Important Facts for Prelims (12th February 2019)

Recently the Union Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned five new projects under the Buddhist Circuit.
The five states where the project under Buddhist Circuit has been sanctioned are Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
The Buddhist Circuit is one among the fifteen thematic circuits identified for development under Swadesh Darshan Scheme.

Swadesh Darshan Scheme

Swadesh Darshan, a Central Sector Scheme, was launched in 2014 -15 for integrated development of theme based tourist circuits in the country.
Under the scheme, the Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) to State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for infrastructure development of circuits.
This scheme is envisioned to synergise with other schemes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Skill India, Make in India etc. with the idea of positioning the tourism sector as a major engine for job creation, driving force for economic growth, building synergy with various sectors to enable tourism to realise its potential.

Recently, the three-day World Sustainable Development Summit 2019 was inaugurated in New Delhi.
The theme of summit was 'Attaining the 2030 Agenda: Delivering on our Promise'.
The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is the annual flagship event of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
It has been conceptualized as a single platform to accelerate action towards sustainable development and climate change.
The goal of the World Sustainable Development Summit is to bring together global leaders and thinkers in the fields of sustainable development, energy and environment sectors on a common platform.
It was earlier known as Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

TERI is a non-profit research institute.
It conducts research work in the fields of energy, environment and sustainable development for India and the Global South.
It was established in 1974 as Tata Energy Research Institute and renamed to The Energy Resources Institute in 2003.

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has instituted a challenge for States/ UTs to select six sites across the country for constructing the Lighthouse projects under Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC)-India.
The winning six States/ UTs that score the highest marks across the prescribed criteria will be awarded lighthouse projects. The States/ UTs will receive Central Assistance to construct these projects as per Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) guidelines.
The selected sites for lighthouse projects will be used as an ‘open laboratory’ for live demonstration and will receive due attention from academia, practitioners, policy makers (Central/ State) and media apart from felicitation/ recognition in Grand Expo-cum-Conference.

Global Housing Technology Challenge

Global Housing Technology Challenge – India is an initiative by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Govt. of India, with an aim to identify, evaluate and shortlist a basket of proven & potential innovative technologies from across the globe and subsequently mainstream them in Indian construction sector that are sustainable, green, disaster resilient.
GHTC-India has following three components:
- Component 1 - Conduct of EXPO-Cum-Conference
- Component 2 - Identifying Proven Demonstrable Technologies :Inducting suitable established technologies from across the globe to the Indian market through shortlisting and actual construction of Light House Projects.
- Component 3 - Establishment of Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators India (ASHA-India) for Indian technologies which have potential but not market ready yet.