Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Startup Forum 2023

• The engagement aimed at expanding the startup interactions amongst the SCO Member States, nurturing the spirit of innovation, generating more employment and encouraging young talent to build innovative solutions.
• The forum witnessed physical participation from SCO Member States including a delegation of government officials, private industry players, incubators and startups.
• This engagement focused on the spirit of collaboration and entrepreneurship.
• It aimed at promoting innovation development, particularly through the creation of common platforms and the facilitation of ideas and best practices among the SCO Member States.
• Various startup-to-startup bilateral meetings were conducted in promoting and achieving this agenda.
• In addition, the delegates also attended a workshop conducted by Startup India on the ‘Role of Bilateral and Multilateral Engagements in developing startup ecosystem’.
• The workshop included an interactive session to understand various models of engagements that can be undertaken to develop closer ties between these nations and boost the startup ecosystem in SCO nations.
• Previously, Startup India had organized various initiatives for SCO Member states including:
  • SCO Startup Forum 2020: The SCO Startup Forum laid the foundation for multilateral cooperation and engagement for startups among the SCO Member States.
  • SCO Startup Forum 2021: The two-day Forum was held virtually through a customized platform representing the Indian culture in augmented reality. SCO Startup Hub, a single point of contact for the SCO startup ecosystem, was launched in this forum.
  • Focused Mentorship Program: A 3-month long virtual mentorship series ‘Starting-Up’ was organized for the nominated startups, to build capacity among the SCO Startup founders.

Allahabad High Court orders carbon dating of ‘Shivling’ at Gyanvapi

• Carbon dating is a widely-used method to establish the age of organic materials, things that were once living.
• Living things have carbon in them in various forms. The dating method is based on the fact that Carbon-14 (C-14), an isotope of carbon with an atomic mass of 14, is radioactive, and decays at a well-known rate.
• The most abundant isotope of carbon in the atmosphere is C-12. The ratio of C-12 to C-14 in the atmosphere is almost static, and is known.
• Plants and animals acquire C-12 and C-14 in roughly the same proportion as is available in the atmosphere.
• When they die, their interactions with the atmosphere stops. While C-12 is stable, the radioactive C-14 reduces to one half of itself in about 5,730 years — known as its ‘half-life’.
• The changing ratio of C-12 to C-14 in the remains of a plant or animal after it dies can be measured, and can be used to deduce the approximate time when the organism died.
• Carbon dating cannot be used to determine the age of non-living things like rocks. Also, the age of things that are more than 40,000-50,000 years old cannot be arrived at through carbon dating.

Radiometric dating methods:

• These are used to calculate the age of inanimate things. Instead of carbon, decays of other radioactive elements that might be present in the material become the basis for the dating method. Two commonly employed methods for dating rocks are
• Potassium-argon dating: The radioactive isotope of potassium decays into argon, and their ratios can give a clue about the age of rocks.
• Uranium-thorium-lead dating: Uranium and thorium have several radioactive isotopes, and all of them decay into the stable lead atom. The ratios of these elements present in the material can be measured and used to make estimates about age.
• Cosmogenic nuclide dating: It is used to determine how long an object has remained exposed to sunlight. It is regularly applied to study the age of ice cores in polar regions.

Home Ministry prepares Model Prisons Act 2023 to replace British-era law

• The government had earlier decided to review and revise the colonial-era outdated Prison Act in tune with contemporary modern-day needs and correctional ideology.
• The Model Prison Act, 2023 may serve as a guiding document for the States, and for adoption in their jurisdiction.
• Union Home Ministry had assigned the task of revision of the Prisons Act, 1894 to the Bureau of Police Research and Development.
• The Bureau prepared a draft after holding wide-ranging discussions with State Prison authorities, correctional experts, and others.
• It has been prepared with the objective of holistically providing guidance and addressing the gaps in the existing Prisons Act.

Features:

• Some salient features of the new Model Prisons Act include provision for security assessment and segregation of prisoners, and individual sentence planning.
• Grievance redressal, prison development board, attitudinal change towards prisoners, provision of separate accommodation for women prisoners, and transgender are some of the other features.
• There is also a provision for use of technology in prison administration with a view to bring transparency in prison administration.
• The new Act will focus on vocational training and skill development of prisoners and their reintegration into the society.

Indian Railways’ One Station One Product scheme covers 728 railway stations with over 700 outlets

• Ministry of Railways launched this scheme in March, 2022.
• The objective is to promote ‘Vocal for Local’ vision of the government, providing a market for local or indigenous products and create additional income opportunities for the marginalized sections of society.
• Under the scheme, OSOP outlets at railway stations are allotted for showcasing, selling and giving high visibility to indigenous or local products.
• These OSOP stalls are designed through National Design Institute for uniformity.

India-EU trade, technology council first meeting at Brussels on May 16

• The meeting will be co-chaired on the Indian side by the Ministers for External Affairs, Commerce and Industry, and Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology.
• Trade and Technology Council was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen during Ms Leyen''s visit to India in April last year.
• Both sides established three Working Groups under the Council.
• These are Working Group on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance, and Digital Connectivity, Working Group on Green and Clean Energy Technologies, and Working Group on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains.
• Meetings of the three Working Groups have also taken place leading to the Ministerial meeting in Brussels.