Defence
MAKS International Air Show

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Sarang Helicopter + MAKS International Air Show)
What's the NEWS

• The Sarang Helicopter Display Team of the IAF is all set to perform for the first time at the MAKS International Air Show held at Zhukovsky International Airport, Russia.

Know! about the Air Show and about Sarang Helicopter

• The air show is a biennial fixture and this year's edition is scheduled from 20 July 2021 to 25 July 2021.
• This is the first occasion when the Sarang Team is performing its four helicopter aerobatics display in Russia, with its ‘Made in India' ‘Dhruv' Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH).
• These HAL manufactured machines have hinge less rotors and are equipped with state-of-the-art avionics, which makes them extremely suitable for military aviation.
• Apart from the IAF, the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard also operate this helicopter.
• The Sarang Team was formed in 2003 at Bangalore and its first international display was at the Asian Aerospace Airshow at Singapore in 2004.
• Since then, Sarang has represented Indian aviation at air shows and ceremonial occasions in UAE, Germany, UK, Bahrain, Mauritius and Sri Lanka till date.
• Apart from aerobatics displays at national and international venues, the team has also taken active part in numerous Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Missions like Op Rahat in Uttarakhand (2013), Cyclone Ockhi in Kerala (2017) and Op Karuna flood relief in Kerala (2018).

Social Issues/Government Schemes
Stand Up India Scheme extended up to the year 2025

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Stand up India) + Mains ( GS II government policies and interventions + welfare scheme for the vulnerable section of population)
What's the NEWS

• As informed by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, the Stand Up India Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on 05th April, 2016 and has been extended up to the year 2025.
• Implementing agency - Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance

Know! about the scheme

• The objective of the Stand Up India Scheme is to facilitate loans from Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) of value between Rs. 10 lakh and Rs.1 Crore to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and one woman borrower per bank branch for setting up a green field enterprise in manufacturing, services or trading sector.
• A total of 1,16,266 loans amounting to Rs. 26204.49 crore have been extended under the Scheme since inception.
• The margin money requirement for loans under the Scheme has been reduced from 'upto 25%' to `upto 15%' and activities allied to agriculture have been included in the Scheme.
• Apart from this, no other change is contemplated in the scheme.
• Government does not allocate funds for loans under the Stand Up India Scheme.
• Loans under the Scheme are extended by SCBs as per commercial parameters, Board approved policies of respective banks and extant RBI guidelines.
• An amount of Rs. 500 crore each was however released by Government in FY 2016-17 and FY 2017-18 and Rs 100 crore in FY 2020-21 towards the corpus of Credit Guarantee Fund for Stand Up India (CGFSI).

International Organisations/Economic development
Contact Group on Economic and Trade issues (CGETI)
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about CGETI meeting highlights) + Mains ( GS II Bilateral relations + regional grouping - Steps and initiatives taken up by India can be used to substantiate your answers of GS II)
What's the NEWS

• For the year 2021, India is the Chair of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa).
• Of the various groups of BRICS, the Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) is responsible for economic and trade matters.
• The Department of Commerce is the national coordinator for the BRICS CGETI.

CGETI meeting (highlights)
BRICS Members deliberated on the following proposals circulated by India, for strengthening and increasing the Intra-BRICS cooperation and trade:

• BRICS Cooperation on Multilateral Trading System;
• BRICS Framework for ensuring Consumer Protection in E-Commerce;
• Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) Resolution Mechanism for SPS/TBT Measures;
• Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Working Mechanism;
• Cooperation framework for protection of Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions;
• BRICS Framework on Cooperation in Professional Services.

To deepen and strengthen the trade and economy, following events proposed by India were also agreed by the BRICS Members:
a. A BRICS Trade Fair to showcase and to have buyer and sellers virtual meet from 16-18 August 2021, to be organised by the Department of Commerce;
b. A roundtable of BRICS MSMEs on 22 July 2021 to be organised by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises;
c. Two workshops on Services Trade Statistics to be held on 16 July 2021 and 13 August 2021, to be organised by the Reserve Bank of India.

Information was given by the Minister for Culture (Parliament Monsoon Session Highlights)
Adarsh Smarak
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Adarsh Smarak and Adopt a Heritage scheme)
Centrally Protected Monuments

• There are 135 Centrally Protected Monuments/Sites in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
• Providing amenities and facilities at centrally protected monuments/sites and upgradation thereof is a continuous phenomenon.

Three monuments of Andhra Pradesh namely
(i) Monuments at Nagarjunakonda, District Guntur
(ii) Budhhist Remains at Salihundam, District Srikakulam, and
(iii) Veerabhadra Temple at Lepakshi in District Anantapuram

• These three monuments have been identified as Adarsh Smarak for providing additional facilities like Wi-Fi, Cafeteria, Interpretation centre, Brail signages, Illumination, etc.
• Fort at Gandikota has been included in the Adopt-a-Heritage scheme of Ministry of Tourism, which is PPP mode.
• Conservation, Preservation and environmental development in and around Centrally Protected Monuments/Sites is taken up according to annual conservation programme drawn on the basis of need and priority.

Adarsh Smarak Scheme

• Ministry of Culture launched Adarsh Smarak Scheme in 2014 for providing improved visitor amenities, especially for the physically challenged.
• A total of 100 Monuments protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) are being developed and maintained as Adarsh Monuments under the scheme.

Objectives of the Scheme

• To make monument visitor friendly.
• To upgrade/provide washrooms, drinking water, signages, cafeteria, and wi-fi facility.
• To provide interpretation and audio-video centers.
• To streamline wastewater and garbage disposal and a rainwater harvesting system.
• To make the monument accessible to differently-abled.
• To implement Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

The ‘Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan' scheme

• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India.
• It was launched in September 2017 on World Tourism Day by President Ram Nath Kovind.
• Under it, the government invites entities, including public sector companies, private sector firms as well as individuals, to develop selected monuments and heritage and tourist sites across India.
• Development of these tourist sites calls for providing and maintaining basic amenities along with advanced amenities such as surveillance systems, night-viewing facilities and tourism facilitation centres.
• The sites/monument are selected on the basis of tourist footfall and visibility and can be adopted by private and public sector companies and individuals - known as Monument Mitras - for an initial period of five years.
• The Monument Mitras are selected by the ‘oversight and vision committee,' co-chaired by the Tourism Secretary and the Culture Secretary, on the basis of the bidder's ‘vision' for development of all amenities at the heritage site.
• There is no financial bid involved.
• The corporate sector is expected to use corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the upkeep of the site.
• The Monument Mitras, in turn, will get limited visibility on the site premises and on the Incredible India website.

Similar Schemes in the Past ( by the previous government)

•  National Culture Fund (20110
•  Campaign Clean India(20120

In both the schemes the government has tried to rope in the corporate sector to help maintain tourist sites and monuments.

Prelims Factoids
AMLEX

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about AMLEX)
What's the NEWS

• To increase the life of medical oxygen cylinders three fold, the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has developed a first-of-its-kind Oxygen Rationing Device - AMLEX that supplies a required volume of oxygen to the patient during inhalation and trips when the patient exhales CO2.
• This process saves oxygen which otherwise unnecessarily get wasted.
• So far, during exhalation, the oxygen in the oxygen cylinder/pipe is pushed out along with the exhaled CO2 by the user.
• In addition to this, a large volume of oxygen escapes from the openings of the mask to the environment in the resting period (between inhalation and exhalation) due to continuous flow of life saving gas in the mask.

Know! about AMLEX

• The device can operate on both portable power supply (battery) as well as line supply (220V-50Hz)
• Made specifically for oxygen cylinders, AMLEX can be easily connected between oxygen supply line and the mask worn by the patient.
• It uses a sensor which senses and successfully detects inhalation and exhalation of the user in any environmental condition
• This ready to use device works with any commercially available oxygen therapy masks having multiple openings for air flow.

Prelims Factoids
UNESCO recommendation to place the Great Barrier Reef on its endangered list.

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Great Barrier Reef)
What's the NEWS

• China has defended the heritage committee's draft proposal to label the Great Barrier Reef as "in danger
• Australia has assailed the move, blaming global warming for the loss, while UNESCO experts argued that pollution run-off has contributed to the loss.
• Both China and Australia are among the 21 nations on heritage committee, which is evaluating nearly 50 sites that could be added to its more than 1,100 World Heritage list.
• China is hosting this year's meeting of the UN, World Heritage Committee
• The committee, which is meeting both virtually and in the Chinese city of Fuzhou for the next two weeks, will consider the draft decision
• The Great Barrier Reef has been put on a list of World Heritage sites that could be put on the in-danger list after losing half of its corals since 1995.
• Australia was warned in 2014 that an in-danger listing was being considered for the Great Barrier Reef, which was designated a world heritage site in 1981.

Know! about the Great Barrier Reef

• The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres.
• The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
• It contains the world's largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc.
• It also holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong (‘sea cow') and the large green turtle, which are threatened with extinction.

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS