechs having a global outlook to set up a commercial presence in GIFT IFSC.
• The Indian startup ecosystem is the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, with 115 unicorns (billion-dollar enterprises).

Also read – Indian Startup Ecosystem

Read the previous PIB articles here.

March 21st, 2023, PIB:- Download PDF Here