PIB Summary- 18th March, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Indian Naval Landing Craft Utility (LCU) L58

Context: Indigenously built Indian Naval Landing Craft Utility L58 commissioned at Port Blair.

About L58

• LCU L58 is the eighth and last ship of the Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Mark IV Class.
• The ship was indigenously designed and built by GRSE, Kolkata.
• The LCU 58 is an amphibious ship which can carry 160 troops, in addition to its crew.
• With a displacement of 900 tons, the ship is capable of carrying various types of combat vehicles such as Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), BMPs, Armoured Vehicles, trucks, etc.
• The ship measures 63 meters in length and is fitted with two MTA 4,000 series engines, which are capable of propelling the ship at speeds of up to 15 knots (28 kmph).
• The ship is also fitted with an advanced Electronic Support Measure (ESM) suite to intercept enemy radar transmissions, an advanced Integrated Bridge System (IBS) and a sophisticated Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS), which allow single station monitoring of the ship’s navigational and machinery equipment respectively.
• The main armament of the ship includes two indigenously manufactured 30 mm CRN 91 guns which are controlled by a Stabilised Optronic Pedestal (SOP), an electronic day-night director sight manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
• In addition, the ship is fitted with six Machine Gun Posts to neutralise air, surface and sub-conventional threats.
• The LCU 58 would be based at Port Blair and will be deployed in a variety of roles such as Beaching, Search and Rescue, Disaster Relief, Coastal Patrol and Surveillance operations along the Andaman and Nicobar Group of Islands, Bay of Bengal and in the Indian Ocean.

Water Quality Information Management System (WQMIS)

Context: The Ministry of Jal Shakti launched the Water Quality Information Management System (WQMIS).

About Water Quality Information Management System (WQMIS)

• The Ministry (as part of the Jal Jeevan Mission), along with launching a framework and guidelines for testing, monitoring and surveillance of drinking water quality, had also launched the WQMIS.
• WQMIS is an online portal that provides detailed information on laboratories for this purpose. It also gives people access to data on water quality.
• The guidelines specify work to be done in terms of surveillance and monitoring at the state, district, block/tehsil and village levels.
• The guidelines have been prepared in consultation with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
• The basic water quality parameters prescribed under the guidelines are pH value, total dissolved solids, turbidity, chloride, total alkalinity, total hardness, sulphate, iron, total arsenic, fluoride, nitrate, total coliform bacteria, e. coli or thermo-tolerant coliform bacteria.

Jal Shakti Abhiyan

Context: The Minister of State for Jal Shakti gave information about the Jal Shakti Abhiyan in the Lok Sabha.

About the Jal Shakti Abhiyan

• The scheme was launched in 2019 and it covered 256 water stressed districts across the country.
• This ‘Abhiyan’ is a mass movement to bring all the stakeholders under one ambit of water conservation drive.
• Under this Abhiyan, more than six and a half crore people became part comprising of State Govts, Central Govt, Civil Society Organisations, Panchayati Raj Institutions and Communities.
• More than seventy five lakh traditional and other water bodies and tanks were renovated and around a crore water conservation & rainwater harvesting structures were created.
• Focus areas of the Jal Shakti Abhiyan:
  • Water conservation and rainwater harvesting
  • Renovation of traditional and other water bodies
  • Reuse of water and recharging of structures
  • Watershed development
  • Intensive afforestation

Vehicle Scrapping Policy

Context: The Minister for Road Transport & Highways made a Suo Moto Statement in the Parliament on proposed “Vehicle Scrapping Policy”.

Background

• India has 51 lakh Light Motor Vehicles which are older than 20 years and 34 lakh Light Motor Vehicles which are older than 15 years.
• Around 17 lakh Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles are older than 15 years without valid fitness certificate.
• Older vehicles pollute the environment 10 to 12 times more than fit vehicles and pose a risk to road safety.

Vehicle Scrapping Policy

• In the interest of a clean environment and rider and pedestrian safety, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is introducing the Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernization Program or “Vehicle Scrapping Policy” which is aimed at creating an ecosystem for phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles.
• The objectives of the policy are to:
• Reduce population of old and defective vehicles.
  • Achieve reduction in vehicular air pollutants to fulfil India’s climate commitments.
  • Improve road and vehicular safety.
  • Achieve better fuel efficiency.
  • Formalize the currently informal vehicle scrapping industry.
  • Boost availability of low-cost raw materials for automotive, steel and electronics industry.
• The ecosystem is expected to attract additional investments of around Rs. 10,000 Crore and 35,000 job opportunities.
• How it works?
  • The criteria for a vehicle to be scrapped is primarily based on the fitness of vehicles through Automated Fitness Centres in case of commercial vehicles and Non-Renewal of Registration in case of private vehicles.
  • The criteria has been adapted from international best practices after a comparative study of standards from various countries like Germany, UK, USA and Japan.
  • A vehicle failing the fitness test or failing to get a renewal of its registration certificate may be declared as End of Life Vehicle.
  • Criteria to determine vehicle fitness will be primarily emission tests, braking, safety equipment among many other tests which are as per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.
• It is proposed that commercial vehicles be de-registered after 15 years in case of failure to get the fitness certificate.
• It is proposed that Private Vehicles be de-registered after 20 years if found unfit or in case of a failure to renew registration certificate.
  • As a disincentive measure, increased fees for fitness certificate and fitness test may be applicable for commercial vehicles and private vehicles 15 year onwards from the date of initial registration.
• The scheme shall provide strong incentives to owners of old vehicles to scrap old and unfit vehicles through registered scrapping centres, which shall provide the owners with a scrapping certificate. Some of these incentives include:
  • Scrap value for the old vehicle given by the scrapping centre, which is approximately 4-6% of ex-showroom price of a new vehicle.
  • The state governments may be advised to offer a road tax rebate of up to 25% for personal vehicles and up to 15% for commercial vehicles.
  • The vehicle manufacturers are also advised to provide a discount of 5% on purchase of new vehicle against the scrapping certificate.
  • In addition, the registration fees may also be waived for purchase of new vehicle against the scrapping certificate.
  • The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will promote setting up of Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities (RVSF) across India and will encourage public and private participation for opening up of such centres.

US India Artificial Intelligence (USIAI)

Context: US India Artificial Intelligence (USIAI) Initiative launched.

About USIAI

• USIAI is an initiative of IUSSTF.
  • The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF), established under an agreement between the Governments of India and the USA in 2000, is an autonomous bilateral organization jointly funded by both the Governments that promotes Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation through substantive interaction among government, academia and industry.
  • The nodal agency for the GOI is the Department of Science & Technology.
• USIAI Initiative focuses on AI cooperation in critical areas that are priorities for both countries.
• USIAI will serve as a platform to discuss opportunities, challenges, and barriers for bilateral AI R&D collaboration, enable AI innovation, help share ideas for developing an AI workforce, and recommend modes and mechanisms for catalyzing partnerships.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) – What & Why?

Artificial Intelligence is an emerging technology that facilitates intelligence and human capabilities of sense, comprehend, and act with the use of machines. Some of the technologies that can allow these systems in analyzing and understanding all the information that is received are Natural Language Processing (NLP) and inference engines. Artificial Intelligence is a system that provides action through technologies such as expert systems and inference engines to undertake operations in the physical world.

Latest News on Artificial Intelligence India

In October 2020, RAISE 2020, a mega event on Artificial Intelligence was held in the virtual mode. 

• RAISE 2020 – ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020’ was jointly organised by the NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• Representatives from the global AI industry took part in the summit and exchanged ideas on how AI can be harnessed to drive India’s vision and roadmap for social transformation, inclusion and empowerment.
• People from governments, the industry and academia participated in the mega event.
• Selected start-ups also showcased their AI solutions in RAISE 2020.

Artificial Intelligence and India
Industry analysts predict that Artificial Intelligence could add up to $957 billion to India’s economy by 2035. The Government of India has initiated many programmes and initiatives for developing the AI industry in India so that its potential can be fully exploited for furthering the country’s economic and social progress.

• In May 2020, the Government launched the National AI Portal of India (https://indiaai.gov.in/) which is a one-stop digital platform for artificial intelligence-related developments in the country.
  • The portal also acts as a knowledge-sharing tool featuring articles, documents, etc. for the use of stakeholders.
  • It can also act as a platform for getting information about AI jobs.
• Along with the portal mentioned above, the government also launched the Responsible AI for Youth programme.
  • The programme’s aim is to give the young students a platform and empower them with appropriate new-age tech mindset, relevant AI skill-sets and access to required AI tool-sets to make them digitally ready for the future.
  • Under this, selected students (of classes 8 to 12) from central/state government schools from all over the country will attend online training sessions on AI, and how social impact projects can be identified and created with the help of AI.
  • Based on this, students will submit their solutions through videos, after which they will receive relevant training and handholding to develop their ideas into fruition for showcase on appropriate platforms.
• Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI)
  • In June 2020, India became a part of the GPAI.
  • GPAI is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the responsible development and use of AI, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth.
  • The grouping aims to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of AI.
• India’s AI strategy is known as “AI for All”.
  • It focuses on responsible AI, building AI solutions at scale with an intent to make India the AI garage of the world — a trusted nation to which the world can outsource AI-related work.
  • It emphasizes inclusive development through the use of AI technologies.
• From 2020 onwards, CBSE has integrated AI into the school curriculum.

Global Developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The economic and social benefits of applied AI are familiar in all the countries of the world.
In the area of core research in AI and related technologies, universities and research institutions from the US, China, and Japan have led the publication volume on AI research topics between 2010 and 2016.
Potential of AI Governance structures for enabling all the above mandates across countries. Many countries have instituted dedicated public offices such as the Ministry of AI (UAE), and Office of AI and AI Council (U.K.) while China and Japan have allowed existing ministries to take up AI implementation in their sectoral areas.
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to provide sizeable incremental value to a wide range of sectors globally and is expected to be the key source of competitive advantage for firms.

• Healthcare: AI plays an important role in the field of healthcare by addressing issues of high barriers particularly in rural areas that lack poor communication and a professional healthcare system. Some of the emerging application includes AI-driven diagnostics, personalized treatment, early identification of potential pandemics, and imaging diagnostics.
• Agriculture: AI has a major role to play in driving a food revolution and meeting the increased demand for food. Applied AI addresses challenges such as lack of assured irrigation, inadequate demand prediction, excess use of pesticides, fertilizers, and fungicides. Some uses include improved crop production through advanced detection of pest attacks, prediction of crop prices, and real-time advisory.
• Transports, Logistics, and Smart Mobility: This domain mainly includes various autonomous and semi-autonomous features, for example, monitoring and maintaining a predictive engine along with driver-assist. Other applications of AI include improved traffic management, autonomous trucking, and delivery.
• Retail: Being one of the early adopters of AI solutions, it provides applications such as developing user experience by personalized suggestions, image-based product searches, and preference-based browsing. Other uses include customer demand anticipation, improved inventory management, and efficient delivery management.
• Manufacturing: It can enable ‘Factory of the Future’ through flexible and adaptable technical systems to facilitate various processes and machinery to respond to unfamiliar or unexpected situations by making smart decisions. Impact areas include engineering, supply chain management, production, maintenance, quality assurance, and in-plant logistics and warehousing.
• Energy: Potential use of Artificial Intelligence also includes modeling and forecasting of the energy system to reduce unpredictability. Artificial Intelligence also focuses on increasing the efficiency of power balancing and enabling the storage of energy in renewable energy systems. This process uses smart meters to enable intelligent grids, thus, improving the affordability and reliability of solar energy. Apart from these, AI may also be deployed for predictive maintenance of grid infrastructure.
• Smart Cities: Incorporation of applied AI in developing cities could also help in meeting the demands of a rapidly growing population and providing them with enhanced quality of life. Traffic control for reducing congestion enhanced security by providing improved crowd management are some of the potential uses of AI systems.
• Education and Skilling: AI plays a major role in the Indian education sector by providing solutions for quality and access issues including augmentation and enhancement of the learning experience through personalized learning, automating and expediting administrative tasks, and predicting the need for student intervention to reduce dropouts or recommend vocational training.

Challenges with AI in India

• Absence of collaborative effort between various stakeholders
• Concerns on privacy and security of data, including a lack of formal regulation around anonymization of data.
•  Lack of sufficient talent to build and deploy AI systems at scale. An estimate claims that only 4% of AI professionals in India have worked on emerging technologies such as deep learning and neural networks. There is also a significant gap in Ph.D. research scholars in the field.
•  Difficulty in access to industry-specific data required to build customized platforms and solutions is now currently in the hands of a few major players. It is challenging for new beginners to provide customized services that can compete with the existing data that includes rich incumbents such as Facebook or Google. This phenomenon results in the creation of a virtuous cycle which reinforces the hegemony of the big few, creating a huge entry barrier for start-ups.
• High cost and low availability of computing infrastructure required for development, training, and deployment of AI-based services. Cloud infrastructure, though growing rapidly, has limited capability.
• Lack of infrastructure is the major reason for many Indian AI start-ups that aims to incorporate their business outside the country, thus, making AI outside the reach of Indian researchers in government labs and many industries. Initiatives like GI Cloud (MeghRaj), are in the right direction.
• Lack of AI awareness in resolving business-related issues in most of the public enterprises and government agencies has led to the scarcity of AI professionals in obstructing adoption.

Way Forward to Harness the Power of AI

• Instigating Core and Applied Research in AI: Advanced research, both core and applied, provides the basis for commercialization and utilization of any emerging technology, more so for technologies like AI. A considerable amount of dedication and effort is required to build comprehensive research focusing on AI strategy for India.
• Getting India Ready for the AI Wave: India may appear to be relatively well-positioned to take advantage of the disruption in the AI system through its advanced IT sector and large youth demographic potential to establish itself as the future hub for AI-related activities. However, given the reduced availability of qualified faculty and researchers, this advantage could quickly change into a liability without urgent government interventions towards promoting access to such skills. This is a critical component of AI development and should be a national priority.
• Accelerating Adoption: Adoption of AI in India has been slow and remains limited. Estimates indicate that only 22% of the firms in India use AI in any business process. Government intervention is needed to promote AI adoption, lest India loses the chance to secure a prominent position on the global AI map. While acknowledging the need to improve AI, governments at different levels, along with their various instrumentalities, should adopt proactive measures to accelerate AI adoption in multiple processes.
• Ethics, Privacy, Security, and Artificial Intelligence: AI is going to be the tipping point in the technological evolution of mankind, with human dependence on machines and algorithms for decision making never been such profound. Thus, any strategy document on promoting AI necessarily needs to be conscious of the probable factors of the AI ecosystem that may undermine ethical conduct, impinge on one’s privacy, and undermine the security protocol. Appropriate steps to mitigate these risks need to be an integral part of any such strategy. For e.g., National Cyber Security Policy (NCSP – 2013) talks about the Sensitization of citizens, consumers, and employees on cybersecurity threats and basic and best practices Sensitization towards the safety of cyber threats and in pursuance of security programs.

These challenges, if addressed by relevant stakeholders, with the government playing a leading role could lead to fundamental building blocks that form the core to India’s march towards leadership in AI in an expeditious manner through concerted and collaborative efforts.

High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs)

Context: New technology for High Electron Mobility Transistor will make India self-reliant in power transistor technology.

What are HEMTs?

• High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) is a normally OFF device and can switch currents up to 4A and operates at 600 V.
• HEMTs are used in integrated circuits as digital on-off switches.
• HEMT transistors are able to operate at higher frequencies than ordinary transistors, up to millimeter wave frequencies, and are used in high-frequency products such as cell phones, satellite television receivers, voltage converters, and radar equipment.
• They are widely used in satellite receivers, in low power amplifiers and in the defense industry.

What’s in News?

• Indian scientists have developed a highly reliable HEMT from gallium nitride (GaN).
• This is the first-ever indigenous HEMT device and is useful in electric cars, locomotives, power transmission and other areas requiring high voltage and high-frequency switching.
• This would reduce the cost of importing such stable and efficient transistors required in power electronics.
• The developed technology is a first of its kind, which uses a type of chemical called ternary oxide (composed of two different metal ions combined in an oxide matrix or Al, Ti and O), which behaves like material having larger positive charge concentration (p-type material).
• It does away with the intrinsic reliability and performance issues of the in-use industrial techniques for e-mode HEMTs, allowing the development of efficient power switching systems.
• The scientists are from the Department of Electrical Engineering, and Centre for Nanoscience & Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Artificial Photosynthesis

Context: Artificial photosynthesis to provide solutions for carbon capture and conversion.

Details

• Scientists have found a method to mimic nature’s own process of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, namely photosynthesis, to capture excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• This artificial photosynthesis (AP) harnesses solar energy and converts the captured carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide (CO), which can be used as a fuel for internal combustion engines.
• In artificial photosynthesis (AP), scientists are essentially conducting the same fundamental process in natural photosynthesis but with simpler nanostructures. However, there are plenty of hurdles to overcome as a successful catalyst to carry out AP.
• A team of scientists from JNCASR has designed and fabricated an integrated catalytic system based on a metal-organic framework (MOF-808) comprising a photosensitizer (molecules which absorb light and transfer the electron from the incident light into another nearby molecule) that can harness solar power and a catalytic centre that can eventually reduce CO2.
• The developed catalyst exhibited excellent visible-light-driven CO2 reduction to CO with more than 99% selectivity.
• The catalyst also oxidizes water to produce oxygen (O2).
• The photocatalytic assembly, when assessed for CO2 reduction under direct sunlight in a water medium without any additives, showed superior performance of CO production.
• Being heterogeneous, the integrated catalytic assembly can be reused for several catalytic cycles without losing its activity.

Note

• JNCASR or Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research is an autonomous institute under the Dept. of Science and Technology, GOI, located in Bangalore.