• Saksham, an annual one-month long, people-centric fuel conservation mega campaign of Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is going to be launched on 16^th January

Know! more about it

• PCRA and Oil & Gas companies shall carry out various interactive programs during this month-long campaign.
• PCRA has been creating awareness amongst the general public about the need for fuel conservation and adopting tips for saving the fuel.
• PCRA has prepared a comic book jointly with NCERT on the theme ‘Fuel Conservation' aimed at younger generation especially the school children and is available on E-Pathshala on NCERT website.

• Petroleum Conservation and Research Association (PCRA) in association with Institute of Petroleum-Dehradun has developed high energy efficient PNG burner/Gas stove for household where piped gas is supplied which will save gas as compared to modified LPG stove for PNG.
• On mass awareness about fuel conservation, PCRA has developed attractive messages and recently developed an animated documentary ‘Pollution Ka Solution" which is available on PCRA website and YouTube.
• The annual Saksham National Competition which generally is launched in the month of July, involving schools and students in Essay, Painting and Quiz competition is a big hit now.
• ‘Saksham' is strengthening its foot print as a flagship Fuel Conservation mega campaign program of the country.

• Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) is a registered society set up under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India.
• As a non-profit organization, PCRA is a national government agency engaged in promoting energy efficiency in various sectors of economy.
• It helps the government in proposing policies and strategies for petroleum conservation, aimed at reducing excessive dependence of the country on oil requirement.
• Over the years, PCRA has enlarged its role in improving productivity in use of various sources of energy.
• PCRA undertake studies to identify the potential and to make recommendations for achieving conservation of petroleum products in various sectors of the economy.
• It sponsors R&D activities for the development of fuel-efficient equipment / devices and organizes multi-media campaigns for creating mass awareness for the conservation of petroleum products.

• Saksham is a Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Scheme being implemented by All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) aimed at providing encouragement and support to specially abled children to pursue Technical Education.
• This is an attempt to give every young student, who is otherwise specially abled, the opportunity to study further and prepare for a successful future.

• The Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has launched a project named ‘Tech Saksham' to accelerate MSME growth through technology enablement.
• It is a Ministry of MSME and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) partnered project which brings together technology majors Dell Technologies India, HP India, etc to address technological gaps faced by MSMEs in their growth.

• Under the aegis of Ministry of Women and Child Development
• Saksham is a new scheme proposed for holistic development of Adolescent Boys, on the pattern of SABLA.
• The proposed scheme Saksham, would aim at the al at the all-round development of Adolescent Boys to make them self-reliant, gender-sensitive and aware citizens, when they grow up.
• The scheme will primarily focus on all out-of-school Adolescent Boys (10 to 18 years). The platform for the scheme to be provided by the local Panchayt

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about CARE and its objective) + Mains ( GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.)

What's the NEWS

• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)celebrated its 5^th Annual Day
• CARA has conducted various training programmes and workshops at national and state levels for all the stakeholders of the adoption programme.
• It is giving emphasis to the rehabilitation of older and special needs children in various Child Care Institutions across the country.

Know! about CARA

• CARA is an apex body of Government of India for promoting and facilitating In-country Adoption and is the designated Central Authority for regulating Inter-country Adoption.
• CARA was designated as a Statutory Body on 15 Jan 2016, under the provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Culture
Special exhibition on Indian Heritage in Digital Space

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the special exhibition and its outcome) + Mains (GS I Indian Culture and Heritage)
What's the NEWS

• The Cultural Ministry has launched a month long special exhibition titled Indian Heritage in Digital Space and a two day long first international heritage symposium
• The exhibition was organized in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Know! more about it (exhibition)

• Visitors in this exhibition will be able to see the recreations of the socio-cultural life and traditions of Hampi, architectural and conjectural reconstructions of several important structures and experience demystification of many murals.
• Use of technology in heritage is very important and through this people will get a chance to know and understand the unseen aspects of heritage sites easily.

Know! about Indian Digital Heritage (IDH) initiative

• This special exhibition showcase adaptation and infusion of technologies being developed under the Indian Digital Heritage (IDH) initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India in the cultural heritage domain of the country.
• The exhibition demonstrate the outcome of two flagship projects viz., A digital mini-spectacle to showcase the glory of Hampi and Augmented reality based interactions with physical models of monuments; that are completed under the DST mentored initiative Indian Heritage in Digital Space (IHDS).
• The goals of these projects are to create digital installations using 3D laser scan data, AR, holographic projections and 3D fabrication, to provide interactive and immersive experiences showcasing the glory of Hampi and five Indian monuments namely KashiVishwanath Temple, Varanasi; TajMahal, Agra; Sun Temple,Konark; Ramachandra Temple, Hampi ; and RaniKiVav, Patan.
• A special installation named ‘ViRaasat', consisting of a scaled down 3D printed replica shall provide a mixed reality experience to visitors for selected monuments, using laser-scanning, 3D modelling and rendering, 3D printing, computer vision and spatial AR.

Know! about Hampi

• Hampi, also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in east-central Karnataka, India
• It became the pilgrimage centre of the Hindu religion.
• Vijayanagara Empire capital in the 14^th century.
• Chronicles left by Persian and European travellers, particularly the Portuguese, state Hampi was a prosperous, wealthy and grand city near the Tungabhadra River, with numerous temples, farms and trading markets.
• 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.
• The Vijayanagara Empire was defeated by a coalition of Muslim sultanates; its capital was conquered, pillaged and destroyed by sultanate armies in 1565, after which Hampi remained in ruins

Health Sector
Govt releases Rare Disease Policy draft, proposes to give Rs 15 lakh help

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Rare Disease and about the proposed draft) + Mains (GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.)
What's the NEWS

• The government will provide a financial support of up to Rs 15 lakh under its Rashtriya Arogaya Nidhi scheme for one-time treatment of rare diseases, according to the much awaited draft Rare Diseases Policy.

Know! about the draft policy

• Under the draft National Policy for Rare Diseases, beneficiaries would not be limited to Below Poverty Line families, but will also cover 40 per cent of the population eligible as per norms of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana for their treatment in government tertiary hospitals only.
• The Union Health Ministry intends to notify certain medical institutes as Centers of Excellence for Rare Diseases.
• The cost of treatment of patient in these centres of excellence will be met out of donations received through the online digital platform," according to the draft policy.
• Rare diseases categorised under Group 1, such as Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs), immune deficiency disorders, chronic granulomatous disease, osteopetrosis, Fabry's disease and liver or kidney transplant, will be funded under the scheme.
• The policy cited "resource constraints" to provide financial assistance to rare diseases like Gaucher's disease, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Hurler Syndrome and Wolman disease that require lifelong treatment.
• The government will endeavour to create alternate funding mechanism through setting up a digital platform for voluntary individual and corporate donors to contribute to the treatment cost of patients of rare diseases
• The draft policy states that at present very few pharmaceutical companies are manufacturing drugs for rare diseases globally and there are no domestic manufacturers in India.
• So far, only about 450 diseases have been recorded in India from tertiary care hospitals that are globally considered as rare diseases, according to the draft policy.
• Keeping in view the lack of availability of epidemiological data on rare diseases, constraints on resources and competing health priorities, the government is in the process of setting up a National Registry for Rare Diseases at ICMR with the objective of creating a database of various rare diseases.

Rare Disease

• Rare diseases are severe and chronic illnesses and often life-threatening. Patients suffering from rare diseases, especially Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs), often lead a very incapacitating life.
  
  

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS