Daily Current Affairs: 29-08-2020

1. Atal Tunnel at Tunnel at Rohtang

Recently, the Atal Tunnel at Tunnel at Rohtang, near Manali, is almost complete in all respects and ready for inauguration in September 2020.

About Rohtang Tunnel

• It is a 9-km-long tunnel under the Pir Panjal range.

• It is named after former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

• It will be the world’s longest highway tunnel above the altitude of 10,000 feet (3000 metres).

• A joint venture of Shapoorji Pallonji Group-run Afcons and Strabag of Austria won the Engineering Procurement & Construction (EPC) tender from Border Road Organisation in 2009.

Evolution of Rohtang Tunnel Project

• The feasibility study of the project Rohtang Tunnel was carried out in May 1990 following which the geological report was submitted in June 2004.

• The geological report was followed by a design and specification report which was prepared and finalised in December 2006.

• The foundation stone was laid in July 2010 by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Challenges faced in the construction of Rohtang Tunnel

• The construction teams faced fast flowing water from Seri Nullah, which flowed on top of the tunnel route and impeded construction efforts.

  • The sheer volume of water prevented construction for several months while project engineers grappled with a way to tackle the problem.

• The south portal of the tunnel had schist, migmatites and phyllite rocks while the north portal had incoherently folded gneiss and biotite schist which were brittle and ductile in nature.

• The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the completion of Rohtang Tunnel by 4 months.

Strategic Importance of Rohtang Tunnel

• The tunnel will reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km as it is cutting through the Pir Panjal Range.

• The tunnel will be a boon to the residents of the Lahaul and Spiti Valley who remain cut off from the rest of the country in winters for nearly six months due to heavy snowfall.

• The tunnel will provide almost all-weather connectivity to the troops stationed in Ladakh.

• It is required to build additional tunnels Baralacha pass, Lachung La pass and Tanglang La pass.

Salient features of Rohtang Tunnel

• The unique features of this tunnel begin a fair distance away from it on the approach roads to the north and south portals.

  • The bridges on rivers on the approach to the tunnel from both the portals have also been completed and are now being painted.

  • The snow galleries have also been built at the approach road to the tunnel from Manali side which will ensure all-weather connectivity.

• The other features include an emergency escape tunnel under the main tunnel which would provide an emergency exit in case of any untoward incident which may render the main tunnel unusable.

• The tunnel also provides a telephone every 150 metres, fire hydrant every 60 metres, emergency exit every 500 metres, turning cavern every 2.2 km, air quality monitoring every one km, broadcasting system and automatic incident detection system with CCTV cameras every 250 metres.

• It is also the first tunnel to deploy the Rowa flyer technology, which allows engineers to work at inverted levels.

Source: Indian Express

2. World Urdu Conference.

Recently, the Union Minister of Education addressed the inaugural session of World Urdu Conference.

Key Highlights

• It is being organised by the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL).

• The Conference is held to honour the Urdu writers and literators with awards and honours in the name of important personalities of Urdu like Amir Khusrow, Mirza Ghalib, Agha Hashar, Ram Babu Saxena and Daya Shankar Naseem.

• The objective of the conference is to encourage Urdu writers for literary and creative services by the Urdu Council.

• NCPUL is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education.

  • It was set up in 1996 in order to promote, develop and propagate Urdu language.

  • It is the principal coordinating and monitoring authority for promotion of Urdu language and Urdu education.

National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language

1. NCPUL has become the biggest Urdu networking hub in the world.

2. The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language started functioning as an autonomous body in 1996. It comes under the Ministry of Education.

3. It is the National Nodal Agency for Promotion of Urdu.

4. NCPUL has also been assigned the responsibility of promotion of Arabic and Persian.

Major Objectives:

• To take action for making available in Urdu language, the knowledge of scientific and technological development as well as knowledge of ideas evolved in the modern context.
• To advise the Government on issues connected with Urdu language as may be referred to it.

Source: PIB

3. India-Vietnam Joint Commission

Recently, the 17th meeting of the India-Vietnam Joint Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation was held via video-conference.

Key Highlights of India-Vietnam Joint Commission

• The Joint Commission explored closer cooperation in emerging areas such as civil nuclear energy, space, marine sciences and new technologies and decided to expand their Indo-Pacific partnership.

• India and Vietnam agreed to enhance their bilateral cooperation in line with India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) and the ASEAN’s Outlook on Indo-Pacific.

• India invited Vietnam to collaborate on one of the seven pillars of the IPOI.

• The two sides agreed to add new momentum to the economic and defence engagement between the two countries.

• The meeting reaffirmed India’s development and capacity building assistance to Vietnam through initiatives such as Quick Impact Projects (QIP), ITEC and e-ITEC initiatives, PhD fellowships and Water Resource Management Projects.

  • 12 QIPs for implementation in Vietnam have been approved by the Government of India, including 7 QIPs in water resource management in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta Region and 5 QIPs related to construction of educational infrastructure in Vietnam.

• An agreement for cooperation between Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service (SSIFS) and Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam was sealed on the margins of the Joint Commission Meeting.

• A separate MoU was finalised between National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi and Scientific Research Institute of Sea and Islands, Hanoi.

• India and Vietnam have agreed to coordinate closely at multilateral forums, including at the UN Security Council, where both India and Vietnam will serve concurrently as non-permanent members in 2021.

  • They also agreed to step up cooperation and coordination at important regional forums under the ASEAN framework.

Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI)

• It was enunciated at the East Asia Summit in Bangkok in 2019.
• The idea of IPOI was conceived by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
• It sets out “seven pillars” that are at the heart of the ‘Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative’ and are also in line with Sustainable Goal 14:
• • Enhance maritime security
  • Promote free, fair & mutually beneficial trade / maritime transport
  • Reduce disaster risk
  • Preserve marine resources
  • Build safeguards against plastic litter
  • Enhance science, technology & academic cooperation
  • Build capacity

Source: All India Radio

4. BRICS innovation Base

Recently, the Industry Ministers of BRICS countries attended a video meeting and China is actively considering establishing a BRICS innovation base to strengthen practical cooperation with the five-member bloc.

Key Highlights

• BRICS innovation base will focus more on digital transformation, especially in 5G, Artificial Intelligence and the digital economy in the post-COVID-19 era.

• The meeting adopted a joint statement on cooperation in new industries among BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries.

• China urged the BRICS countries to strengthen their cooperation on digital transformation, especially in 5G, AI, the digital economy and others to promote the digital transformation of enterprises and their innovation capabilities, and to promote sustainable economic and social development.

Source: All India Radio

5. Draft Health Data Management Policy.

Recently, the National Health Authority has released the Draft Health Data Management Policy.

Background

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is responsible for conceiving the idea of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).

• The NDHM was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his August 15 Independence Speech.

• The mission stems from the National Health Policy, 2017 which intends to digitise the entire healthcare ecosystem of India.

• The National Digital Health Blueprint, 2019 recommends that a federated architecture be adopted, instead of a centralised architecture for the management of health data to ensure interoperability, technological flexibility and independence across the National Digital Health Ecosystem.

Features of the Draft Health Data Management Policy

The key objectives of this Policy are:

• to provide adequate guidance and to set out a framework for the secure processing of personal and sensitive personal data of individuals who are a part of the NDHE in compliance with all applicable laws;

• to safeguard digital personal health data, including the Personal Health Identifier, the electronic health records and electronic medical records, by implementing adequate technical and organisational measures across the NDHE ecosystem;

• to create a system of digital personal and medical health records which is easily accessible to individuals and health service providers and is purely voluntary in nature, based on the consent of individuals;

• to increase awareness of the importance of data privacy and instil a privacy-oriented mindset among the members of NDHM and its ecosystem partners;

• to ensure national portability in the provision of health services;

• to establish appropriate institutional mechanisms for auditing of the NDHE as needed and to encourage stakeholders and ecosystem partners to adopt the data protection principles set out in this Policy; and

• to leverage the information systems existing in the Indian health sector by encouraging conformity with the defined data privacy standards and integrating such existing systems with NDHE.

Significance of Draft Health Data Management Policy

• It is the maiden step in realising the NDHM’s guiding principle of ‘Security and Privacy by Design’ for the protection of individuals’ data privacy.

• It encompasses various aspects pertaining to health data such as data privacy, consent management, data sharing and protection etc.

• The main objectives of the draft policy are to provide adequate guidance and a framework for the secure processing of personal and sensitive personal data of individuals.

• It will be in compliance with all applicable laws and international standards that define the set of frameworks of consent for the collection and processing of health data by healthcare practitioners.

National Health Authority (NHA)

• It is the central agency responsible for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
• It has been mandated to design and roll out National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) in the country.

Source: The Hindu

6. Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020

 Recently, the NITI Aayog has released the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020.

Key Highlights of the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020

• It depicted that most Indian states performed well on average across the sub-pillars of Exports Diversification, Transport Connectivity, and Infrastructure.

• The top three performing states are coastal states i.e. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

• In the category of landlocked states, Rajasthan has performed the best, followed by Telangana and Haryana.

• Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand is the highest, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh.

• In the category of the Union Territories, Delhi has performed the best, followed by Goa and Chandigarh.

• Under the Policy pillar, Maharashtra is the best performing state followed by Gujarat and Jharkhand.

• Under the Business Ecosystem pillar, Gujarat is the best performing state followed by Delhi and Tamil Nadu.

• Under the Export Ecosystem pillar, Maharashtra is the best performing state followed by Odisha and Rajasthan.

• Under the Export Performance pillar, Mizoram is the best performing state followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra.

• The findings of the report depicted that India faces three fundamental challenges:

  • intra- and inter-regional disparities in export infrastructure;

  • poor trade support and growth orientation among states; and

  • poor R&D infrastructure to promote complex and unique exports.

Suggestions under the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020

• There is a need to emphasize on key strategies to address the challenges such as a joint development of export infrastructure, strengthening industry-academia linkages and creating state-level engagements for economic diplomacy.

• The strategies could be supported by revamped designs and standards for local products and by harnessing the innovating tendencies to provide new use cases for such products.

• There is a need to increase exports from all the states and union territories in order to achieve the target of making India a developed economy by focusing on ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

About Export Preparedness Index (EPI)

• It is released by NITI Aayog in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness.

• It is the first report to examine export preparedness and performance of Indian states.

It intends to identify challenges and opportunities; enhance the effectiveness of government policies; and encourage a facilitative regulatory framework.

The structure of the EPI includes 4 pillars i.e.

• Policy: A comprehensive trade policy provides a strategic direction for exports and imports.

• Business Ecosystem: An efficient business ecosystem can help states attract investments and create an enabling infrastructure for individuals to initiate start-ups.

• Export Ecosystem: This pillar aims to assess the business environment, which is specific to exports.

• Export Performance: This is the only output-based pillar and examines the reach of export footprints of States and Union Territories.

It is a data-driven effort to identify the core areas crucial for export promotion at the sub-national level.

• All the states and union territories have been assessed on crucial parameters that are critical for any typical economic unit to achieve sustainable export growth.

Source: PIB

7. Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

Recently, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has invited nominations for the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar-2021 from children, individuals and institutions.

About Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

• It is instituted to felicitate meritorious children, individuals and institutions of the country.

• These awards are given under two categories i.e. Bal Shakti Puraskar and Bal Kalyan Puraskar.

• The Bal Shakti Puraskar aims to give recognition to children who have achieved extraordinarily in various fields including innovation, scholastic, sports, art & culture, social service and bravery.

  • The eligibility for Bal Shakti Puraskar is a Child who is an Indian Citizen and residing in India and is above the age of (+5) years and not exceeding 18 years.

• The Bal Kalyan Puraskar is given as recognition to Individuals and Institutions, who have made an outstanding contribution towards service for children in the field of child development, child protection and child welfare.

  • The eligibility for Bal Kalyan Puraskar is an individual who is an Indian Citizen and residing in India and should have attained the age of 18 years or above.

• The Awards are given by the Hon'ble President of India.

Source: PIB

8. Amnesty International (AI)

Amnesty International (AI) India has demanded an independent investigation into all allegations of human rights violations by the police during the north-east Delhi riots.

On 23rd February 2020, riots broke out in Northeast Delhi between Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 and pro-CAA protestors. The violence took a communal turn and led to deaths, injuries and destruction of properties.

Earlier, AI put forward its views on issues in J&K and the role of Foreigners Tribunals in Assam.

Key Points

• Amnesty International (AI) is an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) founded in London (UK) in 1961.
• It seeks to publicise violations by governments and other entities of rights recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), especially freedom of speech and of conscience and the right against torture.
• In 1977, it was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

• AI India is a part of the global human rights movement spearheaded by Amnesty International. It has its registered office in Bangalore (Karnataka).

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