Daily Current Capsules - 24th July 2020
Defence
Largest Solar Power Plant of Navy Commissioned

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the largest solar power plant of Navy + about INA Ezhimala -geographical location)
What's the NEWS

• Southern Naval Command commissioned a 3 MW Solar Power Plant at Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala

• This is in line with the Govt of India initiative of ‘National Solar Mission' to achieve 100GW of solar power by 2022.
• The solar plant is the largest in the Indian Navy and has an estimated life of 25 years.
• All components have been indigenously sourced, including 9180 highly efficient monocrystalline solar panels employing the latest technology.
• The project has been executed by Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd (KELTRON).
• The Solar Power Plant project will help Naval Station Ezhimala in reducing the carbon foot print and is one of the many initiatives undertaken by INA towards a clean and green environment. Surplus power generated will also feed the KSEB electricity grid.
• The Indian Naval Academy (INA), is located in Ezhimala in Kannur (Cannanore) District of Kerala, a part of North Malabar Region.

Indian Culture and History
PM pays tributes to Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Chandra Shekhar Azad on their Jayanti

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about both the freedom fighters) + Mains ( GS I The Freedom Struggle - its various stages and important contributors /contributions from different parts of the country.)

What's the NEWS

• he Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Chandra Shekhar Azad on their Jayanti.

Know! all about Bal Gangadhar Tilak

• Bal Gangadhar Tilak, byname Lokamanya, (born July 23, 1856, Ratnagiri [now in Maharashtra state], India-died August 1, 1920, Bombay [now Mumbai]
• He founded (1914) and served as president of the Indian Home Rule League.
• In 1916 he concluded the Lucknow Pact with Mohammed Ali Jinnah, which provided for Hindu-Muslim unity in the nationalist struggle.
• The two weekly newspapers that he owned and edited were Kesari ("The Lion"), published in Marathi, and The Mahratta, published in English.
• He organized two important festivals, Ganesh in 1893 and Shivaji in 1895.
• The British government, prosecuted him for sedition and sent him to jail in 1897. The trial and sentence earned him the title Lokamanya ("Beloved Leader of the People").
• Tilak aimed at swarajya (independence), not piecemeal reforms, and attempted to persuade the Congress Party to adopt his militant program.
• He clashed with the moderates during the party's session (meeting) at Surat (now in Gujarat state) in 1907, and the party split.
• The government again prosecuted Tilak on a charge of sedition and inciting terrorism and deported him to Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar), to serve a six-year prison sentence.
• In the Mandalay jail, Tilak settled down to write his magnum opus, the ŚrÄ«mad Bhagavadgitā Rahasya ("Secret of the Bhagavadgita")-also known as Bhagavad Gita or Gita Rahasya-an original exposition of the most-sacred book of the Hindus.
• Earlier, in 1893, he had published The Orion; or, Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas, and, a decade later, The Arctic Home in the Vedas.
• On his release in 1914, he launched the Home Rule League with the rousing slogan "Swarajya is my birthright and I will have it." (Activist Annie Besant also established an organization with the same name at about that time.)
• In 1916 he rejoined the Congress Party and signed the historic Lucknow Pact, a Hindu-Muslim accord, with Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the future founder of Pakistan.
• Gandhi called him "the Maker of Modern India," and Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's first prime minister, described him as "the Father of the Indian Revolution."

Know! all about Chandra Shekhar Azad.

• Chandra Shekhar Azad was born on July 23, 1906 in Bhabhra village in the present-day Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
• He was born Chandrashekhar Tiwari but changed his name to Chandra Shekhar Azad, with ‘Azad' standing for ‘The Free'.
• He would also use the name ‘Balraj' when signing statements as the commander in chief of the HSRA (Hindustan Socialist Republic Army).
• When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement in December 1921, Chandra Shekhar Azad, who was then 15 and still studying, joined the movement.
• After Gandhi suspended the non-cooperation movement in 1922, Chandra Shekhar Azad joined the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a revolutionary organisation formed by Ram Prasad Bismil, Sachindra Nath Sanyal and others.
• Chandra Shekhar Azad took charge of HRA after Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Thankur Roshan Singh were sentenced to death in the Kakori train robbery case.
• After the capture of the main leaders of the HRA, Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh secretly reorganised the HRA as the HSRA (Hindustan Socialist Republic Army) in September 1928.
• When Lala Lajpat Rai died in 1928 due to the grievous injuries he suffered at the hands of superintendent of police James A Scott, members of the HSRA vowed to avenge his death. But due to a case of mistaken identity, Assistant Superintendent of Police John P Saunders was killed.
• Chandra Shekhar Azad's death came about when Virbhadra Tiwari, an old companion who later turned traitor, informed the police of his whereabouts.

Defence

Relevance IN - Prelims ( facts related to Short Service Commissioned (SSC) + Permanent Commission (PC) + 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

• Ministry of Defence has issued the formal Government Sanction Letter for grant of Permanent Commission (PC) to Women Officers in the Indian Army, paving the way for empowering Women Officers to shoulder larger roles in the organisation.
• The order specifies grant of PC to Short Service Commissioned (SSC) Women Officers in all ten streams of the Indian Army i.e Army Air Defence (AAD), Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps (AOC), and Intelligence Corps in addition to the existing streams of Judge and Advocate General (JAG) and Army Educational Corps (AEC).

Connect to the Past Current Capsules ( Feb 2020)
Landmark Verdict Of The Supreme Court For Gender Equality In Army
Two Issues Addressed by the Supreme Court
1. SSC Women officers can opt for Permanent Commission
Know! the history (when women were allowed in the army?)

• In the year 1992 Centre notified that women eligible for appointment as officers for five years in services like Army Postal Service, Judge Advocate General Department, Army Education Corps etc.
• After that Short Service Commission (SSC) came with an appointment for 10 years ( expandable upto 14 years) and the first batch under this entered in 2008.
• Short Service Commission officers are for the maximum period of 14 years

What is the Practice till now

• Men who entered Short Service Commission officers could opt for Permanent Commission at the end of 10-years of service but this facility was not available to Women officers
• Now The Supreme Court said that all Women officers just like Men officers should be considered for Permanent Commission and there should not be any discrimination with men.
• The Supreme Court directed the Government to implement policy decisions to grant Permanent Commission to women in the army in the next three months.

2. Command Postings Are Allowed

• Till now Women officers are not eligible for command or criteria appointments

Ranks in Indian Army
General
Lieutenant General
Major General
Brigadier
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant

• Command appointments is from Colonel and above rank

For the Male officers these positions(command appointments) are filled based of four criteria
1. Leadership
2. Performance
3. Qualification
4. Medical fitness

• Now Supreme Court said that there should not be any discrimination with regard to Command Posting and they should be at par with male officers. These four criteria for the command based appointments should be applicable for Women also
• Hence in future, Women officers can be full Colonels and above in Army Service Corps, Ordnance, Education Corps etc.

No Women appointments in Combat Roles

• This Supreme Court ruling does not grant women the right to serve in combat units. At Present there is No Women appointments in the Combat Roles
• Combat roles (engaging and fighting the enemy either in person or by using specialized equipment) but they can become Colonels and above in certain services like Army Service Corps, Ordnance, Education Corps, Judge Advocate General, Engineers, Signals, Intelligence etc.

Combat roles performing by Women in Air Force and Navy

• Women already serve in combat roles in the air force, which last year qualified its first women fighter pilots.
• Women naval officers already perform combat tasks, such as firing torpedoes and missiles at enemy warships Women officers also serve on board naval warships in combat, albeit discharging non-combat roles.

Women Personnel in
• Army 3.89%
• Navy 6.7%
• Air Force 13.28%
Defence
DRDO establishes COVID-19 Testing Facility at DIHAR, Leh

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR)
What's the NEWS

• DRDO has established a COVID-19 testing facility at the Leh based laboratory Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) to enhance the rate of testing to identify the Corona cases in the Union Territory of Ladakh.

Know! about DIHAR

• DIHAR is one of the life sciences laboratories of DRDO working on cold arid agro-animal technologies.
• The laboratory is screening and identifying the medicinal and aromatic plants to exploit them for use for defence purposes and also on greenhouse technologies for high altitude and cold desert areas.

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