“PowerEX-2022” joint Cyber Security Exercise conducted by CERT-IN and Power-CSIRTs
PowerEx-2022: 193 invited Power Sector Utilities to participate in the Cyber Security Exercise “PowerEX” that was successfully designed and carried out by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) and Power-CSIRTs. On the exercise day, the CERT-In team collaborated with the Power-CSIRT authorities’ Exercise Planner Team as Exercise Coordinators.
“PowerEx-2022” joint Cyber Security Exercise: Key Points
“Recognize, Analyze & Respond to Cyber Incidents in IT & OT Systems” was the exercise’s stated goal.
“Defending Cyber generated interruption in IT & OT infrastructure” was the exercise’s objective.
CERT-IN hosted exercise “PowerEX” on its platform for simulating exercises.
A total of 350+ representatives from different power sector utilities took part in the event.
The “PowerEX” exercise was successful in achieving its goals and assisting the participants in understanding, practising, and responding to cyber security problems.
About CERT-IN
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India houses the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN or ICERT). It is the central organisation for handling risks to cyber security like phishing and hacking. It strengthens the Indian Internet domain’s security-related defence.
About Power-CSIRTs:
An expert team that responds to situations involving computer security is known as a computer emergency response team (power-CERT). Computer emergency preparation team and computer security incident response team are other names for these organisations (power-CSIRT). Cyber Security Incident Response Team is a more up-to-date abbreviation for CSIRT.
Total Balance in PM Jan Dhan Accounts Crosses ₹1.75-Lakh Crore Mark
The total balance in the basic bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has crossed the ₹1.75 lakh crore mark. As per the latest Government data, the total balance stood at ₹1,75,225 crore as on October 5, 2022, as the total number of beneficiaries touched 47 crore.
Completion of 8 Year: A Big Milestone:
National Mission for Financial Inclusion, completes eight years of successful implementation. More than 46.25 crore beneficiaries banked under PMJDY since its inception, amounting to Rs. 1,73,954 crore. FM Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman Said: Financial inclusion is a major step towards inclusive growth which ensures overall economic development of marginalised sections of society. PMJDY has become the foundation stone for the government’s people-centric economic initiatives: MoS Finance, Dr. Bhagwat Karad. PMJDY Accounts grow 3-fold from 14.72 crore in Mar’15 to 46.25 crore as on 10-08-2022. 56% Jan-Dhan account holders are women and 67% Jan Dhan accounts in rural and semi-urban areas. 31.94 crore RuPay cards issued to PMJDY accountholders About 5.4 crore PMJDY account holders received direct benefit transfer (DBT) from the Government under various schemes in June, 2022
More About The Scheme:
Women beneficiaries own a larger chunk in the scheme at 26.16 crore account of which the bulk (31.42 cror accounts) are in rural and semi-urban areas. “Public sector banks (PSBs) have made significant contribution. Of the total ₹1.75 lakh crore balance, PSB’s account for ₹1.35 lakh crore, followed by Regional Rural Banks with ₹34,573 crore,’‘ a senior official of State Bank of India said.
It’s Overall Impact:
According to bankers, implementation of some benefits under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) during the Covid-19 pandemic had established PMJDY as the preferred channel to access govt schemes in view of direct benefit transfer and drove people especially in rural areas to open accounts.
The Other Side Of It:
However, the fear about Jan Dhan being white elephants for banks lingers. The average balance in an account hovers around ₹3,000, and the average cost of maintaining these accounts for a bank is almost the same. When balances grow, banks tend to benefit from PMJDY. So the Centre needs to make the scheme more attractive or the pace of growth in the number of accounts will be slow,’‘ said a senior executive with a public sector bank. There is also a need to weed out dormant or inoperative accounts, he added. As per government data, about 18 percent of total accounts are either dormant or inoperative.
Arya.ag and FWWB India partner with UNDP to implement Project Excel
Arya.ag and FWWB India partner with UNDP: Project Excel is being implemented in the Gujarati districts of Jamnagar and Dwaraka Devbhumi by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the integrated grain commerce platform Arya.ag and Friends of Women’s World Banking India (FWWB India). It aims to increase the incomes of 10,000 farmer households through the promotion of small businesses, intervention in the agri-value chain, and skill development in the agricultural industry.
Arya.ag and FWWB India partner with UNDP: Key Points
By December 2023, the collaboration for Project Excel hopes to have assembled a team of community resource people who will support, encourage, and coach local business owners.
A team of sourcing managers will be assembled as part of the project to undertake value chain interventions and create credit and market links through collectivization.
Arya.ag will work to create farmer collectives for efficient post-harvest management and create the producer group’s agriculture value chain.
The company’s services, such as high-quality inputs, business support, tools for managing and advising farms, accessible loans, and capacity building, will help farmers as a result.
Benefits of Project Excel:
The project’s goal is to develop and generate possibilities for communities in rural and semi-urban areas to improve their lives in industries like agriculture, dairy, poultry, handloom, goat farming, and handicrafts. This promotes stronger market relationships and aids in managerial capacity growth.
Ulf Kristersson Elected As Sweden’s new Prime Minister Backed By Far Right
Sweden’s parliament elected Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson as the country’s new prime minister. A total of 176 members of the Riksdag voted in favor of Kristersson, while 173 members voted against him.
A Coalition Government:
The Sweden Democrats were the big winners in the closely fought September 11 general election. They emerged as the second-largest party with a record 20.5 percent of votes, trailing only the Social Democrats, who have dominated Swedish politics since the 1930s. The right-wing bloc now has 176 seats in parliament, to their left-wing rivals’ 173. Kristersson’s four-party alliance unveiled a 62-page roadmap heavily influenced by the far-right agenda. It promises major crackdowns on crime and immigration and the construction of new nuclear reactors.
What Has Been Said:
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson told parliament that while his party would have preferred to be in government and holding cabinet posts, the policies the coalition pursued were most important. “It is what the government does that is important, not what the government looks like,” he said. Akesson accused past governments, on both left and right, of mismanaging the country. “We are ready to support a new government because we have made sure, through negotiations, that it will do enough of what is necessary to reverse this trend,” he said.
In its roadmap, the incoming government said it aimed to cut the number of refugees resettled in Sweden through the UNHCR from 6,400 last year to just 900 per year during its four-year mandate, introduce incentives to encourage immigrants to return home, and explore the feasibility of deporting foreigners based on “misconduct”.
Rise Of The Far-Right In Europe: A Concerning Signal:
Nationalism has always been a feature across Europe’s political spectrum but there has been a recent boom in voter support for right-wing and populist parties. In part, voters are frustrated with the political establishment, but they also have concerns about globalisation, immigration, a dilution of national identity and the European Union. In the European Parliament, nine far-right parties have formed a new bloc, called Identity and Democracy (ID).
The socialists are in power in only four of the fifteen European Union (EU) member state governments (Germany, Great Britain, Greece, and Sweden). They have squeezed into coalition governments with the right in Belgium and Finland (a government led by a liberal in Belgium and by a socialist in Finland). In the nine other countries, the right governs. This “blue wave” must not, however, be interpreted as a sign of the far right’s unstoppable ascent. Certainly, in a number of countries, the latest parliamentary and presidential elections have revealed a dynamic of populist and nationalist parties, sometimes from the far right, and these have found prospects in three countries.
Tamil Nadu is the only State to achieve Jal Jeevan Mission target for 2022
Tamil Nadu has emerged as the only state in India which has achieved the target for 2022 Q1 and Q2 for Jal Jeevan Mission, with 69.57 lakh households provided with tap connections. Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat visited Chennai and reviewed the progress of the work on the Jal Jeevan Mission for assured portable Tap water supply to every rural household by 2024.
Key Points related to the Successful Jal Jeevan Mission of Tamil Nadu.
Out of 1.25 crore households in Tamil Nadu, 69.57 lakh households have received tap water connections in Tamil Nadu.
The percentage of households with tap water connection is higher than the national average.
The target set by the Union government for Q1 and Q2 for 2022 was 12.1 lakh tap connections and registering 134% of that.
The target set for 2022-2023 in Tamil Nadu is 28.48 lakh connections.
Currently, the implementation of 14.44 lakh tap connections is underway.
Out of 12,525 villages in Tamil Nadu, the state has reported 2,663 Villages as ‘Har Ghar Jal’ Villages with tap water connection in 100% of households.
India Lifted 415 Million out of Poverty in 15 Years: UN
The number of people living below the poverty line in India decreased by 415 million between 2005-06 and 2019-21, according to a new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.
What The Report Pointed:
The index has stated that India still has the world’s highest number of poor at 228.9 million, followed by Nigeria (96.7 million projected in 2020). The report found that across 111 countries which were assessed using the most recent comparable data available, 1.2 billion people (19.1 per cent) live in acute poverty and almost half of these people (593 million) are children under the age of 18 years. The developing region with the largest number of poor people is Sub-Saharan Africa (nearly 579 million), followed by South Asia (385 million), the report highlighted.
The Pandemic Effect:
The MPI highlighted that the Covid-19 pandemic had set the global progress in reducing poverty back by 3–10 years. “Despite progress, India’s population remains vulnerable to the mounting effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and to rising food and energy prices. Integrated policies tackling the ongoing nutritional and energy crises should be a priority,” the report said.
About India: A Lot To Do:
According to the report, India had 97 million poor children in 2019-21. This translates into more than one in five children (21.8 per cent)–more than the total number of poor people in any other country covered by MPI.
According to the report, India is the only country in South Asia where female-headed households are poorer than male-headed households. “India is the only country in South Asia in which poverty is significantly more prevalent among female-headed households than among male-headed households. About 19.7 per cent of people living in female-headed households live in poverty compared with 15.9 per cent in male-headed households,” the report added.Ninety per cent of India’s poor people live in rural areas and 10 per cent in urban areas.
Bihar continues to be the poorest state in the country. Others among the top 10 poorest states were Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. West Bengal was the only state among the top-10 poorest in India in 2015-16, and not in 2019-21.
The poor in India remain vulnerable amid rising food and fuel prices, the report said. “Integrated policies tackling the ongoing nutritional and energy crises should be a priority,” it added. About 18.7 per cent of people in India were found to be vulnerable to poverty because their deprivation score ranges from 20 per cent to 33 per cent. A person with a deprivation score of 50 is considered to be poor. “Two-thirds of these people live in a household in which at least one person is deprived of nutrition—a worrying statistic,” the report added. In the recently released Global Hunger Index, India ranked 107th out of 121 countries, with worrying figures in child malnutrition and child stunting.
An Array Of Hope:
However, the report also commended India’s performance in lifting the poor out of poverty. In the last 15 years, it lifted over 41.5 crore people out of poverty. The population groups which were impacted by poverty higher saw a more rapid fall in the MPI score. Children from the age group of 0 to 17 years, saw the fastest reduction in their MPI scores. They are the poorest population group in India. Similarly, Bihar, which is the poorest state in the country saw the fastest decline in its MPI score from 77.4 per cent in 2005-06 to 52.4 per cent in 2015-16. This further reduced to 34.7 per cent in 2019-21.
“India is an important case study for the Sustainable Development Goals, the first of which is to end poverty in all its forms and to reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions by 2030, all while leaving no one behind,” the report added.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Inaugurates India’s First Aluminum Freight Rake at Bhubaneswar Railway Station
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated India’s first aluminium freight rake — 61 BOBRNALHSM1 — at Bhubaneshwar Railway Station. The rake’s destination is Bilaspur. As per reports, the aluminium freight rake wields the capacity to carry 180-ton more goods as against the traditional rake. Moreover, it is 180 tons lighter than the traditional steel rake.
What Has Been Said:
“In a first, a railway wagon rake made from light-weight aluminium has been launched. This is indeed a happy moment for the engineers, designers, and all others involved in the project,” said Vaishnaw. On the other hand, the redevelopment work of the Bhubaneswar Railway Station will commence soon.
Govt Plans: A World Class Railway Infrastructure:
The railway station will be redevelopment to offer a world-class experience informed Union Minister Vaishnaw. The planning and design work for the redevelopment work and the tender process have been completed. Further, the groundwork for the redevelopment will begin soon and Bhoomi Pujan, or the groundbreaking ceremony will be done soon. Within a few months, Bhubaneswar Railway Station will develop into a world-class station. Meanwhile, the Union Minister also informed about the much-awaited Khordha-Bolangir railway line that will ensure smooth connectivity between western Odisha and the coastal part.
Talking about the Khordha-Bolangir railway line, he said that the work is in progress. Though a hurdle of environment clearance has come in the way, they are in talks with the state government for the same regarding the 100 km forest area. “The construction work of the Khordha- Bolangir railway line has picked up the pace. The only hurdle is the 100 km forest area. After giving high efforts to obtain the clearance for phase-I, the State government has given the green signal. The dream project will soon turn into reality,” said Vaishnaw.
Features of This Rake:
Fully Lockbolted construction with no welding on superstructure.
The tare is 3.25 tons lower than normal steel rakes, 180 ton extra carrying capacity resulting in higher throughput per wagon.
Higher payload to tare ratio 2.85.
The reduced tare will reduce carbon footprint as lower consumption of fuel in empty direction and more transport of freight in loaded condition. A single rake can save over 14,500 tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime.
80% is resale value of the rakes.
Cost is 35% higher as the superstructure is all aluminium.
Lower maintenance cost due to higher corrosion and abrasion resistance.
Its Impact on Climate Change:
The reduced tare will reduce carbon footprint as lower consumption of fuel in empty direction and more transport of freight in loaded condition. A single rake can save over 14,500 tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime. Iron industry consumes a lot of Nickel and Cadmium which comes from import. So, proliferation of Aluminum wagons will result in less import. At the same time, this is good for local aluminum industry.