Exercise INDRA - 2019 is the second edition of Joint Tri Services Exercise between Indian and Russian Armed Forces which is being conducted from 10-20 December 2019 simultaneously at Pune and Gwalior for Air Force elements.
IAF is undertaking service specific and joint missions during the exercise. Russian Federation Air Force (RFAF) element is participating in the exercise along with IAF counterparts.
The broad theme for the exercise is to organise a Joint Task Force for undertaking planning and execution of air operations for eliminating terrorists at the request of the third country under UN mandate. However, combined missions between IAF and RFAF would also be undertaken for enriching experience and maximising training value in terms of interoperability.
The INDRA exercises are being regularly held since 2003, initially being a bilateral single service exercise between India and Russia. The first-ever Joint Tri Services Exercise was held in the Eastern Military District of Russia in Oct 2017. This year IAF has fielded Su-30MKI, Jaguar, MI-17 helicopters, Airborne Warning & Control System aircraft and Garuds of IAF are participating in the exercise.
Tri Services Ex INDRA-2019 will further strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices between the Armed Forces of both countries. The exercise show cases the long-standing bond of India and Russia friendship.
Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria PVSM AVSM VM ADC, Chief of the Air Staff Indian Air Force felicitated a team of 25 Air Warriors at Air Force Station, New Delhi on 16 Dec 19 for a unique achievement – a running expedition from Kargil to Kohima- aptly named as K2K Ultra Marathon-Glory Run. The event commemorating the 20th year of Kargil Victory was flagged off from the Kargil War Memorial at Drass on 21 Sep 19.
The Air Warriors undertook the challenging task of carrying the ‘Glory Torch’ through 4500 kms, averaging 100 kms on the road per day for 45 days, passing through mountains and plains, traversing densely populated cities and wilderness enroute, culminating on 06 Nov 19 at Kohima, Nagaland.
The expedition also saw the Air Warriors break the mental barriers of Age and Gender, and spread awareness on Pedestrian safety and Fit India Movement.
The ceremonial Flagging In of the Glory Run Warriors at Air Force Station New Delhi by the CAS IAF on Vijay Diwas reinforces the commitment of the Men and women in Blue towards remembering our martyrs and lives up to the true tradition and motto of the IAF - Touch the Sky with Glory!
Occupational safety, health and welfare of persons employed in all mines - coal, metalliferous and oil - all over the country is the concern of the Central Government. Provisions for occupational safety of persons employed in mines are contained in the Mines Act, 1952, and the Rules and Regulations framed thereunder.
The responsibility of implementation of the provisions of the Mines Act and the legislation framed thereunder lies with the mine management. The Directorate General of Mines Safety under the Ministry of Labour & Employment oversees compliance of the same through a system of periodic inspection and inquiry.
Recognizing the need for involvement of the work persons in safety and health matters, the government has been promoting the concepts of "Self-Regulation" and "Participative Management" with a view to influence human behavior at work so that a real breakthrough in accident prevention could be achieved.
A variety of safety educational/ promotional measures have been conceived, formulated and promoted from time to time for the cause of safety. National Safety Awards (Mines) Scheme is one such measure.
To promote a competitive spirit amongst mine operators for the betterment of safety standards in mines and give due recognition to outstanding safety performance at the national level, the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, instituted the National Safety Awards (Mines) in 1983 as the contest year 1983 with 1984 as Award year.
For the purpose of the contest for National Safety Awards (Mines) all mines have been divided into 7 different groups depending upon the type of mineral and nature of workings.
The indicators of safety performance for determining eligibility of these awards are: Longest accident free period (LAFP) in terms of man shifts workedduring three consecutive years ending with the contest year Lowest injury frequency rate (LIFR) during three consecutive years ending with the contest year
To scrutinize and adjudge applications from mines for awards, a tripartite National Safety Awards Committee has been constituted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The Committee comprises of eight representatives from mine managements, eight representatives from trade unions and Government represented by Director General as Chairman and one officer of DGMS as its.
Parliamentary privileges are certain rights and immunities enjoyed by members of Parliament, individually and collectively, so that they can “effectively discharge their functions”. When any of these rights and immunities are disregarded, the offence is called a breach of privilege and is punishable under law of Parliament.
Who can move it? How? A notice is moved in the form of a motion by any member of either House against those being held guilty of breach of privilege. Each House also claims the right to punish as contempt actions which, while not breach of any specific privilege, are offences against its authority and dignity.
What are the rules governing privilege? Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book and correspondingly Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook governs privilege.
It says that a member may, with the consent of the Speaker or the Chairperson, raise a question involving a breach of privilege either of a member or of the House or of a committee thereof.
The rules however mandate that any notice should be relating to an incident of recent occurrence and should need the intervention of the House.
What is the role of the Speaker/Rajya Sabha Chair? The Speaker/RS chairperson is the first level of scrutiny of a privilege motion. The Speaker/Chair can decide on the privilege motion himself or herself or refer it to the privileges committee of Parliament. If the Speaker/Chair gives consent under Rule 222, the member concerned is given an opportunity to make a short statement.
What is the privileges committee? In the Lok Sabha, the Speaker nominates a committee of privileges consisting of 15 members as per respective party strengths. A report is then presented to the House for its consideration. The Speaker may permit a half-hour debate while considering the report. The Speaker may then pass final orders or direct that the report be tabled before the House.
A resolution may then be moved relating to the breach of privilege that has to be unanimously passed. In the Rajya Sabha, the deputy chairperson heads the committee of privileges, that consists of 10 members.
Supreme Court has recently expressed displeasure over rioting and destruction of public property.
For Prelims: What the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 says? It punishes anyone “who commits mischief by doing any act in respect of any public property” with a jail term of up to five years and a fine or both.
Provisions of this law can be coupled with those under the Indian Penal Code. What is a public property? Public property under this Act includes “any building, installation or other property used in connection with the production, distribution or supply of water, light, power or energy; any oil installation; any sewage works; any mine or factory; any means of public transportation or of telecommunications, or any building, installation or other property used in connection therewith”.
Value addition for Mains: Need for review: The Supreme Court has on several earlier occasions found the law inadequate, and has attempted to fill the gaps through guidelines.
2007: The court took suo motu cognizance of “various instances where there was large scale destruction of public and private properties in the name of agitations, bandhs, hartals and the like”, and set up two Committees headed by former apex court judge Justice K T Thomas and senior advocate Fali Nariman to suggest changes to the law.
2009 case of In Re: Destruction of Public & Private Properties v State of AP and Ors: The Supreme Court issued guidelines based on the recommendations of the two expert Committees.
SC guidelines based on Thomas Committee recommendations: Reverse the burden of proof against protesters. Prosecution should be required to prove that public property had been damaged in direct action called by an organisation, and the accused also participated in such direct action. From that stage the burden can be shifted to the accused to prove his innocence.
The law must be amended to give the court the power to draw a presumption that the accused is guilty of destroying public property, and it would then be open to the accused to rebut such presumption.
Based on Nariman Committee’s recommendations: Rioters would be made strictly liable for the damage, and compensation would be collected to “make good” the damage.
Where persons, whether jointly or otherwise, are part of a protest which turns violent, results in damage to private or public property, the persons who have caused the damage, or were part of the protest or who have organized it will be deemed to be strictly liable for the damage so caused, which may be assessed by the ordinary courts or by any special procedure created to enforce the right.
High Courts should order suo motu action, and set up a machinery to investigate the damage caused and award compensation wherever mass destruction to property takes place due to protests.
Impact of guidelines: Like the law, the guidelines too, have had a limited impact. This is because the identification of protesters remains difficult, especially in cases where there is no leader who gave the call to protest.
In its verdict in Koshy Jacob vs Union Of India, the court reiterated that the law needed to be updated — but it did not grant the petitioner any compensation since the organisers of the protest were not before the court.
How does the hydrogen fuel cell work in electric vehicles? A fuel-cell electric vehicle is essentially a hybrid electric vehicle wherein, the internal combustion engine is replaced with a fuel-cell stack. The onboard sources of power include hydrogen as well as an advanced battery system.
The fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to generate an electric current, water being the only byproduct.
Fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical process. And, there are no moving parts in the fuel cell, so they are more efficient and reliable by comparison.
How is it different from an electric vehicle (EV)? Unlike a battery-electricity vehicle, it does not store energy and, instead, relies on a constant supply of fuel and oxygen — in the same way that an internal combustion engine relies on a constant supply of petrol or diesel, and oxygen.
Advantages of fuel cells: They produce much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases and none of the air pollutants that cause health problems. If pure hydrogen is used, fuel cells emit only heat and water as a byproduct. They are also energy efficient than traditional combustion technologies.
Unlike battery-powered electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles do not need to be plugged in, and most models exceed 300 km of range on a full tank. They are filled up with a nozzle, just like in a petrol or diesel station.
Disadvantages: The process of making hydrogen needs energy — often from fossil fuel sources. That has raised questions over hydrogen’s green credentials. There are questions of safety — hydrogen is more explosive than petrol. Besides, the vehicles are expensive, and fuel dispensing pumps are scarce.
Significance: From a long-term viability perspective, FCEVs are billed as vehicles of the future, given that hydrogen is the most abundant resource in the universe.
Significance: The RBI joins an elite club of countries having payment systems which enable round the clock funds transfer and settlement of any value.
So far, Australia, Hong Kong, Mexico, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, and China have such payment system.
What is NEFT? NEFT is an electronic funds transfer system maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Started in November 2005, the setup was established and maintained by Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT).
NEFT enables bank customers in India to transfer funds between any two NEFT-enabled bank accounts on a one-to-one basis. It is done via electronic messages.
Unlike Real-time gross settlement (RTGS), fund transfers through the NEFT system do not occur in real-time basis.
What is RTGS? RTGS are specialist funds transfer systems where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a “real time” and on a “gross” basis. Settlement in “real time” means a payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period, with transactions being settled as soon as they are processed.
Protection status: Dolphins have been included in Schedule I of the Indian Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972, in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), in Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and categorised as ‘Endangered’ on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.
Characteristic features: The Gangetic river dolphins can only live in freshwater, are blind and catch their prey in a unique manner, using ultrasonic sound waves. They are distributed across seven states in India: Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Need for conservation: The Gangetic river dolphins were officially discovered in 1801 and are one of the oldest creatures in the world along with some species of turtles, crocodiles and sharks, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). They once lived in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, but are now mostly extinct from many of its early distribution ranges.
Today, their numbers have dwindled mainly because of direct killing, habitat fragmentation by dams and barrages and indiscriminate fishing.
Some of the efforts made to preserve and increase the numbers of these dolphins include: Setting up of the Conservation Action Plan for the Gangetic Dolphin (2010-2020), which has identified threats to Gangetic dolphins and impact of river traffic, irrigation canals and depletion of prey-base on dolphin populations.
The Gangetic dolphins have been included in Schedule -I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which means they have the highest degree of protection against hunting. They are also one among the 21 species identified under the centrally sponsored scheme, “Development of Wildlife Habitat”.
It is a Malware which allows real-time malware applications to pose as genuine applications and access user data of all kinds.
Threats: It can listen to the conversations, access photo album, read/send messages, make calls, record conversations, get login credentials to various accounts, access private images, files, contact details, call logs and location information without being apparent to the affected users.
Why in News? The Union Home Ministry has alerted States, warning them about the vulnerability of the Android operating system to a bug called ‘StrandHogg’.