18 JUNE CURRENT AFFAIRS

1.ADI PRASHIKSHAN PORTAL

Minister of Tribal Affairs launched ADI PRASHIKSHAN portal.

About:

• ADI PRASHIKSHAN portal is developed by the Ministry of tribal affairs.
• It would act as a Central Repository of all training programs conducted by Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs), different divisions of Ministry, National Society for Education of Tribal Students (NESTS), Centre of Excellences funded by Ministry of Tribal Affairs and National Tribal Research Institute.
• It will catalyze and improve the processes of conducting training by making it online and accessible to all. Unified open platform will give users access to authentic knowledge products.

Source : All India Radio

2.CROSS-DISABILITY EARLY INTERVENTION CENTRES

Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment inaugurated 14 Cross-Disability Early Intervention Centres located at 7 National Institutes and 7 Composite Regional Centres.

About:

• These have been established under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• These have been setup at 7 National Institutes at Delhi, Mumbai, Dehradun, Secunderabad, Kolkatta, Cuttack and Chennai and 7 Composite Regional Centres at Sundernagar, Lucknow, Bhopal, Rajnandgaon, Patna, Nellore and Kozhikode in the first phase.
• These 14 Centres will provide contiguous facilities for therapeutic, rehabilitative care services and pre-school training for children with disabilities (0-6 years) covering all types of disabilities covered under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
• These services will be provided under a single roof with accessible and aesthetically designed environments. 

Source : PIB

3.ORDNANCE FACTORY BOARD (OFB)

The Union Cabinet has approved the corporatisation of the British-era Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) located in Kolkata, which has 41 factories, into seven new fully government-owned corporate entities on the lines of Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU).

About:

• The corporatisation process by the cabinet would be supervised by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGM) chaired by Rajnath Singh and this EGM would address any issue that may arise during the course of the implementation.
• The corporatisation of the ordnance factories is aimed at bringing autonomy, improving accountability and bringing efficiency into the functioning of the two-and-a-half-century-old institutions.
• On 18th March 1801, the first Ordnance Factory, now known as the ‘Gun and Shell Factory’ at Cossipore was established under the aegis of its corporate headquarters Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) in Kolkata.
• Under the ‘Make-In-India’ initiative, Ordnance Factories have made considerable progress with the development of the 155 mm 45 calibre ‘Dhanush’ and the upgrading of existing 130 mm M-46 artillery guns to 155 mm 45 calibre ‘Sharang’ gun systems. 

Source : All India Radio

4.SEA PLANE SERVICES

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways signed a MoU with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to develop seaplane services in India.

MoU between the ministries

• The MoU envisage the development of non scheduled/scheduled operation of seaplane services within the territorial jurisdiction of India under the RCS-UDAN scheme of the Government of India.
• The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) also known as UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) aims to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying more affordable.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation will also provide financial support in respect of water aerodromes awarded under RCS-UDAN scheme and coordinate with chief secretaries of all States for the seaplane operations.

Important Info :

What is Seaplane?

• Seaplanes are fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water, offering connectivity to areas that do not have landing runways.
• Flying boats and floatplanes are two main types of seaplanes.
• These smaller fixed-wing aircraft can land on water bodies like lakes, backwaters, and dams, gravel, and grass.
• Indian scenario: However, this is not the first time when seaplane services have been given a push in the country. The seaplane service in Kevadia and Sabarmati Riverfront has been operational since October 31, 2020.

Source : LiveMint

5.BRICS NETWORK UNIVERSITY

A three day virtual Conference of BRICS Network Universities on the theme of electric mobility was inaugurated at IIT Bombay.

About:

• This conference is part of the engagements that India is hosting under the education stream during its Chairship of the 13th BRICS Summit this year.
• BRICS Network University is a union of higher education institutions of the five BRICS member countries, formed with the objective of enhancing educational cooperation in general, and especially in the realm of research and innovation .
• IIT Bombay is the lead institution of India for the BRICS Network University. 

Source : PIB

6.NATIONAL MARITIME HERITAGE COMPLEX (NMHC)

The Ministry of Culture (MoC) and Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) signed a MoU for Cooperation in Development of National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) at Lothal, Gujarat’.

About:

• Timeline: The foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2019.
• Location: National Maritime Heritage Complex, a world-class facility is to be developed in the vicinity of the ASI site of Lothal, located about 80 kms away from Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
• Objective: It will showcase and preserve India’s rich and diverse maritime heritage. It will display objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. It also intends to highlight the ancient shipbuilding and navigational technologies developed by India.

Implementing agencies:

• The project is being implemented by the Ministry of Shipping through its Sagarmala programme, with the involvement of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the State government and other stakeholders.
• India and Portugal will cooperate in the setting up of a national maritime heritage museum at Lothal in Gujarat. The Portuguese Navy has agreed to assist with their experience of administering the maritime museum in Lisbon.

Important Info :

India’s maritime heritage?

• Lothal, an Indus valley site, is one of the oldest man-made dockyards in India.
• Rigveda and Puranic Texts have several references to naval and commercial expeditions.

Source : PIB

7.INTERNATIONAL VACCINE INSTITUTE

Bangladesh will set up an international institute for vaccine production including for COVID 19.

About:

• Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the government will sign an agreement with South Korea to set up the vaccine institute in Bangladesh.
• Prime Minister Hasina told parliament that a vaccine developed by one of the Bangladeshi companies Globe Biotech Ltd is now in the trial stage. 

Source : All India Radio

8.DEEP OCEAN MISSION

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by PM Modi, has approved the proposal of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) on "Deep Ocean Mission".

About:

• Objective: To explore deep ocean for resources and develop deep sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources.
• The estimated cost of the Mission will be Rs. 4077 crore for a period of 5 years to be implemented in a phase-wise manner. The estimated cost for the first phase for the 3 years (2021-2024) would be Rs.2823.4 crore.
• Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal Ministry implementing this multi-institutional ambitious mission. 

Important Info :

• The Deep Ocean Mission consists of the following six major components:
• Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining, and Manned Submersible
• Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services
• Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity
• Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration
• Energy and freshwater from the Ocean
• Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology.

Source : Indian Express

9.CUSTOMIZED CRASH COURSE PROGRAMME FOR COVID 19 FRONTLINE WORKERS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch ‘Customized Crash Course programme for Covid 19 Frontline workers’ on 18th June 2021.

About:

• The launch will commence the programme in 111 training centres spread over 26 states.
• The programme will create skilled non-medical healthcare workers to fill the present and future needs of manpower in the health sector.
• The programme aims to skill and upskill over one lakh Covid warriors across the country.
• The training will be imparted to Covid warriors in six customised job roles namely
• Home Care Support,
• Basic Care Support,
• Advanced Care Support,
• Emergency Care Support,
• Sample Collection Support, and
• Medical Equipment Support.
• The programme has been designed as a special programme under the Central Component of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0, with total financial outlay of Rs. 276 crore. 

Source : Times of India

10.VIVATECH

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address at the 5th edition of VivaTech on 16th June 2021. The 5th edition of VivaTech is scheduled between 16-19 June 2021.

About:

• He invited the world to invest in India based on the five pillars of: Talent, Market, Capital, Eco-system and, Culture of openness.
• The Prime Minister also stressed the strengths like, Indian talent pool, mobile phone penetration and Seven Seventy-Five million internet users, highest and cheap data consumption in the world and the highest use of social media to invite investors to India.

Important Info :

VivaTech

• VivaTech is one of the largest digital and startup events in Europe, held in Paris every year since 2016.
• It is jointly organized by Publicis Groupe – a prominent advertising and marketing conglomerate and Les Echos – a leading French media group.
• It brings together stakeholders in technology innovation and the startup ecosystem and includes exhibitions, awards, panel discussions and startup contests.

Source : PIB