India’s women’s hockey team got a silver medal at the Asian Games for the second time as it lost 1-2 to lower-ranked Japan in the final at the Gelora Bung Karno Hockey Field here on Friday.

World No.14 Japan took the lead through Minami Shimizu in the 11th minute but world No.9 India pulled level through Neha Goyal in the 25th minute. Motomi Kawamura regained Japan’s lead in the 44th minute. India couldn’t find their equaliser and had to settle for the silver medal.

It was India’s second silver medal in women’s hockey in Asiad history. The last time they had finished second was in the 1998 edition. The only time they have won the title was in 1982 Games in New Delhi.

Coming into the final, India were the favourites having scored 38 goals during the group stage before securing a 1-0 win over China in the semi-finals. Also. going by recent results, India have had uccessful outings against the Japanese.

India started the first quarter well as they created a few opportunities which saw forwards Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur and skipper Rani Rampal come close to scoring, but were denied by a rigid Japanese defence.

The Japanese got into the game and had their first real chance in the 8th minute as they forced Indian goalkeeper Savita to make a save off Aki Yamada’s shot. 

The 10th minute saw India win their first penalty corner. Japanese goalkeeper Megumi Kageyama kept away Gurjit Kaur’s drag-flick on the left post.

After the turnover, Japan came hard at the Indians, earning a penalty corner. Shimizu deflected a penalty corner near the left post to give Japan a crucial 1-0 lead.

Japan looked comfortable on the ball towards the start of the second quarter and made several interceptions to deny India the opportunity to stitch passes together. 

However, the Indian team was finally successful in finding an equaliser in the 25th minute as Navneet Kaur and Neha combined in a brilliant counter-attacking move to score India’s equaliser. Navneet struck a reverse shot across goal from inside the striking circle to find an unmarked Neha, who deflected the ball into the back of the net.

In the third quarter, India minimised unforced errors, building pressure on their opponents by keeping the ball better.

India had the first chance of the period in the 36th minute as Vandana Katariya and Navjot Kaur combined to attack on the counter, but the Japanese defence held firm to clear the ball away. 

Vandana Katariya took another shot in the next minute but her strike was saved by Kageyama.

Japan, too, got their game going. With just over a minute remaining in the third quarter, Japan were awarded their second penalty corner which was well converted by Kawamura through a variation as they led 2-1.

It was desperate times for the Indian team as they tried to find a way past the Japanese defense. Whereas, Japan, on the other hand, tried to stay in front and manage the match well as they kept possession inside India’s half to utilise vital seconds.

The Indian team created an opportunity in the last minute when Rani and Vandana found themselves in possession inside Japan’s striking circle. But the latter’s shot went just wide of the goalpost as Indian hopes fizzled.

The Bimstec regional bloc on Friday reiterated its resolve to provide seamless transport connectivity within its seven member states and renewed its commitment to an early free trade deal.

A joint declaration issued at the conclusion of the Fourth Bimstec Summit here stated that the member states resolved “to establish seamless multi-modal transportation linkages and smooth, synchronised and simplified transit facilities”.

This would be done “through the development, expansion and modernisation of highways, railways, waterways, sea routes, airways in the region”.

It said that the respective authorities would be directed to speed up their efforts to conclude the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’s Coastal Shipping Agreement and the Bimstec Motor Vehicle Agreement as early as possible.

The bloc was also satisfied with the preparation of the draft Bimstec Master Plan on Transport Connectivity and called for its early adoption.

It thanked the Asian Development Bank for providing support to prepare the Master Plan and tasked the Bimstec Transport Connectivity Working Group to work out the modalities for its implementation, giving due attention to the special circumstances and needs of the member states. 

“We agree that the Master Plan would serve as a strategic document that guides actions and promotes synergy among various connectivity frameworks, such as the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Master Plan on Connectivity 2025 (MPAC 2025), the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), to achieve enhanced connectivity and sustainable development in our region,” it stated.

The statement comes in the wake of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stress on connectivity within the region during his address at the inaugural session of the Summit on Thursday.

Bimstec came into existence on June 6, 1997, through the Bangkok Declaration.

It comprises seven countries lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The bloc brings together 1.6 billion people, or 22 per cent of the world’s population, and has a combined GDP of $2.8 trillion.

In terms of trade cooperation, the bloc renewed its commitment to an early conclusion of Bimstec Free Trade Area (FTA) negotiations, and directed the Bimstec Trade and Economic Ministerial Meeting (TEMM) and its subsidiary bodies including the Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) to expedite finalisation of all related Agreements of the Bimstec FTA as early as possible. 

The member states also agreed to enhance cooperation for development, access and sharing of affordable technologies, including for micro, small and medium enterprises for promoting sustainable development across sectors.

The declaration reemphasised the need for cooperation in mountain ecosystems and the Blue Economy.

In terms of people-to-people ties, the bloc resolved to build a deeper understanding and trust among member states and promote people-to-people contacts at various levels.

The member states also agreed “to take concrete steps to promote intra-Bimstec tourism and task the relevant authorities to devise strategies considering the emerging opportunities and building on the past initiatives”.

In its visionary move, central government has proposed to set up Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) replacing the University Grants Commission (UGC), a statutory body under University Grants Commission Act, 1956 through draft Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Act, 2018.

The main concern of the government behind this move is to make place of India among the world’s top 500 universities. Thereby, main thrust has been put on creating separate blocks for regulating the institutes and their funding aspects. HECI is different from UGC in a sense that former will only be associated with “promoting the quality of academic instruction, maintenance of academic standard and ensuring the autonomy of institutes of higher education.” HECI, unlike UGC has no power to sanction grants to the institutes and this domain will fall under the hands of Ministry of Human Resource and Development.

Moreover, HECI has power to shut down those institutions which has lowered down their academic standards which would also attract the penal liability upon them and a detailed procedure has given in the Act for granting the authorization to any institution or university or college in order to ensure their compliance with the better academic standards within a framework of regulatory regime. However, it is remarkable to note that UGC had no such power.

Another facet is, the emerging and challenging issue in India’s education is that “commercialization of education” where private institutes charge exorbitant fee which becomes hurdle in the way of universal, accessible, affordable and quality education because people with lower income can’t even think to approach there. So, HECI will regulate this aspect too.

But, the question is whether creating a uniform body like HECI will solve all the problems associated with the higher education or it will actually contribute in the development of education or not.

By analyzing the whole idea of the picture, one can assume that HECI is an overarching umbrella body which would try to manage and control the institutes of higher education instead of giving them autonomy what they actually require. 

Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has rightly pointed out that this ‘unilateral move’ of the central government would restrict the role of the states in regulating the institutes. No doubt, it would affect the spirit of co-operative federalism in the country. Moreover, the Advisory Council which is created under the draft Act has its head Union Minister of HRD which would push it for exerting more governmental influence over the body. 

Since past few years, the standard of quality education has fallen down but a new regulatory and legislative regime must provide environment friendly atmosphere taking into account the considerations of the states. 

Union Minister of HRD has invited suggestions from various stakeholders on setting up of HECI though the intended action of the government makes it clear that it would be done away with the UGC as soon as possible. 

Recently, government has released the list of ‘institution of eminence’ under which IISc, Bengaluru, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi in public category and Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation, Pune, BITS Pilani and Manipur Institute, Karnataka in private category have been finalized. But it attracted numerous criticisms on the ground that Jio institute is not even in existence then how central government can place it under the category. It is evident that primary focus of government is on technical education and research though these institutions are already having sufficient funds, research tools and capacity to grant quality education. Government must shift its focus towards other institutes, universities and colleges too which are working in the domain of sociology, history, management, law etc. 

The government should also focus on improving the primary education which is the basis for higher education and try to make it affordable and accessible to children belonging to lower strata of the society which would pave the way for quality higher education. In our country, right to education is made a fundamental right under Article 21-A but it is still a dream for many. We should equally prioritize the education at ground level otherwise quality and accessibility could not be ensured at the higher level. 

In General Comment No. 13, Committee of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights highlighted the value of education in the life of an individual. It was stated that education helps the economically and socially marginalized adults as well as children to participate fully in their communities. Further, the comment laid down four essential features that education must conform with i.e., available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. Education should only remain a potential tool for transforming the lives of the children. Thus, we need a body which is not politically motivated and subject to whims and fancies of the government’s discretion.

However, the government’s take on Foreign University Bill, 2010 is a welcome step in the alignment of improvement of higher education that would permit the foreign universities to open their branches in India. It would facilitate the quality education, good infrastructure in India itself to those students who want to pursue their higher education from abroad. But, government has to ensure the transparency in the regulatory regime of these universities in order to prevent corruption, unnecessary political interference and commercialization. 

(Writer is a budding lawyer at M.P. High Court)

Parents and teachers may find it difficult to detect depression in young children, that can affect their social skills and academics, a new study shows.

According to Anxiety and Depression Association of America, as many as 2-3 per cent of children aged between 6-12 might have a major depressive disorder.

But parents and teachers face difficulties in recognising depression in children.

The findings, appearing in the Journal of School Psychology, showed that children who show mild to severe symptoms of depression in second and third grades are six times more likely to have skill deficits, such as difficulties with social skills or academics, than children without symptoms. 

However, when teachers and parents were asked to rate a child’s level of depression, there was only about 5-10 per cent overlap in their ratings.

“Some people would view that overlap as the truth about a child’s well-being and areas of disagreement as errors, but we need to explore the possibility that each of them are seeing different aspects of children’s behaviour and mental health,” said Keith Herman, professor in the University of Missouri (MU), College of Education. 

For the study, the team completed profile analyses of 643 children in early elementary school to explore how patterns between student, teacher and parent reporting can be used to gain a holistic picture of a child’s mental health. 

Herman suggested that mental health professionals could work with teachers and parents to identify depressive symptoms early by including self reports from children in mental health evaluations.

“The gold standard for identifying children who might be at risk for developing depression later in life is to ask the children themselves,” noted Herman.

“However, even if a child doesn’t say they feel depressed, certain outward behaviours might provide clues to the state of the child’s mental health. It’s important for teachers and parents to catch these behaviours early to prevent long-term problems that occur with depression,” he said.

Claiming that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were fast losing popularity, writer-activist Arundhati Roy on Thursday said that attempts will be made to “derail everything with some surprise attack” ahead of the 2019 general elections.

“There will be ruthless and continuous attempts to divert attention from the reasons for this loss of popularity, and to fracture the growing solidarity of the opposition. It will be a continuous circus from now on till the elections — arrests, lynchings, bomb attacks, false flag attacks, riots,” she said at a press conference here.

Roy along with rights activist Aruna Roy and lawyer Prashant Bhushan and others held a press conference at the Press Club here to express their views on the arrest of rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and P. Varavara Rao on Tuesday, which had triggered a massive outcry.

She alleged that small businesses, traders and the poor had suffered enormously while companies close to the BJP had multiplied their wealth several times over since the NDA government came to power in 2014. 

“Businessmen like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi have been allowed to decamp with thousands of crores of public money while the government looked the other way. What kind of accountability can we expect for all this? Zero,” Roy said.

The writer said the Tuesday arrest of rights activists is “illegal”.

“The arrest of these people serves to cut whole populations of vulnerable people off from any hope of justice or representation. Because these persons were their representatives. They remain in custody, charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Fortunately, they are still alive, unlike Ishrat Jahan, Sohrabuddin and Kauser Bi.

“The vulnerable people are being cordoned off and silenced. The vociferous are being incarcerated. God help us get our country back,” she said.

A new clinical trial SimpliciTB that will evaluate whether a new four-drug regimen can treat most types of tuberculosis (TB) including multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) more quickly and effectively than currently-available treatments, has been launched by TB Alliance. 
The first patients for this trial have been enrolled at the National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease in Tbilisi, Georgia. SimpliciTB is expected to enroll 450 people with TB, including up to 150 with MDR-TB across at least 26 centers in 10 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. SimpliciTB will test the efficacy of a four-month treatment with the BPaMZ regimen, consisting of the drugs bedaquiline, pretomanid, moxifloxacin and pyrazinamide, in people with drug-sensitive TB. Outcomes will be compared against the standard six-month treatment regimen of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol (HRZE), to determine whether BPaMZ may be able to shorten the duration of therapy for drug-sensitive TB by a third. The trial will also assess BPaMZ’s potential to treat MDR-TB in six months. Currently, treatment for drug-resistant TB is extremely complicated, expensive, and lengthy, involving a wide variety of medicines that have debilitating side-effects, can include injectable drugs, and are administered for nine months to two years or longer. Today, people with MDR-TB often go untreated, and of those who do receive treatment only about half are cured, a statement issued by TB Alliance has said.
TB Alliance is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to finding faster-acting and affordable drug regimens to fight tuberculosis (TB). Through innovative science and with partners around the globe, we aim to ensure equitable access to faster, better TB cures that will advance global health and prosperity. 
TB Alliance is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to finding faster-acting and affordable drug regimens to fight tuberculosis (TB). Through innovative science and with partners around the globe, we aim to ensure equitable access to faster, better TB cures that will advance global health and prosperity. 
“As resistance to current TB treatments continues to grow, we need to introduce all-oral drug regimens that can treat every person with TB in six months or less, regardless of their resistance profile,” said Mel Spigelman, president and CEO of TB Alliance. “If proven successful in SimpliciTB, the BPaMZ regimen would represent a major step toward this goal.” The BPaMZ regimen was previously studied in the Phase 2b study called NC-005, in which people with MDR-TB who were treated with the BPaMZ regimen cleared TB bacteria from their lungs up to three times faster than drug-sensitive TB patients treated with the standard (HRZE) treatment. NC-005 was an eight-week trial conducted at 10 sites across Uganda, South Africa and Tanzania. SimpliciTB builds on these results, testing BPaMZ over a longer duration, in more people and across more sites, and against both drug-sensitive and MDR-TB.  According to the World Health Organization’s most recent Global Tuberculosis Report there is growing resistance to available drugs, which means the disease is becoming more deadly and difficult to treat. WHO estimates that in 2016 there were 600,000 new cases with resistance to rifampicin–the most effective first-line drug—of which 490,000 had MDR-TB.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a global disease, found in every country in the world. It is the leading infectious cause of death worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that two billion people—one third of the world’s population—are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb), the bacteria that causes TB. In 2016, 10.4 million fell ill from TB and 1.7 million died. It is an airborne disease that can be spread by coughing or sneezing. 

Mr Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chief Ministers of Northern States for the construction of Lakhwar Multi-Purpose project in the Upper Yamuna.
The MoU will be signed with the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh – Yogi Adityanath: Rajasthan – Ms Vasundhara Raje: Uttarakhand -Mr Trivendra Singh Rawat:  Haryana- Mr Manohar Lal: Delhi – Mr Arvind Kejriwal, and Himachal Pradesh – Mr Jai Ram Thakur.
 The Rs 3,966.51 crore Lakhwar project envisages construction of a 204 m high concrete dam across river Yamuna near Lohari village in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand with a live storage capacity of 330.66 MCM. This storage will provide irrigation for 33,780 hectares land and availability of 78.83 MCM water for domestic, drinking and industrial use in the six basin states. The project will also generate 300 MW of power. The project is to be executed by M/s Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVL).
 Of the total project cost of Rs. 3966.51 crore, the power component of Rs. 1388.28 crore will be borne totally by the Uttarakhand government. Uttarakhand will also get the benefit of total power generation once the project is complete.
From the remaining cost of Rs. 2578.23 crore which form the irrigation and drinking water components, 90% will be borne by the Centre (Rs. 2320.41 crore) and 10% will be divided between the States of Haryana -Rs.123.29 crore (47.82%), Uttar Pradesh/ Uttarakhand -Rs. 86.75 crore (33.65%), Rajasthan-Rs. 24.08 crore (9.34%), NCT Delhi -Rs. 15.58 crore (6.04%) and Himachal Pradesh -Rs. 8.13 crore (3.15%).
 Storage created as a result of implementation of Lakhwar project will be shared by the basin States in proportion to their overall annual allocations as given in the mother MoU signed between the six states on 12.05.1994. Allocation of water from storage created by Lakhwar Dam Reservoir will be regulated by UYRB as per this MoU. Except the sharing of stored water all other resultant economic benefits including generation of hydropower due to construction of the dam are assigned to Uttarakhand.
 Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi are the six Upper Yamuna Basin states. Upper Yamuna refers to the stretch of River Yamuna from its origin to the Okhla Barrage in Delhi. The six states had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 12th May 1994 regarding allocation of surface flow of River Yamuna. The agreement had recognized the need to create storage facilities in Upper Yamuna Basin to conserve and utilize the monsoon flows of the river in a regulated manner. The MoU had also laid down the interim seasonal allocation of the annual utilizable flow of the river pending creation of the storage facilities.
 Besides Lakhwar Multi-Purpose project, there are two other major projects being envisaged in the Upper Yamuna reaches which are Kishau Multi-Purpose project and Renukaji Multi-Purpose project. A fourth project is the Vyasi project, a run-of-the-river scheme under which a concrete dam across River Yamuna is being constructed near Vyasi village in Dehradun district. The Vyasi project is scheduled for commissioning by December 2018.   
 The Kishau Multi-purpose project which includes construction of a 236 m high concrete dam across River Tons, a tributary of River Yamuna in Dehradun district with a live storage capacity of 1324 MCM, will create  irrigation potential of about 97000 hectares, make available 517 MCM drinking water and generate 660 MW of power. The Renukaji Multi-Purpose project which has been conceived as a storage project on River Giri, tributary of Yamuna, in Sirmour district of Himachal Pradesh, envisages construction of 148m high rock filled dam for supply of 23 cumec water to Delhi and generate 40 MW of power during peak flow.
 As per the MoU of 1994, separate agreements will have to be done between the six basin states for each water storage project in the Upper reaches of River Yamuna. After completion of all these storage projects in Upper Yamuna Basin (including Lakhwar), the total benefits in terms of  additional irrigation potential created will be 130856 hectares, water availability for various uses will be 1093.83 MCM and power generation capacity will be 1060 MW.

More than 50,000 people were killed by landslides around the world between 2004 and 2016, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Sheffield. Topping this list is India, which accounts for 20 per cent of these events. It is also the country where human-triggered fatal landslides are increasing at the highest rate, followed by Pakistan, Myanmar and the Philippines.
Data compiled on more than 4,800 fatal landslides during the 13-year period, also revealed for the first time that landslides resulting from human activity have increased over time. The most tragic incident was identified in Kedarnath in June 2013 in  which 5,000 people were reported killed.
The research is published in the European Geosciences Union journal Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences.
The researchers found that more than 700 fatal landslides that occurred between 2004 and 2016 had a human fingerprint. Construction works, legal and illegal mining, as well as the unregulated cutting of hills (carving out land on a slope) caused most of the human-induced landslides.
Dr Melanie Froude, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Sheffield’s Department of Geography and lead author of the study, said: “We were aware that humans are placing increasing pressure on their local environment, but it was surprising to find clear trends within the database that fatal landslides triggered by construction, illegal hill cutting and illegal mining were increasing globally during the period of 2004 to 2016.”
While the trend is global, Asia is the most affected continent. Dr Froude added: “All countries in the top 10 for fatal landslides triggered by human activity are located in Asia.”
Professor Dave Petley, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at the University of Sheffield, started collecting data on fatal landslides after realising that many databases on natural disasters were “significantly underestimating the extent of landslide impact”. While earthquakes and storms are deadlier, landslides cause a significant number of fatalities.
The researchers identified a total of 4,800 fatal landslides, excluding those triggered by earthquakes that occurred around the world between 2004 and 2016 and caused a total of about 56,000 deaths.
The most tragic event identified by the researchers was the Kedarnath landslide in June 2013 in India, which resulted in over 5,000 deaths. It was due to extreme weather conditions that caused flash floods and massive mudflows, which affected thousands of religious pilgrims trapped in a mountain area.
Since 2004, Professor Petley has painstakingly collected data on fatal landslides from online English-language media reports. To confirm the news stories were accurate, Professor Petley – and more recently Dr Froude, who reviewed all landslide accounts – checked each report whenever possible against government and aid agency articles, academic studies or through personal communication. Details about the landslides, such as location, impacts or cause, were added to their Global Fatal Landslide Database.
Professor Petley said: “Collecting these reports and organising them into a database shows us where landslides are frequently harming people, what causes these landslides and whether there are patterns in fatal landslide occurrence over time.
“The database provides us with an overview of the impact of landslides on society.”
Aside from Asia, where 75 per cent of landslides in the database occurred, the areas most affected are in Central and South America, the Caribbean islands, and in East Africa. In Europe, the Alps is the region with the most fatal landslides.
In support of past studies, the researchers also found that 79 per cent of landslides in their database were triggered by rainfall. Most events happen during the northern hemisphere summer, when cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons are more frequent and the monsoon season brings heavy rains to parts of Asia.
The Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences study highlights that fatal landslides are more common in settlements, along roads, and at sites rich in precious resources. They occur more frequently in poor countries and affect poor people disproportionately, the researchers say.
In the Himalayan mountain region, especially in Nepal and India, many of the fatal landslides triggered by construction occurred on road construction sites in rural areas, while in China many happened in urban building sites.
Dr Froude said: “The prevalence of landslides in these settings suggests that regulations to protect workers and the public are insufficient or are not being sufficiently enforced. In the case of roads, maintaining safety during construction is difficult when it is economically unviable to completely shut roads because alternative routes involve substantial 100 mile-plus detours.”
She added: “Landslides triggered by hill cutting are mostly a problem in rural areas, where many people illegally collect material from hillslopes to build their houses.
“We found several incidences of children being caught-up in slides triggered as they collected coloured clay from hillslopes, for decoration of houses during religious festivals in Nepal. Educating communities who undertake this practise on how to do it safely, will save lives.
“With appropriate regulation to guide engineering design, education and enforcement of regulation by specialist inspectors, landslides triggered by construction, mining and hill cutting are entirely preventable.”
Professor Petley concluded: “The study highlights that we need to refocus our efforts globally on preventable slope accidents.”
The University of Sheffield’s Department of Geography has an internationally-recognised record of academic research by staff with wide-ranging interests in both human and physical geography. Geography at Sheffield is ranked within the top 15 UK departments following the results of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.

NEW DELHI : The government on Saturday approved procurement of 111 utility helicopters for the Indian Navy at a cost of over Rs 21,000 crore in a significant decision under the Strategic Partnership (SP) model that seeks to boost the “Make in India” programme.
The decision was taken at the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting headed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The DAC cleared procurement proposals worth about Rs 46,000 crore including anti-submarine capable 24 Multi Role Helicopters (MRH), 14 Vertically Launched Short Range Missile System and 155 mm advanced towed artillery gun system.
“The DAC, in a landmark decision today, approved procurement of 111 Utility Helicopters for the Indian Navy at a cost of over Rs 21,000 crore. This is the first project under the MoD’s prestigious Strategic Partnership model that aims at providing significant fillip to the government’s �Make in India’ programme,” an official release said. 
The SP model envisages indigenous manufacturing of major defence platforms by an Indian Strategic Partner, who will collaborate with foreign original equipment manufacturer, acquire niche technologies and set up production facilities in the country.
The SP model has a long-term vision of promoting India as a manufacturing hub for defence equipment, enhancing self-sufficiency and establishing an industrial and research and development (R&D) ecosystem, capable of meeting the future requirements of the armed forces. 
The contract, when finalised, is expected to result in a widespread defence industrial eco-system in the Indian aviation sector with the private industry and MSMEs as major stakeholders. 
While 16 helicopters are expected to be procured in a fly-away condition from a foreign vendor, the remaining 95 would be built in India by an Indian partner through joint ventures. The utility helicopters are expected to replace the aging fleet of Chetak helicopters. 
Those expected to compete for the Naval Utility Helicopter programme include firms from the US, Europe and Russia. The utility helicopter programme is expected to pave the way for several big-ticket projects, including for building modern submarines, fighter planes and helicopters in the country.
The government has identified four segments for acquisition under Strategic Partnership route – fighter aircraft, helicopters, submarines and armoured fighting vehicles and main battle tanks. 
The DAC also approved procurement of anti-submarine capable 24 Multi Role Helicopters, which are an integral part of the frontline warships like aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and corvettes.
The MRH would contribute to the Navy’s anti-submarine, anti-ship warfare and airborne early-warning capabilities.
“Availability of MRH with the Navy would plug the existing capability gap,” the release said. 
The DAC cleared procurement of 150 indigenously designed and developed 155 mm advanced towed artillery gun systems for the Indian Army at an approximate cost of Rs 3,364.78 crore.
These guns have been indigenously designed and developed by DRDO and will be manufactured by production agencies nominated by DRDO. They are likely to be the mainstay of artillery in the near future. 
Of the 14 Vertically Launched Short Range Missile Systems cleared for procurement by the DAC, 10 systems will be indigenously developed. 
These systems will boost the self-defence capability of ships against anti-ship missiles. 

The Chhattisgarh government has decided to name its new Capital as Atal Nagar in memory of the former Prime Minister and BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee. 

This decision was taken by the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh during motion of condolence at the Cabinet meeting. It was also decided to rename some places after him.

The Chief Minister said that acknowledging the crucial role played by late Atal Behari Vajpayee in the formation of Chhattisgarh, the cabinet decided to rechristen Naya Raipur as Atal Nagar. A memorial would also be made at Naya Raipur, his statue installed and the central park also to be named after him.

He said Mr Vajpayee’s statue will be installed in all 27 district headquarters. Also a decision was taken to rename Bilaspur University and Rajnandgaon Medical College after Mr Vajpayee. 

A national award would also be instituted in the name of Mr Vajpayee to honour national level poets. The second phase of vikas yatra would now be known as Atal Vikas Yatra.   

He said that the cabinet has decided that Madwa Thermal Power project and Raipur Expressway will be renamed after Mr Vajpayee and Narrow Gauge Line as Atal Path, keeping in mind Mr Vajpayee’s contribution to Pokhran Nuclear Test, a police battalion would be named as ‘Pokhran Battalion.’