GS PAPER I NEWS
157 artefacts and antiquities handed over to India by USA
Why in News
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- During the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to the United States, 157 artefacts and antiquities were handed over to him by the United States.
Key point
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- Prime Minister Modi and President Biden reiterated their commitment to further strengthen efforts to combat the theft, trafficking and trafficking of cultural goods.
About Artifacts and Antiquities
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- The catalog of these 157 artifacts includes a diverse set of objects ranging from a one-and-a-half meter long carved slab of Revanth made of sandstone from the 10th century to the exquisite 12th century bronze statue of Nataraja, 8.5 cm high.
- Most of the items are from the 11th century to the 14th century.
- In addition, these include historical antiquities such as copper-made anthropomorphic objects dating back to 2000 BC or terracotta vases from the 2nd century. Some 45 antiquities date back to the BCE period.
- While half of these artifacts (71) are cultural, the remaining half include sculptures related to Hinduism (60), Buddhism (16) and Jainism (9).
- The building materials of these artifacts include metal, stone and terracotta.
- The bronze collection mainly consists of ornate sculptures of famous postures of Lakshmi Narayan, Buddha, Vishnu, Shiva, Parvati and 24 Jain Tirthankaras, and Kankalmurti, Brahmi and Nandikesha, among other unnamed deities and divine figures, of whom little is known .
- The motifs include religious sculptures related to Hinduism (three-headed Brahma, Surya driving a chariot, Vishnu and his wife, Shiva as Dakshinamurti, dancing Ganesha, etc.), Buddhism (Buddha in standing posture, Bodhisattva Majushree) , Tara) and those related to Jainism (Jain Tirthankara, Padmasana Tirthankara, Jain Chaubisi) as well as secular motifs (figureless couple in sambhanga, chauri carrier, woman playing drums, etc.).
- A total of 56 terracotta pieces (vase 2nd century, pair of deer 12th century, female bust 14th century) and a sword from the 18th century, whose Persian text mentions Guru Hargobind Singh.
- It is a result of the Modi government’s efforts to bring back our antiquities and artefacts from across the world.
GS PAPER II
India’s airspace map released for drone operations
Why in News
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- Taking another step towards realizing its collective vision of self-reliant India, the Union Government has released the airspace map of India for drone operations on 24 September 2021.
- Key point
- This map is available on DGCA’s Digital Sky platform.
- The Drone Airspace Map comes as a follow-up to the Liberalized Drone Rules 2021 issued by the Central Government on 25 August 2021, the PLI Scheme for Drones issued on 15 September 2021 and the Geospatial Data Guidelines issued on 15 February 2021. All these policy reforms will drive tremendous growth in the upcoming drone sector.
Why are drones necessary?
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- Drones offer tremendous benefits in almost all sectors of the economy. These include agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geospatial mapping, defense and law enforcement.
- Drones due to their accessibility, versatility and ease of use can be a significant generator of employment and economic growth, especially in remote and inaccessible areas of India.
- Given its traditional potential for innovation, information technology, economical engineering and its huge domestic demand, India has the potential to become a global drone hub by 2030.
What is the potential impact of these drone initiatives?
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- Thanks to the new regulations, the Drone PLI scheme and freely accessible drone airspace maps, the manufacturing industry of drones and drone components could see an investment of over Rs 5,000 crore over the next three years.
- The annual sales turnover of the drone manufacturing industry is expected to increase from Rs 60 crore in 2020-21 to over Rs 900 crore in the financial year 2023-24.
- The drone manufacturing industry is expected to create over 10,000 direct jobs in the next three years.
- The drone services industry (operations, mapping, monitoring, agro-spraying, logistics, data analysis, software development etc.) will grow on an even larger scale.
- It is expected to grow to over Rs 30,000 crore in the next three years. The drone services industry is expected to create over five lakh jobs in three years.
Features of Drone Airspace Map
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- The Drone Airspace Map is an interactive map of India that demarcates the yellow and red zones across the country.
- The green zone is the airspace up to 400 feet that is not designated as a red or yellow zone; and 200 feet above an area located between 8-12 km from the periphery of an operational airport.
- In the green zone, no permission is required to operate drones weighing up to 500 kg.
- The yellow area is the airspace above 400 feet in a designated green zone; Above 200 ft in an area located between 8-12 km from the periphery of an operational airport and 5-8 km above the ground in an area located between 5-8 km from the periphery of an operational airport.
- Permission is required from the concerned Air Traffic Control Authority – AAI, IAF, Navy, HAL etc., as the case may be for drone operations in the Yellow Zone.
- The yellow zone has been reduced from the earlier 45 km to 12 km from the airport periphery.
- The red zone is the ‘no-drone zone’ within which drones can be operated only with the permission of the central government.
- The airspace map may be modified from time to time by the authorized entities.
Anyone planning to operate a drone should mandatorily check the latest airspace maps for any changes in area boundaries.- Drone airspace map is freely available on the Digital Sky platform to all without any login requirement.
Features of Drone Rules, 2021 (Notified on 25 August 2021)
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- Based on trust, self-certification and non-intrusive monitoring.
- Many permissions and permissions have been removed. The number of forms has been reduced from 25 to 5. The types of charges have been reduced from 72 to 4.
- The Digital Sky platform is being developed as a user-friendly online single-window system.
- Interactive drone airspace map with red and yellow area to be released by 24 September 2021.
- No permission is required to operate the drone in the green zone.
- The yellow zone, where ATC permission is required, has been reduced from 45 km to 12 km from the airport perimeter.
- Micro drones (for non-commercial use) and drones do not require a remote pilot license.
- No security clearance is required before any registration or issue of license.
- Coverage of drones increased from 300 kg to 500 kg under the Drone Rules, 2021. This will also include drone taxis.
- No restriction on foreign ownership in Indian drone companies.
- No import clearance required from DGCA.
- The Remote Pilot License will be issued by DGCA within 15 days of obtaining the Remote Pilot Certificate from an authorized Drone School.
- Maximum penalty for violation reduced to Rs.1 lakh. Earlier it was several lakhs.
- Drone corridors will be developed for delivery of goods.
- Drone Promotion Council will be set up by the government with the participation of academia, startups and other stakeholders.
GS PAPER II
Prime Minister’s Digital Health Mission (PM-DHM)
Why in News
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- Prime Minister launched Pradhan Mantri Digital Health Campaign (PM-DHM) through video conferencing.
Key point
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- The Prime Minister on August 15, 2020 announced the pilot project of the National Digital Health Campaign from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
- Presently, PM-DHM is being implemented in six Union Territories in the initial phase.
- The nationwide launch of PM-DHM coincides with the third anniversary of NHA’s Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).
About Prime Minister’s Digital Health Mission (PM-DHM)
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- Based on the infrastructure prepared as Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile (JAM) trinity and other digital initiatives of the Government, PM-DHM will provide for a wide range of health related personal information ensuring security, confidentiality and privacy. It will create a seamless online platform for data, information and information through an inter-operable and standards-based digital system along with infrastructure services.
- Under this campaign, access and exchange of health records will be enabled with the consent of the citizens.
- Key components of PM-DHM include a health ID for each citizen which will also act as their health account, allowing individual health records to be linked and viewed with the help of a mobile application.
Under this, the Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registry (HFR) will act as a repository for all healthcare providers in both modern and traditional medicine systems.- It will also ensure ease of doing business for doctors/hospitals and healthcare providers.
- The PM-DHM sandbox, created as a part of the campaign, will act as a framework for technology and product testing and will also support private organizations that create health information as part of the national digital health ecosystem. Providers or health information users or intends to efficiently associate themselves with the prepared blocks of PM-DHM.
- Similar to the role played by Unified Payments Interface in revolutionizing payments, the campaign will also bring interoperability within the digital health ecosystem, enabling citizens to access health facilities with just one click.
GS PAPER II
World tourism day
Why in News
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- The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched the ‘National Single Window System’ (NSWS) for investors and businesses.
Key point
- World Tourism Day is celebrated every year on 27 September.
The main objective of celebrating World Tourism is to highlight the global importance of tourism as a tool for global development and cultural knowledge.- Tourism is the largest employing sector in the world. But, due to the Corona epidemic, this sector has been badly affected and people have been forced to leave it.
- This year the theme of World Tourism Day 2021 is Tourism for Inclusive Growth. Through this theme, every effort will be made to help the people associated with the tourism sector.
Why is this day celebrated?
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- Tourism increases employment and therefore World Tourism Day is celebrated to bring awareness about tourism among people and to promote more and more tourism.
- Through this day, tourists from all over the country and abroad are attracted towards them.
- Objective of celebrating world tourism day
- Employment increases rapidly due to tourism and therefore this day is celebrated on a large scale to bring awareness about tourism among the people and promote more and more tourism by World Tourism Day.
- Through this day tourists from all over the country and abroad are attracted towards them.
- It also aims to rapidly increase employment for the people through tourism.
Background
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- World Tourism Day was started in the year 1970 by the World Tourism Organization.
- World Tourism Day was celebrated for the first time on 27 September 1980 and since then World Tourism Day is celebrated on 27 September every year.
- In October 1997 in Istanbul, Turkey, the 12th UNWTO General Assembly decided that each year one of the organization’s countries would be partnered to celebrate World Tourism Day.
- In this vision, World Tourism Day was celebrated in 2006 in Europe, in 2007 in South Asia, in 2008 in America, in 2009 in Africa and in 2011 in the countries of the Middle East region.
- The United Nations General Assembly decides the theme of World Tourism Day every year.
GS PAPER III
‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign
- Why in News
- The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has announced ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign on 26th September, 2021 from 1st October to 31st October.
- Key point
- The aim of this month-long campaign is to get rid of single-use plastic and other waste.
- Plastic-free India, the India of Gandhiji’s dream and the vision of Prime Minister Modi is the resolve of the Government of India in which cleanliness or cleanliness is the top priority.
- ‘Clean India’ campaign: What will happen under it?
- This ‘Clean India’ campaign will be the world’s largest cleanliness campaign.
- In this, more than 75 lakh tonnes of waste, mainly plastic waste, will be collected from different parts of the country and further processed in the ‘Waste to Wealth’ model.
- The aim of this month-long Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is to propagate the mantra of “Clean India: Safe India”.
Clean India Mission
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- This Swachh Bharat Mission or Clean India Mission is a country wide campaign. It was started by the Government of India in the year 2014.
- The objective of this campaign is to end open defecation as well as improve open waste management.
- It is a revamped version of Swachh Bharat Mission Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan which was launched in the year 2009 but failed to achieve its objective.
- The first phase of this Swachh Bharat Mission run by the Government of India lasted till October, 2019, while the second phase of the nationwide campaign will be implemented between the year, 2020-21 and the year, 2024-25.
- The objective of the first phase of this mission included the eradication of manual scavenging, apart from open defecation, creating awareness about sanitation practices.
- Whereas the second phase of this mission aims to move towards open defecation free status and improve the management of liquid and solid waste.