PM to unveil ‘Statue of Peace’ to mark 151st Birth Anniversary celebrations of Jainacharya Shree Vijay Vallabh Surishwer Ji Maharaj on 16th November Posted On: 14 NOV 2020 5:41PM by PIB Delhi



  • PM to unveil ‘Statue of Peace’ to mark 151st Birth Anniversary celebrations of Jainacharya Shree Vijay Vallabh Surishwer Ji Maharaj on 16th November Posted On: 14 NOV 2020 5:41PM by PIB Delhi


  • Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will unveil ‘Statue of Peace’ to mark the 151st Birth Anniversary celebrations of Jainacharya Shree Vijay Vallabh Surishwer Ji Maharaj, on 16th November 2020 at 12:30 PM via video conferencing.


  • Shree Vijay Vallabh Surishwer Ji Maharaj (1870-1954) led an austere life as a Jain Saint working selflessly and dedicatedly to spread the message of Lord Mahavira. He also worked relentlessly for the welfare of masses, spread of education, eradication of social evils, wrote inspiring literature (poetry, essays, devotional hymns and Stavans) and gave active support to the freedom movement and the cause of Swadeshi.


  • With his inspiration, more than 50 educational institutions of eminence, including colleges, schools and study centres, are operational across several States. The Statue to be unveiled in his honour has been named as ‘Statue of Peace’. The 151 inch tall statue has been made from Ashtadhatu i.e. 8 metals, with Copper being the major constituent, and is being installed at Vijay Vallabh Sadhana Kendra, Jetpura, in Pali, Rajasthan.


8th BRICS STI Ministerial Meeting held on Friday



  • The Meeting unanimously adopts BRICS STI Declaration 2020 and Calendar of BRICS STI Activities 2020-21


  • “The COVID 19 pandemic has been a test, demonstrating that multilateral cooperation is the key to overcoming such global challenges”: Dr. Harsh Vardhan


  • “We recognize the importance of engaging with BRICS countries in order to foster dialogue and mutual knowledge sharing, capacity building, cross-incubation with a broad view to advancing BRICS systems of innovation”: Dr. Harsh Vardhan


  • BRICS Members applauded India’s scheme ‘SERB–POWER’ (Promoting Opportunities For Women in Exploratory Research) to encourage and support emerging as well as eminent women researchers to undertake R&D activities in frontier areas of science and engineering.


CSIR-SERC, Chennai Develops Indigenous Emergency Retrieval System (ERS) for Power Lines Posted On: 14 NOV 2020 12:18PM by PIB Delhi



  • Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) constituent laboratory Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC) based in Chennai has developed an indigenous technology, Emergency Retrieval System (ERS), for quick retrieval of power transmission in the event of failure of transmission line towers. CSIR-SERC has signed an agreement for licensing of the ERS technology with M/s Advait Infratech, Ahmedabad.


  • At present, the ERS systems are imported. There are very few manufacturers across the world and the cost is relatively high. This technological development will enable the manufacturing in India for the first time, which will be an import substitute and will cost about 40% of imported systems. ERS has huge market requirement in India as well as in SAARC and African countries. Hence, this technological development is a big leap forward towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Make in India.


  • ERS is a lightweight modular system that is used as temporary support structure to restore power immediately after the collapse of transmission line towers during natural calamities such as cyclone/earthquake, or manmade disruptions. ERS can be assembled quickly at the disaster site for restoration of power in 2-3 days, whereas the permanent restoration may take several weeks. This development is very significant as failure of transmission lines severely impact lives of common people and causes huge monetary loss to the power companies. As the total losses/damages are directly proportional to the outage duration, time is a crucial factor in reinstating or remediating the damaged/fallen structures.


  • Made of structurally highly stable box sections, ERS is lightweight, modular and reusable. It provides complete solution from member connections up to the foundation for different type of soil conditions. The system is verified through rigorous structural tests. Basic knowledge and tools are enough to assemble and install ERS at the disaster site. Suitable configurations for different voltage-class of transmission line systems are possible. The system is compact and yet provides full functionality on erection. It is designed as a scalable system for 33 to 800 kV class of power lines and can help in building a disaster resilient society.