PIB Summary- 22nd April, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Leaders’ Summit on Climate 2021

Context: Prime Minister addressed the Leaders’ Summit on Climate 2021.

About the Leaders’ Summit on Climate 2021

• US President Joe Biden hosted a virtual meeting of world leaders titled ‘Leaders’ Summit on Climate’ on the occasion of Earth Day (22nd April).
• It is a two-day conference and is touted by some as a precursor to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) that will take place later this year in Glasglow.
• The summit is supposed to “galvanise efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis” and “underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action.”
• The conference is streamed live and available for the public to witness.
• Objectives of the summit:
  • Get the world’s major economies to reduce emission in this decade while also getting the public and private sector involvement.
  • Show how climate action can have economic and social benefits. Build new businesses and industries.
  • Using the technology available to adapt to climate change but also reduce emissions. Use nature-based solutions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
  • Protect lives and livelihoods by finding ways to adapt to climate change.
• The US is also seeking to “reconvene the US-led Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate” that was started by former President Barack Obama in 2009.
• Biden had invited 40 leaders for the summit including PM Modi of India.
• China, Russia, Japan, the UK are attending, among others.

‘#FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge’

Context: MeitY announces #FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge to accelerate adoption of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Government.

Background

• India is well positioned to become a vibrant hub for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) innovations, due to the large number of 4G data subscribers in India, 96% of whom access the digital world via open-source based mobile operating systems (primarily Android).
• Some of India’s largest-government projects (including Aadhaar) and many technology start-ups have also been built using FOSS.
• Acknowledging the huge potential of FOSS, the Government of India had issued a Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software in 2015.

What’s in News?

• To increase awareness about the usage of FOSS in governance and government functioning, and adoption of FOSS, a virtual roundtable discussion ‘Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Government’ was organized by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) in collaboration with Omidyar Network India in April 2021.
• The Ministry also announced a #FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge to accelerate adoption of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Government.

What is the #FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge?

• The #FOSS4GOVInnovation Challenge calls upon FOSS innovators, technology entrepreneurs and Indian Startups to submit implementable open source product innovations in CRM and ERP with possible applications for Govtech in Health, Education, Agriculture, Urban Governance, etc.
• This is a challenge for local developers to create open-source customer relationship management and enterprise resource management software worthy of use by Indian government agencies.
• Participants are eligible for incubation support, prize money, mentorship by domain experts, institutional support from eminent organizations for incubation of ideas and listing of solutions on GeM.