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📰 News: Bihar seeks UNESCO's tag for 'Cyclopean wall'. • Bihar government has sent a fresh proposal to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to get Cyclopean wall, a more than 2,500 years old structure at Rajgir, listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. • The Cyclopean Wall of Rajgir is a 40 km long wall of stone which encircled the ancient city of Rajgir. • It was built before 3rd century BC, to protect the ancient city of Rajgir from external enemies and invaders. • It is believed that the Cyclopean Wall at Rajgir is similar to “Frontiers of the Roman Empire” that runs through Germany, UK and Northern Ireland, which was included on UNESCO’s world heritage list in 1987. • Bihar is the home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. • Nalanda University is one of the two UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bihar. It is listed as the Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara at Nalanda, Bihar in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of India list. Another ancient monument in the state that has been included in UNESCO World Heritage Site list, is Mahabodhi temple of Bodhygaya. 📰 News: e-DAR portal to speed up accident compensation claims. • A web portal designed by the government in consultation with insurance companies will provide instant information on road accidents with a few clicks and help accelerate accident compensation claims, bringing relief to victims’ families. • The Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has developed the portal named 'e-DAR' (e-Detailed Accident Report). • Digitalised Detailed Accident Reports (DAR) will be uploaded on the portal for easy access. The web portal will be linked to the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD). • From iRAD, applications to more than 90% of the datasets would be pushed directly to the e-DAR. • Stakeholders like the police, road authorities, hospitals, etc., are required to enter very minimal information for the e-DAR forms. Thus, e-DAR would be an extension and e-version of iRAD. • An apex court Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul expressed satisfaction after technicians demonstrated the working of the portal to the court and amicus curiae, advocate N. Vijayaraghavan and advocate Vipin Nair. • The court, in its detailed order, recorded that e-DAR portal would conduct multiple checks against fake claims by conducting a sweeping search of vehicles involved in the accident, the date of accident, and the First Information Report number. • The portal would be linked to other government portals like Vaahan and would get access to information on driving licence details and registration of vehicles. • For the benefit of investigating officers, the portal would provide geo tagging of the exact accident spot along with the site map. This would notify the investigating officer on his distance from the spot of the incident in the event the portal is accessed from any other location. • Details like photos, video of the accident spot, damaged vehicles, injured victims, eye-witnesses, etc., would be uploaded immediately on the portal. • “Apart from the state police, an engineer from the Public Works Department or the local body will receive an alert on his mobile device and the official concerned will then visit the accident site, to examine it, and feed the required details, such as the road design. Hotspots for accidents would also be identified so as to obtain solutions to avoid accidents at these hotspots,” the apex court’s order noted.

📰 News: Bihar seeks UNESCO's tag for 'Cyclopean wall'. • Bihar government has sent a fresh proposal to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to get Cyclopean wall, a more than 2,500 years old structure at Rajgir, listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. • The Cyclopean Wall of Rajgir is a 40 km long wall of stone which encircled the ancient city of Rajgir. • It was built before 3rd century BC, to protect the ancient city of Rajgir from external enemies and invaders. • It is believed that the Cyclopean Wall at Rajgir is similar to “Frontiers of the Roman Empire” that runs through Germany, UK and Northern Ireland, which was included on UNESCO’s world heritage list in 1987. • Bihar is the home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. • Nalanda University is one of the two UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bihar and was listed in 2002. It is listed as the Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara at Nalanda, Bihar in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of India list. Another ancient monument in the state that has been included in UNESCO World Heritage Site list, is Mahabodhi temple of Bodhygaya. 📰 News: e-DAR portal to speed up accident compensation claims. • A web portal designed by the government in consultation with insurance companies will provide instant information on road accidents with a few clicks and help accelerate accident compensation claims, bringing relief to victims’ families. • The Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has developed the portal named 'e-DAR' (e-Detailed Accident Report). • Digitalised Detailed Accident Reports (DAR) will be uploaded on the portal for easy access. The web portal will be linked to the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD). • From iRAD, applications to more than 90% of the datasets would be pushed directly to the e-DAR. • Stakeholders like the police, road authorities, hospitals, etc., are required to enter very minimal information for the e-DAR forms. Thus, e-DAR would be an extension and e-version of iRAD. • An apex court Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul expressed satisfaction after technicians demonstrated the working of the portal to the court and amicus curiae, advocate N. Vijayaraghavan and advocate Vipin Nair. • The court, in its detailed order, recorded that e-DAR portal would conduct multiple checks against fake claims by conducting a sweeping search of vehicles involved in the accident, the date of accident, and the First Information Report number. • The portal would be linked to other government portals like Vaahan and would get access to information on driving licence details and registration of vehicles. • For the benefit of investigating officers, the portal would provide geo tagging of the exact accident spot along with the site map. This would notify the investigating officer on his distance from the spot of the incident in the event the portal is accessed from any other location. • Details like photos, video of the accident spot, damaged vehicles, injured victims, eye-witnesses, etc., would be uploaded immediately on the portal. • “Apart from the state police, an engineer from the Public Works Department or the local body will receive an alert on his mobile device and the official concerned will then visit the accident site, to examine it, and feed the required details, such as the road design. Hotspots for accidents would also be identified so as to obtain solutions to avoid accidents at these hotspots,” the apex court’s order noted.

■ State Energy and Climate Index (SECI): • Gujarat has topped the list for larger States in the Niti Aayog's State Energy and Climate Index–Round 1 that has ranked States and Union Territories (UTs). • The index ranks states and union territories (UTs) on six parameters - 1) The performance of distribution companies; 2) Access, affordability and reliability of energy; 3) Clean energy initiatives; 4) Energy efficiency; 5) Environmental sustainability and 6) New initiatives. The parameters are further divided into 27 indicators. • The States have been categorised based on size and geographical differences as larger and smaller States and UTs. The SECI is based on 2019-20 data, covering 27 key performance indicators. • Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger States while Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were the bottom three States. • Among the smaller states, Goa, Tripura and Manipur were the top performers, while Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were the bottom three states. • Among UTs, Chandigarh, Delhi and Daman & Diu/Dadra & Nagar Haveli are the top performers while Andaman & Nicobar, J&K and Lakshadweep were the bottom three performers. • Punjab was the best performer in discom performance while Kerala topped in access, affordability and reliability category. • Haryana was the best performer in clean energy initiative among larger States and Tamil Nadu was the best performer in the energy efficiency category. • At the national level, India's overall score on a scale of 100 stands at 40.6, with the average score at the national level for discoms' performance is 56.8 while it is 11.1 for new initiatives, which is the lowest among all parameters. •" The State Energy and Climate Index (SECI) is the first index that aims to track the efforts made by States and UTs in the climate and energy sector. These parameters have been devised keeping in mind India’s goals for climate change and clean energy transition,” the report said. • It said the SECI is the first step in this journey where States can explore and benchmark themselves on various parameters. For instance, in terms of energy efficiency, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have done well while in terms of DISCOM’s performance, two small UTs — D&D and D&N have done well. • “The best practices for all indicators in better performing States can be adopted by other States to improve their performance. The SECI will help States to understand their performance across multiple parameters/indicators,” it said. • Noting that for a few States data for a few indicators are not available, which has also affected the overall ranking of the States, the report said data updation and validation need to be a priority of State governments going forward to help them design better policies.

■ Purple Revolution (Lavender Revolution): • The Purple or Lavender Revolution was launched in 2016 by the Union Ministry of Science & Technology through the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research’s (CSIR) Aroma Mission, which aimed at increasing lavender cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir. • The aim of the mission is to empower domestic farmers and support India’s aromatic crop-based agro-economy by reducing imports of aromatic oils and increasing homegrown varieties. • The mission’s focus was to take advantage of the geographical conditions and increase the homegrown market along with farmers’ income. • Under the mission, first-time farmers were given free lavender saplings, while those who had cultivated lavender before were charged Rs. 5-6 per sapling. • The Aroma Mission is in line with PM Narendra Modi’s vision of improving farmers’ livelihood and doubling their income. • Under the Mission, initially, CSIR introduced high-value essential oil-bearing lavender crop through its Jammu-based laboratory, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicines (IIIM) for cultivation in districts Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri. However, the crop is native to Europe. • Apart from providing planting material, distillation units are provided and farmers are trained in the extraction process. As a result, many of them have become entrepreneurs specializing in lavender oil. • It has generated rural employment of farmers, spurred entrepreneurship in aromatic oils and other aromatic products manufacturing, and lowered the import of essential and aromatic oils. • Aroma Mission is attracting Startups and agriculturists from across the country. During Phase-I, CSIR helped cultivate 6000 hectares of land and covered 46 Aspirational districts across the country. Further, more than 44,000 people were trained. • CSIR has launched Phase-II of Aroma Mission in which it is proposed to engage over 45,000 skilled human resources and will benefit more than 75,000 farming families across the country. Apart from Lavender, many other high-value aromatic and medicinal cash crops have been introduced by CSIR in J&K. • Union Minister said that “Purple Revolution” is Jammu & Kashmir’s contribution to "Start-ups India", an initiative that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016. □ Aroma Mission: • The Aroma Mission was launched in 2016 to boost the cultivation of plants like lavender which have aromatic medicinal properties through new technology developed by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). • The mission is envisaged to bring transformative change in the aroma sector through desired interventions in the areas of agriculture, processing and product development for fuelling the growth of aroma industry and rural employment. • The mission will promote the cultivation of aromatic crops for essential oils that are in great demand by the aroma industry. • It is expected to enable Indian farmers and the aroma industry to become global leaders in the production and export of some other essential oils in the pattern of menthol mint. □ Startup India Initiative, 2016: • Startup India Initiative was launched on 16th January, 2016. • Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared January 16 as "National Startup Day". • The initiative aims to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and Startups in the country that will drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities and transforming India into a country of job creators instead of job seekers.