Shiksha Saptah and Vidyanjali

Shiksha Saptah is a week long campaign to celebrate the 4th anniversary of National Education Policy, 2020 with “Community Participation through Vidyanjali and Tithi Bhojan”.

• Shiksha Saptah – Is a week long campaign to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 by the Schools Nationwide.
• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Education.
• Vidyanjali – Is a school volunteer management program, run by the Department of School Education & Literacy of the Ministry of Education.
• The program aims to strengthen schools and improve the quality of education through community, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and private sector involvement across the country.
• It was launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 7th September 2021.
• It aligns with the National Education Policy 2020's goal of increasing community participation in education.

Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP)

In recent times Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade is promoting green logistics industry balancing economic growth and environment including ULIP.

• Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, as part of the ‘National Logistics Policy (NLP)’ September 2022.
• It aims to bring ease of doing business in the logistics sector by simplifying the logistics processes, improving its efficiency, bringing in transparency and visibility, and reducing logistics cost & time.
• ULIP is conceptualized by NITI Aayog.
• The platform is maintained and operated by NICDC Logistics Data Services (NLDS) with an objective of democratizing the access to data for all stakeholders.
• National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (NICDC) works under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Key Features and Objectives:
• Integration of Systems – ULIP integrates 30 systems from seven ministries through over 100 APIs, covering more than 1600 data fields.
• This integration facilitates seamless data exchange and coordination among various stakeholders in the logistics ecosystem.
• Ease of Doing Business – The platform aims to simplify logistics processes, improve efficiency, enhance transparency, and reduce both logistics costs and time.
• Data Democratization – By providing secure access to logistics-related information from various ministries, ULIP democratizes data access.
• Digital Transformation – ULIP is a cornerstone of India's digital logistics infrastructure, aligning with the broader Digital India initiative.
• Multi-modal Integration – The platform supports the government's vision of multi-modal logistics, complementing other initiatives like PM GatiShakti National Master Plan.

Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC)

India has recently assumed the Chair of Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC).

• Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) was established in 1986 as a regional disaster preparedness centre (DMC) in Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok, Thailand.
• ADPC is an autonomous international organization for cooperation in and implementation of disaster risk reduction and building climate resilience in Asia and the Pacific regions.
• It operates as a non-profit, autonomous, regional organization, international in status and non-political in management, staffing and operations.
• The 9 founding members of ADPC are:
  • Bangladesh
  • Cambodia
  • China
  • India
  • Nepal
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines
  • Sri Lanka
  • Thailand
• Kazakhstan is not a founding member of ADPC.
• The vision of ADPC is "safer communities and sustainable development through disaster risk reduction" and its geographical remit is Asia and the Pacific.
• The organs of ADPC include:
  • Board of Trustees
  • Executive Committee
  • Advisory Council
  • Regional Consultative Committee (RCC)
• Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) are the governing or advisory bodies of ADPC.

Cheyava Falls

NASA’s Perseverance rover has just finished studying a rock on Mars, named Cheyava Falls possessing features that are reminiscent of what microbes might have left behind.

• Cheyava Falls is an arrowhead-shaped rock that was recently discovered by NASA’s Perseverance along the northern edge of Neretva Vallis of Moon.
• Neretva Vallis an ancient river valley carved by water flowing into the red planet’s Jezero crater.
• Cheyava Falls possess the feature of Microbialites.
• Microbialites is a term for rocks that possess features reminiscent of or left behind by microbes.
• The rock shows features reminiscent of what microbes might have left behind billions of years ago when the area was warm and wet.
• Scientists emphasize that they have not discovered life on Mars, but rather a "potential bio-signature."
• Key findings in the rock include:
  • Organic compounds,
  • Calcium sulfate veins (indicating flowing water) and
  • Small off-white splotches with black rings containing iron phosphate.

GROWTH-India Telescope

GROWTH-India Telescope has recently captured images of a massive Near-Earth Asteroid, ‘2011 MW1’ as it made a close pass by Earth.

• GROWTH-India is India's first fully robotic optical research telescope.
• The telescope's primary mission is to observe explosive transients and variable sources, including near-Earth asteroids.
• It contributes to a global effort to monitor near-Earth objects and improve our understanding of their behaviour.
• Location – Located at the Indian Astronomical Observatory site at Hanle, Ladakh.
• Being situated at 4500 meters above mean sea level, this is one of the highest observatory sites in the world and one of the best telescope locations in the country.
• Features – A 70-cm telescope with a 0.7-degree field of view.
• It has a 0.7 x 0.7 degrees field of view, and a pixel scale of 0.7 arc-seconds per pixel.
• The telescope will generate more than one thousand gigabytes of data each year.
• Construction – Constructed as a joint partnership between the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
• Funding – The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology and Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) funds this project.
• The GROWTH (Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen) Project – GROWTH-India is a part of this network.
• It is funded by the National Science Foundation of USA.
• GROWTH is a collaborative project of:
  • Indian Institute of Astrophysics (India) and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (India),
  • California Institute of Technology (USA) and University of Maryland College Park (USA),
  • University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (USA) and Texas Tech University (USA) and San Diego State University (USA)
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA),
  • Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan) and National Central University (Taiwan),
  • Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) and the Oskar Klein Centre at Stockholm University (Sweden) and
  • Humboldt University (Germany) and Liverpool John Moores University (UK).