National Test House
Syllabus :GS 2/Governance
In News
- Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the National Test House (NTH) and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) to strengthen the Standards & Labelling (S&L) Program to promote energy efficiency in India.
National Test House
- It was established in 1912.
- It is under the aegis of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India.
- It is a leading scientific organization involved in testing and quality assurance for national projects, including Jal Jeevan Mission, Bullet Train, Metro projects, and others.
- It is also the only Government Agency providing Drone certification in India.
- It has state of the art testing laboratories at Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Ghaziabad, Guwahati, Jaipur and Varanasi.
| Do you know ? – The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) was established in 2002 . – It works to reduce the energy intensity of the Indian economy and promotes sustainable development through energy conservation policies and strategies |
Source: PIB
Centralized Pension Payment System (CPPS)
Syllabus :GS 2/Governance
In News
- The Union Labour Ministry has cleared a proposal for the Centralised Pension Payment System (CPPS) for about 78 lakh pensioners under the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995.
About Centralized Pension Payment System (CPPS)
- The CPPS will be launched on 1st January 2025 as part of the EPFO’s IT modernization project, Centralized IT Enabled System (CITES 2.01).
- In the next phase, the CPPS will facilitate a transition to an Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS).
- The CPPS aims to modernize the EPFO by establishing a national-level centralized pension disbursement system.
- It allows pension disbursement through any bank, at any branch, across India.
- Now Pensioners can receive their pensions from any location without needing to transfer Pension Payment Orders (PPO) when changing location or bank.
- Benefits: Expected to benefit over 78 lakh EPS pensioners.
- It will streamline the pension disbursement process, making it more efficient and user-friendly.
- Pensioners will not need to visit a branch for verification; pensions will be credited immediately upon release.
Source: TH
Center Suggests Measures to Enhance Security at Hospitals
Syllabus: GS2/ Governance
Context
- The Health Ministry has sought action taken reports from the states and union territories, on the suggested measures for safety of doctors and healthcare workers in medical institutions.
- This comes after directions by the Supreme Court following the Kolkata doctor rape and murder case.
Suggested measures
- Every district/territory should identify hospitals with high footfalls and consider them as high-priority establishments for security improvements.
- Hospitals should focus on high-risk areas and pay special attention to areas with a high incidence of security breaches, such as emergency rooms, triage areas, and intensive care units (ICUs) and labor rooms.
- The Central government has suggested timely security audits for improvement, CCTV surveillance, integration with local police, and employing ex-servicemen as security personnel in high risk hospital areas.
- Proper training and establishment of bereavement protocols for all doctors and healthcare workers to handle intense and emotional situations,”
- Healthcare establishments should have an internal security committee with active involvement of residents and students and have clear protocol for incident response.
- Deployment of patient facilitators, volunteers/social workers/coordinators, is also recommended.
Source: TH
Peace Pact with Tripura Insurgent Groups
Syllabus: GS3/Internal Security
Context
- A Memorandum of Settlement was signed between the Government of India, Government of Tripura and the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).
About
- Under the Agreement more than 328 armed cadres will give up violence and join the mainstream of society.
- Centre has approved a special package of ₹250 crore for the overall development of the tribal population of Tripura.
- The peace pact is the 12th agreement for the Northeast and the third agreement related to Tripura in the past ten years.
- Through these agreements, about 10,000 insurgents have joined the mainstream by giving up arms.
NLFT and ATTF
- NLFT is a banned organisation that has been active since 1989.
- It was formed under the leadership of Biswamohan Debbarma with the objective to liberate Tripura from the Union of India, to deport all foreigners who entered Tripura after 1956.
- The ATTF was formed in 1990 with similar objectives and demanded removal of names of illegal migrants from the electoral roll who entered Tripura after 1956 and the implementation of the ‘Tripura Merger Agreement’ which came into force in 1949.
Source: TH
Smart Cities Mission
Syllabus: GS3/ Infrastructure
Context
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has said that 90% of the total projects under the Smart Cities Mission have been completed.
Status of the mission
- The remaining 10% of the projects which are at the implementation stage have been delayed due to legal issues, delays in obtaining clearances from different departments, land acquisition challenges, construction in hilly areas, and challenges in vendor and resource availability in small and medium cities.
- Out of the total 100 smart cities, 17 cities have completed 100% of their projects.
- While 75% of projects have been completed in 75 smart cities, 34 cities have completed more than 90% of the projects.
Smart Cities Mission
- It is an initiative of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, launched in 2015. The Mission is operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
- Objective: To promote cities that provide core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and give a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’.
- 100 cities have been selected to be developed as Smart Cities through a two-stage competition for five years.
- The six fundamental principles on which the concept of Smart Cities is based are:
Key Features
- The SCM had two main aspects: area-based development consisting of three components — redevelopment (city renewal), retrofitting (city improvement), and green field projects (city extension); and pan-city solutions based on ICT.
- These further comprised some six categories that would include e-governance, waste management, water management, energy management, urban mobility, and skill development.
- Four pillars: Social Infrastructure, Physical Infrastructure, Institutional Infrastructure, Economic Infrastructure.
- Integrated Command and Control Centre: These ICCCs are designed to enable authorities to monitor the status of various amenities in real time.
- The ICCC acts as a smart city and acts as a “nerve center” for operations management.
- Other steps taken under the SCM for digital infrastructure are;
- Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS), Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD), and Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (ANPR),
- Digital assets for solid waste and waste-water management and water distribution management,
- CCTV surveillance systems, smart education and smart health systems.
Source: TH
MNRE Exemption for Green Hydrogen Projects
Syllabus: GS3/Environment
Context
- The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has exempted export-oriented green hydrogen projects from its solar module shortlist of domestic manufacturers.
About
- The exemption for green hydrogen projects set up in special economic zones (SEZs) or export oriented units (EOUs) by 2030 from MNRE’s Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) was granted this year.
- The ALMM mandate requires solar project developers to purchase modules from an approved list, serving as a non-tariff measure to promote domestic manufacturing.
- Significance: These exemptions are intended to facilitate the swift deployment of renewable energy infrastructure, which is essential for the production of green hydrogen and its derivatives within SEZ/EOU.
- With the ability to use imported modules, which are cheaper than domestic modules , such projects can substantially reduce production costs.
What is Green Hydrogen?
- Green hydrogen refers to hydrogen that is produced using renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, or hydropower, through a process called electrolysis.
- Electrolysis involves splitting water (H2O) into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) using an electric current.
- When this electricity comes from renewable sources, the hydrogen produced is considered “green” because the overall process has a minimal environmental impact.
- Benefit: It is a clean burning element that can decarbonise a range of sectors including iron and steel, chemicals, and transportation.
- Hydrogen can be stored for long periods of time which can be used to produce electricity using fuel cells.
Source: IE
OpenAI’s Project Strawberry
Syllabus :GS 3/Science & Technology
Context
- OpenAI is reportedly planning to release its most powerful AI model (codenamed Project Strawberry), and could integrate it into ChatGPT-5.
About
- Earlier known as Project Q* (Q-star), it has been billed as OpenAI’s push to create Artificial General Intelligence with capabilities similar to that of the human brain.
- It will be able to solve math problems even if it has never been trained on them, perform high-level tasks like designing market strategies and solving complex word puzzles and do “deep research.”
- It will also help the AI firm develop their next large language model (LLM) called Orion.
Source: IE