- Indian Heritage
- Culture
- Modern Indian history
- The Freedom Struggle
- Post-independence
- Indian Society
A. population and associated issues
B. poverty and developmental issues
C.urbanization
7. Geographical features
8.Indian Constitution
9. Polity
Banks & Post offices will now help ECI step-up voter education and outreach ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha Elections
Key highlights of the MoU include:
- Members and affiliated institutions/units will display voter education messages prominently on their websites, directing visitors to learn more about the electoral process.
- Voter education content will be disseminated through various promotional channels such as social media and customer outreach platforms of member institutions, ensuring widespread awareness among stakeholders and the public.
- Voter education messages will be displayed in the form of posters, flex, and hoardings at office infrastructure/premises at major locations, reaching customers at key touchpoints.
- All member institutions under IBA & DoP will establish Voter Awareness Fora to engage employees and customers in discussions and initiatives related to voter education.
- Sensitize about training module on SVEEP in the regular orientation Programmes of employees of IBA & DoP.
- The Department of Posts will affix a special cancellation stamp (bearing voter education messages) on the postal articles.
Despite successfully managing and conducting elections by the Election Commission over the years in fair and peaceful way along with a significant increase in participation of the electors, there is also a concern that around 30 crore electors (out of 91 crore), did not cast their votes in General Election to Lok Sabha 2019. The voting percentage was 67.4%, which the Commission has taken as a challenge to improve upon.
10. Governance
A. institutions
B. regulatory
C. Government policies
D. role of NGOs
E. measures
11. Social Justice
A. Welfare schemes
the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme using PM GatiShakti Portal
National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (NICDC) under Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (FITT-IITD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi on 26th February, 2024 with an objective to evaluate optimality of locations for development of Greenfield Industrial Smart Cities in India leveraging the principles and framework of PM GatiShakti.
Led by Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the collaborationmarks an important move towards using advanced technology and research to strengthen India’s industrial infrastructure.This will also help both the organizations leverage each other’s strength in their respective domains.
The MoU signing ceremony was attended by Col. Naveen Gopal, COO (FITT, IIT Delhi), Prof.Nomesh Bolia, Prof Sanjeev Deshmukh, Shri Deepak Gautam, Shri Pratik Badgujar and officials from NICDC.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajat Kumar Saini, IAS, CEO and MD of NICDC, expressed optimism about the transformative potential of the partnership. “By leveraging advanced technologies and research expertise, we aim to identify locations conducive to industrial development, therebyattracting investments, promoting local commerce and generating employment opportunities,” said Shri Saini.
NICDC and FITT-IITD collaborates to assess the optimal locations for developing greenfield industrial smart cities across India by leveraging the spatial & analytical data tools of PM GatiShakti, National Master Plan portal. This initiative aligns with India’s vision to emerge as a global manufacturing hub, emphasizing the importance of data-driven, decision-making in sustainable futuristic urban planning and development.
B Health
C. Education
D. Human Resources
E. poverty and hunger
12. International relations
A. India and its neighbourhood
B. groupings and agreements
WTO MC13
The thirteenth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) began in Abu Dhabi on 26 February. On the opening day, the Indian delegation was led by Commerce Secretary Shri Sunil Barthwal.
Two countries – Comoros and Timor Leste acceded to the WTO on the opening day. India had been supporting these accessions and welcomed the expansion of the organization.
The WTO will be completing 30 years of its establishment next year. Two ministerial discussion sessions were organized on the opening day allowing ministers to exchange views on the future direction the organization should take.
In the session on sustainable development and policy space for industrialization, India highlighted the need for avoiding fragmentation of the multilateral trading system and the importance of remaining focused rather than mix non-trade issues with the WTO agenda.
India explained that it has put forward and propagated a sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation including through a mass movement for LiFE- “Life Style for Environment” as a key to combating climate change. It also expressed serious concerns regarding the increasing use of trade protectionist unilateral measures, which are sought to be justified in the guise of environmental protection.
India asserted that the developing countries seek appropriate policy space to find solutions to their concerns, some of which have been unaddressed for a long time. India said that it was of the firm view that developing countries require flexibility in the existing WTO agreements to overcome the constraints faced by them in their industrialization. India expressed concerns on the concerted attempt to club long standing development issues like policy space for industrial development with the new issues of “Trade and Industrial policy”.
In the second session on Trade and Inclusion, India cautioned members that mixing non-trade topics with WTO rules can lead to greater trade fragmentation. Bringing issues like Gender and MSMEs in the realm of WTO discussions was not practical because these issues were being discussed in other relevant international organizations already.
India stressed that issues like inclusion are better addressed through contextual and targeted national measure and they did not fall in the domain of international trade relations. India stressed that non-trade issues have the potential to encourage trade distortive subsidies and non-trade barriers. He expressed concerns about such measures and their negative spillover effect on the trade interests of developing countries.
C.Indian diaspora
13. Economic Development
A. Government Budgeting
B. industrial
E.issues
14. Technology
C-DOT bags 3 awards for its indigenously designed & developed innovative Telecom solutions at 14th Annual Aegis Graham Bell Awards
Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), the premier Telecom R&D centre of the Government of India, strikes a hat-trick by securing top position in three awards at 14th Annual Aegis Graham Bell Awards, which was held on 21st February, 2024 at NDMC Convention Centre, New Delhi for its indigenously designed & developed innovative Telecom solutions in various categories. CDOT is declared TOP WINNER in three categories as below:
The 1st award was jointly shared with Google India, in the category “Innovation in AI” for its pioneering ASTR Project.
ASTR (AI & Facial Recognition-powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification) is a game-changer in the fight against cyber crimes. Designed to analyze, identify, and eliminate fake/forged mobile connections, it’s a crucial step towards ensuring a #secure telecom environment.
Second award belongs to the category “Innovation in Social Good” for its ground breaking CEIR(Central Equipment Identity Register) solution.
CEIR helps in revolutionizing mobile security by detecting clone IMEIs, restricting import of counterfeit mobile devices and also enabling the blocking and tracing of lost or stolen phones.
The 3rd award bagged is for “Innovation in Telecom” category for its Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) product.
India employs quantum mechanics to create an unbreakable cryptographic protocol even with Quantum computers. This revolutionary solution ensures unbreakable security for communications between two networks, parties.
India’s 1st septic tank cleaning robot strengthening Swatch Bharat campaign
ndia’s first septic tank/manhole cleaning robot, offering an end-to-end solution to eliminate manual scavenging, is strengthening the swachhata abhiyan in different corners of the country.
The technology called Homosep Atom developed by the startup incubated in the Department of Science and Technology (DST)-Technology Business Incubator (TBI) of IIT Madras, solves manual cleaning methods and transforms it to robotic cleaning methods. It has reached 16 cities in different parts of India and empowers extensive blade cleanings, solid waste desilting, suction and storage at one device; thereby reducing the cost of owning multiple assets and promotes robotic cleaning in sewers.
DST-Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) are established in Academic /Technical /R&D Institutions as part of NIDHI programme to support and nurture knowledge driven innovative start-ups into successful enterprises.
The startup called Solinas, which developed this affordable robotic solution integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) to inspect, clean, and manage confined space for sanitation purposes. It helped clean up manhole blockages and reduced sewer overflows in Madurai. The application of Homosep Atom was also extended to the intricate lanes of Chennai’s densely populated areas. Targeting septic tanks associated with large apartments, housing boards, and individual houses, this process enabled Municipalities to promptly and efficiently clean, clear, and transport waste to treatment plants. Besides, sanitary workers were empowered with manhole cleaning robots that helped them clean the manholes from outside and avoid going inside the toxic environment, thus providing dignity to the sanitary workers.
Solinas is a deep-tech and climate tech startup born out of IIT Madras, founded with the intent to solve the challenges that revolutionizes the water and sanitation sector and improves the climatic conditions. The IIT Madras DST-TBI was also instrumental in advancing the product development of Solinas in the early stages.
The startup specialises in developing miniature robots, including India’s 1st 90mm water robot and 120mm sewer robot, capable of navigating through pipelines below 100mm to address contamination challenges in water-sewer pipelines. The exposure it received through support from DST ensured that the solutions were both sustainable and scalable.
Besides this flagship product, Solinas’s technologies solved some of the existing climatic challenges like water wastages, groundwater pollution, climate change and day-to-day human challenges like manual scavenging, drinking contaminated water, combined sewer overflows, etc.
Technologies like Endobot and Swasth AI served as pipeline diagnostic tools capable of detecting and mitigating water contamination, wastages, and sewer overflows, often unnoticed due to underground issues like leaks, blockages, and tree roots in cities like Coimbatore.
15. Environment
16. Security
17. Disaster Management