Daily Current Capsules 12^th April 2022

Defence and Security/GSIII
Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA' successfully flight tested

What's the NEWS

• Indigenously developed helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA' was successfully flight tested on April 11, 2022 at high-altitude ranges as part of user validation trials.
• The flight-test was jointly conducted by the teams of scientists from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Army and Indian Air Force (IAF).
• The flight trials were conducted from an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and the missile was fired successfully engaging simulated tank target.

• Helina or helicopter-based Nag missile, can strike targets up to seven km away.
• The fire-and-forget missile, is guided by an Imaging Infra-Red (IIR) Seeker, operating in the Lock on Before Launch mode successfully engaged a simulated tank target at high-altitude ranges
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Indian Air Force and the army jointly conducted the test.
• The Helina system has all-weather day and night capability and can knock out enemy tanks with conventional and explosive reactive armour.
• The missile can engage targets both in direct hit mode as well as the top attack mode.
• It is one of the most advanced anti-tank weapons in the world.
• In continuation to validation trials conducted at Pokhran in Rajasthan, proof of efficacy at high altitudes paves the way for its integration on the ALH.

• Nag and Helina are the existing anti-tank missiles developed by DRDO. The Nag missile is launched from a modified infantry combat vehicle, called the Nag missile carrier or Namica.
• Stand-off anti-tank (SANT) missile
• The latest Helina test came four months after India successfully tested the helicopter launched stand-off anti-tank (SANT) missile, which has a range of 10 km.
• IAF's Russian-origin Mi-35 attack helicopters are expected to be equipped with the missile to arm them with the capability to destroy enemy tanks from an improved stand-off range.
• The existing Russian-origin Shturm missile on the Mi-35 can target tanks at a range of five km.
• Self-reliance in defence (steps taken by the government)
• India last week published a new list of 101 weapons and systems that will come under a phased import ban over the next five years.
• The military hardware sought to be developed locally ranges from lightweight tanks, naval utility helicopters and mounted artillery gun systems to medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles, missiles and loitering munitions.
• The new list has taken the combined number of weapons and systems under a phased import ban by India to 310.
• Two similar lists of 101 and 108 weapons and systems were released in August 2020 and May 2021, respectively.
• Helicopter launched ATGMs figured in the ‘second positive indigenisation' list and their import was banned from December 2021.

Awareness in the field of IT/GSIII
InTranSE -II Program

What's the NEWS

• An indigenous Onboard Driver Assistance and Warning System - ODAWS, Bus Signal Priority System and Common SMart iot Connectiv (CoSMiC) software have been launched under Intelligent Transportation System Endeavor for Indian Cities Phase-II initiative of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• The product was developed as a joint initiative by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M).
• Mahindra and Mahindra was the industrial collaborator for the project.
• Onboard Driver Assistance and Warning System - ODAWS
• ODAWS incorporates vehicle-borne sensors for monitoring driver propensity and vehicle surroundings to deliver acoustic and visual alerts for driver assistance.
• The project involves the development of sub-modules such as the navigational unit, driver assistance console, and mmWave radar sensor.
• The positional and dynamic characteristics of surrounding vehicles are probed using mmWave radar sensors.
• The navigational sensor provides a precise geo-spatial orientation of the vehicle as well as trends in driving behaviour.
• The ODAWS algorithm is used to interpret sensor data and offer real-time notifications to the driver, boosting road safety.

• Bus signal priority System is an operational strategy that modifies normal traffic signal operations to better accommodate in-service public buses at signal-controlled intersections.
• Unlike a blind priority that is given for emergency vehicles, here it is a conditional priority, which is given only when there is an overall reduction in delay for all vehicles.
• The developed system will enable to minimize person delay by providing priority to public transport buses, either through Green extension or Red truncation, considering all vehicles approaching a signalized intersection.

• It is a middleware software providing standard based deployment of IoT adhering to oneM2M based global standard.
• CoSMiC is an end-to-end Common Service Platform for integrating diverse IOT devices and applications to interact with a common global oneM2M standard on to the smart city framework.
• It is used for data dissemination to different smart city applications in order to achieve interoperability and scalability among IOT device.
• oneM2M is the global communication standard which covers requirements, architecture, data sharing, API specifications, security solutions and interoperability for Machine to Machine and IoT technologies.
• With IoT in view and for interoperable IoT applications, a consortium of more than 200 member organization including multinational companies, are working towards forming a common service layer standard known as oneM2M. I
• India is also a major member of the consortium.
• CoSMiC common service layer is used to interface any vendor specific standards and for increasing interoperability with smart city dashboard.
• CoSMiC provides a Dashboard page showing IoT units, products, applications, and its live data in a Geographical Information System (GIS) map.

• ITS technologies enable gathering of data or intelligence and then providing timely feedback to traffic managers and road-users.
• ITS results in improved safety to drivers, better traffic efficiency, reduced traffic congestion, improved energy efficiency and environmental quality and enhanced economic productivity.
• Some examples of ITS include Advanced Traffic Management Systems, Advanced Traveller Information Systems, Advanced Vehicle Control Systems, Electronic Toll Collection Systems, Advanced Public Transportation Systems etc
• ITS endeavour for Indian cities is initiated with collaborative projects between the department and research and academic institutions having requisite expertise.

Environment Conservation/GSIII
Launch Event of the State Energy and Climate Index Round- 1

What's the NEWS

• NITI Aayog has launched the State Energy & Climate Index-Round I

• DISCOM's Performance
• Access, Affordability and Reliability of Energy
• Clean Energy Initiatives
• Energy Efficiency
• Environmental Sustainability; and
• New Initiatives.
• The parameters are further divided into 27 indicators.
• Based on the composite SECI Round I score, the states and UTs are categorized into three groups: Front Runners, Achievers, and Aspirants.
• The states have been categorized based on size and geographical differences as larger states, smaller states, and UTs.
• Gujarat, Kerala, and Punjab have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger states.
• Goa, emerged as the top-performing state in the smaller states category, followed by Tripura, and Manipur.
• Among UTs, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Daman & Diu/Dadra & Nagar Haveli are the top performers.

• This edition of the report reveals that some of the important data is not available at the state level.
• There is a need to develop a robust mechanism for capturing such data so that it can be incorporated in future editions of the report.
• Governance innovation and mutual learning by states shall go a long way in improving outcomes and SECI Round I is the right step in this direction.
• The synergy and partnership among the Centre and the States will be critical for achieving energy and climate-related goals and making the country self-reliant in the energy sector.
• Achieving the ambitious climate targets would require a conducive policy environment to encourage investment.
• The State Energy & Climate Index Round-I will help initiate a dialogue with the states on the energy sector so that much required policy improvements can be made.

• The Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav has recently concluded its first year since its launch.
• In view of this, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, has organized a two-day conference to reflect on the progress of AKAM
• Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) is a flagship initiative of the Central and State Governments, which has been launched to commemorate 75 years of India's independence.
• The objective of this programme is to recreate and renew the patriotic fervour of the independence movement, to recall the contribution of the freedom fighters and to create a vision for lndia@2047.

Prelims Factoids
Seema Darshan Project

What's the NEWS

• Union Home and Cooperative Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated ‘Seema Darshan Project' at Nadabet located on the Indo-Pak border in Banaskantha District of Gujarat.
• ‘Seema darshan Project' was initiated with the aim to provide an opportunity to the people so that they can visualize the life and work of the BSF personnel on our border.
• Under the ‘Seema Darshan Project', all kinds of tourist facilities and other special attractions have been developed at a cost of 1 crore 25 lakhs.

Prelims Factoids
AXIOM MISSION 1
What's the NEWS

• A SpaceX capsule carrying three paying customers and a former NASA astronaut arrived at the International Space Station, finishing the first leg of this first-of-its-kind mission that will last about 10 days.
• The Ax-1 mission, which was organized by Houston company Axiom Space, is flying on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour.
• Axiom Mission 1 (or Ax-1) is a private crew mission to the International Space Station (ISS), operated by Axiom Space out of Axiom Space's Mission Control Center (or MCC-A) in Houston, TX. The flight launched on 8 April 2022, from Kennedy Space Center.
• Axiom Space was founded in 2016 with the goal of creating the world's first commercial space station.

Prelims Factoids
Abhyaas for Competitive Examinations.
What's the NEWS

• All India Radio News has launched a new weekly interactive programme, Abhyaas for Competitive Examinations.
• It is aimed at reaching out to students and job-seekers preparing for competitive examinations.
• The programme is in Hindi and is broadcasted every Saturday between 9.30-10pm.
• Every week a subject is chosen. Students can ask questions through WhatsApp or email and a guest speaker or expert responds to their queries. Questions on each subject are selected on the basis of crowd sourcing from students across the country.
• The program also includes segments like Explainer, Factfile, Examination Calendar and Question of the Week.

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