Relevance IN - Prelims (about the E-Portal of CCRT ‘Digital Bharat Digital Sanskriti' and CCRT YouTube Channel )
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Culture has launched the E-Portal of CCRT ‘Digital Bharat Digital Sanskriti' and CCRT YouTube Channel

• The efforts of CCRT will enable dissemination of cultural education through digital interactive medium into the classrooms all over the country. For this initiative, CCRT has tied up with Routes 2 Roots, an NGO, for connecting seamlessly all the CCRT Regional Centres i.e., Guwahati, Udaipur and Hyderabad
• CCRT should provide a platform for specifically dropout children so that they can join the mainstream so o that they can pursue their dreams and make a career out of it be it music, painting, theatre, martial arts or any other art forms.
• There is a need to identify institutions specializing in providing training in various art forms and encourage the children to join these institutions.

Know! about CCRT

• The Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) is autonomous organisation under Ministry of Culture of Government of India.
• Established in May 1979, to support cultural education, with its inception it took over the Scheme-Propagation of Culture among College and School students, which was being implemented by Delhi University since 1970, where a Research and Production Cell was functioning for this purpose.
• The CCRT also organises activities such as school tours to museums, monuments and craft centres, collects teaching resources including photographs, audio recordings, films and software

Defence
Defence Acquisition Council Chaired by Raksha Mantri gives a big impetus to indigenous industry
Relevance IN - Prelims (about DAC and the types of approvals sanctioned by DAC) +Mains ( GS III indigenisation of technology)
What's the NEWS

• The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh accorded approval for Capital Procurement for the Defence forces amounting over Rs. 3300 crores of indigenously designed and developed equipment.

Know! more about the approvals made under DAC

• Maintaining its impetus on the ‘Make in India' initiative, the DAC accorded approval for three projects to be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by the Indian industry.
• The first two projects include third generation Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) and the Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) for the T-72 and T-90 Tanks.
• While the third generation ATGM would provide ‘Fire and Forget' and "Top Attack" capabilities to the troops in an armoured battle, the APUs would enable incorporation of various upgrades to Fire Control System and Night Fighting capabilities of the Tanks.
• Both these projects will be progressed under the ‘Make-II' Category and will provide a boost to indigenous research and development in the Private Sector.
• With this, for the first time the Ministry of Defence has offered complex Military equipment to be designed, developed and manufactured by the Indian private industry.
• The third indigenous project pertains to discrete Electronic Warfare (EW) systems for the mountain and High Altitude terrain, which would be designed and developed by DRDO and manufactured by design cum production partner from the Indian industry.

Know! more about DAC

• The DAC is Defence Ministry's highest decision making body for capital acquisition proposals forwarded by the Indian armed forces.
• It was set up in 2001 as part of the post-Kargil reforms in defence sector
• It approves the long-term integrated perspective plan for the forces, accords acceptance of necessity (AON) to begin acquisition proposals, and grant's its approval to all major deals through all their important phases.
• It also has the power to approve any deviations in an acquisition, and recommends all big capital defence purchases for approval of the Cabinet committee on security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister.

Prelims Factoids
Col Chewang Rinchen bridge

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Col Chewang Rinchen Setu')

What's the NEWS

• Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the strategically important ‘Col Chewang Rinchen Setu', a bridge built by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) over River Shyok, connecting Durbuk and Daulat Beg Oldie in Eastern Ladakh.

Know! the importance of the bridge

• Keeping in view the current security situation, strengthening the borders is the need of the hour. Border area development is an integral part of our Government's plan and this bridge is a part of that strategy
• The ‘Col Chewang Rinchen Setu' is as a symbol of the Government's resolve of positive change and all-round development of the nation.
• The bridge not only connects Durbuk with Daulat Beg Oldie but also links the people of Ladakh and all interior areas of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country.
• Through initiatives like these, the people of this region will have the opportunity to become part of India's growth story

Know! about the bridge

• Sandwiched between strategic Karakoram and Chang Chenmo ranges, the ‘Col Chewang Rinchen Setu' is a 430-metre bridge built at an altitude of about 15,000 feet using Micro Piling Technology. The construction has been completed in record time within 15 months.

Col Chewang Rinchen

• Col Chewang Rinchen, born on November 11, 1931 at Sumur, Nubra Valley in Ladakh region, is known as the "Lion of Ladakh" for his extraordinary acts of courage in defending Leh and Partapur sector.
• He is one of only six Armed Forces personnel to have been twice awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, the second highest Indian Gallantry Award.

Space Awareness
First all-female spacewalk

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the first all-female spacewalk) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of space)
What's the NEWS

• NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir recorded history by completing the first all-female spacewalk, wherein the duo fixed the broken part of the International Space Station (ISS).

Know! more about the first all-female spacewalk

• Both the astronauts carried out the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) to replace a power controller of the ISS that got damaged recently.
• Koch and Meir were able to fix the damaged part by using wrenches, screwdrivers and power-grip tools. No man was involved in this mission.
• Koch was first to move out of the ISS and Meir came after with a tool bag. Initially, the mission was scheduled for 5.5 hours, however, it stretched up to 7 hours due to some additional tasks.
• While Meir made her debut in spacewalking through this mission, it was the 4^th spacewalk for Koch.
• This ISS power controller failure had interrupted various space missions of NASA. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has scheduled a series of spacewalks to change the exterior-mounted batteries of the ISS.
• This was the 221^st spacewalk carried out by the NASA for maintenance of the ISS. During their Extravehicular Activity, both the astronauts received a call from the US President Donald Trump, who encouraged the young astronauts and hailed their work.
• The first woman to do a spacewalk was cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya

The International Space Station (ISS)

• The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station in low Earth orbit. The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).
• The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.
• The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields.
• The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.
• The ISS maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi) by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft. It circles the Earth in roughly 92 minutes and completes 15.5 orbits per day.
  
  

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