Himachal Pradesh became the fourth state to revert to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for state government employees. Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Punjab, too, have rolled out OPS.

 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised states against the old pension system (OPS). In its latest report on state finances, the central bank said that the major risk looming large on the subnational fiscal horizon is the likely reversion to the OPS by some states.

This statement from RBI comes at a time when some state government are restoring to the old pension scheme.

 

About old pension scheme : In the old pension regime, pension was 50 percent of the last drawn salary of the employee and the entire amount was paid by the government...

Source : CNBC

 

The 3rd meeting of Steering Committee of Ken-Betwa Link Project was held in New Delhi on Wednesday (18th Jan 2023).

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Department of Water Resources Pankaj Kumar stressed that Ken-Betwa link project is critical for the water security and socio-economic development of Bundelkhand region.

He said, it is a flagship project of the Centre and State and both have the responsibility of implementing this project in a time-bound manner.

 

During the meeting, two wildlife sanctuaries namely Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary and Rani Durgawati Wildlife Sanctuary of Madhya Pradesh and Ranipur Wildlife Sanctuary of Uttar Pradesh have been approved by state government for bringing them under project Tiger..

Source : AIR

The Indian Army under the aegis of HQ Army Training Command (ARTRAC) organised the second edition of Hackathon aptly named “SAINYA RANAKSHETRAM 2.0” from October 2022 to January 2023 with an aim to seek solutions to operational cyber challenges and to jump start and telescope the development time for innovative solutions in the field of Cyber Security. 

 

The prize winners of the event were felicitated by Gen Manoj Pande, Chief of the Army Staff during a virtual function on 17 January 2023.

 

The event was aimed at providing a platform to identify indigenous talent in niche domains and enhance the standard of training in domains of Cyber Deterrence, Security Software Coding, Electro Magnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) and Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ ML). The participation was open to all Indian citizens and participation permitted in an individual / team manner. Thus to meet this end state, the Cyber Threat Seminar cum Workshop was held under four sub-events which included following activities :-

 

Secure Software Coding - Its aim was to engage with academia in the field of securing software programs and identifying talent capable of undertaking cyber security requirements in software code. Mr Aravindha Hariharan M from Coimbatore, a Cyber Security enthusiast holding a number of certifications has won the prize in this category.

 

ESMO: Customised Indian Army Specific Stack for Wi-Fi 6 - The aim of conducting this sub event was to seek a solution to implement an Indian Army specific version of Secure Wi-Fi stack for increasing the levels of security. Colonel Nishant Rathee, Commandant, Army HQ Computer Centre is the winner in this category. Mr Suryasaradhi Balarkan currently working with L&T is the runners up and Ms Tanisha Joshi, who is currently pursuing a Ph D in Dark Energy has secured the 3rd prize.

 

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning : NLP Processing and Decoding of Radio Intercepts. This sub-event helped create an Al stack for addressing translation and decryption of multi lingual radio transmissions. Master Mithil Salunkhe, a 15 year old class 10 student at Gyan Mata Vidya Vihar, Nanded, Maharashtra has come first this category. Mr Prashant Kumar Singh, who holds a B Tech (CS) from Punjab Technical University and presently pursuing B Sc (Data Science) from IIT Madras has come second while Cdr Sushant Sarswat, a Naval Officer presently posted in HQ Eastern Naval Command has secured the third position.

 

Cyber Deterrence : Capture the Flag (CTF). This was a seven stage cyber security exploitation challenge meant for identification of talent for enhancing existing Cyber Security setup. The winner of this challenge was Mr Shaksham Jaiswal, BE (CS) from MVSR Engineering College in Hyderabad. He is now working as a freelancer, and has more than 15 core qualifications in the field. The 2nd prize winner is Mr Prince Kumar Patel presently doing BE (IT) at Army Institute of Technology (AIT), Pune and Mr Hardeep Singh, a BCA from Maharaja Ganga Singh University in Bikaner has won the 3rd prize...

Source : PIB

January 19 is celebrated by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as its raising day. The National Disaster Response Force Raising Day has been celebrated on this day since 2006 when the rescue force was officially formed.

The specialised, multi-skilled rescue force is made up of battalions from the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Assam Rifles.

 

The NDRF is the primary agency responsible for conducting rescue operations during disasters like drowning, building collapses, landslides, devastating floods, earthquakes and cyclones.

 

History : India saw a series of natural disasters in the later 1990s and early 2000s. These include the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, the Gujarat earthquakes in 2001, and the Mumbai floods in 2005 among others. While Indian Armed Forces were deployed for rescue and recovery missions, there was a need for a dedicated rescue operation-focused response force.

 

Therefore, the Disaster Management Act of 2005 was enacted. The act formulated the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as the apex body for natural disasters and the NDRF as the specialised rescue force under the NDMA’s mandate.

 

Significance : With 12 battalions and 13,000 NDRF personnel spread across the country, the NDRF has managed to save 1.44 lakh human lives and evacuated more than 7 lakh stranded individuals in its 17 years of service.

In 2021 alone, the NDRF saved 12,000 lives in various rescue operations.

The NDRF Raising Day is an important day as it provides an opportunity for the brave personnel of the rescue force to be recognised, honoured and awarded for their work.

On NDRF Raising Day 2022, 8 NDRF rescuers were given the ‘Union Home Minister’s Special Operation Medal’ for their extraordinary work in 2021..

Source : CNBC

Vedanta's Cairn Oil & Gas on Thursday (19th Jan 2023) announced the appointment of Nick Walker as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the company.

In a statement, the company said the appointment is effective January 5, 2023.

 

"Before this appointment, Walker was president and chief executive officer at Lundin Energy, one of the leading European independent E&P companies".

 

Having worked previously in companies like BP, Talisman Energy and Africa Oil, he has over 30 years of diverse international experience in technical, commercial and executive leadership roles.

 

He will be the sixth CEO of the company since mining billionaire Anil Agarwal-led group bought the company from Scottish explorer Cairn Energy plc, now known as Capricorn Energy plc, in 2011.

Walker comes into Cairn Oil & Gas after Prachur Sah quit the firm to join Indus Towers Ltd (formerly Bharti Infratel Ltd) as managing director and CEO effective January 3, 2023...

Source : Business Insider

Gambia's Vice-President Badara Alieu Joof has died (17th Jan 2023) of illness in India, President Adama Barrow said on Wednesday (18th Jan 2023).

 

Joof, 65, was appointed vice president of the West African country in 2022. He had previously served as education minister.

 

The vice president left Gambia about three weeks ago to seek medical treatment..

Source : Hindustan Times

The world’s oldest person, French nun Lucile Randon, has died 17th January 2023 at the aged 118. Randon, also known as Sister Andre, was born in southern France on February 11, 1904, a decade before World War I.

She was long regarded as the oldest European, but the death of Japan’s Kane Tanaka at the age of 119 last year made her the world’s oldest person.

The record for oldest confirmed age reached by a human belongs to Jeanne Calment, also of southern France, who died in 1997 at the age of 122. Guinness World Records had officially recognised her status in April 2022.

 

At the age of 26, she converted to Catholicism and was baptized.  Driven by a desire to “go further,” she entered the Daughters of Charity order of nuns at the rather late age of 41. Sister Andre was thereafter posted to a Vichy hospital, where she stayed for 31 years.

Spending most of her life dedicated to religious service, Sister André also held the record for the oldest nun living. Later in life, she relocated to Toulon on the Mediterranean coast. Prayer, mealtimes, and visits from residents and hospice personnel interrupted her days in the nursing home.

She also got letters on a regular basis, practically all of which she responded to. In 2021, she survived getting Covid-19, which infected 81 nursing home patients.

Guinness World Records works with lead consultant for gerontology, Robert D Young (USA), in the study of aging. Young has been the Director of the Supercentenarian Research Database Division for the Gerontology Research Group since 2015...


Source : The Guardian

Jammu and Kashmir has become the first Union Territory of India to go completely digital.

 

* Presently all government and administrative services in Jammu and Kashmir are being provided digitally only.

 

* Jammu and Kashmir is also emerging as a model of digital government in the country with a transparent and accountable governance system.

 

 

* The main objective of making government services online is to make people online.

 

* Through this, citizens can avail government services digitally without going to government office.

 

* With the digitization of government offices, now government offices will be in the pocket of the citizens. With this, citizens can take advantage of any government service anywhere and anytime without going to any office.

 

 

* Jammu and Kashmir was a state of India till August 2019, which was bifurcated on 31 August 2019 to form two union territories named Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

 

* Capital- Srinagar (May–October), Jammu (November–April)

 

* Lieutenant Governor - Manoj Sinha

 

* Legislative Council - 36 seats

 

* Legislative Assembly - 89 seats

The report said that Pakistan’s economic output was not only declining itself but also bringing down the regional growth rate as well. Forecasting Pakistan’s GDP growth rate to improve to 3.2 per cent in 2024, the report said, “Policy uncertainty further complicates the economic outlook” of Pakistan.

 

This pace reflects still robust growth in India, Maldives, and Nepal, offsetting the effects of the floods in Pakistan and the economic and political crises in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The deteriorating global environment, however, will weigh on investment in the region,” the report said pointing to a “sharp, long-lasting slowdown” with the global growth expected at 1.7 per cent this year.

 

Devastating Floods, Biggest Reason : Floods in Pakistan in July last year was cited as the main reason for the faltering economic situation in the country by the World Bank. The report also cited devastating floods in 2022 as a reason for the precarious economic situation in the country. Floods deluged almost one-third of Pakistan and directly impacted about 15 percent of the country’s population. “Recovery and reconstruction needs are expected to be 1.6 times the FY2022-23 national development budget,” the report said.

 

Cost of food items touches sky : In Pakistan, soaring prices of basic food items have been burning hole in the pockets of people. Wheat, which is an essential staple food of Pakistanis, is barely in reach for many locals. Its prices have surged over 57 per cent, while the cost of wheat flour also saw an increase of 41 per cent, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said.

 

Pakistan’s forex reserves hit new low : Pakistan’s forex reserves have hit a new low of USD 4.6 billion that would be barely adequate to pay for foreign bills for three weeks. Analysts have put the country’s need for relief at USD 33 billion. The shortage of dollars has been drastically hurting the economy and diverting remittances from the legal banking channel to the grey market....

Source : First Post

 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, a global figurehead of progressive politics, shocked the country today (19th Jan 2023) by announcing she would resign from office in a matter of weeks.

The 42-year-old -- who steered the country through natural disasters, the Covid pandemic, and its worst-ever terror attack -- said she no longer had "enough in the tank".

 

Ardern said she would step down no later than 7 February 2023, less than three years after winning a landslide election to secure her second term in office.

 

Ardern became the world’s youngest female head of government when she was elected prime minister in 2017 at 37.

She has led New Zealand through the Covid-19 pandemic, and a series of disasters including the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, and the White Island volcanic eruption...

Source : The Guardian