GS Reddy Appointed Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri S Christopher Appointed the New DG, DRDO

GS Reddy Appointed Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri S Christopher Appointed the New DG, DRDO

The Government has appointed Dr GS Reddy, Distinguished Scientist & Director, Research Centre Imarat (RCI) & Programme Director, MRSAM, DRDO as Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri for a period of two years from the date of taking over charge. The Government also appointed Dr S Christopher, Distinguished Scientist & Programme Director (AEW&C) and Director, Centre for Air-Borne Systems, DRDO as Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development-cum-Director General, DRDO for period of two years from the date of taking over charge.

Dr G Satheesh Reddy: A profile 

Dr G Satheesh Reddy is one of the renowned experts in Navigation and Avionics technologies. He joined DRDO in 1986 and led the Conceptualization, Design, Development and productionisation of Inertial Sensors, Navigation schemes, Algorithms & Systems, Calibration methodologies, Sensor Models, Simulation along with development of Satellite Navigation Receivers and Hybrid Navigation Systems. Under his leadership, advanced products and varieties of Avionics systems have been produced and successfully flight tested in strategic programmes of the country. As Project Director, Dr Reddy led the design and development of Ring Laser Gyro based INS System, MEMS based INS System, Sea-Guard Reference System and Ship Navigation system strengthening the country’s self-reliance in high accuracy and long range navigation and also successfully developed a 1000 kg class guided bomb.

As Director RCI, he led the development of Avionics technologies in critical areas of Inertial Systems, Embedded Computers, Control, Real Time Software and Simulation, Power Supplies, RPF, Seekers, Antennae, Flight Instrumentation for various Defence programme - Agni A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, Prithvi, Dhanush, Astra, Akash, underwater missiles, BrahMos, Nirbhay, Helina, Nag, MRSAM, Programme AD - PDV interceptor, Two stage Ship Launched Target, AAD and other defence programmes. Dr Reddy spearheaded a number of Technology Development, Mission Mode, S&T projects delivering variety of Systems to multiple Projects in different capacities. He led the development and production of GPS+GLONASS+GAGAN on Module (G3OM) receiver and System on Chip (SoC) bringing in quantum jump in miniaturization of Onboard Avionics. He also led the development of IIR Seeker for anti tank and long range BMD applications and played a crucial role in development of high accuracy accelerometers for the long range precision Navigation.

Dr Reddy graduated in Electronics and Communication Engineering from JNTU, Anantapur and received his MS & Doctorate from JNTU, Hyderabad. He is a Fellow of various Academies and Institutes like the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Royal Institute of Navigation London, Royal Aeronautical Society London and a Senior Member of many other professional/scientific bodies in the country and abroad. He has been awarded Full Member Diploma and inducted as a Foreign Member of the Academy of Navigation & Motion Control, Russia and is an Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics, USA (AFAIAA). In recognition of his distinguished contributions, Computer Society of India conferred on him the Honorary Fellowship (HFCSI). He is also an Honorary Member of ACDOS and a national member of IFAC Austria.

Dr Reddy is a recipient of several prestigious awards which includes the Indian Science Congress Association Homi J. Bhabha Memorial Award, DRDO Young Scientist Award, Agni Award for Excellence in Self Reliance, DRDO Scientist of the Year Award etc. He is a Member of the Governing Council/Academic Senate of reputed academic institutes.

Dr S Christopher: A profile 

Dr Christopher obtained his BE (Hons) in Electronics & Communication Engineering from University of Madras and M.Tech. in Microwaves and Radar Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur. He joined IIT, Madras, as Project Associate and carried out research in Microwave Antenna Design and Near-field Measurement Techniques. He obtained PhD in Antennae and Measurement Techniques from IIT, Madras.

Dr Christopher worked for M/s Bharat Electronics, Ghaziabad, as Senior Engineer and later joined LRDE as Scientist-‘D’ and rose to Scientist ‘G’. He led a team to create the Automated Planar near Field Measurement Facility at LRDE for the first time in the country. He was Project Director for LCA MMR and led the team for designing and developing slotted array technology, which was used for several airborne and missile projects including export to Poland. He was also Project Director for ASP project and also for development of the Maritime Patrol Airborne Radar, Super Vision 2000, for the Indian Navy.

Dr Christopher joined the Centre for Air-Borne Systems (CABS) in 2004 and assumed charge as Programme Director for the Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) programme. He was appointed Director, CABS, in addition to his responsibility as Programme Director (AEW&C). He was elevated to the rank of Distinguished Scientist in 2012.

Dr Christopher is a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineers (FNAE), Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI) and the Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers (IETE). He is a member of SEE, IEEE and is a recipient of many awards including scientist of the year award in 1998

Developments Relating to the Ministry of Earth Sciences Over the Last One Year of NDA Government

Various Developments Relating to the Ministry of Earth Sciences Over the Last One Year of NDA Government

The ministry of Earth Sciences deals with various interlinked and self-regulating systems including atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, geosphere and biosphere. They function together and their interactions are complex and significant. To understand such complex phenomena Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO) was set up and it uses high computing facilities (a backgrounder is at  http://pib.gov.in/newsite/backgrounders.aspx?relid=122089) and modeling techniques for making various assessments. Such a scientific understanding of the earth system helps us to improve prediction of climate, weather and natural hazards as well as afford sustainable use of resources.

Some of the details of working of the Ministry over last one year are: -

·         With advancements in observations and modeling technology, two recent cyclones,HudHud and Nilopher, were predicted well in advance giving sufficient time to respond.  Several lives have been saved as the local administrations have shifted people from exact areas where it was forecast that the cyclones would hit

·         On Good Governance Day on 25^th December 2014, an SMS Disaster Alert system (for cyclones, weather, storms and heavy rains) was dedicated to the nation. On the same day, a mobile application for android phones/tablets – ‘India Weather’- was also launched for giving current-day and four-days forecast of weather in 310 Indian cities.

·         The then Minister of State for S&T and Earth Sciences, Shri Jitendra Singh, commissioned Heliport Aviation Weather Forecasting System at Vaishnodevi, in August 2014.

·         X-band Radar in Srinagar has been installed as a part of augmentation, strengthening and integration of network of all the observations in the Himalayan terrain.

·         Ago-meteorological advisories provided to 10 million farmers through mobiles in 622 districts.  Block level forecast for 37 districts (342 blocks) being initiated in pilot mode.

·         Commissioned High Altitude Cloud Physics Lab at Mahabaleshwar to study micro physical characteristics of aerosols and clouds and associated environmental conditions.

·         Developed an indigenous Earth System Model to address climate variability and change and developed simulations for this century.

·         For ocean and polar research, the government sanctioned over Rs. 1050 crore for acquisition of a Polar Research Vessel (PRV) in last October.

·         Deployed India’s first moored observatory in the Arctic on 23^rd July 2014 equipped with multi-sensor sub-surface observatory in the inner part of Kongsfjorden at a depth of 180 m.  The mooring is capable of acquiring data even during the winter when the surface is frozen with ice.

·         Developed Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle’s (PROVe) systems having conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen sensors and Irradiance meter.  PROVe was deployed near ice shelf from the ship at the India Bay in Antarctica at a depth of 62 m.

·         Development and deployment of indigenous drifters to measure sea surface temperature, pressure, and currents, having INSAT communication.

·         The Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, laid the foundation stone for the Ocean Research Facility of Earth System Science Organisation – National Institute of Ocean Technology (ESSO-NIOT) near ocean front at Thupilipallam village in Vakadu Mandal, near Nellore in Andhra Pradesh on April 25.

·         High performance computing resource of 1.2 petaFLOPS has been deployed for weather and climate modelling.  It is the most powerful machine in SE Asia.

·         Deployed a US drilling vessel ‘JOIDES Resolution’ for the first time in the Arabian Sea for drilling the oceanic plate up to 1.5 km.  The Expedition aims to understand the interaction between the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau uplift and the development and evolution of the Indian summer monsoon.  Four sites in the eastern Arabian Sea will target sediments for the Indus submarine fan to better understand the relationships of mountain building, weathering and erosion, and climate change.

#DigitalLocker

Digital Locker – 1,00,000 Mark in 100 Days

After Digital Locker trial version was launched in Feb, 2015 over 1,00,000 Digital Lockers have been opened by the Citizens, within 100 days of its launch representing the trust, benefit and convenience offered by the Digital Locker to a common man. 

Digital Locker is one of the key initiatives under the Digital India vision, which is aimed at eliminating the usage of physical documents. Digital Locker will allow various agencies to push the documents into the Digital Locker of citizens mapped to their Aadhaar Number. It also allows citizens to upload their own electronic documents with or without digitally signing them using the e-sign facility allowing them to store all such documents for posterity. The Digital Locker system has the following advantages:

a)      Print anytime from anywhere – All electronic documents will be in a printable, enabling user to print from anywhere. Also, incase of disasters, non availability of documents, it is easily accessible by user even when the documents are lost

b)      Convenience – No more long queues or procedures to get the documents.

c)      Free of cost – Digital Locker facility is provided to Indian Citizen free of charge and will enable its use by lower strata of society.

d)      Shareable – residents can easily share the documents with other agencies/departments without having to share photocopies, scan copies, document uploads, etc. Sharing can easily be done even on feature phones even via SMS and text based systems.

e)       Verifiable  – most  importantly,  government  documents  and  certificates  issued can be verified online, eliminating  the  use  of fake  documents/certificates.

f)       Secure - Only the owner has the right to see and share the documents as per their own requirement and convenience.

Few other benefits envisaged by users are

a)      A number of individual certificates such as Birth, Domicile, etc., may be applied online to speed up the process. The user agencies will be authorised to access the documents by the owner of digital locker. Also, the local bodies issuing these documents can push these certificates in digital form directly in the Digital Locker eliminating the risk of fake document. This will greatly benefit the people who find it difficult to have proper storage space for physical documents. This would be safe during the National Disaster such as floods, cyclones, fire etc.

b)      Hassel free registration of

a.       Sim Card

b.      LPG connection

c.       Driving License

In effect Digital Locker will touch every Citizen life by bringing in lot of convenience and therefore fulfilling the government vision of citizen centric governance model of providing services at the door step of citizens.

In India, most of the government documents used for various purposes are in physical form. This inter alia means that every time a citizen needs to avail  any  service,  a self attested  photo  copy  either  in  physical  or  scanned  form  is  shared.  Use of physical copies of document creates huge overheads in terms of manual verification, paper storage, manual audits etc. and thereby incurring cost and inconvenience for all the stakeholders.  This also creates problem for various agencies to verify the authenticity of these documents, thus, creating loopholes in the eco system leading to usage of fake documents/certificates by certain unscrupulous elements. The Digital Locker is going to address these concerns.

Achievements and initiatives of Ministry of Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy in one year

Achievements and initiatives of Ministry of Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy in one year

NDA’s government’s record breaking feats in one year:  India achieves lowest ever Power deficit in history and highest ever increase in power capacity addition; Highest ever Coal production by CIL;  Coal bearing states to get estimated Rs.3.35 lakh crore through e-auction; Renewable Energy capacity to increase five fold 

The past 365 days saw many record breaking achievements and launch of several foundational initiatives towards realizing Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji’s vision of 24x7 affordable power for all.

Last year’s milestones include, lowest ever power deficit in India’s history – 3.6%, highest ever power capacity addition – 22,566 MW, highest ever increase in transmission line capacity – 22,100 circuit kilometres, highest ever increase in sub-station capacity – 66,554 MVA and highest ever coal production increase by Coal India – 32 million tons.

Also power generation growth was highest in 20 years – 8.4%, coal production growth highest in 23 years – 8.3% and solar capacity increased by 42%.

Elimination of corruption with Rs. 3.35 lakh crores of potential revenues going to coal-bearing states especially in Eastern India through transparent coal e-auctions and allotments, over the lifespan of mines. E-auctions have set the basis for transparent and honest allocation of natural resources.LED bulb price also reduced by 74% due to transparent procurement (Rs. 310 in Feb 2014 to Rs. 82 in Mar 2015).

Future plans launched include more than5 times increase in renewable energy capacity to 175,000 MW by 2022 (Organized Renewables Financing Conference, RE-Invest 2015 which attracted commitments of 273,000 MW), 5 new UMPPs in plug-n-play mode(total 20,000 MW), reduction in peak load shortages through revival of stranded gas based power plants through transparent e-bidding, Rs. 1.09 lakh crore investment in sub-transmission and distribution through Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) and Rs. 1 lakh crore of new transmission projects to be bid out in the current year.

Clean energy will be prioritised with 25 solar parks of about 100 MW each planned & a Rs 38,000 crore green energy corridor being set up to transmit renewable energy.

All bulbs to be replaced with LEDs over next three years resulting in huge savings in power bills for consumers while proposed amendments to Electricity Act will give consumers power to choose and change power supplier with competition improving affordability and service.

Focus on development of backward regions is our government priority. Investment of Rs. 9,865 crore approved for upgrading power systems in 8 North Eastern states (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura). Transmission line approved with investment of Rs 26,000 crore to evacute power to southern region from western region.

Under the CSR programme, over 1,25,000 school toilets taken up at a cost of  Rs. 2,250 crore particularly in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha , West Bengal , North East etc.

While the above plans lay down a clear roadmap towards24x7 affordable power for all, the performance so far provides ample confidence that Prime Minister’s mission will be fulfilled

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan

One Year Achievement of NDA Govt.

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA), a centrally sponsored scheme, was launched on 21.2.2014 in place of erstwhile Panchayat Yuva Krida aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA). Under the revised RGKA scheme, construction of a sports complex in each block of the country both for outdoor and indoor sports disciplines on land measuring about six - seven acres at a Total cost of Rs. 1.60 crore (Rs. 80 lakh each for outdoor playfield and indoor sports hall) will be undertaken. There is also provision of Rs. 15 lakh for sports equipment and Rs. 1.5 lakh for furniture to be provided by Department of Sports.    All the 6545 blocks in 634 districts will be covered in a phased manner over a period of 5 years. 

Further, following sports competitions at block, district, state and national levels are conducted under Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan:

(i)     Rural Sports Competitions

(ii)   Sports Competitions exclusively for Women

(iii) North East Games

(iv) Sports Competitions for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas

Outcomes and Progress: RGKA aims (i) to provide universal access to sports in rural areas and promote sports culture among both boys and girls; (ii) to harness available and potential sporting talent among rural youth, through a well-designed competition structure from the block level; and (iii) to put in place an effective mechanism to identify and nurture sporting talent in rural areas.

The above objectives will be achieved by construction of block level sports complexes and conduct of Annual rural Sports competitions. 

Annual Rural Sports Competitions were conducted in 22 States in the year 2014-15 and a sum of Rs. 83.84 crore was released to these States for holding such competitions.  A total number of 7666 athletes participated at the National level sports competitions. The first three winners were given utility prizes, medals and prize money. The participants were youth and from rural areas.

Benefits that have accrued or will accrue: Construction of sports complexes at block level will address the problem of inadequate sports infrastructure in rural areas. Conduct of annual rural sports competitions will encourage and promote sports and games among rural youth, by providing them with access to basic sports infrastructure in the form of play fields and providing access to advanced sports infrastructure facilities including sports equipment of requisite quality at the Block level, and opportunity to participate in sports competitions at the Block, District, State, and National levels, leading to the identification of the sporting talent in the sports competitions at various levels and nurture the sporting talent.

Creation of Sports Infrastructure under the scheme will be taken up during the current year 2015-16.  Under the erstwhile PYKKA Scheme playfields were developed in village and block panchayats with lesser funds. Under RGKA as stated above the sports complex will be developed in blocks at a cost of Rs. 1.60 crore (both Indoor and Outdoor). Similarly the competitions grants have also been enhanced suitably under the RGKA Scheme. This change will provide better sports facilities to the participants.

Himalayan Region Sports Festival

One Year Achievement of NDA Govt.

Finance Minister in his Budget Speech for 2014-15 had stated that “Unique sports traditions have developed in the Himalayan region countries and the states which are a part of it. To promote these, India will start an annual event to promote these games and would invite countries such as Nepal and Bhutan also to participate in addition to the Indian states such as J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and the North Eastern States. The Department of Sports has formulated Himalayan Region Sports Festival (HRSF) for promoting unique sports traditions in the Himalyan Region, which includes Nepal and Bhutan Indian states such as J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and the North Eastern States.

Outcomes and Progress: The HRSF Scheme has been finalized and issued to the States and Guidelines for implementation of the Scheme are being prepared. First HRSF is proposed to be organized at Guwahati in the month of December, 2015.

Benefits that have accrued or will accrue: In the sports competitions to be conducted under HRSF, all the North Eastern States, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttrakhand and the neighboring countries such as Nepal and Bhutan will participate. These competitions will promote various indigenous games as also team spirit between the hilly states of the country and regional cooperation in the area of sports with neighboring countries. 

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

One Year Achievement of NDA Govt.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship outcome-based skill training scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and has been approved by the Cabinet on 20th March 2015. The program aims at skill certification and reward to enable and mobilize a large number of youth for outcome based skill training and become employable and earn their livelihood. Under the scheme, monetary reward would be provided to trainees who are successfully trained, assessed and certified in skill courses run by affiliated training providers.

Outcomes: The scheme has an outlay of Rs 1500 crores and targets to reach out to 24 lakh candidates (14 lakh fresh training, 10 lakh Recognition of Prior Learning-RPL) in its first year of implementation. It will target school drop outs, women and disadvantaged sections of the society. It will also be focussing on the difficult areas like districts affected with LWE and North East.

Progress: The first meeting of the Steering Committee was held on 28.04.2015 under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. It was decided that National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) will be the implementing agency. A Sub-Committee has been formed under chairmanship of CEO, NSDC responsible for day to day implementation of the scheme.