The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an independent intergovernmental body.
It was established by member States in 2012.
It provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the benefits they provide to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets.
Its mission is to strengthen knowledge foundations for better policy through science, for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.
To some extent IPBES does for biodiversity what the IPCC does for climate change.
India is a member of the IPBES.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation
Directorate General of Civil Aviation is an attached office of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is the regulatory body in the field of Civil Aviation primarily dealing with safety issues.
It is responsible for regulation of air transport services to/from/within India and for enforcement of civil air regulations, air safety and airworthiness standards.
It also co-ordinates all regulatory functions with International Civil Aviation Organization.
The headquarters are located in New Delhi with regional offices in the various parts of India.
There are 14 Regional Airworthiness, 5 Regional Air Safety offices, one Regional Research and Development Office located and a Gliding Centre.
PRAAPTI App and Web portal
A Web portal and an App namely PRAAPTI (Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators), www.praapti.in, has been officially launched by Hon’ble Minister of State (I/C) for Power.
It has been developed to bring transparency in power purchase transactions between Generators and Discoms.
It will capture the Invoicing and payment data for various long term PPAs from the Generators.
This will help the stakeholders in getting month-wise and legacy data on outstanding amounts of Discoms against power purchase.
The portal would facilitate relative assessment of various State DISCOMs on “Ease of making payments” to various Generation Companies, and will also help make transactions in the power Sector more transparent.
NATRIP
Union Cabinet Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprise (HI & PE) inaugurated the augmented facilities at the National Automotive Testing and RND Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) at the International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) at Manesar in Haryana.
ICAT has been rendering services of automotive testing & certification to the industry since 2006.
NATRIP is the largest and most significant initiative in the automotive sector which represents a joining of hands between the Government of India, a number of State Governments and Indian Automotive Industry to create a state of the art testing, validation and R&D infrastructure in the country.
The augmented facilities are of Noise, Vibration & Harshness Lab (NVH), Passive Safety Lab (PSL), Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Lab and Tyre Test Lab (TTL) and have been completed at ICAT Centre-II at Manesar in Haryana.
The centre already has fully functional facilities like Powertrain lab, Fatigue lab, Vehicle Evaluation lab, Component lab, CAD-CAE lab and Infotronics lab.
