WBCS UPSC C A Defence, Social Justice,Apointments Oct 20 to Apr 21.

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DRDO Develops Advanced Chaff Technology

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an Advanced Chaff Technology to safeguard the naval ships against enemy missile attack.
Defence Laboratory Jodhpur (DLJ), a DRDO laboratory, has indigenously developed three variants of this critical technology namely Short Range Chaff Rocket (SRCR), Medium Range Chaff Rocket (MRCR) and Long Range Chaff Rocket (LRCR) meeting Indian Navy’s qualitative requirements.
Recently, Indian Navy conducted trials of all three variants in the Arabian Sea on Indian Naval Ship and found the performance satisfactory.
Chaff is a passive expendable electronic countermeasure technology used worldwide to protect naval ships from enemy’s radar and Radio Frequency (RF) missile seekers. The importance of this development lies in the fact that very less quantity of chaff material deployed in the air acts as decoy to deflect enemy’s missiles for safety of the ships.
The DRDO has gained the expertise to meet the futuristic threats from adversaries. The technology is being given to the industry for production in large quantities.

Exercise ‘Shantir Ogroshena -2021’

Indian Army is participating in Multinational Military Exercise namely SHANTIR OGROSHENA -2021 in Bangladesh.
The nine days exercise started on the 4th April 2021 to commemorate the birth centenary of Bangladesh Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and mark glorious 50 years of liberation.

India To Participate In ‘La Perouse’ Exercise

Indian Navy will take part in French Naval Exercise in Bay of Bengal along with other QUAD member Countries
India will participate in France-led naval drill ‘La Perouse’ for the first time in the Bay of Bengal that is scheduled from 5 April-7 April-2021.
Other QUAD countries -Australia, Japan and the US - will also participate in La Perouse.

UAE To Participate Varuna Exercise

After La Perouse exercise among India, France, Australia, Japan and the US another important naval exercise, the India-French Varuna exercise, will also take place in April 2021.
This will be the first time that the UAE will join India and France in a trilateral naval exercise in the strategically important Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The drills, called Varuna, will be held between April 25 and April 27.

Vajra Prahar 2021 Concludes

The 11th edition of Indo-US Joint Special Forces Exercise – Vajra Prahar 2021 was conducted at Special Forces Training School located at Bakloh, HP in March 2021.

BDL To Supply ‘Milan-2T’ Anti-Tank Guided Missiles To Indian Army

Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) will supply 4,960 MILAN-2T Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) to Indian Army.
The Milan-2T is a Tandem Warhead ATGM with the range of 1,850 metres, produced by BDL under license from MBDA Missile Systems, France.
These missiles can be fired from ground as well as vehicle-based launchers and can be deployed in Anti-Tank Role for both offensive and defensive tasks.

Indian-Bahrain PASSEX Under ‘Operation Sankalp’

The Indian Navy and the Royal Bahrain Naval Force carried out the Passage Exercise (PASSEX) in the Persian Gulf as part of ‘Operation Sankalp’ on 17^th March 2021.
A passage exercise refers to a drill held by two navies to ensure that both are able to communicate and cooperate in times of war or humanitarian relief.
The Indian Navy carries out such exercises at regular intervals with units of friendly foreign navies

INS Dhruv: India’s Missile Tracking Ship - To Join Navy Soon

India is set to commission INS Dhruv to track satellites, strategic missiles and map the Indian Ocean bed later this year.
It will act as an early warning system for adversary missiles headed towards Indian cities and military establishments.
INS Dhruv has been developed with the help of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy with India’s Strategic Force Command and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) as main intelligence consumers.
The indigenously-developed surveillance ship has been built by Hindustan Shipyard Ltd at its Visakhapatnam facility under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan initiative.
INS Dhruv is equipped with the active electronically scanned array radars, or AESA, considered a game-changer in radar technology, and can scan various spectrums to monitor satellites of adversaries that are watching over India. It can also understand the range and true missile capability of adversary nations that it finds in the Indo-Pacific.
Once the vessel is commissioned, India will be the only country outside the P-5 - the US, the UK, China, Russia and France - to have this capability.

AsterX: France’s First Military Exercises In Space

France has launched its first military exercise in space to evaluate its ability to defend its satellites and other defense equipment from an attack.
The exercise, codenamed "AsterX" in memory of the first French satellite from 1965, will be based on 18 simulated events in an operations room.
During the drill, the French military will monitor a potentially dangerous space object as well as a threat to its own satellite from another foreign power possessing a considerable space force.
The new US Space Force and German space agencies are taking part in the French exercise.
Michel Friedling is the head of France's newly created Space Command.

IAF To Participate In EX Desert FLAG

The Indian Air Force is participating for the first time in Exercise Desert Flag-VI along with air forces of United Arab Emirates, United States of America, France, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Bahrain.
Ex Desert Flag is an annual multi-national large force employment warfare exercise hosted by the United Arab Emirates Air Force.
The exercise is scheduled from 03 Mar 21 to 27 Mar 21 at Al-Dhafra airbase, UAE.

INS Karanj: Indian Navy Gets Third Scorpene Submarine

The Indian Navy got its third Scorpene submarine, which will be commissioned as INS Karanj, of Project P-75.
Earlier, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, MDL, has delivered two Scorpene submarines named Khanderi, Kalvari.
The fourth submarine, Vela, launched on May 6 2019, has commenced sea trials, the fifth submarine Vagir, was launched on November 12, 2020 and has commenced harbour sea trials whilst the sixth submarine is presently in an advanced stage of outfitting.
All the six submarines are being constructed under Project 75. The number 75 in Project 75 refers to a unique identifier which was assigned to a programme for series production of submarines.

India-US Joint Military Exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas 20’

The India-US joint military exercise "Yudh Abhyas 20" commenced in Mahajan Field Firing Range of Bikaner district in Rajasthan.

HAL To Develop CATS Warrior

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is developing a futuristic high altitude pseudo satellite - CATS Warrior - with a start-up company, a first of its kind in the world.
The technology is named Combined Air Teaming System (CATS).
The satellite will be solar energised and become a big asset flying unmanned around 70,000 ft for 2-3 months and taking information.
It will have a manned aircraft (will be known as mother ship), operating from far away, and four autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles known as CATS Warrior.
In this project where the manned aircraft will operate within the boundary and the unmanned aircraft will enter the enemy zone and can carry out strikes deep inside the enemy territory.
It will be able to stealthily enter 700 kilometres inside enemy territory.
Capable of autonomous functions, these unmanned aerial vehicles will also have all the manoeuvring capabilities.
It can straightway hit the target at a distance of 700 kilometres or can go to 350 kilometres and come back. It can carry ammunition, missiles if needed.

Defence Modernisation: Army To Get Indigenous SWITCH Drones

Towards modernization of Indian Defence forces, the Indian Army has struck a deal for SWITCH UAV from ideaForge Technology — especially for surveillance along LAC in Eastern Ladakh.

This is the biggest such order in terms of the contract value, for any Indian equipment manufacturer for drones.
ideaForge was incubated in 2007 at the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) at IIT-B by four alumni members.
Based in Mumbai, currently, the company offers seven UAVs that are used in a range of applications including mapping, traffic management, surveillance, crowd management and security. Some of these drones are already in use by the armed forces.

About Switch UAV

The Switch UAV is a fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing UAV that can be deployed at high altitude and harsh environments for day and night surveillance in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
It is man-portable and has the highest time on target compared to any other UAV in its class.

Its features include:

Advanced flight time with a range of 15 km
Around 2.6m long and 1.8m wide and weighs less than 6.5 kg
Higher safety and simple operation with additional fail-safe redundancies
Used for long-duration operations harsh environments for day and night surveillance in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions

IAF To Get 83 ‘Tejas’ From HAL

The Union Cabinet has approved procurement of 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircrafts and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer aircrafts from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Light Combat Aircraft Mk-1A

It is an indigenously designed, developed and manufactured state-of-the-art modern 4+ generation fighter aircraft.
This aircraft is equipped with critical operational capabilities of Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite and Air to Air Refuelling (AAR).

BEL To Supply Laser Dazzlers To Indian Navy

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) will supply Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation Dazlers (Laser Dazzlers). These would be manufactured by BEL, Pune plant.

The Laser Dazzler is used as a non-lethal method for warning and stopping suspicious vehicles/boats/aircrafts/UAVs/pirates etc. from approaching secured areas during both day and night. It is capable of dazzle and thereby suppresses the person’s/optical sensors’ action with disability glare in case of non-compliance to orders. It disorient/ confuse/blind a person temporarily. It also dazzles and distracts aircraft/UAVs.
Laser dazzler technology was developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

India To Export Akash Missile System

The Union Cabinet has approved the export of Akash Missile System and a Committee for faster Approvals has been created.
The Akash missile system (surface-to-air missile with a range of 25 kilometres) is an important defence asset for the country with over 96 per cent indigenization.
Developed by DRDO, it is India’s first indigenously designed missile system and can target fighter jets, cruise missiles, drones and other aerial assets.

Three DRDO Products Handed Over To Three Services

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh handed over three systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation to chiefs of the three armed forces.

I. Border Surveillance System (BOSS) (Army)

It is an all-weather electronic surveillance system successfully designed and developed by Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun. The system has been deployed at Ladakh border area for day and night surveillance.
The system facilitates monitoring and surveillance by automatically detecting the intrusions in harsh high-altitude sub-zero temperature areas with remote operation capability.
The system is being produced by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Machlipatnam.

II. Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS) (Navy)

The IMSAS is state-of-the-art, fully indigenous, high performance intelligent software system that provides Global Maritime Situational Picture, Marine planning tools and Analytical capabilities to Indian Navy.
The system provides Maritime Operational Picture from Naval HQ to each individual ship in sea to enable Naval Command and Control (C2). Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics (CAIR), Bengaluru and Indian Navy has jointly conceptualised and developed the product and the BEL, Bengaluru has implemented it.

III. ASTRA Mk-I BVR Missile System (Air Force)

It is the indigenously developed first Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, which can be launched from Sukhoi-30, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Mig-29 and Mig-29K.
Globally, very few countries have expertise and capabilities to design and produce this class of weapon system.
Successful development of ASTRA weapon system by Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) Hyderabad & production by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Hyderabad is a major contribution towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

‘Himgiri’: 1st Ship Of Project 17A By GSRE Kolkata Launched

Himgiri, which is the first of the three Project 17A ships being built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE), Kolkata has been launched at Hoogly River.

Project 17A

Under the Project 17A program, a total of seven ships, four at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) and three ships at GRSE are being built with enhanced stealth features, advanced indigenous weapon and sensor fit along with several other improvements.
P17A ships are the first gas turbine propulsion and largest combat platforms ever built at GRSE.

Recent Naval Exercises Of India

SITMEX-20

The 2nd edition of India, Singapore and Thailand Trilateral Maritime Exercise SITMEX-20, was held during 21 to 22 November 2020 in Andaman Sea.
The first edition of SITMEX, hosted by Indian Navy, was conducted off Port Blair in September 2019.
The SITMEX series of exercises are conducted to enhance mutual inter-operability and imbibing best practices between Indian Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN).
The 2020 edition of the exercise was hosted by RSN.

SIMBEX-20

Indian Navy (IN) will host the 27th edition of India - Singapore Bilateral Maritime Exercise SIMBEX-20 from 23 to 25 November 2020 in Andaman Sea.
The SIMBEX series of exercises between Indian Navy and Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), being conducted annually since 1994.

CORPAT-2020

The 30th edition of India-Thailand Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) has been concluded in the Andaman Sea close to the Strait of Malacca.
India and Thailand have been carrying out CORPAT along their International Maritime Boundary Line twice a year since 2005.
India’s other military exercises with Thailand are Exercise MAITREE (Army) and Exercise SIAM BHARAT (Air Force).

Malabar 2020

Exercise Malabar is a trilateral naval exercise involving the United States, Japan and India as permanent partners. Australia was a part of the Malabar Naval exercise 2020.
This is the first time that all four navies of the Quad were in a joint exercise in 13 years.
Originally begun in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States, Japan became a permanent partner in 2015.
The 24th edition (2020) of Malabar exercise was conducted in two phases, Phase-I was from 3 to 6 November near the coast of Visakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal and the Phase-II was from 17 to 20 November in the Arabian Sea.

Vagir: India’s 5th Stealth Submarine Under Project-75 Launched

The Indian Navy has launched Scorpene class submarine Vagir.

Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vagir is the fifth among the six Kalvari-class submarines being constructed by the public sector shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) in Mumbai.
The other vessels in the class are INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj, INS Vela and INS Vagsheer. Of these Kalvari and Khanderi have been commissioned in 2017 and 2019, Vela and Karanj and undergoing sea trials, Vagir has now been launched and Vagsheer is under construction.
The submarines, designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS, are being built as part of Indian Navy's Project-75 programme.
These submarines can undertake missions like anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying and area surveillance.
Vagir is named after the sand fish, a deadly deep sea predator of the Indian Ocean.

What are Scorpene-Class Submarines?

These are a class of diesel-electric attack submarines jointly developed by the French Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) and the Spanish company Navantia, and now by Naval Group.
It features diesel propulsion and an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system.

What is Air-independent Propulsion (AIP)?

AIP is any marine propulsion technology that allows a non-nuclear submarine to operate without access to atmospheric oxygen.
It can augment or replace the diesel-electric propulsion system of non-nuclear vessels.

Project and Class of Ship/Submarine

Project: During the developmental stage of a ship or a submarine, specific projects are generally assigned a numerical character as a unique identifier to the project. For example,

P-75:The number 75 in Project 75 refers to such unique identifier which was assigned to a programme for series production of submarines in India. Based on the specifications drawn for Project 75, the Scorpene class submarine from France, chosen under the project, is being constructed at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.

Class: In a series production of the warship construction project, all ships/submarines of the series have common design characteristics and capabilities. The first ship of the serial construction project provides a class name to all warships in the project for common reference. The term ‘class’ in the Kolkata Class refers to a series of warships constructed under Project 15A which includes Indian naval ships INS Kolkata, INS Kochi and INS Chennai.
Similarly, all six submarines constructed under Project 75 are referred to as Kalvari Class of submarines.
Other examples of project and class references of Indian Naval Ships are as:

Project 15 Destroyers – Delhi Class (Delhi, Mysore, and Mumbai)
Project 16 Frigates – Godavari Class (Godavari, Ganga and Gomti)
Project 16A Frigates – Brahmaputra Class (Brahmaputra, Betwa and Beas)
Project 17 Stealth Frigates – Shivalik Class (Shivalik, Sahyadri and Satpura)
Project 28 Anti-Submarine Corvettes – Kamorta Class (Kamorta, Kadmatt, Kiltan and Kavaratti)

Successful Flight Test Of SMART

Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) has been successfully flight tested on 5th Oct 2020 from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.
SMART is a missile assisted release of lightweight Anti-Submarine Torpedo System for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) operations far beyond Torpedo range.
This launch and demonstration is significant in establishing Anti-Submarine warfare capabilities.

Defence Acquisition Procedure- 2020

On 28^th September, 2020, the Defence Ministry unveiled the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) – 2020.
The first Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was promulgated in the year 2002.
It has since been revised periodically to provide impetus to the growing domestic industry and achieve enhanced self-reliance in defence manufacturing.
The Defence Ministry had approved constitution of Main Review Committee under Chairmanship of DG (Acquisition) Shri Apurva Chandra in August, 2019 for preparation of DAP-2020.

Salient features of DAP -2020

Reservation in Categories for Indian Vendors

The policy reserves several procurement categories for indigenous firms.
DAP 2020 defines an “Indian vendor” as a company that is owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens, with foreign direct investment (FDI) not more than 49 per cent.

Enhancement of Indigenous Content

It promotes greater indigenous content in arms and equipment of the military procures, including equipment manufactured in India under licence.
In most acquisition categories, DAP-2020 stipulates 10 percent higher indigenisation than DPP 2016.

New Buy (Global–Manufacture in India) Category

This stipulates indigenisation of at least 50 percent of the overall contract value of a foreign purchase bought with the intention of subsequently building it in India with technology transfer.

Ease of Doing Business

One of the key focus areas of the review was to implement ‘Ease of Doing Business’ with emphasis on simplification, delegation and making the process industry friendly.

Design & Development

A separate dedicated chapter has been incorporated for acquisition of systems Designed and Developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO), Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

Import Embargo List

The import embargo list of 101 items that the government promulgated last month has been specifically incorporated into DAP 2020. (An embargo is a government order that restricts commerce with a specified country or the exchange of specific goods.)

Offset Liability

The government has decided to remove the offset clause if the deal is done through inter-government agreement (IGA), government-to-government or an ab initio single vendor.
The offset clause requires a foreign vendor to invest a part of the contract value in India.

Significance

Boost to Atmanirbhar Bharat & Maker in India Initiative: Abhiy DAP 2020 has been aligned with the government’s vision of the Atmanirbhar Bharat and empowering Indian domestic industry through Make in India initiative with the ultimate aim of turning India into a global manufacturing hub.

Appointmetns

Sushil Chandra Appointed As Chief Election Commissioner Of India

On 13^th April 2021, Sushil Chandra, the senior-most Election Commissioner, took charge as the Chief Election Commissioner of India. He succeeded Sunil Arora.

Prior to joining the Election Commission of India, Chandra has also served as the chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Under his leadership, CBDT launched “Operation Clean Money” in 2017 in a bid to curb illegal wealth and black money.

Justice NV Ramana: Recommended For Next CJI

Ahead of his retirement on April 23, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde has recommended the name of Justice NV Ramana -- the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court -- as his successor.
The CJI has sent a letter recommending Justice Ramana to be appointed as the 48th CJI to Law Ministry.
Justice NV Ramana will take over as the next CJI on April 24, 2021, and will retire on August 26, 2022.

Tanzania’s First Female President

Samia Suluhu Hassan will be the first female president of Tanzania.
She is currently serving as the vice president of Tanzania.
After the recent death of President John Magufuli, she will serve the reminder term of the former according to Tanzania’s Constitution.

Dr Harsh Vardhan Appointed As Chairman Of ‘Stop TB Partnership Board’

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan has been appointed as the Chairman of the international body Stop TB Partnership Board.
He was appointed in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the movement to eradicate Tuberculosis from India by 2025.
Dr Harsh Vardhan will serve a three-year term, commencing from July this year.

Maj Gen Gautam Chauhan To Head Indian Army’s Human Rights Cell

To look into the human rights issue and suggest means to better the track record of the force, Indian Army has appointed Maj Gen Gautam Chauhan as the first Additional Director General Human Rights.
He will work under the India Army Vice Chief Lieutenant General SK Saini.

AR Rahman Appointed As The Ambassador For BAFTA Breakthrough India

Noted music composer and Academy award winner AR Rahman has been appointed as the Ambassador for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)’s Breakthrough India initiative for 2020-21.
This initiative is supported by Netflix and aimed at identifying, and supportingupto 5 talents working in Film, Televisions or Games in India.
As part of BAFTA Breakthrough India, a jury of British and Indian industry experts will select five talents from across India to take part in the year-long mentoring and guidance programme. The participants will receive one-to-one mentoring, global networking opportunities, free access to BAFTA events and screenings for 12 months and full voting BAFTA membership.

Yashvardhan K. Sinha: New CIC

The Centre has cleared the appointment of Information Commissioner Yashvardhan K. Sinha as the new head of the Central Information Commission.
His predecessor Bimal Julka had completed his tenure as Chief Information Commissioner on August 26, after which the appellate body had been headless.
While the sanctioned strength of information commissioners in the central appellate body for RTI is 10, at present, with the latest appointments, it has six commissioners.

About CIC

The Central Information Commission is a Statutory Body, set up under the Right to Information Act in 2005.
The commission includes one chief information commissioner and not more than ten information commissioners who are appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
CIC hold the office for a term of 5 years from date on which he enters upon his office or till he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
CIC is not eligible for reappointment.

Social Justice

Divorced Daughter Entitled To Samman Pension: HC

The Calcutta High Court, in a recent judgment, said a freedom fighter’s widowed or divorced daughter is entitled to his pension and exclusion is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya said that with no independent source of income, widowed or divorced daughters stand on an equal footing with an unmarried daughter as heirs to the deceased freedom fighter. “The marital status of all of them is ‘unmarried’. Thus, the criterion of exclusion of widowed/divorced daughters, as sought to be projected by respondent no.1, is untenable in the eye of law”.

Amendments To Juvenile Justice (Care And Protection Of Children) Act, 2015

The Union Cabinet has approved Amendments to Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The amendments, once approved by Parliament, will strengthen Child Protection set-up to ensure best interest of children.

Aim of this Amendment

To increase the scrutiny of child care institutions and enhance the role of district magistrates to ensure the set-up works in the best interests of children.

Economic Survey Backs For Social Stock Exchange

The Economic Survey released by the Union Ministry of Finance on January 29, 2021 highlighted the concept of setting up a social stock exchange (SSE) in India for raising capital by organisations working for the realisation of a social welfare objective.
It will be under the regulatory ambit of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the survey said.
A social stock exchange (SSE) enables social enterprises to list their securities or other financial instruments, providing them with an avenue for raising capital for their operations and growth, and reducing their dependency on ad hoc funding like grants or donations. This would operate as a separate segment under existing Indian stock exchanges, enabling socially minded investors to diversify their investment portfolio and developing a strong social securities market in the country.