12-13.12.21 Daily [Uttarakhand] UKPSC Current Affairs

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee signed a memorandum of understanding with Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to carry out a project on stabilisation of navigational channel at 17 locations along a stretch of the Ganga river from Varanasi to Sahibganj. This follows an earlier morphological study of the Ganga by the institutes Department of Civil Engineering sponsored by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Under this project, IIT Roorkee will carry out the channel stabilisation (river training) works on 17 locations along river Ganga for development of channel with eco-friendly techniques for capacity augmentation of navigation on NW-1. The work would help in preventing shifting of deeper channel, siltation resulting in formation of secondary channels, erosion of banks and other factors affecting the depth of flow in the main navigable channel, and thus will result in stabilising the main channel by containing the flow to get desirable flow and discharge patterns,which would ultimately reduce the need for dredging.The project work is to be completed in 25 months.

This work is a part of ongoing Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) of IAWI, which is sponsored by the World Bank. The JMVP envisages the creation and improvement of integration opportunities with other surface transport modes, such as roads and railways, so as to improve the overall efficiency of the Logistics chain by linking the waterways through various well-equipped terminals and jetties. The IWAI vice chairman Jayant Singh, member (Technical) Ashutosh Gautam, chief engineer Ravikant along with IITs professors Z Ahmad, PK Garg, AA Kazmi, PK Sharma and others were present at the signing of the MoU.

Minister of state for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar informed in Lok Sabha that, government has made a provision to generate a health ID for every citizen free of cost.

As of now, more than 140 million health IDs have been created.

Creation of Health IDs is voluntary.

The NationalHealth Authority is creating awareness among citizens regarding the usage and advantages of Health IDs for ensuring their maximum participation.Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission also aims to provide digital health IDs for all Indian citizens in order to provide health records electronically to the hospitals, Insurance firms, and citizens, when required.

The health ID works as the health account of citizens. It comprises of all the details of every disease, every test, the doctors visited, the diagnosis and the medicines taken.

As a part of Azadi Ka Digital Mahotsav, the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) hosted a unique event called Digital Payment Utsav on December 10, 2021.

Under the Digital Payment Utsav, the journey and rise of digital payments in India was celebrated.

It brought the leaders from Government, fintech companies, Banking sector, and start-ups, together.

Digital Payment Utsav witnessed the launch of innovative solutions such as:

In India, electrification of public transport especially across bus sector is key to decarbonization strategy. The launch of e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition is a step of ensuring steady and paced electrification of bus transport system in the country. It will help in address the challenges of procurement, operations & financing e-bus deployment in a bid to achieve net zero emissions.

in association with the Convergence Energy Service Limited (CESL) & World Resources Institute, India launched the e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition (e-Sawari India e-Bus Coalition). This coalition is also supported by Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI).

With the launch of e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition, central government agencies, State Government agencies, city-level government agencies, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), transit service providers, financing institutions, and ancillary service providers would be able to share their learnings and knowledge on e-bus adoption in India.

Central government noted in Lok Sabha that there is no proposal under its consideration to do away with the sedition law.

As per a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that, on May 31, 2021 Supreme Court in its order on a had observed that ambit & parameters of provisions of Sections 124A, 505 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 requires interpretation, especially with respect to right of electronic & print media to communicate news.

As per minister, SC has also issued notice to Centre on a plea in which petitioners have asked for an appropriate writ, order or direction to declare Section 124A of IPC, 1860 unconstitutional and void.

Indian government has signed an air bubble agreement with Australia, under which all eligible passengers will be allowed to travel between both the countries.

Australian airline Qantas has started flights between Sydney and New Delhi, recently. It is also set to start flights between New Delhi and Melbourne before Christmas.

Air India also operated direct commercial flights to connect New Delhi with Melbourne and Sydney before Indian government suspended scheduled international flights.

Air India flights between India and Australia will resume in coming days, said a senior official with the airline.