DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS
1 – mActionSoft and Gramme Manchitra: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions
Context:
- Recently, “Gramme Manchitra,” a Geographic Information System (GIS) app, was released by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
- The Ministry also introduced “mActionSoft,” a smartphone app that allows users to geotag project components.
What are mActionSoft and Gramme Manchitra?
Manchitra Gramme:
- About: Gramme Manchitra’s main objective is to support Gramme Panchayats’ efforts in spatial planning by utilising geospatial technologies.
- By facilitating decision-making, the software promotes the Gramme Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP).
Qualities:
- Unified GeoSpatial Platform: Gramme Panchayat-level development projects and activities can be more easily visualised thanks to Gramme Manchitra’s one, unified platform.
- Sector-Wise Planning: It promotes an all-encompassing approach to rural development by giving Gramme Panchayats the ability to organise and carry out developmental projects across many sectors.
- Tools for the development plan include cost estimation, asset tracking, project impact evaluation, and selection of the project site.
- mActionSoft:
- About: A mobile-based solution called mActionSoft is essential for taking geotagged pictures with GPS coordinates for projects involving asset outputs.
- Three phases of asset geotagging occur: prior to the start of work, during the work, and after it is finished.
- This creates an extensive database of data on numerous projects pertaining to agriculture, sanitation, water harvesting, natural resource management, and other relevant fields.
Qualities:
- Geo-tagging: To ensure accountability and transparency, panchayats geotag assets made with funds from the finance commission using images.
- Enhancing the display of developmental works in Gramme Panchayats, the assets geotagged using mActionSoft interact easily with Gramme Manchitra.
- A geographic information system is a piece of technology used for the collection, administration, analysis, and presentation of spatial or geographical data.
- It links data to locations on the surface of the Earth, making it possible for users to view, interpret, and comprehend the data.
- To build interactive maps and models, geographic information systems (GIS) incorporate multiple layers of data, including maps, satellite imagery, and data tables.
- It is used to help with decision-making and problem-solving pertaining to spatial information in a variety of sectors, including urban planning, environmental analysis, natural resource management, emergency response, and more.
- The technique of adding a location marker to many types of material, including images, videos, webpages, and other documents, is known as geotagging.
- It entails adding metadata—typically GPS coordinates—to these files in order to give precise geographical details regarding the creation or capture location of the media.
- This makes it possible for users to identify the precise geographic position linked to the information, which makes it easier to organise, search for, and map data according to its location.
Source The Hindu
2 – LeadIT’s Second Phase: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions
Context:
- Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change announced the three pillars of the second phase of LeadIT (2.0) during the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) Summit 2023, which was hosted by India and Sweden at the Conference of Parties (COP 28) in the United Arab Emirates.
What does LeadIT stand for—the Leadership Group for Industry Transition?
About:
- An international programme called LeadIT seeks to hasten the shift of hard-to-reach industries including steel, cement, chemicals, aviation, and shipping to low-carbon routes.
- LeadIT brings together nations and businesses dedicated to implementing the Paris Agreement.
- It is backed by the World Economic Forum and was introduced by the governments of Sweden and India at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit.
- The Leadership Group’s workload is overseen by the LeadIT Secretariat.
Participants:
- With 38 members, LeadIT represents both nations and businesses. India is notably a proactive player.
- Members of LeadIT believe that energy-intensive industries can and should go forward on low-carbon paths in order to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
What Standout Features of LeadIT’s Second Phase Are There?
Mission:
- Encourage the development of laws and rules that support the transition of the industry to one that is inclusive through public-private partnerships. Organise resources, facilitate information exchange, and quicken the process of achieving net-zero industry emissions by 2050.
LeadIT Foundations:
- International Forum for a Fair and Just Industrial Transition:
- ensuring ongoing communication and interaction between the public and private sectors.
- This pillar is all about maintaining LeadIT’s involvement with global organisations (such UN Climate Action and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP presidencies), encouraging members to share information, and keeping a close eye on the speed of the transformation.
Transfer of Technology and Joint Development:
- Building national institutional capacity for innovation and promoting business-to-business technology transfer are the two main goals of this pillar.
- Partnerships for Industry Transition:
- In order to support emerging markets and developing countries in their pursuit of green industrial transitions, the LeadIT Secretariat assists members in forming partnerships for industry transformations.
- To increase efficacy, these relationships plan, coordinate, and reinforce international financial and technical assistance.
- Establishing favourable conditions for a pipeline of bankable low-carbon industrial projects is the ultimate objective.
Source The Hindu
3 – “Agni-1” short-range ballistic missile was successfully launched in training: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions
Context:
- Recently, the “Agni-1” short-range ballistic missile was successfully launched for training from APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha. Under the auspices of the Strategic Forces Command, the launch verified all operational and technical parameters with success.
What is the “Agni-1” ballistic missile?
About:
- As a member of the Agni missile series, India developed the Agni-1, a Short-Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM). It is the first missile in the Agni series and is intended to be a nuclear payload-carrying, strategic weapon.
- The Agni-1, which has a rapid reaction time, is mainly meant to be used as a deterrence against possible enemies.
- Under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, it is the first iteration of the Agni series of missiles (IGMDP).
Technical details:
- Its solid-fuel propulsion system shortens launch preparation times and improves operational flexibility.
Creation and Examination:
- India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) created the Agni-1. To confirm the missile’s dependability and performance, multiple successful test launches have been conducted.
- The Chandipur Interim Test Range hosted the first Agni-1 test in 1989. Agni-1 entered service with the Indian army in 2007.
Source The Hindu
4 – Project Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions
- Under the Mera Gaon, Meri Dharohar (MGMD) Programme, the Ministry for Culture has made the decision to map and document every hamlet.
About:
- The Ministry of Culture’s Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is collaborating with us on this national mission on cultural mapping.
- Additionally, an MGMD web site has been launched. The goal of the MGMD is to gather thorough data about the customs, history, and way of life of Indian villages and to make it accessible to both online and in-person visitors.
- Information is gathered under the MGMD under seven major categories, such as Ecologically Oriented Village and Arts and Crafts Village.
Source The Hindu
5 – SC Uses SUVAS to Provide Accessibility for Regional Languages: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions
Context:
- The Supreme Court (SC) has launched SUVAS, an AI-driven translation tool, to help with regional language usage in court proceedings, according to a recent statement made by the Indian Law Minister.
- The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology helped develop this specialised technology, which can currently translate English judicial documents into eleven Indian languages.
- In addition, the Chief Justice of India announced that, on the Supreme Court website, the historic Kesavananda Bharati verdict is available in ten Indian languages, commemorating the verdict’s 50th anniversary.
- By a vote of 7 to 6, the Constitutional Bench decided in the Kesavananda Bharati case that Parliament might change any provision of the Constitution as long as it did not change the fundamental framework or any of its essential elements.
Source The Hindu
