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Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

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Topic: UMANG App

Why in News?

• The government had recently allowed salaried employees to withdraw Provident Fund (PF) contribution up to a certain amount in order to tide over the financial crunch that they may be facing during the COVID-19 crisis.

About UMANG App

• UMANG, also known as Unified Mobile Application, is an all-in-one app launched by the government to encourage more people to adopt digital payment transactions in the country.
• The Umang app is a unified application that can be used to avail a number of pan India e-government services such as filing income tax, making Aadhar and provident fund queries, booking a gas cylinder, Passport Seva, among others.
• This platform provides people access to more than 100 services, from both the state and central government.
• With Umang, the government aims to promote e-governance and adopt a new-age governance policy as part of government’s 'Digital India' initiative.
• Umang has been developed by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

UMANG App: Services

• EPFO Services: Umang app allows users to access EPFO services such as employee centric services and general services. Users will be able to make claims and track their status.
• LPG Services: The Umang app can be used to book cylinders online, ask for refills, subsidies, surrender connections, ask for mechanic services, etc. The services can be availed on Bharat Gas, HP Gas and Indene Gas.
• Tax Payments: The best part about the Umang app is that it also allows users to make payments towards income tax. Tax payers will be able to use Challan 280 or even check the status of their tax application.
• Passport Seva: Customers can use the Umang app to access various Passport Seva related services such as locating a center, calculating the fee payments, tracking the status of a passport application and checking appointment availability, among others.
• Pension: All pensioners can access services offered by the Department of Pension & Pensioner’s Welfare. All facilities such as the pension application process, grievances, and other retirement benefits can be availed through the Pension Portal on the app.
• e-Pathshala: This is an initiative of the government of India and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCRT). Students will have access to e-books, educational audios, and videos, periodicals, learning outcomes, curricular resources, etc. The service can also be used by teachers to get access to educational content and teaching instructions. Parents can also use the portal for the same.
• CBSE: Students can use this e-governance app to check their results and also locate exam centers. Results can be obtained for 10th/12th, CTET, NET and JEE exams using the Umang app, at the click of a button.
• e-Dhara Land Records: Users from Gujrat will be able to check their land records using the Umang app with respect to district taluka and villages.
• Digi Seva: The app also allows users to apply for jobs and create their profiles for the same purpose using this platform. Users can apply for all jobs posted by government organizations.
• Crop Insurance: All farmers can use this tool to calculate the insurance premium and the total sum insured for their produce as per the various schemes that are made available to them by the government of India.
• Pharma Sahi Daam: This allows the app user to look for prices using a search tool for medicines.
• Driving License: Users will also be able to use the Parivahan Sewa -Sarathi and Vahan - to take a look at vehicle registration certificates and download the same.

Why Mars Exploration?

• After the Moon, the most number of space missions in the Solar System have been to Mars. Despite being starkly different in many ways, the Red Planet has several Earth-like features– such as clouds, polar ice caps, canyons, volcanoes, and seasonal weather patterns.
• For ages, scientists have wondered whether Mars can support life. In the past few years, Mars missions have been able to discover the possible presence of liquid water on the planet, either in the subsurface today or at some point in its past.
• This has made space explorers more curious about whether the planet can sustain life. Newer NASA missions have since transitioned from their earlier strategy of "Follow the Water" to "Seek Signs of Life".

India Meteorological Department Services

• The following 7 services have been on-boarded on UMANG App: (Current Weather - Current temperature, humidity, wind speed, direction for 150 cities updated 8 times a day. Information on sunrise/ sunset and moonrise/ moonset is also given. ( Nowcast- Three hourly warnings of localized weather phenomena and their intensity issued for about 800 stations, and districts of India by State Meteorological Centers of IMD. (City Forecast – Past 24 hours and 7 day forecast of weather conditions around 450 cities in India are given. (Rainfall Information- All India district Rainfall information daily, weekly, monthly and cumulative series are available. (Tourism Forecast- Past 24 hours and 7 day forecast of weather conditions of around 100 Tourist cities in India are provided. (Warnings- The alert issued to warn citizens of approaching dangerous weather. It is colour coded in Red, Orange and Yellow are the alert levels with Red as the most severe category. (Cyclone- Cyclone warnings and alerts provides the track of cyclonic storms along with likely time and point of crossing of coast.

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