Civil Service Bytes

Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare launched  4-Mobile Health Services  . This launch  is a part of the Government’s Digital India programme, is in line with its commitment to prioritise public health and strengthen citizen-centric health services by leveraging India’s expanding mobile phone penetration. 1.‘Kilkari’  Kilkari is an audio-based mobile service that delivers weekly audio messages to families about pregnancy, child birth and child care. Each pregnant woman and infant’s mother, registered in Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS), a web- enabled name-based system to monitor and ensure delivery of full spectrum of services to all pregnant women and children, would receive weekly voice messages relevant to the stage of pregnancy or age of the infant. Such messages will empower and educate women and parents to help create a better environment in maternal and child health. This service will be provided free to...

India Tech Vision-2035 India's technology thinktank under the ministry of science & technology has come out with `Technology Vision 2035' here at the ongoing Indian Science Congress, identifying the challenges ahead and how they can be dealt with through technological interventions while realising the dream of a developed India by the year 2035. The thinktank -Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) -in the vision document lists a technology roadmap for India, giving details of 12 sectors and technologies that in some cases exist but need to be deployed, some in the pilot stage that must be scaled up and technologies in R&D stage. It, in fact, talks about many future technologies, ranging from flying cars, real time translation software, personalised medicine, wearable devices, e-sensing (e-nose and e-tongue) to 100% recyclable materials among others which may be used in different areas to solve day-to-day problems “The trajectories del...

Li-Fi: A green avatar of Wi-Fi Li-Fi is not expected to completely replace Wi-Fi, but the two technologies could be used complementarily to create more efficient, green and future-proof access networks. Li-Fi, or light fidelity, invented by German physicist and professor Harald Haas, is a wireless technology that makes use of visible light in place of radio waves to transmit data at terabits per second speeds—more than 100 times the speed of Wi-Fi. Though it was discovered in the last decade, proofs of concept to test commercial utilization started emerging only in 2015. To start with, it is being tested for indoor usage, i.e., in offices and establishments, but it is also sure to go outdoor in a big way by making use of existing infrastructure used for street and traffic lights, which are already moving towards LED lamps. Li-Fi offers great promise to overcome the existing limitations of Wi-Fi by providing for data-heavy communication in short ranges. Since it does not pollute,...

National Biotechnology Development Strategy 2015-2020 Unveiled  The National Biotechnology Development Strategy -2015-2020 was unveiled by the Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences,   Dr. Harsh Vardhan . The envisaged mission is: ·          Launch a major well directed mission backed with significant investment for generation of new Biotech Products. ·          Empower scientifically and technologically India’s incomparable Human Resource. ·          Create a strong Infrastructure for R&D and Commercialisation ·          Establish India as a world class Bio-manufacturing Hub. The Key elements  are: ·          Building a Skilled Workforce and  Leadership ·          Revitalizing ...

The free basics initiative by Facebook Summary of the opinion: ·          There is a huge difference between being a gateway to the Internet and being a gatekeeper to the Internet, and Free Basics worryingly has all the makings of the latter. ·          It is about accumulating millions and millions of new users by offering products free, in the hope that the build-up could be milked for revenue in the years to come. ·          That’s the same tactic many start-ups use to show “traction” while pitching to big moneyed venture capitalists. ·          You find an unrestricted Internet economy with millions yet untapped in India. ·          Facebook  is identifying this need and bringing a sense of urgency to addressing it. ·         ...