Newspaper Notes | 05 July 2022 | UPSC CSE

(Important Topics Covered - Team Shashank Sajwan)

1) 125th birth anniversary of Alluri Sitaraman Raju:

- PM unveiled a statue of legendary freedom fighter Alluri Sitaraman Raju in Andhra

Pradesh commencing year long celebrations of his 125th birth anniversary.
- He was an Indian revolutionary who waged an armed campaign against British
colonial rule in India.
- He was born on 4 July 1897 in Pandrangi, Andhra Pradesh.
- He was involved in opposing the British in response to the 1882 Madras Forest act,
which restricted the free movement of adivasis or tribal communities in their forest
habitats.
- He was a major leader of Rampa rebellion of 1922.
- He engaged in guerrilla campaigns against the British colonial authorities.

2) Unified payments interface (UPI):

- The UPI was launched in 2016 and is operated by National Payments Corporation of
India(NPCI).
- It operates on top of the Immediate Payment Service(IMPS) which was created by
NPCI for immediate fund transfers.
- UPI-based payments function broadly through three steps – first, one’s bank account
is mapped to a Virtual Payment Address (VPA). VPN eliminates the risk of mentioning
account details in every transaction. Second, a payment service provider typically a
bank takes care of the to and fro transactions to this VPA and finally, the UPI
software Orchestrates the fund movement from a customer’s VPA to a target VPA
and complete the transaction.

3) The need for space sustainability:

- On June 23, the UK hosted the fourth summit for space sustainability in London in
collaboration with the Secure World Foundation.
- Space sustainability aims to maintain the safety and health of the space
environment.
- The outer space is considered a shared natural resource, the United Nations
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in 2019 adopted a set of
21 voluntary, non-binding guidelines to ensure the long-term sustainability of outer
space activities.
- Core issues with space sustainability – orbital overcrowding, Space Debris, solar and
magnetic storms which can potentially damage communication systems, space
research and development of technologies to ensure recycling of satellites at every
stage.
- The ISRO has initiated “Project NETRA” to monitor space debris. The domestic
surveillance system would provide first-hand information on the status of debris,
which would add further planning on protecting space asset.

4) Eighth edition of Digital India week 2022 to be hosted in Gandhinagar, Gujarat:

- The theme for Digital India Week this year is “Catalysing New India’s Techade.
- The Prime Minister launched multiple digital portals including:
a) Meri Pehchaan: National Single Sign On for One citizen login(NSSO) is a
user authentication service in which a single set of credentials provide
access to multiple online application or services.
b) Digital India Bhashini: to enable easy access to the internet and Digital
services in Indian languages and helps creation of content in Indian
languages.
c) Digital India Genesis: A national Deep-tech startup platform, to discover,
support, grow and make successful start-ups in tier two and tier 3 cities of
India.
d) INDIASTACK GLOBAL: A global repository of key projects implemented
under India Stack.
e) MyScheme: A service discovery platform facilitating access to government
schemes.
f) Chips to Startup Programme: it aims to train specialised manpower in the
area of design of semiconductor chips at bachelors, Masters and research
level, and act as a catalyst for growth of start-ups involved in
semiconductor design in the country.

5) India’s largest floating solar plant fully operational at Ramagundam in Telangana:

- It is 100 MW floating solar power photovoltaic project, commissioned by the

national thermal power Corporation NTPC.
- The NTPC has set a target of 60 GW capacity through renewable energy sources,
constituting nearly 45% of its overall power generation capacity, by 2032.
- Solar plants can be either ground mounted or set up on the surface of water bodies.
- Advantages of floating solar plants – They do not require land to be acquired for the
installation of photovoltaic panels, more efficient as the presence of water
underneath helps them cool, reduce water evaporation thus saving more water for
hydro power generation.
- The floating farms although are a bit more expensive than ground mounted solar
plants.

6) Draft e-waste management rules, 2022:

- Introduction of a market for e-waste recycling certificates. The certificates certify the
quantity of e-waste collected and recycled in a particular year by a company which
may sell surplus quantities to another company to help meet its obligations.
- The draft rules state that the producer of the goods have to ensure that at least 60%
of their produced e-waste is recycled by 2023. This shift from collection rate targets
in the current rules to recycling rate targets in the proposed rule is an important
change.
- A wide range of electronic goods, including laptops, landline and mobile phones,
cameras, recorders, music systems, microwaves, refrigerator and medical
equipments have been specified in the notification.
- Companies will have to register on an online portal and specify their annual
production and e-waste collection targets.

7) Enforcing the single-use plastic ban:

- A ban on the use of single use plastics that was notified by the
Union Environment Ministry on August 2021 came into effect on July 1 this year.
- What is single-use plastic?
The Centre defines it as an object made of plastic that is intended to be used “only
once” before being disposed off or recycle.
- According to the Environment Protection (EP) Act, violating the ban could invite
“punitive action”.

8) Australia to give minerals to Indian EV makers:

- Required for India’s electric vehicles, solar power projects and other strategic areas.
- Australia will commit $5.8 million to the three years India-Australia
Critical Minerals Investment Partnership.
- India will try to source lithium, cobalt.

9) India needs to scale up direct nutrition interventions

- National Nutrition Mission(NNM) or POSHAN Abhiyaan.

It has the objective of reducing malnutrition in women, children and adolescent girls.
- The Ministry of Women and Child (MWCD) continues to be the
nodal Ministry implementing the NNM.
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(More to come…)