9^th National Voters’ Day

Highlights:

• New Voters shall be felicitated and handed over their EPIC (Elector Photo Identity Card) in the NVD function.
• Theme: ‘No Voter to be Left Behind’
• ‘My Vote Matters’, a Quarterly Magazine will be launched on the occasion.
• The National Awards for the Best Electoral Practices shall be conferred on Officers for their outstanding performance in the conduct of elections.
• In addition, awards will also be given to Civil Society Organisations and Media Houses who have made outstanding contribution in the field of voter awareness and outreach.

About National Voters Day:

• National Voters' Day or Rashtriya Matdata Diwas is celebrated on January 25 every year. The significance of National Voters' Day is to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process.
• It is a day to celebrate the right to vote and vibrant democracy of India. The day was first celebrated in 2011 to mark Election Commission's Foundation Day.
• This will be Ninth National Voters' Day (NVD) and will be used to spread awareness among voters regarding effective participation in the electoral process.
• To increase people's participation in the electoral process, the Election Commission of India adopted a Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation strategy in 2009  and it got reflected in a range of policy initiatives, programmes and activities. It's popularly known as SVEEP.
• Through National Voters' Day, the Election Commission's objective is to increase enrolment of voters, especially of the newly eligible ones.

Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awards

About Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awards:

The Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awards have been given in two categories:

• Bal Shakti Puraskar to individuals; and
• Bal Kalyan Puraskar to institutions/individuals working for children.

The Ministry for Women and Child Development is the nodal agency

• Bal Shakti Puraskar carries a medal, a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000/-, book vouchers worth Rs. 10,000/-, a certificate and a citation.  It is awarded in the categories of Innovation, Social Service, Scholastic, Sports, Art & Culture and Bravery.
• Bal Kalyan Puraskar is awarded for both individuals and institutions working towards the welfare of children. The award for an individual consists of a cash prize of Rs. 1, 00,000/- (one lakh), a medal, a citation and a certificate to each awardee. The award for institution consists of a prize of Rs.5,00,000/- each and a medal, a citation and a certificate.

Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile

About Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile:

• Barak 8 also known as LR-SAM or as MR-SAM is an Indian-Israeli surface-to-air missile (SAM), designed to defend against any type of airborne threat including aircraft, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, and UAVs as well as ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and combat jets. Both maritime and land-based versions of the system exist.
• Barak 8 was jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), India's Defence Research & Development Organisation  (DRDO), Israel's Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure, Elta Systems, Rafael and other companies. Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) produce the missiles.
• The radar system provides 360 degree coverage and the missiles can take down an incoming missile as close as 500 meters away from the ship.
• In May 2017, India placed an order of $630 million for four ships of the Indian Navy.
• Designed to engage multiple beyond visual range threats, the low launch signature Barak-8ER is understood to retain the same autopilot/inertial navigation system and active radar seeker guidance as the Barak-8, although some modifications to the software and to the missile control surfaces are likely.

About INS Chennai:

• INS Chennai (D65) is the third ship of the Kolkata-class stealth guided missile destroyers of the Indian Navy.
• She was constructed at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) located in Mumbai.
• INS Chennai is the last of the three ships built under the code name Project 15A.
• INS Chennai has on its seal a Bull symbolizing the Jallikattu festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu from where the ship associates its heritage.

Features:

• The indigenously designed ship will have state of the art weapons and sensors, stealth features, an advanced action information system, a comprehensive auxiliary control system, world class modular living spaces, sophisticated power distribution system and a host of other advanced features.
• INS Chennai will be fitted with the supersonic BrahMos surface-to-surface missile system.
• The system enables the ship to engage shore-based and naval surface targets at long range making it a lethal platform for strike against enemy targets.
• The warship is part of the Western Fleet and was commissioned into the Indian Navy.
• The 163 metre-long ship with a displacement of 7,500 tonnes can rightfully be regarded as one of the most potent warships constructed in India.
• The ship is propelled by four powerful gas turbines, capable of achieving speeds in excess of 30 knots. INS Chennai has enhanced stealth features resulting in a reduced radar cross section achieved through efficient shaping of hull, full beam superstructure design, plated masts and use of radar transparent materials on exposed decks.
• The ship's air defence capability, designed to counter the threat of enemy aircraft and anti-ship cruise missiles, will revolve around the vertical launch, long range surface-to-air missile system, which is being co-developed by DRDO.
• Four AK-630 rapid-fire guns will provide the ship with close-in-defence capability while an MR gun will enable her to provide effective naval gunfire support.
• Indigenously developed twin tube torpedo launchers and rocket launchers will add punch to the ship's anti-submarine capability.
• Indeed, these ships integrate many new features and involve design changes that ensure a far more advanced weapons platforms compared to the earlier Project 15 ships.
• The warship is packed with sophisticated state-of-the-art weapons and sensors such as surface-to-surface missiles and surface-to-air missiles. It is fitted with a modern surveillance radar which provides target data to the gunnery weapons systems.
• The ship’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities are provided by the indigenously developed rocket launchers and torpedo launchers. It is equipped to fight under nuclear, biological and chemical warfare conditions.

INS Kohassa

Highlights:

• INS Kohassa has been named after a White-Bellied Sea Eagle, which is a large bird of prey, endemic to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• NAS Shibpur was established in 2001 as a Forward Operating Air Base (FOAB) for enhanced surveillance in North Andaman.
• The close proximity of Coco Islands (Myanmar) and wide expanse of Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) makes the base a very vital asset.
• The airfield provides sustained detached operations of Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard aircraft. The Air Station presently operates Short Range Maritime Reconnaissance (SRMR) aircraft and helicopters.
• These aircraft undertake EEZ Surveillance, Anti-Poaching Missions, Search and Rescue (SAR) and Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) missions within the ANC Area of Responsibility.
• NAS Shibpur was identified by NITI Aayog as one of the ‘Early Bird’ project as part of holistic island development. Towards this, IN has been ready in all respects to facilitate civil flight operations from NAS Shibpur.

eCourts Services through Common Service Centres

Highlights:

• The Government of India had initiated second phase of the eCourts project as one of the National e-Governance projects, in August, 2015.
• The eCourts project has made significant progress under the guidance of e-Committee of Supreme Court of India in computerizing district and subordinate courts of the country through installation of case information software, hardware and local area network in courts.
• They are also being connected on Wide Area Network through a dedicated network offering bandwidth upto 100 Mbps. eCourts services have now been successfully rolled out through SMS, email, web, mobile app etc. benefiting millions of litigants and advocates.
• To ensure affordability, Department of Justice has decided not to charge any fee from the customers for eCourts related services delivered through CSC's.
• In order to provide efficient and time-bound access to the Courts services to litigant public, who are on the other side of the digital divide and don’t have access to internet, the Department of Justice has decided to deliver eCourts services to them through around 2 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs).

About Common Services Centre:

• Common Services Centre (CSC) programme is an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), Government of India. CSCs are the access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially inclusive society.
• CSCs are more than service delivery points in rural India. They are positioned as change agents, promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods.
• They are enablers of community participation and collective action for engendering social change through a bottom-up approach with key focus on the rural citizen.
• CSC e-Governance Services India Limited is a Special Purpose Vehicle (CSC SPV) incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, to monitor the implementation of the Common Services Centers Scheme.
• It provides a centralized collaborative framework for delivery of services to citizens through CSCs, besides ensuring systemic viability and sustainability of the scheme.

CSCs enable the three vision areas of the Digital India programme:

• • Digital infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen
  • Governance and services on demand
  • Digital empowerment of citizens

Partners:

• Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) to provide service to the rural consumer in villages.
• The agency designated by the State - State Designated Agency (SDA)—to facilitate implementation of the Scheme within the State.
• Others include central ministries, their departments and other central agencies to offer various services to the citizens and partner banks (public and private sector) and regional rural banks to enable CSCs to become Banking Correspondent Agents / Customer Service Points to deliver various banking and financial services.

Services offered:

• The CSCs would provide high quality and cost-effective video, voice and data content and services, in the areas of e-governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment as well as other private services.
• A highlight of the CSCs is that it will offer web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas, including application forms, certificates, and utility payments such as electricity, telephone and water bills.
• In addition to the universe of G2C services, a wide variety of content and services that are offered are:

1. Agriculture Services (Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Veterinary)
2. Education & Training Services (School, College, Vocational Education, Employment, etc.)
3. Health Services (Telemedicine, Health Check-ups, Medicines)
4. Rural Banking & Insurance Services (Micro-credit, Loans, Insurance)
5. Entertainment Services (Movies, Television)
6. Utility Services (Bill Payments, Online bookings)
7. Commercial Services (DTP, Printing, Internet Browsing, Village level BPO).