In News

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently announced his vision for a new decentralized web platform that is being called Web 5.0.

Understanding Web 5.0

• Neurotechnology-based: The (emotional) connection between humans and machines will be the focus of Web 5.0. based on neurotechnology, many individuals will begin to engage regularly.
• Emotive Web: Web 5.0, the sensory and emotive Web. Its goal is to create computers that can communicate with humans.
• Web 5.0 Processes: The Intelligent Web or Web 5.0 will come with smart devices that predict your needs based on your habits without including many clues foreshadows. Symbiotic web programs will be able to interpret evidence on a more complex level, both emotionally and intellectually. This is the Web, which exists in complete coexistence with daily life, operating without thought and organically interacting with what we do.
• To start with, Web5 is being built on the Bitcoin blockchain, developed by The Block Head (TBH), one of the Bitcoin business units of Jack Dorsey.
• The goal of Web5 is to create certain tools on Bitcoin that could not only give users control over their data but also would allow them to control all their interactions on the internet.
• The platform aims to bring decentralised identity and data storage to applications. It lets developers focus on creating delightful user experiences while returning ownership of data and identity to individuals.
• Simply put, Web 5.0 is Web 2.0 plus Web 3.0 that will allow users to ‘own their identity’ on the Internet and ‘control their data’.

Evolution of the Internet and how the world moved from Web 2.0 to Web5:

• Web 1.0 was the first generation of the global digital communications network. It is often referred to as the “read-only” Internet made of static web-pages that only allowed for passive engagement.
• Web 2.0: The next stage in the evolution of the web was the “read and write” Internet. Users were now able to communicate with servers and other users leading to the creation of the social web.
• Web 3.0: It refers to the next generation of the worldwide web, supposed to take over from Web2.0, which is more centralised and focused on user-created content.
  • The idea of Web3 is a decentralised web that challenges the dominance of tech giants by giving the power and data in the hands of the internet users rather than big tech corporations.
  • Some of the use cases of Web 3.0 are Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs), Decentralised Finance (DeFi), Stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), private and digital infrastructure, and creator economy enablers like NFTs and blockchain-based games.
  • The unique selling point of Web 3.0 is the current challenges with data privacy. Instead of providing our personal data over and over again on each platform we sign up for, we will instead simply authorise the platforms to use our data. If something changes, like our address or credit card number, we only need to change it once on our end, and all our sites will be updated.
• Both Web 3.0 and Web 5.0 envision an Internet without threat of censorship-from governments or big tech, and without fear of significant outages.

Source:

• What is Web 5.0 – the blockchain-powered digital network Twitter’s ex-CEO wants to build?
• From Web3 to Web5: How the evolution of internet is focused on data privacy
• What is Web 1.0 Web 2.0 Web 3.0 Web 4.0 Web 5.0?:
• What is web 5.0? A brief introduction to World Wide Web 1.0-5.0:

In News

As per a recent survey carried out by AICTE, the average math score of first-year engineering students is below 40%.

About the Survey

• The survey, in which 1.29 lakh students from 2,003 AICTE-approved institutes participated, was carried out between September 2021 and June 2022.
• The survey was carried out through a specially designed online test named PARAKH.
  • Parakh Online Pvt Ltd developed complete assessment solutions to provide end-to-end online and offline assessment solutions to the corporate, government bodies, and educational institutes.
• The survey was undertaken to evaluate the quality of technical education and identify learning gaps affecting employment prospects of engineering graduates.
• Students were tested on aptitude, physics, chemistry, maths, area of specialisation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT).

What are the major highlights of the Survey?

• The Maths Struggle: According to a learning assessment survey carried out by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), first-year engineering students, across major disciplines, struggle with mathematics more than any other core subject.
  • As per the survey, struggle with maths, which sets in at the foundational learning level in primary classes, remains unaddressed in the school education system for a vast majority of students.
• Lowest Scorer: Civil (engineering) is the lowest performing department across maths, physics and chemistry streams.
• Year-wise Performance: The overall report card shows that second-year students were the best performers, while the performance of third and fourth-year students reflected a clear dip.
• Losing Focus: The report points out that students gradually lose focus on aptitude-related topics such as general knowledge and logical reasoning that companies take into account while hiring.
• Areas of Interest: Among third and fourth-year engineering students, the emerging areas that are gaining traction are Internet of Things (IoT), AI, Data Science, Robotics and Cyber Security.
• Class 12th and College Linkage: There also appears to be a direct correlation between the performance in Class XII board exams and in college. Students who scored above 85% in Class XII board exams obtained, on an average, 01% marks in PARAKH, as compared to 41.11% by those who had scored 40-55% in their board exams.
• Employability Concerns: Employability of engineering graduates remains a major area of concern for the AICTE. According to available data with the regulator, only 96 lakh of 5.8 lakh students who graduated in 2019-20 got campus placements.
• Vacant seats leading to drop in Quality: Earlier, the AICTE acknowledged that the huge number of vacant seats in colleges was among the reasons behind the drop in quality of engineering education, affecting grades as well as job prospects of students.

Source:

• Average math score of first-year engineering students below 40%: AICTE:
• PARAKH:

In News

A delegation of MLAs from Gujarat had recently visited the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly to learn about its recently adopted e-Vidhan system for paperless proceedings.

About the News

• Uttar Pradesh is one of the few state legislatures in India that has implemented the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA), and its last session was completely digitised.
• Nagaland became the first state to implement NeVA, in March, 2022.

Understanding the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) system

• What is it? The National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) is a system for digitising the legislative bodies of all Indian states and the Parliament through a single platform on which house proceedings, starred/unstarred questions and answers, committee reports etc. will be available.
  • NeVA is a work-flow system deployed on NIC Cloud, MeghRaj which helps the Chair of the House to conduct the proceedings of the House smoothly. It includes a website and a mobile app.
  • mNeVA is a user-friendly Mobile App of NeVA which is available on Android as well as on iOS.
• Idea behind the initiative: There has been a shift towards digitisation in recent years by the government in the backdrop of “One Nation One Legislative Platform” idea put forth by the Prime Minister in 2021. 
• Significance: The initiative will eliminate the use of paper in day-to-day functioning which in turn would help in saving lakhs of trees annually.
  • The system has been developed to make all the work and data related to legislative bodies available online for the use of both citizens and the members of Assemblies.

How Successful has NeVA been?

• National: Himachal Pradesh’s Legislative Assembly implemented the pilot project of NeVA in 2014, where touch-screen devices replaced paper at the tables of the MLAs.
  • According to the state government’s website, by adopting the digitised system, the state has annually saved 6,000 trees, and around Rs 15 crore in expenditure.
• International:
  • In 2021, the Government of Dubai became the world’s first government to go 100% paperless. This was expected to cut expenditure by USD 350 million and also save 14-million-man-hours.
  • The US government announced in 2019 that by the end of 2022, all government agencies would stop dealing with paper.

Challenges to the implementation of NeVA

The International Parliamentary Union, an organisation of more than 170 parliaments including India, in a 2018 report outlined some challenges in this regard:

• Access to devices and reliable internet and electricityis an issue particularly for legislators representing rural constituencies.
• Lack of training and heightened concerns over securityare some more recent issues in the road to digitization.

 Source:

• Explained: What is the e-Vidhan system for paperless legislation?
• Nagaland becomes first paperless Assembly by implementing National e-Vidhan Application programme
• About NeVA:

On June 14 World blood donor day is observed every year. The day aims to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products for transfusion, as per the World Health Organization (WHO). The day also highlights the critical contribution that voluntary and unpaid blood donors make to the health systems to save lives. The slogan and theme for the 2022 World Blood Donor Day theme is ‘Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives'.

World Blood Donor Day is celebrated on the birthday of Karl Landsteiner, who discovered various blood groups. Before Carl detected blood groups, blood transfusions used to happen without knowing the various blood groups. This discovery made Karl Landsteiner win the Nobel Prize in the year 1930.

Source:

• World Blood Donor Day 2022: History, Significance, Theme, Objectives and everything you need to know:
• Today is World Blood Donor Day. Why it's important:

• Context:Four Holy Relics of Lord Buddha are being taken to Mongolia for an 11-day exposition to coincide with Mongolian Budhha Purnima celebrations. 
• Thefour relics are among the 22 Buddha relics, currently housed at Delhi’s National Museum.  
• Together, they are known as the ‘Kapilvastu Relics’since they are from a site in Bihar believed to be the ancient city of Kapilvastu that was discovered in 1898.

The sacred relics: 

• Buddha is said to have attained salvation in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar district. 
• His body was cremated with ceremonies befitting a universal king. 
• His relics from the funeral pyre were collected and dividedinto eight shares to be distributed among the Ajathsatrus of Magadha, the Licchavis of Vaishali, the Sakyas of Kapilavastu, Mallas of Kushinagar, Bullies of Allakappa, the Mallas of Pava, the Koliyas of Ramagrama and a Brahmana of Vethadipa.The purpose was erecting stupas over the sacred relics.  
• Stupas erected over the bodily relics of Buddha (Saririka stupas) are the earliest surviving Buddhist shrines. 
• It is said thatAshoka (272–232 BC), being an ardent follower of Buddhism,opened up seven of these eight stupas, and collected major portion of the relics for enshrinement within 84,000 stupas built by him in an effort to popularise Buddhism as well as the cult of the stupas. 

Source:  

• Explained: The four Buddha relics travelling to Mongolia as ‘state guest’, their importance
• From India with love: These 4 Kapilvastu relics are ‘state guests’ at this year’s Mongolian Budhha Purnima

Image source:

• https://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2022/jun/12/special-iaf-aircraft-to-carry-buddha-relics-to-mongolia-2464509.html

• Context: Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare has recently launched the Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight, IDCF-2022.
• IDCF-2022 aims to attain zero child deaths due to childhood diarrhoea which scales up during monsoon season.
• Under this initiative, government aims at covering over 80% of children (of the 10 crore children below five years of age) affected by diarrhoea across the country.
• The importance of this drive to make ORS available in the household when needed at the time of diarrhoea.
  • For this, ASHAs will visit all households with children below 5 years of age for pre-positioning the ORS who will also explain the benefits of these. They will also administer ORS and Zinc to children who are in need of these during diarrhoea.
• Diarrhoea is usually caused by a virus, bacteria and protozoa like rotavirus, E.coli It can also be a sign of inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome. Symptoms include frequent, loose, watery stools and stomach pain.
• The main reasons for diarrhoeal attacks amongst children are contaminated water, inadequate sanitation, poor hygiene, malnutrition and lack of immunisation.

Source:

• Union MoS Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar launches Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight.
• Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight

Image source:

• https://nhm.gov.in/index1.php?lang=1&level=5&sublinkid=1310&lid=691

• Context: The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs has recently visited Loktak Lake and assured assistance for the development of the lake.
• It is the largest freshwater lake in the Northeast located in Manipur.
• The attractions of this lake are the‘phumdis’ or floating biomass.
  • Phumdis are heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil, and organic matter at various stages of decomposition floating over it.
• The Keibul Lamjao National Park,the only floating wildlife habitat on earth, is on the southwestern part of the lake and is the last natural habitat of the Sangai or brow-antlered dancing deer.
• This ancient lake plays an important role in the economy of Manipur. It serves as a source of water for hydropower generation, irrigation and drinking water supply.
• The lake is also a source of livelihood for the rural fishermen who live in the surrounding areas and on phumdis, also known as “phumshongs”.
• Considering the ecological status and its biodiversity values, the lake was initially designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1990.
• It was also listed under the Montreux Record in 1993, "a record of Ramsar sites where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring or are likely to occur".

Source:

• Union MoS Nisith Pramanik visits Loktak Lake of Manipur; Assures all possible assistance in its development
• Loktak Lake

Image source:

• Loktak Lake

• Context: The Vice President addressed the gathering on the birth anniversary of revolutionary and freedom fighter, Ram Prasad Bismil.
• Bismil was born on 11^thJune, 1897, in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur district to Murlidhar and Moolmati.
• He joined the Arya Samajfounded by Dayananda Saraswati in 1875 which had a profound influence on him.
• He often employed poetryas his weapon of choice in the fight against the colonial forces.
• He believed that freedom cannot be achieved without violence and bloodshed, that were in stark contrast to Gandhian ideals of ‘ahimsa’.
• Bismil formed organisation Matrivediand was one of the chief founders of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) (whose constitution was drafted chiefly by him) along with Sachindra Nath Sanyal and Jadugopal Mukherjee.
• He was involved in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918and Kakori Conspiracy Case of 1925.
• He attended the 1921 session of the Indian National Congress at Ahmedabad.
• In Lucknow Central Jail, Bismil wrote his autobiography, considered as one of the finest works in Hindi literature and also the cult song “Mera rang de Basanti chola”.
• He was awarded a death sentence and was hung on 19^thDecember 1927.

Source:

• V Prez M Venkaiah Naidu remembers great revolutionary & freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil on his birth anniversary
• Ram Prasad Bismil, The Revolutionary Who Became Synonymous With The Poem ‘Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna’

Image source:

• https://mythicalindia.com/features-page/ram-prasad-bismil-biography-age-family/

Essence: This article enlists five key areas of opportunity as India moves forward in the background of implication of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the short run, the impact of sharp increase in oil prices and global inflation and their concomitant impact on FDI flows, the rupee and India's interest rates is negative. It recommends that India must share its own vision of the future, build international consensus and lead in 'new equilibrium' for the world as India makes its next big transition to become a global power.

Why you should read the article?

• Understand how the Russian invasion of Ukraine offers India an opportunity to reset emerging world order and become a global power.
• Identify five major focus areas of intervention such as ease of doing business, diaspora, technology, climate change and education and health to become global superpower.

Source:

• Five key areas of opportunity: Here's how India can live up to its full potential:

Essence: In times when male led technology powered startups are striving to become unicorns and attracting investments from across the borders, women led enterprises are largely informal and concentrated in low tech, low productivity sectors.

Informal nature of enterprises and limited land ownership by female owners is creating barriers in accessing formal credit. This is despite the fact that female owned enterprises are shown to have higher profit margins. Lack of awareness about government support and gender digital divide are another hurdle faced by women entrepreneurs. Less than 2 percent of women-led own-account enterprises use internet facilities.

Impact of initiatives like Jan Dhan Yojna and developments like exponential growth of digital lending should be leveraged to meet the credit needs of women-led enterprises.  Women customers are shown to be a more profitable and scalable segment for fintechs. It is for the fintech platforms and governments to come together to create an enabling environment to facilitate deeper penetration of digital lending to women-led enterprises which can lead to inclusive growth.

Why should you read this article?

• To understand problems faced by women-led enterprises in accessing formal credit.
• To appreciate opportunities created by fintech platforms to address credit related problems of women entrepreneurs.
• To note steps which need to be taken by Government and fintech platforms to convert this potential into real assistance.

Source:

• Engendering Fintech lending to power women’s entrepreneurship:

Background

• Deforestation is a major contributor to climate change; it has an impact on the entire ecosystem.
• Vishal Shrivastava of Madhya Pradesh is using the Miyawaki technique to address the problem.

About Vishal’s Initiative

• Vishal Srivastava, who was born into a lower-middle-class family, was always aware of life's difficulties. He struggled with water and electricity, and he even ran behind tanks to collect drinking water.
• His circumstances compelled him to read about water scarcity and other environmental issues. He joined the NGO Prayas, which works in afforestation using the Miyawaki technique.
• Later, he went around government offices explaining the importance of afforestation and the techniques available.
• He and other NGO members planted 50,000-60,000 tree saplings in Gwalior, 20,000 in Jabalpur, and 10,000-12,000 in Katni.

Quote: God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools. - John Muir

Source:

• After Visiting Drought-Prone Villages, 23-YO Plants 3 Lakh Trees in Three Years: