Data Privacy Day observed on 28 January 2023
Data Protection Day, or Data Privacy Day, is celebrated on January 28. The aim is to create more awareness about the right to data protection.
Data Protection Day, or Data Privacy Day 2023
Data Protection Day, or Data Privacy Day, is celebrated on January 28. The aim is to create more awareness about the right to data protection and the various ways in which people can keep their data more safe. Let’s first understand the history and significance. The world is slowly but steadily moving towards digitisation, but this also means our data is becoming more vulnerable. This year, leading organisations are expected to invest heavily in updating more robust cybersecurity policies and procedures, enabling security automation, and monitoring attack surfaces.
The theme for this year is ‘Think Privacy First’. In this digital age, it is pragmatic to prioritize data privacy, both for individuals and businesses.
History and Significance of Data Protection Day
Data Privacy Day is observed, January 28, to raise awareness of the value of online privacy, which has been proclaimed a fundamental right of a citizen. The Council of Europe on April 26, 2006, decided to coin a Data Protection Day and announced that it will be observed each year on January 28, the day on which the Council of Europe’s data protection convention, known as “Convention 108,” was opened. Data Protection Day is now observed worldwide and is known as Privacy Day outside of Europe. This day is now celebrated globally to raise one of the most important issues of the digitally advancing world. The main goal of the day is to educate people on the challenges and inform them of their rights to privacy.
10 Ways to Protect Your Personal Information and Data
Always use storage with data protection with built-in disk clustering and redundancy.
Always create copies of data and store them separately, to be able to restore data in case of loss or modification.
Always review data privacy settings on digital, and social media accounts and apps you use.
Regularly change passwords to keep hackers away and use passwords that are 10 characters long with complex combinations.
Make sure to only use devices with the latest firewalls and anti-virus software.
Turn off Bluetooth devices when not in use as Bluetooth devices can also leave personal data vulnerable which could be accessed by hackers in several ways.
Always keep your operating system updated to ensure that they have the latest performance and security updates.
Avoid using unsecured public networks as they may be vulnerable to breach and in some cases, they may be imposter networks waiting to steal your data.
Always secure personal info offline on a device that doesn’t connect to the internet to make sure it is safe and away from the reach of hackers.
Make sure to set up Two-Factor Authentication on all your financial and email accounts.
Google Celebrated 74th Republic Day of India with a Creative Doodle
Google celebrates the 74th Republic Day of India with a creative masterpiece by a Gujarat-based guest artist Parth Kothekar. The Google Doodle finely illustrates the Republic Day Parade.
Google celebrates the 74th Republic Day of India with a creative masterpiece by a Gujarat-based guest artist Parth Kothekar. The Google Doodle finely illustrates the Republic Day Parade, along with some iconic landmarks like Rashtrapati Bhavan, the India Gate, the Daredevil motorcycle riders, and the CRFP marching contingent.
Google Celebrated 74th Republic Day of India with a Creative Doodle- Key Points
According to the artist, the Google Doodle for Republic Day 2023 depicts the complexity of India along with its interconnected facets.
The purpose is to allow viewers to have a glimpse of such complexities via this hand-cut paper art.
According to Google Doodle Artist Parth Kothekar, it took him four days to complete this masterpiece. His inspiration was to create a portrait of India during the Republic Day Parade.
The artist also informed that during his school days, every year he would be mesmerized by the Republic Day parade. Receiving this opportunity enlivened that fascination and he thoroughly enjoyed diving into it as he went into details of every facet displayed on the papercut.
In addition to President House being a significant element of his Google Doodle, it also has a depiction of spectacular bike pyramids formed by defense personnel on the parade.
Some horsemen visible in the illustration remind us of the 61 Cavalry regiment, which is the only active horse cavalry unit in the world at present.
Apart from this, the doodle also consists of other elements like CRPF marching contingent, India Gate, India’s national bird- peacock, etc.
iNNCOVACC – India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine launched
India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine: First nasal vaccination produced in India against Covid-19, the iNCOVACC, was introduced by Minister Jitendra Singh and Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya.
India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine
The first nasal vaccination produced in India against Covid-19, the iNCOVACC, was introduced by Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh and Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya. Bharat Biotech has created the vaccine. At Mandaviya’s house, the first intranasal vaccine produced in India was introduced to the world.
iNNCOVACC – India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine: Key Points
Krishna Ella, the company’s chairman and CEO, took part in the IISF’s “Face-to-Face with New Frontiers in Science” event, which was held at the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT)
Bharat Biotech has previously declared that it will offer the intranasal vaccine for 325 for government purchases and 800 for private immunisation facilities.
Bharat Biotech recently declared iNCOVACC® (BBV154) to be a booster dose throughout the nation.
Norovirus Symptoms and Causes, How does Norovirus spread?
iNNCOVACC – India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine: Booster dosages
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) had earlier this month given Bharat Biotech permission to use heterologous booster dosages of iNCOVACC.
Adenovirus-vectored vaccine called iNCOVACC has a pre-fusion-stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and recombinant replication-deficient replication.
Clinical studies for this vaccine candidate were conducted in phases I, II, and III with positive outcomes.
Nasal drops can be used to give intranasally using iNCOVACC, which has been specially prepared to do so.
The nasal delivery technique was created and developed with low- and middle-income nations in mind.
Artificial Synapse for Brain-Like Computing Developed by Indian & Australian Scientists
The effectiveness of iNCOVACC as a primary dosage schedule and a heterologous booster dose for patients who have already received two doses of either Covishield or Covaxin were assessed in clinical trials.
EPFO launches ‘Nidhi Aapke Nikat’ massive outreach programme
Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has launched a massive district outreach program in all the districts of the country through a revamped Nidhi Aapke Nikat program.
Nidhi Aapke Nikat program
Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has launched a massive district outreach program in all the districts of the country through a revamped Nidhi Aapke Nikat program. The aim of this program is to reach all the districts of the country on the same day i.e. 27th of every month. EPFO organized camps in 685 districts of the country.
In the year 2015, Bhavishya Nidhi Adalat was rechristened as Nidhi Aapke Nikat and in the year 2019, the outreach of the Nidhi Aapke Nikat Program was further improved by inviting participation of trade unions. In the year 2021, for grievances redressal of pensioners, an exclusive platform monthly Pension Adalat was initiated.
The programme was e-launched by Labour and Employment Secretary Arti Ahuja from the EPFO Headquarters, in the presence of Central Provident Fund Commissioner and other officials. The event was attended online by more than 850 participants, including members of Parliament, members of Legislative Assemblies, CBT Members, Regional Committee members, District Collectors, officials from state and district administration, representatives from industrial bodies and officers from the field offices.
About the Nidhi Aapke Nikat programme:
The Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 will not be only grievance redressal platform and information exchange network for the employers and the employees but also a platform for exchange of information with the district level authorities of various State and Central Government departments. In this programme, a help desk will be created where members will get the online services like filing of online claim etc. Grievance redressal of the members will be done on the spot and in case any grievance could not be redressed on the spot, it will be registered on the grievance portal of EPFO and will be resolved on priority.
The Nidhi Aapke Nikat is a programme where EPFO stakeholders come to the EPFO field offices for grievance redressal, under the Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0, EPFO will reach out to the stakeholders, thereby increasing accessibility and visibility of the organisation, in all the districts of the country.
Central Provident Fund Commissioner in. Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO): Neelam Shami Rao;
Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) Headquaters: New Delhi;
Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) Founded: 4 March 1952.
India to get more than 100 Cheetahs from South Africa
South Africa said that it had reached a deal to transfer more than 100 cheetahs to India as part of an ambitious project to reintroduce the spotted cats in the south Asian country.
South Africa said that it had reached a deal to transfer more than 100 cheetahs to India as part of an ambitious project to reintroduce the spotted cats in the south Asian country. The environment ministry said an initial batch of 12 cheetahs would be flown to India next month, after eight cheetahs arrived from Namibia last September.
More About This Development:
The plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years” to help establish a “viable and secure cheetah population,” the ministry said.
Reintroducing of Cheetah in India:
India was once home to the Asiatic cheetah but the animal was declared extinct there by 1952, primarily because of habitat loss and deaths at the hands of hunters seeking their distinctive spotted hides.
Efforts to reintroduce the animals gathered pace in 2020 when India’s Supreme Court ruled that African cheetahs, a different subspecies, could be brought into the country at a “carefully chosen location” on an experimental basis.
Negotiations for the deal with South Africa were long in the making, with the first cheetahs initially expected to be flown to India last August. They have been living in quarantine in the meantime. Officials said the previous transfer from Namibia marked the first intercontinental relocation of cheetahs, the planet’s fastest land animal.
Artificial Synapse for Brain-Like Computing Developed by Indian & Australian Scientists
A team of scientists at Bengaluru’s Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research developed a device mimicking a synapse that controls the signal transmission.
A team of scientists at Bengaluru’s Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, who were working on nitride-based materials has used their background for developing hardware for neuromorphic computing. They used ScN to develop a device mimicking a synapse that controls the signal transmission as well as remembers the signal.
Scientists have used scandium nitride (ScN), a semiconducting material with supreme stability and Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) compatibility, to develop brain-like computing. This invention can provide a new material for stable, CMOS-compatible optoelectronic synaptic functionalities at a relatively lower energy cost and hence has the potential to be translated into an industrial product.
Artificial Synapse for Brain-Like Computing Developed by Indian & Australian Scientists- Background
Traditional computers have physically separated memory storage and processing units. As a result, it takes enormous energy and time to transfer data between these units during an operation.
On the contrary, the human brain is a supreme biological computer that is smaller and more efficient due to the presence of a synapse (the connection between two neurons) that plays the role of both processor and memory storage unit.
In the current era of artificial intelligence, the brain-like computing approach can help meet the escalating computational demands.
The development of neuromorphic hardware aims at mimicking a biological synapse that monitors and remembers the signal generated by the stimuli.
Scientists have been trying to create an artificial synaptic device that does not suffer from RC delays, exhibits large bandwidth, consumes low energy, and is stable, scalable, and CMOS-compatible.
Artificial Synapse for Brain-Like Computing Developed by Indian & Australian Scientists- Roles
This work by Dheemahi Rao and team demonstrates an artificial optoelectronic synapse with ScN thin films that can mimic synaptic functionalities like short-term memory, long-term memory, the transition from short-term to long-term memory, learning–forgetting, frequency selective optical filtering, frequency-dependent potentiation and depression, Hebbian learning, and logic-gate operations.
India & Japan concludes “Veer Guardian 2023” Air exercise
Veer Guardian 2023: The inaugural edition of the 16-day bilateral air exercise between the Indian Air Force and the Japan Air Self-Defence Force has concluded in Japan.
Veer Guardian 2023
The inaugural edition of the 16-day bilateral air exercise between the Indian Air Force and the Japan Air Self-Defence Force has concluded in Japan. The exercise, ‘Veer Guardian 2023’, involved precise planning and skilful execution by both the air forces. The JASDF participated in the exercise with its F-2 and F-15 aircraft, while the IAF contingent participated with the Su-30 MKI aircraft. The IAF fighter contingent was complemented by one IL-78 flight refuelling aircraft and two C-17 Globemaster strategic airlift transport aircraft.
During the joint training spanning 16 days:
The two Air Forces engaged in complex and comprehensive aerial manoeuvres in multiple simulated operational scenarios. Exercise ‘Veer Guardian 2023’ provided the two Air Forces with an opportunity to enhance mutual understanding. The exercise also witnessed numerous ground interactions between IAF and JASDF personnel wherein various aspects were discussed by both sides.
This enabled the participating contingents to obtain an invaluable insight into each other’s best practices and learn from each other’s unique capabilities. Aircrew of the two participating Air Forces also flew in each other’s fighter aircraft to gain a deeper understanding of each other’s operating philosophies.
Exercise ‘Veer Guardian 2023’ provided the two Air Forces with an opportunity to enhance mutual understanding. The exercise also witnessed numerous ground interactions between IAF and JASDF personnel wherein various aspects were discussed by both sides. This enabled the participating contingents to obtain an invaluable insight into each other’s best practices and learn from each other’s unique capabilities.
Indian Air Force Headquarters: New Delhi;
Indian Air Force Founded: 8 October 1932, India;
Indian Air Force Air chief Marshall: Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria;
Japan Air Self-Defence Force Founded: 1 July 1954, Japan.
Japan Air Self-Defence Force Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan.