Government Schemes/Bilateral Relations/GSII
India Young Water Professional Programme Launched

What's the NEWS

• The first edition of the India Young Water Professional Programme was launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• This program has been taken up under National Hydrology Project, a Central Scheme of DOWR, and RD & GR and supported by the Australian Water Partnership.

• This Program is unique and different from typical capacity building and training programs.
• It is focused on Engaged Training and Learning Model.
• About 70% of the program is focused on project based learning through Situation Understanding and Improvement Projects (SUIP).
• The Program focus on gender equality and diversity, because sustainable water management can only benefit from the views and skills of all members of society.
• A total of 20 participants have been selected for the first edition of this Programme (10 men and 10 women) from central and state implementing agencies of the National Hydrology Project.
• The launch of the India Young Water Professional Program marks a significant milestone in Australia-India Water relationship.
• The seeds for this Program were sowed during a co-design workshop with National Hydrology Project (NHP) on ‘Sustainable Water Management' in November 2019.
• This Program will be implemented by Australia India Water Centre (a consortium of Australian and Indian universities).
• This initiative aims to provide a structured platform for capacity building with strategic and long-term investment to support the water management reforms in India.
• The objectives of India Young Water Professional Programme are to equip water professionals with the necessary skills, knowledge, behaviours and networks that will better enable them to contribute to the development and management of water resources in India, and to address the competency needs and priorities of the water sector in India.

Science and Technology/Indigenisation of Technology/GSIII
Indian Bio-Jet Fuel Technology Receives Formal Military Certification

What's the NEWS

• CSIR-IIP Dehradun's home-grown technology to produce bio-jet fuel has been formally approved for use on military aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• The provisional clearance (PC) certificate was handed over by Group Director(AT&FOL), Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) to Principal Scientist from CSIR-IIP

Governance/GSII
NITI Aayog Pushes for Online Dispute Resolution for Speedy Access to Justice

What's the NEWS

• NITI Aayog released the report ‘Designing the Future of Dispute Resolution: The ODR Policy Plan for India', to scale dispute avoidance, containment and resolution online.
• The recommendations in the report can help make India a world leader in using technology and innovation through Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) for effective access to justice for every individual.
• The report is a culmination of the action plan made by a committee constituted at the peak of the Covid crisis by NITI Aayog on ODR in 2020 and chaired by Supreme Court Justice (Retd) AK Sikri.
• The report recommends measures at three levels to tackle challenges in adopting ODR framework in India.
• At the structural level, it suggests actions to increase digital literacy, improve access to digital infrastructure and train professionals as neutrals to deliver ODR services.
• At the behavioural level, the report recommends adoption of ODR to address disputes involving Government departments and ministries.
• At the regulatory level, the report recommends a soft-touch approach to regulate ODR platforms and services.
• This involves laying down design and ethical principles to guide ODR service providers to self-regulate while fostering growth and innovations in the ecosystem.
• The report also stresses on strengthening the existing legislative framework for ODR by introducing necessary amendments to statutes.
• The report offers a phased implementation framework for ODR in India.

• ODR is the resolution of disputes, particularly small- and medium-value cases, using digital technology and techniques of ADR, such as arbitration, conciliation and mediation.
• It refers to the process of using technology for dispute avoidance, containment and resolution outside the traditional court system.
• As a dispute resolution avenue it can be provided both as an extension of the public court system and outside of it.
• World over, the potential of dispute resolution mechanisms, especially through technology, is being recognized.
• Increasingly, ODR has received impetus across Government, businesses and even the judicial processes to tide over the constraints due to Covid-19.

• NITI Aayog undertook a transformative initiative to use technology and innovation to help bring affordable, effective and timely justice to those who needed it the most.
• ODR has the potential to help reduce the burden on the court and efficiently resolve several categories of cases.
• It may also be integrated to support the judiciary through technology integration in court-annexed Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) centres, via e-lokadalats and also be introduced within Government departments for internal disputes.
• NITI Aayog has worked extensively on measures that can help enhance efficiency and accessibility to justice for every person who seeks it.
• ODR will go a long way in resolving disputes and the report needs to be expeditiously implemented.

• National Mission on Cultural Mapping (NMCM) is a scheme administered by the Ministry of Culture conceptualized for the purpose of developing a comprehensive data base of artists, art forms and other resources gathered from cultural organizations in the Ministry of Culture, other Ministries and also States on a robust IT-enabled platform.
• Relevant data in respect of 14.53 lakh artists/ artisans has been collected from various sources viz. Ministry of Textiles, Sangeet NatakAkademi, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Akademi, National School of Drama, Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, Zonal Cultural Centres, Kalakshetra Foundation etc.

• Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) sanctioned Kaveri Engine project in 1989.

• 9 Full prototype engines and 4 core engines built
• 3217 hours of engine testing conducted
• Completed Altitude tests & Flying Test Bed (FTB) trials. This is the first time that an indigenously developed military gas turbine engine was flight tested

• Kaveri engine project has achieved higher Technology Readiness Level (TRL) in many critical technology domains and those technologies are being used in the various engine development programmes of the country.
• Further the engines are used as test vehicles for validating next generation technologies.
• At present, the LCA Tejas is integrated with an imported engine.
• However, in future, it is proposed to develop indigenous engines for powering our own aircrafts such as LCA variants and AMCA in association with an International Engine House.
• The technological capabilities built through the Kaveri engine project will be utilised.
• LCA Tejas, Flight Operational Clearance (FOC) configuration demands higher thrust than the intended engine requirement.
• Hence the Kaveri in the present architecture cannot be integrated. In order to induct with LCA Tejas, a modified engine version is required.

• The GTRE GTX-35VS Kaveri is an afterburning turbofan project developed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a lab under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bengaluru, India.
• Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) is entrusted with the design and development of Kaveri Engine which is low bypass twin spool turbo fan engine of 80 kN thrust class.
• The engine incorporates flat rated characteristics to mitigate the thrust drop due to high ambient intake temperature and / or high forward speed.
• Twin lane full authority digital engine control with an adequate manual backup is a salient design feature of Kaveri Engine.
• An Indian design, the Kaveri was originally intended to power production models of the HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) being built by the Aeronautical Development Agency.

NIPUN Bharat Scheme

Know! the information given by the Union Minister of Education

• The Department of School Education and Literacy launched the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy called National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) on 5th July 2021 under the aegis of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha.
• The mission aims to achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy in primary classes.
• The Mission Guidelines lays down priorities and actionable agendas for States and UTs to achieve the goal of proficiency in foundational literacy and numeracy for every child by grade 3.
• Detailed guidelines for the mission have been developed which includes the codification of development goals and learning outcomes for age 3 to 9 years and Lakshya or Targets for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy starting from Balvatika to Grade III.

1. School Based Assessment (SBA) through qualitative observation based on performance of the child in a multitude of experiences and activities.
2. Large-scale standardised assessment for assessment of the processes and functioning of the educational systems (such as NAS, SAS, and Third-Party Assessments).

Know! the information given by the Union Minister of Education

• The aim of the redesigned Samagra Shiksha Scheme is to universalize access to school education; to promote equity through the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and weaker sections, and to improve the quality of education across all levels of school education from pre-primary to class XII.

 Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention;

 Foundational Literacy and Numeracy,

 Gender and Equity;

 Inclusive Education;

 Quality and Innovation;

 Financial support for Teacher Salary;

 Digital initiatives;

 RTE Entitlements including uniforms, textbooks etc.;

 Support for ECCE;

 Vocational Education

 Sports and Physical Education;

 Strengthening of Teacher Education and Training;

• The redesigned Samagra Shiksha recommends to enhance the direct outreach of the scheme by providing child centric interventions directly to the students through DBT mode.
• Under Samagra Shiksha financial assistance is provided to States/ UTs for various ICT and Digital initiatives for setting up of ICT labs, smart classrooms including support for digital boards, virtual classrooms and DTH channels.

• The Prime Minister,has expressed gratitude to the people of Kongthong for a special tune in his honour and in appreciation of Government of India's efforts in promoting the village as a prime tourism destination.

• Meghalaya's Kongthong village, which is also known as the "whistling village", recently honoured Prime Minister Narendra Modi by making him part of a unique tradition that goes back centuries.
• In this village, located in the lush, rolling hills of the northeast state, everyone's name is a melody as mothers compose a special tune for each child when it is born.
• Everyone in the village, inhabited by the Khasi people, then addresses the person with the individual little tune or whistle for a lifetime. They have conventional "real" names too, but they are rarely used.
• The custom of assigning tunes to residents here is known as "jingrwai lawbei", meaning "song of the clan's first woman", a reference to the Khasi people's mythical original mother.
• The Ministry of Tourism recently nominated the village for the UNWTO Best Tourism Villages Contest from India.
• To thanks the PM for his efforts, a tune was composed by a woman in the village in his honour.

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