Factly :-News Articles For UPSC Prelims | 6 Apr, 2021

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“E9 Initiative” to Accelerate Digital Learning

What is the News? 

The Minister of State for Education will attend a consultation meeting of Education Ministers of E9 countries called the E9 Initiative.

About the E9 Initiative:

• Theme of the Meeting: “E9 initiative: Scaling up digital learning to accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4”
• This consultation meeting will be the 1st of the 3 phase process to co-create a Digital Learning initiative. The target population will be marginalized children and youth especially girls.
• The initiative will aim to accelerate recovery and advance the Sustainable Development Goal 4 agenda by driving rapid change in education systems.
• The initiative will also focus on three of the 2020 Global Education Meeting priorities namely: (i) support to teachers; (ii) investment in skills and (iii) narrowing of the digital divide.

About E9 Partnership:

• Launched in: 1993 at the UNESCO’s Education For All (EFA) Summit in New Delhi.
• Member Countries: The United Nations is spearheading the initiative with nine countries namely Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
• Purpose: The E9 forum aims to achieve the goals of UNESCO’s Education For All(EFA) initiative. It strengthens political will and collective effort to ensure quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.
• The forum represents over half of the world’s population and 70% of the world’s illiterate adults.
• Significance: E-9 Initiative has become a forum for the countries to discuss their experiences related to education, exchange best practices, and monitor EFA-related progress.

About Education For All(EFA) Summit:

• Education For All(EFA) is a global movement led by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) with the aim to meet the learning needs of all children, youth, and adults.
• EFA was adopted by The Dakar Framework in 2000 at the World Education Forum in Senegal, Africa.

Source: PIB

Farmer develops mango variety that bears fruits round the year

What is the News?

Shrikishan Suman, a farmer from Kota, Rajasthan has developed an innovative mango variety called Sadabahar.

About Sadabahar:

• Sadabahar is a dwarf variety of mango that can be grown regularly for round the year.
  • Dwarf is used to describe varieties or species of plants and animals which are much smaller than the usual size for their kind.

Key Features of Sadabahar:

• The fruit is resistant to most major diseases and common mango disorders.
• The fruit is sweeter in taste comparable to langra.(Langra is a variety of mango grown in Varanasi, Northern India, Bangladesh and Pakistan).
• The fruit is suitable for kitchen gardening, high-density plantation, and can be grown in pots for some years too.
• Besides, the flesh of the fruits is deep orange with sweet taste and the pulp has very less fiber content which differentiates it from other varieties.

Recognition:

• The Sadabahar mango variety has been verified by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF),
• NIF has also facilitated the plantation of Sadabahar mango variety in the Mughal Garden at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
• This mango variety is also in the process of being registered under the ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR).
  • NBPGR: It was established in 1976 as the nodal agency at national level for management of plant genetic resources (PGR) for food and agriculture and to carry out related research and human resource development.
• Further, Shrikishan Suman has also been conferred with the NIF’s 9th National Grassroots Innovation and Traditional Knowledge Award for developing this mango variety.

Source: PIB

“ProrIISe Software” to automate legal process for Intellectual Property

What is the News?

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, (IISc) and Prorigo Software Pvt. Ltd. jointly develop ProrIISe Software.

About ProrIISe Software:

• ProrIISe Software aims to automate the legal and bureaucratic part of the patent process. It will be helpful for registering intellectual property developed by Indian academicians.
• Significance: This software is available at a lesser cost when compared to the software available outside India. Earlier the only choice available was outside software products.
• Version 2.0 of the software is aimed for release in 2021. This version will automate the financial part also.
• Similarly, Version 3.0 may release in 2022. It will bring out artificial intelligence approaches to processes required to evaluate a patent.

What are Intellectual Property Rights?

• Intellectual property rights (IPR) are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, and images used in commerce.
• Conventions: The importance of intellectual property was first recognized in the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property(1883). Later it was also recognized in the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works(1886). The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) administers both treaties.

What is a Patent?

• Patents are exclusive rights granted by the Government to a company /individual for an invention.
• Duration: Patents are time-bound. For example: In India patents are granted for a period of 20 years from the date of filing of the patent application.

 Important Terms Related to India’s IPR:

• Evergreening of Patents: Evergreening to a variety of legal, business and technological strategies by which producers extend their patents over products that are about to expire, in order to retain royalties from them.
  • Section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act 1970 (as amended in 2005) does not allow patents to be granted to inventions involving new forms of a known substance unless it differs significantly in properties with regard to efficacy. This means that the Indian Patent Act does not allow the evergreening of patents.
• Compulsory licencing(CL): CL is the grant of permission by the government to entities to use, manufacture, import or sell a patented invention without the patent owner’s consent. The Patents Act in India deals with CL.
  • Compulsory licensing is permitted under the WTO’s TRIPS (IPR) Agreement. The agreement provides conditions such as ‘national emergencies, other circumstances of extreme urgency and anti-competitive practices’ are fulfilled for CL.

Source: The Hindu

Railways Completes Arch Closure of “Chenab bridge”

What is the News? 

Indian Railways completes the Arch closure of the iconic Chenab Bridge.

About Chenab Bridge:

• Chenab Bridge is an Indian railway steel and concrete arch bridge. It is under the construction between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Length: The bridge is being constructed over the Chenab River. It is 1315 m long and at a height of 359 m over the river bed level.
• Part of: The bridge is a part of 272 km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project(USBRL). The Northern Railway is constructing it.
• Features:
  • The steel arch is an important part of the bridge. It consists of steel boxes, which will be filled with concrete to improve stability.
  • The bridge will be able to withstand earthquakes with a magnitude of up to eight and high-intensity blasts.
  • The bridge can withstand high wind speeds up to 266 km per hour.
• Significance: Once completed, the bridge will be the World’s highest railway bridge.

Source: The Hindu

Indian Navy Ships and Aircraft to participate in Exercise La Perouse

What is the News?

Indian Navy Ships INS Satpura (with an integral helicopter embarked) and INS Kiltan along with P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft are participating in Exercise La Pérouse.

About Exercise La Pérouse:

• Exercise La Pérouse is a multilateral maritime exercise led by French Navy.
• Aim: The exercise will witness complex and advanced naval operations including surface warfare, anti-air warfare and air defence exercises, weapon firing exercises, cross deck flying operations and seamanship evolutions such as replenishment at sea.
• Participants: French Navy, Indian Navy, Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) and United States Navy (USN) are participating in the exercise.
• Location: The exercise is being conducted in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region.
• Significance: Indian Navy is participating in the exercise for the first time.The participation will showcase high levels of synergy, coordination and interoperability between the friendly navies.

Source: PIB

DRDO develops “Advanced Chaff Technology” to safeguard naval ships

What is the News?

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an Advanced Chaff Technology. It will safeguard the naval ships against enemy missile attack.

What is Advanced Chaff Technology?

• Chaff is a passive expendable electronic countermeasure technology. It is used worldwide to protect naval ships from enemy’s radar and Radio Frequency (RF) missile seekers.
• Significance: Under this technology, a very less quantity of chaff material deployed in the air acts as a decoy. It will deflect the enemy’s missiles for safety of the ships.

About the Advanced Chaff Technology Developed by DRDO:

• Defence Laboratory Jodhpur(DLJ), a DRDO laboratory has indigenously developed three variants of this chaff technology namely:
  • Short Range Chaff Rocket(SRCR)
  • Medium Range Chaff Rocket (MRCR) and
  • Long Range Chaff Rocket(LRCR).
• Indian Navy has already conducted the trials of all three variants in the Arabian Sea on Indian Naval Ship and found the performance satisfactory.

Source: PIB