UPSC 2017: Comprehensive News Analysis - 21 May 2017

In news:

• Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley approved the “broad contours of a policy aimed at engaging the private sector in the manufacture of high-tech defence equipment in India.”
• DAC has approved four platforms in which the private sector will play a key role in the first stage: fighter aircraft, submarines, armoured vehicles and helicopters.

Objectives of policy:

• The policy is aimed at developing the defence industrial eco-system in the country via the involvement of both the major Indian corporates as well as the MSME sector.
• The policy aims to establishment of “long-term strategic partnerships with qualified Indian industry majors through a transparent and competitive process wherein the Indian industry partners would tie up with global OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) to see technology transfers and manufacturing know-how to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains.”
• Policy will contribute to the building of self-reliance in the vital sector of national security requirements.

Defense acquisition Council:

• The Government has set up a Defence Acquisition Council headed by the Raksha Mantri for decision making in regard to the totality of the new planning process.
• Which inter-alia involves according ‘in principle’ approval of Capital Acquisitions in the long term perspective plan and for each Capital Acquisition programme.
• The decision flowing from the Defence Acquisition Council are to be implemented by the following 3 Boards –
• Defence Procurement Board headed by the Defence Secretary
• Defence Production Board headed by the Secretary (Defence Production)
• Defence Research & Development Board headed by the Secretary (Defence Research & Development) 

In news:

• India is participating in a five-day long Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) summit being held in Mexico.
• The summit will mark the first opportunity since 2015 to review global progress in the implementation of SFDRR
• It will also provide a platform for all stakeholders to galvanise their efforts in sustainable development and climate change adaptation, sharing of experiences, discussing innovative solutions, and charting out the course for an integrated approach at the international, regional, national and local levels.

About GPDRR:

• The GPDRR is a global forum for strategic advice, coordination, partnership development and review of progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030 which was adopted at the 3rd UN World conference on disaster risk reduction held in March 2015 in Sendai, Japan.

In news:

• Scientists have discovered a new moon orbiting the third largest dwarf planet, that resides in the frigid outskirts in our solar system.
• Key Findings: most of the known dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt larger than 965 kilometres across have companions.
• These bodies can provide some insight into how moons formed in the young solar system.

Basic information

• The Kuiper Belt: The Kuiper Belt is a disc-shaped region of icy bodies – including dwarf planets such as Pluto – and comets beyond the orbit of Neptune. It extends from about 30 to 55 AU and is probably populated with hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 100 km (62 miles) across and an estimated trillion or more comets. The first Kuiper Belt Object was discovered in 1992.

Dwarf planet:

• A dwarf planet is a planetary-mass object that is neither a planet nor a natural satellite. That is, it is in direct orbit of the Sun, and is massive enough for its gravity to crush it into a hydrostatic equilibrium shape (usually a spheroid), but has not cleared the neighborhood of other material around its orbit.
• The International Astronomical Union (IAU) currently recognizes five dwarf planets: Ceres; Pluto; Haumea; Makemake; and Eris.

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