Defence
DELIVERY OF FOURTH SCORPENE SUBMARINE ‘VELA' TO INDIAN NAVY

What's the NEWS

• The Indian Navy took delivery of the fourth `Scorpene' class submarine under Project-75 from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL)
• Once the new submarine is commissioned into the Indian Navy, it would help in enhancing its capability.
• With this delivery India has joined the exclusive group of submarine building nations.
• So far the shipyard has delivered three submarines of "Scorpene'' class namely: Kalvari, Khanderi, and Karanj.
• And the fourth one was delivered today which will be later commissioned in the Indian Navy as INS Vela.

Defence/GSII - bilateral relations
DRDO & Directorate of Defence R&D, Israel sign Bilateral Innovation Agreement for development of dual use technologies
 

What's the NEWS

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Directorate of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D), Ministry of Defence, Israel have entered into a Bilateral Innovation Agreement (BIA) to promote innovation and accelerated R&D in startups and MSMEs of both countries for the development of dual use technologies.

• Under the agreement, startups and industry of both countries will work together to bring out next generation technologies and products in the areas such as Drones, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum technology, Photonics, Biosensing, Brain-Machine Interface, Energy Storage, Wearable Devices, Natural Language Processing, etc.
• Products and technologies will be customised to meet unique requirements of both the countries.
• The development efforts will be jointly funded by DRDO and DDR&D, Israel.
• The technologies developed under BIA will be available to both countries for their domestic applications.

What's the NEWS

• The Indian Army has inked a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG-N), Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Defence
INDIAN ARMY SIGNS MOU WITH RASHTRIYA RAKSHA UNIVERSITY (RRU)

What's the NEWS

• Indian Army entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) to synergise innovations, research, technology incubation, joint projects, publication & patents, training, higher learning and distance education in the Army.

• Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) is an Institute of National importance established under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India.
• RRU is committed to identify, prepare and sustain statecraft of national, strategic and security culture through continuous enhancement and development of innovation, education, research and training cadres from the security, military and civilian society.

• The demands of future warfare mandates Indian Army officers and men to be educated in niche domains of warfare to include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Cyber warfare, robotics and aerospace that have potential military applications and a disruptive impact on modern-day warfare.
• This is a step towards strengthening the linkages between academia and the Indian Military.
• The university will focus on meeting specific requirements of Indian Army in emerging and contemporary technologies
• ‘Çhanakya' a biannual publication of RRU on National Security was also launched during the event.

• Union Minister of Earth Sciences has inaugurated DBT - APSCS&T Centre of Excellence for Bioresources and Sustainable Development and Rural Technology Demonstration Centre at Kimin in Papum Pare District of Arunachal Pradesh.

• The Centre for Bioresources and Sustainable Development", has been established at Kimin, Papum Pare district, Arunachal Pradesh by the State Council for Science and Technology, Department of Science & Technology, Government of Arunachal Pradesh with the support of Department of Biotechnology, GoI.
• The Centre aims at conservation and sustainable utilization of the local bio-resources using biotechnological tools and is ably supported by Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology
• The Centre will facilitate development of biodiversity and related sectors like horticulture and agriculture.
• The Centre which has three units including Orchidarium, Banana Fibre and Aroma will create awareness and educate the youths in these sectors and provide self-employment opportunities through Biotechnology intervention.
• With the setting up of the Bio-Resource Centre by the Department of Biotechnology, the entire North Eastern Region will be able to use its fruit and organic food potential to the maximum extent.
• Besides, this will also help in exploring many vast areas and to find hitherto lesser known or unknown new species including diverse habitats and diverse flora.

• On the sidelines of COP 26 in Glasgow, the LeadIT (Leadership Group for Industry transition) Summit 2021 was held in hybrid mode presided by India and Sweden.
• LeadIT is a voluntary initiative for promoting low-carbon transition especially in the hard-to-abate sectors like Iron & Steel, Aluminium, Cement and Concrete, petrochemicals, fertilisers, bricks, heavy-duty transport, etc. through active participation of private sector companies.
• Although new countries like USA, Austria and Ethiopia, and companies including Skanska, Heidelberg Cement and Salzgitter have joined the initiative, it is necessary that more companies from the heavy industries should join the global initiative.
• The event saw the adoption of the legal Summit Statement of LeadIT Summit 2021 by the Ministers of India and Sweden.

• Launched by the governments of Sweden and India at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019 and is supported by the World Economic Forum.
• The Leadership Group for Industry Transition gathers countries and companies that are committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions from industry by 2050.
• The Management Board is made up of representatives from Sweden, India, and the World Economic Forum.
• LeadIT creates a platform where governments and industries can cooperate in accelerating global industry transition
• The Industry Transition Tracker is an online database that showcases publicly available industry transition roadmaps at national scale.
• The Tracker captures the extent to which countries have national and sectoral industry transition roadmaps in place.
• The aim of the Industry Transition Tracker is to create a comprehensive overview of global progress in industry transition toward national decarbonization targets, specifically net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

• The Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change inaugurated the Ganga Connect exhibition showcased by National Mission for Clean Ganga, c-Ganga, and the High Commission of India at the City of Glasgow College
• The exhibition is an attempt to showcase the level of development in the Ganga river basin to a global community of environmental stakeholders, who have gathered in Glasgow for the UN Conference of the Parties (COP-26) meeting.

• Ganga Connect is a global exhibition that will showcase multiple facets of the river basin and connect with interested parties.
• This project is important from the point of view preserving and protecting Ganga and its ecosystem and creating widespread awareness about the river basin.
• The exhibition is highlighting river Ganga as a major lab for global technology and the scientific community to develop cutting edge environmental solutions.
• Initiatives like these are a great way to attract innovators from around the world and learn from the international best practices.
• The Ganga Connect has started in Glasgow, and will run through various cities in UK including Cardiff, Birmingham, Oxford and will finally end in London, later this month.