• Prime Minister inaugurated India's biggest Drone Festival - Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022 - on 27 May 2022 at 10 AM at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
• Prime Minister also interacted with kisan drone pilots, witness open-air drone demonstrations and interact with startups in the drone exhibition centre.
• Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022 is a two day event and is being held on 27th and 28th May.
• Over 1600 delegates comprising government officials, foreign diplomats, armed forces, central armed police forces, PSUs, private companies and drone startups etc. will participate in the Mahotsav.
• More than 70 exhibitors will display various use cases of drones at the exhibition.

Governance
40th edition of PRAGATI

What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister chaired the meeting of 40th edition of PRAGATI, the ICT based multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, involving Centre and State governments.
• In the meeting, nine agenda items were taken for review including eight projects and one Programme.
• Up to the 39 editions of PRAGATI meetings, 311 projects having a total cost of 14.82 lakh crore have been reviewed.

• PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation), as the name suggests, is aimed at starting a culture of Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation.
• It is also a robust system for bringing e-transparency and e-accountability with real-time presence and exchange among the key stakeholders.
• The platform was launched on March 25, 2015.
• It is a multi-purpose and multi-modal platform that is aimed at addressing common man's grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State Governments.
• The PRAGATI platform uniquely bundles three latest technologies: Digital data management, video-conferencing and geo-spatial technology.
• It also offers a unique combination in the direction of cooperative federalism since it brings on one stage the Secretaries of Government of India and the Chief Secretaries of the States.
• With this, the Prime Minister is able to discuss the issues with the concerned Central and State officials with full information and latest visuals of the ground level situation.
• It is a three-tier system (PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States)

• Government is supporting indigenous development of high-powered Magnetron technology used mainly for cancer radiation therapy.
• A MoU between Technology Development Board (TDB) of DST and M/s Panacea Medical Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore to provide financial support for development and commercialisation of "S Band Tunable Magnetron for Particle Accelerators".
• High-powered Magnetron developed by CSIR-CEERI (Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute), Pilani for commercial use will be a pathbreaking technology for Oncologists to treat even 2 mm diameter brain tumour with precision radiation with very little side-effects.

• Magnetron is a type of vacuum tube device.
• It is compact & low-cost source of microwave power as compared to other similar microwave tubes.
• It works on a principle of crossed-field device, which uses the motion of electrons in perpendicular electric and magnetic fields to generate microwave radiation, used for generating RF Power Source in Linear Accelerator for Medical, NDT & other allied applications.
• This technology has been developed indigenously by CSIR-CEERI, and transferred to Panacea for mass production and usage in radiation therapy machine for cancer treatment.

• India is the fourth largest medical devices market in Asia, after Japan, China & South Korea and positioned 20th in the global market.
• India imports about 86% of its requirement of medical equipment and almost 100% of high-end medical equipment

• A document has been released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on "Inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) persons in the world of work".

• Around the world, LGBTIQ+ persons face harassment, violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
• Discrimination has an economic cost not just to LGBTIQ+ persons and their families but also to enterprises and national economies.
• Studies have shown that diversity in the workplace, including LGBTIQ+ persons, is better for business.
• It recommended member countries, employers' organisations and representatives of workers to launch social protection programmes to remove barriers that LGBTIQ+ persons face in society.
• A national policy and labour law review will allow governments to assess their country's work policy environment for LGBTIQ+ persons.
• Consultation with LGBTIQ+ communities and employers' and workers' organisations will allow the identification of barriers faced by LGBTIQ+ persons. when entering the labour market and accessing government schemes, including those on social protection.
• The ILO asked trade unions to help LGBTIQ+ workers to organise and exercise their right to freedom of association.

• It is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards.
• Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and oldest specialised agency of the UN.
• The ILO has 187 member states: 186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands.
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland
• The ILO is composed of three organs: the General Conference of representatives of member states (the "International Labour Conference"); the Governing Body; and the International Labour Office.
• The ILO's labour standards are aimed at ensuring accessible, productive, and sustainable work worldwide in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity.
• ILO seeks to promote employment, ensure training and retraining, improve living and working conditions and protect the safety and health of all workers.
• India, a Founding Member of the ILO, has been a permanent member of the ILO Governing Body since 1922. The first ILO Office in India started in 1928.

What's the NEWS

• The Supreme Court, in a significant order, told the police that they should neither interfere nor take criminal action against consenting sex workers.
• It said prostitution is a profession and sex workers are entitled to dignity and equal protection under the law.
• A three-judge Bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao issued six directions for safeguarding the rights of sex workers.
• The Bench said, "Sex workers are entitled to equal protection of the law.
• Criminal law must apply equally in all cases on the basis of age and consent.
• Judgement Highlights
• When it is clear that the sex worker is an adult and is participating with consent, the police must refrain from interfering or taking any criminal action.
• Notwithstanding the profession, every individual in this country has a right to a dignified life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• The Bench ordered that sex workers should not be "arrested or penalised or harassed or victimised" whenever there is a raid on any brothel, "since voluntary sex work is not illegal and only running the brothel is unlawful".
• A child of a sex worker should not be separated from the mother merely on the ground that she is in the sex trade.
• Further, if a minor is found living in a brothel or with sex workers, it should not be presumed that the child was trafficked.
• Sex workers who are victims of sexual assault should be provided every facility including immediate medico-legal care, a three-judge Bench directed in an order which was passed after invoking special powers under Article 142 of Constitution.