Prelims Factoids
VEER BAAL DIWAS

What's the NEWS

• The Government of India has decided to commemorate 26^th December as "Veer Baal Diwas" in the honour of the supreme sacrifice made by Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh, the younger sons of the 10^th Sikh Guru Govind Singh Ji, for their supreme and unparalleled sacrifice on 26^th December, 1705 at the tender age of 9 and 6 years respectively to defend the dignity and honour of Sikhism.
• ‘Veer Baal Diwas' will be on the same day Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji and Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji attained martyrdom after being sealed alive in a wall.
• These two greats preferred death instead of deviating from the noble principles of Dharma.
• The bravery and ideals of Mata Gujri, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and the 4 Sahibzades give strength to millions of people. They never bowed to injustice. They envisioned a world that is inclusive and harmonious. It is the need of the hour for more people to know about them.

• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has greeted everyone, especially the Indian diaspora on Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas.

• It is a day dedicated to the overseas Indian community and celebrated once every two years.
• This day is celebrated on January 09 by the people of India.
• The day has its roots from our ‘Father of The Nation,' Mahatma Gandhi, who was the greatest Pravasi.
• He returned from South Africa in 1915 and led the Indian freedom movement. Therefore, marking this day, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has celebrated this day since 2003 from January 07-09 every year.
• This practice will bring together the Indians abroad to enrich knowledge, expertise, and skills to be shared in a common platform.
• This day came into effect in 2003, but in 2015 it was revised and was decided to be celebrated every two years.
• It was then a theme-based conference that was set up every year during the interim period.
• The conference invited various Indian communities abroad who are experts in their respective fields, policymakers, and stakeholders to come together and participate in the event.

• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is organizing the first-ever Startup India Innovation Week from 10^th -16^th of January 2022.
• This virtual week-long innovation celebration aims to commemorate the 75^th year of India's independence ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' and is designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship across India.

• This startup and innovation festival's primary goal is to bring together the country's key startups, entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, funding entities, banks, policymakers, and other national/international stakeholders to celebrate entrepreneurship and promote innovation.

• Interestingly, in the startup world, 2021 has been recognised as the 'year of unicorns,' with 40+ unicorns added in the year.
• India is emerging as a global innovation hub, boasting the world's third-largest startup ecosystem.
• DPIIT has recognised more than 61,000 startups as on date.
• Our startups representing 55 industries, spread across 633 districts with at least one startup from every State and UT of the country have created over 6 lakh jobs since 2016.
• 45% of the startups are from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and 45% of them are represented by women entrepreneurs.
• Startups have the potential to accelerate India's integration into global value chains and create global impact.

• IAC Vikrant is heading out for the next set of sea trials.
• While the maiden sea trials in August last year were to establish propulsion, navigational suite and basic operations, the second sea trial later in October-November witnessed the ship being put through its paces in terms of various machinery trials and flight trials.
• Having gained adequate confidence in the ship's abilities, the IAC now sails to undertake complex manoeuvres to establish specific readings of how the ship performs in various conditions.
• On successful completion of a series of progressive sea trials, the ship is scheduled to be commissioned as INS Vikrant later this year

• 76% of the equipment is indigenously sourced
• It is the largest and most complex warship ever to be built in the country.
• The ship has been able to carry out basic flying operations from its very first sortie
• The keel of the 40,000-tonne warship was laid in February 2009, and it was floated out at Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), which has built it, in December 2011.
• Basin trials were completed in November 2020, and the vessel is expected to be commissioned into the Navy by August 2022.
• IAC-1 will operate the Russian-built MiG-29K fighter aircraft and Kamov-31 air early warning helicopters; the indigenously manufactured Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH); and the soon-to-be-inducted MH-60R multirole helicopters manufactured by Lockheed Martin.
• The warship has been built at a cost of around Rs 23,000 crore and its construction propelled India into a select group of countries having capabilities to build state-of-the-art aircraft carriers.
• The warship will operate MiG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31 helicopters, MH-60R multi-role helicopters.
• It has over 2,300 compartments, designed for a crew of around 1700 people, including specialised cabins to accommodate women officers.
• Vikrant has a top speed of around 28 knots and a cruising speed of 18 knots with an endurance of about 7,500 nautical miles, officials said.
• The IAC is 262 metres long, 62 metres wide and it has a height of 59 metres.
• India's sole aircraft carrier at the moment is the Russian-origin INS Vikramaditya, which entered service in 2013.
• The Navy is looking at deploying 36 multirole fighter aircraft that will cater to both the Vikramaditya and the new Vikrant.

• As per the records maintained by Defence Estates Offices, the Ministry of Defence owns large tracts of land admeasuring about 17.99 lakh acres out of which approximately 1.61 lakh acres is situated within the 62 notified Cantonments.

• The Directorate General Defence Estates, Ministry of Defence commenced the Survey of defence land from October 2018.
• The entire exercise of survey of about 1.61 lakh acres of defence land inside cantonments and 16.17 lakh acres outside cantonments (total 17.78 lakh acres) survey has been completed.
• It is a remarkable achievement since for the first time after independence, entire defence land has been surveyed by using latest survey technology and in a large number of pockets in association with the Revenue authorities of various State Governments.
• Modern survey technologies like Electronic Total Station (ETS) and Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) were used in the survey.
• To further speed up the process, Drone imagery and Satellite imagery based survey were leveraged for reliable, robust and time bound outcomes.
• For the first time, Drone imagery based survey technology was used for survey of lakhs of acres of defence land in Rajasthan.
• The entire area was surveyed with the help of Surveyor General of India in a matter of weeks, which earlier used to take years.
• Besides this, Satellite Imagery based survey was done for the first time for many defence land pockets
• 3D Modelling techniques for better visualisation of defence land in hilly area have also been introduced by utilising Digital Elevation Model (DEM) in association with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
• As a part of Survey, a project for real time change detection system based on the Time series Satellite imagery for detection of encroachments on defence land has also been initiated.
• Pilot test has been carried out on satellite imageries of defence land pockets procured from National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad.
• Geo-referenced and digitised shape files are made available to enable quick decision making by officials of DGDE & MoD.
• A Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Land Survey and GIS mapping has also been established in NIDEM (National Institute of Defence Estates Management) for capacity building of Defence Estates officials in the field of latest survey technologies.
• The CoE aims to be an apex survey institution capable to impart training of various levels to the officers of Central & State Govt. Depts.
• CoE also aims to use SLAM/GIS technologies in better land management & town planning process.

What's the NEWS

• The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, in association with the State Government of Telangana organized the 24^th Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) 2021
• The theme of this Conference is "India's Techade: Digital Governance in a Post Pandemic World".

• The 24^th NCeG represented a platform for constructive exchange of ideas on some of the latest technologies for promoting e-Governance.
• The 24^th NCeG 2021 provided all participating State and UT Government teams with a detailed view of the latest concepts and technologies to promote e-Governance and enable them to go back with useful takeaways for being implemented in their respective States and UTs..
• The 24^th NCeG provided a platform for the delegates, including senior Government officers from across the country, industry stalwarts and researchers, to share best practices, latest technology developments, thus leveraging them for achieving effective governance and public service delivery.

• The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DAPRG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Telangana organized the 24^th National Conference on e-Governance at Hyderabad during 7-8 January 2022.
• The Conference has unanimously adopted the Hyderabad declaration after intensive deliberations during the sessions held over two days.
• The Conference resolved that Government of India and State Governments shall collaborate to bring citizens and government closer through digital platforms.

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