Science & Technology
XraySetu

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about X ray setu) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of science and technology)
What's the NEWS

• A new AI-driven platform will now help early intervention through rapid screening of COVID 19 with the help of Chest X-ray interpretation over WhatsApp for doctors who have access to X-ray machines.
• The solution called XraySetu can work with low-resolution images sent via mobiles, is quick and easy to use, and can facilitate detection in rural areas.

Know! ALL ABOUT Xray Setu

• ARTPARK (AI & Robotics Technology Park), a not-for-profit foundation established by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, with support from the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India, in collaboration with Bangalore based HealthTech startup Niramai and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has developed XraySetu specifically designed to identify COVID positive patients even from low-resolution Chest X-Ray images sent over Whatsapp.
• It also has semantic annotations of affected areas for review and localized heatmap by doctors to help them verify it easily with other modalities and has already served close to 1200+ reports so far from the interior parts of India.
• To conduct the health check, any doctor simply needs to visit www.xraysetu.com and click on the ‘Try the Free XraySetu Beta' button.
• The platform will then redirect the person to another page, wherein he or she can choose to engage with the WhatsApp-based chatbot via web or smartphone application.
• Or the doctor can simply send a WhatsApp message to the phone number +91 8046163838 to start the XraySetu service.
• Then they just need to click the picture of the patient's X-ray and obtain the 2-page automated diagnostics with annotated images in a few minutes.
• While extending the probability of the COVID-19 contraction, the report also highlights a localized heatmap for a quick perusal of the doctor.
• Tested and validated with over 1,25 000 X-ray images from National Institute of Health, UK, as well as over 1000+ Indian COVID patients from, XraySetu, has shown excellent performance with Sensitivity: 98.86%, and Specificity: 74.74%
• Built with the collaboration of industry and academia, XraySetu paves the way for exponential technologies like AI to leapfrog and provide cutting-edge healthcare technology to rural India in an extremely cost-effective manner.
• "NIRAMAI has partnered with ARTPARK and IISc to provide a rapid COVID screening method for rural doctors who have access to X-ray machines.
• XraySetu provides an automated interpretation of Chest X-Rays to predict if a patient has any lung abnormality that indicates COVID-19 infection
• ARTPARK, initiated under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS), is further collaborating with infrastructure partners like C-DAC (for leveraging AI supercomputer ParamSiddi), Nvidia& AWS to scale this free service to all the doctors in rural India.

Infrastructure Development
‘India Cycles4Change' challenge gains momentum

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about India Cycles4Change challenge + role of ITDP) + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development + environment conservation
What's the NEWS

• The India Cycles4Change challenge is beginning to gain momentum in Indian cities.
• The challenge was launched last year under the Smart Cities Mission by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on 25thJune, 2020, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic that was gaining ground in the country.
• Over the last year, a cycling revolution has taken over India, with cycling being seen as an important mode of safe and healthy personal transport medium that ensures social distancing, while being environmentally sustainable.
• As the COVID-19 pandemic was making inroads across the country, cycling saw a huge rise in demand.
• The lockdown restrictions had significantly affected the commuters of public transport, who saw cycling as a personal and COVID-safe alternative for short and medium distance commute.

Know! all about Cycles4Change Challenge

• The India Cycles4Change Challenge is an initiative of the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India to inspire and support Indian cities to quickly implement cycling-friendly initiatives in response to COVID-19.
• 107 cities have registered for the Challenge and are now working with their citizens and experts to implement low-cost interventions like pop-up lanes, traffic-calmed streets, community cycle rental schemes, and cycle-training programs. In the longer term, the Smart Cities Mission encourages cities to convert temporary interventions into permanent.
• The India Programme of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) is the knowledge partner of the Smart Cities Mission to assist the Mission in conducting this challenge and guiding cities in developing and implementing their proposals.

Progress since launch of the challenge:

• The challenge had a Test-Learn-Scale (TLS) approach which the participating cities adopted by testing various initiatives through quick low-cost interventions in the first phase of the challenge, learning from them, and preparing for scale up in the second phase.

The key intervention areas identified for piloting of solutions are as under.

• Identifying barriers to cycling by listening to the people
• Making streets and neighbourhoods safe and fun for cycling
• Creating a cycling community
• Empowering women to cycle
• Changing everyday behaviour through campaigns

India Programme of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP)

• The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) is a non-governmental non-profit organization that focuses on developing bus rapid transit (BRT) systems, promoting biking, walking, and non-motorized transport, and improving private bus operators margins.
• Other programs include parking reform, traffic demand management, and global climate and transport policy.
• ITDP is committed to "promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide.
• In addition to its role supporting and consulting local governmental efforts to develop more sustainable transportation, ITDP publishes the magazine Sustainable Transport annually, produces the BRT Standard and other research, and sits on the committee for the annual Sustainable Transport Award.

Cabinet Decisions
Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding between India and Maldives on cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the MoU - Highlights) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister was apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India and Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Government of Maldives on cooperation in the field of Sustainable Urban Development. The MoU was signed in February, 2021.
• A Joint Working Group (JWG) will be constituted to strategize and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoU.
• The Joint Working Group will meet once in a year, alternately in Maldives and in India.

Benefits:

• The MoU will promote strong, deep and long-term bilateral cooperation in the field of Sustainable Urban Development between the two countries.
• The MoU is expected to create employment in the areas of sustainable urban development including Urban Planning, Smart Cities Development, Solid waste management, Affordable housing, Urban Green Mobility, Urban Mass Rapid Transport, Smart Cities Development.
• The objectives of the MoU are to facilitate and strengthen India-Maldives technical cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development including Urban Planning, Smart Cities Development, Solid waste management, Affordable housing, Urban Green Mobility, Urban Mass Rapid Transport, smart cities development and any other related area mutually agreed by contracting parties.

Cabinet approves Memorandum of Cooperation between India and Japan in the field of sustainable urban development

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the MoU highlights) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations + GS III infrastructure development - will help in validating answer related to GS III and GS II)
What's the NEWS

• The Union Cabinet approved a memorandum of cooperation with Japan in the field of sustainable urban development which is expected to create employment opportunities.

• The memorandum of cooperation (MoC) will be signed between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan in supersession of an existing MoU of 2007 on urban development.

Know! about the MoC (highlights)

• The objectives of the MoC are to facilitate and strengthen India-Japan technical cooperation in the field of Sustainable urban development including Urban Planning, Smart Cities Development, Affordable Housing (including rental housing), Urban Flood Management, Sewerage and Waste Water Management, Intelligent Transport Management System, Transit-Oriented Development, Multimodal Integration, Disaster Resilient development and other areas as mutually identified by both Sides.
• The proposed MoC will enable exchange of key learnings and best practices in the above-mentioned areas.
• Implementation strategy:
• A Joint Working Group (JWG) will be constituted to strategize and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoC. The Joint Working Group will meet once in a year, alternately in Japan and in India.
• The cooperation under this MoC will commence on the date of its signature and continue for a period of 5 years. Thereafter, it may be renewed automatically for further successive periods of 5 years at a time.

Major Impact:

• The MoC will promote strong, deep and long-term bilateral cooperation in the field of Sustainable Urban Development between the two countries.

Benefits:

• The MoC is expected to create employment opportunities in the areas of sustainable urban development, including Urban Planning, Smart Cities Development, Affordable Housing, (including rental housing), Urban Flood Management, Sewerage and Waste Water Management, Urban Transport (including Intelligent Transport Management System, Transit-Oriented Development and Multimodal Integration) and Disaster Resilient development.

Model Tenancy Act
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the model tenancy act - provisions)
What's the NEWS

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the Model Tenancy Act for circulation to all States / Union Territories for adaptation by way of enacting fresh legislation or amending existing rental laws suitably.
• It will help overhaul the legal framework with respect to rental housing across the country, which would help spur its overall growth.

Model Tenancy Act

• The Model Tenancy Act aims at creating a vibrant, sustainable and inclusive rental housing market in the country. It will enable creation of adequate rental housing stock for all the income groups thereby addressing the issue of homelessness. Model Tenancy Act will enable institutionalisation of rental housing by gradually shifting it towards the formal market.
• The Model Tenancy Act will facilitate unlocking of vacant houses for rental housing purposes. It is expected to give a fillip to private participation in rental housing as a business model for addressing the huge housing shortage.
• The model Act, if passed by the States and UTs, would prescribe the norms for lease agreements, deposits, dispute handling and other aspects of rental properties.
• Among the provisions in the model Act is a cap of two months rent on the security deposit to be paid by tenants for residential properties and six months rent for non-residential spaces and appointment of a rent authority to settle disputes in each district.
• The Act also makes it mandatory for there to be a written agreement between the property owner and the tenant.
• The draft Act had been published by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry in July 2019 and sent to the States and UTs for feedback.

NITI Aayog
NITI Aayog to release the SDG India Index & Dashboard, 2020-21

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about SDG India Index& Dashboard, 2020-21)
What's the NEWS

• The third rendition of India's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index will be launched by NITI Aayog on 3^rdJune, 2021.
• First launched in December 2018, the index has become the primary tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs in the country and has simultaneously fostered competition among the States and Union Territories by ranking them on the Global Goals.

Know! all about SDG India Index& Dashboard, 2020-21

• Designed and developed by NITI Aayog, the preparation of the index follows extensive consultations with the primary stakeholders -the States and Union Territories; the UN agencies led by United Nations in India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), and the key Union Ministries.

SDG India Index & Dashboard, 2020-21: Partnerships in The Decade of Action

• The Index, developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India, measures the progress at the national and sub-national level in the country's journey towards meeting the Global Goals and targets and has been successful as an advocacy tool to propagate the messages of sustainability, resilience, and partnerships, as well.
• With one-third of the journey towards achieving the 2030 agenda behind us, this edition of the index report focuses on the significance of partnerships and is titled "SDG India Index & Dashboard, 2020-21: Partnerships in The Decade of Action".
• The initiative to further refine and improve this important tool,with each edition, has been steered by the need to continuously benchmark performance and measure progress, and account for the availability of latest SDG related data on States and UTs.
• From covering 13 Goals, 39 targets, and 62 indicators in the first edition in 2018-19 to 17 Goals, 54 targets and 100 indicators in the second; this third edition of the index covers 17 Goals, 70 targets, and 115 indicators.
• The index estimation is based on data on indicators for the first 16 goals,with a qualitative assessment for Goal 17.
• The selection of indicators is preceded by a consultative process undertaken in close coordination with MoSPI,
• The index represents the articulation of the comprehensive nature of the Global Goals under the2030 Agenda while being attuned to the national priorities.
• The modular nature of the index has become a policy tooland a ready reckoner for gauging progress of States and UTs on the expansive nature of goals including health, education, gender, economic growth, institutions, climate change and environment.
• NITI Aayog has the mandate of coordinating the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national level.
• The SDG India Index& Dashboard represents NITI Aayog's efforts in embodying its commitment towards localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals in States and UTs and in continuously striving towards improving the monitoring of progress under the SDG framework.

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS