2019 – Posted in: Daily News

WASTE TO WEALTH TECHNOLOGIES

For: Preliminary & Mains
Topics covered: Waste to Wealth Technologies, objectives, benefits, Principal Scientific Adviser, PM-STIAC, Waste Management

News Flash

To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Government of India and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) have come together by signing a Memorandum of Understanding, to bring the best of science and technology to implement waste management in India by setting up a Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies.

The waste to wealth mission project has been approved under the recently constituted Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).

Objective

The immediate objective is to implement technologies that are available with various national and international academias, industries, research laboratories and other agencies by way of setting up pilot projects on-site effectively and successfully, and demonstrating the proof of concept of the technology under Indian condition.
The long-term objective is to streamline waste in India by creating circular economic models for waste management by using big data analytics and frontier technologies.

Principal Scientific Adviser

It acts as a ‘think-tank’ and ‘action-tank’ for science, technology and innovation activities in India.
India has had a Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) since 1999. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was the first PSA from 1999—2001 and Dr. R. Chidambaram from 2001-2018. Professor K. VijayRaghavan succeeded Dr. Chidambaram on 3 April 2018.
PSA’s vision is to help enable and empower all spheres of science and technology so that the execution of programmes is effective for society and the economy.
The Principal Scientific Adviser is Chair of the PM’s STIAC.

PM-STIAC

The PM-STIAC is an overarching Council that facilitates the PSA’s (Principal Scientific Adviser) Office to assess the status in specific science and technology domains, comprehend challenges in hand, formulate specific interventions, develop a futuristic roadmap and advise the Prime Minister accordingly.

PSA’s Office also oversees the implementation of such interventions by concerned S&T Departments and Agencies and other government Ministries. The other important terms of reference of the Council is to formulate, converge, collaborate, co-ordinate and implement multi-stakeholder policy initiatives, mechanisms, reforms and programmes aimed at:

Synergizing S&T covering fundamental to applied research in collaboration with multiple stake holders both in central and state governments
Enabling future preparedness in emerging domains of science and technology
Formulating and coordinating major inter-ministerial S&T missions
Providing an enabling ecosystem for technology led innovations and techno-entrepreneurship
Driving innovation and technology delivery towards solving socio-economic challenges for sustainable growth
Fostering effective public-private linkages for driving research and innovation
Developing innovation clusters with multiple stakeholders including academia, industry and government Skilling in current and futuristic technologies.

Waste-to-Wealth concept

The concept of Waste-to-Wealth literally means moving waste from a platform of exhausted utility to valuable and desirable level. Its transformation: in engineering, requires some form of energy, and in economics requires factor of production.

Waste Management Benefits

The planet benefits from less methane and carbon monoxide in the air. Waste emits these harmful gases, but waste recycling can reduce the impact.

Waste recycling also helps to reduce the amount of fossil fuels, as well as existing landfills and incinerations, helping to create a greener and cleaner environment for all.

Source: Times of India

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