PIB Summary- 2nd March, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Maritime India Summit 2021

Context: Maritime India Summit 2021 is being organised from 2nd to 4th March in the virtual mode.

About the Summit

• Organised by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, GOI.
• It is a 3-day summit and exhibition attended by various stakeholders in the maritime sector including senior policy planners, domestic and international investors, CEOs of Indian and global maritime companies, industry experts, thought leaders, technology providers, bankers and insurers, representatives of major ports and shipping lines from across the world.
• It is expected to foster interaction between stakeholders through B2B and G2B meetings.
• There are special sessions on investment opportunities in India’s maritime sector including ship building, ship repair, ship recycling, dredger/barge manufacturing, setting up of new ports and capacity augmentation of existing ports, port-based industrial development, port-based Smart cities, development of maritime cluster, etc.
• Denmark is the partner country for the event.

Udyog Manthan

Context: Udyog Manthan is being organised from January to March 2021.

About Udyog Manthan

• Organised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Udyog Manthan is a series of focused webinars on promoting quality and productivity in Indian industry.
• The webinars are supported by the National Productivity Council, Bureau of Indian Standards as well as industry chambers like CII, FICCI & ASSOCHAM.
• The webinars aim to draw in best practices and experiences of sector and industry experts to identify challenges related to quality and productivity faced by the Indian industry, with a view of solving them to promote Vocal for Local and ultimately Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
• Udyog Manthan will cover various sectors including pharma, medical devices, closed circuit camera, electronics system design and manufacturing, new and renewable energy, robotics, aerospace and defence, toys, furniture, etc.

EX Desert FLAG VI

Context: EX Desert FLAG VI is scheduled to be held from March 3 to March 27 at Al-Dhafra airbase, UAE.

About Exercise Desert Flag

• Ex Desert Flag is an annual multi-national large force employment warfare exercise hosted by the United Arab Emirates Air Force.
• The Indian Air Force is participating for the first time in Exercise Desert Flag-VI along with the air forces of the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, France, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Bahrain.
• The IAF is participating with six Su-30 MKI, two C-17 and one IL-78 tanker aircraft.
• C-17 Globemaster will provide support for induction/de-induction of the IAF contingent.
• Su-30 MKI aircraft will undertake long range ferry, routing direct from India to the exercise area with aerial refueling support from IL-78 tanker aircraft.
• The aim of the exercise is to provide operational exposure to the participating forces while training them to undertake simulated air combat operations in a controlled environment.
• The participating forces will get an opportunity to enhance their operational capabilities along with mutual exchange of best practices.

Central Revenues Control Laboratory (CRCL)

Context: Central Revenues Control Laboratory gets recognised as a Regional Customs Laboratory (RCL) of the World Customs Organisation.

Details

• CRCL has been recognized as a Regional Customs Laboratory (RCL) of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) for Asia-Pacific Region.
• With its recognition as RCL, CRCL joins a select group of Customs Laboratories in the region like those in Japan & Korea.

About CRCL

• Established in 1939, CRCL is the headquarters of 14 Revenue Laboratories, including 2 laboratories working at Government Opium & Alkaloid Works, Ghazipur & Neemuch.
• CRCL is a subordinate office under the control of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, GOI.
• Laboratories under the CRCL assist in the field formations in chemical analysis of samples of various trade commodities to enable appropriate assessment of duties.
• These laboratories also assist in the enforcement of Customs Act, NDPS Act, GST Laws, Central Excise Act and other allied Acts including for the purpose of environment protection, food safety, etc.

Merchant Digitization Summit 2021

Context: The Government of India, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and UN-based Better Than Cash Alliance hosted Merchant Digitization Summit 2021: Towards AatmaNirbhar (Self Reliance) Bharat with special focus on Himalayan Regions, North East Regions and Aspirational Districts of India.

Details

• The Summit brought together leaders from the public and private sectors for the Responsible Merchant Digitization Summit to accelerate responsible digitization of merchants in India’s North-Eastern and Himalayan regions, and Aspirational Districts.
• This Summit is part of the series of Learning Exchange amongst all States and Union Territories under which the Dept. of Economic Affairs had also co-organized the webinar titled “Unlocking the value of Fintech in promoting Digital Payments’ in December 2020.

About Better Than Cash Alliance

• Based at the United Nations, the Better Than Cash Alliance is a partnership of governments, companies, and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to digital payments to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
• The Alliance has 76 members including India.

Background

• From an average of 2-3 billion digital transactions monthly, India has set an ambitious target for 1 billion digital transactions per day.
• Person to merchant (P2M) digital payment transactions will scale to 10-12 billion transactions every month to contribute to India’s digital economy.
• This is an enormous opportunity for digitized merchants. However, most digital payments solutions are designed for smartphones whose penetration amongst merchants in these focus regions is very low.

Nag River

Context: The Nag River Pollution Abatement Project has been approved at a cost of Rs. 2,117.54 crores.

Details

• The Nag river, which flows through Nagpur city, thus giving its name to the city, is now a highly polluted water channel of sewage and industrial waste.
• The Nag River Pollution Abatement Project, approved under the National River Conservation Plan, will be implemented by the National River Conservation Directorate, NRCD.
• It will reduce the pollution level in terms of untreated sewage, flowing solid waste and other impurities flowing into the Nag river and its tributaries.

About the National River Conservation Directorate:

• The National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) is implementing the Centrally Sponsored Schemes of National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco­systems (NPCA) for the conservation of rivers, lakes and wetlands in the country.
• NRCD is under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
• NRCD only provides financial assistance to the State Governments/local bodies to set up infrastructure for pollution abatement of rivers in identified polluted river stretches under the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP).
  • The objective of the NRCP is to improve the water quality of the rivers, which are the major water sources in the country, through the implementation of pollution abatement works.

Sugamya Bharat App

Context: Union Minister virtually launches “Sugamya Bharat App” and handbook “Access – the Photo Digest”.

Sugamya Bharat App

• This crowd sourcing Mobile Application is a means for sensitising and enhancing accessibility in the 3 pillars of the Accessible India Campaigne. built environment, transportation sector and ICT ecosystem in India.
• The app provides five main features, 4 of which are directly related to enhancing accessibility, while the fifth is a special feature meant only for Divyangjan for COVID related issues.
• This crowd sourcing will serve the two-fold purpose of generating sensitisation and awareness about the need for accessibility and also bring in a perceptible change in accessible features being provided in built-up spaces, the transportation sector and other services to the disabled.
• The app is available in Hindi and English and several other Indian languages.
• The App is made accessible for ease of use for persons with disabilities also with features such as font size adjustment, colour contrasting option, text to speech, and having an integrated screen reader in Hindi and English.
• The App will be monitored through a Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD).
• The PMU will forward the complaints received through the App to Appropriate Authorities across India.