Relevance IN - Prelims (about UJALA and about SLNP schemes) + Mains (GS III infrastructure development - energy security)
What's the NEWS

• Launched by the Prime Minister on January 5^th, 2015, the Government of India's zero subsidy Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) and LED Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), marked its fifth anniversary.

Know! about Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP)

• SLNP is the world's largest streetlight replacement programme and UJALA is the world's largest domestic lighting project.
• Both have been spearheaded and implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power, Government of India.
• Under the SLNP programme, over 1.03 crore smart LED streetlights have been installed till date
• Through the UJALA initiative, over 36.13 crore LED bulbs have been distributed across India.
• These programmes have bagged global awards
• LED Street Lighting National Programme has enabled citizens to increase productivity at night and made roads safer for pedestrians and motorists due to enhanced brightness and reduced dark spots.

Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA)

• Apart from this, the Government of India initiated the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA) in 2018, which was aimed at promotion of social harmony by apprising rural communities of various government welfare schemes and initiatives.
• As a part of GSA, 21,058 Indian villages with a significantly large number of poor households were able to buy LED bulbs for a special price under UJALA programme.

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.
• 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.
• 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.

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.

Prelims Factoids
First Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman
Relevance IN - Prelims (about Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman )
What's the NEWS

• Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Prakash Javadekar will confer the first ‘Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman'

Know! more about it

• Acknowledging the positive role & responsibility of media in disseminating the outreach of Yoga in India and abroad, the Ministry of I&B had instituted the first Antarashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman (AYDMS) in June, 2019 to mark the contribution of media in spreading the message of Yoga.
• The Samman will comprise of a special medal/plaque/trophy and a citation.
• The contribution of Media in popularizing of Yoga and the entries was assessed by a Jury comprising of 6 members and was headed by Justice C. K. Prasad, Chairman, Press Council of India.

International Day of Yoga

• The International Day of Yoga has been celebrated annually on 21 June since 2015.
• The idea of International Day of Yoga was first proposed by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, during his address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on 27 September 2014.
• On 11 December 2014, India's Permanent Representative introduced the draft resolution in the United Nations General Assembly.
• The draft text received broad support from 177 Member States who sponsored the text, which was adopted without a vote.
• This initiative found support from most global leaders. A total of 177 nations co-sponsored the resolution, which is the highest number of co-sponsors ever for any UNGA resolution of such nature.

Prelims Factoids
Women Science Congress (WSC)

• The 9^th Women Science Congress (WSC) organised as part of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore showcased the achievements of women scientists and motivated young women to actively participate in science to identify and find simple solutions to a range of problems through Science and Technology.

Department of Science and Technology (DST) schemes especially for women.

• KIRAN (Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing) is the women-exclusive scheme of DST with the mandate to bring gender parity in S&T through gender mainstreaming.
• Different programs and components of KIRAN like Women Scientist Scheme-A (WOS-A), Women Scientist Scheme-B (WOS-B) deal with various crucial issues (break in career primarily due to family responsibilities, self employment, part time career, relocation and so on) faced by women scientists in their career path.

Children's Science Congress

• The Rashtriya Kishore Vaigyanik Sammelan (Children's Science Congress) was organised as a part of the ongoing 107^th Indian Science Congress
• The Rashtriya Kishore Vaigyanik Sammelan (Children's Science Congress) prominent event of the Indian Science Congress
• Children Science Congress is financially supported by NCSTC, DST. The main objective is to provide a unique opportunity to children of the age group of 10-17 years to use their scientific temperament and knowledge and to quench their thirst for creativity by conducting scientific experiments to solve problems identified by them. The students also get an opportunity to interact with scientists and subject experts.
• During the event, Infosys ISCA Travel Award 2020 was also given to top 10 students for their best write ups for innovations in the field of Science & Technology.

Prelims Factoids
Union HRD Minister inaugurates the 28th edition of New Delhi World Book Fair 2020

Relevance IN - Prelims (about World book fair)

What's the NEWS

• Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nisank' inaugurated the 28th edition of New Delhi World Book Fair 2020 (NDWBF) at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi

Know! more about it

• This year, the theme of the New Delhi World Book Fair 2020 is ‘Gandhi: The Writers' Writer' to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi.
• Mahatma Gandhi was a prolific writer, editor, publisher, Printer and Institution Builder. He wrote extensively in Gujarati, Hindi and English languages.
• His writings not only reflected his philosophy of non-violence and peace but also gave an insight into the socio-economic and political scenario of the country.
• National Book Trust, India in collaboration with the All India Confederation of Blind (AICB) has jointly published a set of books in Braille for visually impaired readers.
• Over 15 countries including Abu Dhabi, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Nepal, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Sharjah, Spain, Sri Lanka, UK, USA, are participating in the Foreign Pavilion at the Fair.

Additional info.

• Recently, India was the Guest of Honour country at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair held in April 2019, and at Guadalajara International Book Fair, Mexico in November 2019. India will also be Guest of Honour country at forthcoming Paris Book Fair in March 2020.

Social Issues
All India Radio marks World Braille Day in a unique way

Relevance IN - Prelims (about World Braille day + about Marrakesh Treaty) + Mains ( GS II Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States
What's the NEWS

• All India Radio News and its regional units in Pune and Nagpur have observed World Braille Day in an innovative way by broadcasting news read by Visually impaired students and officers. The news was scripted in Braille and read Live.
• As a tribute to Louis Braille, All India Radio News has broadcast Hindi news bulletin read by Visually impaired officer Mr.Kamal Prajapati.

Know! more about world Braille Day

• The day is marked remembering the birth anniversary of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille - for people with visual disabilities.
• Louis Braille was born on 4^th January 1809 in the town of Coupvray in northern France.
• At the age of just 3, he lost both his eyes in an accident. This resulted in the invention of the language of 6 dots- which is popularly known as braille.

Know! about Braille

• Braille is a tactile representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols using six dots to represent each letter and number, and even musical, mathematical and scientific symbols. Braille (named after its inventor in 19^th century France, Louis Braille) is used by blind and partially sighted people to read the same books and periodicals as those printed in a visual font.

Know! more about Marrakesh Treaty

• India becomes the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled on 30^th June, 2014.
• The Indian Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 is in harmony with the Marrakesh Treaty.
• The WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) administered Marrakesh Treaty makes the production and international transfer of specially-adapted books for people with blindness or visual impairments easier.
• It does this by establishing a set of limitations and exceptions to traditional copyright law.
• The main goal of Marrakesh Treaty is to create a set of mandatory limitations and exceptions for the benefit of the blind, visually impaired and otherwise print disabled (VIPs).
• It addresses the "book famine" by requiring its contracting parties to adopt national law provisions that permit the reproduction, distribution and making available of published works in accessible formats - such as Braille - to VIPs and to permit exchange of these works across borders by organizations that serve those beneficiaries.

Cyber Security
Maharashtra Govt launches ‘Cyber Safe Women' initiative
Relevance IN - Prelims (about Cyber Safe Women initiative) + Mains (GS III cyber security)
What's the NEWS

• Maharashtra Government has launched a ‘Cyber Safe Women' initiative under which awareness camps will be held across all the districts of the state regarding cyber safety.

Know! more about it

• The initiative will help in educating women about how the web is used by anti-social elements and child predators to commit various types of crimes.
• Rising instances of cyber-crime need to be curbed and the government is looking to take all measures to ensure that women and children do not fall prey to these criminal activities.
• The campaign will be implemented across the state in collaboration with the state Government, Directorate General of Information and Public Relations and the state's cyber cell. Awareness camps will be organized across all districts of the state on the issue of cyber safety.
• The ‘cyber safe women' initiative will educate women about how the web is used by anti-social elements to commit various types of crimes.
• The campaign will cover cybercrime crimes such as cyberbullying, internet phishing, fraud identity on marriage site, bank fraud, photo shuffling, child pornography, online gaming, false information sites, cyber defamation information and the use of social media.
• The campaign mainly aims to help the women and children in the state become aware of good cyber practices, as only awareness can contribute to the creation of responsible netizens.

Bilateral Relations
India to resolve all boundary issues, including Kalapani, with Nepal through dialogue: MEA

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Kalapani issue) + Mains (GS II Bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reiterated the Indian government's commitment to resolving Kalapani issue with.

Statement given by MEA

• The map accurately depicts the sovereign territory of India. The new map in no manner has revised our boundary with Nepal.
• The boundary delineation exercise with Nepal is ongoing under the existing mechanism

Know! about the issue

• Last year, Nepal had raised objections after the Home Ministry had released a political map of India which showed the Kalapani territory within Indian borders.
• The territory is a disputed area between India and Nepal, and it is under Indian administration as part of Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand.
• The valley of Kalapani, with the Lipulekh Pass at the top, forms the Indian route to Kailash Manasarovar, an ancient pilgrimage site.
• The territory is also the traditional trading route to Tibet for the Bhotiyas of Uttarakhand.
• After India closed the Lipulekh Pass in the aftermath of the 1962 Sino-Indian War, much of the Bhotiya trade used to pass through the Tinkar Pass.
• The Nepalese protests regarding the Kalapani territory started in 1997, after India and China agreed to reopen the Lipulekh Pass.
• In November last year, the MEA had said that the new political map released after bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir accurately depicts its sovereign territory and did not revise its boundary with Nepal in any manner.
  
  

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS