AarogyaPath, mask developed at BARC, ‘Town hall Meet’ for STIP 2020 launched, Arunachal Pradesh Jal Jeevan Mission
1. High quality, cost-effective face mask developed at BARC
- High quality Face mask has been developed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Mumbai which is affiliated to Department of Atomic Energy.
- The mask was developed using HEPA filter and is expected to be cost-effective also.
- Pertinent to mention that Department of Atomic Energy has about 30 units which include R&D, academic institutions, aided hospitals, PSUs etc.
- Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai founded by the legendary Scientist Dr Homi J. Bhabha also functions under the aegis of Department of Atomic Energy.
- Referring to some of the major activities and initiatives of the Department of Atomic Energy during the last one year, the scientific fraternity for coming to the support of society in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
- In addition to the high quality face mask, he informed that the Atomic/Nuclear scientists have also developed the protocol for re-use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) subsequent to radiation sterilisation.
- The SOP for the same is under consideration by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- One of the important achievements under the Modi government has been that we have extended the activities of atomic energy to different parts of the country whereas it remained confined mostly to few States in South India or in West like Maharashtra.
- It is informed that the work is in progress to set up the first nuclear plant in North India at a place called Gorakhpur which is quite close to Delhi.
2. Arunachal Pradesh getting tap connections under Jal Jeevan Mission
- In the remote Hiba village in Kurung Kumey district of Arunachal Pradesh, where the only available means of transportation (earthern road) in fair weather is used.
- Under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), every rural household is to be provided with a Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) ensuring adequate and safe drinking water on a regular basis, including such remote villages.
- Hiba is one such remote village in Arunachal Pradesh and reaching it is an arduous journey starting with a road journey of 330 Kms (which is mostly under improvement) from the capital city of Itanagar to Langrh, the HQ of Nyobia circle and another 25 Kms from there on earthen road.
- To add to the already existing challenges of altitude, tough terrain and poor road infrastructure, the area receives 7 months of rainfall making it further difficult to transport the construction materials for developmental activities.
- Despite all challenges Department trying to achieve the vision of ‘Jal Jeevan Mission: Har Ghar Jal’ in the State by 2023.
- The officials got in touch with village communities and explained the role of Gram Panchayats/ communities in planning, implementation, managing, operating and maintaining their own water supply systems and encouraged their participation accordingly. They further engaged them as masons, plumbers, electricians, etc. in implementation of the water supply scheme.
- This is in true spirit of JJM, viz. emphasis on decentralized, demand-driven and community-managed implementation of the programme instilling ‘sense of ownership’ for long-term sustainability of the water supply system.
- With such consistent and painstaking efforts, all 51 households of Hocho, Rello and Sara habitations have been provided with household tap connections.
3. 'Town hall Meet' for STIP 2020 launched
- STIP 2020 Town Hall Meet, the Track-I public & expert consultation process for the formulation of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) 2020 was launched by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India Professor K VijayRaghavan and Secretary, DST Professor Ashutosh Sharma.
- India is one of the few postcolonial countries that have invested in the development of Science and Technology.
- The necessity to make science and knowledge accessible freely for everybody across languages and other existing barriers.
- The consequence of the policy should be to reach out to as many people as possible and for that translation of science is extremely important so that people can think independently in their own language and access knowledge and resources.
- The Track I consultation process involves an extensive public and expert consultations through Science Policy Forum, a dedicated platform for soliciting inputs from larger public and expert pool, to make the formulation of STIP 2020 decentralised, bottom-up, and inclusive.
- The STIP 2020 formulation process is organised into 4 highly interlinked tracks, which will reach out to a large number of stakeholders for consultation in the policy formulation.
- Track I involves an extensive public and expert consultation process through Science Policy Forum – a dedicated platform for soliciting inputs from larger public and expert pool during and after the policy drafting process.
- Track II comprises experts-driven thematic consultations to feed evidence-informed recommendations into the policy drafting process.
- Twenty-one (21) focused thematic groups have been constituted for this purpose.
- Track III involves consultations with Ministries and States, while
- Track IV constitutes apex level multi-stakeholder consultation.
4. AarogyaPath with a vision of "providing a path which leads one on a journey towards Aarogya (healthy life)"
- A CSIR National Healthcare Supply Chain Portal that aims to provide real-time availability of critical healthcare supplies https://www.aarogyapath.in has been launched on June 12,2020.
- AarogyaPath would serve manufacturers, suppliers and customers.
- The information platform named AarogyaPath with a vision of “providing a path which leads one on a journey towards Aarogya (healthy life)” was developed to address these challenges.
- This integrated public platform that provides single-point availability of key healthcare good scan be helpful to customers in tackling a number of routinely experienced issues.
- These issues include dependence on limited suppliers, time-consuming processes to identify good quality products, limited access to suppliers who can supply standardized products at reasonable prices within desired timelines, lack of awareness about the latest product launches, etc.
- It also helps manufacturers and suppliers to reach a wide network of customers efficiently, overcoming gaps in connectivity between them and potential demand centers like nearby pathological laboratories, medical stores, hospitals, etc. It will also create opportunities for business expansion due to an expanded slate of buyers and visibility of new requirements for products. Over time, analytics from this platform is expected to generate early signals to manufacturers on over capacity as well as on looming shortages.
- This would help to reduce wastage of resources due to inefficient forecasting and excess manufacturing, generate awareness about the demand for new technologies.
- The portal is developed in partnership with Sarvodaya Infotech and institutional users and manufacturers / authorised suppliers of healthcare essentials are encouraged to register and participate actively.
