15/09/2017 FridayPrashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management from University of Surrey (U.K.). Above all he is a passionate teacher.

Ministry of Defence

Indigenous Development of Trawl System by DRDO

• R&DE (Engrs), a premier system engineering laboratory under Armament & Combat Engineering (ACE) cluster of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has recently undertaken the design and development of Trawl System for the minefield area in the battle zone to meet the operational requirements of Indian Army.

• The indigenous developed Trawl System is employed for breaching of land mines and creating a vehicle safe lane, through a minefield for the advancing columns of mechanized forces in combat zone.

• The equipment consists of Trawl roller, track width mine plough and electro-magnetic device (EMD), which caters to the need of all types of mines usually encountered by the battle tank in such a scenario.

• The Trawl System developed by DRDO is capable of breaching a variety of land mines including passive and active influence mines.

• The Trawl system recently crossed a major milestone with the successful completion of blast trials in collaboration with HEMRL Pune, which demonstrated the survivability of the equipment, when subjected to successive series of blast directly underneath it.

• The fieldable prototype of the Trawl System is in final stage of realization and would be shortly ready for conduct of User Evaluation Trials by the Army.

• The indigenous development of Trawls by DRDO is an important step towards achieving self-reliance in area of critical military equipment under ‘Make in India’ initiative and would result in saving of precious foreign exchange for the country.

Ministry of Defence

Successful Development Trials of Astra Missile• The final Development Flight Trials of Astra - Beyond Visual Range Air to Air

Missile (BVRAAM) were successfully conducted over the Bay of Bengal, Off the Coast of Chandipur, Odisha during 11-14 Sep 2017.

• A total of seven trials were conducted against Pilotless Target Aircrafts (PTA) successfully.

• The missions included engagement of target at very long range, engagement of high manoeuvring target at medium range and multiple launches of missiles in salvo to engage multiple targets.

• All the sub-systems including the indigenous RF Seeker performed accurately, meeting all the mission parameters and objectives.

• Two missiles were also launched in the combat configuration with warhead and the targets were neutralized.

• This effort for building a state-of-the-art BVRAAM by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), together with Indian Air Force (IAF) has completed the development phase of the weapon system successfully.

• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has played a role in modifying the aircraft for weapon integration.

• More than 50 public and private industries have contributed in building the Astra weapon system. Dr S. Venugopal, Programme Director led the launch operations and flight trials along with the teams from multiple organisations.

• The Defence Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated DRDO, IAF Air Force, Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) and industries for the successful trials of ASRTA Missile.

• Chairman DRDO and Secretary Department of Defence (R&D) Dr S. Christopher congratulated the ‘Team Astra” (DRDO, IAF, DPSU & Industries) for developing and flight testing such a formidable class of weapon system. Director General, Missiles and Strategic Systems Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, said the technologies developed under the programme will be the building blocks for development of more variants of Air-to-Air and Surface-to-Air Missiles.

Ministry of Coal

• On May 17, 2017, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a new policy for allocation of future coal linkages in a transparent manner for power sector.

• This policy was christened as Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala(Coal) Transparently in India (SHAKTI).

• The policy was an important initiative in alleviating one key challenge in power sector, viz. lack of coal linkage and is expected to positively contribute in resolution of a number of stressed assets.

• As a part of this policy, CIL/SCCL is to grant coal linkages on notified price on auction basis for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) having already concluded domestic coal based Power Purchase Agreement (PPAs), with the bidding parameter being levellised discount on existing tariff that the IPP is willing to provide.

• This was expected to result in a win-win situation of IPPs having a long term supply security of coal from a source of their choice while consumers will benefit from a lower tariff.

• Coal is India’s primary source of energy.

• It also happens to be an activity tightly controlled by government, with commercial mining restricted to the public sector.

• Private companies extracting coal are primarily in other businesses such as electricity generation and mining is means to an end.

• Much like other key areas of economic activity such as banking and oil and gas extraction, coal mining too suffered a phase of nationalisation. H

• owever, while other areas began to invite private sector participation as part of their reform package, coal remained in a time warp.

• This only attests to the power of vested interests as there isn’t a single convincing reason to keep competition out of coal mining.

• Competition and introduction of new technology are essential to improve efficiency in this sector.

• Independent of private sector participation, the coal industry has witnessed important changes over the last couple of years.

• After Supreme Court cancelled allocation of 204 coal mines, India began a transition to auction of coal mines.

• Thus far 31 mines have been auctioned, a welcome change in the manner in which a scarce natural resource is being allocated.

• But if the switch to an auction process is to fulfil its potential, the pool of participants cannot be restricted.

• It makes no sense to allow a private power generator to participate in the auction but keep out a full-fledged mining company.

• With the economy in the doldrums – growth having dipped to a mere 5.7% in the last quarter – coal mining reform should be seen as a catalyst to kickstartgrowth.

Corporate Affairs Ministry

• Corporate Affairs Ministry and Central Board of Direct Taxes, CBDT, has signed an MoU for automatic and regular exchange of information to curb the menace of

a. shell companiesb. money launderingc. black money

• This will also prevent misuse of corporate structure by shell companies for various illegal purposes.

• The MoU will enable sharing of specific information such as 1. PAN number data2. Income Tax returns3. Audit reports4. Statements of financial transactions received from

banks relating to corporates

Higher Education:India vs World

Two sets of global index recently displayed uncomfortable truth about India’s premier institutes of higher learning.

1) Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 2018• No Indian institute made it to the top 200

• Several dropped out of their ranking bands of the year before

• IIS Bangalore dropped out of the 201-250 group and landed in 251-300 group

• Likewise, IIT Madras and IIT Delhi have dropped down at least one ranking band

2) Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Graduate Employbility Rankings, 2018 • Showing sharp drops by four out of eight institutes

• Only 2 i.e. IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi figuring in the top 200

• The results of both indices pain a disappointing picture of a sub-par highereducation system that is churning out graduates whose capabilities are out of sync with the requirement of employers.

• A survey by Aspiring Minds revealed that 80% of the more than 100,000 engineering students that graduate in India each year are unemployable.

• Even the premier IITs show dramatic deterioration in employability.

• The proliferation of fake degrees and universities is a big problem.

• Only 4532/31000+ higher education institutions in India are accredited.

• All this is happening at a time when competitors like China and Singapore are rising and doing well in this area.

• The higher education ecosystems in China and Singapore provide some clues.• Autonomous

• Strict regulation

• Attract top notch foreign academics

• Most of the world's leading institutes in engineering, management and even humanities have tie-ups with local institutes, offering young school-leavers exposure to the best-in-class academic content and research capabilities.

• The high number of patents filed by Chinese entrepreneurs is testimony to this, as is the emergence of the National University of Singapore as a go-toinstitution for academics around the world.

• To be fair, all regimes have understood this need but the conditions attached to setting up a university with foreign collaboration are daunting enough to discourage all but an intrepid few. • not-for-profit structures

• brining in minimum investment

• following niggling local regulations

• endemic political interference in appointments, syllabi

• student politics

• At both the Centre and State, governments urgently need to learn the ability to play the role of facilitator rather than interloper in higher academics so that India can truly convert its demographics into rich dividends.

India-Japan: A summery

• Since last 3 years the ties have shot up• 10 years prior to that it was steadily growing

• Both nations are two major economies, two democracies of Asia.

• Both together can counter China’s high handedness• South China Sea

• Nine Dash Line

• Territorial disputes with neighbours

• On topics or subjects pertaining to region or globe, both nation have no disagreement whatsoever.• Such a frame is good for taking things forward.

• You can built anything you like when you have such solid base.

• Strategically speaking• Trilateral exercises are on: India-Japan-USA

India-Japan-Australia• BrahMos, Amphibian aircraft, ground surveillance system

• Trade: Its not up to its potential• We have presence of Japanese giants in India like Suzuki, Honda etc• But challenge is to attract small and medium companies of Japan to India.• Food park for Japanese people in India• Special desk in PMO for Japan• Cleaning Ganga• Alang Ship Builiding Yard

• Bullet train will send signal to Japanese investors• Government is trying to highlight that if we are investing then you too can invest in India. • It is a safe and good place for your investment.

• People to people contact: Hindu-Buddhist religious tours, Tourism, Students• Visit to Dandi Kutir• Sabarmati Ashram

• Both nations are supporting ASEAN• China has managed to divide ASEAN to some extend

• Undertone of China was there in joint statement

• Freedom of navigation, UNCLOS, respecting sovereignty etc. was part of the speech

• Civil Nuclear Pact

• Science and Technology

• Open Sky agreement: airlines can operate unlimited flights between these two countries.

• Asia-Africa Growth Corridor• Marriage: Indian Human resources with Japanese Technology

• Alternative vision of development

• Respecting sovereignty

• Owned and decisions of the countries

• Not a debt trap

The End

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