7 September 2022 – Current Affairs

New National Cooperation Policy

Paper 2 – Governance

Why Should You Know?

Union Home and Cooperation Minister, Shri Amit Shah announces constitution of National level committee for drafting the national cooperation policy document

In details –

• The Union Home and Cooperation Minister, Shri Amit Shah has announced the constitution of a National level committee for drafting of the national cooperation policy document.
• The new National Cooperative Policy is being formulated to realize the vision of ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi ‘ under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.

Members –

• The National Level Committee under the Chairmanship of former Union Cabinet Minister, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, consists of 47 members from all parts of the country.
• The Committee comprises experts of the cooperative sector; representatives of National / State / District & Primary Cooperative Societies; Secretaries (Cooperation) & Registrars of Cooperative Societies of States / UTs; and Officers from Central Ministries / Departments.
• The Union Home and Cooperation Minster, Shri Amit Shah had recently announced that a national Cooperation policy will soon be prepared which will have a holistic approach from PACS upwards.

Existing Policy –

• The existing National Policy on Cooperatives, was formulated in 2002 with the objectives of facilitating all round development of cooperatives and providing necessary support, encouragement and assistance to them, so as to ensure that cooperatives work as autonomous, self-reliant and democratically managed institutions accountable to their members and make a significant contribution to the national economy.
• Today, India has around 8.5 lakh co-operative societies with a member base of around 29 crore, spread across the length and breadth of the country.
• These co-operatives are engaged in varied activities like agro-processing, dairying, fisheries, housing, weaving, credit, marketing, to name a few.

About new policy –

• The new National Cooperation Policy document is being formulated with a view to fulfilling the mandate given to the new Ministry of Cooperation, which inter alia, includes realizing the vision of ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’;
• strengthening cooperative movement in the country and deepening its reach up to the grassroots; promoting cooperative-based economic development model;
• creating an appropriate policy, legal and institutional framework to help cooperatives realise their potential.
• The new policy will go a long way in strengthening the co-operative movement in the country.

India-Mongolia Cooperation

Paper 2 – International Relations

Why Should You Know?

The Indian defense minister is on his visit to Mongolia, during which he held bilateral talks with the Mongolian Defense Minister.

In details –

• On the first day of engagements of his Mongolia visit, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with his Mongolian counterpart Lt Gen SaikhanbayarGursed in Ulaanbaatar on September 06, 2022.
• He also called on the President of Mongolia and Chairman of State Great Khural.
• The Raksha Mantri also inaugurated a Cyber Security Training Centre, built with assistance from India, and laid the foundation stone of the India-Mongolia Friendship School, to be constructed with Indian assistance.

Bilateral talks –

• After reaching Mongolia on the night of September 05, 2022 to become the first Indian Defence Minister to visit the country, the hectic day of engagements began for Shri Rajnath Singh with a ceremonial guard of honour at the Ministry of Defence in Ulaanbaatar.
• It was followed by delegation-level talks between the Raksha Mantri and his Mongolian counterpart.
• They discussed effective & practical initiatives to further expand bilateral defence engagements and deliberated on regional & global issues of mutual interest.
• Both Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to fully implement the Strategic Partnership based on mutual trust & understanding, common interests and shared values of democracy & rule of law.
• The two Ministers also reiterated their resolve to reinvigorate the India-Mongolia Joint Working Group (JWG), which will meet in India later this year.

Call ons –

• Shri Rajnath Singh called on the President of Mongolia & Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces MrUkhnaagiinKhurelsukh, wherein they recalled their strong bonhomie and previous interaction in 2018 when together they laid the foundation stone for the ongoing Oil Refinery project being undertaken by assistance from India.
• He also met the Chairman of State Great Khural of Mongolia Mr G Zandanshatar.

Cyber Security Training Centre –

• Another highlight of the day was the inauguration of Cyber Security Training Centre, built with assistance from Government of India, at National Defence University in Ulaanbaatar by the Raksha Mantri.
• The Raksha Mantri was briefed about the facilities at the Centre by the officials.
• He also interacted with the personnel of the Mongolian Armed Forces being trained at the Centre.

India-Mongolia Friendship School –

• Shri Rajnath Singh, along with Minister of Education and Science of Mongolia, laid the foundation stone of the India-Mongolia Friendship School, which is being established with the assistance from Government of India.
• It may be recalled that India established diplomatic relations with Mongolia in 1955. Mongolia has declared India as a strategic partner and “spiritual neighbour” in 2015, “strategic partnership” between the two Asian democracies was declared during visit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
• Defence is an important element of bilateral engagements with Mongolia.

Shikshak Parv-2022

Paper 2 – Education

Why Should You Know?

Ministry of Education is celebrating ShikshakParv, 2022 from 5th to 30th September 2022 in the country.

In details –

• Ministry of Education is celebrating ShikshakParv, 2022 from 5th to 30th September 2022 in the country.
• All the States and UTs are participating in this event conducting various activities engaging students and teachers to mark the occasion and show respect to our teachers following the Guru-shishya Parampara of our country.
• DIETs, Block Resource Centres and Cluster Resource Centres are being involved and engaged for discussion and interaction on innovative pedagogies with teachers.

National Curriculum Frameworks (NCF) –

• As a follow-up of the National Education Policy 2020, four National Curriculum Frameworks (NCF) are being developed using bottom-up approach, wherein States and UTs are also involved in providing the inputs for the NCFs.
• The four areas of NCFs are-
• School Education,
• Early Childhood Care and Education,
• Teacher Education
• Adult Education.

Tech Platform –

• A Tech Platform has been built to facilitate the entire process of development of curriculum frameworks in a paperless manner using a bottom-up approach including consultations and preparation of reports at all levels.
• The platform also utilizes Machine Learning (ML) for consolidation and summarization of consultations / opinions.
• Digital Survey for National Curriculum (DiSaNC): Based on the recommendation of NEP-2020, the process for formulation of National Curriculum Framework (NCF) is being undertaken and is available on https://disanc.ncert.gov.in/.

Interaction with Teachers –

• While consultations with various stakeholders such as universities, civil society groups, experts, teacher educators, teachers, parents, students, etc., for seeking inputs for NCFs are ongoing, an interaction with Awardee Teachers, who have accomplished milestones with their contributions in School Education was organised on the occasion of ShikshakParv, 2022.
• NCERT led this interaction on some of the major recommendations of the National Education Policy, such as implementation of new curricular and pedagogical structure 5+3+3+4, multilingual education, holistic assessment, innovative pedagogies, etc. Discussions were held on the themes encompassing core competencies at four stages of school education, cultural rootedness in curriculum, multilingual education, flexibility in choice of subjects at secondary stage, innovative pedagogy and holistic assessments.
• Awardee Teachers provided inputs for shaping up of NCF based on their grass root level experiences. Awardee Teachers participated in the discussion in the presence of officials and faculty members from Ministry of Education and NCERT.

National Centre for Disease Control

Paper 2 – Health

Why Should You Know?

Dr Mansukh Mandaviya virtually lays Foundation Stone of NCDC branches in 6 states

In details –

• Union Minister of Health and Family WelfareDr. Mansukh Mandaviyavirtually laid the foundation stone of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) branches in six States (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh).
• Currently, NCDC has eight branches in states with focus on one or few diseases, these will be repurposed and new branches are being added with the mandate for integrated disease surveillance activities, dealing with Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), multi-sectoral and entomological investigations etc.

Significance-

• NCDC branches in the states and UTs will support the State Govts in timely disease surveillance and monitoring.
• These will enable early warning leading to timely intervention based on evidence gathered from the field.
• The state branches will coordinate with NCDC HQR at New Delhi with real time sharing of data and information aided by cutting edge technology.
• NCDC branches would also be crucial in ensuring timely availability of updated guidelines so that accurate scientifically backed information can be disseminated easily.

NCDC Laboratory –

• Union Health Minister also inaugurated the NCDC Laboratory Block -1,Residential Complex and NRL of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme.
• The NCDC Laboratory Block will house state-of-the-art testing and referral laboratories concerned with bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic diseases of public health concern.
• This laboratory is equipped with 50 high-capacity labs which include 30 Bio-safety level3 labs, 5 RT-PCR labs and 15 other labs.
• The laboratories will be designed to not only offer testing facilities, but also provide hands-on training, capacity building and quality assurance services to whole network of laboratories across the country.

What is NCDC?

• The National Centre for Disease Control was previously known as the National Institute of Communicable Diseases(NICD).
• It was established by the Government of India on 30 July 1963 to expand and reorganize the activities of the Malaria Institute of India (MII). The restructured institute was established to develop a national center for teaching and research in various disciplines of epidemiology and control of communicable diseases.
• This institute is under the administrative control of Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. An officer of the Public Health sub-cadre of the Central Health Service is its director and is also the administrative and technical head of the institute.
• The headquarter of the institute is in Delhi and till now it had Nine branches in the country at the following places (will increase now)-Alwar, Bengaluru, Trivandrum, Calicut, Coonoor, Jagdalpur, Patna, Rajahmundry and Varanasi.
• The Institute has several technical departments at its headquarters such as Center for Epidemiology and Parasitic Diseases (Department of Epidemiology, Department of Parasitic Diseases), Department of Microbiology, Department of Animal Diseases, Center for HIV/AIDS and Related Diseases, Center for Medical Entomology and Vector Management, Department of Malaria and Coordination, Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology.
• NCDC has been set up to function as a public health-oriented, laboratory-based, national facility that will function independently of the microbiology/virology laboratories existing in academic centers in the country.
• NCDC has adopted a public health oriented approach rather than a patient oriented clinical unit and this will also be reflected in the service commitments, research policies and teaching of the institute.

Objectives of NCDC –

• To be South Africa’s national organ for public health surveillance of communicable diseases.
• To collect, analyze and interpret data on communicable diseases in an ongoing and systematic manner.
• Continuous and systematic monitoring of new infectious disease emergencies and the re-emergence or return of previously controlled infectious diseases or imports of foreign infectious diseases.
• To be able to respond to infectious diseases in a timely and efficient manner, to identify infectious diseases in their early stages or to anticipate epidemics through investigation, research and data analysis.
• To conduct direct and relevant research to answer questions related to the problems of regional public health communicable diseases, and to monitor and manage them.
• Establish a formal framework for providing prompt and consistent access to the data and information generated by NCDC to those who need it.
• Capacity building in communicable diseases at the national and regional level.
• To provide reference work for communicable diseases laboratory in government and private sector at national and regional level.

Cyber Security Exercise

Paper 3 – Science & Tech, Security

Why Should You Know?

Recently India & UK conducted Counter Ransomware Exercise for 26 Nations.

In details –

• India’s National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and the UK Government in collaboration with BAE Systems successfully designed & conducted the Cyber Security Exercise for 26 Countries as part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group which is being led by India under the leadership of National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC).
• The exercise has been facilitated by BAE Systems via the Immersive Labs platform, and the scenario has been written specifically for the participants based on Threat Intelligence and operational experiences.
• The theme of the exercise is based on Energy Sector in which the respective National Cyber Crisis Management Teams of the CRI Partner Nations will have to deal with a ransomware attack on multiple electricity distribution companies.
• These companies are responsible for the distribution of electricity to domestic customers and are the last link to the public supply.
• The exercise explores the complexity of decision-making around response to ransomware on Critical National Infrastructure.
• There are over 26 invitees, from CRI Partner Nations and their respective organisations; including Cyber Security, National Crisis Management, National Security Policy, Critical National Infrastructure, and Law Enforcement Agencies.

Aim –

• The aim to organise this virtual Cyber Exercise on Ransomware Resilience is to simulate a large, wide-spread cyber security incident affecting organisations within a country.
• This exercise has been designed to support the mission of the CRI, and aims to allow participating CRI Members to test their capability to respond to a major ransomware incident;
• Demonstrates the benefit of sharing information and collaborating during a major incident; provide opportunities for the CRI Nations to share their approaches to countering ransomware.

National Mines Ministers Conference

Paper 3 – Natural Resources

Why Should You Know?

The Two day National Conference of Mines Ministers is being organizedin Hyderabadby the Ministry of Coal and Mines.

In details –

• The Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Mines will be organizing a two-day National Mines Ministers’ conference in Hyderabad on 9th & 10th September, 2022 to formulate new and effective strategies to further encourage mineral exploration in the country and also to assess the effectiveness of recent policy reforms brought about by the Centre in the mining sector.
• Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi, Minister of State for Mines, Coal & Railways Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve, Secretaries of Coal, Mines Ministries, Ministers from different states, Principal Secretaries (Mines) and DGMs/DMGs and other senior functionaries will be attending the crucial conference.
• Considering the fact that in the next 25 years the global demand for minerals will exceed current production, the mineral sector will play a vital role in our overall advancement. Hence, National Mines Ministers’ conference will be an effective platform to put forward the constraints faced by the state governments in the mineral sector.
• The conference aims to strengthen the ties between the Ministry of Mines and various state governments.
• The highlights of the conference include discussions on the efforts made in the mining sector and effective utilization of National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) funds by state governments, presentations by state governments of Karnataka, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujrat, presentation of the status of auction by state governments and interaction with Notified Private Exploration Agencies (NPEAs).
• On the second day of the conference, Ministry of Coal will be showcasing the reforms in the coal sector and their impact, approaches to land acquisition for coal mining projects and coal logistics through different presentations. Operationalization of already allotted coal mines and their status will be another focus of attention.

MoU between India and Bangladesh

Paper 2 –International Relations

Why Should You Know?

On September 6, 2022 the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina signed seven Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs)

In details –

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina signed seven Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) on issues related to water sharing, railways, space, science and judiciary in New Delhi’s Hyderabad House.
• These MoUs have been signed and exchanged on 06th September 2022 during the visit of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina to India.
• Following the signing of the MoUs, senior officials from both sides exchanged the agreements in presence of PM Modi and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina.
• Ahead of the signing of the MoUs delegation level talks were also held between PM Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart.Both leaders also discussed the issue of counterterrorism.

The SevenMoUs signed between India and Bangladesh –

1. The MoU to finalise an interim bilateral agreement on water sharing of the Kushiyara river was signed
2. An MoU was signed between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India and Bangladesh Council of Scientific Industrial Research (BCSIR) on scientific cooperation
3. An MoU was signed between the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and the Bangladesh Supreme Court to promote capacity building
4. The Union ministry of railways signed an MoU with the Bangladesh Railways under which India will train personnel of Bangladesh Railways in the Indian Railways’ training institutes
5. Another MoU was signed between both departments under which they will collaborate to provide IT solutions to Bangladesh Railways
6. MoU signed between Bangladesh Television and Prasar Bharati
7. MoU signed between both countries to promote cooperation in space technology and scientific and research collaboration

MoU on Railway Cooperation –

• Following the visit of Multi-sectoral scoping Indian Railways delegation to Bangladesh in April 2022 and the recent meeting between Minister of Railways of India and Bangladesh Railway Minister on 1st June 2022, to further promote friendly cooperation between the two countries and deepen the inter-governmental railway co-operation between the two countries, Two Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Bangladesh have been prepared.

Two MoU –

1. MoUon  “Training of Bangladesh Railway Employees in the training Institute of Indian Railways”
2. The purpose of this MoU is to provide the framework of cooperation and to facilitate training of employees of Bangladesh Railway at the training institutes of Indian Railways including field visits.
3. This will include designing, coordinating, conducting seminars, workshops, classroom and fields training.
4. Indian Railways will also coordinate with officials of Ministry of Railways, Government of Bangladesh, as required, including visiting and assisting in setting up and improving training facilities in Bangladesh and study requirements.

• MoU on “Collaboration in IT Systems such as FOIS and other IT applications for Bangladesh Railway”
• For all aspects of computerization like passenger ticketing, freight operations and control office, train inquiry system, digitization of asset management, HR and Finance infrastructure in Bangladesh Railway, Ministry of Railway, Government of India, through Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), will offer IT solutions to Bangladesh Railway.

“Manthan” Program

Paper 3- Infrastructure

Why Should You Know?

Ministry of Road Transport & Highway is going to organised “Manthan” Program on September 8, 2022.

In details –

• Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate , “Manthan”, in Bengaluru on September 08, 2022. He will be accompanied by General (Dr) VK Singh (Retd.), Union Minister of State for RT&H and Civil Aviation, and Shri Basavaraj Bommai, Chief Minister, Karnataka.
• Manthan— a three-day by-invitation conference cum public EXPO organised by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways aims to anchor discussions across multiple issues and opportunities in the roads, transport and logistics sector and engage with the States, UTs and other key stakeholders from the industry for sharing of best practices, policy support, and capacity development.
• The theme of Manthan is ‘’IDEAS TO ACTION: Towards a smart, sustainable ,road infra, mobility and logistics ecosystem.’’
• Several state ministers holding portfolios of the ministries of PWD, Transport and Industries and senior government officials from these ministries will participate in the conference.
• In addition, senior industry leaders and experts are also scheduled to join the event. Apart from these, senior officials from MoRTH and NHAI, policy planners, experts, corporate leaders and technocrats, amongst others, would also join the deliberations during the event.

Area of discussion –

• The discussions will be across three broad areas:
• first, on Roads, covering road development, new materials and technology, and road safety.
• Secondly, in the transport sector, covering EVs and vehicle safety, among others; and
• thirdly, alternate and future mobility, covering ropeways, multimodal logistics parks, Parvatmala, and digital interventions, to name a few.

Other Things –

• In addition, the 41st Meeting of the Transport Development Council will be organised during the programme. The Next-Gen M Parivahan Mobile App will also be launched during the event.
• An open-to-public drone show is also planned for 8th September evening at Gayatri Vihar, Palace Grounds.
• The three-day public EXPO organised alongside the conference is aimed at showcasing technologies and materials in highway development, and new programmes like Bharatmala, Parvatmala, and EVs, to name a few.
• More than 65 exhibitors, including, Hyundai construction, JCB, ACE, Volvo, Tata Hitachi, Kataline, 3m, Tiki Tar & Shell, TVS motors, Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar, Kataline, Writgen India, ICEMA, Ammann India, Indian Road Survey, are participating in the public EXPO.

New Employability Skills curriculum

Paper 2 – Education

Why Should You Know?

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship upgrades Employability Skills curriculum for Young Learners to be 21st century ready.

In details –

• On September 6, 2022 The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) launched a revamped curriculum on employability skills in association with Quest Alliance, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and various other curriculum bodies within the MSDE ecosystem.
• This initiative is being supported by the Future Right Skills Network, a collaborative effort by Quest Alliance, Accenture, Cisco and J.P. Morgan.
• The curriculum was launched as part of the “ShikshakParv” celebrations at the Dr Ambedkar International Centre in the august presence of Smt. Annpurna Devi, Minister of State for Education, Dr. Subhas Sarkar, Minister of State for Education, Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Minister of State for Education.

Signifincance –

• More than 2.5 million students from over 15,600 government and private Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) will benefit from the program which includes a revamped and expanded 120-hour curriculum in Hindi and English.
• Some of the modules include introduction to employability skills, digital skills, citizenship, diversity and inclusion, career development and goal setting, getting ready for work and entrepreneurship.
• Variants of the curriculum of 30, 60 and 90 hour duration are also being launched for both long-term and short-term courses.
• The revamped curriculum is aimed at addressing some of the industry-training gaps and helping youth navigate the future of work as well as improve their employability.
• 12 modules in the curriculum have been chalked out keeping in mind the post-Covid job market and its volatility. The modules help learners build self-learning mindsets and find a place for themselves in new kinds of jobs, such as those in the green and gig economy.

Need –

• For young people to be able to keep pace with the fast-changing world they need to keep up-skilling and reskilling.
• Employability Skills are extremely key in enabling the transition of young people into the world of work with confidence, which is the single most important aspect any employers look for. Hence it needs to be embedded in every skilling program.

Three key benefits –

The curriculum will provide three key benefits to learners:

1. building a self-learning mindset,
2. becoming career-ready in a post-pandemic world, and
3. developing awareness around new careers and being equipped with 21st century skills.
4. It will also help educators to upgrade their skills for new age classrooms and familiarize themselves with blended learning models.
5. While physical books covering the revamped curriculum are being released now, digital copies for blended learning will be available soon.
6. Speaking about the new curriculum, Harish Krishnan, Managing Director and Chief Policy Officer, CISCO India and SAARC, said that Digitization is accelerating the need for new skill sets across production, manufacturing, and service industries, and it is important for candidates to keep up with the ever-evolving technology and business landscape

Facilitator guide –

• A facilitator guide will be provided to trainers so that they can teach the revamped curriculum using a blended learning module.
• A digital version of the student workbook is available on Bharat Skills portal and Employability Skills portal.
• Additionally, MSDE and National Instructional Media Institute (NIMI) plan to publish these books for use by the state departments.

About the Future Right Skills Network

• The Future Right Skills Network is a collaborative effort by Accenture, Cisco and JP Morgan facilitated by Quest Alliance with an overarching mission to make India’s youth future-ready.
• The network is supported by civil society organizations and state governments in partnership with the Directorate General of Training (DGT) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
• The Future Right Skills Network is on a mission to empower young people in technical and vocational training institutes with employability skills for the knowledge economy.

About Quest Alliance

• Quest Alliance is a not-for-profit trust that equips young people with 21st century skills by enabling self-learning.
• It design scalable solutions that enable educators to address critical gaps for quality education and skills training.
• Itfacilitate learning networks and collaboration to bring about systemic change fuelled by research and innovation. (https://www.questalliance.net/)

Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST)

Paper 2 – Education

Why Should You Know?

Recently a new I-STEM initiative named “Women in Engineering, Science and Technology (WEST)” was launched on 5th September 2022.

In details –

• A new I-STEM (Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map) initiative called “Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST)” was launched by Dr. Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary, Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India on 5th September 2022.
• The WEST programme will cater to women with a STEM background and empower them to contribute to the science, technology, and innovation ecosystem.
• I-STEM is a national web portal for sharing research equipment/facilities and is the umbrella under which many programmes for promoting collaborations in R&D and technological innovation among and between academia and industry, especially startups, are underway.
• Through the WEST initiative, I-STEM shall provide a separate platform to scientifically inclined women researchers, scientists, and technologists for pursuing research in basic or applied sciences in frontier areas of science and engineering.
• Women may join the WEST program and explore opportunities to become stakeholders in various domains and pursue careers in R&D at various levels: technicians, technologists, scientists, and entrepreneurs. Opportunities range from operating scientific equipment and maintaining them, to designing and manufacturing them.
• The Skill Development programmes under the WEST initiative will provide training for women with S&T backgrounds to brush up on their abilities and become engaged “in the field” as lab technicians and maintenance engineers, filling crucial gaps in the R&D infrastructure of the country. This initiative will also help bring women back into S&T domains after a career break.
• With this experience, women can become entrepreneurs to serve as consultants for the operation and maintenance of sophisticated equipment/instruments through the I-STEM platform. This would go a long way towards filling a “skills gap”, and putting publicly-funded equipment to good use.
• Under the WEST initiative, the current support being provided to S&T startups by women entrepreneurs by I-STEM will be enhanced. The access to R&D facilities and R&D software platforms (COMSOL, MATLAB, LABVIEW, AUTOCAD) available through the I-STEM portal will form a strong support network for women entrepreneurs in S&T.
• I-STEM shall provide a platform/forum for women researchers to deliberate on achievements, issues, and exchange ideas on taking the country forward through advances in science, technology, and innovation. In addition, a digital consortium “Connect Quickly” for online discussion and immediate support has also been established through the I-STEM WhatsApp and Telegram platforms.
• A dedicated team of women will ensure the successful implementation of the WEST initiative.