Daily Current Capsules 06^th November 2020

Governance
ICT Grand Challenge 2020

Relevance IN - Prelims (about ICT grand challenge + about JJM) + Mains (GS II government policies and interventions+ governance - accountability and transparency)
Digitisation of water supply infrastructure

• The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) aims providing Tap Connection to every rural household by 2024 with particular focus on ‘service delivery' i.e. regular water supply in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on long-term basis.
• This necessitates the use of modern technology in monitoring of the programme and to capture service delivery data automatically for ensuring the quality of services.
• Digitisation of water supply infrastructure has the potential to solve current problems as well as help anticipate and address future challenges.

Smart water supply measurement and monitoring system

• In order to harness the power of technology in water management which is the need of the hour, the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology in partnership with National Jal Jeevan Mission, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti had announced an ICT Grand Challenge to develop a ‘Smart water supply measurement and monitoring system'.
• The Jal Jeevan Mission would be the user agent of the Grand Challenge and C-DAC, Bangalore is the implementing agency and would provide technical support for the challenge.
• C-DAC will also provide technical support for Proof of Concept (PoC) development to the shortlisted candidates. It would also provide mentoring support, technical guidance to them.
• The challenge witnessed enthusiastic participation from all over India with a total of 218 applications.
• The evaluation of the applications is currently in progress. Shortlisted submissions will be invited for presentation
• Way forward in the Grand challenge includes Ideation to Prototype Stage, Prototype to Product Stage, Product Deployment Stage, and announcement of three winners.
• All these stages would be carried out with funding support from MeitY and National Jal Jeevan Mission.
• Based on evaluation throughout these steps, one winner and two runners-up will be selected and awarded with Rs. 50 Lakh, for the winner and Rs. 20 Lakh of each runner-up.

Know! more about Grand Challenge

• This Grand Challenge will harness the vibrant IoT eco-systems of India for creating smart rural water supply eco-system to measure and monitor the service delivery of the water supply in rural areas.
• This Challenge will provide an opportunity to work for Jal Jeevan Mission and to assure potable water supply through Functional Household Tap Connections to every rural household.

Science & Technology
Gandhian Young Technological Awards in two categories -SITARE-GYTI and SRISTI-GYTI awards

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Gandhian Young Technological Innovation SITARE-GYTI and SRISTI-GYTI awards
What's the NEWS

• Union Minister of Science & Technology gave away Students Innovations for Advancement of Research Explorations - Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (SITARE-GYTI) and Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technological Innovations-Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (SRISTI-GYTI) awards
• The awardees were selected after rigorous review process by eminent professors and scientists in respective fields.

Gandhian Young Technological Innovation awards

• Gandhian Young Technological Innovation awards constitute two categories of awards, SITARE-GYTI under Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and SRISTI-GYTI given by SRISTI.
• The awards and appreciations are given under these two categories to encourage technology students to move towards setting up Biotech and other start-ups.

SITARE-GYTI awards and SRISTI-GYTI awards

• SITARE-GYTI awards are given every year to the most promising technologies developed by the students in life sciences, biotechnology, agriculture, medical devices etc.
• SRISTI-GYTI awards are given to students in other engineering disciplines, he said.
• Under SITARE-GYTI awards, 250 entries from student innovators with potential for Biotech and life science start-ups were received in six categories from 96 universities and institutes across 23 states and Union Territories.
• More than 700 entries were received under SRISTI-GYTI in 42 technology domains from 270 universities and institutes belonging to 27 states and union territories.

Steps taken by the government to encourage a larger number of student entrepreneurs

• Honey Bee Network has been scouting and supporting grassroots innovators also through SHODHYATRAS all over the country and encouraging under-graduate students to work on their innovations as well as on traditional knowledge through BIRAC supported Biotechnological Innovation Ignition Scheme
• S&T labs of DBT ,CSIR and DST can now be the Incubators for these young Innovators.
• BIRAC E-YUVA scheme will engage a number of Universities and Technology Institutes to serve as Mentors.
• BIRAC had conceived SITARE to galvanise the power of creativity and innovative thinking among the young minds.
• The Honey Bee Network' has made to trigger grassroots innovation movement in India is unparalleled worldwide.
• SRISTI has added GYTI platform to encourage innovations for grassroots and other sectors
• Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)
• It is a not-for-profit state owned enterprise under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India to strategically empower emerging biotech companies.

Prelims Factoids
International Election Visitors Programme 2020

Relevance IN -Prelims ( about IEVP 2020 + about A -WEB + SVEEP) + Mains ( GS II governance)
What's the NEWS

• The Election Commission of India is organizing an International Virtual Election Visitors Programme 2020 (IEVP) for foreign Election Management Bodies (EMBs)/Organisations from 05-07 Nov 2020, in the context of the ongoing Bihar Legislative Assembly Elections.

International Election Visitor Programmes (IEVPs)

• In the past, ECI has organized International Election Visitor Programmes (IEVPs) for foreign EMBs/Organizations in 2014 Lok Sabha elections; elections for a few State Assemblies in Feb/March 2017 and Lok Sabha Elections in May 2019
• Bihar has an electorate of over 72 million, one of the largest in the world to vote so far amid the COVID19 pandemic.
• This provides us with an opportunity to share our best practices and experience of the conduct of our poll process during the pandemic period.
• Delegates from over 40 countries across the world and 3 international organizations (viz. International IDEA, International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES) and Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) have been invited to participate in the IEVP 2020.
• The Programme for IEVP 2020 comprises an online briefing session which would provide to the participants an overview of the large canvas of Indian electoral process
• The Programme will provide a unique overview of the Commission's flagship programme for voter awareness - SVEEP (Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation).

Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB)

• The Association of World Election Bodies, commonly referred to as ‘A-WEB,' was established on October 14, 2013 in Song-do, South Korea.
• A-WEB is the first global organization of election management bodies, and the membership currently consists of 115EMBs as members and 20 Regional associations as associate members.
• Under the slogan of ‘Democracy to Grow for All Worldwide,' the A-WEB Secretariat provides training programs for election officials of member nations and undertakes country programs at the request of member organization, providing support during the election cycle to boost election management capacity.
• The current chairman is Sunil Arora from Republic of India.

Know! about SVEEP

• Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation program, better known as SVEEP, is the flagship program of the Election Commission of India for voter education, spreading voter awareness and promoting voter literacy in India.
• Since 2009, ECI has been working towards preparing India's electors and equipping them with basic knowledge related to the electoral process.
• SVEEP's primary goal is to build a truly participative democracy in India by encouraging all eligible citizens to vote and make an informed decision during the elections.
• The programme is based on multiple general as well as targeted interventions which are designed according to the socio-economic, cultural and demographic profile of the state as well as the history of electoral participation in previous rounds of elections and learning thereof.

Environment
India CEO Forum on Climate Change

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the India CEO Forum on Climate Change + Declaration of the Private Sector on Climate Change - highlights) + Mains ( GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• A ‘Declaration of the Private Sector on Climate Change' has been signed and released during the high-level virtual event being organized under the Chairmanship of Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar, on 5th November 2020.

Declaration of the Private Sector on Climate Change

• Key industry leaders from the steel, cement, power, pharmaceuticals etc. sectors will deliver statements to reinforce their commitment to the cause of climate change and share their vision for climate action in the post-2020 period.
• India is a signatory to the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• As part of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), India has three quantitative climate change goals viz. reduction in the emissions intensity of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level, achieving about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030 and creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
• The private sector plays pivotal role in creating low-carbon sustainable economies and has embarked on a number of voluntary actions on climate change that can contribute towards achieving India's NDC goals.
• The private sector also benefitted from India's participation in Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol and going forward Article 6 of the Paris Agreement offers further opportunities for meeting the climate change and sustainable development objectives.
• The India CEO Forum on Climate Change is all set to forge long standing and sustainable partnership between the Government and private sector in the field of climate change.

The India CEO Forum on Climate Change

• The forum invites industry representatives and exchanged views on climate change issues.
• The forum also discussed the opportunities to collaborate in regard to fulfilling India's national as well as international climate change commitments.
• The forum is organised by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• Forum was being conducted to create a mechanism for the government and businesses to formally talk about climate change issues and develop a common voice at global forums so that there is no disconnect between the stand of the government and that of the industries.

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