12.11.22 Daily [Uttarakhand] UKPSC Current Affairs

The Union minister of State for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh said that the Himalayan States would play a key role in taking India to the pinnacle in the coming 25 years. He said this while speaking at a national conference and exhibition on Akash Tattva at the Uttaranchal University here on Saturday. The programme was organised by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Science and Technology.

Addressing the gathering, Singh opined that it is for the first time in India that such a conference is being organised in which scientific deliberation is being done by linking the ancient knowledge with the modern research.

chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the deliberations would help in analysing different dimensions of Akash (space) Tattva which is the principal among the five basic Elements. He said that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had given the slogan of Jai Vigyan along with Jai Jawan and Jai Kisan and PM Narendra Modi has added Jai Anusandhan (research) in the slogan which underlies the importance given to science and research by the government. He said that India is establishing itself as the new super power in the field of science. He said that in order to ensure participation of new and old knowledge, PM Modi has given a call to the scientists to adopt the idea of Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) on the lines of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Dhami said that like other fields India is setting new dimensions in space research. He said that people of Uttarakhand are fortunate that they are getting pure air, water, and clear sky as gifts of nature. The CM averred that the State Government wants to establish a balance between the economy and the ECOLOGY and is focussing on the importance of the Gross Environmental Production (GEP) along with the Gross Domestic Production (GDP). He said that the State government is planning to introduce labs on wheels and setting up Astro Parks to improve awareness in the field of Space Technology.

India has improved its position by six slots and is now placed at 61^strank as per the Network Readiness Index 2022 (NRI 2022) report released recently. In its latest version of 2022, the NRI Report maps the network-based readiness landscape of 131 economies based on their performances in four different pillars: Technology, People, Governance, and Impact covering a total of 58 variables. The report has been prepared by the Portulans Institute, an independent non-profit, nonpartisan research and educational institute based in Washington DC.

India has not only improved its ranking, but also improved its score from 49.74 in 2021 to 51.19 in 2022. It is noteworthy that India leads in several indicators. The report states that India secured 1^strank in AI talent concentration, 2^ndrank in Mobile broadband Internet traffic within the country and International Internet bandwidth, 3^rdrank in Annual in Telecommunication Services and Domestic market size, 4^thrank in ICT Services exports, 5^thrank in FTTH/Building Internet subscriptions and AI scientific publications.

NRI-2022 report states that India has a greater network readiness than would be expected given its income level. India is ranked 3^rdout of 36 in the group of lower-middle-income countries after Ukraine (50) and Indonesia (59). India has a score higher than the income group Average in all pillars and sub-pillars.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated Kashi Sangamam – a month-long programme being organised in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.The objective of the programme is to celebrate, reaffirm and rediscover the age-old links between Tamil Nadu and Kashi two of the countrys most important and ancient seats of Learning. More than 2500 delegates from Tamil Nadu will be visiting Kashi. During the programme, the Prime Minister also released a book Tirukkural along with its translation into 13 languages. He also witnessed a cultural programme followed by aarti.

Throwing Light on the connection between Kashi and Tamil Nadu, the Prime Minister said that on one hand, Kashi is the cultural capital of India whereas Tamil Nadu and Tamil culture is the centre of India’s antiquity and pride. Drawing an analogy to the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers, the Prime Minister said the Kashi-Tamil Sangam is equally holy which engulfs endless opportunities and strength in itself. The Prime Minister congratulated the Ministry of Education and the Government of Uttar Pradesh for this momentous gathering and thanked central universities like IIT, Madras and BHU for extending their support to the programme. The Prime Minister especially thanked the students and scholars of Kashi and Tamil Nadu.

The Prime Minister underlined that Kashi and Tamil Nadu are timeless centres of our culture and civilisation. He informed that both Sanskrit and Tamil are one of the most ancient languages that existed. The Prime Minister exclaimed, In Kashi, we have Baba Vishwanath, while in Tamil Nadu we have the blessings of Lord Rameshwaram. Both Kashi and Tamil Nadu are immersed in Shiva. Be it music, literature or art, the Prime Minister remarked that Kashi and Tamil Nadu have always been a source of art.

The Coalition for Disaster Resilient (CDRI) announced setting up theInfrastructure Resilience Accelerator Fund(IRAF) with allocation of $50 million to support global action to build robust infrastructure, especially in developing countries and small island developing nations, that can withstand the impacts of <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change.

It will be a multi-donor trust fund, managed by UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office, New York. Supported by India, the UK, Australia and theEuropean Union, the IRAFs multi-pronged programme will offer customised technical assistance, capacity building, research, knowledge management, and advocacy across the infrastructure life cycle for countries at all stages of development.

The CDRI, launched byPM Narendra Modiin New York in 2019, is a PARTNERSHIP of national governments, UN agencies and multilateral Development Banks that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of Sustainable Development.