Infrastructure Development
World Bank Signs $500 Million Project to Develop Green, Resilient and Safe Highways in India

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Green National Highways Corridors Project) + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development + environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• The Government of India and the World Bank today signed a $500 million project to build safe and green national highway corridors in the states of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
• The project will also enhance the capacity of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in mainstreaming safety and green technologies.

Green National Highways Corridors Project

• The Green National Highways Corridors Project will support MoRTH construct 783 km of highways in various geographies by integrating safe and green technology designs such as local and marginal materials, industrial byproducts, and other bioengineering solutions.
• The project will help reduce GHG emissions in the construction and maintenance of highways.
• This project will set new standards in the construction of safe motorable roads.
• The selected stretches in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh will also help improve connectivity and promote economic development.
• The ultimate objective of transport infrastructure is to provide seamless connectivity and reduce logistics costs.
• The project will support the ministry with an in-depth analysis of gender-related issues in the transport sector along with help in creating jobs for women by training women-led micro enterprises and women collectives to implement green technologies in the highway corridors.
• The project will strengthen and widen existing structures; construct new pavements, drainage facilities and bypasses; improve junctions; and introduce road safety features.
• Disaster risk assessment of about 5,000 km of the National Highway network will also be undertaken under the project along with support to ministry for mainstreaming climate resilience aspects in project design and implementation.
• The $500 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a maturity of 18.5 years including a grace period of five years.

Prelims Factoids
Legion of Merit Award from US

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Legion of Merit award)
What's the NEWS

• The Legion of Merit, awarded by United States president Donald Trump to Narendra Modi is the latest among a host of international honours bestowed on the prime minister since 2014.
• Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India's Ambassador to the US, accepted the award on behalf of the prime minister from National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien at the White House.
• The award was also presented to Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and Australian prime minister Scott Morrison
• Together, India, the US, Australia and Japan constitute the 'Quad' group of countries, which has been seen as a counter to Chinese dominance in the Indo-Pacific region.

Know! about Legion of Merit

• The Legion of Merit was instituted in 1942 by former US president Franklin D Roosevelt, as noted in an article in The Hindu.
• The Legion of Merit is the only US military decoration that has distinct ranks, and the first US medal to be awarded to citizens of other nations
• The Legion of Merit, in the highest degree of the Chief Commander, is a prestigious award conferred by the President of the United States, typically upon Heads of State or Heads of Government of other countries.
• Trump on 18 September awarded the Legion of Merit, Degree Chief Commander, to Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait.

Miscellaneous
8 Khelo India State Centres of Excellence inaugurated

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the role of KISCEs + about Khelo India)
What's the NEWS

• Union Minister of Sports & Youth Affairs inaugurated 8 Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCEs) across India in the presence of distinguished State Sports Ministers on The 8 States include: Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Kerala, Telangana, Nagaland, Karnataka and Odisha.
  
  

• The Sports Ministry had identified sports facilities in these 8 states to be upgraded to the Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE).

The centres identified are:

• Nagaland- State Sports Academy, IG Stadium Kohima
• Manipur - Khuman Lampak Sports Complex, Imphal
• Arunachal Pradesh - Sangey Lhaden Sports Academy, Chimpu Itanagar
• Mizoram - Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Aizawl
• Odisha - Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar
• Telangana - Regional Sports School Hakimpet
• Karnataka - Sh. Jayaprakash Narayan National Youth Centre Bangalore
• Kerala - GV Raja Sr. Sec. Sports School Thiruvananthapuram

Khelo India State Centres of Excellence

• With a vision to make India one of the top 10 countries in 2028 Olympics, the Khelo India State Centres of Excellence will ensure that athletes proficient in a certain sport can be given the world-class specialised training and these centers become the best facilities in the country to train athletes in the priority sport for which they have been earmarked.
• The support to the centers will be in the form of infrastructure upgradation, setting up of sports science centres and also soft component in the form of quality coaches and sports science human resources like physiotherapists, strength & conditioning experts and so on.
• The Centres will also have High performance Managers to ensure quality of sports science input and performance management.
• The setting up of the KISCE will also help to broad-base talent identification, since the states and UTs will also identify and develop talent in each sport for which funding is received.

Science & Technology
India International Science Festival-2020 inaugurated

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about IISF 2020) + Mains ( GS II government policies and interventions + GS III awareness in the field of science and technology)
What's the NEWS

• The India International Science Festival (IISF)-2020 got off to a grand start with the inaugural address by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in the presence of Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare
• This year's festival is being organised in a virtual mode and is being held from 22-25 December, 2020.
• More than 40 science laboratories and educational institutions are participating in organising this festival

IISF 2020 - highlights

• IISF-2020 will attempt 5 Guinness Book of World Records, one of which---maximum students making the Sun Dial simultaneously-was attempted this morning where 6,874 students from 189 schools participated
• The sixth edition of this mega science festival will take place from December 22 -25, 2020 with the theme ‘Science for Self-Reliant India and Global Welfare'.
• It aims to celebrate the achievements of India's scientific and technological advancements with students and innovators.
• This virtual edition of the festival will also engage with the public, showing them how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) play a pivotal role by providing solutions to improve our lives.
• IISF 2020 is being organized jointly by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in association with VijnanaBharati.
• The nodal institution for science festival this year is CSIR-National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi.

Science & Technology
Role of Genomics highlighted during Vigyan Yatra

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Vigyan Yatra and Jigyasa + Ayurgenomics)
What's the NEWS

• In the run up to the India International Science Festival 2020, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), New Delhi participated in the Vigyan Yatra
• CSIR-IGIB,kicked off the online program with a reminder of Article 5A(h) of the Indian Constitution which states that it is the duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of enquiry and reform, stressing how the solution to many problems of the modern world lie in science.

Achievements of IGIB in the areas of genomic medicine.

• IGIB has a major focus on genomics with special emphasis on genomics of human diseases; from the sequencing of the first Indian genome in 2009 to sequencing the genome of 1000 Indians, to creating a reference database of Indian genomes for precision medicine development.
• The expertise in genomics also allowed the institute to rapidly sequence large numbers of COVID-19 samples when the pandemic struck India early this year.
• CSIR-IGIB has also been leading the fight against COVID-19 by developing a paper-based RNA diagnostic system called FELUDA based on the CRISPR-Cas9 system.
• This development was the result of already ongoing research into developing CRISPR-diagnostics for sickle cell anemia.
• IGIB is also using stem cell technology to correct genetic diseases such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia, which has a wide prevalence in the country.

Ayurgenomics

• Research at CSIR-IGIB has led to the birth of a modern scientific discipline known as Ayurgenomics.
• Ayurvedic doctors and genomics scientists have over the years worked together to identify a genomic correlate for the Prakriti-based stratification of population used in Ayurveda.

Vigyan Yatra and Jigyasa

• CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) and Vigyan Bharati (VIBHA) organised the ‘Vigyan Yatra' as part of the 6th India International Science Festival (IISF-2020) and Jigyasa: Student-Scientist Connect Program to nurture scientific temper and inspire young minds.
• The Vigyan Yatra was organisedto showcase the scientific activities virtually. Students and teachers from KendriyaVidyalayas, NavodayaVidyalayas, Government Schools, etc. from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and other parts of India prominently participated in this programme.

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