The Ministry of Power recently released revised guidelines for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.  The ministry has released these guidelines to increase the adoption of EVs and also to fasten the adoption.

About the Guidelines

• It allows the entities or individuals to create charging stations without the need for license. However, they should meet certain technical and safety standards.
• The guidelines allow users to charge their electric vehicles in their respective offices and homes.
• The guidelines have clauses for public charging stations and individual owners.
• The guidelines are technology agnostic (that believes that nothing is known).
• The guidelines provide Indian and international standards.
• The guidelines have introduced a revenue sharing model for using land. Government lands will be provided to entities interested in installing charging infrastructure. And Re 1 per unit of charging will be collected.
• Single part tariff will be collected from the battery charging stations. The tariff collected shall not exceed the average cost of supply till March 2025. And the tariff being collected for domestic consumption will be collected for domestic charging as well.
• The Bureau of energy Efficiency, BEE will create an online database of public charging stations. It will also create software, a web portal and mobile application to maintain the database of the stations.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently released commemorative postal stamp on COVID-19 vaccine. The stamp was launched to mark the first anniversary of the National COVID Vaccination Programme or the COVID vaccination drive.

Design of the stamp

The stamp has a health care worker vaccinating a senior citizen. The stamp also shows the image of COVAXIN vial. The stamp was launched to signify the works done by the community workers and frontline health care workers, especially during the COVID-19 times.

COVID Vaccination drive

The COVID vaccination drive was launched in January 2021. It is the largest vaccination drive in the world. It aimed to vaccinate 1.3 billion people. Unlike other countries, the drive did not force the vaccines on people. The drive first focused on the frontline health care workers. India had made records of vaccinating 25 million people in a day. Apart from inoculating its own people, India has also exported 66 million COVID-19 doses under Vaccine Maitri programme. India has been supportive while the developed countries shied away from taking responsibilities. According to United Nations, the G-7 countries have procured one billion vaccines. Of this, 10% expired by December 2021. Apart from this, India had also launched COVID Suraksha to accelerate the vaccine development process. It offers grants to the COVID vaccines researches. It is implemented by the BIRAC-Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council.

The Guru Ravidas Jayanti is celebrated on Magh Poornima, that is, on the new moon day of the Magh month. It is celebrated all over India.

About Ravidas

Ravidas was a social reformer and a spiritual man. He is popular mainly for his work against castism. Ravidas was a contemporary saint to Saint Kabir. It is believed that Ravidas was a Brahmin in his previous birth. He was attracted to a woman while he was dying and wished her to be his mother. Thus, in his next birth he was born the very same woman. He is a 15^th century poet.

Celebrations

During Ravidas Jayanti, people take dip in the holy rivers. They then remember the great miracles and events that happened in his life.

Ravidas Contributions

He contributed largely to the Bhakti movement. He played a significant role in eradicating caste system. His works were highly commendable. A group of people even today follow Ravidassa religion.

What happened in Punjab elections?

The Election Commission of India recently postponed the assembly elections in the state of Punjab due to Ravi Das Jayanti. The decision was made after the request made by few political parties. According to the new schedule, the elections are to be held in February 20. The last date for filing nominations is February 1. Date of scrutiny of nominations is February 2. Counting date is March 10.

Why the postponement?

This year, in 2022, the Ravidas Jayanti falls on Febriary 16. Between February 10 and February 16, his followers travel from Punjab to Varanasi. With this a large number of voters will leave the state and might probably miss the polls that were to be held on February 14.

On January 17, 2022, Ministry of textiles cleared 20 strategic research projects, worth Rs 30 crores, in the areas of specialty fibres and geotextiles.

Key Points

• These projects fall under government’s flagship programme ‘National Technical Textiles Mission.’
• Out of 20 Research projects, 16 projects of specialty fibres were cleared. It includes:

1. 5 projects in healthcare
2. 4 projects in industrial and protective
3. 3 projects in energy storage
4. 3 projects in textile waste recycling, and
5. 1 in agriculture

• 4 projects in geotextiles (infrastructure) were also cleared.
• Several leading Indian Institutes, Centres of Excellence and Government Organizations including IITs, BTRA, DRDO, etc participated in the session that cleared projects strategic for the development of Indian economy.
• These projects are step in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat, especially in Healthcare, Energy Storage, Agriculture, Industrial and Protective, Textile Waste Recycling, and Infrastructure.

National Technical Textiles Mission

The National Technical Textiles Mission was launched with the aim of positioning India as a global leader in technical textiles and increasing the use of technical textiles in domestic market. It aims to take domestic market size to 40billion–50 billion by 2024. The mission will be implemented for four years, starting from 2020-2021. A Mission Directorate has been made operational in Ministry of Textiles

A possible drone attack sparked an explosion and struct three oil tankers in Abu Dhabi while another fire at the Abu Dhabi International Airport killed three people and injured six, on January 17, 2022.

Highlights

• Two dead people were identified as Indian nationals while one was from Pakistan.
• Though, Abu Dhabi police did not offer any suspects, Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the.
• In past, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed several attacks but UAE officials later denied it.

Background

The incident took place in the backdrop of Yemen’s yearslong war and Emirati-flagged vessel found itself captured by the Houthis, recently.

What caused the explosion?

According to Abu Dhabi police, small flying objects were detected, possibly belonging to drones. They fell in two areas which may have caused the explosion and fire. The other blast, struck three petroleum transport tankers near a storage facility of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. in Musaffah area.

UAE-Yemen War

The UAE has been at war in Yemen since 2015. UAE was also a key member of a Saudi-led coalition which launched attacks against Iranian-backed Houthis and ousted internationally-backed government from power. Though UAE has reduced the number of troops it has on ground, but it continues to engage actively in war and support key militia against Houthis.

The Government of India had put Ultra Violet – C Disinfection Technology for testing in Parliament, AC buses and trains. The technology is a huge success. It is now to be rolled out for the public. Also, the technology is to be used during ECI (Election Commission of India) poll meetings.

Who developed the technology?

It was developed by the CSIR-Council of Scientific Instruments Organization under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

About UV – C Disinfection Technology

• Ultra Violet C technology uses wavelength between 100 nm and 280 nm. UV lights namely UV – A and UV – B are transmitted through the atmosphere. The UV – B is capable of penetrating the outer layer of skin. It causes skin cancer.
• The UV – C light is filtered by ozone layer. On the other hand, the other two
• The UV – C radiation has been used in hospitals for decades to disinfect the air. It is a conventional germicidal treatment.

UV – C in COVID-19

The UV – C destroys the outer protein coating of COVID – 19. Especially, the far – UVC light is highly efficient in killing COVID-19 viruses. Scientists proved that alpha and beta mutants are killed by far UVC. For this, they use 222 nm far UVC radiations. This 222 nm UVC was selected mainly because it does not harm mammalian skin, that is, human skin. Because, the cells of virus and bacteria are much smaller than human cells.

What can UVC radiation do?

It disinfects air, porous surface and water. It kills the virus only when the virus is exposed to UVC directly. Therefore, UVC cannot be used to disinfect dusty surfaces and other surfaces that has bodily fluids.

Can UVA and UVB kill COVID virus?

Yes, but partially. Not as effective as UVC. Also, UVB causes DNA damages unlike UVC. UVA is less effective than UVB and UVC.

Potential hazards of UVC

UVC disinfection technology cannot be used on surfaces made of plastic, dyed textile and polymers. UVC creates ozone. Ozone inhalation causes irritation in the airway.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) organised an online event called “Cycles4Change challenge and Streets for People Challenge-Season 2”.

Highlights

• During the event, ministry also launched a book titled “Nurturing Neighburhoods Challenge: Stories from the Field”.
• Event was chaired by Manoj Joshi, Secretary of MoHUA.
• Event was participated by global and Indian officials from partner organisations, representatives of winning cities, officials from Central and State Governments, as well as CEOs of 100 Smart Cities.

Winning cities

• During the event, MoHUA announced 11 winning cities for Streets for People Challenge, and 10 winning cities for Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge.
• These cities will now enter to scale up stage of the challenge. At this stage, projects undertaken will now be scaled up in a sustainable manner.

Inter-state challenge

The Smart Cities Mission has been organising inter-city challenges since 2020, for making public spaces more people-friendly. These challenges are organised in line with “2006 National Urban Transport Policy”. The policy of 2006 had called for a paradigm shift from car-centric roads to people-centric streets. In pat 18 months, these challenges namely Cycles4Change and Streets for People, have transformed into a nationwide movement beyond 100 Smart Cities.

Streets for people challenge

Under this challenge, 38 cites piloted re-imaginations of important streets by prioritizing them for pedestrians. Jury has selected 11 cities for the next phase of scale up. They will be awarded Rs. 50 lakhs each by MoHUA. 4 cities were given a special mention for their efforts during this challenge.

Who conducted the Streets for people challenge?

This challenge was conducted by MoHUA, with technical support from Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP India).

Second season of challenges

Ministry also launched the second season of Cycles4Change and Streets4People challenges. Any city which is not already in the top 11 winners, any smart city, city with more than 5 lakhs population, or, capital of state or UT, can apply for the challenge.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, virtually delivered his ‘State of the World’ special address at World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Davos Agenda on January 17, 2022.

Highlights of the address

• In his address, Prime Minister underlined the role played by India in handling Covid-19 led crisis and managing vaccination drive.
• He highlighted the need to reshape and restructure international organisations, like United Nations.
• With data, figure and facts on Covid-19 pandemic, he presented India a future technology as well as an economic powerhouse of the world.
• He also showcased India as an indispensable member of world community.

India’s record on Covid-19 vaccination

According to Prime Minister, India has set a record of administering 1.6 billion Covid vaccine shots. Country has also stood with other countries which were in need amid the pandemic. India follows the vision of ‘One Earth, One Health’. It has supplied Covid vaccines and life-saving drugs to about 150 nations.

Future tech and economic powerhouse

Prime Minister Modi presenting India as one the world’s future tech and economic powerhouse. He explained the economic and tech reforms taking place in India. According to this, those days are gone when India’s business space was badly disrupted by government control. Presently, government has removed around 25,000 such hurdles to start a business in country.

Way to deal with climate change

Prime Minister suggested a for the world to deal with challenges like climate change. He underlined the need for the world to start thinking about life-style, which is damaging our environment. According to him, Indian culture still banks on its age-old traditions of preserving environment.

The Mana Ooru Mana Badi programme was launched by the Telangana Government. The programme will create school infrastructure in the state. It is to be implemented at a cost of Rs 7,289 crores. More than 19.84 lakh children are to benefit from the programme.

About the programme

In the first phase, the programme is to be launched in 9,123 local body schools and government. The permissions to build infrastructure under the programme will be provided by the respective district collectors. The programme will be executed by the management committees formed at the respective schools.

Other recent cabinet decision

• The programme is one of the most important decisions taken during the recent cabinet meet.
• The cabinet decided to create a new law to regulate the fees structure of the schools in the states. This includes private schools as well.
• English medium will be introduced in government schools.
• A women university and forest university is to be established.
• Job recruitment reservations to students who completed degrees from Forest College of Research and Institute located in siddipet district. These students will get 25% reservation in the recruitment of Assistant Conservator of Forests, 50% in the post of Forest Range Officer. In order to implement this, the Telangana State Forest Subordinate Service rules and the Telangana State Forest Service rules 1997 were amended.

English medium

The Government of Telangana is launching English medium in government schools as the parents in the rural areas are ready to send their children only to English medium schools. The government will create infrastructure under the Mana Ooru Mana Badi scheme including all these expectations of the rural people.

The Open Data Week was launched by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The week is celebrated between January 17, 2022 and January 21, 2022.  It encourages promoting innovation in the urban ecosystem of the country.

About Open Data Week

During the celebration of the week, the ministry of housing and urban affairs will publish high quality blogs and data sets about smart cities. The data are to be published in an open data portal. The portal already has success stories of more than sixty cities. This is currently being tested and is available for access only to experts.

What is the plan?

The Open data Week will show the benefits of open data such as innovation, transparency and efficiency. The week is divided into segments. During the first segment, the ministry will upload APIs, dataset visualization and data blogs on the smart city open data portal. This is to be done between 17^th January and 20^th January. During the second phase, Data Day is to be celebrated.

Data day

The Data Day celebration is a part of the Open Data Week celebration. It is to be celebrated on 21^st January 2022. The Data Day celebrations will include seminars, talks, hackathons and trainings on different data tracks.

Significance

The main purpose to celebrate the week is to promote the significance of data in the current digital world. It will create a platform to create opportunities that promote data use. The event will spread the awareness of data. It will create new combinations of data leading to new insights and knowledge.

In 2020, resignation rates in United States increased amid the fear and uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic. One year later, the workforce experienced a collective burnout, as a result they left their jobs at unprecedented rates. This phenomenon of mass resignation is being described as Great Resignation.

Number of workers who left jobs

• According to US labour department, In November 2021, 4.5 million workers left their jobs.
• The data matched record numbers observed in September.
• It accounted for 3 per cent of the workforce quitting their jobs every month.
• As per estimate, 75.5 million people in USA resigned in 2021.
• As per ResumeBuilder.com poll, about 23 per cent of the workforce will require new jobs in 2022.

Low-wage workers

• Low-wage workers were more likely to resign the job as against the higher-paid workers. The most affected sectors include hospitality, healthcare, social assistance, transportation, warehousing, and utilities.
• 4 per cent of all positions in education are open, more than 6 per cent in retail, while 8 per cent in healthcare. Together, amounting to almost a million and a half vacant positions.

Hybrid terrorists are those people brought in by the terrorist groups only to carry out one or two missions. They basically assist the terrorist groups. For instance, shopkeepers allowing terrorists to store their arms, passing information, etc are hybrid terrorists. They are like temporary or contract labours. They are not a part of the terrorist group. However, are trained to execute a specific work.

Hybrid terrorists in India

Hybrid terrorists are increasing in Jammu and Kashmir. The terrorist groups are targeting political workers, civilians and people from minority communities to convert them into hybrid terrorist.  These hybrid terrorists are radicalised by the terrorist groups. They are then kept on standby mode. They are launched during the right time to carry out the terror incident. Also, the targets are selected very carefully. The selection is not random but planned. Mostly the weak and the needy are targeted. The hybrid terrorists are also trained to kill or paid to kill a target.

Challenges

The first and foremost challenge faced by the security forces is identification. It is highly difficult to trace the location or whereabouts of the hybrid terrorists. Also, it is difficult to stop them or arrest them or neutralise them through encounters. Cyber patrol and technical gadgets are the only two ways to identify hybrid terrorists.

Narco Terror and hybrid terrorists

The narco terror is the narcotics terrorism. That is, money earned from narcotics is used for unlawful activities. Narco terror uses this money to buy arms and ammunitions through drug trafficking. Also, the terrorists use the money earned from drug trafficking to pay the hybrid terrorists.