Infrastructure Development: Energy/GSIII/Government Schemes/GSII
UJALA completes 7 years of energy-efficient and affordable LED distribution

What's the NEWS

• Ministry of Power has successfully completed seven years of distributing and selling LED lights under its flagship UJALA programme.

• It was launched by Prime Minister of India on January 5, 2015.
• The programme has evolved to be world's largest zero subsidy domestic lighting programme that addresses concerns like high electrification cost and high emissions that result from inefficient lighting.
• As of today, more than 36.78 crore LEDs have been distributed across the country.
• In 2014, UJALA succeeded in bringing down the retail price of LED bulbs from INR 300-350 per bulb to INR 70-80 per bulb.
• Apart from making affordable energy accessible to all, the programme also resulted in massive energy savings.
• UJALA has been readily adopted by all the states. It has helped in reducing annual household electricity bills.
• Under the programme, the government has ensured transparency and encouraged competition by e-procurement of goods and services.
• This has resulted in significant reduction in transaction cost and time, enhancing process efficiency. With UJALA, the cost of LED bulb has come by down by 85 percent.
• EESL has adopted an innovative procurement strategy which resulted in well-known benefits and now knows as USP of Program Ujala.

• The Electricity Distribution Company and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) a public sector body of Government of India are implementing the programme.
• In non-subsidized LED lamp distribution projects, this program is considered the world's largest.
• LED bulbs would be distributed by the Electricity Distribution Company at subsidized rates to every grid-connected customer with a metered connection.
• In May 2017, the Government of India announced that they were expanding the LED distribution project to the United Kingdom.

• The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has raised its benchmark of excellence yet again by extending access of the formidable Zojila at an altitude of 11,649 ft, that links the Union Territory of Ladakh with the rest of the country.
• For the first time Zoji mountain pass remained open beyond 31st December.
• The BRO achieved this feat through its frontline Projects - Vijayak and Beacon.
• They are collectively responsible for maintaining the axis that has strategic implications, in addition to the socio-economic well-being of Ladakh.
• In the first three days of 2022, about 178 vehicles have been able to transit through the pass by the collective assistance of the BRO and the Police personnel.

• Zoji La is a high mountain pass in the Himalayas in the Indian union territory of Ladakh.
• Located in the Dras, the pass connects the Kashmir Valley to its west with the Dras and Suru valleys to its northeast and the Indus valley further east.
• The National Highway 1 between Srinagar and Leh in the western section of the Himalayan mountain range traverses the pass.
• Since vehicle flow stops during winter every year due to heavy snowfall, the all weather Zoji-la Tunnel is now constructed to mitigate this.

• Prime Minister inaugurated the New Integrated Terminal Building of Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport and launched key initiatives like Mukhyamantri Tripura Gram Samriddhi Yojana and Project Mission 100 of Vidyajyoti Schools.
• The airport of Agartala, which was spread over 10,000 square meters, has now been built in an area of 30,000 square meters which will showcase the cultural heritage of Tripura.
• Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport will now be able to cater 30 lakh passengers every year instead of 13 lakh in a year.
• Under the Krishi Udan2.0 scheme of the Central Government, 4500 kg of agricultural products have been exported in the month of November 2021, which includes pineapple and jackfruit of Tripura.
• Agartala Airport is one of the major Airports in North East Region situated in the capital of Tripura.
• It is capable of handling 4C type of Aircraft operations.

• Union Minister of Power dedicated Automatic Generation Control (AGC) to the nation.
• This is expected to facilitate achieving the government's ambitious target of 500 GW non-fossil fuel-based generation capacity by 2030.
• The AGC is being operated by Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO) through National Load Despatch Centre.
• Through AGC, POSOCO sends signals to power plants every 4 seconds to maintain frequency and reliability of the Power System.
• Under the POSOCO's AGC project, till date 51 GW of generation capacity across all five regions is operational. This is a significant milestone in improving the resilience of the Indian Power System manifolds.
• Through AGC, NLDC (National Load Despatch Centre) sends signals to more than 50 power plants in the country every 4 seconds to maintain the frequency and reliability of the Indian Power System.
• This will ensure more efficient and automatic frequency control for handling variable and intermittent renewable generation.

• POSOCO is contributing to the formation of the South Asian Grid for effective utilization of resources between neighbouring countries (Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar) under its jurisdiction.
• Over the years, POSOCO has successfully operated the Indian Electricity Grid with a focus on efficiency, reliability, safety and fairness, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Various apps like Vidyut Pravah, Merit, etc. developed by POSOCO are being used for dissemination of real time information about Indian Power System in public domain for bringing transparency in electricity market operation
• POSOCO Day is observed on 3^rd January to commemorate its independent functioning that began on 3^rd January 2017, under Ministry of Power as one of the Power PSUs after separating from POWERGRID as its subsidiary organization.
• It is responsible to ensure the integrated operation of the Grid in a reliable, efficient, and secure manner.
• It consists of 5 Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDCs) and the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC).

• Five global nuclear powers have pledged to prevent atomic weapons from spreading and to ensure a nuclear war is never fought, in a rare joint statement ahead of a review of a key nuclear treaty later this year.
• The statement said that the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China and France - who are the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - consider it their primary responsibility to avoid war between the nuclear states and to reduce strategic risks, while aiming to work with all countries to create an atmosphere of security.

• The statement was issued after the latest review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) - which first came into force in 1970 - was postponed from its scheduled date of January 4 to later in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The statement comes as tensions between Russia and the United States have reached heights rarely seen since the Cold War over a troop build-up by Moscow close to the Ukrainian border that has raised fears that the Kremlin is planning a new attack on its pro-Western neighbour.
• The rise of China meanwhile has also raised concerns that tensions with Washington could lead to conflict, notably over the island of Taiwan. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

• It is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.
• Opened for signature in 1968, the treaty entered into force in 1970.
• Four UN member states have never accepted the NPT, three of which possess or are thought to possess nuclear weapons: India, Israel, and Pakistan.
• The treaty defines nuclear-weapon states as those that have built and tested a nuclear explosive device before 1 January 1967; these are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China.
• Four other states are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan, and North Korea have openly tested and declared that they possess nuclear weapons, while Israel is deliberately ambiguous regarding its nuclear weapons status.

• To push digital transactions in rural and semi-urban areas, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a framework allowing offline payments up to Rs 200 per transaction, subject to an overall limit of Rs 2,000.
• An offline digital payment means a transaction that does not require internet or telecom connectivity.

• Under the offline mode, payments can be carried out face-to-face (proximity mode) using any channel or instrument like cards, wallets, and mobile devices.
• These transactions will not require an additional factor of authentication (AFA), since the transactions are offline, alerts (by way of SMS and/or e-mail) will be received by the customer after a time lag.
• Transactions are subject to a limit of Rs 200 per transaction and an overall limit of Rs 2,000 for all transactions until the balance in the account is replenished. Balance replenishment can only occur in an online mode
• The framework incorporates the feedback received from the pilot experiments on offline transactions conducted in different parts of the country during the period from September 2020 to June 2021
• Offline transactions are expected to give a push to digital transactions in areas with poor or weak internet or telecom connectivity, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas. The new framework is applicable with immediate effect
• The offline mode of payment, it said, can be enabled after obtaining the specific consent of the customer.
• The customers, will continue to enjoy protection under the provisions of circulars limiting customer liability and will have recourse to the Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme for grievance redress.

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