Prelims 18-05-2024
Vibrant Village Programme
Why in news?
- Recently, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)informed that India is likely to spend over ₹2 crore on each kilo metre of road to be constructed along the China border in Uttarakhand and Sikkim under the Vibrant Village Programme.
About the Vibrant Village Programme
- It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme aimed at the comprehensive development of villages in India’s border regions by improving the quality of life of people residing in select villages in the region.
- It focuses on creating opportunities for livelihood generationthrough the promotion of tourism & cultural heritage, skill development & entrepreneurship, agriculture, horticulture and the development of cooperative societies.
- Vibrant Village Programme covers select villages in 46 blocks across 19 districts in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and the Union Territory of Ladakh.
- It has been allocated a financial outlay of ₹4800 crore for the financial years 2022-23 to 2025-26.
Impact of Programme
- Vibrant Village Programme is expected to have a transformative impact on the villages it covers and expected to stop migrationin the population residing along the border.
- It aims to be integrated with the Prime Minister Gati Shaktimega project that brings major Ministries together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.
DigiLocker
Why in news?
- As of early May 2024, DigiLocker has over 270 million registered users, while nearly 6.7 billion documents have been retrieved through it.
About DigiLocker
- It is a flagship initiativelaunched in 2015 of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) under the Digital India programme.
- It is a digital platform and a paperless solution designed to ensure that a user can access the latest and updated versions of their documents online.
- It aims to provide a digital wallet to every citizen so that all lifelong documents, including educational, identity, health records, insurance policy papers, PAN records, and driving licences and certificates, can be accessed anywhere, anytime.
Features and Benefits
- DigiLocker helps in keeping at bay fake, poor quality print copies, and outdated documents that miss key details.
- The issued documents in the DigiLocker system are deemed to be at par with original physical documents.
- It means these digital documents are no less valid than their originals.
- Additionally, using the app can help with faster service delivery.
Security Aspects
- DigiLocker is a government-approved application and is ideally maintained with strict security protocols framed by officials.
- As per the MEITY, ‘DigiLocker ties into Digital India’s vision of providing citizens a secure document access platform on a public cloud’.
Aurora Lights in India
Why in news?
- Indian Astronomical Observatory captured the aurora borealison camera in Ladakh above Mount Saraswati.
About
- Northern lights were also witnessed in other parts of the world, including in the United States and the United Kingdom.
- Meanwhile, southern lights, or aurora australis, were spotted in countries such as New Zealand and Australia.
About Auroras
- Auroras are brilliant ribbons of light.
- These lights primarily appear near the poles of both the northern and southern hemispheres all year round but sometimes they expand to lower latitudes.
- In the north, the display is called the aurora borealis; in the south, it is known as the aurora australis.
- It can be seen in a range of colours, including blue, red, yellow, green, and orange.
- The colours depend on the type of gas and its altitude. Oxygen glows red or blue; nitrogen can be green, blue, or pink
- Causes: It is caused by collisions between fast-moving electrons from space with the oxygen and nitrogen in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
- They are caused by magnetic storms that have been triggered by solar activity, such as solar flares (explosions on the Sun) or coronal mass ejections (ejected gas bubbles).
- Energetic charged particles from these events are carried from the Sun by the solar wind.
- Occurrence: Auroras have been observed on Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus
- The aurora borealis is usually visible in high-latitude regions around the Arctic and Antarctic.
- They are caused by magnetic storms that have been triggered by solar activity, such as solar flares (explosions on the Sun) or coronal mass ejections (ejected gas bubbles).