Curtain Raiser: Indo-French Exercise Desert Knight-21 Posted On: 19 JAN 2021 11:22AM by PIB Delhi



  • Indian Air Force and French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace) will conduct a bilateral Air exercise, Ex Desert Knight-21 at Air Force Station Jodhpur from 20 to 24 Jan 21.


  • French side will participate with Rafale, Airbus A-330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), A-400M Tactical Transport aircraft and approximately 175 personnel. The Indian Air Force aircraft participating in the exercise will include Mirage 2000, Su-30 MKI, Rafale, IL-78 Flight Refuelling Aircraft, AWACS and AEW&C aircraft.


  • The exercise marks an important milestone in the series of engagements between the two Air forces. As part of Indo-French defence cooperation, Indian Air Force and French Air and Space Force have held six editions of Air Exercises named 'Garuda', the latest being in 2019 at Air Force Base Mont-de-Marsan, France. As measures to further the existing cooperation, the two forces have been gainfully utilising available opportunities to conduct 'hop-exercises'. The French Air and Space Force deployment while ferrying to Australia for Ex Pitchblack in 2018 was hosted by IAF at Air Force Stations Agra and Gwalior for exercise with fighters and MRTT aircraft. Presently, the French detachment for Ex Desert Knight-21 is deployed in Asia as part of their 'Skyros Deployment' and will ferry in forces to Air Force Station Jodhpur.


  • The exercise is unique as it includes fielding of Rafale aircraft by both sides and is indicative of the growing interaction between the two premier Air Forces. As the two detachments commence their air exchange from 20 Jan onwards, they will put into practice operational experience gained across terrains and spectrums and endeavour to exchange ideas and best practices to enhance interoperability.


India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to establisha Quantum Computing Applications Lab, Powered by AWS



  • India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to establisha Quantum Computing Applications Lab, Powered by AWS


  • Pioneering initiative to apply quantum computing to advance India’s science and technology development initiatives and bolster economy


  • The lab is World’s first quantum computing applications lab on AWS to support a national government’s mission to drive innovation Posted On: 19 JAN 2021 6:35PM by PIB Delhi


  • The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in India will establish a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in the country, in collaboration with AWS, to accelerate quantum computing-led research and development and enable new scientific discoveries. The MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab will provide quantum computing as a service togovernment ministries and departments, researchers, scientists, academia, and developers, to enable advances in areas such as manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, and aerospace engineering. AWS will provide hosting with technical and programmatic support for the Lab. This MeitYinitiative will provide scientific, academic, and developer communities access to a quantum computing development environment aligned with the government’s science and technology priorities.


  • Quantum computing is an emerging field that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to build powerful tools to process information. It has the potential to solve computational problems that are beyond the reach of classical computers, and lead to new breakthroughs that can transform chemical engineering, material science, drug discovery, financial portfolio optimization, machine learning, and much more.


  • “India has a rich legacy in science, technology, and innovation. We believe that India’s path forward will be driven by achieving world-class scientific solutions. Enabling our scientific community with advanced technologies plays a key role towards scientific advancements and learning,” saidAjay Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY. Today, we are delighted to take another significant step in India’s science and technology journey with the establishment of the MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab with the support of AWS.”


  • “An early and successful foundation in quantum computing is important to achieve leadership in this emerging field. The MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab, established with the support of AWS, is the first of its kind initiative in the world, and aims to enable India’s talented researchers to explore the unchartered applications of quantum computing, and pave the way for new discoveries and disruptions,” said Dr.Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary,MeitY.


  • “A core mission of MeitY is to identify and deploy technologies to promote innovation and discovery tohelp India advance, and achieve a more sustainable future. Quantum computing has the extraordinary potential to help countries leapfrog technology generations, achieve scientific leadership, and deliver answers to complex economic and social challenges. This initiative willaugment India’s ongoing efforts in developing Quantum Computing Applications.” said Abhishek Singh, President & CEO, National e-Governance Division (NeGD), MeitY.


  • “We congratulate MeitY for its visionary leadership as it empowers the scientific community in India,” said Max Peterson, Vice President, International Sales, Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services, Inc. “By supporting the MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab, we aim to make quantum computing available to more scientists, researchers, developers and organisations, enabling them to access and experiment with the technology, and explore the practical applications of quantum algorithms.”


  • The MeitYQuantum Computing Applications Lab will identify quantum computing problem statements for experimentationfrom among Central and State Governments,Research Institutions, and Academia. It will work with subject matter experts from the government sector to define the problem statements, and make them public, inviting applications from researchers, academia, and organizations to address them. The Lab will then provide select applicants with access to quantum computing hardware, simulators, and programming tools, on-demand and at no cost, via Amazon Braket, that enables scientists and developers to build algorithms, conduct advanced simulations, and run experiments. Amazon Braket provides a development environment to enable users to explore and design quantum algorithms, test and troubleshoot them on simulated quantum computers, and run them on different quantum hardware technologies.


  • “Limited access to quantum computing hardware and expertise, and complex infrastructure setup and management, are challenges that scientists and researchers face today, in their quest for scientific discovery,” said Rahul Sharma, President, Public Sector – AISPL, AWS India and South Asia. “Our collaboration with MeitY to establish the Quantum Computing Applications Lab will provide the breadth and depth of AWS services to the research, academic, and scientific community to overcome these challenges and focus on innovation...”


  • The MeitY Quantum Computing Applications Lab will help government bodies and the scientific community to identify problems and opportunities rapidly, and test real-world challenges through experiments and prototypes in a low risk environment. Outcomes from these experiments will help researchers evolve the problem statements, proof-of-concepts, and prototypes that will lead to the development of new applications, models, and frameworks in quantum computing.


Madhya Pradesh takes the lead in undertaking Power Sector reforms



  • Starts Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of electricity subsidy to farmers


  • Gets permission to mobilise additional financial resources of Rs. 1,423 crore Posted On: 19 JAN 2021 3:31PM by PIB Delhi


  • Madhya Pradesh has taken the lead in undertaking power sector reforms stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. As part of the reforms, the State has started Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of electricity subsisdy to farmers in one district of the state with effect from December, 2020. Thus, the State has successfully implemented one out of the three stipulated reforms in the power sector.


  • Successful implementation of the reform has made the State eligible to mobilise additional financial resources equivalent to 0.15 percent of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). Accordingly, the Department of Expenditure has grandted permission to the State to mobilise additional financial resources of Rs. 1,423 crore through Open Market Borrowings. This has provided the much needed additional financial resources to the State to fight COVID-19 pandemic.


  • Power Sector reforms sitpulated by the Ministry of Finance aim at creating a transparent and hassle free provision of power subsidy to farmers and prevent leakages. They also aim at improving the health of power distribution companies by alleviating their liquidity stress in a sustainable manner.


  • As per the guidelines issued by the Department of Expenditure, the States undertaking reforms in power sector are granted permission to raise additional financial resources of up to 0.25 percent of the GSDP. This is linked to a set of 3 reforms in the sector:


  • 0.05 % of GSDP for reduction in Aggregate Technical & Commercial losses in the State as per prescribed targets.


  • Another, 0.05 % of GSDP is allowed for reduction in the gap between Average Cost of Supply and Average Revenue Realisation (ACS-ARR gap) in the State as per prescribed targets.


  • Finally, 0.15 % of GSDP of the State on introduction of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to all farmers in the State in lieu of free/ subsidised electricity. For this, the State government has to frame a Scheme for transfer of cash and implement the Scheme in at least one district by 31st December, 2020.


  • Madhya Pradesh has framed a DBT Scheme for agricultural consumers in the State. The Scheme has been implemented in Vidisha District of the State, where electricity is suppplied through the M.P. Madhya Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Co. Limited with effect from December, 2020. Under the Scheme an amount of Rs. 32.07 crore was transferred to the bank accounts of 60,081 beneficiaries in the month of December, 2020. Parallely, the State has also initiated a process to implement the DBT scheme in Jhabua and Seoni districts as well. Based on the learnings from implementation of the Scheme in 3 districts in Phase-I, the Scheme will be rolled out in the entire State in the financial year 2021-22.


  • In view of the resource requirement to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India had on 17th May, 2020 enhanced the borrowing limit of the States by 2 percent of their GSDP. Half of this special dispensation was linked to undertaking citizen centric reforms by the States.


  • The States get permission to raise additional funds equivalent to 0.25 percent of GSDP on completion of reforms in each sector. The four citizen centric areas identified for reforms were (a) Implementation of One Nation One Ration Card System, (b) Ease of doing business reform, (c) Urban Local body/ utility reforms and (d) Power Sector reforms.


  • Till now, 14 States have carried out at least one of the four stipulated reforms and have been granted reform linked borrowing permissions. Out of these, 11 States have implemented the One Nation One Ration Card System, 8 States have done ease of doing business reforms, 4 States have done local body reforms and Madhya Pradesh has implemented power sector reforms. Total reform linked additional borrowing permission issued so far to the States stands at Rs.­­­ 62,762 crore.