Latest News
22th Aug 2021
DRDO DEVELOPS ADVANCED CHAFF TECHNOLOGY FOR IAF JETS
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an advanced chaff technology to safeguard Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets against hostile radar threats.
Advanced chaff technology?
- It is an electronic countermeasure technology used by militaries worldwide to protect their assets, like naval vessels and aircraft.
- It protects the assets from radar and radio frequency.
- In case of naval ships, chaff rockets are deployed in the air, which act as multiple targets for missile guidance system.
- Very less quantity of chaff material deployed in the air acts as decoy to deflect enemy’s missiles for safety of the ships.
- The technology has been developed by DRDO's defense laboratory situated in Jodhpur, Rajasthan in collaboration with high energy materials research laboratory in Pune.
- The technology was developed in three variants.
- Defense Laboratory earlier this year indigenously developed three variants of chaff technology:
- Short Range Chaff Rocket (SRCR),
- Medium Range Chaff Rocket (MRCR) and
- Long-Range Chaff Rocket (LRCR).
- The Indian Navy conducted trials of all three variants in the Arabian Sea on Indian Naval Ship and found the performance satisfactory.
- Both are used to as defensive countermeasure to confuse the radar from detecting a vessel, or deflect the missiles from the target.
- While flares, when fired, generate a strong infrared source to attract heat-seeking missiles, chaff is used to misguide radar-tracking weapons.
- Chaff is composed of many small aluminium or zinc coated fibres. It will be stored on-board the aircraft as cartridges.
- The Court also examined the scope of Section 170 and various High Court judgments in this regard.
- The word "custody" appearing in Section 170 of the Cr.P.C. does not contemplate either police or judicial custody but it merely connotes the presentation of the accused by the Investigating Officer before the court while filing the chargesheet.
- The Pantanal wetland in central South America and the Colorado river basin in the southwestern United States have been in the spotlight in the past few years.
- The year 2021 has seen a tumultuous summer so far as heatwaves, wildfires and extreme precipitation have hit various parts of the globe.
- The Pantanal has been affected by the worst drought in the past 50 years.
- The drought was caused because of a phenomenon known as ‘atmospheric blocking’.
- The Pantanal is the largest tropical wetland and one of the most pristine in the world.
- The Pantanal comprises about 3% of the entire world’s wetlands.
- It is located in south-central Brazil, sprawls across three South American countries– Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.
- The Pantanal is home to about 3,500 plant species, 656 bird species, 325 fish species, 159 mammals, 53 amphibians and 98 reptiles with the largest concentration of crocodiles in the world.
- The Pantanal is also home to the biggest parrot on the planet, the hyacinth macaw.
- The Pantanal Conservation area—a group of four protected areas in the Pantanal—was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its ecological significance.
- The state government has stated that there is no ban on interfaith marriages in the State.
- Two petitions filed that have challenged the newly enacted Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021 which deals with forcible religious conversion through marriages.
- The high court bench observed that the amended law keeps a sword hanging over interfaith couples because it has created an impression that interfaith marriages are not permissible in the State.
- The Act has amended the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003 with some stringent provisions against any individual or institution indulging in forcible religious conversion by marriage.
- The family court or other court can declare the marriage formalized only for the sake of conversion of religion or vice versa as void.
- No person can convert another person from one religion to another by use of force or allurement or by any fraudulent means, or help such marriage for conversion of religion,
- The act places the burden of proof of innocence on the person who caused the conversion or on persons assisting such act.
- The act holds all – who commits the crime, who forces another person to crime, who helps or advices another person to crime – equally guilty.
- A person found guilty will be punished with minimum 3 years imprisonment which may be extended up to 5 years and a minimum fine of Rs 2 lakh.
- And if in case of minor, woman or someone belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe the punishment is minimum 4- 7 years imprisonment and minimum fine of Rs 3 lakh.
- The act provides that any aggrieved person, his parents, brother, sister or any other person related by blood, marriage or adoption can lodge an FIR against the person for an offence committed under the law.
- The act provided cancellation of the registration of any organisation found violating the law, and minimum imprisonment of 3 years extendable up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh.
- Such organisation will cease to get any financial assistance or grant from the State Government from the date the chargesheet has been filed against the organisation.
- The offences under this act shall be deemed non-bailable and cognizable offenses and shall not be probed by an officer below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.
- Option to sell power to third parties:
- The power generating companies are being given an option to sell power to third parties and recover their costs.
- If a distribution licensee has any payment, including late payment surcharge, outstanding after the expiry of 7 months from the due date as prescribed in the PPA (power purchase agreement), the generating company may sell power to any consumer or any other licensee or power exchanges, for the period of such default.
- First in, first out for payment:
- The rules aim to bring transparency and reduce the burden of distribution licensee by adopting principle of first in, first out for payment by distribution licensees.
- All the bills payable by a distribution licensee to a generating company or a trading licensee for power procured from it or to a transmission licensee shall be time-tagged with respect to the prescribed date of payment specified in PPA.
- The payment shall be made by the distribution licensee:
- First against the oldest procurement of power
- Then to the second oldest procurement and so on
- This is to ensure that payment against a procurement is not made unless and until all procurement older than it have been paid for.
- The proposed amendments are said to be in the interest of the electricity consumers and the power sector as a whole.
POSTED ON 22-08-2021 BY ADMIN
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