PT Facts

PT Facts

PM Modi gets UN’s highest environmental honour

1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is amongst the six winners of the United Nation’s highest environmental honour.

• Name of the award: Champions of the Earth Awards.
• He has won the award for his pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022.
• PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron were recognized in the ‘Policy Leadership Category’ for their pioneering work in championing the International Solar Alliance.
• The Cochin International Airport won the Entrepreneurial Vision Award for its leadership in the use of sustainable energy.
• About the award: The annual Champions of the Earth Award is given to outstanding leader from the government, civil society and the private sector whose actions have had a positive impact on the environment.

2. PM Modi chaired his twenty-ninth interaction through PRAGATI

• PRAGATI stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation.
• It is the ICT-based, multi-modal platform.
• The platform is aimed at addressing common man’s grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important projects of the central and state government.
• The system has been designed in-house by the PMO team with the help of National Informatics Center (NIC)

3. The third meeting of IONS Working Group (IWG) on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) is to be held in Visakhapatnam.

• About IONS:
• The ‘Indian Ocean Naval Symposium’ is a voluntary initiative launched by India in 2008.
• It provides a forum for discussion of regional maritime issues among member nations through biennial meetings.
• It consists of 24 members nations grouped into 4 sub-regions.

4. Finance Ministry Launched Jan Dhan Darshak Mobile App as A Part of Financial Inclusion.

• About the app:
• Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance and National Informatics Centre (NIC) have jointly developed the mobile app.
• This app will act as a guide for the common people in locating a financial service touch point at a given location in the country.

5. Tribes India  and TRIFED has launched Panch Tantra Collection and appointed boxer Mary Kom as Brand Ambassador

• The Punch Tantra collection of tribal artifacts includes handlooms and handicrafts.
• About TRIFED: The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) came into existence in 1987.
• It is a national-level apex organization functioning under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

6. The Prime Minister inaugurated the Parakram Parv in Jodhpur.

• The event is to mark the second anniversary of the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army across the LoC.
• It is a three-day event that will be celebrated from September 28-30.

7. The 20th Livestock Census will be conducted in all districts of India.

• The Livestock Census has been conducted periodically since 1919-20.
• The census counts all the domesticated animals during a specific time period.

8. Twenty Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT) Centres are being established in the country.

• It is a technique by which embryos are collected from a donor female and are transferredto recipient females, which serve as surrogate mothers for the remainder of pregnancy.
• ETT acts as a tool to optimize the genetic improvement in cattle.

9. Centre of Excellence for Data Analytics (CEDA) was inaugurated in New Delhi.

• It has been setup with the joint initiative of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI).
• Itwill aid in fast-tracking the adoption of advanced analytics in government.

10. DIGIVAARTA Launched by Ministry of Electronics and IT

• DigiVaarta has been launched to spread awareness amongst the common public on digital payment topics such as BHIM, Aadhar Enabled Payment Systems (AePS), Bharat QR etc.
• The initiative aims to enable citizen government dialogue and engage citizens in educational and outreach programmes.

11. India and Japan have signed a Loan Agreement for Construction of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project and Kolkata East West Metro Project with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

12. Petroleum Minister will launch SATAT initiative to promote Compressed Biogas as an alternative and green transport fuel

• SATAT: Sustainable Alternative towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT).
• Under the scheme, entrepreneurs will be invited to set up Compressed Biogas (CBG) production plants and make available CBG in the market for use in automotive fuels.
• It is developmental effort that would benefit both, vehicle-users as well as farmers and entrepreneurs.
• This move will boost availability of more affordable transport fuel and better use of agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste.
• It will also help tackling the problem of polluted urban air due to farm stubble-burning and carbon emissions.

13. Railways Minister has launched “Rail Heritage Digitization Project” of Indian Railways in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture.

• The project is an effort to showcase country’s Rail Heritage to National and International audience in an online storytelling platform.

14. Vayoshreshtha Samman is an award instituted by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment for institutions involved in rendering distinguished service for the cause of elderly persons.

• These awards are presented as part of the celebration of the International Day of Older Persons (IDOP) on 1st October.

15. Poshan Awards: The Ministry of Women and Child will give Poshan Awards to exemplary performers during POSHAN MAAH, under Poshan Abhiyaan.

• The awards will be given to acknowledge the progress made by states.
• Rashtriya Poshan Maah: September has been celebrated across India as Rashtriya Poshan Maah.
• Poshan Abhiyan: It is India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcome for children, adolescents, pregnant women and lactating mother by leveraging technology.

16. NITI Aayog and Oracle have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) to pilot a real drug supply-chain using blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) software.

• Apollo Hospitals and Strides Pharma Sciences will partner in this effort.
• Blockchain technology helps to permanently register a drug’s record in the manufacturer’s drug supply chain, leaving no scope for record tampering.
• This will reduce counterfeit drugs.

17. NITI Aayog and United Nations in India signed the Sustainable Development Framework for 2018-2022.

• The UNSDF outlines the strategy to achieve India’s national development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

18. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under  Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM – U) program, has partnered with Google to launch the Loo Review campaign to encourage all local guides in India to rate and review public toilets on Google Maps.