National Deep Water Exploration Mission
▪ Prime Minister of India announced the National Deep Water Exploration Mission on the 79th Independence Day to boost offshore oil and gas discovery, targeting areas like the Andaman Sea and deep waters off the Andhra coast to achieve energy self-reliance.
▪ It is a flagship energy security initiative to explore untapped oil and gas reserves beneath
India’s seabed.
▪ It is designed to operate in mission mode for accelerated offshore exploration.
▪ Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
✓ Supported by Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) and allied research institutions.
▪ Objective: Reduce import dependence on crude oil and natural gas, boost domestic hydrocarbon production, ensure long-term energy security, and promote Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the energy sector.
SWAYAM Portal
▪ The Ministry of Education is offering free Artificial Intelligence (AI) courses on the Swayam Portal to help students stay updated with the rising demand for AI skills.
▪ SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is India’s own MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) platform of the Ministry of Education (MoE) initiative and was launched during 2017.
▪ It seeks to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy.
▪ It is an indigenously developed IT platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses taught in
classrooms from Class 9 till post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere, at any time.
▪ All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country, and are available, free of cost, to the residents in India.
