2nd Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh Memorial International Hockey Tournament 2019
- 2nd Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh Memorial International Hockey Tournament was held in Chandigarh from 15th April to 25th April 2019.
- Late Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh DFC was the first and the only ‘Five Star’ rank officer of the IAF and was a keen lover of the game of Hockey.
- The first ‘Marshal Arjan Singh Memorial’ All India Hockey Tournament is being conducted by Air Force Sports Control Board, New Delhi to honour the great soldier.
- A Total of 16 teams participated in this tournament.
- Apart from the elite Indian teams, Air Force teams from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also participated in this international event.
- Integrated Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai won the tournament defeating South Central Railway (SCR), Hyderabad.
Naval Commanders’ Conference Concludes
- The first edition of this years’ bi-annual Naval Commanders’ Conference which commenced on 23 Apr 19, concluded on 25 Apr 19 in Delhi.
- The conference is the apex forum within the Service for interaction between the Naval Commanders.
- The Hon’ble Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed Naval Commanders.
- The Indian Navy’s sustained prominence as the first responder for HADR and its role as the Net Security Provider in the IOR were reviewed by the Commanders.
India as a net security provider in Indian Ocean region (IOR)
- Net security provider was a term first coined by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates for India at the 2009 Shangri-la Dialogue.
- US believed India to be a significant hub connecting all regions in the Indian Ocean.
- Indian Navy, in its 2015 maritime strategy, had promised to fulfill their oath of serving as “provider of net security in the region.”
- In recent times also, the US Congress has passed Section 1292 of the 2017 National Defense Authorisation Act, which wants India to be capable of tackling the growing security threats in the Indian Ocean region.
- A net security provider is a nation capable enough to address the hindrances in their security and also that of their neighboring countries and beyond.
- A net security provider can attend to the security concern of other countries in several ways. Such as:
- a) Capacity Building: By providing IOR countries training support through trainers to help grow their capacity to tackle security issues.
- b) Military Diplomacy: By supplying them the support of its armed forces for various operations other than war.
- c) Military Assistance: Help them to strengthen their defense and maintain their grip on their territory.
- d) Direct Deployment: Direct deployment of its forces to help stabilize a situation.
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR)
- HADR is an Indian Navy’s large scale exercise to test its readiness for handling a tsunami like disasters in order to provide immediate succour and relief to the affected people.
- It involves participation of more than 20 Indian Naval Ships from the Western and Eastern Fleet along with various aircraft of the Indian Navy.
- HADR exercise simulates a major cyclone striking the islands, disrupting essential services and causing widespread destruction of property, loss of life and dislocation of personnel.
- It involves the navy personnel setting up medical camps and making provisions for food, shelter from the elements, restoration of basic facilities and limited restoration work till the situation stabilized.
India Pavilion inaugurated at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2019
- An India Pavilion has been set up at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
- India has been designated as the Guest of Honour for the Book Fair which is being held from April 24 to 30.
- The India Pavilion is focused on the life and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi.
- It displays the 100-volume series titled ‘Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi’, apart from various publications on the freedom struggle.
Water storage level of 91 major reservoirs of the country goes down by one percent
- The water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country for the week ending on April 25, 2019 was 42.52 BCM, which is 26% of total storage capacity of these reservoirs.
- The total storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 161.993 BCM which is about 63% of the total storage capacity of 257.812 BCM.
- 37 Reservoirs out of these 91 have hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW.
REGION WISE STORAGE STATUS
NORTHERN REGION
- The Northern region includes States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan.
- There are six reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.01 BCM.
EASTERN REGION
- The Eastern region includes States of Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura.
- There are 15 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 18.83 BCM.
WESTERN REGION
- The Western region includes States of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
- There are 27 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 31.26 BCM.
CENTRAL REGION
- The Central region includes States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
- There are 12 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 42.30 BCM.
SOUTHERN REGION
- The Southern region includes States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, AP&TG (Two combined projects in both states), Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
- There are 31 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 51.59 BCM.
- States having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
- State having equal storage than last year for corresponding period is AP&TG (Two combined projects in both states) Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- States having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period are Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala.
