PIB Summary- 17th August, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Vriksharopan Abhiyan

About Vriksharopan Abhiyan

• It is a massive plantation drive organised by NLC India Ltd (NLCIL) – a GOI Navaratna enterprise engaged in lignite production and power generation.
• The drive was conducted in 2020 where 1,15,000 saplings were planted at 14 project locations of NLCIL across the country.
• As per the NLCIL, the plantation drive was aimed at maximising the green cover through ecological reclamation of mined-out areas and overburden dumps, plantation in and around mines and avenue plantation.

Background

• India, as a growing economy, has to strike a balance between fulfilling the increasing energy demand and fulfilling its commitments for decarbonizing the energy sector.
• The coal sector, hence, has to play the crucial role of satisfying the energy demand for meeting various developmental needs (since it is cheap and available in plenty in India) and at the same time, act responsibly towards the environment.
• This ‘go greening’ drive is primarily in and around mining areas is aimed at creating additional carbon sinks to mitigate the causes of climate change.
• Further, the coal companies are also engaged in trying to achieve carbon neutrality through the adoption of environmentally friendly measures in the form of massive plantation drives and clean coal technologies.

National Intellectual Property Awards 2020

About National Intellectual Property Awards 2020

• National Intellectual Property (IP) Awards are conferred every year by the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to recognize and reward the top achievers, comprising individuals, institutions, organisations, enterprises, police units and other legal entities, for IP creation, commercialization and enforcement, which has contributed towards strengthening the IP ecosystem in the country and encouraging creativity and innovation.
• There are 11 categories of the awards.
• The awards are not given solely on the basis of the number of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) registered/granted. The utilization of such IPRs as a strategic tool in commerce & industry is also taken into consideration.
• The parameters considered are:
  • Number of IPRs filed/granted/registered.
  • Growth in IPR portfolio in the last three calendar years.
  • Leveraging of IPRs for achieving commercial goals (manufacturing, licensing, launching of new products/processes associated with granted/registered IPRs, marketing/export, etc.)

MeitY-NASSCOM Start-up Women Entrepreneur Awards 2020-21

About the Awards

• The MeitY-NASSCOM Start-up Women Entrepreneur Awards aim to recognize and cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit in women and inspire the next generation of women to lead the Indian digital era so as to serve as guiding role models.
• They seek to encourage promising entrepreneurs who not only contribute to the nation’s economy but also to the social community and provide leadership and serve as guiding examples to others.
• The awards were open to participation from tech start-up women entrepreneurs and an overwhelming response was received across the country with the receipt of 159 applications.
• After detailed deliberations and review based on entrepreneurial journey, financial performance, strategic direction, innovation & disruption, market growth, business viability & sustainability, business model scalability, corporate social responsibility, product, business, market and technology excellence, an eminent jury comprising of leaders from MeitY, UN Women, Industry and Academia selected 12 women entrepreneurs as winners, while 2 women entrepreneurs were declared as the Jury Choice Awardees and one woman entrepreneur was felicitated as a special mention.
• Each winner and Jury Choice Awardees were rewarded Rs. 2 Lakh.
• Giving a fillip to women entrepreneurs, 33 women have also been selected for MeitY-NASSCOM Tech Women Entrepreneur Accelerator Program to give them access to networks, connects, learning and resources that are needed to build scalable, profitable and global businesses.

Student Entrepreneurship Program 3.0

Context: Atal Innovation Mission in collaboration with Dassault Systemes launch Student Entrepreneurship Program (SEP) 3.0.

Details

• NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission in collaboration with La Fondation Dassault Systemes launched the third edition of the Student Entrepreneurship Program for the young innovators of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL).
• The theme of SEP 3.0 is based on ‘Made in 3D – Seed the Future Entrepreneurs Program’.
• As part of this program, a team from each school (6 students and a teacher) will be allocated seed funding towards creating their own start-up, design and prototype their innovation using 3D printing, prepare marketing campaign, define product pricing and create expansion strategy.
• At the end of the program, each school’s start-up will participate in a playful competition and present their marketing campaign in front of experts from industry and academia.
• Apart from getting exposure to start-up culture and developing an innovative mindset, students and teachers taking part in the program will also get a unique opportunity to interact with French schools.