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3 April 2023

Bharat 6G Vision Document​​

 

News: On March 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the Bharat 6G Vision Document, a starting point for policymakers and the industry to gear up for the next generation of telecommunication

 

6G Technology

  • Websites will load faster, videos will look better, and files will download faster.

  • Latency, which is the time taken for a data packet to move from one place to another (as opposed to speed, which is the number of such packets that can travel on a connection each second), is not far off from the speed of light itself on existing networks. 

 

Vision Document:

  • Satellite constellations will join telecom towers and base stations, integrating networks and extending them to rural areas.

  • The government envisions 6G-powered connectivity boosters are solutions that already exist in other forms. For instance, satellite internet in remote areas is a solution that the government can instantly approve by granting firms like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Bharti Airtel-backed OneWeb the administrative clearance to begin offering their services.

  • Some of the innovations that. Like DTH satellite dishes, setup is minimal as the satellites are already in the sky. However, administrative clearances lag behind.

  • At least two parts of India have already relied on satellite internet for decades. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands relied on 1Gbps link to connect to the outside world, which is comparable to a single expensive home connection in many Indian cities today

 

Why 6G?

  • 45,000 villages lack 4G connectivity, and 5G networks are still being built out.

  • The government has indicated that it wants to accelerate India’s wireless data consumption and assume leadership in setting the standards for 6G in the coming years. 

  • This involves everything from encouraging local manufacturing of telecom gear to supporting Indian companies and engineers in international discussions around standardisation.

  • The delay in previous generations of telecommunication technology rolling out in India.

  • Physics: frequencies generally increase in newer generations of networks, but the lower the frequency, the longer a cell signal can travel. 

  • With increasing data usage, lower frequencies in 4G networks may not physically be able to keep up with the demand for traffic

  • Businesses and governments are still on the verge of how best to leverage 5G to reap the benefits of high-precision low-latency applications with these new connections. 

  • Right now, the spectrum is congested, particularly in the low and mid-bands where the propagation characteristics are favourable. More data can travel in higher frequencies, which is the basis for 5G architectures where base stations with low coverage took the place of a single larger cell tower.

6G: Globally

  • As early as July 2021, South Korea planned 220 billion KRW (almost Rs 1,400 crore) in investments into “super performance, hyperspace, and super precision standards.

  • Countries have already started working together, with Japan and Germany planning a workshop in April to work on everything from “fundamental technologies to demonstrations”.

  • The Indian 6G Vision paper cites Europe’s equivalent of the document, saying that “The overarching Vision is to ensure leadership in strategic areas and establish secure and trusted access to key technologies making Europe a sovereign, independent, and reliable source for 6G public and private network solutions and services.”

 

Pollution in Yamuna​

NewsIn response, environment Department nearly ₹6,856.91 crore was spent over five years, from 2017-21, to clean the Delhi stretch of river Yamuna.

Present Level of Pollution in Yamuna

  • As per, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), most of this stretch remains polluted for nearly the entire year and is not even fit for bathing. 

  • The DPCC’s report said that faecal coliform (microbes from human and animal excreta) found in the river was beyond the “desirable level” at all points except for Palla where the river enters Delhi. 

  • The faecal coliform level was as high as 500 times the desirable level at the point where the river exits the city, as per the DPCC data.

Maily se nirmal Yamuna’(from dirty to clean Yamuna) Revitalisation Plan, 2017

  • In a judgment on January 13, 2015, on a case filed, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) formed the ‘Maily se nirmal Yamuna’(from dirty to clean Yamuna) Revitalisation Plan, 2017’, which was set to be completed by March 31, 2017.

  • But as this objective was not achieved, the NGT formed a monitoring committee to implement its judgment. 

  • Though only 2% of the 1,400-km-long Yamuna flows between Wazirabad and Okhla in Delhi, it constitutes 76% of the pollution load of the river, as per one of the reports of the committee.

New Foreign Trade  Policy

  • Under the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), Exporters may soon be able to get insurance coverage for some losses suffered on account of countries’ sudden imposition of barriers to trade.

  • The government will expand the definition of “political risk” under the export guarantee scheme to cover any fresh imposition of non-tariff barriers by importing nations after a shipment has left Indian shores.

  • Its Precursor, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC)promises to pay exporters for losses when buyers turn insolvent or default on payments, as well as political risks like war and sudden import restrictions or promulgations of laws or decrees, but does not cover anti-dumping steps or non-tariff barriers.

  • Impact on Transit of good with Neighbour:

    • Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 which was applicable till last Friday stated: “Transit of goods through India from/or to countries adjacent to India shall be regulated in accordance with bilateral treaties between India and those countries and will be subject to such restrictions as may be specified by DGFT [Directorate General of Foreign Trade] in accordance with international conventions.”

    • This has been revised in new FTP document to state that such transit of goods “shall be enabled and regulated in accordance with strategic and economic interests of India as well as the bilateral treaties between India and those countries.”

    • While the previous policy empowered the DGFT to frame schemes or issue necessary instructions “to promote trade and strengthen economic ties with neighbouring countries”, the new policy rephrases the first objective as “promote and regulate trade”.

ICCR’s Brand Ambassador Programme

News: The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) plans to expand the country’s artistic and creative footprint globally, by tapping into the experiences of foreign students studying here. 

About the Programme:

  • ICCR hopes that more than 48,000 foreign students in India will be brand ambassadors of the national heritage, tourist destinations, textiles, yoga, ayurveda and craft.

  • From this year, the ICCR will start E-3 or ‘exit engagement evenings’ with foreign students, beginning three or four months before they finish their courses in various Central and State universities, and institutes such as the National Institutes of Technology and agricultural colleges.

  • The engagements will include visits to places of national importance. 

  • This will also act as a tool of “soft diplomacy”  to spread the India story when students go back to their home countries.

5G Vs_edited.jpg

All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 

  • It was released by the Ministry of Education.

  • As per the survey number of foreign students enrolled in Indian higher education institutions was 48,035 in 2020-21, a marginal dip from 49,348 in 2019-20.

In April 2022, the ICCR launched a website, called the India Alumni Portal, as a platform to connect with the foreign students around the world who have studied in India. The portal is to be developed as a single platform for all foreign scholars to register, interact, and maintain their Indian links.

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