Important Current Affairs 29th August

NATIONAL:

Rajnath Singh inaugurated 26th Ladakhi Kisan Jawan Vigyan Mela in Leh.

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated 26th Ladakhi Kisan Jawan Vigyan Mela in Leh on 29 August. The Mela was organized by Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR).

The Ministry of Defence has asked DIHAR to work on the challenges in High Altitude Region (HAR- failure) in the coming 3 years. It is expected that DIHAR should turn the failure into JEET (Victory).

DIHAR:

The Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) is a constituent laboratory of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). DIHAR was set up in 1962 in Leh. It is located at an altitude of 3,500 m above the Mean Sea Level (MSL). The institute has core competence in cold arid agro-animal technology.

The institute aims to meet fresh food requirement of the soldiers at high altitude cold desert condition. It is also responsible to make the region reasonably green. The research stations of the institute are located at Ranbirpura, Ladakh; Partapur, Siachen Sector; Base Laboratory in Chandigarh and the world’s highest terrestrial R&D Centre at Changla, Ladakh.

The twelfth India Security Summit was held in New Delhi.

• The 12th India Security Summit was held in New Delhi on 29 August. The theme of the summit is the New National Cyber Security Strategy. The summit focused on several problems including the protection of important national infrastructure, rising cyber threats like incidents, challenges, and responsibilities.

Organized by:

The summit was organized by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). It is officially supported by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Cybersecurity:

Cybersecurity is the technique of computer protecting knowledge from unauthorized access or attacks. Cybersecurity activities are to safeguard the usability, responsibility, integrity, and safety of the network.

India is the third-largest user of the web and also the cybercrime has augmented in manifold within recent years.

Cyber‘s New schemes:

The Ministry of Home Affairs launched a new scheme named Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to combat cybercrime in the country. The Cyber Swachhta Kendra is also a new scheme of the Government towards Digital India under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

India Launches Worlds First Ever Facial Biometric Data Based Seafarer Identity Document.

• India became the first country in the world to issue Biometric Seafarer Identity Document (BSID),capturing the facial biometric data of seafarers. Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, MoS (I/C) Shipping and Chemical & Fertilizers launched the project in New Delhi. He also handed over the new BSID cards to five Indian seafarers.

The new facial biometric technology is a marked improvement over the two finger or iris based biometric data, with modern security features.  It will make the identification of the SID holder more reliable and efficient, while protecting their dignity and privacy.  India made a presentation on this technology at ILO.

The country is moving ahead rapidly under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The shipping sector is seeing major developments  in the areas of coastal shipping, inland waterways and other maritime activities.The generation of employment in the sector, which  is evident in the growing number of Indian seafarers in the international shipping industry. The total number of Indian seafarers who were employed on Indian or foreign flag vessels increased from 154349 in 2017 to 208799 this year, showing an unprecedented increase of 35%. 

The development is very significant against the backdrop of the increase in seafaring activities . The new document will give a foolproof identification to our seafarers which will facilitate their movement, provide ease of getting jobs and help in identifying them from any location in the world.

The International Labour Organisation on BSID. India ratified the Convention in October 2015.The BSID introduces modern security features.  It will have a biometric chip embedded in it. The security of the BSID card  is ensured at various levels and through different methods. At the time of data capturing the live face is cross matched through passport photo using a face matching software.

The card two optical security features- Micro prints/micro texts and Unique Guilloche pattern. A software has been developed for capturing the facial biometrics and its authentication through the public key infrastructure.

A record of each SID issued will be maintained in a national database and its related information will be internationally accessible.

The BSID project has been taken up in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Mumbai. The Government notified the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers Biometric Identification Document) Rules in  2016. The issuance of SID involves the collection of biometric and demographic details of the seafarers, their verification and then issuance of the card  to them.

The nine data collection centers have been setup  at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Noida, Goa, New Mangalore, Kochi, Vizag & Kandla for issue of BSID.  Every Indian seafarer who possesses a valid Continuous Discharge Certificate issued by Govt. of India will be eligible for issue of a BSID.

The total number of existing Indian seafarers who will be required to be issued BSIDs is around 3,50,000 . All the existing seafarers will be given BSID within the next 2 years. After this, it is estimated that around 15000 new seafarers will be issued BSIDs annually.

Indo Pacific 2019 Chiefs of Defence Conference was held in Thailand.

• Indo Pacific  2019 Chiefs of Defence Conference was held in Thailand on 26 August. The conference was held during the 3 day-visit of Air Chief Marshal and Chairman Chiefs of employees Committee, Birender Singh Dhanoa to Thailand.

Aim & Theme:

The conference was aimed to strengthen the bilateral defence relations between the two countries. The theme for the conference was Collaboration during a free and Open Indo - Pacific. The conference shed its light on the common challenges faced by the nations.

The bilateral defence relationship with Thailand has gained a momentum that resulted in India's Look/ Act East Policy together at political, economic and cultural levels. The participation of the Indian Chairman COSC would increasing defence cooperation with an Asian country for bigger interaction and cooperation in the future.

India and Thailand relation:

The India-Thailand defence Cooperation has been initiated in 2003. It started with seven primary areas of focus to strengthen cooperation between countries.

The focus on primary areas was re-enforced in a joint statement issued throughout Thai Prime Minister’s official visit to India on January 2012. Both countries have the firm of diplomatic relations in 2017. India is the natural partner of Siam for regional cooperative security initiatives.

Shri Amit Shah presides over 49th Foundation Day of BPRD as Chief Guest.

• Union Minister of Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah presided over the 49th Foundation Day of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) as Chief Guest in New Delhi. Minister of State Shri G. Kishan Reddy.

The organization contributing in research and development and modernization of police forces. The main aim is to maintain the relevance of an institution for 50 years.

The maintenance of internal peace and a stable law and order system are essential requirements for achieving Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision to make India a 5 trillion dollar economy.

He emphasized on institutionalizing efficient systems and best policing practices so that they become a part of nature to all law enforcement officials. This can only be achieved through meticulous training, here the role of BPRD becomes essential.

The changing role of police to maintain the stability of the British empire, Sardar Patel brought forth a new paradigm for Indian police system after independence. Today the primary objective of the police is to serve people and protect their rights.He made police modernization in a changing era filled with new challenges. The 34,800 police personnel who laid their lives in the line of duty to keep India safe from internal security threats.

The police reforms is a continuously evolving, never-ending process with changing society and newer challenges. He also differentiated between police reforms and reforms in policing, and urged BPRD to take lead in the latter field, involving a paradigm shift in the approach to policing. The internal security of the country is directly proportional to high quality research and inputs for policy formulation.

He made a countrywide consultative process to make changes in IPC and CrPC and encouraged BPRD to play a leadership role. The main aim is to create skilled manpower needed to tackle complex cases requiring advanced forensic science capabilities. The growing gap between demand and supply of forensic science skills in the country.

The job of prisons should be not to punish but to deter and reform. The approach of prisons should be to create good citizens. Shri Shah expounded on the need for old systems to adapt with changing times and revamp policing techniques to meet the needs of the day. He also urged BPRD to be more proactive and expand its area of operations.

The main focus is on the concept of training the trainers, and urged police to develop domain expertise.

AGREEMENTS AND MOUS:

SIDBI partners with Incuspaze for coworking space for MSMEs.

• The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) partnered with Incuspaze Solutions Private Limited (Incuspaze) to open a coworking space, designed for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) and startups. This coworking space called @Workspaze is located in Connaught Place, New Delhi.

 The initiative that intends to be a market-maker for its segment is only 50 meters away from Barakhamba Metro Station.

The entrepreneurs who are at the initial stage of their entrepreneurship journey. During the first 18 months of entrepreneurship journey, an enterprise may face several challenges. At SIDBI we want to handhold entrepreneurs during this period so that they have a smooth ride in their venture. Our aim is to expand the scope of @Workspaze even in other key cities of the country. We have already started work on a similar arrangement in Mumbai,” said Mohammad Mustafa, IAS, Chairman and Managing Director of SIDBI, in a statement.

The fully furnished office space is equipped with training and conference room, fast-speed internet, reception, refreshment, recreational area, housekeeping facilities

Under this arrangement, an MSME accelerator programme is proposed to be started shortly by SIDBI for the MSMEs and startups who will set up their offices.

Our ideologies with SIDBI to facilitate a hassle-free coworking environment for MSMEs and provide resources to build strong connections with other industries to create ideas and develop business. We look forward to a long and fruitful association.

IIT Guwahati signs MoU with RD Grow Green India for safer drinking water.

• Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with RD Grow Green India Pvt. Ltd. The Technology Transfer Signing Ceremony held at the IIT Guwahati campus between T G Sitharam, Director IIT Guwahati and Rajeev Saikia, MD, RD Grow Green India Pvt. Ltd.

The drinking water contamination is a major problem in most of the states including Assam. This "chemical-free" treatment technique might be useful to the citizens in rural and urban areas. The initiative made by the team from IIT Guwahati resulted in one of the successful incubation of a company within IIT Guwahati (RD Grow Green India Pvt Ltd) taken the challenge to supply contaminant-free drinking water in the Assam state presently using the technology.

The technology is based on the 'Apparatus and Method for Removal of Fluoride, Iron, Arsenic and Microorganisms from Contaminated Drinking Water' by Prof. Mihir Kumar Purkait, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Guwahati.

Mihir Kumar Purkait, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Guwahati applied potential generates the coagulant species in situ as the sacrificial metal anode (aluminium or iron) dissolves. The hydrogen is simultaneously evolved at the cathode. Coagulant species aggregate the suspended particles or precipitate and adsorb dissolved contaminants. The tiny bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen that are formed during electrolysis of water, collide with air bubbles which compel to float the pollutant particles. The choice of electrode material depends on various criteria such as low-cost, low-oxidation potential, inertness towards the system under consideration. The aluminium to be very effective and successful in iron, arsenic and fluoride removal at favorable operating conditions. The technology is equally effective for the treatment of industrial effluent including oily wastewater.

RD Grow Green India Pvt. Ltd. is an incubating company at the Technology Incubation Centre in IIT Guwahatiand is working on this project for the treatment of contaminated drinking water and industrial effluent as well.

The company is capable of handling Arsenic, Iron and Fluoride contamination of Assam in collaboration with the state government in an appropriate manner.

The application is time-proven state-of-art-appropriate technology in every process control unit further makes the All-In-One Packaged Water Treatment Plant.

DAYS:

International Day against Nuclear Tests is observed on 29 August.

• The International Day against Nuclear Tests is observed across the world on 29 August. The day aims to provoke the world organization, youth networks, and the media against nuclear testing. The day highlights the importance to ban nuclear tests as a valuable step towards achieving a safer world. Poisoned groundwater, cancer, leukemia, radioactive are caused by the toxic legacies of nuclear testing.

History:

UN General Assembly (UNGA) after the 64 sessions of the world organization meeting declared 29 August asInternational Day against Nuclear Tests. It unanimously adopted resolution 64/35 on Dec 2, 2009. The inaugural commemoration of the International Day against Nuclear Tests was marked in 2010.

Kazakhstan initiated the resolution with the support of a large number of sponsors to commemorate the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site on 29 August 1991.

Nuclear Test:

Nuclear weapons testing began on 16 July 1945. So far, nearly 2,000 test has taken place. The countries that have tested the nuclear weapons so far are USA, USR, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea.

AWARDS:

President conferred the Tenzing Norgay National Journey Awards.

• Government has declared the Tenzing Norgay National Journey Awards 2018. The awards are conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi on 29 August. The award recognizes the achievements of persons in the fields of adventure.

The award is given in four categories:

♦ Land journey

♦ Water journey

♦ Air journey ♦ Life Time accomplishment

Jury:

The National Selection Committee headed by Smt. Upma Chawdhry, IAS, Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs selected the awardees. The committee was constituted with expert members from the field of adventure.

Tenzing Norgay National Journeys Award:

The Tenzing Norgay National Journey Awards is the highest national recognition for outstanding achievements within the field of the journey toward the land, ocean, and air. The award is given each year to the achievements of persons within the fields of the journey. The award also aims to encourage children and develop the spirit of endurance, risk-taking, cooperative cooperation and fast, prepared and effective reflexes in difficult things.

Prize: The awardee will receive statuettes, certificates and award cash of Rs.5 lakh.

Tenzing Norgay: Tenzing Norgay was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. Norgay and Edmund Hillary were the first two individuals known to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953. Indian government instituted the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards to honour him.

Awardees:

The awardees of the Tenzing Norgay National Journeys Awards 2018 are:

Land Adventure: Aparna Kumar, Dipankar Ghosh, Manikandan K

Water Adventure: Prabhat Raju Koli

Air Adventure: Rameshwar Jangra and Sherpa

Life Time Achievement: Wangchuk.