Government and IIT-Delhi signs MoU to set up a Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies 

To commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on 2 October 2019, the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to Government of India and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a move to come together and to bring best of science and technology to implement waste management by setting up a Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies in India.

Key Highlights

• The waste to wealth mission project has been approved under Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).
• The GoI and IIT-Delhi partnership will provide an effective platform for stakeholders to bring together integrated approaches for effective recycle, reuse and resource recovery of waste.
• IIT Delhi had already identified waste to wealth as a focus area and many of its faculty members are already working on a variety of projects related to waste management.
• The focus is to consolidate all possible Waste to Wealth Technologies, learn from best practices followed worldwide, and implement them at ground level at Indian cities.

Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies

It will work for implementation of sustainable, scientific and technological solutions for waste management, by validating and deploying available technologies for transformation of waste to wealth.
It will work on two terms of Objective:

1. The immediate goal: is to set up an on-site pilot projects. This would effectively and successfully demonstrate proof of concept of technology under Indian condition. For this, technologies available with various national and international academias, industries, research laboratories and other agencies will be implemented.

It will be carried out by a strong collaborating network between IIT Delhi, and other national and international stakeholders under the aegis of PSA office.

2. The long-term goal: is to streamline waste in India by creating circular economic models for waste management by using big data analytics and frontier technologies. The outcomes would involve waste treatment and generating different forms of energy, resulting in making India a waste free nation, with zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and no health hazard.

Under it, a waste to wealth programme management centre will also be set up at IIT Delhi.

Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) office

• It acts as a ‘think-tank’ and ‘action-tank’ for science, technology and innovation activities in India.
• It plays a catalytic and synergistic role to strongly connect government ministry, academia and industry, in evolving appropriate policies, making recommendations for relevant scientific departments and ministries, and implementing scientific interventions in various sectors of national priority.

PM-STIAC

• It is an overarching body with function of assessing, creating and implementing major scientific, technology and innovation interventions in India.
• It has identified nine national missions to address major scientific challenges in India.
• Through these nine missions, it aims to facilitate collaboration to solve complex problems and to ensure sustainable development.
• Waste to wealth is one of the 9 Missions.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2019