Daily Current Affairs Notes for 02 September 2022

University Grants Commission (UGC) will now monitor and resolve all grievances of students and staff in varsities through a centralised portal called `e-Samadhan`.

Overview

University Grants Commission (UGC) will now monitor and resolve all grievances of students and staff in varsities through a centralised portal called `e-Samadhan`. This platform ensures transparency, prevents unfair practices in Higher Education Institutions and provides a time-bound mechanism for redressal of grievances, according to the UGC. The commission has merged its existing portals and helplines except for the anti-ragging helpline and developed the new portal.

About UGC e-samadhan:

• UGC e-samadhan, a step forward for the service to stakeholders which would be a single Window system for all the stakeholders for registering their complaints/ grievances on the portal which would be available all the time at the click of a mouse.
• A toll-free No. 1800-111-656 will also be available on the UGC website 24×7 for lodging complaints by the stakeholders on any issue faced by them. Nearly 38 million students are expected to be benefitted from the e-Samadhan portal.

Notably: University Grants Commission has vast and wide stakeholder composition which includes 1043 Universities, 42343 Colleges, 3.85 Crore Students and 15.03 Lacs Teachers ( AISHE 2019-20).

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has announced to build of India's first and one of the world’s largest Carbon Fibre plants.

Overview

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has announced to build of India’s first and one of the world’s largest Carbon Fibre plants at Hazira, Gujarat. The plants will have a capacity of 20,000 MTPA based on Acrylonitrile feedstock. Overall, in the Oil to Chemical segment (O2C), Ambani Ambani announced an investment of Rs 75,000 crore over the next five years to expand capacities in existing and new value chains. These value chains are – Polyester value chain, Vinyl chain, and New Materials. The first phase of the plant will be completed in 2025.

• The company will further integrate its composites business with Carbon Fibre to produce Carbon Fibre composites. Apart from other applications, Carbon Fibre composites are also used to meet the rapidly growing light-weight requirements of Mobility and Renewable Energy. Thus, Carbon Fibre promises to be a multi-decade growth engine for O2C, Ambani highlighted. Reliance has commenced its journey to becoming net carbon zero by 2035 with a set of concrete actions.

The world’s largest religious monument is expected to cost $100 million and replace Cambodia's 400-acre-large Angkor Wat temple complex. 

Overview

The world’s largest religious monument is expected to cost $100 million and replace Cambodia’s 400-acre-large Angkor Wat temple complex. In addition to becoming the largest religious monument in the world, the Temple of Vedic Planetarium in West Bengal, which will serve as the headquarters of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), will also have the world’s biggest dome. The Vedic Planetarium will offer guests a tour of the various parts of the cosmic creation.

How Big It Is:

• The Temple of Vedic Planetarium is in West Bengal’s Mayapur in Nadia district and, once completed, it will be larger than the Taj Mahal and St. Paul’s Cathedral in the Vatican. The temple will open in 2024, following a two-year delay brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It will purportedly replace Cambodia’s 400-acre-large Angkor Wat temple complex as the largest religious monument. The Temple of Vedic Planetarium is ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada’s vision and is apparently inspired by the design of the Capitol building in the United States. Srila Prabhupada stated his preference for the temple’s exterior style in July of 1976.

The Cost Of It:

• The head of this massive undertaking is Alfred Ford, the great-grandson of renowned businessman Henry Ford and the future owner of Ford Motor Company. He changed his name to Ambarish Das in 1975 after joining ISKCON. He gave $30 million for the infrastructure after becoming fully committed to Prabhupada’s idea of converting Mayapur into the home of ISKCON. The Vedic Planetarium has a massive rotating model that illustrates how the planetary systems move as they are described in holy books like the Bhagavad Puraaṇ. There are also explanations and exhibits that show how these movements relate to the world that is visible to humans. The temple’s construction began in 2010, and it is expected to cost $100 million. On each of its storeys, the temple can accommodate 10,000 devotees who can pray, sing, and even dance in front of Lord Krishna in accordance with ISKCON temple custom.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), organized a stakeholder consultation workshop on Global Navigation Satellite (GNSS) based tolling in India.

Overview 

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), organized a stakeholder consultation workshop on Global Navigation Satellite (GNSS) based tolling in India. The main objective of the day-long workshop was to seek input and suggestions from various industry experts and stakeholders on different aspects of the GNSS-based tolling system. Also, this workshop will work as a  guide to help strategies and design the future roadmap for free flow rolling systems in India based on GNSS technology.

• Various stakeholders were invited for deliberations on GNSS based tolling system including government departments, ISRO, NIC, and industry players such as Vehicle Manufactures, AIS-140 On-Board Unit (OBU) manufacturers, Global GNSS service providers, Banks, and Payment Aggregators/Gateway service providers. The discussions for GNSS based tolling system were held on the findings of the pilot carried out by the NHAI in Delhi.

About NHAI

The National Highway Authority of India or NHAI is an autonomous agency of the Government of India which was set up in 1995. NHAI is responsible for the management of a network of over 50,000 km of National Highways out of the 1,32,499km in India. It is a nodal Agency of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has launched ‘Mahila Nidhi’, a loan scheme for the social and economic development of women through loans.

Overview

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has launched ‘Mahila Nidhi’, a loan scheme for the social and economic development of women through loans. Under the scheme, apart from everyday necessities, easy credit will be available to women for business expansion and starting new businesses. In the budget 2022-23, the government said it will establish ‘Mahila Nidhi’ through Rajasthan Rural Livelihood Development Council. Rajasthan is the second state in the country after Telangana, where Mahila Nidhi has been established.

About the Mahila Nidhi scheme:

• Mahila Nidhi has been established to help women self-help groups get loans from banks, increase the income of poor and marginal women, and social and economic progress of women through skill development.
• The scheme will facilitate crediting of loans up to Rs 40,000 within 48 hours, and above Rs 40,000 within 15 days.
• At present 2.70 lakh self-help groups have been formed in 33 districts of the state connecting 30 lakh families.
• In 2022-23, 50,000 self-help groups are proposed to be formed, connecting six lakh families.
• A total of 36 lakh families in the state will get benefits from Rajasthan Mahila Nidhi in a phased manner based on their needs.