25 Sep 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

September 25th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. JIMEX 20
2. Pinaka Weapon System
3. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)
4. Graphene

1. JIMEX 20

Context:

Bilateral Maritime Exercise Between Japan and India (JIMEX 20) to Commence off West Coast of India.

Details:

• The 4^th edition of India – Japan Maritime bilateral exercise JIMEX will be held in the North Arabian Sea from 26 to 28 September 2020.
• JIMEX is conducted biennially between the Indian Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).
• JIMEX series of exercises commenced in January 2012 with a special focus on maritime security cooperation.
• The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in October 2018 off Visakhapatnam, India.
• JIMEX 20 will showcase a high degree of inter-operability and joint operational skills through the conduct of a multitude of advanced exercises, across the spectrum of maritime operations.
  • Multi-faceted tactical exercises involving weapon firings, cross deck helicopter operations and complex surface, anti-submarine and air warfare drills will consolidate coordination developed by the two navies.
• Indigenously built stealth destroyer Chennai, Teg Class stealth frigate Tarkash and Fleet Tanker Deepak will represent the Indian Navy.

2. Pinaka Weapon System

Context:

AHSP Transfer of Pinaka Weapon System from DRDO to DGQA.

Details:

• The Authority Holding Sealed Particulars (AHSP) responsibility of Pinaka weapon system was handed over by DRDO to DGQA.

About Pinaka:

• Pinaka is a free flight artillery rocket system having a range of 37.5 km.
• Pinaka rockets are launched from a multi-barrel rocket launcher which has the capability to launch a salvo of 12 rockets in 44 seconds.
• The weapon system is designed and developed by Pune based DRDO lab, Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE).
• Pinaka rockets and its ground systems are currently under bulk production at Ordnance Factories, BEML, BEL, Tata Power and L&T Defence.

DGQA:

• The Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) is an agency under the Department of Defence Production (DDP).
• The DGQA is responsible for checking the quality of arms, ammunition and all other defence equipment used by the Indian armed forces.

3. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

Context:

The Income Tax Department launched the Faceless Income Tax Appeals.

Details:

• Under Faceless Appeals, all Income Tax appeals will be finalised in a faceless manner under the faceless ecosystem with the exception of appeals relating to serious frauds, major tax evasion, sensitive & search matters, International tax and Black Money Act.
• From now on, in income tax appeals, everything from e-allocation of appeal, e-communication of notice/questionnaire, e-verification/e-enquiry to e-hearing and finally e-communication of the appellate order – the entire process of appeals will be online, dispensing with the need for any physical interface between the appellant and the Department.
• There will be no physical interface between the taxpayers or their counsel/s and the Income Tax Department. The taxpayers can make submissions from the comfort of their homes and save their time and resources.

Know more about the CBDT in the linked article.

4. Graphene

Context:

A new low-cost method of upscaling most conductive material ‘graphene’ developed.

About the Study:

• Researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, through their recent research work have upscaled graphene production while retaining its thin layered properties.
• The researchers used a combination of two techniques to understand and quantify how much single layer like behaviour exists in the graphene system.
  • Raman spectroscopy – a technique to understand whether a graphene species has single layer like behaviour arising because of no interlayer interaction.
  • Electron diffraction – a technique to study the morphology of the given twisted system.

Benefits:

• The new low-cost method of upscaling production of graphene while preserving its single layered properties may reduce the cost of producing this thinnest, strongest and most conductive material in the world.

What is Graphene?

• Graphene is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice.
• The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for their research on graphene.
• Graphene is a transparent and flexible conductor that holds great promise for various material/device applications, including solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LED), touch panels, and smart windows or phones.
• Smartphone products with graphene touch screens are already on the market.
• Graphene is a boon for energy storage, coatings, sensors as well as superconductivity applications.

Read previous PIB here.

September 25th, 2020, PIB:- Download PDF Here