INCOIS
▪ The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has initiated a submarine cable project to enhance long-term observations of the Indian Ocean.
▪ This project, supported by the international scientific community, will improve the understanding of ocean dynamics, seismic activity, and tsunami risks.
▪ The initiative involves the installation of a 150 km cable west of Wandoor in the Andaman
and Nicobar Islands, featuring advanced sensors for oceanographic and geophysical data
collection.
▪ India’s first AI-based real-time forest alert system
▪ Madhya Pradesh has launched India’s first AI-based real-time forest alert system, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at enhancing forest conservation efforts.
▪ The system aims to detect changes in land use, deforestation, and encroachment, facilitating
immediate corrective actions.
▪ The system uses satellite imagery from the Google Earth Engine and AI algorithms to track
land use changes like vegetation shifts, construction, or agricultural encroachment.
Cabinet decides to include caste count in next Census
▪ The 2021 Census has been postponed indefinitely, initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
▪ The last time that India’s entire population was counted by caste was in pre-Independent
India, in 1931. Since then, only Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been counted in
the Census exercises.
▪ Unlike the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), which was done outside the purview
of the Census exercise and did not mandate caste disclosure, this time, caste will be
enumerated in the second and final phase of the Census, giving the count a statutory backing.
