Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Winged Raider + about Integrated Battle Groups and about Him Vijay) + Mains ( GS III security challenges and their management in border areas)
What's the NEWS

• The Indian Army recently carried out its biggest Airborne Exercise in the North Eastern Theatre which involved large number of the Special Force's troops and all kind of air transport platforms of the Air Force.

• More than 500 soldiers of Special Forces troops parachuted from C 130 Hercules, C 17 Globemaster and Dhruv helicopters during day and night.
• The Exercise was code-named ‘Winged Raider' signifying the multi dimensional nature of the exercise
• The exercise was preceded by a series of intense preparations involving movement of special forces and rallying up of transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force
• Exercise Winged Raider demonstrated the operational readiness of our Paratroopers and Air Warriors to undertake airborne missions.
• The newly inducted aerial platforms and equipment were validated, with clockwork precision and seamless integration between the Indian Army and Indian Air Force in difficult terrain

Additional Information
Know! about Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs)

• The new concept of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) which the Indian Army plans to create as part of overall force transformation is close to implementation.
• IBGs are brigade-sized, agile, self-sufficient combat formations, which can swiftly launch strikes against adversary in case of hostilities.
• Each IBG would be tailor-made based on Threat, Terrain and Task and resources will be allotted based on the three Ts.
• They need to be light so they will be low on logistics and they will be able to mobilise within 12-48 hrs based on the location.
• An IBG operating in a desert needs to be constituted differently from an IBG operating in the mountains. The key corps of the Army are likely to be reorganized into 1-3 IBGs.
• IBGs, which will be quicker, flexible and self-sustainable combat units as the Army readies itself for future warfare.
  
  

• The IBGs will also be defensive and offensive. While the offensive IBGs would quickly mobilise and make thrust into enemy territory for strikes, defensive IBGs would hold ground at vulnerable points or where enemy action is expected.
• Preparing for the changing character of warfare across the world, the Indian Army will be ready with number of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs)
• The IBGs will come up facing China and Pakistan, while the Mountain Strike Corps will also be converted into IBGs.

New tri-services agencies

• Three new tri-services agencies are also being built up - a Cyber Agency, a Space Agency and an Armed Forces Special Operations Division. These three agencies will have a joint command,
• the Cyber Agency is looking at a strength of around 1,000, which will include defence and civilian personnel. "It is being raised for the last two years
• The Navy will lead the Cyber Agency and the personnel are being trained with the National Technical Research Organisation."
• The forces are "focusing on creating cyber assets" with both, offensive as well as defensive capability.

Him Vijay

• ‘Operation Him Vijay', a military exercise designed to test out Indian army's offensive capabilities against China
• The exercise was held in Arunachal Pradesh in the month of October 2019 away from the line of actual control with China
• The army plans to convert the new 17 Corps or ‘Brahmastra' Corps into ‘a lean and mean force' for ‘swift attacks' inside Chinese territory in the event of a war.
• This exercise is also meant as a major combat exercise to test its new integrated battle groups (IBGs) for mountain warfare in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The three IBGs, carved out of the 17 Corps with around 5,000 soldiers each and a mix of tanks, light artillery, air defence units, signals and other elements, exercised in conjunction with IAF's C-17 Globemaster-III, C-130J Super Hercules and AN-32 aircraft as well as helicopters for airlift of soldiers and equipment as well as rapid inter-valley transfers.

Know! about Mountain Strike Corps and their role in IBG

• Indian Army's XVII Corps or Mountain Strike Corps, headquartered in Panagarh, West Bengal.
• This Corps has been specifically raised and designed to undertake offensive operations across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
• The Mountain Strike Corps "has become too huge, a bit of an elephant" and will be "divided into five to six IBGs".
• There will be four IBGs in Sikkim and another four in the Jammu-Sialkot sector facing Pakistan.
• The IBGs will have the capacity to 10-15 km deep into enemy territory without requiring support.

International Affairs
Bangladeshi island Bhasan Char ready to house Rohingya refugees
Relevance IN - Prelims (about Rohingya refugees and about Bhusan Char island) + Mains ( GS II international relations)
What's the NEWS

• A Bangladeshi island regularly submerged by monsoon rains is ready to house 100,000 Rohingya refugees, but no date has been announced to relocate people from the crowded and squalid camps where they have lived for years
• Flood protection embankments, houses, hospitals, and mosques have been built on Bhasan Char, or floating island, in the Bay of Bengal
• The island, 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the mainland, surfaced only 20 years ago and was never inhabited.

Know! more about it

• The island is built to accommodate 100,000 people, just a fraction of the million Rohingya Muslims who have fled waves of violent persecution in their native Myanmar.
• About 700,000 people came after August 2017, when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar began a harsh crackdown against Rohingya in response to an attack by insurgents.
• Global rights groups and the UN called the campaign ethnic cleansing involving rapes, killings, and torching of thousands of homes. Foreign media have not been permitted to visit the island.
• The Bangladesh navy has been implementing a multimillion-dollar plan to bolster the swampy island, which is submerged for months during the annual monsoon season.
• International aid agencies and the United Nations have vehemently opposed the relocation plan since it was first proposed in 2015, expressing fear that a big storm could overwhelm the island and endanger thousands of lives.
• The current refugee camps near the beach town of Cox's Bazar are overcrowded and unhygienic. Disease and organized crime are rampant. Education is limited and refugees aren't allowed to work.
• Bangladesh attempted to start sending refugees back to Myanmar under a bilateral framework last November, but no one was willing to go.
• The Rohingya are not recognized as citizens in Myanmar, rendering them stateless, and face other forms of state-sanctioned discrimination.

Government Policies
Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF)
Relevance IN - Prelims (about TCEPF and about TRAI) + Mains (GS II • Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
What's the NEWS

• The Telecom service providers will need to deposit all unclaimed money of consumers, including excess charges and security deposit, in the Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF) as per the recent direction given by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Know! more about TCEPF

• The authority observed that there is a need to bring clarity among service providers in depositing money which they are unable to refund to the consumers
• TRAI said, adding that while some service providers were depositing money only on account of excess billing and others were depositing unclaimed money such as security deposits and plan charges of failed activations.
• It is prudent to deposit any such unclaimed / unrefundable amount belonging to consumers in the TCEP fund as it will be utilised for the welfare measures of the consumers.
• An amendment in the TCEPF regulation may be carried out to remove any kind of ambiguity and facilitate deposit of any unclaimed money of the consumer such as excess charges, security deposit, plan charges of failed activations, etc.

Know! about TRAI

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is a statutory body set up by the Government of India under section 3 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997.
• It is the regulator of the telecommunications sector in India.
• It consists of a Chairperson and not more than two full-time members and not more than two part-time members.
• The TRAI Act was amended by an ordinance, effective from 24 January 2000, establishing a Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to take over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from TRAI

Internal Security

Relevance IN - Prelims (about NDFB +about bodo tribes + about 6th schedule) + Mains (GS III internal security Linkages between development and spread of extremism. Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.)
What's the NEWS

• Banned NDFB, an insurgent group active in Assam, has signed an agreement with the government for suspension of operations
• According to the pact, the National Democratic Front of Boroland under the leadership of its 'president' B Saoraigwra will abjure violence and join in peace talks with the government.
• The tripartite agreement was signed by representatives of the NDFB and the central and Assam governments

National Democratic Front of Bodoland(NDFB).

• It is an armed separatist outfit which seeks to obtain a sovereign Bodoland for the Bodo people.
• Bodo Security Force(BdSF) was formed in 1986 and in 1994,the BdSF renamed itself as the National Democratic Front of Bodoland(NDFB).
• The group has carried out several attacks in Assam targeting non-Bodo civilians as well as the security forces.
• In 2008,NDFB was divided into two factions namely NDFB(Progressive) and NDFB (RD).In 2012 NDFB(RD) again broke away and the NDFB(S) faction was formed.

Know! about Bodos

• Bodos are the single largest tribal community in Assam making up over 5-6% of the state's population.
• The Bodo people speak the Bodo language, a Tibeto-Burman language recognized as one of twenty-two scheduled languages in the Indian Constitution.
• The Bodos have had a long history of separatist demands marked by armed struggle. They demanded for a separate state called Bodoland.
• This demand led to the signing of Bodo Accord in 2003.The accord provides for the establishment of a Bodoland Territorial Council under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
• The four districts in Assam namely Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang constitutes the Bodo Territorial Area District(BTAD).

Sixth Schedule

• The Sixth Schedule consists of provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, according to Article 244 of the Indian Constitution.
• Passed by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, it seeks to safeguard the rights of tribal population through the formation of Autonomous District Councils (ADC).

Know! about ADC

• ADCs are bodies representing a district to which the Constitution has given varying degrees of autonomy within the state legislature.
• The governors of these states are empowered to reorganise boundaries of the tribal areas.
• In simpler terms, she or he can choose to include or exclude any area, increase or decrease the boundaries and unite two or more autonomous districts into one.
• They can also alter or change the names of autonomous regions without a separate legislation.

Autonomous districts and regional councils

• Along with ADCs, the Sixth Schedule also provides for separate Regional Councils for each area constituted as an autonomous region.
• In all, there are 10 areas in the Northeast that are registered as autonomous districts - three in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram and one in Tripura.
• These regions are named as district council of (name of district) and regional council of (name of region).
• Each autonomous district and regional council consists of not more than 30 members, of which four are nominated by the governor and the rest via elections. All of them remain in power for a term of five years.
• The Bodoland Territorial Council, however, is an exception as it can constitute up to 46 members out of which 40 are elected.
• Of these 40 seats, 35 are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes and non-tribal communities, five are unreserved and the rest six are nominated by the governor from unrepresented communities of the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD).

ADCs empowered with civil and judicial powers

• The ADCs are empowered with civil and judicial powers, can constitute village courts within their jurisdiction to hear trial of cases involving the tribes.
• Governors of states that fall under the Sixth Schedule specifies the jurisdiction of high courts for each of these cases.
• The councils are also empowered to make legislative laws on matters like land, forests, fisheries, social security, entertainment, public health, etc. with due approval from the governor.

Prelims Factoids
ELECRAMA 2020

• The Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises has inaugurated ELECRAMA 2020
• ELECRAMA is the flagship showcase of the Indian electrical industry and a platform to connect the world with Indian industry in respect of technology, new trends and innovation for future energy transition.
  
  

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