Infrastructure Development; energy/GSII
Powerthon-2022

What's the NEWS

• Union Minister for Power and MNRE virtually launched Powerthon-2022, a hackathon competition under RDSS to find technology driven solutions to solve the complex problems in power distribution and to ensure quality and reliable power supply.

• REC Limited in collaboration with SINE, IIT Bombay, India's premier technological institute today announced the launch of the Powerthon-2022, a hackathon competition wherein Technology Solution Providers (TSPs), start-ups, educational institutions, research institute, equipment manufacturers, state power utilities and other state and central power sector entities, shall be briefed on the current challenges/problem statements faced across the power distribution sector and invited to participate and showcase their technology driven solutions to solve the complex problems.
• The hackathon will task participants to find innovative solutions based on advanced emerging technologies like AI/ML, Blockchain, IoT, VR/AR etc on nine (09) themes that have been identified after various discussions & consultations with 14 DISCOMs across 9 states and have been categorized across 9 broad aspects for pilot testing:

• Under the competition, an Expert Group and a Technical Committee is being constituted for overall evaluation of the Proof of concept (POC) and selection of TSP.
• The TSPs will then be actively mentored and a pilot run shall be conducted by the selected TSP for the thematic area.
• On the success of the pilot run, scale-up avenues will be pursued under the RDSS scheme.

• Powerthon-2022 is being launched in line with the aim of Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) introduced by the Ministry of Power, Government of India.
• RDSS is a Reform-based and Result-linked Scheme introduced by the Ministry of Power and the key objectives of RDSS are Reducing AT&C losses to 12-15%, eliminating the ACOS-ARR gap by 2024-25
• RDSS has 2 major components, of which Part A is Strengthening & Upgradation of Distribution infrastructure under which Smart prepaid metering, Communicable feeders for DTs & Unified software is of focus.
• This Scheme also lays special emphasis on using Advanced tech to analyze data generated through IT/OT devices to Increase operational efficiency & financial sustainability of DISCOMs.

What's the NEWS

• In an effort to showcase the importance of the fintech industry, NITI Aayog, in collaboration with PhonePe, AWS and EY, has organized a three-week-long virtual summit, ‘Fintech Open', from 7-28 February.

• A first-of-its-kind initiative, Fintech Open will bring together regulators, fintech professionals and enthusiasts, industry leaders, the start-up community, and developers to collaborate, exchange ideas and innovate.
• India is witnessing increasing digitization with people getting greater and easier access to financial services.
• This has led to a shift in consumers' financial behaviour-from cash to e-wallets and UPI.
• The expansion of digital payments is an important pivot for creating a more equitable, prosperous and financially inclusive India.
• The rise of fintech has accelerated financial inclusion.

1. Encourage an open ecosystem across the fintech industry
2. Foster innovation and growth
3. Ensure financial inclusion and leverage new models like Account Aggregator to unleash the next wave of fintech innovation.

• The summit will have in-depth conversations, deep-dives, webinars, round-table discussions, etc., highlighting innovations and challenges undertaken by various start-ups.
• A key highlight of the summit will be India's biggest fintech hackathon ever, which will provide an opportunity to individual developers and the start-up community to present breakthrough ideas with the potential to solve real-world problems.
• Additionally, to foster creativity, innovation, and an entrepreneurial mindset among children, another hackathon for school students will also be organized via Atal Innovation Mission's Atal Tinkering Labs network.

• It is used to describe new tech that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services.
• Fintech now includes different sectors and industries such as education, retail banking, fundraising and nonprofit, and investment management to name a few.
• It is the technology and innovation that aims to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services.
• It is an emerging industry that uses technology to improve activities in finance.

• Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 4.0
• India is implementing the largest immunisation programme globally where we annually cover more than 3 crore pregnant women and 2.6 crore children through the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP)

• IMI 4.0 will have three rounds and will be conducted in 416 districts (including 75 districts identified for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav) across 33 States/UTs in the country.
• In the first round (Feb-April 2022), 11 states will conduct IMI 4.0.
• The others (22 states) will conduct the rounds from April to May 2022.
• Mission Indradhanush was launched in December 2014 to cover the partially and unvaccinated pregnant women and children in pockets of low immunization coverage, high-risk and hard-to-reach areas and protect them from vaccine preventable diseases
• Under Mission Indradhanush, all vaccines under Universal Immunization Program (UIP) are provided as per National Immunization Schedule.

• Expanded Programme on Immunization was launched in 1978.
• It was renamed as Universal Immunization Programme in 1985 when its reach was expanded beyond urban areas.
• In 1992, it became part of Child Survival and Safe Motherhood Programme and in 1997 it was included in the ambit of National Reproductive and Child Health Programme.
• Since the launch of National Rural Health Mission in 2005, Universal Immunization Programme has always been an integral part of it.
• Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is one of the largest public health programmes targeting close of 2.67 crore newborns and 2.9 crore pregnant women annually.
• It is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions and largely responsible for reduction of vaccine preventable under-5 mortality rate.

• Nationally against 9 diseases - Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, Rubella, severe form of Childhood Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B and Meningitis & Pneumonia caused by Hemophilus Influenza type B
• Sub-nationally against 3 diseases - Rotavirus diarrhoea, Pneumococcal Pneumonia and Japanese Encephalitis; of which Rotavirus vaccine and Pneumococcal Conjugate vaccine are in process of expansion while JE vaccine is provided only in endemic districts.
• A child is said to be fully immunized if child receives all due vaccine as per national immunization schedule within 1st year age of child.
• The two major milestones of UIP have been the elimination of polio in 2014 and maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination in 2015.

• Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV): IPV has been introduced in UIP as part of Global Polio end-game strategy, to mitigate the risk associated with tOPV to bOPV switch.
• Rotavirus vaccine (RVV): RVV has been introduced to reduce mortality and morbidity caused by Rotavirus diarrhoea in March 2016. (expanded across the country in 2019-20).
• Measles Rubella (MR) vaccine: India is committed to the goal of measles elimination and rubella control and to achieve the goal MR vaccine was introduced in the country through a campaign mode in a phased manner in 2017.
• MR campaign target around 41 crore children in the age group of 9 months to 15 years (covering ⅓ of the total population of the country) followed by 2 doses in routine immunization at 9-12 months and 16-24 months. Rubella component is now under routine immunization as MR vaccine.
• Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV): PCV has been launched in May 2017 for reducing Infant mortality and morbidity caused by pneumococcal pneumonia. It has been introduced in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, 19 districts of Uttar Pradesh and 18 districts of Rajasthan.
• Tetanus and adult diphtheria (Td) vaccine: TT vaccine has been replaced with Td vaccine in UIP to limit the waning immunity against diphtheria in older age groups. Td vaccine to be administered to adolescents at 10 and 16 years of age and to pregnant women.

• Mission Indradhanush (MI) was launched in December 2014 and aims at increasing the full immunization coverage to children to 90%.
• A total of six phases of Mission Indradhanush have been completed covering 554 districts across the country.
• It was also identified as one of the flagship schemes under Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan
• While the first two phases of Mission Indradhanush resulted in 6.7% increase in full immunization coverage in a year, a recent survey carried out in 190 districts covered in Intensified Mission Indradhanush (5^th phase of Mission Indradhanush) shows 18.5% points increase in full immunization coverage as compared to NFHS-4 survey carried out in 2015-16.

• National Cold Chain Training Centre (NCCTE), Pune and National Cold Chain & Vaccine Management Resource Centre (NCCVMRC) -NIHFW, New Delhi have been established to provide technical training to cold chain technicians in repair & maintenance of cold chain equipment

• The Government of India has rolled out an Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN)system that digitizes the entire vaccine stock management, their logistics and temperature tracking at all levels of vaccine storage - from national to the sub-district.
• This enables program managers to have real time view of the vaccine stock position and their storage temperature across all the cold chain points providing a detailed overview of the vaccine cold chain logistics system across the entire country.
• eVIN system has been completed in 12 states in the first phase - Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
• Second phase is ongoing in 9 states - Andhra Pradesh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tripura and Uttarakhand.
• eVIN is to be scaled up to entire country.

• to track the cold chain equipment inventory, availability and functionality.

• The 100-metre prohibited area for construction activity around Centrally-protected monuments could be replaced with site-specific limits to be decided by an expert committee, as the Union Culture Ministry was working on amendments to the relevant Act

• The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958, was amended in 2010 to declare the 100-metre radius of protected monuments as prohibited areas and the next 300-metre radius as regulated areas.
• However, according to Ministry officials as well as a recent Parliamentary Standing Committee report, there was no specific reason behind the 100 metre and 300 metre limits.
• The proposed amendment would change Section 20A of the Act, which refers to the prohibited area, to rationalise the prohibited and regulated areas.
• Expert monument committees would decide the prohibited area around a monument.
• These areas could be as wide as 500 metres for some sites like the Taj Mahal.
• The amendment would also enable the ASI to act against encroachment by holding the relevant authorities liable in case of illegal buildings at a protected site, the official said. This would be similar to the enforcement powers under the Indian Forest Act.

• For the first time, the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine - National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, NCISM-NEET, has conducted an entrance test to Bachelor of Sowa Rigpa Medicine and Surgery (BSRMS) (Menpa Kachupa).
• Including Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, CIBS, and National Research Institute For Sowa Rigpa, NRISR, in Leh, the entrance is conducted in Dharamshala , Varanasi, Gangtok and Darjeeling.

• Sowa-Rigpa, the Science of Healing, is one of the seven Ayush systems, received UGC recognition in October last year.
• Sowa Rigpa is one of the oldest and well documented systems of traditional medicine in the world, and is popular in Himalayan region.

Infrastructure Development/GSIII
Parvatmala-An efficient and safe alternate transport network

What's the NEWS

• Government has decided to develop Ropeways in hilly areas of the country.

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) has so far been responsible for development of Highways and regulating the road transport sector across the country.
• However, in February 2021, the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961 was amended, which enables the Ministry to also look after the development of Ropeways and Alternate Mobility Solutions.
• The move will give a boost to the sector by setting up a regulatory regime.
• The Ministry will also have responsibility for development of ropeway and alternative mobility solutions technology, as well as construction, research, and policy in this area.
• Formulation of institutional, financial, and regulatory framework for the technology will also fall under the ambit of this allocation.

• Union Finance Minister, while presenting Union Budget for 2022-23 announced National Ropeways Development Programme - "Parvatmala" -- will be taken up on PPP mode, which will be a preferred ecologically sustainable alternative in place of conventional roads in difficult hilly areas
• The idea is to improve connectivity and convenience for commuters, besides promoting tourism.
• This may also cover congested urban areas, where conventional mass transit system is not feasible.
• The Finance Minister announced that contracts for 8 ropeway projects for a length of 60 km would be awarded in 2022-23.
• The scheme is being presently started in regions like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Jammu & Kashmir and the other North Eastern states.

• Developing an efficient transport network is a big challenge in hilly areas.
• The rail and air transport networks are limited in these areas, while the development of road network has technical challenges.
• In this backdrop, Ropeways have emerged as a convenient and safe alternate transport mode.
• Ropeway projects are built in a straight line over a hilly terrain, it also results in lower land acquisition costs.
• Despite having a higher cost of construction per km than roadways, ropeway projects' construction cost may happen to be economical than roadways.
• Faster mode of transportation
• Environmentally friendly: Low dust emissions
• Last mile connectivity: Ropeway projects adopting 3S (a kind of cable car system) or equivalent technologies can transport 6000-8000 passengers per hour.
• The system crosses obstacles like rivers, buildings, ravines, or roads without a problem.
• This mode of transportation will enable mobility to people living in difficult areas and help them become part of the mainstream.
• Villagers / farmers living in such areas will be able to sell their produces in other areas, which in turn will help them grow their income.

• The Prime Minister replied to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha.
• The 2022 Budget Session of the Parliament commenced on January 31 with President Ram Nath Kovind's address.
• The first part of the budget session is being held from January 31 to February 11 and the second part will take place from March 14 to April 8.
• The debate on the motion of thanks on the President's address began on 2nd of February in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

• Under Article 87 of the constitution, President of India specially addresses both Houses of Parliament together at the beginning of the first session of each year.
• The discussion on the Address is initiated by a Motion of Thanks.
• Motion of Thanks is moved by a member and seconded by another member. Members who have to move and second the Motion are from the ruling party.
• The notice of such a Motion is received through the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
• The Chairman allots time for the discussion of the Address under article 87(2) in consultation with the Leader of the House.
• At the end of the discussion, the Prime Minister replies to the debate.
• Thereafter, the amendments are disposed, and then the Motion of Thanks is put to vote in the House. If any of the amendments is accepted then the Motion of Thanks is adopted in the amended form.

Prelims Factoids
Sachindra Nath Sanyal
What's the NEWS

• The Nation is remembering Revolutionary Sachindra Nath Sanyal on his 80th death anniversary

• He was the founder of the Hindustan Republican Association also known as Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
• It was created to carry out armed resistance against the British Empire in India.

• Sachindra Nath Sanyal was a mentor for revolutionaries like Chandrasekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh.
• He along with Rashbehari Bose attacked Viceroy Hardinge and injured him while he was entering new capital of Delhi.
• Sanyal was closely involved in the plans for the Ghadar Conspiracy.
• He was sentenced to life for his involvement in the conspiracy and was imprisoned at Cellular Jail.
• He was also jailed by the British for his involvement in Kakori Conspiracy. Sachindra Nath Sanyal passed away in Gorakhpur Jail on 7th February 1942.

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