Prelims Factoids
Devayatanam

What's the NEWS

• Under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of Ministry of Culture, Government of India is organizing a two-day international conference ‘Devayatanam - An odyssey of Indian temple architecture on 25^th - 26^th February, 2022 at Hampi, Karnataka.

• The conference aims to deliberate upon the philosophical, religious, social, economic, technical, scientific, art and architectural aspects of temple.
• It also intends to initiate a dialogue on the evolution and development of the various styles of temple architecture such as the Nagara, Vesara, Dravida, Kalinga and others.
• The inaugural session will take place at Pattabhirama Temple, Hampi while the academic sessions will be held in Auditorium, Kannada University, Hampi.
• The conference will have eminent scholars discussing on the various facets of the great temples of India.
• The conference will be beneficial for scholars, students of Indian history, archeology, culture and architecture and general public.
• The aim of the conference would be creating interest among scholars and students alike, to learn and respect our heritage.

• Hampi is an ancient village in the south Indian state of Karnataka. It's dotted with numerous ruined temple complexes from the Vijayanagara Empire.
• On the south bank of the River Tungabhadra is the 7^th-century Hindu Virupaksha Temple, near the revived Hampi Bazaar.
• A carved stone chariot stands in front of the huge Vittala Temple site. Southeast of Hampi, Daroji Bear Sanctuary is home to the Indian sloth bear.
• It is a UNESCO world heritage site.
• It was a part of the Mauryan Empire back in the third century BC.
• Hampi was the capital city during the four different dynasties altogether in the Vijayanagar city that came into existence in the year 1336 AD.
• The Vijayanagara Empire reached unfathomable heights under the guidance of King Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluva Dynasty.
• ‘Kishkindha Kaand' in Ramayana has special significance concerning Hampi.
• It is located near the Tungabhadra river.
• By 1500 CE, Hampi-Vijayanagara was the world's second-largest medieval-era city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at that time, attracting traders from Persia and Portugal.
• It has been described by UNESCO as an "austere, grandiose site" of more than 1,600 surviving remains of the last great Hindu kingdom in South India.

• The Government of India in the Defence Sector, the Acquisition Wing of the Ministry of Defence has signed a contract for Rs. 1075 crore with M/s Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for the retro-modification of Commander Sight of Battle Tanks-T-90.
• The retro-modification will be carried out in 957 T-90 tanks of the Indian Army.

• Commander sight of Battle Tank T-90, India's premier battle tank, is presently fitted with Image Converter (IC) tube-based sight for night viewing.
• Based on the requirement projected by the Indian Army, DRDO and BEL have jointly designed and developed an advanced Mid Wave Thermal Image (MWIR) based sight as a replacement for the existing IC-based sight.
• The new retro-modified Commander sight employs a thermal imager capable of detecting the targets at 8 Kms during day and night and a Laser Ranger Finder (LRF) to find the ranges accurately up to 5 Kms, thereby enhancing its capability to engage target at longer ranges.
• With the corrections from ballistic software and LRF, the Commander of T-90 can detect, engage and neutralize the targets with phenomenal accuracy.
• The indigenously developed sight completed extensive evaluations under field conditions successfully.
• The successful indigenous development of Thermal Imager based Commander Sight will provide further fillip to indigenous R&D and defence manufacturing.

• India's first indigenously developed Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) protein sub-unit vaccine for COVID-19, CORBEVAXTM, developed by Biological E Limited, has received approval for Emergency Use Authorization from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI)for 12-18 years age group.
• It is approved to be administered in humans including Children and adults 12 years and above.
• The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and its Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), have supported Biological E's COVID-19 vaccine candidate from pre-clinical stage through Phase III clinical studies.
• The vaccine candidate was provided financial support under COVID-19 Research Consortium, through the National Biopharma Mission, for pre-clinical studies and Phase I/II Clinical Trials.
• Additional support was provided through Mission COVID Suraksha for further clinical development.

• CORBEVAXTM is a 2-dose vaccine administered intramuscularly and can be stored at 2ºC to 8ºC.
• The recombinant protein sub-unit vaccine developed from the Receptor Biding Domain (RBD) of the spike protein on the viral surface is adjuvanted with CpG 1018 and alum.
• The Drug Controller General of India has already approved CORBEVAXTM, for restricted use in emergency situation among adults on December 28, 2021.
• Based on interim results of the ongoing phase II/III clinical study, Biological E has received approval for restricted use in an emergency situation in adolescents aged 12 to 18 year age group.
• The Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), an Autonomous Institute of DBT, provided immunogenicity data for the Phase II/ III studies.

• The Department through Mission COVID Suraksha launched under AtmaNirbhar Bharat package 3.0 being implemented by BIRAC, is committed to development of safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines.
• This is the 2nd vaccine supported under the Mission, to have received EUA for the age group of 12-18 years.

• The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Ministry of Science & Technology, promotes and accelerates the development of biotechnology in India, including growth and application of biotechnology in the areas of agriculture, healthcare, animal sciences, environment and industry.

• Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise, set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India as an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprise to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs

• Biological E. Limited (BE), a Hyderabad-based Pharmaceuticals & Biologics Company founded in 1953, is the first private sector biological products company in India and the first pharmaceutical company in Southern India.
• BE develops, manufactures and supplies vaccines and therapeutics. BE supplies its vaccines to over 100 countries and its therapeutic products are sold in India and the USA. BE currently has 8 WHO-prequalified vaccines in its portfolio.

• PM-KISAN is a central sector scheme launched on 24th February, 2019 to supplement financial needs of land holding farmers.

• Financial benefit of Rs 6000/- per year in three equal installments, every four month is transferred into the bank accounts of farmers' families across the country through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
• The scheme was initially meant for small and marginal farmers (SMFs) having landholding upto 2 hectares but scope of the scheme was extended to cover all landholding farmers with effect from 01.06.2019.
• Since, the inception of this scheme, there have been multiple set of technological & process advancements done in the scheme so that maximum number of beneficiaries can take the advantage of the same in an efficient way.
• As on 22nd February, 2022, benefits under PM Kisan scheme have been provided to about 11.78 Crore farmers and funds amounting to Rs1.82 lakh crore in various installments have been released to the eligible beneficiaries of this scheme across India.

• Union Minister of Coal launched the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation of Coal India Ltd (CIL)

• ERP will establish best business practices, standardize and unify business process across CIL and its subsidiaries.
• Implementation of ERP across Coal India will give boost to government endeavor towards Digital and New India
• ERP is a great tool of information technology intervention, which will help CIL improve its business performance and growth with enhanced data integrity and cost effectiveness.
• This will in turn help the national miner evolve as a global player.
• SAP ERP at CIL comprises of seven modules namely Human Capital Management (HCM), Sales and Distribution (SD), Production and Planning (PP), Plant Maintenance (PM), Project System (PS), Material Management (MM) and Finance & Control (FICO).
• ERP in Coal India has been implemented in two phases.
• In the first phase, it was implemented at CIL Headquarters and two subsidiaries WCL and MCL, the Phase II implementation was in remaining six Subsidiaries SECL, NCL, CCL, ECL, BCCL and CMPDI.
• M/s Tech Mahindra was the implementation partner for Phase - I whereas M/s Accenture is the implementation partner for Phase - II.

• SAP ERP is an enterprise resource planning software developed by the company SAP SE.
• ERP, or enterprise resource planning, software is modular software made to integrate the main functions of an organization's core business processes into a unified system.
• ERP is basically a software suite of various applications involving business process management.
• SAP is a software development corporation that provides ERP software solutions in the market.
• The ERP is a tool used for the management of business processes across various industries.

• Ministry of Culture has announced ‘DHARA, an Ode to Indian Knowledge System' as a part of the Science Week Vigyan Sarvatra Pujyate being held from 22^nd to 28^th February 2022.
• Vigyan Sarvatra Pujyate, a festival of Science, is being organised to celebrate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
• DHARA comprises a series of lecture demonstrations by eminent scholars across the world to revisit our history and celebrate the achievements of India and the contribution of great scholars, mathematicians, scientists, and leaders to its heritage.
• DHARA will commence on 25^th February with ‘Mathematics in India', which will focus on India's contribution to Mathematics through the ages.

1. Ancient Period (Zero & Decimal Place Value System, Geometry in Sulbasutras, Combinatorics in Piṅgala's Chandas-sastra)
2. Classical Period (Landmarks in Indian Algebra, Trigonometry in India, Indeterminate Equations in Indian Algebra)
3. Contributions of Kerala School (Madhava's Infinite Series for π (C), Calculus of Trigonometric Functions), and
4. Valedictory session (Pioneering Historians of Indian Mathematics).

• It is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India and the glorious history of its people, culture, and achievements.
• Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav commenced on 12thMarch 2021 which started a 75-week countdown to our 75th anniversary of Independence. It will continue till 15th August 2023.

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS