Daily Current Affairs 23 February 2020 | UPSC 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Kawal Tiger Reserve

• The worrisome man­animal conflict in the Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) on account of water seems to be a thing of the past. There was no incident of wild animals straying into human habitations for water last year and it would hold good for the current season too as there is enough water for them to tide over the harsh summer in the Reserve, which is spread over 893 sq km of core area and 1,122 sq km of a buffer. 
• The Reserve covers areas in Adilabad, Kumram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial, and Nirmal districts in Telangana
• Water will be available for a comparatively longer period in natural bodies, thanks to a prolonged monsoon and also the intensified efforts of the Reserve management in making it available through artificially created water holes. There is water still flowing in the Kadem canal, which cuts through the KTR core area and the recent release in the Saraswati canal from the Sri Ram Sagar Project also resulted in water being available from Khanapur in Nirmal district to Luxettipet in Mancherial. 

Reason for creation of water holes

• The high point of the construction of artificial water holes this season is the huge saucer pits, 5 m in diameter, meant for the large herds of bison. As many as 22 of these, each with a capacity to hold a tanker full of water, have been constructed at strategic locations in Mancherial, Jannaram, and Kadem in addition to the existing ones which are half the size
• Bison are large animals and move in herds of 15 to 18 requiring enormous quantum of water. The larger saucer pits will meet that requirement

About KAWAL TIGER RESERVE

Kawal Tiger Reserve is located at Jannaram Mandal of Mancherial District (Old Adilabad district) in the Telangana state of India. Govt of India declared Kawal wildlife sanctuary as Tiger Reserve in 2012. The reserve is the oldest sanctuary in the northern Telangana region of the state. It is well known for its abundant flora and fauna. This sanctuary is the catchment for the rivers Godavari and Kadam, which flow towards the south of the sanctuary.

Tiger reserve status

It was listed as a tiger reserve in April 2012. In this regard, habitat development is undertaken with the release of 150 cheetahs as a prey population. To check to poach new check posts have been created. Traditional sources of water were improved.

Source: The Hindu

2) GoM Reviews Amendments to the JJ Act, 2015

• Recently, a Group of Ministers (GoM) chaired by the Home Minister met to discuss proposed amendments to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) (JJ) Act, 2015.
• The GoM meeting was convened to create greater synergy between ministries on the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2018

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

• Improvement Over the Act of 2000:
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 replaced the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 to comprehensively address children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection.
• Change in Nomenclature:
• The Act changes the nomenclature from ‘juvenile’ to ‘child’ or ‘child in conflict with law’. Also, it removes the negative connotation associated with the word “juvenile”.
• It also includes several new and clear definitions such as orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children; and petty, serious and heinous offenses committed by children
• Special Provisions for Age 16-18 years:
• Included special provisions to tackle child offenders committing heinous offenses in the age group of 16-18 years.
• Mandatory Constitution of the JJ Board:
• It mandates setting up Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees in every district. Both must have at least one woman member each.
• Adoption Related Clauses:
• A separate new chapter on Adoption to streamline adoption procedures for an orphan abandoned and surrendered children,
• Also, the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) was granted the status of a statutory body to enable it to perform its function more effectively.
• The Act states that the adoption of a child is final on the issuance of an adoption order by the court. Currently, 629 adoption cases are pending in various courts.
• Inclusion of New Offences:
• The Act included several new offenses committed against children (like, illegal adoptions, use of child by militant groups, offenses against disabled children, etc) which are not adequately covered under any other law.
• Child Care Institutions (CCI):
• All Child Care Institutions, whether run by State Government or by voluntary or non-governmental organizations are to be mandatorily registered under the Act within 6 months from the date of commencement of the Act.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2018

• The Bill provides that instead of the court, the district magistrate will issue adoption orders to address the high pendency of adoption cases.
• The Bill also seeks to transfer all pending matters related to adoption before any court to the district magistrate having jurisdiction over the area.
• The proposed amendments intend to expedite proceedings.

Group of Ministers

• Groups of Ministers (GoMs) have been constituted from time to time to look into different issues/subjects.
• These are ad hoc bodies formed to give recommendations to the cabinet on certain emergent issues and critical problem areas.
• Ministers heading the concerned ministries are inducted into the relevant GoMs and when the advice is crystallized they are disbanded.
• Some of these GoMs have been also empowered to take decisions on behalf of the Cabinet known as Empowered Groups of Ministers (EGoMs).
• But with time the constitution of a large number of GoMs has resulted in many GoMs not being able to meet regularly to complete their work thus leading to significant delays on many major issues. Thus. all the Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and Empowered Groups of Ministers (EGoMs) were abolished in 2014.
• Further in 2015, 16 informal Groups of Ministers (GoMs) were formed to discuss key issues of the country.

Source: The Hindu

3) Kiliki language

The new speech was invented for the terrifying warrior tribe called Kalakeya in the two-part Baahubali franchise.  It now has evolved into a language with script grammar and more than 3000 words for everyday communication. It is considered as the world’s easiest language. This fictional language was created by popular lyricist and screenwriter Madhan Karky.

About International Mother Language Day:

• Observed every year on 21st February since 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
• The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh.
• It was approved at the UNESCO General Conference (1999) and has been observed throughout the world since 2000.
• The United Nations General Assembly had proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages.
• The Ministry of Human Resource and Development along with educational institutions and language institutions is celebrating the day as the Matribhasha Diwas in the country.

Source: The Hindu

4) First-ever Khelo India University Games

The first-ever Khelo India University Games will take off in Odisha.

About it

• It is an aspirational competition for India’s youngsters to help them find a balance between sport and education.
• It is the largest ever competition held at the university level in India and will have about 3500 athletes from over 150 universities across the country taking part in it.
• There will be a total of 17 sports namely archery, athletics, boxing, fencing, judo, swimming, weightlifting, wrestling, badminton, basketball, football, hockey, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, rugby, and kabaddi.

About Khelo India program

Introduced to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in the country and establish India as a great sporting nation.

• It is implemented by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
• Under the scheme, the talented players identified in priority sports disciplines at various levels will be provided annual financial assistance of INR 5 lakh per annum for 8 years.

It will be a Central Sector Scheme (Scheme implemented by the Central Government machinery and 100% funding by the union government).

Source: PIB

5) Visit of Home Minister of Maldives

The Home Minister of Maldives, Mr. Sheikh Imran Abdulla, met Indian Home Minister on 21st February 2020.

Key Points

• During the meeting, both the ministers discussed issues of mutual interest in the area of security and law enforcement cooperation.
• The Ministers welcomed the expansion of bilateral cooperation between India and Maldives in diverse fields including policing and law enforcement, counter-terrorism, counter-radicalization, organized crime, drug trafficking, and capacity building.
• The Directorate of Enforcement will assist the Maldives in setting up a probe agency like itself and guide the island nation on raising a Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) infrastructure.
• The Directorate of Enforcement is a multidisciplinary organization mandated with the task of enforcing the provisions of two special fiscal laws – Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). It is headquartered in New Delhi.

India-Maldives

Significance of the Maldives for India

• Maldives’ proximity to the west coast of India - Maldives is barely 70 nautical miles away from Minicoy -the southernmost island of Lakshadweep.
• Lakshadweep group is separated from the Maldives by Eight Degree Channel.
• It is situated at the hub of commercial sea-lanes running through the Indian Ocean. More than 97% of India’s international trade by volume and 75% by value passes through the region.
• It's potential to allow a third nation’s naval presence in the area.
• Since China’s naval expansion into the Indian Ocean, Maldive's significance has steadily grown and now it’s at the heart of international geopolitics.
• Moreover, the Maldives is an important aspect of India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.
• ‘India First’ has been a stated policy of the Government of Maldives.
• Maldives is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC).
• There is a significant Indian diaspora in the Maldives. Innumerable Indians work across the hospitality, education, and health-care sectors of the Maldives economy.

South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation

• The South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Program, set up in 2001, brings together Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in a project-based partnership to promote regional prosperity by improving cross-border connectivity, boosting trade among member countries, and strengthening regional economic cooperation.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) serves as Secretariat to the SASEC Program.

Relations Between the Two Countries

• History: India and Maldives share ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious and commercial links. India was among the first to recognize the Maldives after its independence in 1965 and later established its mission at Male in 1972.
• Defense: India provides the largest number of training opportunities for the Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF), meeting around 70% of their defense training requirements.
• ‘Ekuverin’ is a joint military exercise between India and Maldives.
• Disaster Management: The Government of India has provided large-scale assistance to the Maldives in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and during the 2014 Male water crisis.
• Trade and Tourism: India is Maldives’ 4th largest trade partner after UAE, China, and Singapore. In 2018, India was the 5th largest source of tourist arrivals in the Maldives.
• The Maldivian economy is heavily dependent on its tourism sector, which is the major source of foreign exchange earnings and government revenue.
• Operation Cactus: In 1988, in response to a request from the Maldives, India activated Operation Cactus to deploy its military and ensure regime continuity in Male.

Source: The Hindu

6) What is the happiness curriculum?

On her upcoming visit to India next week along with US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump will visit a Delhi government school, where she will attend a happiness curriculum class.

What is it?

The curriculum is one of the flagship schemes of the Delhi government in the education sector launched in July 2018 in all MCD schools.

• The curriculum calls for schools in India to promote development in cognition, language, literacy, numeracy and the arts along with addressing the wellbeing and happiness of students.
• It further says that future citizens need to be “mindful, aware, awakened, empathetic, firmly rooted in their identity…” based on the premise that education has a larger purpose, which cannot be in isolation from the “dire needs” of today’s society.

Objectives:

The objectives of this curriculum include developing self-awareness and mindfulness, inculcating skills of critical thinking and inquiry, enabling learners to communicate effectively and helping learners to apply life skills to deal with stressful and conflicting situations around them.

How is the curriculum implemented?

• The curriculum is designed for students of classes nursery through the eighth standard.
• Group 1 consists of students in nursery and KG, who have bi-weekly classes (45 minutes each for one session, which is supervised by a teacher) involving mindfulness activities and exercise. Children between classes 1-2 attend classes on weekdays, which involves mindfulness activities and exercises along with taking up reflective questions.
• The second group comprises students from classes 3-5 and the third group is comprised of students from classes 6-8 who apart from the aforementioned activities, take part in self-expression and reflect on their behavioral changes.

The learning outcomes of this curriculum are spread across four categories:

• Becoming mindful and attentive (developing increased levels of self-awareness, developing active listening, remaining in the present).
• developing critical thinking and reflection (developing strong abilities to reflect on one’s own thoughts and behaviors, thinking beyond stereotypes and assumptions).
• developing social-emotional skills (demonstrating empathy, coping with anxiety and stress.
• developing better communication skills) and developing a confident and pleasant personality (developing a balanced outlook on daily life reflecting self-confidence, becoming responsible and reflecting awareness towards cleanliness, health, and hygiene).

How the assessment is carried out?

For the evaluation, no examinations are conducted, neither will marks be awarded. The assessment under this curriculum is qualitative, focusing on the “process rather than the outcome” and noting that each student’s journey is unique and different.

Source: Indian Express

7) The Sunderbans and Climate Change

• The monsoon in Sunderbans is likely to last longer and get more intense, according to a fact sheet titled The Sunderbans and Climate Change, which was made public during the ongoing Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
• Climate specialists have predicted that as climate change progresses, monsoon seasons in the Sundarbans will become longer and more intense. Conversely, drought conditions will also become more pronounced, presenting further challenges for agricultural producers in particular and ecosystems in general,” said the document released during the Conference of Parties being held at Gujarat.
• The document highlights the need for "long term coastal planning to ensure that these critically important intertidal habitats with their unique flora and fauna and local inhabitants have a space to retreat inland". The paper also points out that the habitat of the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris Tigris) in the Sunderbans is also affected by the storm due to a decline in the availability of prey
• While the fact sheet puts the rise in the sea level at 3.2 mm per year currently, it states that an estimated rise of 28 cm above the sea levels registered in the year 2000 would result in a 96 % decline of the habitat of the Bengal tiger in Bangladesh.
• The Transboundary Conservation of Threatened Freshwater Fauna, including species like Indian River Terrapin (Batagur Baska), Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) and Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica),.
• Due to this, any swelling of ocean water is going to dramatically affect the area. Although mangroves are somewhat resistant to submersion in water, they can die when tidal inundation occurs too frequently or lasts too long Apart from the frequent storms and the rise of sea level, another concern is the rise of salinity both in water and soil. “Excess levels of soil salinity can be incredibly damaging to ecosystems as salts can accumulate in the soil and hinder plant growth. It also threatens the health of freshwater aquatic life such as fish and giant prawns,

Source: The Hindu

8) Public-Private Fund In Research and Development

• To stimulate investment in research and development (R&D), the Department of Science and Technology is mooting a fund that will match the contributions made by private companies in R&D.
• The large, private sector companies and currently, a ₹40 crore target was on the anvil. The idea is to pool funds from a group of companies willing to invest in fundamental research, such as quantum computers or artificial intelligence, and whatever is invested government will match that
• A major beneficiary of such private sector funds could be the Indian Institutes of Technology.
• The scheme will be coordinated through the department’s  Science and Engineering Research Board, which funds a variety of basic science projects in several universities
• Though India is among the top five countries in terms of its output of scientific publications, it doesn’t match up in investments. The total expenditure on R&D has tripled in the last decade in nominal (revenue sans inflation) terms from ₹24,117 crores in 2004-­05 to an estimated ₹1,04,864 crore in 2016-­17. However, as a fraction of GDP, public expenditures on R&D has been stagnant between 0.6­0.7% of GDP over the past two decades. It is well below that in major nations such as the U.S. (2.8), China (2.1), Israel (4.3) and Korea (4.2), according to a 2019 report by the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to the Prime Minister
• Public sector institutions form the lion’s share of India’s investment in R&D. In 2004-­2005, the private sector accounted for 28% of India’s research spend and in 2016­ 17 this increased to 40%. In most advanced economies, private R&D accounts for the bulk of investment in R&D
• Moreover, while the government is the major source of funds for R&D, it’s also the major user in terms of money consumed by public sector enterprises or Central institutions.
• As a lower middle­income country, it is not surprising that India’s spending on R&D lags upper­middle income and high­income countries such as China, Israel, and the U.S. However, it currently underspends even relative to its income level... In fact, in 2015, there was a sizeable decline in R&D spending even as GDP per capita continued to rise,

Source: The Hindu

9) Global Health Security (GHS) Index, 2019

According to the Global Health Security (GHS) Index, 2019, national health security is “fundamentally weak” around the world. The report gains significance in the context of the recent Coronavirus (COVID19) outbreak.

About the Index

• The Global Health Security (GHS) Index, a report from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Economist Intelligence Unit, was released in October 2019.
• The GHS Index is the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across the 195 countries that make up the States Parties to the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005).
• The IHR, 2005 represents an agreement between 196 countries including all the World Health Organization (WHO) the Member States to work together for global health security.
• The GHS Index assesses countries’ health security and capabilities across six categories, 34 indicators, and 85 sub-indicators. The six categories are as follow:
• Prevention: Prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens.
• Detection and Reporting: Early detection and reporting for epidemics of potential international concern.
• Rapid Response: Rapid response to and mitigation of the spread of an epidemic.
• Health System: Sufficient and robust health system to treat the sick and protect health workers.
• Compliance with International Norms: Commitments to improving national capacity, financing plans to address gaps, and adhering to global norms.
• Risk Environment: Overall risk environment and country vulnerability to biological threats.
• The index measures countries’ capabilities from 0-100, with 100 representing the highest level of preparedness. The GHS Index scoring system includes three tiers.
• Low Scores: Countries that score between 0 and 33.3 are in the bottom tier.
• Moderate Scores: Countries that score between 33.4 and 66.6 are in the middle tier and
• High Scores: Countries that score between 66.7 and 100 are in the upper or “top” tier.

Key Findings

• International Preparedness
• The GHS Index analysis finds that no country is fully prepared for epidemics or pandemics. Collectively, international preparedness is weak.
• The average overall GHS Index score among all 195 countries assessed is 40.2 of a possible score of 100.
• Overall, the GHS Index finds severe weaknesses in-country abilities to prevent, detect, and respond to health emergencies; severe gaps in health systems; vulnerabilities to political, socioeconomic, and environmental risks that can hamper outbreak preparedness and response; and a lack of adherence to international norms.
• Ranking of Different Countries
• The US is the “most prepared” nation (scoring 83.5), with the UK (77.9), the Netherlands (75.6), Australia (75.5) and Canada (75.3) behind it. Thailand is ranked sixth in the Index — the highest ranking for an Asian country.
• Much of Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Asia, and Central and South America are described as “more prepared,” with scores between 66 and 34.3, while the majority of countries ranked “least prepared” are in Africa.
• India is ranked 57th with a score of 46.5, falling in the middle tier.
• North Korea (17.5), Somalia (16.6) and Equatorial Guinea (16.2) are listed in the index's bottom three.
• China – which is at the center of the recent coronavirus outbreak – is at the 51st place, scoring 48.2.
• Recommendations
• Global Response: The UN Secretary-General should convene a global summit by 2021 on biological threats including a focus on financing and emergency response.
• National Commitment
• National governments should commit to taking action to address health security risks.
• Countries should test their health security capacities and publish after-action reviews, at least annually.
• Financing Mechanism: New financing mechanisms should be established to fill preparedness gaps, such as a new multilateral global health security matching fund and expansion of the World Bank International Development Association allocations to include preparedness.
• Institutional Approach: A separate and permanent facilitator or unit for high-consequence biological events, should be designated at the earliest.
• Capacity Development: Governments and donors should take into account countries’ political and security risk factors when supporting health security capacity development.

India’s Response to Health Emergencies

• Underprepared: The influenza A (H1N1) outbreaks since 2009 in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and other States have acutely underscored the need for better detection, awareness of symptoms and quarantining.
• Low Expenditure: Health expenditure by the government in India is less than 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product, which is low for a middle-income country.
• Availability of Health Professionals: India has a low availability of health professionals. According to the WHO, India has only 80 doctors per 1,00,000 people.
• Impact of Climate Change: India’s health status is being worsened by climate shocks. An HSBC study of 67 countries ranks India as the most climate-vulnerable one because of the impact of severe temperature increases and declines in rainfalls.

Way Forward

• Each State in India needs to expose crucial gaps in areas such as adequacy and supply of diagnostic equipment, health facilities, hygienic practices, and prevention and treatment protocols.
• Separate funding for dealing with a health catastrophe.
• Investing in health and education
• Kerala’s experience in 2018 with the deadly Nipah virus shows the value of investing in education and health over the long term. Kerala’s government efforts kept the mortality rate from the Nipah virus relatively low.
• Protecting Biodiversity
• Nearly two-thirds of known pathogens and three-quarters of newly emerging pathogens are spread from animals to humans (recent example - SARS-CoV-2).
• Reasons for the same can be traced to increased human encroachment on wildlife territory; land-use changes that increase the rate of human-wildlife and wildlife-livestock interactions; and climate change.

Source: The Hindu

10) Habitable-Zone Planet Finder

• The habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF) has confirmed its first planet (exoplanet) called G 9-40b, orbiting a nearby low mass bright M-dwarf star (100 light-years from Earth) with an orbital period of 6 Earth-days.
• Earlier, NASA’s Kepler mission had observed a dip in the host star’s light, suggesting that the planet was crossing in front of the star during its orbit. To confirm the HPF was used.

Key Points

• G 9-40b: G 9-40b is amongst the top 20 closest transiting planets known.
• Habitable-zone Planet Finder: HPF is an astronomical spectrograph, built by Penn State University scientists, and recently installed on the 10m Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory (US).
• The HPF searches for exoplanets by using the Doppler effect.
• A spectrograph is an instrument that splits light into its component wavelengths. Scientists measure the properties of light over a specific portion of the spectrum and draw conclusions on what is responsible for the trends they observe.
• The HPF provides the highest precision measurements of infrared signals from nearby low-mass stars, and astronomers use it to validate the candidate planet by excluding all possibilities of contaminating signals to a very high level of probability.
• It is designed to detect and characterize planets in the habitable-zone also known as ‘Goldilocks zone’- the region around the star where a planet could sustain liquid water on its surface.
• HPF is currently surveying the nearest low-mass stars, also called M-dwarfs, which are the most common stars in the galaxy - to discover exoplanets in our neighborhood.

Doppler Effect

• An increase (or decrease) in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move towards (or away from) each other.
• The effect causes the sudden change in pitch noticeable in a passing siren, as well as the redshift, which is seen by astronomers.

Exoplanet

• An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmation of the detection of an exoplanet occurred in 1992.
• Exoplanets are very hard to see directly with telescopes. They are hidden by the bright glare of the stars they orbit.
• So, astronomers use other ways to detect and study exoplanets such as looking at the effects these planets have on the stars they orbit.

M-dwarfs

• M dwarf or M-type star, also called Red Dwarf Star are the most numerous type of star in the universe and the smallest type of hydrogen-burning star.
• These have masses from about 0.08 to 0.6 times that of the Sun.
• In the Milky Way Galaxy, about 70% of the stars are red dwarfs.

Source: Indian Express

11) 5G Hackathon

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched 5G Hackathon in association with various academic and industrial stakeholders. It will be spread across three phases beginning from February 2020 and culminating in October 2020.

• It aims at shortlisting India’s cutting edge ideas that can be converted into workable 5G products and solutions.
• It is open to developers, students, start-ups, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), academic institutions & registered companies in India and NRIs.
• Participants can develop 5G solutions from various categories including Healthcare, Education and Governance, AgriTech and Livestock, Environment, Public Safety, and Disaster Management Enterprise, Smart Cities and Infrastructure, Cyber Security, Banking, Finance and Insurance, Logistics and Transportation, Multimedia and Broadcast, among others.

5G Technology

• 5G is the fifth generation cellular technology that apart from increasing the downloading and uploading speeds over the mobile network, also reduces the latency i.e. the time taken by a network to respond.
• 5G will provide a download speed of 1 Gbps, which is at least 100 times the existing data speeds.
• It also increases energy efficiency and offers more stable network connections.
• 5G will have a wider area in the frequency spectrum (range of frequencies) that will ensure no network congestion.
• In addition, it will also ensure connectivity to a full circle i.e. everything is connected to every other thing. Its application in different economic verticals is one of the most distinctive features of 5G technology.

Source: PIB

12) Upgradation of Online Chatbot ASKDISHA

The Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has powered voice-enabled ASKDISHA Chatbot to converse with customers in the Hindi language.

• The customers can now ask queries to ASKDISHA in Hindi by voice as well as text.
• IRCTC plans to launch ASKDISHA in more languages along with many other additional features in the near future.

ASKDISHA Chatbot

• It is an Artificial Intelligence-based chatbot that was initially launched in the English language in October 2018.
• It is a first-of-its-kind initiative by IRCTC which aims to benefit the users of the ticketing and tourism websites of IRCTC to resolve queries of railway passengers over the internet pertaining to various services offered.
• Since its initial launch, passengers seeking help on the reservation of tickets, cancellation, inquiry of refund status, fare, PNR search, train running status, inquiry about retiring rooms and tourism products have been benefited.

Source: PIB