An online complaint box for reporting child sexual abuse, the POCSO e-Box was launched by the Minister for Women and ChildDevelopment, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in New Delhi today. Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), e-Box, is
an online complaint management system for easy and direct reporting of sexual offences against children and timely actionagainst the offenders under the POCSO Act, 2012. Minister of State for Women and Child Development , Smt Krishna Raj,
Secretary WCD, Ms Leena Nair, NCPCR Chairperson, Smt Stuti Kacker and other senior officials of the WCD Ministry and NCPRC\were present on the occasion.
•    Speaking on  the occasion, Smt Maneka Gandhi said that the idea of an e-Box came out of a police initiative inwhich physical complaint boxes were placed in schools. The e-Box will make it possible to implement it on a large scalethroughout the country. A large number of incidents of abuse are against close relatives and so they get pushed under the
carpet, the Minister said. E-Box is very simple to operate and will help to maintain the confidentiality of the complaint,Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi explained. 
•    Smt Krishna Raj said that all efforts should be made to generate awareness about the e-Box so that more and morechildren can come out with their suffering. Highlighting the lifelong trauma of a child suffering from abuse , Mrs Stuti
Kacker said that the online facility has been created so that the child can be given immediate help.
•    The e-Box is incorporated prominently in the home page of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR) website http://ncpcr.gov.in/  where a user has to simply push a button named POSCO e-Box. This will navigate to apage with a window containing an animation movie. The animation movie reassures the child that whatever has happened to
him/her is not his/her fault and she/he need not feel guilty and that NCPCR is a friend which will help her. After the userpresses the arrow on this page, it navigates  to another page where he/ she has to select at least one picture option(describing the category of harassment) and fill the form with details such as mobile number, e-mail and description of the
harassment followed by  the ‘submit’ button. The complaint is then registered and a unique auto-generated complaint number is flashed.
•    Sexual offences against children are rampant but only a small percentage gets reported. According to a study, about 53% of children surveyed, reported having faced one or the other form of sexual abuse in their lifetime.  In most cases,
the offender is a family member/near relative or an acquaintance.  The child victim in such cases generally does not report these offences.  Sexual abuse scars the psyche of the affected child for  entire life. A child who is sexually abused has
to face very serious consequences such as cognitive impairment, violent and risk behaviour including depression andanxiety. Feeling shame and guilt with poor interpersonal relationship & self esteem are other consequences of sexually
abused children.  
•    Being concerned about such offences against children, the  Government enacted POCSO Act, 20012 to protect them from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography, while safeguarding the interest of the child at every stage
of the judicial process, by incorporating child friendly mechanisms for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences through designated Special Courts.   Any human being up to the age of 18 years is recognised as a child under the POCSO Act.
 

India has become one of the fastest growing and developing economies in the world. India, being enriched with variety of minerals, has witnessed increased activity in the field of mining to support the rapid economic development. The exploitation of natural resources and its impact on environment and ecology have become far more significant. There have been concerns on the adverse impact of mining on ecology, environment such as pollution of water, air and land affecting adversely the local communities as well as displacements of people. There is an urgent need to balance mining activities vis a vis protection of environment.
•    The Ministry through Indian Bureau of Mines has developed a template for Scheme of Star Rating of Mines. The main objective of this system is to bring all mines to a minimum standard of Star Rating in the shortest possible time frame to adopt sustainable practices. A two layered system providing self-evaluation templates to be filled in by the mine operator followed by validation through Indian Bureau of Mines. 
The star rating will be based on the following parameters:
•    Scientific and systematic mining to mitigate environmental impact.
•    Addressing social impacts of resettlement and rehabilitation of mining affected people.
•    Local community engagements and welfare programmes for socio-economic development of local community.
•    Progressive and final mine closure to ensure for restoration of mined out land in better conditions then original.
•    Adoption of international standards for mining operations and reporting.
The main advantages of the Star Rating of Mines will be:
•    Comprehensive mitigation of environmental impacts on land, air and water by mining activities.
•    Collation of various technical, environmental and social data of the mining sector at one platform by IBM, which would be utilised to enable better management and monitoring of the compliance of various conditions laid down by statutory authorities for mining.
•    In addressing cumulative impacts in mining areas through coordinated and collective action in the long run by helping in formulation of Comprehensive Regional Plans’- a robust Environment &Social Management framework.
•    Availability of the information on mining as well as the conservation activities in public domain to enable greater transparency to enable effective participation of stakeholder and speedy resolution of conflicts.
•    Reduced delays in obtaining various clearances (environmental, forest, mining plan, etc.) for mines. Self-certification to be allowed for the approvals for scheme of mining.
•    The progressive and final mine closures will be monitored to ensure that the lessee leaves the area after proper management of any adverse impact over the mined area.
•    Encourage adoption of highest standards and sharing and good practices.
 

MEA has launched a mobile app that integrates multiple social media handles of over 170 Indian missions on a common platform. 
•    The application will help to further expand digital presence of MEA and serve as a common platform to further its public outreach. 
•    The application has been developed by social media giant Facebook for free.
•    It will help people connect with Indian missions abroad and the MEA through a range of social media platforms without having to access individual websites. 
•    The MEA uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Gplus, Youtube, Soundcloud, Flickr to reach out to people as part of its social media engagement. 
•    People through the app can just tap on the map of the country to get access to all social media platforms of the mission rather than searching for websites, Facebook pages and twitter handle of individual missions.
 

India has become one of the fastest growing and developing economy in the world. India, being enriched with variety of minerals, has witnessed increased activity in the field of mining to support the rapid economic development. The exploitation of natural resources and its impact on environment and ecology have become far more significant. There has been concerns on the adverse impact of mining on ecology, environment such as pollution of water, air and land affecting adversely the local communities as well as displacements of people. There is an urgent need to balance mining activities vis a vis protection of environment.
•    The Ministry through Indian Bureau of Mines has developed a template for Scheme of Star Rating of Mines. The main objective of this system is to bring all mines to a minimum standard of Star Rating in the shortest possible time frame to adopt sustainable practices. A two layered system providing self-evaluation templates to be filled in by the mine operator followed by validation through Indian Bureau of Mines. 
The star rating will be based on the following parameters:
•    Scientific and systematic mining to mitigate environmental impact.
•    Addressing social impacts of resettlement and rehabilitation of mining affected people.
•    Local community engagements and welfare programmes for socio-economic development of local community.
•    Progressive and final mine closure to ensure for restoration of mined out land in better conditions then original.
•    Adoption of international standards for mining operations and reporting.
The main advantages of the Star Rating of Mines will be:
•    Comprehensive mitigation of environmental impacts on land, air and water by mining activities.
•    Collation of various technical, environmental and social data of the mining sector at one platform by IBM, which would be utilised to enable better management and monitoring of the compliance of various conditions laid down by statutory authorities for mining.
•    In addressing cumulative impacts in mining areas through coordinated and collective action in the long run by helping in formulation of Comprehensive Regional Plans’- a robust Environment &Social Management framework.
•    Availability of the information on mining as well as the conservation activities in public domain to enable greater transparency to enable effective participation of stakeholder and speedy resolution of conflicts.
•    Reduced delays in obtaining various clearances (environmental, forest, mining plan, etc.) for mines. Self-certification to be allowed for the approvals for scheme of mining.
•    The progressive and final mine closures will be monitored to ensure that the lessee leaves the area after proper management of any adverse impact over the mined area.
•    Encourage adoption of highest standards and sharing and good practices.
 

The Union Bank of India (UBI) on 12 August 2016 launched an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) based *99# Mobile Application for their customers for basic banking needs.
•    It was launched in partnership with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for all retail payments system in the country. 
•    It can be downloaded in an android smartphone from the Google Play Store by the bank customers. 
•    It can be used even without any internet connection as it does not require any data and is available in 10 languages. 
•    It provides basic banking facilities like checking account balance, sending money, Mobile PIN (MPIN) management. 
•    Besides, it provides value added services like checking Aadhaar linked overdraft status and PMJDY account overdraft status. 
•    USSD is a GSM based technology used to send text between a mobile phone and an application program in the network. 
•    It is a protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the service provider’s computers. 
 

The Ministry of Railways on 17 July 2016 developed the TRI-NETRA system on locomotives for enhancing the vision of Locomotive Pilots in inclement weather. TRI-NETRA stands for Terrain imaging for diesel drivers Infrared, Enhanced Optical &Radar Assisted system.
TRI-NETRA system is been made up of high-resolution optical video camera, high sensitivity infra-red video camera and additionally a radar-based terrain mapping system. These three components of the system act as three eyes (Tri-Netra) of the Locomotive Pilot. 
•    TRI-NETRA is designed to see the terrain ahead of the running locomotive during inclement weather by combining the images captured by the three sub-systems.
•    It will create a composite video image which shall be displayed in front of the Loco Pilot on a computer monitor. 
•    It will give the locomotive pilot a clear view of the track ahead in bad visibility conditions so that he can apply brakes well in time. 
•    It will also map the terrain ahead so that the driver knows when he is approaching a station or a signal. 

The Commerce Ministry has launched an e-marketplace for online purchase of goods and services by various central government ministries and departments.
•    The move is aimed at bringing in more transparency and streamlining the government procurement of goods and services. 
•    The Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) has developed the portal for the purpose. The department, which is under the Commerce Ministry, carries out the procurement.
•    The DGS&D has asked the departments that for the success of the marketplace, it is necessary to upload the demands of common user goods and services required by government buyers.
•    This would help aggregate demand which will lead to lower prices, better choices and faster procurement. 
•    E-commerce is a fast growing industry in the country. According to a study, e-commerce market is likely to grow 10-fold in next five years to reach USD 100 billion on the back of increasing penetration of Internet, smartphones and spread of digital network in rural areas

To reduce paperwork in the day-to-day functioning of the Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan launched an e-portal enabling online interaction with various branches of the Secretariat. 

•    The members can put questions and give notices online as well. 
•    By this, the government is not only preserving the environment but also saving money
•    Members will have to keep in mind the time. If a member has to sent a notice for zero hour. Then the time for it is 8.30 am to 9.30 am. The portal will not take submissions after that.
•    The portal also provides ready information regarding Bills, committee meeting schedules, agenda and reports, verbatim debates and other parliamentary information.
•    Every member will be given a login id and password. 
•    Using that the members will be able to access the portal. It can be used for issuing notices, calling adjournment motion, calling attention motion. 
•    The portal will be available in Hindi and English