ETEN Enlightens-Daily current capsules (Revision Modules) – 21stMay 2018

Ministry of Communications

Enlighten about the Ministry

Ministry of Communications was carved out of Ministry of

Communications and Information Technology on 19 July 2016.

It consists of two departments viz. Department of Telecommunications

and Department of Posts

Developments round the year -

Launch of National EMF Portal

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched Tarang Sanchar,

a web portal of information sharing on Mobile Towers and EMF

Emission Compliances.

The portal can be accessed at www.tarangsanchar.gov.in.

The EMF portal provides a public interface where an easy map-based

search feature has been provided for viewing the mobile towers in

vicinity of any locality.

By click of a button, information on EMF compliance status of mobile

towers can be accessed.

Detailed information about any tower site, if requested, will be sent on

email to the users. Additionally, any person can request for EMF

emission measurement at a location by paying a nominal fee of ₹4000/-

online.

Local Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) field unit

of DoT will conduct the test (the requestor can be present, if he so

desires) and the test reports will be provided.

The portal also has ‘EMF Overview’ and ‘Learn’ Sections, which provide

numerous articles, booklets and videos, to further educate the citizens

about EMF and coverage of telecom services.

Launch of Satellite based mobile services through Satellite Gateway

The Department of Telecommunications granted a License under

‘Suigeneris’ for “Provision and Operation of Satellite based service

using Gateway installed in India” with all India service area on non-

exclusive basis.

This work has been carried out by M/s BSNL in partnership with M/s

INMARSAT and the Satellite Gateway has been installed at Ghaziabad,

UP.

This is a quantum leap in the field of Telecommunications to connect the

un-connected through the provisioning of satellite mobile services across

the country.

The services are being provisioned in phased manner initially for the

government agencies such as Defence Services, Disaster Management

Authorities, Parliamentary Forces, Railways, PSUs etc. and subsequently

for the common public.

Launching of schemes under Skill Development

Two schemes have been launched in the domain of Skill Development in

Telecom Sector

1. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Sanchar Kaushal Vikas Pratisthans

Scheme -

It is a Pilot scheme which proposes to create the skill development

training centres that will be opened in various rural, backward and

other needy areas and will be named as “Pandit Deendayal

Upadhyaya Sanchar kaushal Vikas Pratisthans”.

Initially in the Pilot phase, it is proposed to start 10 such centres

to impart skill development trainings to 10,000 candidates taking

the necessary training infrastructure

2. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Telecom Skill Excellence Awards

schemes:

This scheme is aimed to recognize the special contributions of

citizens of India in the areas of Telecom Skilling, Telecom

Services, Telecom Manufacturing, Telecom Applications in

deploying telecom dependent sectoral solutions for different fields

such as agriculture, commerce, health, education etc.

Important Achievements of Department of Post

DARPAN – “Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India”

Project

Darpan Launched For Financial Inclusion Of Rural Population

To improve the quality of service, add value to services and

achieve “financial inclusion” of un-banked rural population.

IT modernization project with an outlay of Rs. 1400 Crore to

provide a low power technology solution to each Branch

Postmaster (BPM) which will enable each of approximately 1.29

Lakhs Branch Post Offices (BOs) to improve the level of services

being offered to rural customers across all the states.

Aim of financial inclusion to rural population and it is targeted to

complete the project by March, 2018.

The Project shall increase the rural reach of the Department of

Posts and enable BOs to increase traffic of all financial

remittances, savings accounts, Rural Postal Life Insurance, and

Cash Certificates; improve mail operations processes by allowing

for automated booking and delivery of accountable article;

increase revenue using retail post business; provide third party

applications; and make disbursements for social security schemes

such as MGNREGS.

Implementation of Core Banking Solutions in the Department of Post

Postal Life Insurance (PLI)

Postal Life Insurance (PLI), introduced in 1884, is one of the

oldest life insurance schemes for benefit of Government and semi-

Government employees.

Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI), introduced on March 24, 1995

on recommendations of Malhotra Committee, provides insurance

cover to people residing in rural areas, especially weaker sections

and women living in rural areas.

The insurance industry in India has undergone transformational

changes after liberalisation of the insurance sector in the year

2000, subsequent to setting up of the insurance regulator Insurance

Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI)

It has now been decided that benefits of PLI will no more be

confined to Government and semi-Government employees, but

will also be available to professionals such as Doctors, Engineers,

Management Consultants, Charted Accountants, Architects,

Lawyers, Bankers etc. and to employees of listed companies of

NSE (National Stock Exchange) and BSE (Bombay Stock

Exchange).

The decision has been taken to enlarge the cover of social security

and bring maximum number of people under the protection of

Postal Life Insurance (PLI).

Launch of Sampoorna Bima Gram (SBG) Yojana

Under Sampoorna Bima Gram (SBG) Yojana, at least one village (having

a minimum of 100 households) has been identified in each of the revenue

districts of the country, wherein endeavour will be made to cover all

households of that identified village with a minimum of one RPLI (Rural

Postal Life Insurance) policy each.

Coverage of all households in the identified Sampoorna Bima Gram

village is the primary objective of this scheme.

It has also been decided to extend the coverage of SBG Yojana in Adarsh

Grams adopted by Members of Parliament.

Leveraging Post Offices as Passport Seva Kendra

Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with Department of Posts

has decided to leverage the post office network to help make available the

passport related services in all the states by establishing Post Office

Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK)

Ministry of Earth Science

Enlighten about the Ministry

The Ministry of Earth Sciences was formed in 2006 from a merger of the

India Meteorological Department (IMD), the National Centre for Medium

Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF),the Indian Institute of Tropical

Meteorology (IITM), Pune,and Earth Risk Evaluation Centre (EREC),

and the Ministry of Ocean Development.

The Government also approved the setting up of Earth Commission on

the pattern of Space Commission and Atomic Energy Commission.

Commissioning of Air Quality & Weather Monitoring Stations at

Ahmedabad An integrated early warning System of Air Quality and Weather

Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) was dedicated to the

With the advent of SAFAR, a new health action plan "Ahmedabad- AIR

(Air Information and Response)" was launched with a lead from

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and other research organizations

which will connect SAFAR products with health related mitigation

options.

Open sea cage culture

A Foundation Stone for the Marine Finfish Hatchery and Test Facility

for Ballast Water Treatment Technologies was laid

These facilities will be further developed by National Institute of Ocean

Technology, an autonomous institute under the Ministry .

Monsoon Mission Program

The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), launched the “National

Monsoon Mission” (NMM), a mission mode project with a vision to

develop a state of the art dynamical prediction system for monsoon

rainfall on all different time scales in 2012.

It has successfully completed its first phase by setting up high resolution

coupled dynamical prediction system with reasonable prediction skill for

seasonal and extended range time scales and very high resolution

atmospheric model for weather prediction.

For the first time, India Meteorological Department used the Monsoon

Mission dynamical model to prepare operational seasonal forecast of

2017 monsoon rainfall over India.

The Ministry has now launched the Monsoon Mission Phase II program,

for next 3 years (2017-2020) with emphasis on predicting extremes and

development of applications based on monsoon forecasts.

Scientific Deep Drilling in the Koyna Intra-Plate Seismic Zone,

Maharashtra

Scientific drilling of the Koyna pilot borehole KFD1 to a depth of 3 km

and the acquisition of downhole geophysical data were completed.

Passing through ~1.25 km - thick succession of Deccan basalt flows and

~1.75 km into the underlying granite-gneiss basement rocks, the borehole

is the deepest drilled through crystalline rock formations in the country.

Cuttings were collected at 5 m intervals in basalt and 3 m intervals in

basement rock.

Additionally, limited cores were collected from discrete depths in the

1500-3000 m section. To keep pace with the drilling, three field

laboratories were functional on site:

(i) geological lab., (ii) mud-logging lab., (iii) online gas and fluid sampling lab.

Inauguration of the ST Radar at CUSAT and Doppler Weather Radar at

Kochi

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, dedicated to the nation, the Stratosphere-Troposphere

(ST) Radar Facility at the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar

Research at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT)

It is the first stratosphere troposphere wind profile radar operating on 205

MHz installed in the world.

The facility will aid monitor atmospheric wind conditions across

altitudes up to 20 km and beyond.

Doppler weather radar

A state-of-the-art, indigenous doppler weather radar, capable of

predicting with increased accuracy weather events such as cyclone

occurring in 500-km radius from Kochi, was inaugurated by Dr. Harsh

Vardhan, in Kochi

The S-Band Doppler weather radar in Kochi was made with support

from ISRO and Bharat Electronics.

De-salination of water

The Ministry through its constituent unit, the National Institute of Ocean

Technology (NIOT) has developed indigenized technologies for

producing clean drinking water from the ocean.

Currently there are three desalination plants operational at Kavaratti,

Agatti and Minicoy islands, which are individually producing 1 lakh liters

of drinking water per day.

The plants are operated by the local islanders.

NIOT is now installing another six more plants in Lakshadweep islands,

each with a capacity to produce 1.5 lakh liters of water every day, with

the help of Lakshadweep administration. Two plants will be

commissioned by December 2018.

Sources – PIB, Ministry of communication, Ministry of Earth Science