PIB Analysis 17th July 2020

Indian Council of Agricultural Research

Context

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) celebrated its 92nd foundation day.

About The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

HQ - New Delhi
It is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
It was established on 16 July 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
The Council is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country.
With 102 ICAR institutes and 71 agricultural universities spread across the country this is one of the largest national agricultural systems in the world.

Role

The ICAR has played a pioneering role in ushering the Green Revolution and subsequent developments in agriculture in India through its research and technology development, thus making a visible impact on the national food and nutritional security.
It has also played a major role in promoting excellence in higher education in agriculture.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has been recognizing and rewarding the institutions, scientists, teachers, farmers and agricultural journalists every year.

This year, nearly 160 awardees under 20 different categories have been selected.

Source:

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1639132

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PRASHAD Scheme

Context

Union Minister of State for Tourism inaugurated the project “Development of Pilgrimage Amenities at Somnath, Gujarat” under the PRASHAD Scheme.

Highlights

The project was sanctioned under the PRASAD scheme in March 2017.
High quality world class facilities for Parking, Tourism Amenities Centre and Solid Waste Management have been developed under the project.

The ‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive’ (PRASHAD)

It was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in the year 2014-15.
Objectives -

Integrated development of identified pilgrimage and heritage destinations.
Harnessing pilgrimage tourism for its direct and multiplier effect upon employment generation and economic development.
Enhancing tourist attractiveness in a sustainable manner by developing world class infrastructure in the religious destinations.
Promoting local arts, culture, handicrafts, cuisine, etc., to generate livelihood in the identified places .

The scheme aimed at infrastructure development such as entry points (Road, Rail and Water Transport), last mile connectivity, basic tourism facilities etc.
After discontinuation of HRIDAY scheme and for inclusion of projects for development of Heritage destinations in PRASAD Scheme, the scheme guidelines have been modified and the nomenclature of the scheme has also been changed from PRASAD to “National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)” in October 2017.

Source:

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1639135

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1538589

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NISHTHA Programme

Context

The first on-line NISHTHA programme for 1200 Key Resources Persons of Andhra Pradesh was launched by the Union HRD Minister.

NISHTHA ( National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement )

NISHTHA is a capacity building programme for "Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training"
It was launched under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha in 2109-20.
Aims at improving learning outcomes at the elementary level through an Integrated Teacher Training Programme.
It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage.
NISHTHA is the world's largest teachers' training programme of its kind.
The basic objective of this massive training programme is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.
The initiative is first of its kind wherein standardized training modules are developed at national level for all States and UTs.

Details

NISHTHA in face-to-face mode was launched on 21st August, 2019.
Around 23,000 Key Resource Persons and 17.5 lakh teachers and school heads have been covered under this NISHTHA face to face mode till date.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic situation, sudden lockdown has affected the conduct of this programme in face-to-face mode.
Therefore, for providing training to the remaining 24 lakh teachers and school heads, NISHTHA has been customized for online mode to be conducted through DIKSHA and NISHTHA portals by the NCERT.
NISHTHA- online includes multiple approaches for interaction.
While there are text modules along with videos, there will also be live sessions by the National level Resource persons on DTH Swayam Prabha TV Channel.
Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) will also be utilized for interaction with teachers.

Source:

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1639103

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Autonomous Electric Vessels

Context

Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi signed contracts for construction and supply of Two nos Autonomous Electric Ferry for ASKO Maritime AS, Norway

Highlights

This Autonomous Electrical vessel project is an ambitious project in Norway partially funded by the Norwegian Government aimed at emission-free transport of goods across the Oslo fjord.
Once in operation, this vessel will create a new benchmark for the merchant shipping world in the field of Autonomous Vessels with Zero Carbon Emission.
The 67 Mtr long vessels will initially be delivered as a Full-Electric Transport Ferry, powered by 1846 kWh capacity battery.
After commissioning autonomous equipment and field trials in Norway, it will operate as a fully autonomous ferry of ASKO that can transport 16 fully loaded Standard EU trailers in one go across the fjords.
The Vessels are designed by Naval Dynamics Norway using Kongsberg Maritime systems, with detailed engineering to be carried out by CSL.

Cochin Shipyard Limited ( CSL )

Cochin Shipyard was incorporated in 1972 as a Government of India company, with the first phase of facilities coming online in 1982.
It has Miniratna status.
The yard has facilities to build vessels up to 1.1 million tons and repair vessels up to 1.25 million tons, the largest such facilities in India.
CSL is the largest commercial shipbuilder in India.

CSL’s proven capability & track record to deliver world quality high-end vessels to prestigious clients in Western Europe helped it in gaining the export order.
CSL is already constructing 23 Hybrid Electric boats for the Kochi Water Metro.
This project is expected to catapult CSL into the league of premier Shipbuilding yards in the world capable of handling high tech vessel construction.

Source:

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1639079

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ZyCoV-D

Context

The Department of Biotechnology supported COVID-19 Vaccine -ZyCoV-D, designed and developed by Zydus has begun Adaptive Phase I/II clinical trials.

Details

The Department of Biotechnology Government of India partnered with Zydus to address rapid development of an indigenous vaccine for COVID-19 under the National Biopharma Mission.
ZyCoV-D ,the plasmid DNA vaccine is designed and developed by Zydus and partially funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
It has initiated Phase I/ II clinical trials in healthy subjects.
This makes ZyCoV-D, the first indigenously developed vaccine for COVID-19 to be administered in humans in India.
The adaptive Phase I/II dose escalation, multi-centric study will assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the vaccine.
The human dosing of the vaccine marks a key milestone since the launching of the accelerated vaccine development programme for COVID-19 in February 2020.

About ZyCoV-D

In the pre-clinical phase, the vaccine was found to elicit a strong immune response in multiple animal species like mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits.
The antibodies produced by the vaccine were able to neutralize the wild type virus in virus neutralization assay indicating the protective potential of the vaccine candidate.
No safety concerns were observed for the vaccine candidate in repeat dose toxicology studies by both intramuscular and intradermal routes of administration.
In rabbits, up to three times the intended human dose was found to be safe, well tolerated and immunogenic.

DNA Vaccine Platform

With ZyCoV-D, the Company has successfully established the DNA vaccine platform in the country using non-replicating and non-integrating plasmid carrying the gene of interest making it very safe.
Further, no vector response and with absence of any infectious agent, the platform provides ease of manufacturing the vaccine with minimal biosafety requirements (BSL-1).
The platform is also known to show much improved vaccine stability and lower cold chain requirements making it easy for transportation to remote regions of the country.
Furthermore, the platform can be rapidly used to modify the vaccine in a couple of weeks in case the virus mutates to ensure that the vaccine still elicits protection.

About National Biopharma Mission

It is an Industry-Academia Collaborative Mission of Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt of India for accelerating discovery research to early development for Biopharmaceuticals.
It is being implemented by the Biotechnology Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
The mission was approved by the Cabinet for a total cost US$ 250 million and is co-funded by the World Bank.
Under this mission, the Innovate in India (I3) program was launched.
The aim of the mission is to enable and nurture an ecosystem for preparing India's technological and product development capabilities in biopharmaceuticals.
This program is dedicated to deliver affordable products to the nation with an aim to improve the health standards of India’s population.
Vaccines, medical devices and diagnostics and biotherapeutics are few of its most important domains.
It also focuses on strengthening the clinical trial capacity and building technology transfer capabilities in the country.

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)

It is a not-for-profit Public Sector Enterprise, set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India
It acts as an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprises to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs.

Source:

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1638979

MCQs based on PIB Analysis

Q.1 Consider the following statements :

PRASHAD Scheme was launched by Ministry of Culture
Infrastructure development at pilgrimage and heritage destinations is an important component of the scheme.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 Only
2 Only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Q.2 NISHTHA Programme commonly seen in news is related to :

Capacity building of Technical and medical institutions
Integrated Teacher Training Programme for Universities
Building competencies among teachers and school principals at the elementary stage
Online Education Portal for school students

Q.3 Consider the following statements: