PIB Summary- 5th February, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

Context: Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) has been approved for the period of next four years starting from 2021-22.

About Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

• The Scheme aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization.
• It will be implemented with effect from 1st April 2021.
• A Rs. 945 Crore corpus will be divided over the next 4 years for providing seed funding to eligible startups through eligible incubators across India.
• The scheme is expected to support about 3600 startups.
• The implementing body of the scheme is the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
• These 3,600 entrepreneurs will represent DPIIT-registered startups across sectors and incorporated not more than two years ago at the time of applying for the scheme.
• The selected startups will be offered up to Rs 20 lakhs as a grant for proof of concept and up to Rs 50 lakhs through convertible debentures or debt or debt-linked instruments for commercialization of the product.
• Startups selected under the scheme would preferably be from sectors including social impact, waste management, water management, financial inclusion, education, agriculture, food processing, biotechnology, healthcare, energy, mobility, defence, space, railways, oil and gas, textiles, etc.

HAL LUH

Context: HAL LUH (Army Variant) receives Initial Operational Clearance.

About HAL LUH

• The Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) received the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) for the Indian Army from the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC).
• The LUH is a three-ton class new generation single engine helicopter indigenously designed and developed by Rotary Wing Research and Design Centre of HAL with features suitable for operations in the diverse operating conditions unique to India.
• The LUH will replace the ageing fleet of Cheetah/Chetak helicopters operated by the Services.
• The LUH is powered by a single turbo shaft engine Ardiden 1U (from France) with adequate power margins to accomplish high altitude missions in Himalayas with ease.
• The LUH is equipped with Smart Cockpit Display System (Glass Cockpit), state-of-the-art HUMS (Health & Usage Monitoring System) and is designed for various utility and armed roles.

Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) Mk III

Context: HAL hands over five ALHs Mk III to Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard.

About ALH Mk III

• The ALH Mk III or the Mark III Advanced Light Helicopter is meant for coastal security.
• The helicopter features a full glass cockpit with HAL’s Integrated Architecture Display System (IADS), more powerful “Shakti” (Safran Ardiden 1H1) engines, and a host of new systems.
• It is fully loaded, multi-mission and fitted with an array of advanced sensors.
• These helicopters have come up with latest-generation avionics and role equipment.
• It is primarily meant for use in a shore-based role.
• The Mk-III ALH are also equipped with an indigenous low frequency dunking sonar (LFDS) developed by Kochi-based Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory.
• The aircraft has also a nose-mounted surveillance radar with 270-degree coverage that can detect, classify and track multiple marine targets.
• It also has synthetic-aperture radar, inverse synthetic-aperture radar, and moving target indication classification functions.

iDEX – Start-up Manthan

Context: iDEX – Start-up Manthan to promote innovation in defence organised at Aero India 2021.

iDEX Start-up Manthan

• Start-up Manthan is organised under the iDEX banner annually.
• The iDEX was launched by the Prime Minister in April 2018 with the core aim to create corporate models for Indian Defence needs and allow the defence sector to harness start-ups.
• Since its launch, iDEX has emerged as a national scale ecosystem bringing together military users and operators with start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs.
• The event provided a unique opportunity to firms associated with DIO-iDEX to showcase capabilities, products and services to industry leaders and business decision makers.

About iDEX

• The iDEX was launched by the Government of India in 2018 primarily aimed at the creation of an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in defence and aerospace by engaging industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes & academia, and provide them grants/funding and other support to carry out R&D which has good potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.
• iDEX will be funded and managed by a ‘Defence Innovation Organization (DIO)’ which has been formed as a ‘not for profit’ company.
• iDEX will function as the executive arm of DIO, carrying out all the required activities while DIO will provide high-level policy guidance to iDEX.
• Functions:
  • Co-innovation/co-creation
  • Piloting of candidate technologies in important platforms
  • Indigenization of various defence and aerospace-related platforms being manufactured in the country.

National Center for Seismology (NCS)

About NCS

• National Center for Seismology (NCS) is the nodal agency of the Government of India for monitoring earthquake activity in the country.
• NCS maintains National Seismological Network of 115 stations each having state-of-the-art equipment and spreading all across the country.
• NCS monitors earthquake activity all across the country through its 24×7 round the clock monitoring centre.
• NCS also monitors earthquake swarm and aftershock through deploying temporary observatory close to the affected region.
• Apart from earthquake monitoring, NCS is also actively involved in Seismic Hazard Microzonation and seismological research.
• NCS functions under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, GOI.

Note

• The history of instrumental earthquake monitoring in India dates back to 1898, when the first seismological observatory of the country was established at Alipore  (Calcutta) on 1 December, 1898 after the great  Shillong plateau earthquake of
• The whole country has been divided into four zones viz. zone V, IV, III and II according to the seismic zoning map of India prepared by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) based on the historical seismicity and strong ground motions.
• Out of these zones, Zone V exhibits the highest seismic risk and zone II has the least.
  • Zone V: Parts of Jammu and Kashmir (Kashmir valley); Western part of Himachal Pradesh; Eastern part of Uttarakhand, Kutch in Gujarat; part of Northern Bihar; all northeastern states of India and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
  • Zone IV: Ladakh; Remaining parts of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand; Some parts of Haryana, Parts of Punjab; Delhi; Sikkim; northern part of Uttar Pradesh; small portions of Bihar and West Bengal; parts of Gujarat and small portions of Maharashtra near the west coast and small part of western Rajasthan.
  • Zone III: Kerala; Goa; Lakshadweep islands; parts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana; remaining parts of Gujarat and Punjab; parts of West Bengal, western Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh; remaining part of Bihar; northern parts of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh; parts of Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
  • Zone II: Remaining parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Hathkargha Samvardhan Sahayata (HSS) Yojana

What is the HSS Yojana?

• The government launched the Hathkargha Samvardhan Sahayata (HSS) Yojana for the welfare of handloom weavers. Launched in 2015-16, the scheme was renamed Hathkargha Samvardhan Sahayata Yojana in December 2016.
• The scheme was introduced to facilitate technology up-gradation in the handloom sector by providing 90% subsidy for the purchase of looms and accessories by the weavers.
• Scheme objectives:
  • To facilitate the up-gradation of technology in loom units.
  • To encourage the development of capabilities to create employment opportunities in emerging technological areas.
• The scheme is under the Ministry of Textiles.
• The technology upgrade is aimed at improving the quality of the fabric and enhance productivity of the handloom weavers.

Prelims Facts

e-CHARAK

• It is a mobile application as well as a web portal for the promotion and marketing of medicinal plants/herbs.
• It was jointly developed by the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
• It is an e-channel for herbs, aromatics and raw materials and is a platform to enable information exchange between various stakeholders mainly farmers involved in the medicinal plants sector across the country.
• The e-CHARAK application supports different local languages and it also provides fortnightly market price of 100 Medicinal Plants from 25 herbal markets across India.