27 December 2023

• Mission Karmayogi: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh launched an extended version of Mission Karmayogi with VIKAS (blended 63-hour training) on Good Governance Day, 27 December.
• Tokenisation: RBI expanded card-on-file tokenisation to card-issuing banks, strengthening digital payment security.
• Pong Dam: A new Vulture Cafe was inaugurated at the Pong Dam eco-sensitive zone in Himachal Pradesh for vulture conservation.
• MedTech Mitra: The Union Health Ministry launched MedTech Mitra to support medical device startups and reduce India's 80 per cent import dependence.

GS area: Governance, Government Schemes

The extended Mission Karmayogi programme with the VIKAS component was launched on Good Governance Day:

• VIKAS: Variable and Immersive Karmayogi Advanced Support. Combines 33 hours of online training on the iGOT platform with 30 hours of offline experiential training.
• Domain courses: 12 domain-specific e-learning courses developed by DOPT in under two months.
• Target scale: 2 crore government users.
• Core idea: Shift from "rules-based" civil servant identity (following procedures) to "roles-based" identity (delivering outcomes).
• iGOT platform: Integrated Government Online Training platform, the technology backbone of Mission Karmayogi.
• NPCSCB: National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building oversees the programme under the PM's Public HR Council.

Static linkage: Governance reform, civil services, capacity building.

GS area: Economy, Digital India

The Reserve Bank of India expanded card-on-file tokenisation:

• Tokenisation: The process of replacing sensitive payment card data (card number, CVV) with a non-sensitive equivalent "token" that is unique to a device and merchant combination.
• How it works: When a user saves a card on an app or website, the actual card data is replaced by a random token. If the merchant's system is breached, only the useless token is exposed.
• Expansion: Card-issuing banks and financial institutions are now permitted to generate tokens (previously only card networks like Visa and Mastercard were allowed to issue tokens).
• Mobile and internet banking: These channels are enabled for token generation, expanding the use cases.

Static linkage: Digital economy, RBI, cybersecurity.

GS area: Economy, Health, Governance

The Union Ministry of Health launched MedTech Mitra:

• Purpose: A regulatory and commercial navigation platform for medical device innovators and startups.
• Import dependence: India currently imports about 80 per cent of its medical devices. The platform aims to reduce this by supporting indigenous development and regulatory approval of devices.
• How it works: MedTech Mitra connects device developers with CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) for accelerated regulatory reviews, and with hospitals for clinical trial placements.
• Policy context: India's medical device market is one of the largest in Asia. The National Medical Devices Policy 2023 set targets for import substitution.

Static linkage: Health policy, manufacturing, Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

GS area: Environment, Ecology

A Vulture Cafe was inaugurated at the Pong Dam eco-sensitive zone in Himachal Pradesh:

• Pong Dam: Built in 1975 on the Beas River in Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh.
• Protected area history: Notified as a wildlife sanctuary in 1983. Declared a Ramsar wetland (Wetland of International Importance) in 2002.
• Ramsar significance: Pong Dam Lake is a winter habitat for migratory waterfowl including Bar-headed Geese and various ducks.
• Vulture Cafe: A supplementary feeding station providing carcasses free from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like diclofenac. Diclofenac in livestock carcasses caused the catastrophic vulture decline in South Asia in the 1990s-2000s.
• Gyps vultures: India's critically endangered Gyps species (white-rumped vulture, Indian vulture, slender-billed vulture) declined by 99 per cent due to diclofenac poisoning.

Static linkage: Biodiversity, Ramsar Convention, river conservation.

GS area: Sports (for miscellaneous)

Harmanpreet Kaur became the first cricketer to play 150 Women's T20 International matches:

• Key achievements: Led India to the first Asian Games gold medal in cricket at Hangzhou 2023. Scored 171* in the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup semi-final against Australia.
• Awards: Named in Wisden's Cricketers of the Year and BBC's 100 Influential Women list.
• Hometown: Moga, Punjab.

Static linkage: Sports, women's cricket (miscellaneous static).

GS area: History, Science and Technology

Archaeologists reported that the Amnya Fort in western Siberia, Russia, is the world's oldest known fortification at approximately 8,000 years old:

• Features: Pit-house depressions with earthen walls and wooden palisades.
• Significance: Challenges the assumption that fortifications required the economic surplus of agricultural societies. The Amnya builders were hunter-gatherers.
• Earlier assumption: Conventional archaeological theory held that fortified settlements emerged only after the transition to agriculture, when surplus food created wealth worth defending.

Static linkage: History, archaeology, prehistoric culture.

• Ionosphere: The layer of Earth's atmosphere between 50 km and over 1,000 km altitude, composed of charged atoms and molecules ionised by solar radiation. The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism conducted a decade-long study of ionospheric variations from Antarctica, contributing to understanding of polar plasma dynamics.
• Angola leaves OPEC: Angola announced its withdrawal from OPEC citing disputes over production quota allocations. Angola joins Ecuador and Qatar as countries that have exited OPEC in recent years. OPEC member nations together hold about 80 per cent of the world's proven crude oil reserves.