Defence India Startup Challenge - 4

IN NEWS

• Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh launched the Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC 4) during the iDEX event, featuring the initiatives aimed at expanding the horizons of Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) ecosystem in New Delhi.

ABOUT

• The iDEX initiative of the Department of Defence Production was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in April 2018 with the objective to encourage and nurture innovations in the Indian Defence sector and create an ecosystem with Startups, MSMEs and individual innovators.
• iDEX4Fauji is a first of its kind initiative, launched to support innovations identified by members of the Indian Armed Forces and will bolster frugal innovation ideas from soldiers/ field formations.
• iDEX4Fauji would open this window and allow our Faujis to become part of the innovation process and get recognized and rewarded. Services Headquarters will provide support to the soldiers & field formations all over the country to ensure maximum participation.
• Government launched Defence Acquisition procedure 2020 which seeks to encourage the private industry to participate in the defence sector.
• The iDEX event successfully brought together the iDEX stakeholders on a single platform i.e. Ministry of Defence (MoD), iDEX selected startups, partner incubators, Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), nodal agencies (Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force), NITI Aayog, DRDO, DPSUs, OFB, think tanks, private industry and Industry associations.
• In order to develop a 'right product and the product right', DIO has adopted the Product Management Approach to steer the prototype development to a market ready product. These guidelines are first of their kind.

CONCLUSION

• iDEX initiative stands out as one of the most effective and well-executed defence Startupecosystem created in our country and it would be a decisive step towards achieving self-reliance in the spirit of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat campaign.
• For the first time, an atmosphere has been created in the country when different stakeholders have been brought together to push for innovations in the defence sector.
• In order to further strengthen our defence system and make it self- reliant the participation of private sector is also crucial.
• For this we have taken certain steps like partnerships with private sector, technology transfer, 74 % FDI through automatic route and the recently released negative list of 101 items for import ban after a stipulated period.

Azerbaijan and Armenia Peace Talks

IN NEWS

• Leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia brushed off the suggestion of peace talks , accusing each other of obstructing negotiations over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, with dozens killed and injured in three days of heavy fighting.

ABOUT

• In the latest incident, Armenia said one of its warplanes was shot down by a fighter jet from Azerbaijan’s ally Turkey, killing the pilot, in what would be a major escalation of the violence.
• The Minsk group, which was set up in 1992 by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to resolve the conflict.
• It centers on Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian government since 1994 at the end of a separatist war.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH

• Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but mostly governed by the Republic of Artsakh (formerly named Nagorno-Karabakh Republic), a de facto independent state with an Armenian ethnic majority established on the basis of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
• Azerbaijan has not exercised political authority over the region since the advent of the Karabakh movement in 1988.
• Since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, representatives of the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group on the region's disputed status.

CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS

• The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system at the intersection of Europe and Asia. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, it is surrounded by the Caucasus region and is home to Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe.
• Geologically, the Caucasus Mountains belong to a system that extends from southeastern Europe into Asia and is considered a border between them. The Greater Caucasus Mountains are mainly composed of Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks with the Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks in the higher regions.

GLOBAL REACTION

• The international community is calling for talks to end the decades-old conflict between the two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus Mountains region following a flare-up of violence this week.
• The U.N. Security Council called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to immediately halt the fighting and urgently resume talks without preconditions.

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize - 2020

Why in NEWS ?

• Fourteen scientists were announced winners of the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award – the country's highest science prize. The awardees were announced by the Union science and technology minister Dr Harsh Vardhan at the Foundation Day celebration of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Saturday, 26 September.

List of Awardees

1. Biological Sciences

• Dr. Subhadeep Chatterjee from the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Hyderabad was one of two winners of the SSB award for Biology.

2. Chemical Sciences

• Dr. Jyotirmayee Dash from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in Kolkata shared the SSB award for Chemistry with Subi Jacob George from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru.

3. Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences

• Abhijit Mukherjee from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur is one of the awardees for the SSB prize in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences. Nominated for his work in groundwater exploration for suitable and sustainable drinking water sources across India.

4. Engineering Sciences

• Dr. Amol Arvindrao Kulkarni from the CSIR's National Chemical Laboratory in Pune was among the awardees of the SSB prize for his contributions to the field of engineering.

5. Mathematics

• Dr. AnandaVardhanan was awarded the SSB prize in mathematics for his research in number theory.

6. Medicine

• Dr. Bushra Ateeq, currently Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, shared the SSB award in medicine with Dr. Ritesh Agarwal from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.

7. Physics

• Dr. Rajesh Ganapathy from the International Centre for Materials Science (ICMS) at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research shared the SSB award for physical sciences with Surajit Dhara, from the University of Hyderabad.

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize

• The award is named after the Founder-Director of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) India, the late Dr (Sir) Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and is known as the ‘Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize for Science and Technology’.
• The SSB prizes are awarded to Indian scientists below 45 years of age for conduction outstanding research in one of seven disciplines. Overseas citizen of India (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) working in India are also eligible.
• The prize – which includes a citation, a plaque, and a cash award of ₹5,00,000 lakh – is awarded annually to recognise outstanding research accomplishments in applied or fundamental areas. In addition to the recognition and cash prize, CSIR will also grant the winners with an honorarium of Rs.15,000 per month up to the age of 65 years.
• The Prize is given each year by CSIR in the fields namely, Biological Sciences; Chemical Sciences; Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences; Engineering Sciences; Mathematical Sciences; Medical Sciences; and Physical Sciences.
• The Prize is bestowed on a person who, in the opinion of CSIR, has made conspicuously important and outstanding contributions to human knowledge and progress – fundamental and applied – in the particular field of endeavour, which is his/her specialization.
• The prize is awarded on the basis of contributions made through work done in India only during the five years preceding the year of the prize.

Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) - 2020

Why in NEWS?

• Defence Minister released a new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) (erstwhile Defence Procurement Procedure or DPP), 2020

ABOUT

• The DAP contains policies and procedures for procurement and acquisition from the capital budget of the MoD in order to modernise the Armed Forces including the Coast Guard.
• The first Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was promulgated in 2002.
• A committee under the chairmanship of Director General (Acquisition) was constituted to review the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016.
• DPP 2016 was released replacing the DPP 2013 based on the recommendations of Dhirendra Singh committee.
• Raksha Mantri had approved constitution of Main Review Committee under Chairmanship of DG (Acquisition) Shri Apurva Chandra in Aug 2019 for preparation of DAP-2020.
• It focussed on indigenously designed, developed and manufactured weapon systems.
• It was facing several issues like lack of transparency (leading to Rafale Scam), inconvenient offset regulations etc.
• DAP 2020 will be applicable with effect from 01 October 2020

AIM

• DAP aim is to achieve enhanced self-reliance in defence manufacturing.
• Turning India into a global manufacturing hub.
• With the new Foreign Direct Investment policy announced, DAP 2020 will encourage FDI to establish manufacturing hubs

Other Related Initiatives

• Ministry of Defence has formulated a Draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 (DPEPP 2020).
• Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) has been operationalised to provide necessary incubation and infrastructure support to the startups in the defence area.
• iDEX would be further scaled up to engage with 300 more startups and develop 60 new technologies/products during the next five years.
• Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti was launched to promote a greater culture of innovation and technology development and file a higher number of patents in Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).
• It would be scaled up for promoting the creation of Intellectual Property in the sector and its commercial utilisation.