PM Modi to launch Sankalp Saptah, aims at elevating citizens’ quality of life

Sankalp Saptah

• It is linked to the effective implementation of the Aspirational Blocks Programme (ABP).
• To implement the ABP and prepare an effective block development strategy, “chintan shivirs (brainstorming sessions)” were organized at village and block levels across the country. The Sankalp Saptah is the culmination of these chintan shivirs.
• Sankalp Saptah will be observed in all 500 aspirational blocks.
• Each day in Sankalp Saptah will be dedicated to a specific development theme on which all aspirational blocks will work.
• The themes for the first six days are “Sampoorna Swasthya”, “Suposhit Parivar”, “Swachhta”, “Krishi”, “Shiksha”, and “Samridhi Diwas”.
• The last day of the week will be a celebration of the work conducted during the entire week, as “Sankalp Saptah – Samavesh Samaroh”.
• The inaugural programme will witness the participation of about 3,000 panchayat and block-level people’s representatives and functionaries from across the country at the Bharat Mandapam.

Aspirational Blocks Programme (ABP)

• ABP was launched on January 7, 2023, on the lines of the Aspirational District Programme that was launched in 2018 and covers 112 districts across the country.
• Aim: Enhancing governance and improving the quality of life in 500 Aspirational Blocks spanning 329 districts across India.
• Over half of these blocks are in 6 states: Uttar Pradesh (68 blocks), Bihar (61), Madhya Pradesh (42), Jharkhand (34), Odisha (29) and West Bengal (29).
• It will be attained by converging existing schemes, defining outcomes, and monitoring them on a constant basis, enabling holistic development in areas that require added assistance.

StartUps Intellectual Property Rights Protection" is aimed at promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, says Science & Technology Minister

Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM)

• It is an independent body constituted to give advice on economic and related issues to the Government of India, specifically to the Prime Minister.
• It was set up for the first time in September 2017 with a term of two years.
• Terms of Reference:
  • Analyzing any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the Prime Minister and advising him thereon, addressing issues of macroeconomic importance, and presenting views thereon to the Prime Minister.
  • These could be either suo-motu or on reference from the Prime Minister or anyone else.
  • Attending to any other task as may be desired by the Prime Minister from time to time.
• Composition:
  • EAC-PM is headed by a Chairperson and consists of eminent economists as members.
  • It is supported in its functions by a team of officials and administrators.
  • There is no fixed definition of the exact number of members and staff of the EAC-PM.
  • It is common for the Council to be reconstituted time and again with different organizational structures headed by various economists who are of recognized international eminence.
  • For administrative, logistic, planning, and budgeting purposes, the NITI Aayog serves as the nodal agency for the EAC-PM.

Patent

• A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem.
• To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.
• In principle, the patent owner has the exclusive right to prevent or stop others from commercially exploiting the patented invention. In other words, patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported, or sold by others without the patent owner''s consent.
• Patents are territorial rights. In general, the exclusive rights are only applicable in the country or region in which a patent has been filed and granted, in accordance with the law of that country or region.
• The protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the filing date of the application.

India retains 40th rank in the Global Innovation Index 2023

Global Innovation Index 2023

• It is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
• It is a reliable tool for governments across the world to assess the innovation-led social and economic changes in their respective countries.
• This year, the NITI Aayog, in partnership with the CII and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), is hosting, virtually, the India Launch of the GII 2023 on 29th September 2023.
• Key findings
  • The Global Innovation Index is built on a rich dataset – the collection of 80 indicators from international public and private sources – going beyond the traditional measures of innovation since the definition of innovation has broadened.
  • Top 5 countries: Switzerland, Sweden ,United States United Kingdom (4th) and Singapore (5th).
  • It listed India as among the 21 economies that outperformed for a 13th consecutive year on innovation relative to level of development.
  • It states that India, Iran, Philippines, Turkiye, Vietnam and Indonesia are among the economies within the GII top 65 that climbed fastest in the ranking over the last decade.
  • India holds top ranking within the Central and Southern Asia region for Human capital and research (48th), Business sophistication (57th) and Knowledge and technology outputs (22nd).
  • Strong indicators include ICT services exports (5th), Venture capital received (6th), Graduates in science and engineering (11th) and Global corporate R&D investors (13th).

World Intellectual Property Organisation

• It works with the vision of encouraging creative activity and promoting the protection of Intellectual Property throughout the world.
• WIPO is one of the 15 specialised agencies of the United Nations.
• Currently, there are 193 members of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
• Headquarter: Geneva.

NASA’s CALIPSO mission stops blasting lasers at Earth after 17 years

CALIPSO Mission

• CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) is a mission dedicated to studying how clouds and aerosols impact the Earth’s climate.
• It is a joint project between NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and CNES (Centre National d''Études Spatiales), the French space agency.
• Launched in 2006, CALIPSO is a satellite-based observatory.
• Scientists are using data from CALIPSO to construct 3D models of the atmosphere that improve our ability to predict future climate change.
• CALIPSO has been part of a constellation of spacecraft called the "A-Train," including Aqua, Aura, and PARASOL spacecraft, dedicated to studying the Earth’s weather and environment.
• Instrumentation:
• It carries CALIOP, a two-wavelength, polarization-sensitive lidar, along with two passive sensors operating in the visible and thermal infrared spectral regions.
• The lidar emitted pulses of laser light and measured the amount of light that was scattered back by clouds and aerosols. This information was used to create vertical profiles of cloud and aerosol properties, such as their height, thickness, and optical depth.
• CALIOP is the first lidar to provide long-term atmospheric measurements from Earth''s orbit.
• This information helps scientists create three-dimensional profiles of cloud and aerosol distributions.
• The mission recorded more than 10 billion LIDAR measurements and helped create thousands of scientific reports over its 17 years of operation.

From Rajasthan to Haryana, a pest is wreaking havoc on cotton fields

Pink ballworm (PBW)

• It is one of the most destructive pests of cotton.
• Distribution: Originally native to India, it is now recorded in nearly all the cotton-growing countries of the world.
• Description:
  • The adults are small moths about 3/8 inch long and are dark brown with markings on the fore wing.
  • The larval stage is the destructive and identifiable stage.
  • The larvae have distinctive pink bands and can reach a length of ½ inches right before they pupate.
• Ecological Threat:
  • Adults lay eggs on cotton bolls; once hatched, the larvae eat the seeds and damage the fibers of the cotton, reducing the yield and quality.
  • When the larvae mature, they cut out the boll and drop to the ground and cocoon near the soil surface.
  • It has also been observed to attack hibiscus, okra, and hollyhock plants.
  • The PBW larvae burrow into the developing fruits (bolls) of cotton plants, and the damage affects both the weight and quality of the harvested bolls containing the lint fibre and seeds inside.

What is the ''Five Eyes'' intelligence alliance?

Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance

• It is a multilateral intelligence-sharing network shared by over 20 different agencies of five English-speaking countries — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• It is both surveillance-based and signals intelligence (SIGINT).
• Intelligence documents shared between the members countries are classified as ‘Secret—AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US Eyes Only,’ which gave the group its title ‘Five Eyes.’
• Background of the alliance
  • The alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. evolved around the Second World War to counter the Cold War Soviet threat.
  • The two countries, which had successfully deciphered German and Japanese codes during the World War, forged a collaboration to share intelligence related to signals such as radio, satellite and internet communications.
  • In the aftermath of the war in 1946, the alliance was formalised through an agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence.
  • The treaty called the British-U.S. Communication Intelligence Agreement, or BRUSA (now known as the UKUSA Agreement), was signed between the State-Army-Navy Communication Intelligence Board (STANCIB) of the U.S. and the London Signal Intelligence Board (SIGINT) of Britain.
• Its scope was limited to “communication intelligence matters only” related to “unrestricted” exchange of intelligence products in six areas: collection of traffic; acquisition of communication documents and equipment; traffic analysis; cryptanalysis; decryption and translation; and acquisition of information regarding communication organisations, practices, procedures, and equipment.
• The arrangement was later extended to ‘second party’ countries —Canada joined in 1948, while Australia and New Zealand became part of the alliance in 1956.

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launches CRIIIO 4 GOOD modules

CRIIIO 4 GOOD Initiative

• It is a new online life skills learning module.
• It consists of series of 8 cricket-based animation films to promote gender parity, equip girls with life skills and encourage their participation in sports.
• Using the popularity and passion of cricket young audiences, ICC and UNICEF released these modules to inspire children and youth to adopt critical life skills and appreciate the importance of gender equality.
• The programme is in three languages: English, Hindi and Gujarati.
• The themes of the eight modules are: leadership, problem-solving, confidence, decision-making, negotiation, empathy, teamwork and goal setting and are visualized through state-of-the-art animation using cricketing examples.
• The programme was launched in association with the International Cricket Council, UNICEF, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

UNICEF

• UNICEF stands for the United Nations Children’s Fund which was established in 1946.
• It is a specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to providing humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries.
• The organisation operates in over 190 countries and territories around the world.
• It is working to ensure that every child has access to basic healthcare, education, nutrition, clean water, and protection from violence and exploitation.
• Headquarter: New York City, United States.

Tripura becomes fourth state to introduce e-cabinet system, CM Saha says it will infuse dynamism

e -Cabinet system

• E -Cabinet is a powerful software portal for State Governments to conduct Cabinet meetings electronically and online mode.
• It is developed by National Information Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY).
• Tripura has become the fourth state—and second in the Northeast—after Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, to have introduced an e-cabinet system.
• Features
  • It maximizes usage of technology in meetings and reduces paper use.
  • It automates workflow activities of meetings; before, during and after.
  • It is designed for smart tablets, with rich UI and UX elements, for ease of use.
  • Push & Pull mechanism built in portal ensures high security needed for Cabinet matters.
  • Build institutional memory & knowledge repository, enabling quick search & retrieval.
  • For virtual meetings eCabinet is integrated with Bharat VC solution of NIC.
• Benefits/Impact of eCabinet
  • Saves huge resources of Paper, fuel, and manpower
  • Online Data Update
  • Information for all leading to coordinated action
  • Better decision making, Quick retrieval of Decisions taken in meetings and review Action taken
  • Enables Virtual participation of Ministers

Iran launches 3rd military satellite to orbit

Noor-3 Satellite

• It is an imaging satellite developed by Iran.
• It is a satellite with potential spying capabilities, boosting Iran’s abilities in space.
• It has been put in an orbit 450 kilometers (280 miles) above the Earth''s surface.
• It was launched by the three-stage Qased, or messenger carrier.
• The spacecraft''s two predecessors, Noor-1 and Noor-2, launched in April 2020 and March 2022, respectively, also atop Qased rockets.
• Noor-1 fell back to Earth in April 2022, but Noor-2 remains operational and may work in concert with Noor 3 when the latter satellite comes online.
• Who carried out the launch?
  • The launch was carried out by the aerospace arm of Iran''s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
  • The Guard operates its own space program parallel to Iran''s regular armed forces and answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
  • It launched its first satellite into space in April 2020 (Noor-1).