Lieutenant General Arvind Walia appointed Engineer-in-Chief of Army
Lieutenant
General Arvind Walia appointed Engineer-in-Chief of Army
Why In News
Lieutenant
General Arvind Walia has been appointed as the next Engineer-in-Chief of the
Indian Army. He would be succeeding Lt Gen Harpal Singh who is superannuating
on December 31.
Key Points
Lieutenant
General Arvind Walia has been appointed as the next Engineer-in-Chief of the
Indian Army. He would be succeeding Lt Gen Harpal Singh who is superannuating
on December 31. An officer of the 1986 batch, Lt Gen Walia is an alumnus of the
Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, and also received the prestigious Silver
Medal there.
Lt
Gen Walia has previously commanded an independent squadron in the desert
sector, a regiment in Jammu and Kashmir and an Engineer Brigade along the
western front. He has also commanded the MEG & Centre in Bengaluru. He was
also an instructor at the College of Defence Management in Secunderabad and the
National Defence College in Delhi. The renowned officer has also held
prestigious staff appointments including as Brigade Major of a Mountain
Brigade, Director in Engineer-in-Chief’s Branch at the Integrated Headquarters
of MoD (Army), Brig Q in a Strike Corps and Chief Engineer of a Command.
Power ministry, DRDO Ink Pact to Install Early Warning Systems for Power Stations
Power
ministry, DRDO Ink Pact to Install Early Warning Systems for Power Stations
Why In News
The
Ministry of Power announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to
implement an early warning system.
Key Points
The
Ministry of Power announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to
implement an early warning system for vulnerable hydro projects and power
stations in hilly regions. The MoU was signed by Alok Kumar, Secretary at the
Ministry of Power, and Dr Samir V Kamat, Secretary of the Department of Defence
(R&D) and Chairman of DRDO.
Along
with the DRDO, the Ministry of Power has also signed other MoUs with
organisations like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR),
National Geophysical Research Institute, the Indian Meteorological Department,
the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology and the Indian Space Research
Organisation’s (ISRO) National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).
The
master control room for the EWS for vulnerable hydroelectricity projects has
been set up by NHPC. It was launched in August 2022. The public utility company
also launched a cloud-based software application for the EWS, which will help
it monitor the 47 vulnerable projects across the country that were identified
by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The software was integrated with
information from other stakeholders in the project including weather
forecasting data from the IMD.
Significance
The
early warning systems will alert stakeholders in the case of natural hazards
like avalanches, landslides, glaciers, glacial lakes and more.
The
Ministry of Power and the DRDO will also be working together to build
mitigation and damage control systems against these disasters.
The
Early Warning System has been envisioned as a risk reduction system that
combines hazard monitoring, forecasting and prediction, with disaster risk
assessment, communication and preparedness.
The
system will allow for timely action in the face of possible disasters in order
to minimise risk and damage.
Early Warning System
(EWS):
It
is an adaptive measure to climate change, which uses integrated communication
systems to help communities prepare for dangerous climate-related events.
A
successful EWS saves lives and jobs, land and infrastructure and provides
long-term sustainability.
This
will aid in planning in the public sector, saving money in the long run and
protecting economies.