21 Oct 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

October 21st, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Azad Hind Government
2. ASW Corvette ‘Kavaratti’
3. Regulatory framework for REITs and InvITs in IFSC
4. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
5. National Super Computing Mission
6. COVIRAP
7. MoU between India and Nigeria
8. Police Commemoration Day

1. Azad Hind Government

Context:

Commemoration of ’77^th Year of Formation of Azad Hind Government’.

Details:

• On 21 October 1943, the Provisional Government of Free India was established as a government-in-exile in Singapore by Indians in exile headed by Subhash Chandra Bose. It was also called Azad Hind or Free India.
• The Azad Hind government had its own court, civil code and currency. Its provisional capital was Port Blair, while its capital-in-exile was Rangoon and Singapore.
• Subhash Chandra Bose was the Prime Minister. S. A. Ayer was the Minister of Broadcasting and Publicity and Lt. Col. A. C. Chatterji was the Minister of Finance.
• Azad Hind was disestablished on 18 August 1945.

To know more about the Azad Hind Government, check This Day in History dated 21^st October.

2. ASW Corvette ‘Kavaratti’

Context:

Indigenously built ASW Corvette ‘Kavaratti’ to be commissioned at Visakhapatnam.

About INS Kavaratti:

• INS Kavaratti is an indigenously built stealth corvette under Project 28 (Kamorta Class).
• The Kamorta class corvettes are the first stealth corvettes to be built in India.
  • The other three corvettes, INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt and INS Kiltan were commissioned in 2014, 2016 and 2017 respectively.
  • The corvettes are named after the islands in the Lakshadweep archipelago.
  • The Kamorta class corvettes are intended to succeed the Kora-class corvette by precedence and Abhay-class corvette by role.
• INS Kavaratti is indigenously designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house organisation, Directorate of Naval Design (DND), and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.
• The ship has up to 90% indigenous content and the use of carbon composites for the superstructure is a commendable feat achieved in Indian shipbuilding.
• The ship’s weapons and sensors suite is predominantly indigenous and showcases the nation’s growing capability in this niche area.
• Kavaratti has a state-of-the-art weapons and sensor suite capable of detecting and prosecuting submarines. In addition to its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability, the ship also has a credible self defence capability and good endurance for long-range deployments.
• The ship will be commissioned into the Navy as a combat-ready platform as the ship has completed sea trials of all the systems fitted onboard.
• Kavaratti takes her name from the erstwhile INS Kavaratti which was an Arnala class missile corvette.
  • The older Kavaratti had rendered service to the nation in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war.

3. Regulatory framework for REITs and InvITs in IFSC

Context:

The regulatory framework for REITs and InvITs in IFSC has been prescribed by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). Know more about IFSCA in PIB dated Oct 19, 2020.

Details:

• IFSCA has permitted global participants i.e. REITs (real estate investment trust) and InvITs (infrastructure investment trust) incorporated in FATF compliant jurisdictions to list on the stock exchanges in GIFT IFSC.
• Additionally, InvITs have been permitted to raise funds through private placements also.
• The REITs and InvITs registered in IFSC have been permitted to invest in real estate assets and infrastructure projects respectively in IFSC, India and other foreign jurisdictions, which is in line with the framework provided in the global financial centres.
• Additionally, the REITs and InvITs that are already listed in any of the permissible jurisdictions other than IFSC (currently USA, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom excluding British Overseas Territories, France, Germany, Canada and India) or India have been permitted to list and trade on the recognised stock exchanges in IFSC, subject to compliance with their respective laws of the home jurisdiction.
• The listing of REITs and InvITs in IFSC shall be in accordance with the requirements of the stock exchanges in IFSC.

4. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana

Context:

Union Minister launched a mobile application for geotagging of the components of projects under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana.

Know more about the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana in the linked article.

5. National Super Computing Mission

Context:

National Super Computing Mission (NSM) is boosting high power computing in the country.

About the National Super Computing Mission:

• The National Super Computing Mission (NSM) is rapidly boosting high power computing in the country through its various phases to meet the increasing computational demands of academia, researchers, MSMEs, and start-ups in areas like oil exploration, flood prediction as also genomics, and drug discovery.
• The infrastructure installation of the mission is already in phase 2 and phase 3 will be initiated in January 2021.
  • Work on Phase-III will start in 2021 and will include three systems of 3 PF each and one system of 20 PF as a national facility.
• The network of supercomputers through the country will soon reach to around 16 Petaflops (PF). Phase 3 will take the computing speed to around 45 Petaflops.
• Nodal agencies:
  • The mission is jointly steered by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST) and implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• The three phases will provide access to High-Performance Computing (HPC) Facilities to around 75 institutions and thousands of active researchers, academicians working through Nation Knowledge Network (NKN) – the backbone for supercomputing systems.
• Indigenous capability
  • Powered by the NSM, India’s network of research institutions, in collaboration with the industry, is scaling up the technology and manufacturing capability to make more and more parts in India. While in Phase-I, 30 percent value addition is done in India, which has been scaled up to 40 percent in Phase-II.
  • Efforts are being made to design and develop parts like server board, interconnect, processor, system software libraries, storage, and HPC-AI converged accelerator domestically.
  • India has developed an indigenous server (Rudra), which can meet the HPC requirements of all governments and PSUs. This is the first time that a server system was made in India, along with the full software stack developed by C-DAC.
• Param Shivay, the first supercomputer assembled indigenously, was installed in IIT (BHU), followed by Param Shakti and Param Brahma at IIT-Kharagpur and IISER, Pune, respectively.

6. COVIRAP

Context:

COVIRAP, diagnostic machine for COVID-19 detection.

About COVIRAP:

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has successfully validated ‘COVIRAP,’ the diagnostic machine evolved by IIT Kharagpur researchers, for its efficacy in COVID-19 detection.
• Various commercial units have already approached the Institute for technology licensing to enable a rapid reach of this innovation to the common people.
• After rigorous testing with the patient samples by an authorized ICMR laboratory, adhering to their strict guidelines, ICMR has now provided a green signal to certification for this COVID-19 Diagnostic Test.
• This test has been designed to be fairly easy to conduct and it is quite affordable as well which may produce results in a custom-developed mobile phone application within an hour.
• The machine can be developed at a cost of less than ₹ 10,000/- with a minimal infrastructural requirement.
• The testing process in this new machine is completed within an hour.
• The cost per test comes to be about Rs.500 which can be further reduced with government intervention.
• This new testing method implements a highly reliable and accurate molecular diagnostic procedure that can be conducted in an ultra-low-cost portable device unit developed by the research team of IIT Kharagpur.
• The test results are rendered via a custom-made mobile application for dissemination without requiring manual interpretation.

7. MoU between India and Nigeria

Context:

Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding between India and Nigeria.

Details:

• The MoU was signed between ISRO and the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) of Nigeria in 2020.
• This MoU shall enable potential interest areas of cooperation such as:
  • Remote sensing of the earth
  • Satellite communication and satellite-based navigation
  • Space science end planetary exploration
  • Use of spacecraft, launch vehicles, space systems and ground systems
  • Practical applications of space technology including geospatial tools and techniques
  • Other areas of cooperation to be determined by the signatories

8. Police Commemoration Day

Context:

Police Commemoration Day is observed on October 21 every year to remember and honour the brave policemen who have laid down their lives in the line of duty.

About Police Commemoration Day:

• The day traces its history back to 21 October 1959, when twenty Indian soldiers were attacked by Chinese troops in Ladakh.
  • Due to the altercation between the troops, ten Indian policemen lost their lives and seven were imprisoned.
  • More than a month later, in November 1959, Chinese troops handed over the dead bodies of the martyred policemen.
  • Since that day, 21 October has been observed as Police Commemoration Day in honour of the martyrs.
• In 2018, PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the first-ever National Police Memorial in New Delhi on the occasion of Police Commemoration Day.
• The National Police Memorial commemorates 34,844 police personnel from all of the central and state police forces who have sacrificed their lives since 1947.

Read previous PIB here.

October 21st, 2020, PIB:- Download PDF Here