Cabinet approves MoU between India and Russia on Joint Activities under Human Spaceflight Programme

          Major Impact:         

    Signing of the MoU will strengthen the cooperation between India and Russia and would provide impetus to develop the technologies and advanced systems required for the human space flight programme like radiation shielding, life support systems, crew module, rendezvous and docking systems, space suit, training for astronauts etc.

         Benefits:

• The MoU would lead to develop a joint activity in the field of application of space technologies for the benefit of humanity.
• It will lead to setting up of a Joint Working Group, which will further work out the plan of action including the time-frame and the means of implementing the provisions of this Agreement.

Kisan Haat

        Highlights:

• Pusa Kisan Haat will be built across 2.5 acres in which 60 stalls measuring 3m x 3m will be  erected in which farmers can sell their agricultural produce and value-added products.
• At the same time, the technology and value-added products developed by the institutions of the ICAR will be available here for the farmers and visitors.
• Pusa Kisan Haat will also have 'Technology Park' in which farmers can see Live crop technologies of Pusa. Facilities like food plaza, open-air theater with a seating capacity of 100 people, conference hall, museum, Lab and lecture hall.
• It will also have facility for agricultural consultation services, seeds and literature for farmers.

Agriculture Export Policy, 2018

        Background:

• The Government has come out with a policy to double farmers’ income by 2022. Exports of agricultural products would play a pivotal role in achieving this goal.
• In order to provide an impetus to agricultural exports, the Government has come out with a comprehensive “Agriculture Export Policy” aimed at doubling the agricultural exports and integrating Indian farmers and agricultural products with the global value chains.

        Vision:

         Harness export potential of Indian agriculture, through suitable policy   instruments, to make India global power in agriculture and raise farmers’income.

       Objectives:

        Objectives of the Agriculture Export Policy are as under:

• To double agricultural exports from present ~US$ 30+ Billion to ~US$ 60+ Billion by 2022 and reach US$ 100 Billion in the next few years thereafter, with a stable trade policy regime.
• To diversify our export basket, destinations and boost high value and value added agricultural exports including focus on perishables.
• To promote novel, indigenous, organic, ethnic, traditional and non-traditional Agri products exports.
• To provide an institutional mechanism for pursuing market access, tackling barriers and deal with sanitary and phyto-sanitary issues.
• To strive to double India’s share in world agri exports by integrating with global value chain at the earliest.
• Enable farmers to get benefit of export opportunities in overseas market.

Exercise Hand-in-Hand

        Highlights:

• Exercise Hand-in-Hand is conducted annually as part of military diplomacy and interaction between armies of India and China.
• The aim of the exercise is to build and promote close relations between armies of both the countries and to enhance ability of joint exercise commander to take military contingents of both nations under command.
• The exercise will involve tactical level operations in an International Counter Insurgency/ Counter Terrorist environment under UN mandate.
• Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2018 will go a long way to further cement relationship between both the nations and will act as a catalyst in bringing bonhomie at grassroots levels between the armies of both countries.

“Ideate for India - Creative Solutions using Technology”

        Aim:

          The aim of this National Challenge is to give school students across the country a platform and opportunity to become solution creators for the problems they see around them and their communities.

         About Ideate for India:

• “Ideate for India” National Challenge will help inculcate innovation skills in youth and equip all students to utilise technology for the betterment of their communities and the society at large.
• Simultaneously, this will prepare them to contribute towards the realization of Digital India goals.
• “Ideate for India” will empower and enable these students to transition from being ‘users’ of technology to become ‘creators’ of new indigenous technologies to solve local problems in their community by re-imagining solutions to work out critical local issues.
• The Challenge has been designed and launched by the National e-Governance Division, Ministry of Electronics & IT in collaboration with Intel India, with support from the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Human Resource Development.
• The DoSE&L will help reach out to State Education Departments, NVS, KVS and CBSE authorities to propagate the National Challenge amongst schools across the country.
• The National Challenge is open to students of classes 6 - 12 all across the country - all 29 States and 7 Union Territories and aims to reach out to at least 1 million youth over the next 3 months.
• There are 11 core theme areas on which students can share their ideas- healthcare services, education services, digital services, environment, women safety, traffic, infrastructure, agriculture, social welfare, disability and tourism.
• The Challenge requires students to access online videos and understand how to identify problems and share a 90 second video explaining the problem and their proposed solution.

National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems

        Background:

• CPS and its associated technologies, like Artificial Intelligence (Al), Internet of Things (loT), Machine Learning (ML),  Deep Learning (DP),  Big Data Analytics,  Robotics,Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication, Quantum encryption (Quantum Key Distribution), Data Science & Predictive analytics, Cyber Security for physical infrastructure and other infrastructure, have pervaded and is playing a transformative role in almost every field of human endeavour all most in all sectors.
• It has become imperative for government and industries to be prepared to adopt these emerging and disruptive technologies in order to remain competitive, drive societal progress, generate employment, foster economic growth and to improve the overall quality of life and sustainability of the environment.

        Impact:

• CPS technologies provide a cutting edge to a Nation's scientific, engineering, and technological innovative capabilities; support other missions of the government, provide industrial and economic competitiveness and have truly became a Strategic Resource.
• Volume, scale and complexity of emerging applications demand continued evolution of new technologies for the foreseeable future. The proposed Mission would act as an engine of growth that would benefit national initiatives in health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, strategic cum security, and industrial sectors, Industry 4.0, SMART Cities, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) etc.
• CPS is an integrated system of upcoming technology, which in turn is being taken up on priority basis by countries in the race for development. CPS will indeed bring a paradigm shift in entire skill sets requirement.
• The job opportunities will be enhanced through the Mission by imparting advanced skills and generating skilled manpower as per the requirement of the industry/ society.
• As Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Start-up Ecosystem is an integral part of the proposed NM-ICPS, the start-ups will also create a number of technology driven job opportunities in CPS and allied areas.
• Accordingly, it is estimated that, about 40,000 jobs will be created in the short term and about 2,00,000 in long term.

         Benefits:

           The Mission will feed the Central Ministries/ Departments and State Govts and also the Industry to effectively use the CPS technologies in their projects and schemes for the benefit of the society.

         Details:

           The Mission addresses the ever increasing technological requirements of the society, and takes into account the international trends and road maps of leading countries for the next generation technologies. The mission implementation would develop and bring:

• Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and associated technologies within reach in the country,
• adoption of CPS technologies to address India specific National / Regional issues,
• produce Next Generation skilled manpower in CPS,
• catalyze Translational Research,
• accelerate entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem development in CPS,
• give impetus to advanced research in CPS, Technology development and higher education in Science, Technology and Engineering disciplines, and
• place India at par with other advanced countries and derive several direct and indirect benefits.

         Implementation strategy:

• The NM-ICPS is a comprehensive Mission which would address technology development, application development, human resource development & skill enhancement, entrepreneurship and start-up development in CPS and associated technologies.
• The Mission aims at establishment of 15 numbers of Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH), six numbers of Application Innovation Hubs (AIH) and four numbers of Technology Translation Research Parks (TTRP).
• These Hubs & TTRPs will connect to Academics, Industry, Central Ministries and State Government in developing solutions at reputed academic, R&D and other organizations across the country in a hub and spoke model.

         The Hubs & TTRPs have four focused areas along which the Mission implementation would proceed, namely

         (i) Technology Development;

         (ii) HRD & Skill Development;

         (iii) Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Start-ups Ecosystem Development;

         (iv) International Collaborations.