Cabinet authorises NHAI to set up InvIT to monetise national highways

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about InvIT) + Mains ( GS III economic development)
What's the NEWS

• The Union Cabinet approved the proposal of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to authorise the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to set up Infrastructure Investment Trust(s) (InvIT) to monetise completed national highways that have a toll collection track record of at least one year.
• The INvIT guidelines would be issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and NHAI will reserve the right to levy toll on the identified highway.

Know! about InvITs

• InvITs are trusts, similar to mutual funds listed on a stock exchange, which raise funds from investors, acquire income yielding infrastructure assets, manage such assets and distribute regular yields to investors.
• InvIT as an instrument provides greater flexibility to investors and is expected to lead to the creation of specialised O&M (operation and maintenance) concessionaires and attract patient capital (for say 20-30 years) to the Indian highway market, as these investors are averse to risk and are interested in investing in assets which provide long-term stable returns
• Retail domestic savings and corpus of special institutions such as mutual funds, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), among others, will be invested in infrastructure sector through InvIT.

Know! what's the need

• In October 2017, the government launched Bharatmala Pariyojana - its flagship highway development programme for the development of 24,800 km of roads for a total investment of Rs 535,000 crore
• Given the magnitude of the Bharatmala program, NHAI would need adequate funds to complete the projects within the prescribed timeline.
• As part of this exercise, a workable option is to monetise the completed and operational national highway assets to unlock their value and offer attractive schemes to private players to invest in construction of national highways.

Know! more about NHAI InvIT

• NHAI's InvIT will be a trust established by NHAI under the Indian Trust Act, 1882 and Securities and Exchange Board of India (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014.
• The InvIT Trust will be formed with an objective of investing primarily in infrastructure projects (as defined by Ministry of Finance). InvIT may hold assets either directly or through an SPV or a holding.

Defence
Warship builder GRSE hands over Landing Craft Utility amphibious ship to Indian Navy

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Landing Craft Utility (LCU)) + Mains ( GS III security challenges and their management in border areas)
What's the NEWS

• Adding to the country's maritime security prowess, warship builder Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) has delivered a Landing Craft Utility (LCU) to the Indian Navy

Know! more about it

• With an ability to attain a maximum speed of 15 knots, the ship can accommodate 216 personnel and is equipped with two indigenous CRN 91 guns to provide artillery fire support during landing operations.
• Warship builder GRSE hands over Landing Craft Utility amphibious ship to Indian Navy The amphibious ship, that can transport and deploy main battle tanks, armoured vehicles, troops and equipment from ship to the shore, is seventh of eight such vessels being built for the Navy by GRSE.
• These ships can also be deployed for multirole activities like beaching operations, search and rescue, disaster relief operations, supply and replenishment and evacuation from distant islands
• The LCU is 62.8 metres long, 11 metres wide and has a displacement of 830 tonnes, with a low draught of 1.7 metres

Culture
The government launches a portal to showcase Indian culture

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the portal launched by Culture Ministry) + Mains ( GS I Indian Culture)
What's the NEWS

• Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel unveiled a portal on Indian culture that brings together all the cultural resources of the country on one platform.
• Created by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, in collaboration with IGNOU, over a course of three years, http://www.indian culture.gov.in is a digital resource of documents, artefacts, paintings and other items available in the archive.

Know! more about it

• We are not able to display even one-tenth of our cultural treasures to the public, owing to lack of space. Our history and culture should be out in the public domain so that more people in the country and abroad can see and experience it
• The portal currently has details on 90 lakh items, including manuscripts, archives, research papers, audio books and folk tales.
• It also has information on UNESCO sites, reports and proceedings of various events organised by the Ministry of Culture as well as details of museum collections.
• This pertains to all the organisations that come under the aegis of the Ministry, such as the National Archives of India, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Smriti, Archaeological Survey of India and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
• The timeline of the content dates back to 4,000 years, and includes sculptures and paintings from the repository of the National Museum and several rare manuscripts.
• Till now, all the content on the portal pertains to the Ministry and its branches, and the state museums and archaeology departments haven't been involved and this gap may gradually be filled.

Education Sector
UNESCO & Dell to train 4,000 school teachers in India with AI-powered digital tech
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the training of teachers by Dell and UNESCO) + Mains ( GS II issues relating to development and management of social sector/services relating to education and human resource)
What's the NEWS

• Dell Technologies announced a new partnership at TECH 2019 between its Dell in India operation and UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace (MGIEP) to enable school teachers to adopt technology in classrooms.

Know! more about it

• Through this partnership, ‘Dell Aarambh' a PC for education program by Dell and UNESCO MGIEP's ‘FramerSpace' platform, will collaborate to train identified teachers.
• This partnership is a resultant of meeting the common objective of equipping teachers with the requisite knowledge to implement technology in classrooms
• In India, Dell is addressing the challenge of quality education and digital literacy through Dell Aarambh - a program instituted to help schools, teachers and parents understand PC technology and its use in education.
• This partnership enables the global community in achieving the UN Sustainable Goal 4.7 towards education for building peaceful and sustainable societies, and UNESCO MGIEP in its mission of building social and emotional learning, innovative digital pedagogies and empowering youth, said the Company.
• Dell Aarambh intends to provide a springboard for teachers in ICT and to help them kickstart their digital learning journeys; and UNESCO MGIEP FramerSpace helps teachers with rich content creation abilities coupled with analytical insight to elevate the education quality.
• FramerSpace is an AI-powered digital platform that helps teachers conceive, implement and monitor personalized learning plans for their students.
• Through 2019, along with UNESCO MGIEP, Dell has organized ‘PolicyHack', a forum for teachers, schools and education experts, to present real-life solutions for the advancement of the education system in India.

Prelims Factoids
FSSAI, Nasscom Foundation partner to develop app to prevent food wastage
Relevance IN - Prelims (about the mobile app launched by FSSAI and NASSCOM)
What's the NEWS

• To prevent food wastage, Food regulator FSSAI and Nasscom Foundation have joined hands to a develop an app and set up a 24x7 helpline number to connect donors with surplus edibles to food distribution organisations.

Know! more about it

• India will soon have access to a common help-line and a mobile application 'Food Donation in India' to donate food to the needy.
• FSSAI and NASSCOM Foundation have signed an MoU to jointly build a technology platform for Food Donation in India
• The platform will also facilitate registration of surplus food distribution organisations, and initially, the network of 81 such organizations across PAN India, known as the Indian Food Sharing Alliance (IFSA) will be a part of this platform
• The solution, FSSAI said, will provide an easy accessible platform that will cater to different stakeholders like food businesses, hoteliers, caterers, individuals etc and facilitate food donations in any part of the country.
• This would definitely provide a recognition to the organisations involved in surplus food distribution and would help in reducing the wastage of food in the country through food donation
  
  

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