Important Facts For Prelims (16th March 2019)

• 16 Mar 2019

FINE-2019

• Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship(FINE) is a unique initiative of the Office of the President of India to recognise, respect and reward grassroots innovations and foster a supportive ecosystem.
• This Festival is a celebration of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.
• It was organised by National Innovation Foundation(NIF) and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
• It was started in 2015.

Objective

• FINE would provide an excellent platform to the innovators for building the linkages with potential stakeholders whose support can improve their prospects in coming years for the larger social good.
• It will also help in promoting lateral learning and linkages among the innovators to enrich the ecosystem for new India.

NIF

• It was established in year 2000, with the assistance of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
• Contributed to strengthen the grassroots technological innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge in the country.
• NIF has created a huge database of ideas, innovations and traditional knowledge practices from all over the country.

SBI launches ‘YONO Cash’

• State Bank of India recently launched ‘YONO Cash’ for cardless withdrawal of cash at SBI ATMs across the country.
• YONO app is designed to help its users withdraw cash without a physical debit card.
• Customers can initiate the cash withdrawal process on the YONO app and set a six-digit YONO Cash pin for the transaction.
• It will generate six digit reference number for the transaction and send on their registered mobile number via SMS.
• The cash withdrawal has to be completed within the next 30 minutes at the nearest ATMs using both PIN and the reference number received.

Neolithic Era

• According to a recent research, changes to the human diet prompted by Neolithic advances in agriculture played a role in human jaw evolution that allowed people to pronounce the consonants ‘f’ and ‘v’.
• The study indicates that language is not merely a random product of history but was also linked to biological changes at the time.
• The Neolithic era, from 6,000 B.C. to 2,100 B.C., was when wheat and barley-based farming took root and animals such as goats, sheep and cows were domesticated.

Fourth Session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4)

• Recently, the fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) took place in Nairobi, Kenya.
• The theme of UNEA-4 was ‘Innovative Solutions for Environmental Challenges and Sustainable Consumption and Production’.
• During the assembly Nations agreed that they have to speed up moves towards a new model of development in order to respect the vision laid out in the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.
• Nations unanimously agreed to significantly cut down on single-use plastic products like cups, cutlery, and bags by 2030.
• Along with the summit, United Nation Environment Program has also launched the Global Environment Outlook Report.

United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA)

• The United Nations Environment Assembly is the governing body of UN Environment Program.
• The United Nations Environment Assembly is the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment.
• It addresses the critical environmental challenges facing the world today.
• The Environment Assembly meets biennially to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law.
• The United Nations Environment Assembly was created in June 2012, during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also referred to as RIO+20.

UNlocking NATional Energy Efficiency potential (UNNATEE)

• The government has launched the National Energy Efficiency Strategy Plan 2031 – UNNATEE (UNlocking NATional Energy Efficiency potential).
• Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has developed a national strategy document for accelerating energy efficiency in India.
• The strategy document titled UNNATEE describes a plain framework and implementation strategy to establish a clear linkage between energy supply-demand scenarios and energy efficiency opportunities.
• The document offers a comprehensive roadmap to address India’s environmental and climate change mitigation action through energy efficiency measures.