25-11-22 Daily-Himachal Pradesh-HPPSC Current Affairs

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, have developed a method that will make it simple to assess and prioritise strengthening and repairs to enhance the earthquake-resistance capabilities of buildings in the Himalayan region.

The Himalayas are among the most earthquake-prone regions and witness periodic tremors.

Through extensive field surveys, a large cache of data was collected on the types of buildings in the Mandi region and the typical attributes that are connected to their vulnerability to Earthquakes.

A numerical study was also carried out to establish guidelines to count the number of stories in hilly buildings for their rapid-visual screening (RV). Based on the buildings vulnerable characteristics, an improved RVs method was also proposed.

It takes into account the various vulnerability attributes that are unique to the buildings in the region, Saha explained, and said calculations made using these observations produced a seismic vulnerability score for buildings to differentiate vulnerable buildings from more robust ones and allow better decision-making for maintenance and repair.

e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (eGramSwaraj and AuditOnline) of Ministry of has won the GOLD AWARD under the category “Excellence in Government Process Re-engineering for Digital Transformation” of the National Awards for e-Governance.

The award is a recognition of the excellent and exemplary work done by Team eGovernance and supported by Team NIC-MoPR.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of Ayush, Government of India and Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology & Earth Sciences today. The MoU will identify the potential areas of research to explore cooperation, convergence, and synergy for evidence-based scientific intervention in the Ayush sector and further application of these into the public Health care system.

Through the MoU Ministry of Ayush and DST have agreed to jointly undertake R&D activities on scientific validation of Ayush concepts, procedures and products, create a platform for the exchange of information and bring about the application of modern science toward understanding the Ayush-related basic concepts and principles.

The Central Government released an amount of Rs. 17,000 crore to States/UTs on 24.11.2022 towards the balance GST compensation for the period April to June, 2022 (State-wise details as per Table below). The total amount of compensation released to the States/UTs so far, including the aforesaid amount, during the year 2022-23 is Rs.1,15,662 crore.

This is despite the fact that total Cess collection till October, 2022 is only Rs.72,147 crore and the balance of Rs.43,515 crore is being released by the Centre fromits ownresources. With this release, the Centre has released, in advance, the entire amount of Cess estimated to be collected this year till March-end available for payment of compensation to States. This decision was taken to assist the States in managing their Resources and ensuring that their programmes especially the expenditure on capital is carried out successfully during the financial year.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) recently released the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2022.

The World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) is an authoritative report that provides an overview of activities in areas of patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, Microorganisms, plant variety protection, and creative economy. It is released every year by WIPO. The WIPI 2022 compiled the data from around 150 national and regional intellectual property offices across the globe.

In 2021, around 3.4 million patent applications were filed across the world. This is a 3.6 per cent increase from the previous year.

The top two countries with highest number of patent filings are India and China.