Daily Current Capsules - 04^th October 2019

Social Justice
President to confer award Vayoshreshtha Samman on elders, senior citizens, institutions

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Vayoshreshtha Samman) + Mains ( GS II Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
What's the NEWS

• A Madhya Pradesh municipality, which runs a day care centre for senior citizens, an NGO in Kerala that has sensitised thousands to the need for taking care of elders and the State of Tamil Nadu, which has established maintenance tribunals in each sub-division, are among those to be honoured on for their service to senior citizens.

• Vayoshreshtha Samman, the annual national award of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, will be given away to 15 individuals and organisations by President Ram Nath Kovind.
• The award distribution is one of the Ministry's events to mark the International Day of Older Persons.
• Tamil Nadu is expected to be given the award for the best State in implementing the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, and providing services to senior citizens.
• According to the citation, the State has set up maintenance tribunals under the Act in each sub-division, but half of the cases are resolved through conciliation.
• The municipal council of Unhel, in Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh, will receive the award for the best urban local body. It provides medical services, income generation schemes and pension to seniors. It has also opened a day care centre, Anand Ghar, fitted with recreation facilities.
• Gandhi bhavan International Trust, a non-profit in Kollam, Kerala, is set to be honoured for providing care to 1,400 needy people, including 350 senior citizens, and for conducting awareness programmes for the youth. So far, 60,000 people have attended the programme.

Science & Technology
Digital Exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi titled "Digital Gandhi Gyan-Vigyan" inaugurated
Relevance IN - Prelims (Digital Gandhi Gyan Vigyan Exhibition)
What's the NEWS

• Bringing a scientific context to mark the 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi , the Department of Science & Technology inaugurated an exhibition titled "Digital Gandhi Gyan Vigyan Exhibition".
• The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with a technology start-up under incubation by IIT, namely, M/s Vizara Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Delhi. The exhibition has the following components :
• VR Experience : This is an Immersive Virtual Reality experience based on the life of Gandhi ji, with special focus of his life at the Sabarmati Ashram.
• Charkha with an AR App : This is a fabricated physical model of a Charkha which gets animated when seen through an AR app on a hand-held device such as a smart-phone or tablet. Users gets to know about its history, mechanics and linkage to Gandhi ji from the AR App.

Infrastructure Development/ Energy/Environment Conservation
SLNP Crosses 1-Crore Mark For LED Streetlights

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) + EESL + Mains (GS III Environment conservation + Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc. + GS II Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
What's the NEWS

• Under the Government of India's Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), Union power minister R.K. Singh recently dedicated 1 crore smart LED streetlights to the nation, which are illuminating 2.7 lakh km of roads in India.

Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP)

• Launched in January 2015, SLNP is the world's largest streetlight replacement programme, being implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, a joint venture of Central PSUs under the power ministry.

Know! more about the programme

• The 1 crore smart LED streetlights have been installed and helping generate employment for around 13,000 people in the country.
• The installation of 1 crore LED streetlights has resulted in annual energy savings of 6.71 billion kwh and avoided 1,119.40 mw of peak demand, resulting in reduction of GHG emission by 4.63 million tonnes of CO₂ every year.
• Under SLNP, Andhra Pradesh is leading with an installation of 28.9 lakh LED streetlights followed by Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with 10.3 lakh and 9.3 lakh, respectively.
• As on October 1, 2019, 1,502 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across India have been enrolled under the programme out of which work has been completed in around 900 ULBs.
• EESL has adopted the Pay-As-You-Save (PAYS) model where EESL makes the entire upfront investment in installation of the LED streetlights and no additional budget allocation from the municipalities is required.
• The contract with the municipalities/ULBs is for a period of 7 years. The seven-year contract with the local bodies guarantees a minimum energy saving of typically 50 per cent and provides free replacements and maintenance of lights at no additional cost to the civic partners.
• The municipalities pay EESL from their savings in energy and maintenance cost over a 7-year period, making the LED lights affordable and accessible.
• By March 2020, SLNP aims to replace a total of 1.34 crore conventional streetlights in India with smart LEDs. This includes the 1 crore lights already installed.
• EESL intends to bring investment to the tune of Rs.8,000 crore by 2024 by covering entire rural India. It is expected that more than 30 million LED streetlights would be retrofitted/installed by EESL.

Know! about EESL

• Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is an energy service company (ESCO) of the Government of India and is the world's largest public ESCO.
• It is 100% government owned, a joint venture of state-owned NTPC Limited, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and POWERGRID.
• EESL was formed under India's Ministry of Power to facilitate energy efficiency projects. Innovative business and implementation models can significantly reduce consumption and costs.
• The programme runs without any budgetary allocation from the central government. The cost of using efficient lighting is repaid by municipalities from savings in energy and maintenance expenditure over a period of time.

Science and Technology/ Human Resource
AIM, NITI Aayog's Atal Tinkering Labs and UNICEF India launches ‘The Gandhian Challenge'

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the Gandhian Challenge + about AIM and ATL) + Mains (GS III Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life, Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology + GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
What's the NEWS

• On the 150^th birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, AIM, NITI Aayog's Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and UNICEF India, including Generation Unlimited, have launched ‘The Gandhian Challenge'.

Know! about The Gandhian Challenge

• This innovation challenge provides a platform for every child across India to ideate innovative solutions for a sustainable India of their dreams, using Gandhi's principles.
• The winners of The Gandhian Challenge will be awarded in New Delhi by NITI Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission and UNICEF on the occasion of Children's Day in November.
• The contest - open for every child in India from 2 October to 20 October - also celebrates 70 years of partnership between Government of India and UNICEF India to enable Every Right for Every Child.
• Through this partnership, AIM and UNICEF recognize every child's ability and right to voice their dreams for a world of their choice, following Gandhi's principles.
• The problem statement for the Gandhian Challenge is: "Share your innovative solutions/ideas to create a futuristic and sustainable world of your dreams, following Gandhi's principles."
• Ideas and solutions to the Gandhian Challenge may be expressed through broad categories: Art & Innovation (Letters, poems, painting, videos and photos, among others) and Science, Technology & Innovation (Robotics, IoT, sensors and 3D printers, among others).
• Challenges like this help us understand children's point of view with a willing to re-examine our own opinions and attitudes, and envisage solutions through a child-rights lens.
• The most innovative, sustainable solutions/ideas will be showcased as a symbol of a larger movement by children taking root in every district of India. Children across India can access to more than 8000 Atal Tinkering Labs across all districts to support their innovative ideas.
• In ATLs, students of class 6th to 12th acquire a problem-solving attitude, develop innovative solutions leveraging technologies like 3D printers, robotics, miniaturised electronics, IOT and programming and DIY kits, with support from teachers and mentors.

Know! about AIM:

• AIM is the Government of India's flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
• AIM's objective is to develop new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of the economy, provide platform and collaboration opportunities for different stakeholders, create awareness and create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country.

Six major initiatives of AIM:

• Atal Tinkering Labs-Creating problem-solving mindset across schools in India.
• Atal Incubation Centers-Fostering world class start-ups and adding a new dimension to the incubator model.
• Atal New India Challenges-Fostering product innovations and aligning them to the needs of various sectors/ministries.
• Mentor India Campaign- A national Mentor network in collaboration with public sector, corporates and institutions, to support all the initiatives of the mission.
• Atal Community Innovation Center- To stimulate community centric innovation and ideas in the unserved /underserved regions of the country including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
• ARISE-To stimulate innovation and research in the MSME industry.

Know! about UNICEF India and Generation Unlimited:

• UNICEF, an integral part of the United Nations, works with governments, communities, civil society organizations, the private sector, and other partners worldwide to advance children's rights, and is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Generation Unlimited is a new UNICEF-led global partnership that aims to ensure that every young person age 10-24 is in some form of school, learning, training, self-employment, or age-appropriate employment by 2030.
• It aims to co-create and scale up proven solutions related to secondary age-education, skills for learning, employability and decent work, and empowerment, with a focus on girls.
  
  

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