Daily News Analysis 10th November 2018

Daily News Analysis (Prelims + Mains) – 10th November 2018

Topic for Prelims

Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities, 2018

It is a capacity building project that helps youth with disabilities to overcome their limitations and challenges for a better future through access to ICT.

It is organised by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

India hosted the event in collaboration with Government of Korea and Rehabilitation International (RI).

Project  helps to alleviate the digital divide and expand participation of youth with disabilities in the society. It also propagates implementation of United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) – Article 21 relates to access to information.

Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX)

Bilateral cooperation between Singapore and India was first formalised when RSN ships began training with the Indian Navy in 1994. The exercise has been held annualy since its beginning.

Over The years it evolved into a complex high stakes exercise with both nations attaching premium in terms of time, complex advanced exercises and type of platforms involved.

The 2018 edition marks the Silver Jubilee of SIMBEX and it will be held in Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. The previous edition of the exercise was held off Singapore in the South China Sea in May 2017.

Rise in Digital Transactions

Digital payment transactions have registered tremendous growth in India since last two years.

The number of digital payment transactions in the month of Oct, 2016 was 79.67 Cr. This has increased by 207% to 244.81 Cr in Aug, 2018.

Along  with Private players, Government New payment modes  such as Bharat Interface for Money-Unified Payments Interface (BHIM-UPI), Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS) and National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) – have transformed digital payment ecosystem by increasing Person to Person (P2P) as well as Person to Merchant (P2M) payments.

New payment modes have also emerged as a convenient alternative to existing payment modes like debit cards, credit cards, IMPS and PPI.

Existing payment modes such as debit cards, credit cards, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and Pre Paid Instruments(PPI) have registered substantial growth.

Global Cooling Innovation Summit

Two-day Summit inaugurated by Union Science & Technology Minister in New Delhi.

Summit is a first-of-its-kind solutions-focused event that will bring together leaders from around the world to explore concrete means and pathways to address the climate threat that comes from the growing demand from room air conditioners.

The summit launched of Global Cooling Prize— Mission Innovation challenge that aims to spur development of a residential cooling solution that has at least five times (5x) less climate impact than today’s standard.

Global Cooling Prize is a competition with global reach and participation to achieve dramatic breakthroughs in cooling technologies.

Awards programme will call world-wide attention to the most promising ideas across the globe. Awards also celebrate successes and facilitate endeavours of innovators through providing recognition, encouragement and support.

The objective of this competition would be

• to develop a cooling technology that requires radically less energy to operate.
• utilizes refrigerants with no ozone depletion potential and with low global warming potential, and has the potential to be cost-effective at scale.

INSPIRE 2018

International Symposium to Promote Innovation & Research in Energy Efficiency  (INSPIRE) 2018 is the second edition organised by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and World Bank.

The three-day symposium focuses on enhancing grid management, e-Mobility, financial instruments and technologies for energy efficiency in India.

During event awards given to four pathbreaking innovations in clean energy and energy efficiency as part of #InnovateToINSPIRE, a first-of-its-kind energy innovation challenge.

The #InnovateToINSPIRE challenge was organized by EESL and World resources Institute (WRI) in the run-up to INSPIRE 2018. The challenge invited participants to submit sustainable and scalable solutions to seven specific challenges spanning grid management, e-Mobility, energy efficient technologies and financial instruments.

About EESL        

EESL is under the Ministry of Power, Government of India, It is working towards mainstreaming energy efficiency and is implementing the world’s largest energy efficiency portfolio in the country.

Its Driven by the mission of Enabling More – more transparency, more transformation, and more innovation.

its aims to create market access for efficient and future-ready transformative solutions that create a win-win situation for every stakeholder.

It also aims to leverage this implementation experience and explore new overseas market opportunities for diversification of its portfolio. As on date, EESL has begun its operations in UK, South Asia and South-East Asia.

EESL has pioneered innovative business approaches to successfully roll-out large-scale programs that allow for incentive alignment across the value chain and rapidly drive transformative impact.