30 May 2022: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. PM greets the people of Goa on their Statehood Day
2. Yoga for Humanity
3. PM’s address to release benefits under PM Cares for Children Scheme
4. NHA launches online public dashboard for Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)
5. DRI seizes Red Sanders worth Rs. 11.70 crore under Operation Rakth Chandan
6. PARAM ANANTA Supercomputer commissioned at IIT, Gandhinagar
7. National AI Portal (INDIAai.gov.in) celebrates its second anniversary

1. PM greets the people of Goa on their Statehood Day

Syllabus: Significant events, personalities, issues.

Prelims: Statehood Day of Goa

Mains: GS-1: Diversity of India

Context:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished the people of Goa on their statehood day.

Background:

• PM Modi conveyed his wishes to the people of Goa on the occasion of the Statehood Day of Goa. He tweeted that the state is blessed with scenic beauty and industrious people. 
• It attracts people from all parts of the world. 
• He wished for the continuous progress and prosperity of the state in the coming years.

Read more on the statehood of Goa in This Day in History dated May 30.

2. Yoga for Humanity

Syllabus: GS:1 and GS: 2: Significant events, personalities, issues, and Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

Prelims: International Yoga Day, Soft Power

Mains: How Yoga is used as soft power by India.

Context:

The Ministry of Ayush has chosen “Yoga for Humanity” as the eighth International Day of Yoga (IDY) theme to be organised in India and across the globe on June 21.

Background:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the theme in his “Maan Ki Baat’ broadcast.
• June 21, also called the summer solstice, is the longest day of the year. Therefore, it was decided that International Yoga Day would be celebrated on this day.

International Yoga Day:

• On September 27, 2014, during his speech at the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put forth his suggestion for the occasion of a ‘Yoga Day’. 
• The draft resolution proposed by India was then endorsed by a record 177 member states. The first International Day of Yoga was observed around the world on June 21, 2015.

Significance of Yoga:

• Practised in India since the 5th century, Yoga has been beneficial in keeping the body and mind in sound health. 
• A holistic approach, Yoga targets all the different systems of the body and mind. 
• It is said that the asanas make the body strong and flexible, and as health improves; the mind too is renewed with confidence. 
• The practice of Pranayama regulates the purification of the internal system and the organs, acting as a superior and able supplement to asanas. 
• The energy that is generated in the body through these physical practices is then channelled into meditation or Dhyan for stability, peace and calm.
• Yoga is a practice that brings joy, health, and peace from within, and it deepens a sense of continuous connection between an individual’s inner consciousness and the external world.

Theme of IDY 2022:

“Yoga for Humanity”

• The theme has been selected with deliberate consultations and discussion. Yoga served humanity in alleviating suffering. 
• Yoga would bring people together through kindness and compassion during the post-Covid geopolitical crisis and foster a sense of unity across the world. 

Special Programs on the International Yoga Day:

• The eighth edition of the International Day of Yoga will be organised on June 21, with the main event being held in Mysuru, Karnataka.
• The ministry has designed special programmes for the specially-abled and the transgender population and women and children. 
• Human values that are integral to yoga education in schools will also be in focus. The Centre expects millions of villagers to take part in this year’s event as the common service centres are promoting the practice.
• There will be a ‘Guardian Ring’ program that will include the participation of people from different countries. 
• India is celebrating the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ hence, 75 iconic national sites will also showcase the mass yoga demonstration while respective states will organise similar programmes at 75 important locations, according to their choice.

3. PM’s address to release benefits under PM Cares for Children Scheme

Syllabus: GS:2: Government policies and interventions 

Prelims: PM Cares Fund

Mains: Critically analyze the PM Cares Fund.

Context:

PM Modi released benefits under PM Cares for children who lost parents to Covid-19.

What is PM Cares for Children scheme?

• The PM CARES for Children Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister in May 2021 for children. 

Objectives:

• It aims to support children who have lost both their parents or legal guardian or adoptive parents or surviving parent to the COVID-19 pandemic during the period starting from 11th March 2020. 
• The objective of the Scheme is to ensure comprehensive care and protection of children in a sustained manner, enable their well being through health insurance, empower them through education and equip them for self-sufficient existence with financial support upon reaching 23 years of age. 

Benefits of the scheme:

• PM Modi transferred scholarships to the school children and handed over a passbook of PM Cares for children, and a health card under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
• The prime minister said that under the scheme if someone needs an education loan for professional courses or higher education, then PM-CARES will help in that too.
• He said Rs. 4000 would be given every month to these children which would help meet their daily needs.
• Children are also being given Ayushman Health Card through ‘PM Cares for Children’, from this free facility of treatment up to ₹5 lakhs will also be available.

Know more about the PM CARES Fund in the link.

4. NHA launches online public dashboard for Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)

Syllabus: GS:2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors

Prelims: ABDM, Ayushman Bharat.

Mains: Critically analyze the achievements and progress of Ayushman Bharat.

Context:

The National Health Authority (NHA) has built a public dashboard for real-time information on its flagship effort, the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

Background:

• The National Health Authority (NHA) under its flagship scheme of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) has launched a public dashboard for real-time information. 
• The public dashboard will be a one-stop solution for information on the mission’s progress at the state level.

Features of the public dashboard:

• The ABDM public dashboard will display detailed information on the core registries under the mission – Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers, Healthcare Professional Registry (HPR), and Health Facility Registry (HFR).
• As per the dashboard, the total number of Ayushman Bharat Health Account numbers created are over 22 crores and over 16.6 thousand health care professionals have registered in the Healthcare Professionals Registry.
• The dashboard displays the numbers of registered doctors, nurses, etc. and also the health records that are registered with ABHA.
• It also contains information on hospitals, laboratories, etc. registered on a daily basis or cumulative basis till date.

Significance of the public dashboard:

• It relies on the principles of accessibility, transparency, inclusivity and interoperability.
• It ensures that all the stakeholders have access to the updated information on the dashboard in a transparent manner.
• It provides a clear picture of the progress made by the ABD ecosystem.

5. DRI seizes Red Sanders worth Rs. 11.70 crore under Operation Rakth Chandan

Syllabus: GS: 2: Government policies and interventions 

Prelims: Operation Rakth Chandan

Mains: Discuss the measures taken to alleviate the export of Red Sanders.

Context:

Red Sanders worth Rs. 11.70 crore has been seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

Background:

• The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 14.63 megatons of red sandalwood worth Rs 11.70 crores at Inland Container Depot (ICD) Sabarmati at Khodiyar, which was to be allegedly smuggled to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• On de-stuffing, 840 wooden logs having a total weight of 14.63 MT were found.

What is Operation Rakth Chandan?

• Operation Rakth Chandan was launched to preserve the Red Sanders which is a national heritage of the country. 
• The operation has been successful and the DRI has successfully recovered a significant amount of red sanders.
• The export of red sanders is prohibited as per the Foreign Trade Policy of India.

Red Sanders:

• Red Sanders is a flora species that is endemic to a distinct tract of forests in the Eastern Ghats region of Andhra Pradesh.
• Red Sanders is also listed in Appendix-II (endangered list) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora (CITES). 
• It has many therapeutic properties that are responsible for its high demand across Asia, particularly in China, for use in cosmetics, medicinal products and high-end furniture/woodcraft.

Total Recovery till date:

• Under the operation, the DRI has seized 95 and 96 MT of Red Sanders in the fiscal years 2021-22 and 2020-21 respectively.
• Its total worth is estimated at Rs. 150 crores in the international market.
• DRI is committed to preserving the economic frontiers of India and ensuring that the rich and natural resources of India is not misused.

6. PARAM ANANTA Supercomputer commissioned at IIT, Gandhinagar

Syllabus: Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Prelims: PARAM Ananta

Mains: Discuss the development of AI in India.

Context:

PARAM ANANTA Supercomputer commissioned under Phase-2 National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) at IIT Gandhinagar.

Background:

• The government has deployed an indigenously developed Param Ananta supercomputer under National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) with 838 teraflops computing power capacity at IIT Gandhinagar.
• IIT Gandhinagar and the Centre for Development in Advanced Computing (C-DAC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 12th October 2020. 
• Under this MoU, it was agreed to establish 838 TeraFlops Supercomputing Facility under NSM. 

What is PARAM Ananta?

• PARAM Ananta is a state of the art Supercomputer at IIT Gandhinagar dedicated to the nation under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) – a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
• The high power supercomputer can process 838 lakh crore calculations per second.

Benefits of PARAM Ananta:

• It is based on Direct Contact Liquid Cooling technology to obtain a high power usage effectiveness and thereby reduce the operational cost.
• Different scientific applications such as Weather and Climate, Bioinformatics, Computational Chemistry, Molecular Dynamics, Material Sciences, Computational Fluid Dynamics etc. have been installed in PARAM Ananta. This is going to benefit researchers a lot.
• The Param Ananta Supercomputing Facility will be able to support IIT Gandhinagar in pursuing research and development activities in multidisciplinary domains of science and technology at the Institute, including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and data science, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), bioengineering for genome sequencing and DNA studies, computational biology and bioinformatics used in prediction and detection of gene networks etc.
• It can help atomic and molecular sciences to comprehend the binding of drugs to a particular protein.

Current status:

• Till date, 15 supercomputers have been installed across the nation with an aggregate compute capacity of 24 petaflops.

7. National AI Portal (INDIAai.gov.in) celebrates its second anniversary

Syllabus: GS: 3: Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Prelims: National AI Portal

Mains: Significance of AI for the country.

Context:

The National AI Portal celebrated its second anniversary on 30th May 2022. 

Background:

As the national AI portal turns two, a virtual celebration was held on 30th May 2022. 

What is National AI Portal?

• The National AI Portal is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and NASSCOM. 
• The portal aims to create and promote a unified AI ecosystem in the country to drive excellence and leadership in knowledge creation to develop an AI-ready robust workforce for the future.

Achievements of AI portal:

• In the year 2021-22, INDIAai provided recent and relevant analysis in AI through stories, Interviews analyses and webinars. Over 685 news stories, 1073 articles, 275 startups, 33 colleges, 588 people, 202 videos, 64 courses, 128 government initiatives, 125 academic initiatives, 47 corporate initiatives and many more were listed and published in the portal last year.
• In 2021, INDIAai and NASSCOM launched the first edition of the Lab2Market initiative. It was launched to boost industry-academia collaboration.
• In 2021, MeitY launched INDIAai’s 75@75 compendium on the first day of Azadi Ka Digital Mahotsav.
• The portal also introduced new sections that published article series on AI concepts for Beginners, covering subjects such as Turing tests, soft computing, development frameworks, symbolic and neuro-symbolic AI, etc. 
• The portal is the home of multiple research reports that provide an understanding of the latest happenings in AI.

Upcoming targets:

• One of the major focuses of the IndiaAi will be in the area of AI Literacy in the country.
• AI literacy will enable young learners to achieve their aspirations without any digital divide.
• Inclusion and security as design principles for taking the benefits of AI to the bottom of the pyramid. AI can help professionals in a great way to save time from repetitive work to focus more on human-centric work.

Read previous PIB here.

May 30th, 2022, PIB:- Download PDF Here