National
Swachh Bharat 2022
⇒ Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Anurag Singh Thakur launched a month-long nationwide Swachh Bharat 2022 at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh from 1st October 2022.
Aim:
Swachh Bharat 2022 launched with an aim to raise awareness, mobilize people and ensure their participation in making India clean.
Key Points:
- Swachh Bharat 2022 programme organised in 6 Lakh villages of 744 districts across the country through the network of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) affiliated Youth Clubs & National Service Scheme Affiliated Institutions.
- The objectives of the Swachh Bharat 2022 programme were to organize cleaning of public spaces and households across all the districts of the country from 01st October to 31st October 2022.
- The Swachh Bharat 2022 programme involved all segments of society, Government organizations including PRIs and Non- Government Organizations, to instil awareness and feeling of pride among citizens to keep their surroundings clean and waste free.
- In this initiative, people from different regions, languages and backgrounds worked together and the waste was disposed of by these people on a completely voluntary basis.
Bharatskills Forum, a digital knowledge-sharing platform
⇒ The Directorate General of Training (DGT) launched Bharatskills Forum, a digital knowledge-sharing platform for the ITIs’ trainees, trainers and industry.
About Bharatskills Forum:
- A new feature called the Bharatskills Forum has been added to the Bharatskills learning platform developed by DGT that allows sharing of books, notes, videos, question bank, etc., and other relevant skill-related content for learners.
- This facility shall act as a digital warehouse for the skilling community by allowing sharing of contents in various forms like handwritten trainers’ or trainees’ notes, PDFs, scanned copies, or recorded videos in any language.
Background:
- The Directorate General of Training (DGT) in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is the apex organisation for development and coordination at national level for the programmes relating to vocational training.
- DGT in Oct 2019 had launched an online learning platform called the Bharatskills, a Central Digital Repository for the trainees and trainers of the ITI ecosystem.
- It provides easy access to updated curriculum, e-books, Question Banks, mock/practice papers, learning videos, etc., for courses under the Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS), Craft Instructor Training Scheme (CITS) and the Apprenticeship Training Scheme (ATS), thus enabling anytime, anywhere learning outside the classrooms.
- This platform presents unique access to a centralized, scalable, and thriving support ecosystem through its industrial partners for the students and teachers who can now learn the new age (Industrial Revolution 4.0) skills to meet the demands of the industry.
International Platform on Hydrogen Economy An Industry-Academia Conclave 2022
⇒ The International Platform on Hydrogen Economy – An Industry-Academia Conclave was held on September 30, 2022.
During the Conclave, Experts from academia and industry deliberated about the current status of hydrogen as a source of energy and the role it can play in making India carbon neutral.
Organised by:
The conclave was organised by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to support academia-industry interaction in order to address the industry-informed challenges.
- It provided the member countries and coalition partners opportunities to show their leadership in significant demonstrations of future uses for hydrogen, which are very likely to be at the forefront of building future global hydrogen economies.
Hydrogen Valley Platform and DST- India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) Industry Research & Development Fellowship Programme (IRDFP) 2022 were also launched during the conclave.
Hydrogen Valley Platform:
» Hydrogen Valley Platform is a global initiative to optimize the hydrogen demand and supply by onsite generation and utilisation, to utilise the renewable resources effectively in water excess areas with geographical identity.
- The H2 Valley’s objectives will be achieved through cohorts of clean hydrogen valleys to combine complete hydrogen value chain (production, storage, and transportation) with the aim of reaching critical scale and unlocking learning curve effects.
- India has committed to facilitate the delivery of three clean hydrogen valleys in India by 2030.
Industry Research & Development Fellowship Programme:
» Industry Research & Development Fellowship Programme (IRDFP) is jointly initiated by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA).
- This fellowship programme will enhance the skills of the Fellows and will be of mutual benefit to both the industry and academic partners.
- Researchers placed into industry will have the opportunity to gain a working knowledge of relevant business drivers and will gain from industry’s established contacts.
- The up-skilling and industry exposure provided to academic researchers will prepare them for a career in industry and maximise the impact of the training received by these researchers so far.
USOF launches Telecom Technology Development Fund scheme
⇒ Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), a body under the Department of Telecommunications, officially launched Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) Scheme on October 01st, 2022.
The scheme is aligned with Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s clarion call of adding Jan Anusandhaan in the new phase of Amrit Kaal.
Aim:
» Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) aims to fund R&D in rural-specific communication technology applications and form synergies among academia, start-ups, research institutes, and the industry to build and develop the telecom ecosystem.
- Additionally, the Scheme aims to promote technology ownership and indigenous manufacturing, create a culture of technology co-innovation, reduce imports, boost export opportunities and creation of Intellectual Property.
Key Points:
- Under the scheme, USOF is also targeting to develop standards to meet countrywide requirements and create the ecosystem for research, design, prototyping, use cases, pilots, and proof of concept testing, among others.
- The scheme entails grants to Indian entities to encourage and induct indigenous technologies tailor-made to meet domestic needs.
Important Day
Ayurveda Day 2022
⇒ Ministry of Ayush celebrates Ayurveda Day every year on the occasion of Dhanwantari Jayanti (Dhanteras) since 2016. This year 7th Ayurveda Day was celebrated worldwide on 23rd October 2022.
» Ayurveda Day is celebrated to promote our most ancient and well documented system of medicine.
Theme:
The Ayurveda Day 2022 was celebrated with the theme “Har Din Har Ghar Ayurveda” (Ayurveda Everyday, Ayurveda Everywhere) so as to propagate benefits of Ayurveda to larger and grass root community.
- Keeping in view the theme, activities were conducted under 3-Js i.e. Jan Sandesh, Jan Bhagidari and Jan Aandolan and six weeklong events from 12th September 2022 to 23rd October 2022.
Competition:
» Ministry of Ayush Government of India in partnership with MyGov.in organized a short video making competition as a part of the Ayurveda Day 2022 celebrations.
- The participants submitted a video of not more than 03 minutes in Hindi and English languages on themes, which were in consonance with the main theme of this year’s Ayurveda Day i.e. “Har Din Har Ghar Ayurveda”.
» Ministry of Ayush had inaugurated the six-week long programme (12th September-23rd October) highlighting various themes and key events, with All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi as the nodal institute to execute these programs.
- The programme saw participation from various stakeholders with the aim of 3Js – Jan Sandesh, Jan Bhagidari, and Jan Aandolan.
» On this occasion a book on ‘The Ayurvedic Pharmacopia of India’, ‘The Ayurvedic formulary of India’ was released.
» To create awareness about the health benefits of medicinal plants, a species-specific national campaign on Ashwagandha – A health promoter was launched by the Ministry of Ayush.
» The first prize winners of five short video competitions were felicitated by the Union minister of Ayush and other dignitaries.