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Army Chief General Manoj Pandey leaves for Nepal visit

Why is it in news?

Army Chief General Manoj Pandey is going to visit Nepal from 05 to 08 September 2022. This is his first visit to Nepal as Army Chief.

Highlights

• During his visit, the Army Chief will meet the Hon'ble President of Nepal, the Hon'ble Prime Minister of Nepal and the Chief of Army Staff of the Nepal Army, besides holding meetings with senior military and civilian leadership of the country on ways to enhance India-Nepal defense ties. Will discuss

• Continuing the tradition of friendship between the two armies, the Indian Army Chief will be conferred with the honorary rank of General of the Army of Nepal at a ceremony on 05 September 2022 at Sheetal Niwas, the official residence of the Hon'ble President of Nepal.

• The Army Chief is scheduled to visit the Nepal Army Headquarters where he will pay tributes to the martyrs and interact with the senior leadership of the Nepalese Army.

• During his visit, the Army Chief will also interact with the student officers and teachers of Nepal Army Command and Staff College, Shivpuri. The Army Chief will also meet the Honorable Prime Minister of Nepal on 06 September 2022.

• India-Nepal relations are historical and multifaceted and are nurtured by shared cultural and civilizational ties apart from mutual respect and trust.

• India accords top priority to its relations with Nepal in accordance with its 'Neighborhood First' and 'Act East' policy.

• The visit will provide an opportunity to review the existing bilateral defense ties and strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual interest.


Government of India approves year-long commemoration festival of 'Hyderabad Liberation Day'

Why is it in news?

The Ministry of Culture will organize the inaugural program of the year-long celebration of the Hyderabad Liberation Day on 17 September 2022. The Government of India has approved the year-long commemoration festival of 'Hyderabad Liberation Day', which will run from September 17, 2022 to September 17, 2023.

Highlights

• Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural function to be held at Parade Ground, Hyderabad. The Culture Ministry has also invited the Chief Ministers of Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra to attend the inaugural event in Hyderabad.

• The purpose of this year-long memorial festival is to pay tribute to all those who laid down their lives for the liberation of the institution and its merger with India.

• Hyderabad became independent from the Nizam's rule on 17 September 1948, more than a year after India gained independence from the British.

• The history of the freedom movement, including the struggle of Ramji Gond against the British, is replete with stories of struggle; Battle of Komaram Bhima; The story of the bravery of Turrebaz Khan in 1857, who wanted to unfurl the Indian national flag at the house of the British Resident Commissioner in Koti, Hyderabad city.

• After the independence of India, this struggle became vocal. With the increasing participation of people singing Vande Mataram and the demand for merger of the institution with the Indian Union, the struggle turned into a massive mass movement.

• The liberation of Hyderabad was possible due to the prompt and timely action taken under Operation Polo by the first Home Minister of India, Shri Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

During the rule of Nizam, present day Telangana in Hyderabad state, Marathwada region in Maharashtra including Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani along with Kalburgi, Bellary, Raichur, Yadgir, Koppal, Vijayanagar of present day Karnataka and Bidar district.

• The state governments of Maharashtra and Karnataka officially celebrate 17 September as Liberation Day.


National e-Governance Division and Ministry of Electronics & IT organizes Deep Dive Training Program for 30th Batch of Chief Information Security Officers under Cyber Safe India Initiative

Why is it in news?

Developing the capacity of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline officers, organizations to safeguard their digital infrastructure with the objective of spreading awareness of cyber crimes and ensuring adequate security measures to meet the emerging challenge. The Cyber ​​Safe India initiative has been conceptualized with the mission to prepare for and prepare for future cyber attacks.

Highlights

• Building on the principles of awareness, education and competence, the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) organized the 30th CISO Deep Dive Training Program from 22-26 August 2022 under the Capacity Development Scheme.

• Intensive 5-day training program conducted at Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi is supported by subordinate agencies/PSUs including technical wing of Central and State/UT Governments, Public Sector Banks and Insurance Companies, Police and Security Forces. Designed for CISOs, CTOs and members of technical/PMU teams. It also includes officers responsible for overseeing the security of IT systems in their respective organizations.

• Deep dive training aimed at educating and enabling CISOs specifically with the aim of understanding cyber attacks in a holistic and comprehensive manner, providing necessary access to modern security related technologies and enabling individual organizations and citizens to use flexible e-infrastructure. To provide benefits.

• The training also focuses on providing a holistic view of the legal provisions, enabling CISOs to formulate policies and sound cyber crisis management plans in the area of ​​cyber security.

• The inaugural session of the program was graced by Shri Abhishek Singh, P&CEO, NEGD, Shri SN Tripathi, DG, IIPA. Emphasizing on the importance of cyber security in this current scenario of increasing cyber attacks, Shri Tripathi encouraged CISO officers to innovate and think for the future as well as support cyber security efforts for their organizations.

• In his address Shri Abhishek Singh emphasized the need for strong cyber security practices at the individual level and requested all the participating CISOs to use the appropriately licensed software.

• He reminded them about the various initiatives of the Government of India in the relevant field, as well as highlighted the highly sensitive National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Center (NCIIPC) for addressing cyber security challenges for critical infrastructure.

• The CISO training started in 2018 is a first of its kind partnership between government and industry consortium under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Since June 2018, these programs have enabled 1,224 senior executives to secure the digital infrastructure and systems of their respective organizations.

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New safety norms for batteries in electric vehicles

Why is it in news?

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has recently recommended additional safety provisions in the battery safety standards. These recommendations will be implemented from October 01. This order has been issued keeping in mind the recent increased incidents of fire in electric two-wheelers. The ministry had earlier constituted a committee for battery safety standards, on the basis of whose report this decision has been taken.

 

Introduction

The changes in the bye-laws of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules and AIS-156 have been made on the basis of the recommendations of the Tata Narasimha Rao Committee. The committee has emphasized on improving the safety standards related to battery cell, design of battery pack, on-board charger, BMS etc. The recommendations of the committee also include safety guidelines to prevent thermal spread due to fire due to short circuit in the internal cell.

Highlights

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of Tata Narasimha Rao (Director, ARC', Hyderabad) on battery safety in electric vehicles.

• This committee was constituted under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMV) rules to make additional safety suggestions to the existing battery safety standards.

• In this committee M.K. Jain (Scientist - G, CFEES, DRDO), Dr. Aarti Bhatt, Dr. Subba Reddy, Prof. Devendra Jalihal and Prof. Prominent scholars like L Umananda were involved.

• It is worth noting that the Ministry had made changes in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules on August 25, these changes were made in sub-rule 4 of Rule 124. Also, on 29 August 2022, the government has also made important changes in the Automotive Industry Standard (AIS)-156 based on the suggestions given by the committee.

• This change has been made keeping in mind the two wheeler and four wheeler electric vehicles. Some of the bylaws of AIS-156 have also been extended to electric vehicles used for carrying goods.

• Be aware that the recent fire incidents in electric two-wheelers had worried the government over EVs safety standards.

• Indian electric two wheeler manufacturers had launched their electric vehicles in the market without adequate quality and safety checks. Due to which such security standards were introduced to the government.

• Electric vehicle manufacturers have also been made aware of these new safety standards. Due to which any untoward incident of fire in electric vehicles can be avoided in future.