Relevance IN - Prelims (about lifeline Udan and its objective)
What's the NEWS

• Lifeline Udan flights are being operated by MoCA to transport essential medical cargo to remote parts of the country to support India's war against COVID-19.
• Under Lifeline UDAN, 116 flights have been operated by Air India, Alliance Air, IAF, Pawan Hans and private carriers.
• 79 of these flights have been operated by Air India and Alliance Air.

• Special focus has been on the North East Region (NER), island territories and the hill states. MoCA, Air India and IAF have collaborated closely for last-mile deliveries to Ladakh, Dimapur, Imphal, Guwahati and Port Blair
• The bulk of the cargo planes have carried both light-weight and voluminous products like masks, gloves and other consumables, that require more space on the aircraft per ton.
• The lifeline Udan cargo includes Covid-19 related reagents, enzymes, medical equipment, testing kits, personal protective equipment (PPE), masks, gloves and other accessories required by corona warriors across the country.
• The ministry is also regularly updating public information related to Lifeline Udan flights on the Lifeline Udan website.
• A portal for coordinating Lifeline Udan flights was developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) and MoCA.
• Incidentally, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) developed a website for Lifeline Udan flights in a record three days to enable coordination between various agencies.
• The website allows state governments and airlines to upload their consignment and flights details respectively, in advance.
• The aviation ministry control room then assigns the cargo consignments to different flights and coordinates with multiple stakeholders till the consignment reaches its destination,
• Apart from the government-owned carriers, domestic cargo operators SpiceJet, Blue Dart and Indigo are also operating cargo flights on a commercial basis.

Know! about UDAN

• UDAN-RCS, UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is a regional airport development and "Regional Connectivity Scheme" (RCS) of Government of India, with the objective of "letting the common citizen of the country fly", aimed at making air travel affordable and widespread, to boost inclusive national economic development, job growth and air transport infrastructure development of all regions and states of India.

Prelims Factoids
Mo Prativa
Relevance IN - Prelims( about Mo Prativa and its objective)
What's the NEWS

• WHO and odisha government in collaboration with the UNICEF has launched an online competition programme ‘Mo Prativa' to engage the children and youth who are staying at home during the lockdown.

Know! more about Mo Prativa

• The entries will be invited on two themes, ‘Being at home during lockdown' and ‘My responsibility as a young citizen during Covid-19'.
• Those in the age group of 5 to 18 years can participate in art, slogan writing, short story writing (within 500 words), poem writing and poster making, he said and added that winning entries will get certificates and may be used in IEC materials.
• The participants will be divided into three groups, from 5 to 10 years, 11 to 16 years and 16 to 18 years.

COVID-19
COVID-19 Quarantine Alert System (CQAS)
Relevance IN - Prelims (about CQAS and its objective + about Indian telegraph act) + Mains ( GSII Centre state relations)
What's the NEWS

• The Centre is using powers under the Indian Telegraph Act to "fetch information" from telecom companies every 15 minutes to track COVID-19 cases across the country.
• The government has tested an application that triggers e-mails and SMS alerts to an authorised government agency if a person has jumped quarantine or escaped from isolation, based on the person's mobile phone's cell tower location. The "geo-fencing" is accurate by up to 300 m
• Kerala was one of the first States to use geo-fencing to track COVID-19 cases.

Know! more about the Quarantine Alert System

• The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) shared a standard operating procedure (SOP) with all telecom service providers regarding the application called COVID-19 Quarantine Alert System (CQAS).
• The system will collate phone data, including the device's location, on a common secured platform and alert the local agencies in case of a violation by COVID patients under watch or in isolation.
• The DoT and C-DOT, in coordination with telecom service providers, have developed and tested the application.

Indian Telegraph Act, 1885

• The States have been asked to seek the approval of their Home Secretaries under the provisions of Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, for the specified mobile phone numbers to request the DoT to provide information by email or SMS in case of violation of "geo-fencing".
• The particular provision under the Act, amended multiple times since 1885, authorises State or Centre to access information of a user's phone data in case of "occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of the public safety.
• The CQAS will prepare a list of mobile numbers, segregating them on the basis of telecom service providers, and the location data provided by the companies will be run on the application to create geo-fencing.

Prelims Factoids
Jeevan

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Jeevan )
What's the NEWS

• The Indian Railways has developed a low- cost ventilator, Jeevan, at its Kapurthala Rail Coach Factory that could save thousands of lives at a time the country is grappling with a shortage of the medical equipment in its fight against coronavirus.
• The prototype is now awaiting ICMR clearance to go into production
• It will cost around Rs 10,000 without the compressor. After the ICMR approval, the Rail coach factory will produce 100 such ventilators a day

Know! more about Jeevan ventilator

• A valve has been installed to regulate breathing of the patient and the device can be optimized to more compact size. The machine is a silent operator.
• A ventilator is a device used to pump air and oxygen into the lungs, and it can be critical for a patient with severe COVID-19 infection which can lead to lung failure.
• India might need anywhere between 110,000-220,000 ventilators by May 15 in the worst- case scenario. The number of ventilators today available in the country is a maximum of 57,000 and come with a cost of Rs 5-Rs 15 lakh, according to a Brookings report.
• RCF is the premier coach production unit which manufactures the German design Link Hofmann Busch coaches.

Prelims Factoids
IT-Roorkee, AIIMS-Rishikesh develop low-cost portable ventilator Prana Vayu

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Pran Vayu)
What's the NEWS

• The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Roorkee, in collaboration with All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Rishikesh, has developed a low-cost ventilator.
• The ventilator, Prana Vayu, will cost Rs.25,000 per unit, much less than the products available in the market.

Know! more about Prana Vayu

• Prana Vayu was presented to more than 450 industries representatives in a webinar organized by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
• This low-cost ventilator will be highly useful for covid-19 patients, especially when there is a shortage of ventilators
• It has been designed especially for covid-19 pandemic. It is low-cost, safe, reliable, and can be quickly manufactured.
• It is safe and reliable as it is equipped with real-time spirometry and alarms. It can automatically limit high pressure with an alarm system.

Education
MHRD AICTE COVID-19 Student Helpline Portal
Relevance IN - Prelims (about the portal and its objective)
What's the NEWS

• In order to provide help and support to students, AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) has come out with a unique MHRD AICTE COVID-19 Student Helpline Portal to address the issues.

Know! more about the portal

• The website with an URL https://helpline.aicte-india.org was launched by MHRD
• This portal is essentially to connect those who are willing to provide help with those who need help.
• The nature of support includes Accommodation, Food, on line Classes, Attendance, Examinations, Scholarships, Health, Transport, Harassment etc.
• As of now more than 6500 colleges have already come forward to provide support at such a crucial juncture.

Health
National Health Authority, Uber join hands to provide dedicated transport service to Covid-19 healthcare workers
Relevance IN - Prelims (about National Health Authority)
What's the NEWS

• The National Health Authority has announced its partnership with Uber India to provide safe, reliable and efficient transport for India's frontline healthcare workers engaged in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Know! more about the initiative

• Uber will initially facilitate the provision of 150 cars free of cost to support medical facilities
• All UberMedic cars supplied to NHA will be equipped with roof-to-floor plastic sheeting enclosing the driver's seat, thereby acting as a protective barrier between the rider and driver.

Know! about National Health Authority

• The National Health Authority or the NHA is the apex body responsible for implementing India's flagship public health insurance/assurance scheme ‘Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana' (AB-PMJAY).
• NHA has been set-up to implement the PM-JAY at the national level. In the States, SHAs or State Health Agencies in the form of a society/trust have been set up with full operational autonomy over the implementation of this scheme including extending the coverage to non SECC beneficiaries.
• National Health Authority is the successor of National Health Agency, which was functioning as a registered society since 23^rd May, 2018.
• The National Health Agency was reconstituted as the National Health Authority on 2^nd January 2019 to make it a full functional autonomous body
• The NHA is governed by a Governing Board chaired by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; and is headed by a full-time Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

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