Skill India Digital launched (GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Union Minister for Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launched Skill India Digital (SID), a comprehensive digital platform aimed at synergizing and transforming the skills, education, employment, and entrepreneurship landscape of India.
- The platform embodies the aspirations and dreams of millions of Indians who seek better opportunities and a brighter future as it extends industry-relevant skill courses, job opportunities, and entrepreneurship support.
Key Highlights:
- SID is the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for skilling, education, employment, and entrepreneurship ecosystem of India.
- Driven by the vision to make skill development more innovative, accessible, and personalized in its embodiment, focusing on digital technology and Industry 4.0 skills, the state-of the- art platform will be a breakthrough in accelerating skilled talent hiring, facilitating lifelong learning and career advancement.
- The platform aligns perfectly with the vision articulated in the G20 framework for building DPI and the digital economy to promote digital skills and digital literacy.
- It is also a comprehensive information gateway for all government skilling and entrepreneurship initiatives, a go-to hub for citizens in pursuit of career advancement and lifelong learning.
Following elements will enhance SID platform and provide numerous benefits:
- Aadhaar/ AI based Facial Authentication
- Digital Verifiable Credentials (DVC)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Recommendations
- Aadhaar based eKYC
- Digital Learning
- Citizen-Centric Approach
- Mobile-First Approach
- Scale and Speed
- Security Measures
- Interoperability
- WhatsApp Chatbot
- Ease of Doing Business
Way Forward:
- The implementation of these features within a Skill India Digital skilling platform will revolutionize the skilling landscape in India, offering enhanced accessibility, personalized learning experiences, streamlined verification processes, and improved career guidance.
- It will enable learners to acquire relevant skills, stay updated with industry trends, and contribute to India's workforce development effectively.
Cabinet approves expansion of Ujjwala Yojana
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- The Union Cabinet has approved the extension of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) for release of 75 lakh LPG connections over three years from Financial Year 2023-24 to 2025-26.
Details:
- Provisioning of 75 lakh additional Ujjwala connections will take total number of PMUY beneficiaries to 10.35 crore.
- As per the existing modalities of Ujjawala 2.0, the first refill and stove will also be provided free of cost to Ujjwala beneficiaries.
- A targeted subsidy of Rs.200 per 14.2 kg LPG cylinder for upto 12 refills per year is being provided to PMUY consumers. Without continuation of PMUY, eligible poor households may not be able to get their due benefit under the scheme.
Women’s ease of living through clean cooking
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 2.4 billion people worldwide (which is around one-third of the global population), rely on open fires or inefficient stoves fuelled by kerosene, biomass (such as wood, animal dung, and crop waste), and coal for cooking.
- This leads to harmful household air pollution, contributing to an estimated 3.2 million deaths annually in 2020, with over 237,000 deaths being children under the age of 5.
- Achieving a sustainable and pollution-free future requires addressing the issue of household air pollution, especially to prevent suffering among women and children.
- Non-renewable wood fuels for cooking cause a gigaton of CO2 emissions, and burning residential solid fuels comprise 58 percent of black carbon emissions. They are also a significant contributor to household air pollution (HAP) due to incomplete combustion of solid biomass.
Initiatives to expand LPG coverage:
- PAHAL (Pratyaksh Hastantarit Labh): Instead of providing LPG cylinders at subsidized price, those were sold at market price, and applicable subsidy was directly transferred to individual’s bank account electronically.
- GIVE IT UP: Instead of removing subsidies forcefully, people were encouraged to voluntarily surrender their subsidies. Through extensive promotion, millions of people willingly gave up the subsidies, which helped redirect the funds to those who genuinely needed assistance in acquiring LPG cylinders.
Light pollution disrupts marine organisms hormonal cycles, reproduction, Study
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- Land-based life, including humans, fireflies and birds, is significantly impacted by artificial light at night.
- Marine organisms that evolved over millions of years to adapt to natural light now face an ever-increasing flood of light from anthropogenic sources along the coasts.
Details:
- Artificial light can easily wash out the glow of moonlight and starlight, which are important cues for marine organisms.
- This disrupts their hormonal cycles, inter-species behaviour and reproduction.
Impact on turtles:
- The author of the research, cited an example explaining how artificial light impacts sea turtles. Artificial light at night is harmful to sea turtles in two ways. Females trying to find a quiet, dark spot to lay their eggs avoid light and may end up not coming ashore at all.
- Moreover, “hatchlings head toward inland lights instead of moonlight on the water and then die of dehydration or starvation”.
Impact of LED lighting:
- Furthermore, with the growing usage of LED lighting, the very nature of artificial light is also altering. Compared to prior technologies, LEDs often emit more short-wavelength light and can pierce deep into the water.
Recommendations:
- The experts pointed out that the efforts to reduce the impact on migratory bids will also benefit marine species.
- They suggested measures such as using as much red light as possible and putting up barriers to shield the coastline from artificial light. Red light doesn’t penetrate as far into the water.
