27 Apr 2023: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Exercise Ajeya Warrior, 2023
2. India - U.K “Net-Zero” Innovation Virtual Centre
3. Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS)

1. Exercise Ajeya Warrior, 2023

Syllabus – GS3, Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate. 

Prelims – 7th Edition of Exercise Ajeya Warrior.

Context – India-U.K joint military exercise ‘Ajeya Warrior’ will commence at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom (27th April – 11 May 2023).

Details –

• Exercise Ajeya Warrior is a biennial training exercise conducted alternatively in India and the United Kingdom. Its 6th edition was held at Chaubatia, Uttarakhand in 2021.
• Ex. Ajeya Warrior, 2023 will be conducted at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom. Indian Army Soldiers from the Bihar Regiment and the Soldiers of the 2 Royal Gorkha Rifles from the U.K are participating in the exercise.
• The aim of the exercise is to build positive military relations, imbibe each other’s best practices and have the ability to operate together while undertaking company-level sub-conventional operations in urban and semi-urban environments under UN mandate.

Read more on Ex Ajeya Warrior in the linked article.

2. India – U.K “Net-Zero” Innovation Virtual Centre

Syllabus – GS2, International Relations: Bilateral agreements involving India and/or affecting  India’s interests.

Prelims – India – U.K “Net-Zero” Innovation Virtual Centre, India-UK ‘Roadmap 2030’.

Context – India and the United Kingdom will jointly create India-UK “NET Zero” Innovation Virtual Centre.

Details –

• India and the U.K. will jointly create the India-UK ‘Net Zero’ Innovation Virtual Centre which will provide a platform to bring stakeholders from both countries together to work in some of the focus areas including industrial decarbonisation and Green Hydrogen in sync with their respective net zero goals to reach the Paris Agreement climate change collective targets to limit the global warming to acceptable levels.
• This was announced by Dr Jitendra Singh while chairing the India-U.K Science and Innovation Council (SIC) meeting in the presence of his British counterpart, UK Minister George Freeman. The two leaders called for enhanced cooperation in the field of Science & Technology.
• The wide range of issues discussed by the two ministers included the UK-India “Roadmap 2030”.
  • ‘Roadmap 2030’ provides a framework for UK-India relations across health, climate, trade, education, science and technology, and defence.
• The India-UK Science & Technology (S&T) collaboration has been growing at a rapid pace and the joint research programme has gone from an almost zero base to close to £300-400 million now.
• Dr Jitendra Singh is leading a high-level official Indian delegation of the Ministry of Science & Technology on a 6-day visit to the UK.

3. Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS)

Syllabus – GS3,  Security: Civil Aviation Security.

Prelims – 37th Raising Day of BCAS

Context – BCAS commemorated its 37th Raising Day in New Delhi.

Details –

• The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the national regulator for Civil Aviation Security celebrated its 37th Raising Raising Day.

About BCAS –

• The BCAS was initially set up as a Cell in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in January 1978 on the recommendation of the Pande Committee constituted in the wake of the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight on 10th September 1976.
• The BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) was reorganised into an independent department on 1st April 1987 under the Ministry of Civil Aviation as a sequel to the Kanishka Tragedy in June 1985.
  • Babbar Khalsa blew up a Montreal-London-Delhi Air India flight with 329 passengers on board in June 1985.
• The aim of BCAS is to safeguard civil aviation operations against acts of unlawful interference. The Bureau is responsible for laying down the standards for security in respect of civil flights operating to/from India and ensuring their compliance through regular inspections and security audits.

Read the previous PIB articles here.

April 27th, 2023, PIB:- Download PDF Here