06 October 2018: UPSC Exam PIB Summary & Analysis

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Atal Innovation Mission & SIRIUS sign MoU

Aim:

• To promote innovative cooperation between students of India and Russia, a Memorandum of Understanding was exchanged between India’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and the Russian Federation’s SIRIUS Educational Foundation.
• Promotion of educational, scientific, innovative achievements, promote innovative cooperation, and search and develop the talented youth of both countries fostering a knowledge-driven innovation ecosystem in both the countries.

About AIM-SIRIUS Innovation Festival 2018

• To promote a spirit of collaborative innovation, young innovators of Atal Tinkering Labs and SIRIUS Educational Foundation came together at a four-day Indo-Russian ATL innovation boot-camp and the innovations developed across space technology, healthcare, smart mobility, clean energy and agricultural technology were showcased.

About Atal Innovation Mission

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is NITI Aayog’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India.
• AIM has been established to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in a holistic manner through various initiatives at school, university and industry levels.
• AIM also serves as a platform for promotion of world-class Innovation Hubs, Grand Challenges, Start-up businesses and other self-employment activities in India, leveraging state of the art, advanced and affordable emerging technologies.
• The Atal Innovation Mission has thus two core functions:

1. Innovation promotion: to provide a platform where innovative ideas are generated.
2. Entrepreneurship promotion: Wherein innovators would be supported and mentored to become successful entrepreneurs at Incubation Centres.

About SIRIUS Educational Foundation

• “Talent and success” is a unitary, non-profit, non-standard educational organization. The activities of the Foundation are aimed to identify and support children and young people who have shown outstanding abilities. Providing assistance in obtaining general and additional education for such personalities, including education in the fields of arts, natural sciences, physical culture and sports.

Swachh Bharat Mission: Report

• The Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) has launched the 150th birth year celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi, as the Mission enters its fifth and final year of implementation.
• The program focuses on behaviour change to generate demand for sanitation services by the rural population which is then followed by supply.
• Progress:
  • The rural sanitation coverage of India has increased significantly, from 39% in October 2014 to 95% today.
  • The Swachh Bharat Mission is the world’s largest public funded sanitation program.
• Communication strategy:
  • Behaviour Change Communication is undertaken under the SBM at the ground level and is complemented with mass media at the national level as well.
  • For example-
    • Mass media campaigns such as Darwaza Band, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar and Anushka Sharma, communicates the messages of women empowerment, promotion of twin pit toilets and usage of toilets,
    • The SBM foot soldiers, Swachhagrahis – participate in the triggering of communities for behaviour change and sustaining improved behaviours through Inter-Personal Communication.
  • Water for ODF:
    • A policy decision has been taken under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) to prioritize the provision of piped water supply (PWS) for villages that become ODF.
  • ODF-Quality:
    • Verification of all ODF declared villages is very unique to Swachh Bharat Mission.
    • Within 90 days of declaration, verification is done for each household in the village. Another round of sustainability verification is done 180 days after the first round.
  • Impact of SBM:
    • A recent WHO study reports that Swachh Bharat would have led to saving of 300,000 lives by 2019 and around 150,000 lives would be saved annually thereafter.
    • UNICEF estimated that a household in an ODF village in rural India saves Rs. 50,000 every year.
    • BMGF has released a study that shows significant improvements in diarrhoea prevalence and stunting among children in ODF villages, compared to nearby non-ODF villages.
  • The Swachh Bharat model of sanitation has led India into a sanitation revolution, and the country is on track for an ODF India by October 2019.

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