Miscellaneous
QCI Launches Recognition Scheme for Hygiene Rating Audit Agencies

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Food Hygiene Rating Scheme and its objective)
What's the NEWS

• Quality Council of India (QCI) at the behest of the FSSAI has come out with a Scheme for approval of Hygiene Rating Audit Agencies to scale up Hygiene Rating by increasing the number of recognised Hygiene Rating Audit Agencies in the country.

Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

• FSSAI's initiative of ‘Food Hygiene Rating Scheme' is a certification system for food businesses supplying food directly to consumers, either on or off premise.
• The food establishments are rated based on food hygiene and safety conditions observed at the time of audit.
• The hygiene rating will be in the form of smileys (1 up to 5) and the certificate should be displayed prominently in the consumer facing area.
• The recognised Hygiene Rating Audit Agencies will be responsible for verifying the compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures laid by FSSAI and get Hygiene Rating.
• The scheme aims to allow consumers to make informed choices/decisions pertaining to the food outlets where they eat by encouraging food businesses to improve their hygiene and safety standards.
• Currently, this scheme is applicable for Food service establishments (such as hotels, restaurants, cafeteria, dhabhas, etc), sweet shops, bakeries and meat retail stores.
• The recognised Hygiene Rating Audit Agency will verify the compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures laid by FSSAI.
• Hygiene Rating and its recognition scheme is an excellent initiative of FSSAI and QCI, and will help in improving the confidence of the Indian consumer and food service operators in the basic hygiene and quality of the food.

Governance
India Post Payments Bank launches its digital payments' services ‘DakPay'
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Dak Pay + India Post Payments Bank + meghdoot awards) + Mains ( GS II e governance, transparency and accountability + GS III financial inclusion)

What's the NEWS

• Department of Posts (DoP) and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) unveiled a new digital payment app ‘DakPay'
• The App is launched as part of its ongoing efforts to provide Digital Financial inclusion at the last mile across India.

Know! all about DakPay app

• DakPay is not just a digital payment app but a suite of digital financial and assisted banking services provided by India Post & IPPB through the trusted Postal (‘Dak') network across the nation to cater to the financial needs (‘Pay') of various sections of the society - be it sending money to the loved ones (Domestic Money Transfers - DMT), Scan QR code and make payment for services/merchants digitally (Virtual debit card & with UPI), enabling cashless ecosystem through biometrics, providing interoperable banking services to the customers of ANY BANK (AePS) and Utility Bill Payment services.
• DakPay UPI app allows users to create UPI ID and link multiple accounts across banks in a single mobile app.
• The app facilitates instant money transfers, QR based payments in merchant stores and online shopping on e-commerce websites.
• Dak Pay brings simplified payment solutions to all by offering all customers access to the banking and payments products and services either through an App or in assisted mode with the help of the trusted Postman.

About India Post Payments Bank

• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by Government of India.
• IPPB was launched by the Prime Minister on September 1, 2018.
• The bank has been set up with the vision to build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man in India.
• The fundamental mandate of India Post Payments Bank is to remove barriers for the unbanked & underbanked and reach the last mile leveraging the Postal network comprising 155,000 Post Offices (135,000 in rural areas) and 300,000 Postal employees.
• IPPB's reach and its operating model is built on the key pillars of India Stack - enabling Paperless, Cashless and Presence-less banking in a simple and secure manner at the customers' doorstep, through a CBS-integrated smartphone and biometric device.
• IPPB delivers simple and affordable banking solutions through intuitive interfaces available in 13 languages.

Meghdoot awards

• Department of Posts conducted Meghdoot Award Function 2020
• The Meghdoot award is given every year for excellence in postal service.

Common Service Centres(PO-CSCs)" in Post Offices.

• In a major step towards providing the citizen centric services, a memorandum of Understanding was signed by Department of Posts with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited.
• This will give a flip to setting a common service centres in more than 10000 Post Offices across the country for providing various G2C (Government to Citizen) and B2C (Business to Citizens) services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country thus enabling the Government's mandate of a socially, financially and digitally inclusive society.
• The B2C (Business to Citizens) Services offered includes Bharat Bill Payment System Bills (Electric, Gas, Water bills etc.).
• Through this agreement, Department of Posts intends to provide a one-stop solution for all e-Governance services on assisted model through its "Common Service Centres(PO-CSCs)" in Post Offices.
• These "PO-CSCs" will also contribute to ease of living and ease of business to the nearby digitally deprived rural and semi-urban population by leveraging the strengths of its network, digitally skilled manpower in synergy with digital services of CSC e-Governance Services India Limited.

Science and Technology
Tropical Meteorology(TROPMET-2020)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about TROPMET-2020 and its objective) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of science and technology)
What's the NEWS

• Indian Meteorological Society (IMS) in collaboration with North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), Shillong, is organizing a four-day Virtual Symposium on Tropical Meteorology(TROPMET-2020) under the theme "Weather and Climate Services over Mountainous Regions" at NESAC, Shillong during 14-17 December 2020.
• The symposium is an important event for fostering coordination on adapting the weather and climate services to meet evolving needs of mountain and downstream regions

Weather and Climate Services over Mountainous Regions

• The importance of weather and climate services for the mountainous regions including the complex Himalayan and other mountainous regions was deliberated by various speakers.
• North Eastern Council stressed on the importance of improved services and enhancement of observatories to address the challenge posed by severe weather and climate change that can derail the livelihood options for the indigenous population living in the mountainous regions.
• The Society and the weather & climate service up-gradation in the Himalayan region and High mountain ranges through impact based forecasting and risk based warning, sectoral applications and Research & Development through establishment of Regional Climate Centre (RCC) for Third Pole (Himalayan) region during next five years.
• There was a consensus that different agencies including centre, state and governmental agencies need to join hands to address the complex problems of weather and climate services over the mountainous regions.
• The Himalayan region is warming faster than the world average, melting of glaciers is a major concern, a changing climate could mean more devastating impacts on the very fragile biodiversity of the Himalayas.
• It could also impact availability of water, food, agriculture and health in the region

Initiatives taken by IMD and MoES

• Deployment of Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) and Automatic Weather Station (AWS) as well as setting up of Himansh observatory in Western Himalaya.

North-Eastern Space Applications Centre

• It is a regional space centre established in September, 2000 by joint initiative of Department of space, Government of India and North Eastern Council to expedite the usage of remote sensing technology to discover natural minerals uncovered in the North-Eastern states of India and to promote overall growth of North Eastern states of India using space science and technology.
• North-Eastern Space Applications Centre was set up with a joint initiative of DOS and NEC in September, 2000 at Shillong in Meghalaya, India. The centre has been declared a protected area by the state government.
• The objective of NESAC is to search and utilize the natural resources present in the region using remote sensing, provide the North-Eastern states access to satellite services, and promote research in the space technology in the region by tying up with the academic institutions in the region.

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune

• The Institute was founded as the Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ITM) on 17 November, 1962 at Pune (the then Poona), as a distinct unit of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
• The Institute was transformed into an autonomous organization on 1st April 1971 under the name Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
• It was brought under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Ministry of Science & Technology and now, with effect from 12 July 2006 the IITM has been under the administrative control of the specially formed Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
• The objective is to Make IITM a world Centre of Excellence in Basic Research on the Ocean-Atmosphere Climate System required for improvement of Weather and Climate Forecasts

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