Cabinet approves India - Singapore MoU to give a boost to Innovation, Creativity and Technological Advancement

Cabinet approves India - Singapore MoU to give a boost to Innovation, Creativity and Technological Advancement

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Industrial Property Cooperation between Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), Ministry of Law, Government of Singapore. The MoU will be signed at the upcoming visit of Singapore’s Prime Minister to India from 4-7 October, 2016.

The MoU will enhance bilateral cooperation activities in the arena of Industrial Property Rights of Patents, Trademarks and Industrial Designs. It is intended to give a boost to innovation, creativity and technological advancement in both regions. The Priority initiatives under the MoU would be:

• Exchange of best practices, experiences and knowledge on Intellectual Property awareness among the public, businesses and educational institutions of both countries

• Exchange of experts specialized in the field of intellectual property

• Exchange and dissemination of best practices, experiences and knowledge on IP with the industry, universities, R & D organizations and Small and Medium Enterprises

• Cooperation in the development of automation and implementation of modernization projects

• Partnership in IP-related training for local IP and business communities

The MoU will enable India to exchange experiences in the innovation and IP ecosystems that will substantially benefit entrepreneurs, investor and businesses on both sides. The exchange of best practices between the two countries will lead to improved protection and awareness about India's range of Intellectual creations which are as diverse as its people. It will be a landmark step forward in India's journey towards becoming a major player in global innovation and will further the objectives of the National IPR Policy, 2016. 

Cabinet approves ratification of the Paris Agreement

Cabinet approves ratification of the Paris Agreement

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to ratify the Paris Agreement (on Climate Change) on 2nd October 2016, the day of Gandhi Jayanti.

Paris Agreement was adopted by 185 nations last year on 12th December 2015 and India signed the Paris Agreement in New York early this year on 22nd April 2016. A total of 191 countries have signed to the Paris Agreement so far. As per the provisions of the Paris Agreement, the treaty will come into force as and when 55 countries contributing to 55 % of total global emission ratify the agreement. So far, 61 countries have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval accounting in total for 47.79% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.

India’s decision to ratify the agreement will take the number of cumulative level of emission of countries that have ratified the agreement so far to 51.89%. With the gathering momentum and willingness expressed by several other countries to ratify the agreement before the end of this year, it is expected that the Agreement will enter into force soon and give a thrust to the global actions to address climate change.

With its decision to ratify the Agreement, India will be one of the key countries that will be instrumental in bringing the Paris Agreement into force. Given the critical role that India played in securing international consensus on Paris Agreement, today’s decision will further underline India’s responsive leadership in the community of nations committed to global cause of environmental protection and climate justice.

While agreeing to ratify the Paris Agreement, the Cabinet has also decided that India should declare that India will treat its national laws, its development agenda, availability of means of implementation, its assessment of global commitment to combating climate change, and predictable and affordable access to cleaner source of energy as the context in which the Agreement is being ratified.

Paris Agreement pertains to post-2020 climate actions. In the pre-2020 period, developed countries are to act as per Kyoto Protocol and some developing countries have taken voluntary pledges. 

Govt to conduct study of alien plant species in bid to check invasion of forests

Invasive alien species are species whose introduction and spread outside their natural habitats threaten biological diversity

The environment ministry will conduct a study of alien plant species to craft a programme to check their invasion of India’s forests, a ministry official said.

Invasive alien species are species whose introduction and spread outside their natural habitats threaten biological diversity. Among major threats faced by native plant and animal species and their habitats, the threat by the invasive alien species is considered second only to habitat loss.

“We will soon finalise an implementing agency for it. The agency will need to manage and control alien invasive species in selected forest landscapes of approximately 30,000 hectares area in Central Indian highlands region. Demonstrative sites will be undertaken in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh first,” said an environment ministry official, who did not wish to be identified.

The study will also suggest measures to improve the quality of India’s forests.

As per official estimates, India has an estimated species count of 18,000 plants, 30 mammals, 4 birds, 300 freshwater fishes and 1,100 arthropods that are invasive. Sometimes, species native to one part of the country are invasive in another.

The recently released draft of the National Wildlife Action Plan had also batted for a national policy on managing invasive alien species. The impact of biological invasions by alien species is considered to be a major factor in the loss of biodiversity. Invasive alien species can transform landscapes and cause dramatic ecological changes that reduce the adaptability and competitiveness of native species.

The environment ministry will receive World Bank’s Global Environment Facility grant for India’s Ecosystem Services improvement Project (ESIP). As part of this, models will be developed and tested for improving forest quality through effective management of invasive alien species.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be around $1.5 million.

The Green India Mission (GIM) aims to improve forest quality over five million hectares and developing new forests over another five million hectares. The ESIP project aligns with GIM as management of invasive species in India’s forests is a focus area.

GIM is expected to also contribute towards India’s voluntary actions that it pledged last October to bring down its greenhouse gas emissions including creating an additional sink of 2.5-3 billion carbon dioxide (CO2) through additional tree and forest cover by 2030.

According to the official quoted above, the selected organization for the study will also hold multi-stakeholder consultations for developing a national research agenda and strategies for specific invasive alien species.

“It will also develop and implement innovative approaches and field-based activities for invasive species removal, replanting with native species and biological control. It will result in enhance national knowledge support base to support the policy on contain the geographic spread of such invasive species,” the official explained.

GST roll-out: cabinet clears Saksham project The Saksham project will help in integrating systems for entire indirect tax system

In a move aimed at easing the transition towards the goods and services tax (GST), the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a Rs2,256 crore project for upgrading the information technology systems of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

The cost of the “Saksham” project will be spread over seven years; the project will help in integration of systems for the entire indirect tax system. The project will help in implementation of GST, extending the customs department a Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) to include more services and in other ease-of-doing-business initiatives of the CBEC, the government said in a statement.

The CBEC—the government’s indirect tax wing—will revamp its eight-year-old information technology system on its own, keeping in mind the 1 April 2017 rollout date for the GST and to integrate its system with that of the GST network.

The government estimates that the number of taxpayers administered by the CBEC will increase to over 6.5 million from the current 3.6 million in a GST regime.

Also on Wednesday, the cabinet approved a productivity-linked bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days’ wages to be paid to eligible non-gazetted railway employees, excluding the Railway Police Force, for 2015-16.

Under the scheme, around Rs2090.96 crore would be distributed among around 70,000 railway employees before Dussehra. The annual bonus is given to railway employees as an incentive to enhance their productivity.

The cabinet approved an undertaking between India and South Korea on mutual recognition of certificates. This will allow mutual recognition of maritime education and training, certificates of competency, endorsements, training documentary evidence and medical fitness certificates for seafarers issued by both governments.

Focusing on the welfare of senior citizens, the cabinet gave back-dated approval of expenditure incurred on subsidy amount released to Life Insurance Corporation(LIC) for Varistha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY), 2003 and VPBY, 2014.

In another decision on loss-making central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), the cabinet approved the closure of Hindustan Cables Ltd (HCL), Kolkata, at a cost of Rs1,309.9 crore.

With the intention of boosting innovation, creativity and technological advancement in India and Singapore, the cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the field of industrial property cooperation between the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the ministry of commerce and industry and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) under the ministry of law, government of Singapore. The MoU will be signed during the visit of Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to India from 4-7 October.

The CCEA also approved a proposal by the department of heavy industry for providing financial assistance amounting to Rs111.59 crore as a loan to Bharat Pumps and Compressors Ltd, Allahabad. The CCEA extended in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of the company. Statutory dues such as provident fund and gratuity of retired employees of the company will be paid.

Indus Water Treaty: Five key facts

PM Modi’s meeting on Monday to review the Indus Water Treaty has raised the possibility that the govt may seek to alter the provisions of the 1960 agreement

For 56 years, both India and Pakistan are peacefully sharing the water of Indus and its tributaries, thanks to The Indus Water Treaty.

At a time when States within India are unable to find an amicable solution to sharing water from rivers that flow between them, India and Pakistan are living examples of how water resources can be shared through legal frame work.

For 56 years, both India and Pakistan are peacefully sharing the water of Indus and its tributaries, thanks to The Indus Water Treaty.

1	The Indus Waters Treaty was signed on September 19, 1960 by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan's President Ayub Khan.
2	It was brokered by the World Bank.
3	The treaty administers how river Indus and its tributaries that flow in both the countries will be utilised.
4	According to the treaty, Beas, Ravi and Sutlej are to be governed by India, while, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum are to be taken care by Pakistan.
5	However, since Indus flows from India, the country is allowed to use 20 per cent of its water for irrigation, power generation and transport purposes.
6	A Permanent Indus Commission was set up as a bilateral commission to implement and manage the Treaty. The Commission solves disputes arising over water sharing.
7	The Treaty also provides arbitration mechanism to solve disputes amicably.
8	Though Indus originates from Tibet, China has been kept out of the Treaty. If China decides to stop or change the flow of the river, it will affect both India and Pakistan.
9	Climate change is causing melting of ice in Tibetan plateau, which scientists believe will affect the river in future.
10	It maybe noted that both India and Pakistan are still at loggerheads over various issues since Partition, but there has been no fight over water after the Treaty was ratified. ....................................................................... prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting on Monday with senior government officials to review the Indus Waters Treaty has raised the possibility that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government may seek to alter or scrap the provisions of the 1960 pact with Pakistan. The Modi government is under tremendous public pressure to take action against Pakistan to rein in terrorism emanating from its soil against India in the aftermath of the killing of 18 soldiers in the Uri terror attack on 18 September. But the key question is: Can India take unilateral action to alter the provisions of the treaty? There are no straightforward answers to this question. To put it in perspective, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah noted in a Tweet on Friday that the 1960 World Bank-mediated Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan has survived three wars and numerous lows in India-Pakistan relations. Not surprisingly, it is regarded as one of the great success stories of water diplomacy between two neighbours, whose relations are often fractious. What is the 1960 Indus Water Treaty? The treaty was signed by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru with Pakistani president Ayub Khan on 19 September 1960 in Karachi. The Indus Waters Treaty primarily covers the water distribution and sharing rights of six rivers—Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum. All the rivers of the Indus Basin are in India (although both of them originate in Chinese-controlled territories). In simple terms, the treaty is an arrangement to implement a fair distribution of a natural resource between India and Pakistan. It also provides for mechanisms to resolve disputes over water sharing. What are the provisions of the water-sharing agreement? Under the treaty, Pakistan received exclusive use of waters from the Indus and its westward flowing tributaries, the Jhelum and Chenab, while the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers were allocated for India’s use. Although India can construct storage facilities on “Western rivers” of up to 3.6 million acre feet, it has so far not taken recourse to it so far. Water as a weapon Post-the Uri attack, most media debates and discussions to punish Pakistan has centered on using the treaty or more precisely “water as a weapon” against Pakistan. But it is easier said than done. First, India lacks storage facilities to create a drought in Pakistan in the immediate term. Also, it is a huge infrastructural challenge to diver the waters of the three rivers (Indus, Jhelam and Chenab) to other geographical regions in India. Strictly speaking, India can temporarily stop the flow of water but cannot divert it. The China factor Moreover, India cannot ignore the China factor as both major rivers originate in Tibet. India does not have a treaty with China pertaining to this. Neighbourhood jitters Any unilateral action to scrap the treaty will draw criticism from world powers and may instill fear among other neighbours such as Nepal and Bangladesh with which India has similar treaties.

Prime Minister told scientists to- “Link Technology with Common Man’s Life”- while inaugurating the CSIR Platinum Jubilee Celebrations

Prime Minister told scientists to- “Link Technology with Common Man’s Life”- while inaugurating the CSIR Platinum Jubilee Celebrations

“CSIR is a reflection of India in its diversity and heterogeneity and has left its indelible mark in every sphere of activities of the nation while playing a pivotal role in the development of Modern India by its all-round approach to Research & Development”, said the Prime Minister of India and the President of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). Shri Narendra Modi was addressing a distinguished gathering on the occasion of Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of CSIR, Ministry of Science & Technology here today.

The Prime Minister said that he looks forward to CSIR making an important contribution to the current Government’s mandate of doubling the income of the farmers’ income by 2022, the year the country celebrates 75 years of its Independence. In his message to the science fraternity across the country, Shri Modi stressed upon the urgent need to find technological solutions to address major problems being faced by the farmers, not only in terms of increasing the yield of the produce but also in growing crops in the wasteland areas through initiatives like ‘Per Drop More Crop’. He said we should have another objective which should be “an inch of land, and a bunch of crops.”

Shri Modi said that considering the contributions of CSIR over the last 75 years, the nation has large expectations from CSIR in delivering for the nation in the time-bound manner. This could be possible only by synergizing its activities and outcomes with all important functionaries in the entire value chain of taking the technology to masses, including all the important stakeholders, the government, industry, society and the ultimate users. Shri Modi gave a call to the scientific community to personally mentor science students to give shape to their ideas & energy and give India ‘Research Entrepreneurs’ of tomorrow.

The Prime Minister noted that CSIR has contributed significantly in Health sector. However, today when the nation faces the challenge of diseases like TB, Chikungunya, Dengue, etc, CSIR should also focus on development of affordable diagnostics that would help in the prevention of epidemics. He added that development of technologies enabling affordable products is the key to today’s world’s economy scenario that would not only cater to the domestic requirements but also help improve the country’s exports.

Earlier, Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan while thanking the Prime Minister for his valuable support and guidance, assured him that CSIR, which stands among top 100 R&D institutions in the world, would definitely deliver to the nation in a time-bound manner. CSIR, with the best minds and infrastructure is striving towards transforming the Brain Drain towards Brain Gain for India, he added.

On this occasion, the Prime Minister released seven new plant varieties developed by CSIR laboratories to the farmers located at five different locations. These varieties included: Citronella, Rose-scented Geranium, Lemongrass, Calla-Lily, new turmeric, Vetiver & Gerbera. The Prime Minister also interacted with the farmers at these places on prospects of farming these. He candidly urged farmers via video-conferencing to strive for taking a quantum jump in agriculture with the help of science & technology. He encouraged them to increase the use of modern technology and participation of youth in agriculture, concentrate on value addition based agriculture and explore different markets for their produce. Government stands firmly behind each citizen in his endeavors, he added. These new plant varieties, developed by CSIR labs in partnership with the state agriculture departments and universities over a span of five years, are expected to benefit the farmers in terms of additional income as a result of substantial increase in the agriculture yield.

The PM earlier witnessed an exclusive exhibition of major technological contributions of CSIR, including the ones that are in pipeline and have great potential of delivery to remove the drudgery of common masses, largely in the areas of healthcare, water conservation, solid waste management, waste-to-wealth, Communication & IT, housing, industrial competitiveness, and contributions to the strategic sector.

Later, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards, 2012-15, country’s highest award in science and other CSIR Awards were presented by Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Y.S. Chowdary and Dr. Girish Sahni, Director General, CSIR.

Speaking on the occasion the Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Y.S. Chowdary he envisioned a quantum jump in the field of Science & Technology Research and gave a call to the scientific fraternity to work dedicatedly for the ‘Target Nobel Prize’. The Ministry stands firmly behind all the efforts made in this direction, he added.

The distinguished gathering consisted of Senior scientists, Directors of National Science Institutions, awardees and 150 Sciences students.

PSLV-C35 Successfully Launches Eight Satellites into Two Different Orbits in a Single Flight

PSLV-C35 Successfully Launches Eight Satellites into Two Different Orbits in a Single Flight

In its thirty seventh flight (PSLV-C35), ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully launched the 371 kg SCATSAT-1 Satellite along with seven co-passenger satellites today morning (September 26, 2016) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the thirty sixth consecutively successful mission of PSLV. The total weight of all the eight satellites carried on-board PSLV-C35 was 675 kg. PSLV-C35 is the first PSLV mission to launch satellites carried onboard into two different orbits. This PSLV mission was the longest of the PSLV missions conducted till date and was completed in 2 hours 15 minutes and 33 seconds after lift-off.

After PSLV-C35 lift-off at 0912 hrs (9:12 am) IST from the First Launch Pad with the ignition of the first stage, the subsequent important flight events, namely, strap-on ignitions and separations, first stage separation, second stage ignition, payload fairing separation, second stage separation, third stage ignition and separation, fourth stage ignition and cut-off, took place as planned. After a flight of 16 minutes 56 seconds, the vehicle achieved a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit of 724 km inclined at an angle of 98.1 degree to the equator (very close to the intended orbit) and 37 seconds later the primary satellite SCATSAT-1 was separated from the PSLV fourth stage.

After separation, the two solar arrays of SCATSAT-1 satellite were deployed automatically and ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore took over the control of the satellite. In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration following which it will begin to provide weather related services using its scatterometer payload. The data sent by SCATSAT-1 satellite will help provide weather forecasting services to user communities through the generation of wind vector products as well as cyclone detection and tracking.

After the successful separation of SCATSAT-1, the PSLV-C35 mission continued. Still carrying the seven co-passenger satellites, the fourth stage of PSLV coasted over the South polar region and then started ascending towards the Northern hemisphere. A safe distance between the orbiting SCATSAT-1 and PSLV-C35 fourth stage was maintained by suitably manoeuvring the stage.

At 1 hour 22 minutes and 38 seconds after lift-off as the fourth stage was in the North polar region, the two engines of PSLV fourth stage were reignited and fired for 20 seconds. As a result of this, it entered into an elliptical orbit measuring 725 km on one side of the Earth and 670 km on the other.

And 50 minutes later, as the PSLV fourth stage was again coasting near the south pole, its engines were fired for another 20 seconds. This second firing made the fourth stage to enter into a circular orbit of 669 km height inclined at an angle of 98.2 degree to the equator.

37 seconds later, the Dual Launch Adapter was successfully separated from the PSLV-C35 fourth stage. 30 seconds after this event, ALSAT-1 was the first co-passenger satellite to be separated successfully. Following this, the NLS-19, PRATHAM, PISAT, ALSAT-1B, ALSAT-2B, and Pathfinder-1 were separated from the PSLV fourth stage in a predetermined sequence thereby successfully completing PSLV-C35 mission.

Of the seven co-passenger satellites carried by PSLV-C35, two – PRATHAM weighing 10 kg and PISAT weighing 5.25 kg – are University/Academic institute satellites and were built with the involvement of students from IIT-Bombay and PES University, Bangalore and its consortium, respectively.

The remaining five co-passenger satellites were international customer satellites from Algeria (three – ALSAT-1B, ALSAT-2B and ALSAT-1N), Canada (one- NLS-19) and the United States (one – Pathfinder-1).

With today’s launch, the PSLV’s capability to launch satellites into two different orbits has been successfully demonstrated. The total number of satellites launched by India’s workhorse launch vehicle PSLV has now reached 121, of which 42 are Indian and the remaining 79 are from abroad.

Five things to know about Isro’s PSLV C-35 launch
Isro successfully launched PSLV C-35, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully launched PSLV C-35, carrying eight satellites including India’s ocean and weather satellite SCATSAT-1, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on Monday morning.

Here are five things to know about PSLV C-35 and the eight satellites.

1. The Monday’s launch used India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), making its 37th flight. Introduced in 1993, the PSLV has a record of 34 successful launches, one partial failure and one outright failure, which occurred on its first launch. The PSLV has made 32 consecutive launches successfully over a period of almost 19 years since placing the IRS-1D satellite into a lower-than-planned orbit during its fourth flight in September 1997. PSLV is a four-stage rocket, with a mixture of solid and liquid-fuelled stages.

2. The 44.4 metre tall PSLV will carry a total weight of 675kg of all the eight satellites on board. This will be PSLV’s longest mission spread over two hours and it is the first time that the rocket is putting its payloads in two different orbits, demonstrating the restart capability of Isro on a complete mission.

3. It places the primary satellite SCATSAT-1 meant for weather forecasting, cyclone detection and tracking the polar sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at 730 km, while the seven others will be injected in a 689 km lower orbit after over two hours.

4. The 371kg primary satellite, Scatterometer Satellite 1 or or SCATSAT-1, is designed to serve as a stopgap to help measure ocean winds following the failure of the OSCAT instrument aboard the OceanSat-2 satellite in February 2014. SCATSAT-1 is designed for five years of service, providing an overlap with the OceanSat-3 spacecraft currently scheduled for launch in 2018. The mission objectives of SCATSAT-1 are to help provide weather forecasting services, cyclone detection and tracking.

5. Besides SCATSAT-1, the PSLV rocket is carrying two Indian university satellites, three from Algeria and one each from the US and Canada. The two academic satellites are PRATHAM from IIT Bombay, and PISAT from BES University, Bengaluru, and its consortium. While PRATHAM’s objective is to estimate Total Electron Count, PISAT’s mission is to design and develop a nano-satellite for remote sensing applications.The foreign satellites on board the PSLV are ALSAT-1B, ALSAT-2B and ALSAT-1N (all from Algeria) and Pathfinder-1 and NLS-19, from the US and Canada, respectively.

In its longest-ever flight, the PSLV C-35, carrying India’s SCATSAT-1 meant for ocean and weather studies and seven other satellites including from the US and Canada, on Monday lifted off from the spaceport in Sriharikota.

The launch marked PSLV’s longest mission spread over two hours and it is the first time that the rocket is putting its payloads in two different orbits. The 44.4 metre tall PSLV rocket blasted off at 9.12am and 17 minutes later injected SCATSAT-1 in orbit.

“SCATSAT-1 has been successfully injected in orbit,” the Indian Space Research Organization said. The 371kg SCATSAT, the primary satellite meant for weather forecasting, cyclone detection and tracking, was first injected in a Polar Sunsynchronous Orbit (SSO) orbit while the seven others will be injected in a lower orbit after over two hours, the first time the rocket is putting its payloads in two different orbits.

The total weight of all the eight satellites onboard is about 675kg. Besides SCATSAT-1, the PSLV rocket is carrying two Indian university satellites, three from Algeria and one each from the US and Canada. SCATSAT-1 is a “continuity” mission for the Ku-band scatterometer payload carried by SCATSAT-1, which has enhanced features compared to a similar one carried by Oceansat-2 satellite in 2009.

The two academic satellites are PRATHAM, from IIT-Bombay, and PISAT, from BES University, Bengaluru and its consortium. While PRATHAM’s objective is to estimate Total Electron Count, PISAT’s mission is to design and develop a nanosatellite for remote sensing applications.

The foreign satellites onboard the PSLV are ALSAT-1B, ALSAT-2B and ALSAT-1N (all from Algeria) and Pathfinder-1 and NLS-19, from USA and Canada, respectively