Miscellaneous
India Mobile Congress 2020

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about India Mobile Congress 2020 - facts for Prelims)
What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister delivered inaugural address at the virtual India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2020 through video conference.
• The theme for IMC 2020 is "Inclusive Innovation - Smart, Secure, Sustainable".
• It aims to align to the Prime Minister's vision to promote ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat', ‘Digital Inclusivity', and ‘Sustainable development, entrepreneurship & innovation'.
• It also aims to drive foreign and local investments, encourage R&D in the telecom and emerging technology sectors.

Know! about India mobile congress

• India Mobile Congress is the largest digital technology forum in South Asia.
• Organised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI), India Mobile Congress 2020 is scheduled for 8 December through 10 December 2020 & will be held virtually.
• IMC has established itself as a leading platform for bringing together the industry, Government, academia, and other ecosystem players, to discuss and display the latest in the technology world.
• Not only is India Mobile Congress the biggest technology event in South Asia, it is also the biggest networking event in India in the digital technology space.
• IMC comprises of India's biggest technology exhibition, an international conference on digital technology and B2B/B2G networking meets; all this during three action packed days at New Delhi, India.
• The scale and scope of IMC makes it one of the biggest events in India, across various domains and sectors.

NITI Aayog
Online Dispute Resolution(ODR)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the role and importance of ODR) + Mains ( GS II governance)
What's the NEWS

• NITI Aayog in association with Patna High Court, organized the inaugural meeting in a broader engagement on efficient and affordable access to justice for all, through the interplay of technology, law and innovation in the post pandemic world.
• This meeting was held with a focus on Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)
• Over 1000 attendees participated in the online meeting, with participation from the entire Bihar Judiciary .
• At the meeting, the participants deliberated on the way forward for ensuring equitable and effective justice delivery for one and all.

Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)

• ODR is the resolution of disputes, particularly small and medium value cases, using digital technology and techniques of alternate dispute resolution (ADR), such as negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
• While courts are becoming digitized through the efforts of the judiciary, more effective, scalable, and collaborative mechanisms of containment and resolution are urgently needed. ODR can help resolve disputes efficiently and affordably.
• NITI Aayog to outline a plan for finding a solution and ensure justice is both effective and expeditious.
• NITI Aayog made a presentation on the Draft Report for Formulating an Action Plan for ODR in India, under the chairmanship of Hon'ble Justice (Retd.) A.K. Sikri.
• Center for Online Resolution of Disputes, expanded on the technology services that a wide range of ODR service providers have initiated in India in his presentation.
• The common theme was a multi-stakeholder agreement to work collaboratively to ensure efforts are taken to scale online dispute resolution in India.
• Covid-19 has instilled an urgent need for ODR that requires decisive action, with the likelihood of a spurt in disputes before the courts-most notably in lending, credit, property, commerce, and retail.
• In the coming months, ODR could be the mechanism that helps with achieving expedient resolution.

International Organisations
Inter Ministerial Conference by Partners in Population and Development (PPD)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about PPD + South-South Cooperation ) + Mains ( GS II international organisations)
What's the NEWS

• Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare digitally addressed the Inter Ministerial Conference by Partners in Population and Development (PPD)

Conference on South-South Cooperation in Population and Development - Inter Ministerial Conference highlights

• Exchanging knowledge, skills, and technical expertise through South-South Cooperation has proven to be effective in addressing development challenges in member countries
• India lauds the efforts of Partners in Population and Development in promoting cooperation in key areas of reproductive health, population and development.
• As a valued member of PPD, India is steadfast in its reaffirmation of the commitments made at the Nairobi Summit, to work towards ending all maternal deaths, fulfilling unmet needs for family planning, reducing gender-based violence and ending harmful practices against women and girls.
• The timeline for achieving these targets has been stipulated at 2030.
• India is committed to ensuring Universal Health Coverage through its Flagship Programme, ‘Ayushman Bharat'.
• For achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target for reducing Maternal Mortality Rate to less than 70 by 2030 India has implemented a program called SUMAN which means Safe Motherhood Assurance.

Partners in Population and Development (PPD)

• It is an intergovernmental initiative created specifically for the purpose of expanding and improving South-to-South collaboration in the fields of reproductive health, population, and development.
• PPD was launched at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), when ten developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America formed an intergovernmental alliance to help implement the Cairo Program of Action (POA).
• This POA, endorsed by 179 nations, stresses the need to establish mechanisms to promote development through the sharing of experiences in reproductive health (RH) and family planning (FP) within and among countries and to promote effective partnerships among the governments, Non- Governmental-Organizations (NGOs), research institutions and the private sector.
• During the five-year review of the implementation of the POA ("Cairo+5"), representatives at the June 1999 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly not only documented renewed commitment to the goals of the ICPD, but also encouraged intensified support of South- South Collaboration.
• The PPD is the "only organization in the world fully dedicated to South-South partnerships.

South-South cooperation

• South-South cooperation refers to the technical cooperation among developing countries in the Global South.
• It is a broad framework of collaboration among countries of the South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains.
• Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, intraregional or interregional basis.
• Developing countries share knowledge, skills, expertise and resources to meet their development goals through concerted efforts.
• Recent developments in South-South cooperation have taken the form of increased volume of South-South trade, South-South flows of foreign direct investment, movements towards regional integration, technology transfers, sharing of solutions and experts, and other forms of exchanges.

Health
Free mobile app Co-WIN to self-register for Covid-19 vaccine
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about CoWIN app + about the vaccination programme + Mains ( GS II government interventions + governance)
What's the NEWS

• Health secretary revealed the details of CoWIN app through which one would be able to self register for vaccine
• With three vaccine-makers, including Pfizer, having applied for emergency use authorisation of their vaccine candidates in India, the vaccination drive is likely to begin shortly.
• The health ministry revealed details of how the entire vaccination programme will be conducted
• The Centre has created an application which will monitor the process from the beginning to the end.
• Co-WIN, the new app which will be available for free download, is an upgraded version of the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN).
• The app will also send real-time data of the temperature of the cold-storage units to the main server.

Know more about the app

• This app will be useful for all those engaged in the process - administrators, vaccinators and people who are going to receive these vaccine shots.
• The government will be vaccinating priority groups in the first two phases: frontline workers including all healthcare professionals in the first stage and emergency workers in the second stage.
• While the data of these people are already being compiled by the state governments, from the third stage onwards where people with co-morbidity will be given vaccines, self-registration will be introduced. And that will happen through the Co-WIN app.
• There are five modules in Co-WIN app: Administrator module, registration module, vaccination module, beneficiary acknowledgement module and report module.
• The administrator module is for the administrators who will be conducting these vaccination sessions. Through this module, they can create sessions and the respective vaccinators and managers will be notified.
• Registration module is for people to get registered for vaccination. It will upload bulk data on co-morbidity provided by local authorities or by surveyors.
• The vaccination module will verify beneficiary details and update vaccination status.
• Beneficiary acknowledgement module will send SMS to beneficiaries. It will also generate QR-based certificates after one gets vaccinated.
• Report module will prepare reports of how many vaccine sessions have been conducted, how many people have attended those, how many people have dropped out etc.

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