Japan, US, and South Korea participate in missile defence drill
A joint ballistic missile defence exercise between South Korea, the US, and Japan will begin this week in the waters off Hawaii as part of increased security cooperation against North Korea‘s growing military threats, a media outlet claimed. According to the sources, the biannual Pacific Dragon drill will take place. Australia and Canada will also take part in the exercise in the edition of 2022, in addition to the three other nations.
KEY POINTS:
The exercise, which involves the mobilisation of eight warships and two planes, aims to improve coordination between the participating nations in the identification, tracking, and reporting of ballistic missile targets.
The exercise was planned after the defence chiefs of South Korea, the United States, and Japan decided to improve their security coordination during their trilateral meeting on June 11 in Singapore, which was held in conjunction with the annual Shangri-La Dialogue.
The South Korea-US-Japan missile warning and ballistic missile search and tracking exercises will go forward, the three parties decided at the meeting.
The trainings had been going on quietly since 2018 as part of initiatives to promote diplomacy with North Korea.
Concerns that the North would undertake what would be its seventh nuclear test or other provocative actions to ‘ratchet up tensions’ have led to the three countries to recently be seen uniting.
Sujoy Lal Thaosen gets the additional charge of DG of ITBP
Sashastra Seema Bal’s director general in New Delhi, Dr. Sujoy Lal Thaosen assumed the additional responsibility of Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Dr. Thaosen is a Madhya Pradesh Cadre IPS Officer from the 1988 batch. Dr. Thaosen received the charge and traditional baton from IPS Sanjay Arora. The ITBP, established in 1962, patrols the Indo-Chinese border. Additionally, it is used for a number of internal security tasks, such as anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh.
All to Know about Dr. Sujoy Lal Thaosen:
Birth And Education:
On November 6, 1963, Sujoy Lal Thaosen was born in Assam’s Haflong. Sujoy Lal Thaosen, an IPS officer who is originally from Haflong in Assam, has a PhD from Ujjain University.
Career:
58-year-old Sujoy Lal Thaosen is a Madhya Pradesh-trained Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the 1988 batch.
Thaosen had previously served in a variety of capacities with various forces, including the Special Protection Group (SPG), which is tasked with providing close protection to the Prime Minister of India and previous Prime Ministers.
Sujoy Lal Thaosen, a two-time SPG veteran, was in charge of ensuring the safety of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and previous leaders.
Thaosen was working as a special DG in the Border Security Force prior to being appointed as the SSB’s director general (BSF). Thaosen is the 21st Director General of the SSB, which protects Bhutan’s and Nepal’s (1751 km) borders with India (699 km). Additionally, the SSB offers its assistance with internal security measures including anti-Naxal activities.
India to participate combat exercise drill “Pitch Black 2022” in Australia
India will be part of the mega air combat exercise “Pitch Black 2022” among 17 nations, to be held in the Northern Territory of Australia. India’s participation in the exercise, “Pitch Black”, has been confirmed by the Australian government. Over 100 aircraft and 2,500 military personnel from 17 nations will be part of the drill. The exercise is scheduled to take place from August 19 to September 6.
This year’s participants include Australia, Canada, India, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the UAE, the UK and the US.
About the Ex Pitch Black:
Ex Pitch Black is a biennial multi-national large force employment warfare exercise, hosted by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The objectives of the exercise is to foster a closer relationship between the participating forces and promote interoperability through the exchange of knowledge and experience. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) considers “Pitch Black” as its “capstone” international engagement activity with the air forces of strategic partners and allies.
4th ONGC Para Games 2022 inaugurated by Shri Hardeep Singh Puri
The fourth edition of the ONGC Para Games was officially launched in New Delhi’s Thyagaraj Sports Complex by Union Minister of Petroleum, Natural Gas, Housing, and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri. The 4th ONGC Para Games are being held by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) from August 2-4, 2022, and feature 275 Persons with Disabilities (PwD) who work for eight central oil and gas public organisations.
KEY POINTS:
ONGC Para Games is a fantastic platform for bringing inclusivity and equity to the human resource of the public businesses under the Ministry, according to Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, who opened the 4th ONGC Para Games.
The Paralympic Committee of India has assisted ONGC in organising the Para Games on an international scale since their first edition in 2017.
At that event, 120 ONGC PwD employees competed in events like wheelchair racing, badminton, and athletics.
Since then, both the number of players and the variety of the games have grown.
Many of the para-athletes competing in the ONGC Para Games have also represented India with distinction at the Paralympics.
Tiranga bike rally organised by Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy
A Har Ghar Tiranga Bike Rally by Members of Parliament was launched in Delhi from the famed Red Fort by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu. The Tiranga Bike rally is organised by Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy. In honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, a bike rally was held from Red Fort to Vijay Chowk. Additionally present were Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi and Piyush Goyal.
About Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign:
Our country is prepared for Har Ghar Tiranga, a nationwide movement to honour our Tricolor, at the same time that we are commemorating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
On the anniversary of his birth, the prime minister paid tribute to Pingali Venkayya, who had designed the flag.
A wide range of events are planned by the government in advance of Independence Day.
Between August 11 and August 13, the BJP members will also perform “prabhat pheri” at the booth level while playing Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, a favourite devotional hymn of Mahatma Gandhi, or Vande Mataram, the national anthem of India.
On August 14, the gathering will also commemorate Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.
Auguste Tano Kouamé appoints World Bank’s New Country Director for India
The World Bank has appointed Auguste Tano Kouamé as the Country Director for India, effective. He replaces Junaid Kamal Ahmad who recently completed a five-year term. He most recently served as the World Bank’s Country Director for the Republic of Türkiye, where he led the expansion of the Bank’s country program and deepened its support to Türkiye’s climate agenda.
Prior to this, he served as Director of the Department of Human Development and Economic Management in the World Bank Group’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) from January 2017 to April 2019.
Career of Auguste Tano Kouamé:
Auguste took field assignments from 2002-05 as Senior Country Economist, based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and, subsequently, as World Bank representative in Haiti.
He was a core team member of the World Bank’s 1998/99 World Development Report on Knowledge for Development.
Prior to joining the World Bank as a Young Professional in 1996, he worked at the United Nations Development Program and taught Applied Economics in Côte d’Ivoire and France.
Nilekani Center established by IIT-M to promote Indian language technology
The Nilekani Centre at AI4Bharat was established by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras to advance the state of Indian language technology and make a positive social impact. Rohini and Nandan Nilekani have donated Rs 36 crore through Nilekani Philanthropies to fund this Center, which was opened by Nandan Nilekani. IIT Madras launched the AI4Bharat programme to create open-source language AI for Indian languages.
KEY POINTS:
The center’s main goal will be to carry out fundamental research that will be helpful to society as a whole.
All the research data would be accessible to start-ups and other sectors working on Indian language technology because the objective is to energise the ecosystem to do more for Indian languages.
Over the years, Drs. Mitesh Khapra, Pratyush Kumar, and Anoop Kunchukuttan have served as the center’s directors.
IIT-Madras says that their group has made numerous contributions to Indian language technology, including cutting-edge Speech Recognition and Machine Translation models.