Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the objective of Chunauti + about National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology) + Mains ( GSII Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

What's the NEWS

• Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology launched "Chunauti"- Next Generation Startup Challenge Contest to boost startups and software products with special focus on Tier-II towns of India.

Know! all about Chunauti

• It aims to identify around 300 startups working in identified areas and provide them seed fund of upto Rs. 25 Lakh and other facilities
• The government has earmarked a budget of Rs. 95.03 Crore over a period of three years for this programme.
• Under this challenge the Ministry of Electronics and IT will invite startups in the following areas of work:

1. Edu-Tech, Agri-Tech & Fin-Tech Solutions for masses
2. Supply Chain, Logistics & Transportation Management
3. Infrastructure & Remote monitoring
4. Medical Healthcare, Diagnostic, Preventive & Psychological Care
5. Jobs & Skilling, Linguistic tools & technologies

• The startups selected through Chunauti will be provided various support from the Government through Software Technology Parks of India centers across India.
• They will get incubation facilities, mentorship, security testing facilities, access to venture capitalist funding, industry connect as well as advisories in legal, Human Resource (HR), IPR and Patent matters.
• Seed fund of upto Rs. 25 Lakh and cloud credits from leading cloud service providers.
• Start-ups who are in the ideation stage may be selected under the pre-incubation programme & mentored for up-to six months to evolve their business plan & solution around the proposed idea.
• Each intern (start-up under pre-incubation) will be paid Rs. 10,000/- per month upto a period of 6 months.

National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT)

• Union Minister also laid foundation stone of the digital training and skilling center of National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) at Muzaffarpur in Bihar.
• This center will be developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India at a cost of Rs. 9.17 Crore.
• The government of Bihar has allocated one acre of land for this institution.
• This center will be equipped with the state of the art training facility with a digital laboratory.
• Different courses such as O level, CCC, BCC, Programming and multimedia training will be offered from this center.

Miscellaneous
Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of States (AREAS)
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the role od AREAS) + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development - Energy security)
What's the NEWS

• 6th Foundation Day Ceremony of Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of States (AREAS)

Know! about AREAS

• Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of the States (AREAS) has been formed on MNRE initiative to interact and learn from each other's experiences and also share their best practices and knowledge regarding technologies and schemes/programmes.
• The AREAS got registered under Society Registration Act 1860 on 27 August 2014.
• Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy is the Patron of the Association and Secretary, MNRE is the ex-officio President of the Association.
• All SNAs( State Nodal Agencies) are the member of the Association.

Know! about the genesis of AREAS

• Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) is the nodal agency at the central level for promotion of grid-connected and off-grid renewable energy in the country.
• Ministry's programmes are implemented in close coordination with State Nodal Agencies (SNAs) for renewable energy (RE).
• Over the period the SNAs have developed considerable knowledge and experience in planning and implementation of RE programmes.
• In this background it is important that SNAs interact and learn from each other's experiences and also share their best practices and knowledge regarding technologies and schemes/programmes.
• MNRE took an initiative in this regard in consultation with SNAs, and Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of States has been formed and registered as a society on 27 August 2014 under Society Registration Act 1860.

Governance
Online Dashboard of PM SVANidhi launched

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about PM SVANidhi + Mains ( GS II Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications )
What's the NEWS

• Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry launched the PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) online dashboard

Know! more about the progress of PM SVANidhi

• The online dashboard is dynamic, interactive and would provide a one stop solution to all stakeholders looking for information and tracking monitoring of progress of PM SVANidhi up to city level.
• Since the commencement of online submission of applications on PM SVANidhi portal on 2nd July 2020, more than 7.15 lakh applications have been received and over 1.70 lakh have been sanctioned in different States and UTs.

• It was launched by the Ministry on June 01, 2020, for providing affordable working capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to Covid-19 lockdown.
• This scheme targets to benefit over 50 lakh Street Vendors who had been vending on or before 24 March, 2020, in urban areas including those from surrounding peri-urban/rural areas.
• Under the Scheme, the vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in the tenure of one year.
• On timely/ early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy @ 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer on quarterly basis. There will be no penalty on early repayment of loan.

Social Issues
Eklavya Model Residential School teacher selected for National Award to Teachers2020

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about EMRA + about NTA 2020) + Mains ( GSII Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes
What's the NEWS

• Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) established under Ministry of Tribal Affairs witnessed its first NAT Awardee
• Union Ministry of Education (formerly Ministry of Human Resource Development), Department of School Education & Literacy constituted an Independent Jury at National Level to bestow the National Award to Teachers (NAT) for the year 2020.
• In the history of Eklavya, it is the first time an EMRS teacher, has been selected for National Award.

Know! about Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS)

• EMRS started in the year 1997-98 to impart quality education to ST children in remote areas in order to enable them to avail of opportunities in high and professional educational courses and get employment in various sectors.
• Across the country, as per census 2011 figures, there are 564 such sub-districts out of which there is an EMRS in 102 sub-districts.
• As per revised 2018 EMRS Scheme, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, will have an Eklavya Model Residential School by the year 2022.
• These schools will be on par with Navodaya Vidyalayas and will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture besides providing training in sports and skill development.

Miscellaneous
National GIS-enabled land bank system launched

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about GIS-enabled land bank system and about GIS) + Mains ( GS II Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications )
What's the NEWS

• Commerce and Industry Minister launched the national GIS-enabled land bank system, which will help investors to get real-time information about the availability of industrial land and resources.
• The system is being developed by integrating the Industrial Information System (IIS) with state GIS (Geographic Information System).
• The project has been launched for six states.
• This is a prototype only and will be developed further with inputs from states to make it an effective and transparent mechanism for land identification as well as procurement.
• The IIS portal is a GIS-enabled database of industrial areas/clusters across the states.
• More than 3,300 industrial parks across 31 states/UTs covering about 4,75,000 hectare land have been mapped on the system.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

• It store, analyze and visualize data for geographic positions on Earth's surface.
• GIS is a computer-based tool that examines spatial relationships, patterns and trends.
• By connecting geography with data, GIS better understands data using a geographic context.

The 4 main ideas of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are:

• Create geographic data.
• Manage it in a database.
• Analyze and find patterns.
• Visualize it on a map.

Prelims Factoids
Great Andamanese tribe
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about PVTGs and different tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands)
What's the NEWS

• At least five members of the Great Andamanese tribe have tested positive for Covid-19
• Earlier this month, it was reported that five welfare staff working with the Jarawa tribe had tested positive for Covid-19.
• Survival International said concern was growing for the safety of other tribes on the islands, including the Jarawa and the uncontacted Sentinelese.

Know! more about these tribes
Great Andamanese

• The Great Andamanese are a small group of just over 50 survivors, down from more than 5000 when the British colonised the islands in the 1850s.
• They are classified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group(PVTG).
• They speak Jeru dialect among themselves

Jarawa

• The Jarawa are a nomadic hunter-gatherer tribe, who have only had friendly contact with settlers neighbouring their territory since 1998.
• They live in parts of South Andaman and Middle Andaman Islands, and their present numbers are estimated at between 250-400 individuals.

Sentinelese

• The uncontacted Sentinelese-- the most isolated tribe in the world-- are extremely vulnerable to diseases from outsiders

The five PVTGS residing in Andamans are Great Andamanese, Jarwas, Onges, Shompens and North Sentinelese.

Know! about PVTGs

• 75 tribal groups have been categorized by Ministry of Home Affairs as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG)s.
• PVTGs reside in 18 States and UT of A&N Islands.
• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs implements the Scheme of "Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)" exclusively for them .
• Under the scheme, Conservation-cum-Development (CCD)/Annual Plans are to be prepared by each State/UT for their PVTGs based on their need assessment, which are then appraised and approved by the Project Appraisal Committee of the Ministry.

• Pre-agricultural level of technology
• Low level of literacy
• Economic backwardness and
• declining or stagnant population.

Know! more about PVTGs

• In 1973, the Dhebar Commission created Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) as a separate category, who are less developed among the tribal groups.
• In 2006, the Government of India renamed the PTGs as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
• In India, tribal population makes up for 8.6% of the total population. Tribal people live in about 15% of the geographical area of the country.
• The PVTG of Sahariyas has the highest population of 4,50,217, while the PVTGs of Sentinelets and Andamanese has a very small population of 39 and 43, respectively.

• Survival International is a human rights organisation formed in 1969 that campaigns for the rights of indigenous and/or tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples.
• The organisation's campaigns generally focus on tribal peoples' desires to keep their ancestral lands.

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