26th Dec 2017 – Press Information Bureau (Daily PIB PDF For UPSC)

Department of Space

• The Space Application Centre (SAC) Ahmedabad, one of the India’s
  premier Space Centres established by the founding father of India’s Space
  programme, Dr Vikram Sarabhai.
• SAC is all set to develop a new advanced hi-tech “Remote
  Sensor“.
• It is a camera with a capacity to capture images/pictures
  from a height of over 300 kms.
• This was disclosed by Dr Jitendra Singh after a visit to the
  “Remote Sensor Unit” of the Ahmedabad Space Application
  Centre today.
• “Remote Sensor Camera” will be fully indigenous, living up
  to “Make in India” concept and may be available by early
  next year.
• The new gadget will be an improvement on the existing
  application used for infrastructure development works,
  soil management and even security related tasks.

2017: ISRO

• ISRO has launched 104 satellites, in a single launch, onboard PSLV-C37 on
  February 15, 2017.
• India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-II (GSLV-F09) successfully
  launched the 2230 kg South Asia Satellite (GSAT-9) into its planned
  Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on May 05, 2017.
• This was the fourth consecutive success achieved by GSLV carrying indigenously
  developed Cryogenic Upper Stage.
• 31 satellites, in a single launch, on-board PSLV-C38 on June 23, 2017.
• The first developmental flight (GSLV MkIII-D1) of India’s heavy lift launch
  vehicle GSLV Mk-III was successfully conducted on June 05, 2017
• Weighing 3136 kg at lift-off, GSAT-19 became the heaviest satellite launched from the
  Indian soil.

Ministry of Defence

• After scaling of Mt Everest in 2005, IAF launched a unique and
  unprecedented series of mountaineering expedition ‘Mission Seven
  Summits’ with an aim to fly the tricolour and the IAF flag on the highest
  peaks in every continent.
• A team comprising five IAF mountaineers, led by Gp Capt RC Tripathi, in
  the early hours of 26 Dec 17, has successfully scaled Mt Vinson in
  Antarctica, thus completing the assigned Mission.
• With the successful ascent of Mt Vinson, the IAF added another feather
  to its cap, by becoming the first organisation in India to achieve this
  unique feat.

Ministry of Finance

• The Government of India, the Government of Tamil Nadu and the World
  Bank today signed a $318 million loan agreement for the Tamil Nadu
  Irrigated Agriculture Modernization Project
• Aims
  1. To promote climate resilient agriculture technologies
  2. Improve water management practices
  3. Increase market opportunities for small and marginal farmers
• About 500,000 farmers, of which a majority are small and marginal, are
  expected to benefit from improved and modernized tank irrigation
  systems.
• The project will rehabilitate and modernize about 4,800 irrigation tanks and
  477 check dams, spread across 66 sub-basins, in delivering bulk water to
  irrigation systems.
• Tamil Nadu, being a water-stressed state, continues to experience water
  shortages which are expected to further exacerbate in the future.
  Rehabilitating and modernizing irrigation tanks will improve the reliability
  and availability of irrigation water for farming communities, making them
  less prone to climatic hazards. More than 160,000 ha of currently partially
  irrigated lands will come into full irrigation under this project,” said Sameer
  Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of
  Finance.
• The $318 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and
  Development (IBRD) has a 5-year grace period, and a maturity of 19 years.

NITI Aayog

• NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)
• To promote innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide in schools,
  universities and industry, has selected additional 1500 Schools for
  establishment of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs).
• The addition of these schools will give a major boost to realize the vision
  of the mission to ‘Cultivate One Million children in India as the Innovators
  of tomorrow’.
• West Asia has rarely been in control of its own destiny.
• While the ancient Sumerians, Assyrians and Hittites sought to control its
  trade routes and its limited agricultural land for expanding their own
  empires, the Persians soon swept in to dominate the landscape.
• Something similar is happening now, with Iran’s influence in the region
  rising and the geopolitical consequences of the Iraq invasion now coming
  to roost.
• The short half-life of the Islamic State (IS) has opened up political space
  in both Iraq and Syria.
• Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has sought to achieve transformational
  domestic reforms.
• UN General Assembly vote on the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s
  capital by the US
• Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to inject Russia into West Asia has
• managed to stabilise Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, and brought the IS to rout.
  Russia is now the primary dealmaker in West Asia, open to relationships and
  negotiations with partners as far ranging as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
• US seems to have decided to almost abrogate its recent deal with Iran, while
  tilting the scales ever so much towards Israel and Saudi Arabia.
• Lebanon, split by religions and faiths, Kuwait, Jordan and Oman, are left to
  pick up the pieces.
• Such political turmoil has had humanitarian consequences.
• Yazidis, Kurds, millions of refugees streaming from Syria, across Turkey, to
  Greek shores and beyond.
• Blockade of Qatar by fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
• West Asia is far more violent than ever before.
• The rise of Iran taking its rightful place as a regional power is inevitable,
  as the country utilises its technological know-how, its seminal authority
  on the Shia faith and its geopolitical location.
• Saudi Arabia’s recent centralisation — from an absolutist kingdom with a
  large extended family in alliance with Wahabbist clerics to an absolutist,
  reforming, single-family kingdom — brings with it large risks
• For India, this regional turmoil opens up opportunities.
• New Delhi must build relationships with both Iran and Saudi Arabia.
• Their desire to diversify oil exports meshes with our need to lower the
  cost of energy imports and opening up a trade route to Central Asia.
• India must continue to pursue close military relationships with Oman and
  the UAE, contributing to maritime security in the Arabian Sea.
• It should continue its policy of strategic restraint, choosing observation
  and quiet counselling over moves to exert power.

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