Governance/GSII
Mysuru Declaration

What's the NEWS

• Ministry of Panchayat Raj, Government of India in association with National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Hyderabad and Abdul Nazir Sab State Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Mysuru had organised one day National Consultative Workshop on Citizen Charter and Delivery of Services by Panchayats as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
• Participants from 16 States signed the Mysuru Declaration and resolved to roll out the Common Minimum Service delivery by Panchayats across the country from April 1, 2022.

• The declaration is aimed at recognising Citizen Centric Services as the "Heart of Governance".
• Increase the availability of Citizen Services at the grassroots levels in a timely and efficient manner, commencing with offering of the following basic, statutory and/ or essential services at the Gram Panchayat level from 1st April, 2022
• Implement the highest standards of professional integrity and accountability towards timely delivery of Public Services
• Foster institution-building at the grassroots level that empowers and delivers Services for citizens
• Improving quality of Life through efficient and effective service delivery mechanisms for Panchayat residents

• Minister of Railways, announced the introduction of theme-based tourist circuit trains Bharat Gaurav Trains.
• After passenger, freight segments, Indian Railways will begin its third segment of trains for tourism, known as the Bharat Gaurav trains.
• These trains will help to showcase India's rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India and the world.
• The core strength of the professionals of tourism sector would be leveraged to develop/identify tourist circuits and run theme- based trains to tap the vast tourism potential of India.

• Service Provider would be free to decide theme like Guru Kripa trains for covering important places of Sikh culture, Ramayana trains for places connected with Lord Shri Ram etc.
• Service Provider to offer all inclusive package to tourist including rail travel, hotel accommodation, sightseeing arrangement, visit to historical/heritage sites, tour guides etc.
• Full flexibility to decide package cost based on level of services being offered.
• Choice of coaches suiting the clientele, different segments like luxury, budget etc.
• Free to design/furnish interior of the coaches based on the theme.
• Branding and advertisement permitted both inside and outside of train.
• Train composition will be of 14 to 20 coaches including 2 SLRs(Guard Vans).
• These trains can be operated by both private sector and IRCTC. The fare to be decided by tour operators.

What's the NEWS

• To promote cooperation between India and Germany on various areas of mutual interest,NITI Aayog and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development (BMZ) signed Statement of Intent (SoI) on November 23, 2021.

• This SoI intends to establish an overarching mechanism as "NITI- BMZ Dialogue on Development Cooperation" to facilitate a common platform for periodic bilateral discussions, sharing of developmental policy experiences and means to have an overview of other ongoing bilateral programmes.
• Under ambit of this SoI, NITI Aayog and BMZ would conduct joint research to assist in the development of approaches and formulation of policies to address multi-sectoral challenges.
• Government agencies, leading think tanks, industry and academia would be involved from both the sides to analyse issues of relevance and to offer input to both sides for deliberations.
• NITI Aayog and BMZ realise importance of bilateral cooperation in fields of climate and Sustainable Development Goals, energy, emerging technologies and agroecology.

• It would be a bi-annual Dialogue (once in two years) between the two sides to discuss and share insights on key issues being considered by NITI Aayog and BMZ.
• The first Dialogue is expected to be held in the month of February of 2022.

• In its journey towards localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and instituting robust SDG progress monitoring systems at the national, State/UT, and local levels, NITI Aayog has achieved yet another milestone with the launch of the inaugural SDG Urban Index & Dashboard (2021-22)

• The index and dashboard are a result of the NITI Aayog-GIZ and BMZ collaboration focused on driving SDG localization in our cities, under the umbrella of Indo-German Development Cooperation.
• The SDG Urban Index and Dashboard ranks 56 urban areas on 77 SDG indicators across 46 targets of the SDG framework.
• The data on these indicators have been sourced from official data sources such as NFHS, NCRB, U-DISE, data portals of various ministries, and other government data sources.
• The index and dashboard will further strengthen SDG localization and institute robust SDG monitoring at the city level.
• It highlights the strengths and gaps of ULB-level data, monitoring, and reporting systems.

• The statistical methodology for the SDG Urban Index is drawn from the globally accepted methodology developed by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
• The methodology, used for the SDG India Index and North Eastern Region District SDG Index as well, was finalised in close collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• A comprehensive list of 77 indicators, covering 46 global SDG targets across 15 SDGs,are used in the index.
• SDG 14 (life below water) has not been included as it is relevant for only coastal areas, which are only a few of the selected cities, and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) has been excluded as the progress of its targets are monitored at the national level.
• While progress under SDG 15 (life on land) has been measured using two indicators, they have not been used in estimating the scores, owing to lack of adequate coverage.
• The indicators are aligned with MoSPI's National Indicator Framework.
• Relevance to SDG targets and data availability at the urban level are the most important criteria for indicator selection.
• The most recent data on these indicators have been sourced from various official data sources such as NFHS, NCRB, U-DISE, data portals of ministries, and other government data sources and 62 percent of the indicators are sourced from 2019 or later.
• Out of 56 urban areas ranked in the index, 44 are with population of above one million.
• 12 are State capitals with population of less than a million.
• For each SDG, the urban areas are ranked on a scale of 0-100.
• A score of 100 implies that the urban area has achieved the targets set for 2030; a score of 0 implies that it is the farthest from achieving the targets among the selected urban areas.

• Aspirant: 0-49
• Performer: 50-64
• Front-Runner: 65-99
• Achiever: 100

Goal-wise good performing urban areas

Science and Technology/GSIII
Atal Innovation Mission and Vigyan Prasar announce collaboration between Atal Tinkering Labs and Engage with Science

What's the NEWS

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), a flagship initiative of Niti Aayog announced a collaboration with Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous organization of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India to drive synergies between AIM's Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and Vigyan Prasar's unique interactivity platform, Engage With Science (EWS).

• Engage with Science as part of the collaboration, will onboard all 9200+ ATL-enabled schools and engage their students, teachers and Principals in perennial activities.
• These activities will lead to accumulation of points based on which certificates and incentives will be provided to motivate students and teachers about STEM content consumption.
• With a vision to ‘Cultivate one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators', Atal Innovation Mission has established 9200+ Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in schools across India.
• The main aim of ATL is to foster curiosity, creativity, and imagination in young minds simultaneously inculcating skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing etc.
• ATL is a workspace where young minds give shape to their ideas and learn skills through hands on do-it-yourself mode.
• Young children get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
• The Engage with Science program with ATLs will help foster the culture of STEM innovation and serve as a platform where young minds are exposed to experiential learning with the focus on invention, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving to maximize impact.
• Engage With Science is a part of the India Science OTT channel project and aims to publicise and popularize STEM video content on India Science (www.indiascience.in), the nation's own STEM OTT channel.
• EWS already has more than 10,000 schools on board, and has regular activities targeting school Principals, teachers and students.
• Currently, EWS activities are available in Hindi and English, while an expansion into other Indian languages are also on the cards.

• Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, inaugurated today a 3-day workshop titled ‘Aadhaar 2.0- Ushering the Next Era of Digital Identity and Smart Governance'
• The Aadhaar 2.0 Workshop is an introspection-cum-exploratory endeavor by UIDAI to analyze the reach of Digital Identity in major reforms and schemes launched by the Government.
• It also aims to look into various futuristic aspects of Digital Identity to achieve universal inclusion, both social as well as financial.
• The 3-days event shall provide an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas & information, promote insightful debates and share experiences about developments and initiatives around the world around Digital Identity among various stakeholders including:

o Government of India and identity authorities

o Private sector entities utilizing authentication and e-KYC services

o Leading Think-Tanks and SMEs from International Diaspora

o Organizations in Social and Regulatory space

Know! about ‘Aadhaar 2.0' Workshop:

• The theme of the workshop series "Aadhaar 2.0 - Ushering the Next Era of Digital Identity and Smart Governance" is considering Aadhaar as a Trusted ID as a platform and method for delivering innovative digital solutions.
• It also focuses on strategies of Aadhaar that can strengthen and simplify its service delivery.
• Along with it, the workshop also delivers insights of evolvements and transition of digital ID.
• It is also an opportunity to focus on rebuilding more inclusive systems that allow society as a whole to be more resilient to future shocks, and safety.

• Indian Naval Ship (INS) Khanjar, an indigenously built Missile Corvette along with Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft is undertaking coordinated patrol (CORPAT) with Indonesian Naval Ships from 23 to 24 Nov 21.
• The 37^th edition of CORPAT between India and Indonesia will also witness participation of Maritime Patrol Aircraft from both Nations.
• India and Indonesia have been carrying out Coordinated Patrols (CORPAT) along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) twice in a year since 2002, with an aim of keeping this vital part of the Indian Ocean Region safe and secure for commercial shipping, international trade and conduct of legitimate maritime activities.
• CORPATs help build understanding and interoperability between navies, and facilitate institution of measures to prevent and suppress Illegal Unreported Unregulated (IUU) fishing, drug trafficking, maritime terrorism, armed robbery and piracy.
• As part of Government of India's vision of SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region), Indian Navy has been proactively engaging with the countries in the Indian Ocean Region.
• The 37^th edition of IND-INDO CORPAT seeks to bolster the maritime cooperation between the two navies and forge strong bonds of friendship across the Indo Pacific.