Facts in News

Facts In News

Appointment to NHRC

The President of India appointed Justice Arun Kumar Mishra as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)

About

• It is a statutory body, constituted under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, to protect and promote human rights related to life, liberty, equality and dignity of individuals.

Composition

• The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is composed of a Chairperson and eight other members.
• The chairperson is retired chief justice of India or a judge of the Supreme Court.
• Those eight members are:
  • Four full-time members.
  • Four deemed members.

Appointment

• A Selection Committee will recommend the candidates to the President.
• The Selection Committee includes:
  • Prime Minister (Chairman)
  • Speaker of Lok Sabha
  • Union Home Minister
  • Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha
  • Leaders of the Opposition in both Houses of the Parliament.

Term and removal

• They hold office for a term of three years or until they attain the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier.
• The President can remove them from the office under specific circumstances.

Power 

• The Commission shall have all the powers of a civil court namely:
  • Summoning and enforcing the attendance of witnesses and examining them on oath;
  • Discovery and production of any document;
  • Receiving evidence on affidavits;
  • Requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office

One Nation One Standard Mission

In News

The Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) became the first Institution to be declared Standard Developing Organisation (SDO) under the “One Nation One Standard” mission.

About

• To attain the One Nation One Standard goal,  BIS has launched a scheme that provides for the Recognition of SDO.
• Recognition of RDSO as SDO will help in the implementation of National Standards and creating a Brand India identity. 
  • RDSO is the sole R&D Wing of the Ministry of Railways, and one of India’s leading Standard formulating bodies.

One Nation One Standard Mission

• It is a scheme that provides for “Recognition of SDO”.
• It is an initiative of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
• The idea was first conceived in 2019 on the line of ‘one nation one ration card’.

Major Benefits

• No need to go abroad to get the quality certification.
• Lab testing in India should be of world standards.

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

• It is the only national body that frames standards.
• The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act 2016 establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India.
• It came into existence, through an Act of Parliament in 1987.
• It works under the aegis of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India.
• It is established for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization and marking and quality certification of goods.
• Initiatives:
  • BIS-Care App: Provides a platform to consumers for grievance redressal and feedback through the portal. 
  • Quality Control Orders (QCO): It is formulating the standards of manufactured products.

Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

The Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs called upon Government e-Marketplace (GeM), to expand its scope and include more participants in the GeM portal for public procurement.

Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

About

• It was launched in 2016 and operates under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Developed by

• It has been developed by the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposal (DGS&D) with technical support of the National E-Governance Division (NEGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. 

Objective

•  To ensure that public procurement of goods and services in India (done by government bodies) worth more than Rs. 5 lakh crore annually is carried out through the online platform.
• The procurement of goods and services by ministries and the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) is mandatory for goods and services available on GeM.
• The portal provides a wide range of products from office stationery to vehicles. Automobiles, computers and office furniture are currently the top product categories. 

Facilities provided by GeM

• Listing of products for individual, prescribed categories of Goods/ Services of common use.
• Estimation, comparison and buying facility on dynamic pricing basis.
• Buying Goods and Services online, as and when required.

Nano Liquid Urea

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) said that it has introduced the world’s first Nano Urea Liquid for farmers across the world.

Key Points

• Nano Urea Liquid is developed to replace the conventional urea, it will restrict its requirement to almost half.
• The Nano Urea Liquid has been found effective and efficient for plant nutrition which increases the production with improved nutritional quality. 
• It will also have a huge positive impact on the quality of underground water, a very significant reduction in global warming with an impact on climate change and sustainable development.

Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) Initiative 

• The initiative was launched in October 2018 by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in association with Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) viz. Indian Oil Corporation LtdBharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
• It is aimed at setting up of Compressed Biogas production plants and making them available in the market for use in automotive fuels by inviting Expression of Interest from potential entrepreneurs.
• It will establish an ecosystem for the production of Compressed BioGas from various waste and biomass sources in the country leading to multiple benefits viz.
  • Reduction of natural gas import
  • Reduction of GHG emission
  • Reduction in burning of agriculture residues
  • Remunerative income to farmers
  • Employment generation
  • Effective waste management etc. 

• The initiative is in line with the goals of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, Swachh Bharat Mission and boosting the MSME sector.

Vajra Kavach

• It is a disinfection system developed by Mumbai-based startup Indra Water.
• The validation and testing of the system was done by the Department of Biosciences & Bioengineering at IIT Bombay.
  • It was tested with Escherichia virus MS2 (a single-stranded RNA virus and a well-known surrogate of human respiratory viruses such as influenza virus and coronavirus) and E.coli strain C3000. 
• The system employs a multistage disinfection process consisting of advanced oxidation, corona discharge and UV-C light spectrum to inactivate the viruses, bacteria, and other microbial strains present on the PPE, achieving more than 99.999% efficiency.
• It removes any possible traces of the disease-causing SARS-Cov-2 virus from Personal Protective Equipment, N95 masks, coats, gloves and gowns.
• It thus enables reuse of PPEs and other materials used by healthcare workers. 
• It protects health workers and the environment, by helping reduce biomedical waste generation. 
• “Vajra Kavach’s UV disinfection of PPE is elegant, user friendly and convenient. 

Indra Water

• Indra Water was set up with the Department of Science & Technology’s NIDHI-PRAYAS grant (through Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, IIT Bombay) for coming up with innovations in the water sector. 
• Indra Water is one among the 51 startups which were funded and supported under Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH), an initiative by National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.