02 May 2019: UPSC Exam PIB Summary & Analysis

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

May 2nd 2019 PIB:-Download PDF Here

A Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies

Context

• To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) and IIT Delhi have come together to bring the best of science and technology to implement waste management in India.

Analysis of the initiative

• A Memorandum of Understanding was signed for setting up a Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies for implementation of sustainable, scientific and technological solutions for waste management.
• This will be implemented through validation and deployment of available technologies for transformation of waste to wealth.
• The waste to wealth mission project has been approved under the recently constituted Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).
• The partnership will provide an effective platform for stakeholders to bring together integrated approaches for effective recycle, reuse and resource recovery of waste.

Goals of the initiative

• The immediate objective is to implement technologies that are available with various national and international academias, industries, research laboratories and other agencies.
• Then setting up pilot projects on-site effectively and successfully, and demonstrating the proof of concept of the technology under Indian condition.
• The long-term goal is to create circular economic models for waste management, by leveraging big data analytics and frontier technologies to streamline waste in India.
• The overall outcomes would involve treating waste and generating different forms of energy, thereby making India a waste free nation, with zero greenhouse gas emission and no health hazard.

Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council

• Chairperson: Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India
• The PM-STIAC is an overarching Council that facilitates the PSA’s Office to assess the status in specific science and technology domains, comprehend challenges in hand, formulate specific interventions, develop a futuristic roadmap and advise the Prime Minister accordingly.
• PSA’s Office also oversees the implementation of such interventions by concerned S&T Departments and Agencies and other government Ministries.
• The other important terms of reference of the Council is to formulate, converge, collaborate, co-ordinate and implement multi-stakeholder policy initiatives, mechanisms, reforms and programmes aimed at:
  • Synergizing S&T covering fundamental to applied research in collaboration with multiple stake holders both in central and state governments
  • Enabling future preparedness in emerging domains of science and technology
  • Formulating and coordinating major inter-ministerial S&T missions
  • Providing an enabling ecosystem for technology led innovations and techno-entrepreneurship
  • Driving innovation and technology delivery towards solving socio-economic challenges for sustainable growth
  • Fostering effective public-private linkages for driving research and innovation
  • Developing innovation clusters with multiple stakeholders including academia, industry and government
  • Skilling in current and futuristic technologies.

Vice President released a postage stamp

Context

• The Vice President released a postage stamp to commemorate the 750th birth anniversary of Sri Vedanta Desikan.

Details

• Sri Vedanta Desikan (1268–1369) was a Sri Vaishnava guru/philosopher and one of the most brilliant stalwarts of Sri Vaishnavism in the post-Ramanuja period.
• He was a poet, devotee, philosopher and master-teacher (desikan). He was the disciple of Kidambi Appullar, also known as Aathreya Ramanujachariar, who himself was of a master-disciple lineage that began with Ramanuja.
• Swami Vedanta Desika is considered to be an avatar (incarnation) of the divine bell of Venkateswara of Tirumalai by the Vadakalai sect of Sri Vaishnavite. Vedanta Desika belongs to Vishwamitra gotra.

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