NATRIP Project : Environment for UPSC Exams

• National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP), the largest and one of the most significant initiatives in Automotive sector so far, represents a unique joining of hands between the Government of India, a number of State Governments and Indian Automotive Industry to create a state of the art Testing, Validation and R&D infrastructure in the country.

• It aims at creating core global competencies in automotive sector in India and facilitate seamless integration of Indian Automotive industry with the world as also to position the country prominently on the global automotive map.

• It will address the R&D requirements of the automotive industry, full-fledged testing and homologation centres.

• The places are within the Northern auto-cluster at ICAT-Manesar, Haryana and Southern auto-cluster at GARC-Oragadam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and up-gradation of existing centers at ARAI- Pune and VRDE-Ahmednagar in Maharashtra for Western auto-cluster.

• The NATRIP project is required:

  • To adopt global best practices to ensure road safety, environmental protection etc. in design, manufacture, testing and operation of motor vehicles in India since India is signatory to UN Regulation on Harmonisation of Vehicle Specifications under WP-29 of 1998.
  • To support Automotive Mission Plan 2016-26 sets the Indian automotive & component manufacturers for becoming globally competitive for export with aim to scale up exports to the extent of 35-40% of its overall output over the next 10 years
  • To make Indian vehicles comply with global standard of safety (in line with UN Brasilia resolution) to reduce the high number of casualities and road accidents (i.e. 1.46 and 5.01 lakhs respectively in the year 2015).
  • To help the MSMEs for development and certification of auto-components, both for OEMs and after sale parts.

Kuji Mendha : Environment for UPSC Exams

• It is a threatened breed of sheep found only in coastal Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts of Odisha.

• It has been conferred ‘rare and singular species’ tag by the central government.

• They are fast breeders giving multiple births. Sheep in other parts of Odisha are not known for giving multiple births. This characteristic makes them distinctive from other species.

• The rare genetic qualities lead to the multiple birth syndromes in them. These animals are dwarf in built with the body covered with coarse hair. The average adult sheep weighs 18-20 kg.

• Kendrapada sheep are mainly used for production of mutton. The other product of economic importance is their skin. They are well adapted to high ambient temperature, high humidity and heavy rains

• The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) has rendered the genetic recognition. With NBAGR conferring it genetically rare status, conserving these domesticated species would receive a boost.

SCATSAT-1: Important Topics for UPSC Exams​

What?

• SCATSAT-1 or Scatterometer-1 is a continuity mission for Oceansat-2 which will provide wind vector data products for weather forecasting, cyclone detection and tracking services to the users.
• Launch Vehicle: PSLV-C35, Launch Mass: 371 Kg, Earth Observation satellite.
• Sun synchronous polar orbit at 780km altitude.
• Launch place: Sriharikota.
• PSLV: 4 stage rocket with a mixture of liquid and solid fueled stages.
• Ku-band, scatterometer is used in it, similar to the one used in Oceansat-2.

Government Plan Programme Policies for UPSC Exam

:: Gold Monetisation Schemes ::

Due to various traditions and habbits gold use in India is at a very high level. Gold has been used in various forms, it has been used in marriages by bride, big amount of gold is present in temples across India. Apart from this gold has been used by traders as a commodity for the purpose of making profit. Gold is also kept in households as a reserve currency. Sociological aspect also makes women in India keep more of gold. Gold historically has been the property which women could hold. In the year 2011 India imported more gold than any other country, total import was close to 1,000 tonnes, which is also a fifth of global annual supply. There has been a surge in gold consumption in India in last few decades. Until 1990 imports were all but banned so total consumption of Gold per year was below 75 tonnes till 1990. That time smuggling of bullion was at its peak and price of gold in India were much more than international market. But deregulation has seen an explosion in gold purchases. Now most gold coming into India enters legally through banks. Many loans made against gold collateral are not from shifty money lenders but registered financial firms.

This high quantity of Gold import has various negative effects on the economic health of the country. High quantity of import increases the current account deficit, which effects the monetary and fiscal policy. It puts a pressure on external account, which drives the exchange rate. If all the gold available and lying idle inside the country can be monetised, it will make good impact on the health of countries economy. In order to monetise the gold inside the country the government has come up with three new shemes.

The salient features of each of the aforesaid scheme are as follows:

Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS), 2015

The GMS will replace the existing Gold Deposit Scheme, 1999. However, the deposits outstanding under the Gold Deposit Scheme will be allowed to run till maturity unless the depositors prematurely withdraw them. Resident Indians (Individuals, HUF, Trusts including Mutual Funds/Exchange Traded Funds registered under SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations and Companies) can make deposits under the scheme. The minimum deposit at any one time shall be raw gold (bars, coins, jewellery excluding stones and other metals) equivalent to 30 grams of gold. There is no maximum limit for deposit under the scheme. The gold will be accepted at the Collection and Purity Testing Centres (CPTC) certified by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The designated banks will accept gold deposits under the Short Term (1-3 years) Bank Deposit (STBD) as well as Medium (5-7 years) and Long (12-15 years) Term Government Deposit Schemes (MLTGD). There will be provision for premature withdrawal subject to a minimum lock-in period. The interest rate in the STBD will be determined by the banks. The interest rate in the medium term bonds has been fixed at 2.25% and for the long term bonds is 2.5% for the bonds issued in 2015-16. The Short Term Bank Deposits will attract applicable Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR). However, the stock of gold held by the banks will count towards the general SLR requirement. The opening of Gold Deposit Accounts will be subject to the same rules with regard to customer identification (KYC) as are applicable to any other deposit account.

Sagarmala Project: Important Topics for UPSC Exams​

What is Sagarmala project?

• Sagarmala project is for promoting port-led direct and indirect development and to provide infrastructure to transport goods to and from ports quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.
• It aims to develop access to new development regions with intermodal solutions and promotion of the optimum modal split, enhanced connectivity with main economic centres and beyond through expansion of rail, inland water, coastal and road services.

What are the 3 pillars of above initiative?

• Port-led Development through appropriate policy and institutional interventions and providing for an institutional framework for ensuring inter-agency and ministries/departments/states’ collaboration for integrated development
• Port Infrastructure Enhancement, including modernization and setting up of new ports
• Efficient Evacuation to and from hinterland.

Chikungunya: Important Topics for UPSC Exams​

What?

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral illness which spreads through mosquito bites and fever and joint pain are its most common symptoms. Other symptoms may comprise a headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash.

• Symptoms similar to Dengue and Zika.
• First outbreak in southern Tanzania in 1952
• Caused by female mosquitos Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti (also causes Zika and Dengue).
• Mosquitos mainly bite during the day.
• Even animals may get infected by the virus including birds and rodents.

Key Observations:

• Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent is the preferred location for such diseases because of moist and humid climate favouring the mosquitos.
• However, in the recent decades, these mosquito vectors of chikungunya have spread into Europe and the Americas.
• For Example: In 2007, disease transmission was reported for the first time in a localized outbreak in north-eastern Italy. Outbreaks have since been recorded in France and Croatia.
• It has been identified in more than 60 countries across the world (Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas).

Government Plan Programme Policies for UPSC Exam

:: Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan ::

Government of india has come up with Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), for acheiving universal accessabilty across India for persons with disability. Three seperate verticals will be used for achieving universal accessability across India for PwDs. Three ecosystem will include built up environment, transportation eco-system and information & communication eco-system. Campaign will use IT and social media for the purpose of achieving the timebased targets. Union government has requested state govts to identify 50 to 100 places in big cities and also websites which will have maximum impact on PoWs.

After the identification access audit will be done by idependent organisations. Along with these public places ‘Accessible police stations’, “Accessible hospitals’ and ‘Accessible tourism’ are being created by the government across the country. The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities is also coordinating with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for enhancing accessibility of Television programmes by incorporating features like captioning, text to speech and audio description. DEPwD is also in the process of creating a mobile app, along with a web portal for crowd sourcing the requests regarding inaccessible places. With the app, downloaded on his/her mobile phone, any person would be able to click a photograph or video of an inaccessible public place (like a school, hospital, government office etc.) and upload the same to the Accessible India portal.