International Organisations/GSII/Cyber Awareness/GSIII
RATS SCO Practical Seminar on Securing Cyberspace

What's the NEWS

• The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Government of India in association with Data Security Council of India (DSCI), as a Knowledge Partner, organized a two-day Practical Seminar on"Securing Cyberspace in the Contemporary Threat Environment" for delegates from Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)Member States.
• India assumed the Chairmanship of Council of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of SCO(RATS SCO) from October 28, 2021 for a period of one year.

• The Seminar is the first event to be hosted by India during its Chairmanship.
• This Seminar addressed the key areas like Policies and Strategies, Cyber Terrorism, Ransomware, and Digital Forensics amongst others.
• The representatives from Executive Committee (EC) of RATS SCO and all SCO member countries attended this Seminar.
• The program focused on the changing nature of online crime and criminal behaviour in order to understand the threats, trends, issues, responses and ethical questions associated with, mainly terrorists using technology.
• This Indian initiative is an effort to enhance the collaboration among RATS SCO Member States to counter the misuse of internet by Terrorists, Separatists and Extremists.

• Headquarters - Tashkent, Uzbekistan
• RATS is a permanent organ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
• It's objective is to help members states fight combat, extremism, terrorism and separatism.
• The Head of RATs is elected for a three-year term.
• All the member's states also have their own representatives at RATS.
• The RATS was formed in the June 2004 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
• RATS is engaged in furthering cooperation and ties between member countries on concerns of terrorism, security, drug trafficking, crime and cyberwarfare.

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian economic, political and security organisation originally formed by the leaders of the six countries of China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
• India became a full member in 2017.
• SCO was formed on 15th June 2001.
• It emerged from the Shanghai Five which was established earlier in 1996.
• Pakistan joined along with India in June 2017 as a full member.
• The SCO is the biggest regional organisation as per the population and the geography covered.
• Objective - to promote cooperation among the member countries on issues of security, intelligence sharing, border disputes resolution, military cooperation, counter-terrorism and countering the influence of the USA on Asia.

• International Maritime Organization (IMO) award for exceptional bravery at sea is conferred annually to individuals or groups who, at the risk to their own lives, perform acts of exceptional bravery in attempting to save life at sea or in attempting to prevent or mitigate damage to the marine environment.
• This year, IMO council awarded Certificate of Commendation to Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Master along with crew members of tugboat Ocean Bliss for exceptional and courageous efforts towards rescue operation of M/T New Diamond, which caught fire and was drifting towards the coast, laden with inflammable cargo.
• The rescue team members of the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and the master and crew of tugboat Ocean Bliss, carried out sustained and effective fire- fighting operations and skilfully towed the vessel away from the coast, thereby preventing loss of life at sea and averted a serious marine pollution incident.

What's the NEWS

• Chief Election Commissioner of India addressed the Officials of Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) at India International Institute of Democracy & Election Management, New Delhi.
• IIIDEM under the aegis of Election Commission of India is organizing the Capacity Development Programme for the BEC officials as part of Strengthening and Capacity Development of Election Commission Secretariat project (SCDECS) of the Bangladesh Election Commission.

• More than One Lakh pensioners are currently being serviced by Principal Controller of Communication Accounts/ Controller of Communication Accounts offices all over India via SAMPANN which has improved the service delivery to pensioners by providing a single window setup ensuring the following benefits:

1. Timely settlement of pension cases
2. Provision of e-Pension Payment Order
3. Login for each pensioner enables access to key information like payment history
4. Online submission of grievances and timely SMS alerts

• SAMPANN - ‘System for Accounting and Management of Pension' is an ambitious project of Government of India being implemented by Controller General of Communication Accounts, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications.
• It was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 29th December, 2018.
• It is a seamless online pension processing and payment system for Department of Telecommunications pensioners.
• It provides direct credit of pension into the bank accounts of pensioners.
• The system has helped the Department in faster settlement of pension cases, improved reconciliation/auditing and ease of accounting.
• SAMPANN has also been instrumental in settling close to 76000 BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme 2019 cases in a short span of 6 months.
• SAMPANN is a system with a flexible design which enables it to accommodate ever expanding requirements.

Information given by Ministers in Parliament
Science & Technology- Space awareness/GSIII
India's maiden human space mission "Gaganyaan" will be launched in 2023

What's the NEWS

• In reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister said, with this launch, India will become the fourth nation in the world to launch a Human Spaceflight Mission after USA, Russia and China.

• The major missions viz., Test vehicle flight for the validation of Crew Escape System performance and the 1^st Uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan (G1) are scheduled during the beginning of 2^nd half of 2022.
• This will be followed by second uncrewed mission at the end of 2022 carrying "Vyommitra" a spacefaring human robot developed by ISRO and finally the first crewed Gaganyaan mission in 2023.
• The objective of Gaganyaan programme is to demonstrate the capability to send humans to low earth orbit (LEO) onboard on Indian Launch Vehicle and bring them back to earth safely.

• The astronaut training facility is getting established at Bengaluru and in advanced stage of completion.
• Basic Aeromedical training and flying practice completed as part of Indian leg of training.
• The design of all systems of Gaganyaan has been completed.
• Realisation of various systems are in different stages of progress.
• Ground qualification tests of human rated launch vehicle propulsion stages have been already commenced and successfully progressing.
• The configuration and design of ground infrastructure has been completed and modifications needed are being implemented.
• The MoU, contracts and Implementation arrangement (IA) related activities with both national and international agencies are progressing well.
• Receipt of deliverables has commenced against contracts with M/s Glavkosmos (Russian Space Agency) for space suit, crew seat and View port.
• Also receipt of deliverables under various work packages of CNES (French Space Agency) IA has commenced.
• The activities related to development of microgravity experiments have commenced, the conceptual design for experiments is under review.

• Digital onboarding and training of Street Vendors (SVs) is an integral part of PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbharNidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme.
• Lending Institutions (LIs) have been instructed to issue a durable QR Code & UPI ID at the time of disbursement and train the beneficiaries in conduct of digital transactions.
• In order to give further impetus to the digital onboarding and training of beneficiaries, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) jointly launched ‘Main Bhi Digital 3.0'from September 9 to November 30, 2021, to complement the efforts of LIs in adoption of digital transactions by the PM SVANidhi beneficiaries.
• "Main Bhi Digital 3.0" campaign is aimed at digital onboarding of Street Vendors (SVs)who have already been provided loans under PM SVANidhi Scheme.
• An Integrated IT Platform has been developed for implementation of this Scheme.
• The application process is fully online. SVs can apply for loan directly through PM SVANidhiPortal.
• The application can also be submitted at Municipal Offices and Common Service Centres (CSCs).
• In addition, the SVs can approach municipal functionaries or representatives of Lending Institutions to apply through PM SVANidhi mobile App.
• PM SVANidhi Scheme is available to all street vendors across the country, including those from Dahod tribal area, who are engaged in vending in urban areas on or before March 24, 2020.

• Air version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test fired from the supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30 MK-I from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha on December 08, 2021.

• In this copy book flight, the missile launched from the aircraft followed the pre-planned trajectory meeting all mission objectives.
• The launch is a major milestone in the BrahMos development.
• It clears the system for the serial production of air-version BrahMos missiles within the country.
• Major airframe assemblies which form the integral part of the Ramjet Engine are indigenously developed by Indian Industry.
• These include metallic and non-metallic air frame sections comprising Ramjet fuel tank and pneumatic fuel supply system.
• During the test,the structural integrity and functional performance have been proven.
• The air version of BrahMos was last flight tested in July 2021.
• BrahMos is a Joint Venture between India (DRDO) and Russia (NPOM) for the development, production and marketing of the supersonic cruise missile.
• BrahMos is the potent offensive missile weapon system already inducted into the Armed Forces.

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