RAS question
NETRA, launched along with the NDSA office inauguration, is an AI-enabled system for what purpose?
Correct answer: (B) Dam safety regulations.
NETRA is an AI-enabled NDSA platform for tracking, reviewing and analysing dam safety information, including access to dam safety regulations and policy guidelines.
Explanation
NETRA expands to NDSA Engine for Tracking and Review using AI. PIB describes it as an AI-enabled platform launched by Union Jal Shakti Minister C. R. Paatil during the inauguration of the new National Dam Safety Authority office at R.K. Puram, New Delhi. Its purpose is tied directly to dam safety governance: it gives a conversational interface for quick access to key NDSA documents, including Dam Safety Act regulations and policy guidelines. It is also integrated with DHARMA, the national repository of dam safety data covering more than 6,600 specified dams and thousands of inspection reports, so that dam safety information can be accessed, analysed and reviewed faster. That makes option B the best fit.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Forest fire detection is outside the dam-safety context of the NDSA launch and is not mentioned as NETRA's function.
- (C) Flood forecasting is not the role assigned to NETRA; the source links NETRA to dam safety documents, DHARMA data and review of dam safety information.
- (D) Groundwater monitoring does not match the PIB description, which places NETRA within NDSA's dam safety governance and specified-dam data systems.
Concept
This tests current applications of AI in public governance, especially digital systems attached to statutory infrastructure regulation. RAS often asks such items because names like NETRA, NDSA, DHARMA and Rashtriya Bandh Suraksha Darpan can be confused unless the purpose is clear.