Relevance IN - Prelims( about ATL Tinkering Marathon 2019 + Atal Tinkering Lab) + Mains ( GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
What's the NEWS

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog declared the results of its flagship national annual innovation Marathon challenge ATL Tinkering Marathon 2019 held over 5000+ Atal Tinkering Labs across the country and announced 150 winners of the Marathon.

Know! about ATL Tinkering Marathon 2019

• This year, the challenge was executed by AIM in partnership with MyGOV on MyGov's Innovate Platform.
• With the central theme as "Research, Ideate, Innovate, Implement - Mindful Innovation for the greater good", this year's marathon was uniquely designed by the students themselves.
• Four different problem areas were shortlisted on the basis of Phase I and Phase II - Enabling a Sustainable Environment and Justice, Enabling Outcome Driven Quality Education, Enhancing Health and Hygiene, Ensuring Inclusivity and Equality.

• The students identified community problems of their choice in one or more of the above four problem areas and developed innovative solutions in the form of working prototypes or minimum viable product (MVP).
• Phase-I included crowdsourcing of the problems faced by students in the communities surrounding them. It saw over 4300 entries. Phase-II included voting on the shortlisted problem statements.
• The Marathon had a strong focus on Research preceding the Innovations.
• The final phase of solution development received over 1191 entries from students across 29 States and UTs.

Additional info
Atal Tinkering Lab

• 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.

Atal Innovative Mission

• 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.

Disaster Management
Hydro-Meteorological Hazards Risk Reduction

Relevance IN - Prelims( about Hydro-Meteorological Hazards Risk Reduction + about Sendai framework) + Mains ( GS III disaster management)
What's the NEWS

• National Institute of Disaster Management, Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with India Meteorological Department organised a webinar series on "Hydro-Meteorological Hazards Risk Reduction".
• The webinar series include four webinars focusing on issues apropos of ‘Thunderstorms and Lightning', ‘Cloudburst and Floods', ‘Cyclones and Storm Surges' and ‘Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events'.
• The webinar series exhorted on enhancing human capacity in terms of better understanding of Hydro-Meteorological Hazards Risk and effective collaborative actions, by implementing Prime Minister's 10-point agenda and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, for reducing the risk and enhancing the resilience of affected communities and surroundings.

Hydro-Meteorological disasters.

• Hydrometeorological hazards are caused by extreme meteorological and climate events, such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, landslides, or mudslides.
• Sendai Framework
• The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework) was the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda and provides Member States with concrete actions to protect development gains from the risk of disaster.
• The Framework aims to achieve the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries over the next 15 years.
• It recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other stakeholders.
• The Sendai Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters.
• It is the outcome of stakeholder consultations initiated in March 2012 and inter-governmental negotiations held from July 2014 to March 2015, which were supported by the UNDRR upon the request of the UN General Assembly.
• UNDRR is tasked to support the implementation, follow-up and review of the Sendai Framework.

Science & Technology
Habitat Model for Efficiency and Comfort

Relevance IN - Prelims (shade smart +radiant cooling + National Building Code of India ) + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development + awareness in the field of science and technology)
What's the NEWS

• The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India has developed novel external shading solution for windows in residential and commercial buildings under the project Habitat Model for Efficiency and Comfort.

ShadeSmart

• The shading system named as "ShadeSmart" has been developed as an innovative and cost-effective solution for achieving indoor comfort with reduced electricity consumption in air conditioning and lighting.
• ShadeSmart changes its configuration depending upon the Sun's position.
• ShadeSmart is being commercialized, and efforts are being made to make ShadeSmart more affordable than air conditioning in small thermal zones next to external windows, especially in the residential sector.
• This technology will help to bring inside the buildings more daylight with less heat, thus making occupants comfortable and also more productive and healthy.

Radiant cooling

• Radiant Cooling, where cooling is achieved through radiant heat transfer, as against regular convective air conditioning is efficient and gives better quality of thermal comfort.
• The process to integrate radiant cooling in the National Building Code is being undertaken.
• Radiant cooled buildings have an extremely high potential of energy-saving (60-70%).
• Standard protocols for operation of radiant cooled buildings and adaptive thermal comfort standards for radiant cooled buildings in India will make it convenient for the masses to adopt radiant cooling technology.
• Radiant Cooling, which employs 100% fresh air supply, is expected to gain popularity and higher acceptance rates in the air-conditioning industry.
• Radiant cooling cools a floor or ceiling by absorbing the heat radiated from the rest of the room.
• When the floor is cooled, it is often referred to as radiant floor cooling; cooling the ceiling is usually done in homes with radiant panels.

Know! about NBC

• The National Building Code of India (NBC), a comprehensive building Code, is a national instrument providing guidelines for regulating the building construction activities across the country.
• It serves as a Model Code for adoption by all agencies involved in building construction works be they Public Works Departments, other government construction departments, local bodies or private construction agencies.
• The Code mainly contains administrative regulations, development control rules and general building requirements; fire safety requirements; stipulations regarding materials, structural design and construction (including safety); building and plumbing services; approach to sustainability; and asset and facility management.
• The Code was first published in 1970 at the instance of Planning Commission and then first revised in 1983.
• Thereafter three major amendments were issued to the 1983 version, two in 1987 and the third in 1997. The second revision of the Code was in 2005, to which two amendments were issued in 2015.
• The revised Code has been brought out in 2016 as National Building Code of India 2016 reflecting the state-of-the-art and contemporary applicable international practices.

Know! about TERI - The Energy and Resources Institute

• It is a not-for-profit, policy research organization - working in the fields of energy, environment, and sustainable development
• Established in 1974, it was formerly known as the Tata Energy Research Institute.
• As the scope of its activities widened, it was renamed The Energy and Resources Institute in 2003.
• TERI's mission is to usher transitions to a cleaner and sustainable future through the conservation and efficient use of energy and other resources, and innovative ways of minimizing and reusing waste.

Information Technology
Goa joins MyGov Citizen Engagement Platform
Relevance IN - Prelims (MyGov portal and its objective) + Mains ( GS II transparency and accountability + e governance
What's the NEWS

• Goa, launched the MyGov Goa portal, on 4th August 2020
• Goa joins the MyGov Citizen Engagement Platform for enabling participative governance.

Know! all about MyGov Goa portal

• MyGov Goa portal will go a long way in strengthening public participation in the governance process and allow the state to connect to nationwide audience allowing citizens to participate in different forums and give their view/inputs on government policies/schemes
• MyGov (mygov.in), the Government of India's citizen engagement and crowdsourcing platform, aims to promote active citizen participation in governance and policymaking.
• Since its launch on 26th July 2014, MyGov has adopted multiple engagement methodologies like discussions, tasks, innovation challenges etc
• MyGov user base has expanded to more than 1.25 Crores and millions of citizens engage with MyGov on its social media platforms
• In order to engage with citizens at the State level, MyGov has enabled state instances to crowdsource ideas and creative content for state specific initiatives in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) mode.
• 12 states had already launched their MyGov platforms State InstanceWith consistent efforts of MyGov Team and respective state government's support, the initiative has been a great success and is able to efficiently achieve its objective.
• MyGov Goa portal will encourage people of the state to share their thoughts, ideas and suggestions with the Government in areas related to various policies, programs, schemes etc.
• MyGov had become a preferred platform for promoting active participation of citizens in Governance and development.
• Citizens may enroll on www.goa.mygov.in and share opinions, ideas and suggestions with the Government.

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