Aeronautical Development Agency - History:



  • Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is a Society under the Department of Defence Research and Development, Ministry of Defence, Government of India. To undertake, aid, promote, guide, manage, co-ordinate and execute research in aeronautical science, design and development of various types of aircraft and rotorcraft.


  • As the first task, the Society was entrusted with the design and development of a multirole Light Combat Aircraft to meet the requirements of Indian Air Force. While progressing the task of LCA development, ADA has also been assigned the task of studies for the Project definition Phase (PDP) of the naval variant of LCA, exploitation of resources created in the LCA programme for earning revenue is also being attempted.


  • Organisation of ADA Raksha Manthri is the President of the Society and its General Body. Currently Dr Satheesh Reddy, Secretary – DD R&D and the Chairman - DRDO is the Director General of ADA. He also holds the post of the Chairman - Governing Body. Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) – Tejas Programme The LCA is being designed and developed with ADA as the nodal agency and with the participation of more than 100 work-centres spread all over the country.


  • Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is the principal partner in LCA development. Several establishments of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), CSIR, other Government laboratories, Public Sector Undertakings, private industries, academic institutions, Indian Air force and Government Certifying Agencies are participating in the programme as technology development partners.


  • The twin objectives of the LCA programme is to develop LCA for the IAF and simultaneously reduce the gap in the field of aeronautical technology available in India and the advanced nations of the West. While progressing development work packages for the LCA, various work-centres have succeeded in achieving technological break-through, which is significant not only for LCA but for subsequent projects also.




Different harvest festivals being celebrated in several parts of country:



  • Vaisakhi- Celebrated by Sikhs. Vishu- Kerala. Rongali Bihu- Assam. Naba Barsha- Bengal. Puthandu Pirappu- Tamil Nadu.




Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific (RCAP) Congress



  • About Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific: It is the annual global platform for urban resilience and climate change adaptation. It is convened by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and co-hosted by the World Mayors Council on Climate Change and the City of Bonn. It was launched in 2010 with the goal of forging partnerships and dialogues that matter.


  • The Asia-Pacific Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation – Resilient Cities Asia Pacific Congress (RCAP) is a response to heightened demand from the Asia Pacific Region, which encouraged ICLEI to expand the congress series to include Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific, bringing the event and the focus to the Asia-Pacific region, catering to the situation, challenges and opportunities of local governments specifically in this region.


  • Aim: To provide an Asian platform for urban resilience and climate change adaptation where partnerships are forged and concrete dialogues are happening, with the ultimate goal of identifying solutions and creating lasting impacts for cities in the region.


  • Need for urban resilience and climate change adaptation: Current changes in climate, combined with rapid and often unplanned urbanisation, make Asia one of the regions of the world most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, intensification of extreme weather events and rising sea levels are already a reality in the region. At the same time, increasing population and spreading of human settlements in low lying, flood prone coastal areas magnify the risks coming from climate change related disasters, thus increasing the vulnerability of people, especially the urban poor, who live in hazardous areas. More than 60% of the world’s population resides in Asia and the region was most affected by natural disasters.


  • What can be done? Town planners need to integrate sustainable solutions such as harvesting solar energy, enhancing green cover and water conservation as an essential part of town planning.


  • Municipal administrators to accord priority to tree plantation, solid waste management, protection and rejuvenation of water bodies. Need for collaborative efforts of governments at state and centre to reduce the divide by providing urban amenities in rural areas. Dependency on fossil fuel must be reduced and new forms of energy sources such as solar must be explored.


  • Need to adopt multi-dimensional and innovative approaches to ensure low emissions oriented development. Need to promote public transport in cities to reduce congestion and air pollution.


  • Facts for Prelims: ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is a global network of more than 1,750 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development.




India short of 6 lakh doctors, 2 million nurses: U.S. study



  • Key findings: India specific: India has a shortage of an estimated 600,000 doctors and 2 million nurses. There is one government doctor for every 10,189 people (the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a ratio of 1:1,000). Lack of access to antibiotics kills more people currently than does antibiotic resistance. 65% of health expenditure is out-of-pocket, and such expenditures push some 57 million people into poverty each year.


  • Global scenario: The majority of the world’s annual 5.7 million antibiotic-treatable deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, where the mortality burden from treatable bacterial infections far exceeds the estimated annual 700,000 deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections.


  • Even after the discovery of new antibiotic, regulatory hurdles and substandard health facilities delay or altogether prevent widespread market entry and drug availability. Worldwide, the irrational use of antibiotics and poor antimicrobial stewardship lead to treatment failure and propagate the spread of drug resistance which, in turn, further narrows the available array of effective antibiotics.


  • Concerns: The lack of staff who are properly trained in administering antibiotics is preventing patients from accessing live-saving drugs. High out-of-pocket medical costs to the patient are compounded by limited government spending for health services.


  • Some of the key roadblocks for India’s healthcare industry: Population: India has the world’s second-largest population, rising from 760 million in 1985 to an estimated 1.3 billion in 2015.


  • Infrastructure: The existing healthcare infrastructure is just not enough to meet the needs of the population. The central and state governments do offer universal healthcare services and free treatment and essential drugs at government hospitals. However, the hospitals are, understaffed and under-financed, forcing patients to visit private medical practitioners and hospitals.


  • Insurance: India has one of the lowest per capita healthcare expenditures in the world. Government contribution to insurance stands at roughly 32 percent, as opposed to 83.5 percent in the UK. The high out-of-pocket expenses in India stem from the fact that 76 percent of Indians do not have health insurance.


  • Rural-urban disparity: The rural healthcare infrastructure is three-tiered and includes a sub-center, primary health centre (PHC) and CHC. PHCs are short of more than 3,000 doctors, with the shortage up by 200 per cent over the last 10 years to 27,421.


  • Other issues include: Weak governance and accountability. Irrational use and spiralling cost of drugs. Fragmented health information systems. Low public spending on health. Large unregulated private sector. Unequally distributed skilled human resources. A weak primary healthcare sector.