28 August English

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) –TIA

NITI Aayog has launched Indian Component of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)–Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA).
NDC–TIA aims to promote a comprehensive approach to decarbonize transport in India, Vietnam, and China.
NDC–TIA is a joint programme with a duration of 4 years, supported by the

International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Ministry for the Environment,
Nature Conservation
Nuclear Safety (BMU).

The India Component is implemented by six consortium organizations, all except SLoCaT.
The NDC–TIA India Component will focus on

Strengthening GHG and transport modelling capacities,
Providing technical support on GHG emission reduction measures,
Financing climate actions in transport,
Offering policy recommendations on electric vehicle (EV) demand and supply policies etc.

Export Preparedness Index (EPI) Report

Recently, the NITI Aayog in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness released the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) report 2020.
It aims to identify challenges and opportunities, enhance the effectiveness of government policies and encourage a facilitative regulatory framework for export.
The index ranked states on four key pillars, such as

Policy - A comprehensive trade policy providing a strategic direction for exports and imports.
Business Ecosystem - An efficient business ecosystem helping states attract investments and create an enabling infrastructure for individuals to initiate start-ups.
Export Ecosystem - Assess the business environment, which is specific to exports.
Export Performance - This is the only output-based parameter and examines the reach of export footprints of States and Union Territories.

The EPI is a data-driven effort to identify the core areas crucial for export promotion at the sub-national level (states and union territories).
The Index would be a helpful guide for the state governments to benchmark regional performance with respect to export promotion and thus deliver key policy insights on how to improve and enhance the exports.
Observations from recent EPI

Gujarat has topped the overall EPI 2020 followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Among the landlocked states, Rajasthan has topped the index, followed by Telangana and Haryana.
Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand topped the index, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh.
Across Union Territories, Delhi has performed the best.

Business Indexes and their publishing agencies are

AUDFso1

A team of Scientists from the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) has discovered one of the earliest galaxies called AUDFs01 using AstroSat.
The galaxy is located in the Hubble Extreme Deep field, 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth.
Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) is a portion of space that contains approximately 5,500 galaxies, the oldest of which are seen as they were 13.2 billion years ago
XDF is recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope for over 10 years.
The galaxy was discovered using UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) on Astrosat.
AstroSat detected Extreme Ultraviolet light from the galaxy.
Earlier, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which is significantly larger than UVIT, did not detect any UV emission from this galaxy because it is too faint.
AstroSat/UVIT was able to achieve this unique feat because the background noise in the UVIT detector is much less than the ones on HST.

AstroSat

AstroSat is a multi-wavelength astronomy mission on an IRS-class (Indian Remote Sensing-Class) satellite in a 650-km, near-equatorial orbit.
It was launched by the Indian launch vehicle PSLV from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota in 2015 by ISRO.
It is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical and UV spectral bands simultaneously with its five unique X-ray and ultraviolet telescopes working in tandem.
One of the unique features of AstroSat mission is that it enables the simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite.
The Ground Command and Control Centre for ASTROSAT is located at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bangalore, India.

Kiran Helpline

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has postponed the launch of “KIRAN” Helpline.
It is Toll-Free Mental Health Rehabilitation helpline 1800-599-0019, developed by Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry.
It aims at providing support for early screening, first-aid, psychological support, distress management, mental wellbeing, preventing deviant behavior and psychological crisis management.
The helpline will offer support in 13 languages for any individual, family, NGOs, DPOs, parent associations, professional associations, rehabilitation institutes, hospitals or anyone in need of support across the country.
The helpline will have a capacity of handling 300 clients per hour.
The helpline will be coordinated by the

National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD, Chennai)
National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation (NIMHR, Sehore).

Health Data Management Policy

National Health Authority (NHA) has released the Draft Health Data Management Policy of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).
NHA is the apex agency of the Government of India responsible for the implementation and management of Ayushman Bharat and the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) across the country.
The draft health data management policy acts as a guidance document to set out the minimum standard for health data privacy protection.
It aims to create a National Digital Health Ecosystem through provision of a wide-range of data, information and infrastructure services ensuring the privacy of health-related personal information.

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