DRDO DEFENDS MISSILES

The state-of-the-art indigenous Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) Nag is in advanced stages of development. A new Man Portable ATGM (MPATGM) was also in advanced stages of trials.

Early this week, the Army fired two newly inducted -LR (Long Range) ATGM at the Infantry School at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. It recently procured a small lot of 12 launchers and around 250 missiles from Israel under the new financial powers for emergency procurements sanctioned by the Defence Ministry a few months back.

A statement on the test-firing, issued by a public relations firm on behalf of Spike manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, said that with the confidence in the missile established, the Indian Army may need to “revisit” their plans for third generation missiles.

“Both the DRDO ATGM programme, as well as the invitation to Indian industry to develop a 3rd Gen missile will need a rethink, as having a 4th Gen missile will put the plan for the development of a 3rd Gen missile questionable,”.

INDIA CORRUPTION SURVEY, 2019

As per the India Corruption Survey 2019, Rajasthan and Bihar fared the worst in country with 78% and 75% of respondents admitting to paying bribes, while Telangana topped the list in south India. The survey was carried out between October 2018 and November 2019 and was conducted by Local Circles, a social media firm and the Transparency International India. It had a total of 1.9 lakh responses from nearly 81,000 unique respondents in 248 districts across 20 Indian states. As compared to 2018, India’s overall ranking in Corruption Perception Index has risen 3 places to 78 out of 180 countries. While an average of 56% of respondents admitted to paying bribes in 2018, the number has come down to 51% in 2019. Most Corrupt States in India: Rajasthan tops corruption chart in India. As per India Corruption Survey, 78% people in Rajasthan, participating in survey, admitted to paying a bribe to get work done. Bihar follows Rajasthan and was placed at second spot. In Bihar 75 % of citizens admitted to paying a bribe to get their work done. Uttar Pradesh was ranked third in list. In UP 74 % of citizens admitted to paying a bribe to get their work done. Jharkhand shares 3rd spot with UP, where 74% citizens admitted to paying a bribe to get their work done.

Telangana rounds off top 5 list of ‘Most Corrupt States in India’, with about 67% of citizens admitted to paying bribes to get numerous pending work completed. Punjab ranks sixth in list, where 63% citizens accepted to paying bribes to get their work done. Karnataka shares the spot with Punjab. Tamil Nadu ranks seventh in most corrupt state’s list. Around 62% of citizens admitted to paying bribes to get their work done. Least Corrupt States: According to the list, Kerala is one of the least corrupt states, where only 10% of people admitted to paying a bribe to get their work done and all of them gave bribes several times (directly/ indirectly). Besides Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Haryana and Delhi are least corrupt states. ACCELERATOR LAB BY UNDP (Science) The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched the India chapter of its new initiative, Accelerator Lab in New Delhi. The objective behind launching lab is to address some of the most pressing issues facing India, including air pollution, through innovation. To achieve its objectives, the UNDP has also partnered with NITI Aayog ‘s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).

The laboratory will be housed in UNDP’s office based in New Delhi. The vision behind setting up lab is to make faster progress in meeting ambitious United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

At the Accelerator Lab innovators will seek to bring in their energy together to come up with solutions for common problems facing the country. Issues that laboratory will seek to address through innovation includes: air pollution, sustainable water management and client-resilient livelihoods.

The Indian lab will be among 60 global ones that will find, test and try to scale up innovative solutions helpful in combating both climate change as well as social inequity.

NAVAL VERSION OF BRAHMOS TESTED (Security)

Indian Navy test-fired the BrahMos supersonic , from the Navy’s stealth destroyer INS Kochi (commissioned in 2015). The supersonic missile successfully hit a decommissioned target ship in Arabian Sea. Moreover, the second ship of Project 15- A ‘Kolkata-class’ guided missile destroyer test-fired advanced missile during a naval drill in west coast. Earlier the BrahMos missile has been successfully test fired twice from INS Kolkata, (one in June 2014 and February 2015) and one successful test firing has been from INS Kochi in November 2015. The recent test firing from INS Kochi has now re-validated ship’s precise strike capability. It has been jointly developed by India and Russia and has been in service with Indian Navy since 2005. It is world’s fastest cruise missile and has a strike-range of over 290 km. It successfully hit decommissioned target ship with high precision after performing extremely complex manoeuvres.

BRAHMOS missile have supersonic speed of Mach 2.8. It also has a very low-cruising altitude of 10 metres at terminal phase and pin-point accuracy which has made the warship one of deadliest in Indian Navy fleet. Brahmos as prime strike weapon will ensure Naval warship’s invincibility by engaging naval surface targets at long ranges. This will thus make destroyer the another lethal platform of Indian Navy. Ex-SURYA KIRAN (Security)

14th edition of SURYA KIRAN - Joint military exercise between India and Nepal will be conducted in Nepal. It is an annual event which is conducted alternatively in Nepal and India.

The aim of this exercise is to conduct a Battalion level combined training between Indian Army and Nepal Army to increase interoperability in jungle warfare and counter terrorist operations in mountainous terrain, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, medical and environmental conservation including aviation aspects.

ADB INDIA SIGN CONTRACT FOR POWER CONNECT PROJECT IN T.N. (States) Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a $451 million loan for strengthening power connectivity between northern and southern parts of Chennai– Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC) which is part of East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC). ECEC is India’s first coastal economic corridor.

It will help establish extra-high-voltage transmission link between Coimbatore and Virudhunagar. It will meet increased power demand in CKIC by transfering additional generation capacity of 9,000 megawatt (MW), including 6,000 MW from renewables by 2025. This will help reliably evacuate power from these new power plants in southern CKIC.

It will also build operational capacity of TANTRANSCO (Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation) by supporting a financial restructuring plan and improved monitoring system for social and environmental impacts. TANTRANSCO is state-owned company responsible for transmission.

It will help Tamil Nadu to meet increasing demand for power supply from industry and commercial enterprises in State through transfer of power from new generation facilities, including renewable energy, in southern CKIC to industrial hubs in northern region of state.

The project will provide an impetus to industrial development of CKIC, which ADB has been assisting through strategic planning and investments in infrastructure while facilitating industrial investments.

NEW LAUNCH PAD TO BE SET UP IN TAMIL NADU (Science)

Union Government is planning to set up a new rocket launch pad near Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu. At present, the Indian Space Research organisation (ISRO) has two launch pads at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDCC) in Sriharikotta, Andhra Pradesh. The

development comes on the backdrop of increasing launches from India, both for domestic as well as international customers.

The new launch pad is intended to be used for future Indian rockets including- Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk III, Avatar Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), Unified Modular Launch Vehicle (UMLV), Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), and even older ones like Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). However, the government did not elaborated on Launchpad’s exact usage.

As per ISRO, its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has launched as many as 84 satellites from 1994 to 2015, PSLV, of which 51 were for international customers. In 2018, the ISRO launched 17 missions but now number of launches every year by space agency has increased over 30.

Satish Dhawan Space Centre (or SHAR spaceport) at Sriharikotta is responsible for integration of launchers. SDCC houses two operational launch pads from where all GSLV and PSLV flights take place. ISRO has launched most of its customer satellites with its PSLV.

MALAYALAM POET AKKITHAM BAGS 55TH JNANPITH AWARD (Awards)

The prestigious Jnanpith Award for literature has been announced for the Malayalam poet Akkitham Achuthan Namboodri. A jury under the chairmanship of noted Odia writer Pratibha Rai held a meeting before the declaration of his name. Jury’s other members were Shamim Hanafi, Suranjan Das, Madhav Kaushik and Dr. Purushottam Bilimalale. The award consists of Rs 11 lakh, a statue of Vagdevi, a citation and a memento.

Akkitham is a famous writer in the Malayalam poetry world. He was born in 1926 and his full name is Akkitham Achuthan Namboodri but he is popularly known as Akkitham. He was interested in literature and art since childhood. Apart from poetry, Akkitham has also written plays and novels. His most of the poetry works have a unique prophetic character. He predicts a range of socio-political developments in his poetry. Akkitham is famous for showing modernity through his poetry.

YUWAAH’- GENERATION UNLIMITED INITIATIVE (International ) It has been launched by UNICEF. It brings young people together with the private sector, governments, international and local organisations. The aim is to tackle the urgent challenge of investing in their learning and training so that they are prepared for the complex and fast-changing world of work and can be active and engaged citizens.