Indian Navy launches 2 Diving Support Vessels (Nistar & Nipun) in Vizag
Two indigenously designed and built Diving Support Vessels (DSVs), Nistar and Nipun were launched by the Indian Navy in Visakhapatnam. The vessels, built by Hindustan Shipyard Ltd., were launched by Kala Hari Kumar, in the presence of Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff, who presided over the ceremony as chief guest. This project was executed with the support of the Indian industry, primarily MSME firms who have supplied yard material, equipment and services. More than 120 MSME vendors across India actively participated in the project.
About the project:
The first of the two DSVs (Nistar and Nipun), each with a displacement of 9,350 tonnes, is likely to be delivered to the Navy by July 2023. They are the first of their kind ships to be indigenously designed and built for the Navy.
The vessels, which are 118.4 metres long and 22.8 metres wide, will be deployed for deep sea diving operations. ‘Nistar’ and ‘Nipun’ were launched by achieving approximately 80 per cent indigenous content, a major step towards ‘Self Reliance’. T
The DSV project has generated local employment opportunities and promoted indigenisation which will boost India’s economy.
ESSCI partnered with Samsung India to train Indian youth
The Electronics Sector Skill Council of India (ESSCI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Samsung India to empower the youth with industry-relevant skills. It will be a part of the government’s ‘Skill India’ initiative that aims to empower the youth with industry-relevant skills in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Big Data and Coding & Programming, in a bid to enhance their employability. The MoU was exchanged by Ken Kang, President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia, and Abhilasha Gaur, COO, ESSCI.
About the programme:
The programme, ‘Samsung Innovation Campus’ aims to upskill over 3,000 unemployed youth from 18-25 years of age in future technologies, in partnership with the government’s Skill India initiative.
The programme will be executed by ESSCI, which is a National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) entity through its nationwide network of approved training and education partners.
Those opting for the AI course will undergo 270 hours of theory training and complete 80 hours of project work while those doing the IoT or the Big Data course will undergo 160 hours of training and complete 80 hours of project work.
Participants opting for the Coding & Programming course will do 80 hours of training and be part of a 4-day Hackathon.
J&K Observes Holiday On Birth Anniversary Of Maharaja Hari Singh
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has decided to declare Maharaja Hari Singh’s birth anniversary a public holiday. The announcement was made by lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha following his meeting with a delegation comprising prominent political leaders, members of the Yuva Rajput Sabha, civil society members, including head of J&K transport union.
What The LG Said:
The government has taken a decision to declare Maharaja Hari Singh Ji’s birthday as a public holiday. Maharaja Hari Singh was a great educationist, progressive thinker, social reformer and a towering man of ideas and ideals. The public holiday will be a fitting tribute to Maharaja Hari Singh Ji’s rich legacy,” the LG observed.
Pertinently, on the directions of LG, a four-member committee was constituted by the UT administration earlier this year to examine the public demand regarding holiday on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh. Prominent political leaders including Member Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma; former Dy CM, Dr Nirmal Singh; Devender Rana, Sat Sharma; Ajit Singh, president, All J&K Transport Union; Rajan Singh, president, Yuva Rajput Sabha and members of Yuva Rajput Sabha were present on the occasion.
Earlier, visibly elated BJP leaders from Jammu and Kashmir and Yuva Rajput Sabha president Rajan Singh Happy expressed their gratitude to the home minister Amit Shah, BJP’s central leadership and J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha for conceding a long pending demand of the people of Jammu region to announce public holiday on the birth anniversary of last Dogra king Maharaja Hari Singh.
About Maharaja Hari Singh:
Maharaja Singh, who is the last Dogra King, is undoubtedly the most known and remembered figure in the Valley owing to that fact that his actions were intertwined with Kashmir’s past, present and future.
Early life & his regime:
Born on 23 September 1895 in Jammu, Singh was the son of Raja Amar Singh Jamwal whose brother Pratap Singh was the king of the state. When Hari Singh’s father died in 1909, the British took a keen interest in his studies. After his basic education in Mayo College in Ajmer, Rajasthan, Singh went to the British-run Imperial Cadet Corps in Dehradun for military training. At the age of 30, Singh ascended the throne of the Maharaja of J&K when his uncle Pratap Singh passed away in 1925.
Dr M.Y. Ganie, a history professor and director of Srinagar-based Institute of Kashmir studies, told the arrival of Hari Singh marked a major change in the Dogra dynasty. His own uncle Ghulam Hasan Ganie served in the Dogra administration and the professor recalled how he would often talk about the accountability of institution under the Dogra regime. “There was a reason behind that. The Dogra dynasty was feudal in nature and did not care much about governance. It was only after the British intervention that the regime focused on improving governance here, but that too was limited,” professor Ganie said.
About His Governance:
“After Hari Singh ascended the throne, he took many measures. The Muslim population of the state was quite disenfranchised till his arrival. Hari Singh introduced rules under which children were forced to receive modern education in what came to be known as Jabri schools. Jabar means force,” he said. Among other reforms ushered by Hari Singh was strengthening the Jammu and Kashmir Tenancy Act 1923 introduced by the earlier administration. Singh, according to Ganie, ensured that the landless peasant population of Kashmir got their due.
Hari Singh also wanted to restructure the state bureaucracy to improve governance. With this purpose in mind, he started to import bureaucrats from other parts of British India especially Bengal. The British, too, were happy to see the reforms. However, Kashmiri Pandits, who at that time were more educated and had a better representation than their Muslim counterparts, resisted the move.
“The Kashmiri Pandits under the Dogra regime were highly educated and intellectually very strong. They knew that importing officials from Bengal would have long-term ramifications on governance and policy, hence they resisted,” Ganie said. “They compelled the Maharaja to introduce the State Subject law, which defined citizenship of Jammu and Kashmir. This according to me is the bedrock of J&K’s special status. The tussle within the services became the foundation for the movement to protect the state’s indigenous identity,” Ganie said, adding, the overall regime of Singh was commendable
Feudal regime And forgotten Singh’s initiatives:
Jammu-based journalist and political analyst Zafar Choudhary while speaking said history has not been fair to Hari Singh. Choudhary said while Hari Singh’s rule was no doubt feudal in nature but initiatives taken by him are mostly forgotten. “Whenever Maharaja Hari Singh is discussed, it is in the context of the events of 1947-48, which is unfortunate. History has not been fair to him,” he said.
Clearly Ganie and Choudhary and many others in the state tend to see the positives of the last Dogra king. These voices believe Hari Singh was, in fact, better in comparison to his predecessors. But, a vast majority of people in the Valley tend to disagree, often not taking the pain to compare Hari Singh with his predecessors or simply blaming him not only for the Kashmir stalemate, but also for his conduct before 1947.
Revolt against Singh:
A popular uprising against Hari Singh began in 1931 when Abdul Qadeer of Swat (Modern Day Pakistan), an employee of an English army officer, was put on trial for treason and conspiracy to overthrow the regime. Records suggested 24 Kashmiri people were killed in that summer. The uprising against Hari Singh had begun and till date July 13 is remembered as Martyrs’ Day across the Valley. Though Hari Singh largely contained the rebellions between 1931 and 1947, his real test came with the partition of British India. Hari Singh, backed by his administration, wanted J&K to remain an independent region, espoused by his Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak, historians here said. But, according to the two-nation theory, the state, was supposed to join Pakistan on account of the princely state being a Muslim majority.
Hari Singh even signed a Stand Still agreement with Pakistan in order to maintain status quo till the final decision on Kashmir was agreed upon. India, however, did not sign the agreement. In the meantime, people from Chenab Valley’s Poonch region, in June 1947, raised arms against Hari Singh’s Dogra soldiers even as the subcontinent was engulfed with communal riots.
The rebellion was carried out mostly by former Muslim soldiers of the British Army who had returned from the First World War. The rebellion in Poonch region of J&K followed by a brutal crackdown by Singh’s forces gave the newly-created Pakistan a pretence to send over tribal militias. For long, the Indian state maintained that the tribal militias were Pakistani troopers. The intervention by Pakistan is now known as “Kabail raid” in local parlance.
M Venkaiah Naidu released a book on PM Modi’s selected speeches
Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu released a collection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s selected speeches at Akashvani Bhawan in New Delhi. The book titled “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas” Prime Minister Narendra Modi Speaks (May 2019-May 2020)’ was released in the presence of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan at a function here organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. During the release of the book, former Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu said that the book gives the readers a glimpse into PM Narendra Modi’s vision for India’s future and a clear roadmap of journey ahead, through his speeches on diverse topics of national importance.
The essence of the book:
The book focuses on 86 speeches of the prime minister on various subjects. The book portrays the prime minister’s vision of a ‘New India’, which is self-reliant, resilient, and capable of converting challenges into opportunities. The book that goes by the same phrase serves as an example of hope and aspirations of 130 crore Indians for building a New India through ‘Jan Bhagidari—Taking All Together’.
Key points:
The book has 86 speeches of Prime Minister Modi from May 2019 to May 2020 covering various subjects. It is divided into ten thematic areas.
The sections include – Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Economy, People-First Governance, Fight Against Covid-19, Emerging India: Foreign Affairs, Jai Kisan, Tech India-New India, Green India-Resilient India-Clean India, Fit India-Efficient India, Eternal India-Modern India: Cultural Heritage, and Mann ki Baat.
The e-book version was also released during the ceremony.
The book will be available in Hindi and English languages and can be availed at the sales outlets of the Publications Division all across the country and the Book Gallery at Soochna Bhawan, CGO Complex, New Delhi.
India’s first successful full-arm transplant performed in Kerala hospital
India’s first full arm transplant was performed at the Kerala-based Amrita Hospital. 20 surgeons, 10 anesthetists, and 5 practice sessions were performed which took 18 hours of surgery. It is the third of its type in the world, such a transplant was only performed previously in Mexico and France.
Key Points Related to India’s first successful full-arm transplant
After receiving several requests for limb transplants from across the world, which includes several parts of Middle Eastern countries and southeast Asian Countries, Amrita Hospital in Kochi accepted the request to perform a shoulder level full arm transplant.
First request was accepted from Amaresh, who is an unmarried man, he suffered a severe injury in 2017 due to electric shock while repairing charged electric cables. His hands sustained several fractures and electric burns.
Both his hands were amputated to save his life. He waited for a suitable donor for years, and Vinod agreed to donate his hands. Vinod is a 54-year-old man working in West Asia, he met an accident and suffered serious injuries, and lost his life in Thiruvananthapuram.
Vinod’s family donated his various organs, including his hands, and doctors of Amrita Hospital flew to Thiruvananthapuram to harvest the organ.
The team of doctors for the full arm surgery was led by Dr. Subramania Iyer, head, of the center of Plastic and Reconstruction surgery, and Dr. Mohit Sharma, Professor, Center for Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery.
Chinese Scientists create world’s first cloned wild Arctic wolf ‘Maya’
A wild Arctic wolf was successfully cloned for the first time in the world by a Beijing-based gene firm. The cloning of the Arctic wolf, also known as the white wolf or polar wolf, which is native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada’s Queen Elizabeth Islands, is considered a milestone achievement in conserving rare and endangered species through cloning technology.
According to the company, the wolf named “Maya” is in good health. The donor cell of the wolf came from the skin sample of a wild female Arctic wolf and its oocyte was taken from a female dog. According to the Global Times report, Maya’s surrogate mother was a beagle, a dog breed. The dog was selected as the surrogate as it shares genetic ancestry with ancient wolves and hence, ensures success in cloning.
Key points:
According to Zhao Jianping, the company’s deputy general manager, the process began with constructing 137 new embryos from enucleated (process of removing the nucleus from a cell) oocytes and somatic cells followed by the transfer of 85 embryos to the uteri of seven beagles, of which one was born as a healthy wolf.
Cloning, the process of creating copies of living organisms, including cells, tissues, etc, was first used to create an animal in 1996 by a Scottish scientist. The animal, a sheep named Dolly, was made using an udder cell from an adult sheep.
Under SPARSH programme, Defense Ministry signs an MoU with BoB and HDFC
Defense Ministry signs an MoU with BoB and HDFC: In order to reach seventeen lakh defence pensioners nationwide, the Defence Ministry has inked an MoU with Bank of Baroda (BoB) and HDFC Bank as part of the SPARSH-System for Pension Administration program. Dr. Ajay Kumar, the secretary of defence, stated that by the end of this month, seventeen lakh of the thirty-two lakh defence pensioners will be added to SPARSH.
Defense Ministry signs an MoU with BoB and HDFC: Key Points
The remaining retirees under this program will be brought as soon as possible.
The average time for pension settlement has decreased dramatically to just 16 days, according to the Defense Secretary.
According to the Ministry, the MoU would designate more than 14,000 bank branches as Service Centers, providing retirees with an efficient way to request profile updates, make complaints and seek redress, verify pensioner data, and more. In the fiscal year 2021–2022, it was said that the SPARSH project has already enrolled one million seniors and distributed 11,000 600 crore rupees.