Education
Toycathon 2021

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Toycathon 2021) + Mains ( GS II Government policies and interventions)
What's the NEWS

• Union Minister Women and Child Development and Minister of State for Education virtually inaugurated Toycathon 2021 grand finale

Know! all about Toycathon

• The Toycathon 2021 is being organized jointly by Ministry of Education in coordination with five other Ministries viz: Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Commerce &Industry, Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, and Ministry of Textiles.
• This inter-ministerial Toycathon focuses on conceptualizing new and innovative toys using local materials which are economical, affordable, safe, environment friendly, with exceptional high quality for both Indian and global markets.
• The Minister complimented 17749 individual teams that submitted the ideas at Toycathon 2021
• The toys have huge impact on psychomotor abilities of children, impact their memory skill and generate huge responsibility towards ensuring future autonomy of the child
• 85% toys that our children are playing with are imported and are predominantly made of plastic.
• The textile Minister invited research bodies and toy manufacturers to make sustainable toys.
• Indian toy market stands at around $1.5 billion USD and currently we are importing a major chunk from outside.
• The global toy market is estimated to be more than 100 billion USD, we must channelize our creative, innovative and manufacturing power to have our share in these areas.
• This toycathon will provide opportunity to our young innovative minds to lead the path to manufacture toys in India for the world.
• The commercial as well as pedagogical importance of toys in inculcating the values, ethos and awareness about our history and culture.

Know! the Hackathon Process

• The hackathon was initially conceptualized in physical as well as digital mode.
• Due to the prevailing Covid 19 pandemic and owing to the safety of participants the physical edition has been deferred and now only digital edition is being conducted from 22ndJune to 24thJune 2021.
• Toycathon 2021 majorly focuses on conceptualizing new and innovative toys using local materials which are economical, affordable, safe, and environment friendly, of exceptionally high quality for Indian as well as global market.

The ongoing Toy Hackathon have 3 tracks:
Track 1 for Junior Level Participants i.e., primarily SCHOOL STUDENTS. They mainly focus on designing toys for kids of age group 0-3 years and 4-10 years.
Track 2 for Senior Level Participants i.e., students and faculty from Higher education institutions. This group focus on developing concepts for 0-3 years, 4-10 and 11 years and above. This segment primarily focused on Electronics, Sensors, Mechatronics, and toys based on AI and ML approaches, AR-VR-XR and Robotics.
Track 3 for Startup-Professional Level that incudes overall innovation and development of prototypes. These prototypes are expected to enable toy industry in boosting up the production along with improving the quality of toys in Indian market.

• During three-day Toycathon 2021 grand finale, participating teams of all tracks will be mentored through specialized mentoring session in morning half of the day and then they will be evaluated in later half of the day for initial two days and then there will be a power judging round for participating teams to declare winners for Toycathon 2021 Digital Edition.
• For this purpose, Ministry of Education Innovation Cell has engaged 645 mentors and evaluators for 1567participating teams.
• 85 Nodal centers have been selected to support Ministry of Educations Innovation Cell and All India Council for Technical Education, which are the organizing agencies for this Inter-ministerial Toycathon.

Defence
CARRIER STRIKE GROUP PASSAGE EXERCISE
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Carrier Strike Group) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• Indian Naval Ships Kochi and Teg along with P8I and MiG 29K aircraft are participating in a Passage Exercise with US Navy Carrier Strike Group Ronald Reagan during its transit through Indian Ocean Region on 23 and 24 Jun 2021.

Carrier Strike Group

• The Indian Naval warships along with aircraft from Indian Navy and Indian Air Force will be engaged in joint multi-domain operations with the Carrier Strike Group comprising Nimitz class aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer USS Halsey and Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser USS Shiloh.
• The two-day exercise aims to strengthen the bilateral relationship and cooperation by demonstrating the ability to integrate and coordinate comprehensively in maritime operations.
• High tempo operations during the exercise include advanced air defence exercises, cross deck helicopter operations and anti-submarine exercises.
• The participating forces will endeavour to hone their war-fighting skills and enhance their interoperability as an integrated force to promote peace, security and stability in the maritime domain.
• Indian Navy and US Navy regularly undertake a host of bilateral and multilateral exercises which underscore the shared values as partner navies, in ensuring commitment to an open, inclusive and a rule-based international order.

IAF AND USN IN IOR

What's the NEWS

• As a strategic outreach exercise with the defence forces of friendly foreign countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), Indian Air Force will participate in operational engagements with the US Navy in an exercise to be carried out with Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group (CSG) on 23 and 24 Jun 21.
• The CSG is currently deployed in the IOR.

The role of IAF and US CSG in Indian Ocean Region

• The Exercise in the AoR of Southern Air Command will see the IAF forces operate from bases under four operational commands and will include Jaguars & Su-30 MKI fighters, AWACS, AEW&C and Air to Air Refueller aircraft.
• The US CSG is expected to field F-18 fighters and E-2C Hawkeye AEW&C aircraft.
• The exercise will be carried out south of Thiruvananthapuram, on the western seaboard, over two days.
• IAF has extensive experience in maritime operations in the IOR.
• This has been consolidated over the years by conduct of exercises from the country's island territories, including participation in International exercises.
• The multi spectral capability of the IAF in IOR also includes HADR missions and logistics support undertaken in support of friendly nations in the region.
• This engagement with the US CSG offers one more opportunity to undertake joint operations in the maritime domain with a friendly foreign power.
• The exercise with the US CSG will focus on multiple areas including enhancing aspects of interoperability, nuances of international integrated maritime SAR operations and exchange of best practices in the maritime airpower domain.

Bilateral relations
India and Fiji sign MoU for cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sectors
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the MoU -highlights + about FIPIC) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)

What's the NEWS

• Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, and Fiji's Minister of Agriculture, Waterways & Environment signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of Agriculture and allied sectors between India and Fiji in a virtual meeting

Know! about the MoU - highlights

• The MoU provides for cooperation in the fields of Dairy Industry Development, Rice Industry Development, Root crop diversification, Water Resources Management, Coconut Industry Development, Food Processing Industry Development, Agriculture Mechanization, Horticulture Industry Development, Agricultural Research, Animal Husbandry, Pest and Disease, Cultivation, Value Addition and Marketing, Post-Harvest and Milling, Breeding and Agronomy.
• The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Government of India and the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the Republic of Fiji shall be the Executing Agencies from respective sides.
• Under the MoU, a Joint Working Group will be established to set down procedures and plan and recommend programs of cooperation towards achieving its aims.
• The Working Group will hold its meetings alternatively in India and Fiji once in every two years.
• The MoU will remain valid for a period of five years from the date of its signing and any variation to its duration will be approved in writing by both Parties.

India -Fiji relations

• The cordial and friendly relations between India and Fiji are based on mutual respect, cooperation and strong cultural and people-to-people ties.
• Prime Minister's historic visit to Fiji and the first Forum for India Pacific Islands Cooperation have given a new impetus to India's engagement with Fiji and the Pacific region.

Forum for India-Pacific Islands cooperation (FIPIC)

• It is a multinational grouping developed in 2014 for cooperation between India and 14 Pacific Islands nations which include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
• All heads of state or heads of government of the above countries met in Suva, Fiji in November 2014 for the first time where the annual summit was conceptualised.
• Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi chose to visit Fiji soon after democracy was re-established in the island country after 8 years.
• There apart from bilateral meeting, he also met heads of state/government from 14 pacific island states to enhance India's engagement in the region and proposed a 'Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation' (FIPIC) be held on a regular basis.

Defence
Pollution Control Vessels for Indian Coast Guard

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the role of Pollution control vessels + about Indian - IDDM)
What's the NEWS

• Ministry of Defence signed a contract with Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) for construction of two Pollution Control Vessels (PCVs) for Indian Coast Guard (ICG) at a cost of about Rs 583 crore, on June 22, 2021.
• These Special Role ships will be indigenously designed, developed and built by GSL.
• The acquisition is under ‘Buy Indian - Indigenously Designed Developed & Manufactured (Buy Indian-IDDM)', the highest priority category for defence capital procurements.
• The acquisition will significantly augment the capability of ICG to respond to Oil spill disasters at sea and also enhance Pollution Response (PR) efficiency.
• These two vessels are scheduled for delivery by November 2024 and May 2025 respectively.
• At present, ICG has three PCVs in its fleet at Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Porbander to carry out dedicated Pollution Surveillance, Oil spill monitoring/Response operations in Indian EEZ and around islands.
• The new PCVs planned are for pollution response requirements in Eastern and the ecologically sensitive Andaman & Nicobar Regions.
• The vessels, with capability of operating helicopter onboard, will have many advanced features with modern PR equipment of niche technology for containing, recovering and dispersing of marine oil spill.

Buy Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)

• Capital procurement of defence equipment is undertaken from various domestic as well as foreign vendors as per extant Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) based on threat perception, operational challenges and technological change and to keep the Armed Forces in a state of readiness to meet the entire spectrum of Security Challenges.
• Specific provisions have been introduced in Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-2016 for stimulating growth of the domestic defence industry.
• A new category of procurement ‘Buy {Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)}' has been introduced in DPP-2016 to promote indigenous design and development of defence equipment.
• This category has been accorded top most priority for procurement of capital equipment. Besides this, preference is being given to ‘Buy (Indian)' and ‘Buy and Make (Indian)' categories of capital acquisition over ‘Buy (Global)' & ‘Buy & Make (Global)' categories.
• Government has notified the ‘Strategic Partnership (SP)' Model which envisages establishment of long-term strategic partnerships with Indian entities through a transparent and competitive process, wherein they would tie up with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to seek technology transfers to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains.

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