POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                             

1. SC seeks reply from Centre on RTI portals                                                        

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS                                                          

1. India joins WEF’s G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance                                                                                                        

ECONOMY                                                                                            

1. DPIIT launches website and mobile app for IPR                                                

2. 60th ‘World Standard Day’                                                                                 

3. ‘FASTags will work as Aadhaar to track vehicles’                                              

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY                                                       

1. LOTUS-HR (Local Treatment of Urban Sewage streams for Healthy Reuse plant)                                                                                                                  

2. Rising CO2 emissions may affect labour productivity in developing countries: Study                                                                                                                  

SECURITY                                                                                            

1. Indo-US joint military exercise 'Vajra Prahar' to take place in Seattle              

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

SC seeks reply from Centre on RTI portals

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.

Context :

• The Supreme Court has given the Centre and 25 States a month’s time to respond to a writ petition seeking a direction to establish Right to Information (RTI) web portals across all States to enable citizens, especially those living abroad, to file RTI applications online.

Background :

• In August, the NGO – Pravasi Legal Cell, had said that none of the States, except Delhi and Maharashtra, has set up RTI portals.

• The Central government has an online RTI portal whereby any Indian citizen, including Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), can apply for information under the RTI Act with the desired Ministry or Department under the Central government.

• An applicant can also pay the requisite fee through online payment in this portal and submit the RTI application.

• The Centre had requested, via a letter dated December 13, 2013, the various State governments to explore the feasibility of implementing online RTI portals.

• It had even offered to provide technical support for this purpose through the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to the States.

• At present, only states – Delhi and Maharashtra have the online filing facilities of RTI applications.

Issue :

• According to the plea, the RTI Act is a Central Act was for all the citizens residing in India and also outside the country.

• The Indians who live outside the country and want information from different state governments have no means to apply online for information.

• The NRIs have to file physically the applications for any information they required from governments.

• The plea says “Right to Information Act provides a legal mechanism to enforce and implement the citizen’s right to information guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) and Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

• The present system of submitting RTI applications and the corresponding reply from the concerned information officer in physical form takes more time which in turn reduces the efficiency of the entire RTI mechanism thus defeating the very purpose of the legislation.

                                                                                                                          Source :- The Hindu

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS  

India joins WEF’s G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance

GS PAPER -  02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Context :

• India has joined the World Economic Forum’s(WEF) G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance.

G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance:

• The G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance was established in June 2019, in conjunction with the G20 Summit held in Osaka,Japan.

• It is an alliance that comprises of 15 of the world’s leading city networks and technology governance organisations.

• It seeks to work towards advancing the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies.

• The alliance also aims to create global norms and policy standards for the use of connected devices in public spaces.

Founding set of Institutional Partners include:

• Presidents and host nations of Group of 20 (G20) in 2019 and 2020

• Japan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

• The Smart City Mission of India

• Cities for All

• Cities Today Institute

• Commonwealth Local Government Forum

• Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network among others.

Significance of the Alliance :

• Smart city technologies can help decrease traffic congestion, combat crime, improve resilience during natural disasters and reduce greenhouse emissions.

• However,without proper governance,these technologies pose significant risk, notably to privacy and security.

• Hence,India joining the league is a first step towards accelerating global best practices, fostering greater openness and public trust as well as mitigating risks regarding the collection of data in public spaces.

                                                                                                                        Source :- The Hindu

ECONOMY

DPIIT launches website and mobile app for IPR

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Context :

• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) launched the website and mobile application ‘Learn to Protect, Secure and Maximize Your Innovation’ on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in New Delhi.

More about the Initiative :

• The website and app have been developed by Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM)-DPIIT in collaboration with Qualcomm and National Law University (NLU), Delhi.

• Both the website and the app are meant to be useful to the startup community, in the Intellectual Property (IP) process.

• There are two modules of this e-learning platform:

  • L2Pro India IP e-learning Platform

  • L2Pro India Mobile App

• These will aid and enable youth, innovators, entrepreneurs and small and medium industries (SMEs) in understanding IPRs for their ownership and protection, integrate IP into business models and obtain value for their R&D efforts.

• The learning app has been customized for India.

• The L2Pro India IP e-learning platform will have 11 modules for three different levels:

  • Basic

  • Intermediate

  • Advanced

• Each module comprises of e-text for understanding concepts, short animated videos of the concepts, links to additional resources on the subject and quizzes for assessment and grading the learner’s knowledge and understanding of the subject.

• Learners can access the L2Pro IP e-learning platform through their desktop, laptop, mobile browser and mobile application (available on Android & iOS).

• They will be provided e-certificates by CIPAM-DPIIT and NLU Delhi and Qualcomm on the successful completion of the e-learning modules.

                                                                                                                                                                  Source :- PIB

60th ‘World Standard Day’

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life

Context :

• The Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & PD inaugurated the 60th celebration of the ‘World Standards Day’ by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

60th celebration of the ‘World Standards Day :

• The theme of this year’s celebration is “Video Standards create a global stage”.

• The theme is highly relevant in the Indian context as India is the fastest-growing entertainment and media market globally.

• It is also relevant because mobile phones and other electronic devices and IT have boosted video production and it is estimated that by 2020, 80% of all internet traffic will be consumed by ‘Video Streaming Data’.

World standard day :

• World Standards Day (WSD) is celebrated each year all over the world on 14 October by the members of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to pay tribute to the collaborative efforts of thousands of experts worldwide, who develop voluntary technical agreements that are published as International or National Standards.

• It is also called International Standards Day.

• The aim of WSD is to raise awareness among regulators, industry and consumers as to the importance of standardization to the global economy.

• The first WSD was observed in 1970.           

                                                                                                                              Source :- PIB

‘FASTags will work as Aadhaar to track vehicles’

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY -  Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday called FASTags, a device to make automatic payments at toll booths the equivalent of Aadhaar for vehicles, which will allow the government to track their movement across the country.

Background :

• Earlier government has already announced that FASTags will be mandatory for all vehicles at all National Highways from December 1.

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

LOTUS-HR (Local Treatment of Urban Sewage streams for Healthy Reuse plant)

GS  PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc; Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• India and Netherlands launched the second phase of the LOTUS-HR in Delhi

LOTUS-HR:

• The project was initiated in July 2017 and aims to demonstrate a novel holistic (waste) water management approach that will produce clean water which can be reused for various purposes.

• The innovative pilot-scale modular plant upon commissioning will treat 10,000 L sewage water per day and will showcase a self-sustaining model for the end-user.

• This pilot-scale facility will employ multiple technologies so that the data generated at the pilot-scale becomes a tool-box of treatment technologies for replication at other sites in Delhi as well as other parts of India where similar drains exist.

• The rationale is that the mixing and matching of technologies from this tool-box will depend on the quantity (flow rate) and quality (pollutant load) of drain water, land availability, site accessibility as well as topography.

• The LOTUS-HR project is jointly supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India and Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research/STW, Government of Netherlands.

                                                                                                                               Source :- PIB

Rising CO2 emissions may affect labour productivity in developing countries: Study

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• According to a study published in the journal Nature, extreme heat days caused by the rising carbon dioxide (CO2) level in the atmosphere will affect labour productivity and economic growth, particularly in several developing countries.

Key Highlights :

• Outdoor jobs in tropical areas such as Southeast Asia, north-central Africa and northern South America are likely to turn more dangerous with the increase in temperatures caused by climate change.

• Agriculture, mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction — sectors which account for 73% of output in poor countries’ are most vulnerable

• For each trillion tonnes of CO2 emissions, gross domestic product (GDP) losses could be nearly half a per cent.

• The developed countries such as Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom will have less than 0.1% of productivity loss per unit emission.

• However, productivity losses in developing countries like India, Gabon, Thailand and Malaysia will range from 3-5% of total GDP per year for every trillion tonne of carbon emitted.

• But in Lower-income countries the economic impacts will be “approximately nine times higher” than countries with higher-income.

  • In addition, these countries are located in regions with severe climate change impacts, such as destructive sea level rise, high rates of population growth and fragile food security.

• The thresholds of heat exposure leading to labour productivity loss are likely to be exceeded sooner and more extensively in developing countries in warmer parts of the world

• These countries are also more vulnerable because a higher fraction of their work force is employed in these sectors and because they have less ability to implement infrastructural changes that deal with a changing climate.

                                                                                                                Source :- Down To Earth

SECURITY

Indo-US joint military exercise 'Vajra Prahar' to take place in Seattle

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• The 10th edition of the joint military exercise 'Vajra Prahar' between India and the US will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Seattle from October 13-28.

Vajra Prahar :

• Vajra Prahar is a Special Forces joint military training exercise conducted alternately in India and the US since 2010.

• The exercise enables sharing of best practices and experience in areas such as joint mission planning capabilities and operational tactics.

                                                                                                                  Source :- Business Standard

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