NEW DELHI : Indian Railways has decided to deploy “Drone” cameras (UAV/NETRA) for various railway activities especially project monitoring and maintenance of tracks and other railway infrastructure. It has been given directions to Zonal Railways to procure such cameras. This is in-line with Railways’ desire to use technology to enhance safety and efficiency in train operations.

“Drone” cameras shall be deployed to undertake monitoring activities of relief and rescue operation, project monitoring, progress of important works, conditions of track and inspection related activities. It shall also be used to assess preparedness of Non-Interlocking (NI) works, crowd management during fairs and melas, to identify scrap and also for aerial survey of station yards. It is going to be instrumental in providing real time inputs related to safety and maintenance of tracks and other railway infrastructure.

Under this initiative, West Central Railways with headquarter at Jabalpur (M.P) has become the first Zonal Railway to procure “Drone” cameras in Indian Railways. West Central Railways has already done a trial-run of those cameras last week on its all the three divisions in the following locations.

1. Jabalpur Division – Narmada Bridge near Bhitoni
2. Bhopal Division – (i) Nishatpura Yard; (ii) Third Line work between HBJ – Misrod.
3. Kota Division – (i) Chambal Bridge near Kota; (ii) Dakania Talav Yard near Kota.

WCR further plans to use Drone for project monitoring in 3rd line work of Bina-Katni, Doubling work in Katni-Singrouli, Important Bridge inspections and Mansoon preparedness in deep cutting portions of Ghat Sections of Bhopal and Jabalpur Divisions. Earlier, demonstration of “Drone” camera was done for project monitoring of Railway Electrification work of Jabalpur Yard.

Mumbai : Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in association with Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple Trust organized the 5^th edition of the children’s most favourite event- “Little Hearts Marathon 2018” at Bandra Kurla Complex on 7^th Jan 2018. More than 25,000 children from across Maharashtra participated in the marathon.

Mrs Amruta Fadnavis, Wife of Hon. Chief Minister of Maharashtra Mr Devendra Fadnavis, graced the occasion and flagged off the marathon. Also present at the flag-off event were Dr Ramdas Ambatkar, State General Secretary, BJP Maharashtra, Ms. Shraddha Jadhav, Corporator & Ex Mayor of Mumbai, Mr Arvind Sawant, MP, Mr Rajesh Mahapuskar, Director of the award-winning Marathi film ‘Ventilator’, Mr Ness Wadia, MD, The Wadia Group and Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospitals. 

Approximately 100,000 babies are born each year with “major” and “critical” Congenital heart diseases (CHD) in India. As symptoms for congenital heart diseases begin at 1 or 2 months of age, often the diagnosis of the same is missed; making it the biggest reason for increased mortality and morbidity. Due to general lack of awareness, approximately 10% of infant mortality in India can be accounted for by CHD alone. The number of children who are in waiting list for heart surgeries is more then 500 in Maharashtra state alone. Also the rate of cardiac diseases in young adults is increasingly alarmingly with sedentary lifestyle. The Marathon also promotes the message of a healthy active lifestyle amongst children.

Mrs. Amruta Fadnavis Said “Awareness of doing physical activity is very important in children. Running, walking will help them to keep healthy. Today’s generation play on laptops, phone, and video game. Little hearts marathon has seen more than 25000 children participated for healthy lifestyle & creating awareness. She concluded by appreciating the initiative of Wadia hospitals of ‘Save Heart Save Life’ and gave them best wishes for the event.”

Ness Wadia, MD, Wadia Group, said, Â“We are extremely happy to see how Little Hearts Marathon has evolved over the last 5 years. The zeal with which children have participated year after year gives us sheer joy and encourages us to do more to ‘Save Hearts Save Lives’. In our endeavour to have no waiting lists for cardiac surgeries throughout the country, we will be taking Little Hearts Marathon to more cities across India in coming years. We wish more and more people come forward from the community to support this noble cause.”

Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO Wadia Hospitals, said, “We dedicate the success of Little Hearts Marathon to the lovely children who enthusiastically participate to support children of their age suffering from heart diseases. Today there exist only a handful of specialized centres offering dedicated paediatric cardiac services across India. Wadia Hospitals is the first children’s hospital to have introduced expert Paediatric Cardiac Care services in the bustling and heavily populated metropolis of Mumbai. At Wadia we have a specialized team including Paediatric Cardiologist, Paediatric cardiac Surgeon and Paediatric Cardiac Intensivists,” added Dr Bodhanwala. 

Mr. Aadesh Bandekar, Chairman, Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple Trust, said, Â“Siddhivinayak temple has always supported Little Hearts Marathon and helped to create awareness and treatment of those children suffering with cardiac disease. With Wadia Hospitals, we are doing a lot of health activities since many years and helping with funds for needy patients and we will continue to do so.”

Rajnikanth can cut into the votes of the AIADMK and the DMK. Mid term poll cannot be ruled out. 

Mega star Rajnikanth has taken a shade over two decades to overcome the nagging doubts and vacillation before taking the political plunge last Sunday on New Year’s eve. His legion of fans were ecstatic that he will float his party at the appropriate time and contest all the 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu assembly.

What cannot be denied is the cine star’s immense appeal and charisma among the people in the southern state. Dravidian politics surged to the fore in 1967 when the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) sent the entrenched Indian National Congress packing bringing about a path breaking change in Tamil Nadu’s political terrain.

Rajnikanth believes the state has become a laughing stock in the country compelling him to change his mind even if it is twenty years too late. His entry into politics has the portends of denting the vote base of the two domineering Dravidian parties — the AIADMK holding the reins of power in Chennai and its arch rival the DMK. 

The highly circumspect Dravidian majors sought to put up a brave front in the wake for Rajnikant’s foray into politics emphasising it was unlikely to affect them adversely. 

However, with the death of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa in December 2016 after she had steered her regional party to a second successive victory in the assembly elections in the earlier part of that year, the second rung leaders appear out of depth looking over each other’s shoulders and finding it difficult to keep the flock together.   

Then TTK Dhinakaran, a nephew of jailed Sasikala, a confidant of the late Jayalalithaa, managed to win the RK Nagar assembly seat handsomely in a bye-election recently. The prestige of this seat was self evident as Jayalalithaa had represented this constituency on the outskirts of Chennai. 

This has added a new dimension to the ongoing intrigues within the AIADMK on the one side and the independent Dhinakaran on the other. He has threatened to see the back of the shaky and rudderless AIADMK government within three months. 

The DMK candidate at RK Nagar finished a poor third facing the ignominy of losing his deposit. 

The next assembly election in Tamil Nadu is due in 2021. However, considering the intense differences within, the factions headed by chief minister A Palaniswamy and deputy chief minister O Paneerselvam have managed to keep themselves afloat so far. 

The chances of this arrangement pulling through another three years till the assembly elections  2021 appears remote. Discriminating Tamil Nadu watchers believe irrespective of Rajnikanth entering politics, the AIADMK is a sinking ship. Senior leaders intending to quit the party would find Dhinakaran a better option than opting for Rajanikanth. 

In the DMK camp there are underlying fears that if Rajnikanth’s party is able to draw a few thousand of votes from its kitty, it might prove dangerous for them as their chances of regaining power in Tamil Nadu goes for a toss. 

The significance of this is that unlike the Lok Sabha polls, a few thousand or even a few hundred votes, can tilt the balance in an assembly election. This is particularly so in Tamil Nadu.  

Under the circumstances the DMK, whose patriarch M Karunanidhi is as good as out of the contention because of age and ill health, might have to redraw their strategy by cobbling up a winning combination. 

On the other hand Rajnikanth lacks the experience as a politician. He wants to register his fan clubs all over state even as members of this organisation have been doing social work for promoting the actor. 

Nevertheless, the arrival of Rajnikanth in politics can pose a challenge to the AIADMK and the DMK. The AIADMK lacks a tall and credible leader as Jayalalithaa deliberately did not build a second line of leadership thus snuffing out any challenge to her leadership. 

For the DMK the march to victory might become more difficult. Also the cine fans forming the AIADMK’s original support base could migrate to Rajnikanth’s party. 

There are those who believe Rajnikanth sharing his thoughts in his retirement age is unlikely to work. Interestingly, the actor has drawn attention to pursuing “spiritual politics” which is an indication that he might align with the BJP. 

As evidenced during the 2014 general elections, the Lotus party remained keen to have a truck with a charismatic personality in Tamil Nadu having the prospects of being catapulted to seat of power at Fort St George in Chennai. 

The BJP is desperate for a breakthrough in Tamil Nadu which is critical for enlarging its base in that state which contributes a sizeable 39 seats to the Lok Sabha. The question is will Rajnikanth be able to provide an alternative to the two major Dravidian parties. 

For now the mega star has not spelt out anything about the party in terms of its name, the flag or the key points of his manifesto. He has also said that if he does not fulfil the pledges in three years he will call it quits. 

Not all film stars with a political itch have been able to catch the imagination of the people of Tamil Nadu. If MGR and Jayalalithaa were highly successful, those who have fallen by the wayside include Sivaji Ganesan and Chiranjeevi among others. 

It might be premature to assess what impact Rajnikanth’s proposed party will have on the people. Even as his moves need to be watched closely, the star struck people of Tamil Nadu appear hell bent on having him as the chief minister at least once. Lets wait and see.  

(Views are personal.)

On January 4, The Tribune in Chandigarh reported how anonymous sellers over WhatsApp were providing access to Aadhaar data for a fee of mere rupees 500 via Paytm. Now, a first information report (FIR) has been registered against The Tribune newspaper and its journalist Rachna Khaira over the uncover of the loopholes in the Aadhaar database system which the Unique Identification of India (UIDAI) calls a ‘misreporting’.

However, after the reports by The Tribune, Sanjay Jindal, Additional Director-General, UIDAI Regional Centre, Chandigarh, accepting that this was a lapse, told The Tribune: “Except the Director-General and I, no third person in Punjab should have a login access to our official portal. Anyone else having access is illegal, and is a major national security breach.”

Today, the clueless UIDAI has sent a letter to the Editor of The Tribune with a questionnaire: a.)Whether it was at all possible for your correspondent to view or obtain Fingerprints and Iris scan of any person through the aforesaid access to UIDAI portal? b) How many Aadhaar numbers did the correspondent actually enter through the said login ID and password and whom did those Aadhaar numbers belong to?

According to a report in The Indian Express, a deputy director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has registered an FIR, which also names Anil Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Raj (all of whom were contacted by the Tribune reporter as part of the story).  The FIR has been lodged per the crime branch’s cyber cell “under IPC Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document), as well Section 66 of the IT Act and Section 36/37 of the Aadhaar Act”.  The FIR further says, “They (The Tribune and the reporter) have unauthorisedly accessed the Aadhaar ecosystem in connivance of the criminal conspiracy… The act of the aforesaid involved persons is in violation of (the various sections mentioned in the FIR)… Hence, an FIR needs to be filed at the cyber cell for the said violation.”

After the FIR filed against the newspaper, there has been strong echo of support in the favour of the journalist and The Tribune. Many techie, digital experts and criminal lawyers are are criticising the UIDAI move to target the media for the FIR against the reporter who worked in the public interest. However, the UIDAI official Twitter handle tweeted back to back two statements: “In the recent case of The Tribune’s report in which an FIR is filed, an impression is being created in media that UIDAI is targeting the media or whistleblowers or “shooting the messenger”. This is not at all true.” 

“This is a case in which even though there was no breach of Aadhaar biometric database, it is for the act of unauthorised access, criminal proceedings have been initiated.”

The Patiala Media Club has condemned the registration of case against Tribune reporter Rachna Khaira. Nistula Hebbar of The Hindu has tweeted, “In a resolution passed in a meeting of club members, PMC terms this action as attempt to murder of fourth pillar of democracy. Seeks withdrawal of case and action against UIDAI officials.”

The Tribune had published, “It took 10 minutes in which an “agent” of the group running the racket created a “gateway” for this correspondent and gave a login ID and password. Lo and behold, you could enter any Aadhaar number in the portal, and instantly get all particulars that an individual may have submitted to the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), including name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has prequalified the first conjugate vaccine for typhoid, Bharat Biotech’s Typbar-TCV. Bharat Biotech is an Indian pharmaceutical company.

Typhoid conjugate vaccines (TCVs) are innovative products that have longer-lasting immunity than older vaccines, require fewer doses, and can be given to young children through routine childhood immunization programs. In simple terms, prequalification by WHO means that it meets acceptable standards of quality, safety and efficacy. This makes the vaccine eligible for procurement by UN agencies, such as UNICEF, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

In October 2017, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization, which advises WHO, recommended TCV for routine use in children over 6 months of age in typhoid endemic countries. SAGE also called for the introduction of TCV to be prioritized for countries with the highest burden of typhoid disease or of antibiotic resistance to Salmonella Typhi, the bacterium that causes the disease. Use of the vaccine should also help to curb the frequent use of antibiotics for treatment of presumed typhoid fever, and thereby help to slow the alarming increase in antibiotic resistance in Salmonella Typhi.

Shortly after SAGE’s recommendation, Gavi Board approved US$ 85 million in funding for TCVs starting in 2019. Prequalification is, therefore, a crucial next step needed to make TCVs available to low-income countries where they are needed most. And even in non-Gavi-supported countries, prequalification can help expedite licensure.

WHO prequalification helps to ensure that vaccines used in immunization programmes are safe, effective, and appropriate for countries’ needs.  WHO’s prequalification procedure consists of a transparent, scientifically sound assessment that includes reviewing the evidence, testing the consistency of each lot of manufactured vaccine, and visiting the manufacturing site.

Typhoid is a serious and sometimes fatal disease spread through contaminated food and water. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea or constipation. For millions of people living in low- and middle-income countries, typhoid is an ever present reality. Global estimates of the typhoid burden range between 11 and 20 million cases and between about 128 000 and 161 000 typhoid deaths annually. Poor communities and vulnerable groups, such as children, are often the most susceptible.

Urbanization and climate change have the potential to increase the global burden of typhoid. In addition, increasing resistance to antibiotic treatment is making it easier for typhoid to spread through overcrowded populations in cities and inadequate and/or flooded water and sanitation systems.

RANCHI : A Special CBI court on Saturday awarded three and a half years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs five lakh on former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad in a case related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.4 crore from the Deoghar treasury.

The court of special CBI judge Shivpal Singh announced the punishment to Mr Yadav under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) 420 (cheating, dishonestly), 467 (forgery), 471 (forged record) and 477 (A) (falsification) of the Indian Penal Code. 

The court imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh under Sections 13 (2) (prevention of corruption) read with Sec 13 (1) (c) (d).

In Patna, Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav held a meet with RJD party leaders and said, “The judiciary has performed its duty. We will go to the High Court after studying the sentence and apply for a bail”. Lalu who is currently lodged in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Jail, received his sentence through video-conferencing.

Former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted by a special CBI court in the 1996 fodder scam.  After 20 years of investigation, the CBI court in Ranchi has found Lalu Yadav guilty of fraudulent withdrawal of public money worth 89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury (then in Bihar, now in Jharkhand), between the years 1991 to 1994. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on 3rd January.

He was earlier convicted and sentenced to five years jail in the first fodder scam case of swindling money through fake receipts and vouchers of 37.50 crores from Chaibasa Treasury in 2013, which technically barred him from contesting elections for next 11 years, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify convicts jailed for more than two years.

Apart from the chief accused Lalu, the CBI special court also convicted 15 others in the fodder scam. It includes politicians like Jagdish Sharma and RK Rana, IAS officers Beck Julius, Phoolchand Singh and Mahesh Prasad, and other government officials Krishna Kumar and Subir Bhattacharya.

However, the special CBI judge Shivpal Singh acquitted the three-time former Congress CM of Bihar Jagannath Mishra and five other accused in the same case. After the conviction, Lalu Yadav and the other convicts were taken to Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Jail.

In the wake of Jagannath Mishra acquittal, RJD senior leader Raghuvansh Prasad, who was present in the court premises said, “Jagannath Mishra ko bail aur Lalu ko jail…ab yahi hai khel..(bail for Mishra and jail for Lalu, this is the game now.) When both are facing the same charges in the same case, how can one get bail and the other be jailed?”

NEW DELHI:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the first PIO Parliamentarian Conference on January 9 on Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas.

As many as 124 MPs, 17 Mayors of Indian origin from 23 countries, including UK, USA, South Africa and Canada will participate in the conference being held in the Capital.

“We are not sending invitation for Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to any SAARC country except Sri Lanka,’’ Dnyaneshwar Mulay, Secretary, Overseas Indian Affairs in the Ministry of External Affairs said here on Friday.  Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu will chair the valedictory session of the conference.

He said the first PIO Parliamentarian conference would open new communication channels with 23 countries and expand cooperation in a number of areas as well as create awareness on the wide spread of India’s roots. He said that nearly 270 PIOs were occupying high posts of heads of States, governments, MPs and Mayors in different countries.

At two sessions of the conference, star speakers will include former Union Minister and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee Shashi Tharoor and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar.  

Responding to a query, Mr. Mulay said that strong links with PIOs and effective communication with them had helped in improving the image of India in a number of developed nations.

Opinion | Despite of global slowdown and tumultuous happenings around the world India has become a bright spot for information technology sourcing, and this makes a perfect business sense for Fortune 500 clients around the world to rely upon India’s IT prowess

While the major economies of the world are stung by economic slowdown, India is poised for a higher growth trajectory. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) while retains India’s overall GDP growth projection of 7.2% for 2017- 18, it marks subdued GDP growth for China, US, and EU with 6.6%, 2.3% and 1.7% respectively. The IMF further buttresses the fact that India’s economy has grown at a fast pace because of implementation of critical structural reforms, favorable trade policies and lower external vulnerabilities.

Fundamentally, when global IT-BPM spend hovers around USD 1.2 trillion and global sourcing racks at USD 173-178 billion, India’s IT-BPM exports stand high at USD 117 billion – a whopping 65% of the global outsource. With USD 154 billion revenue, IT-BPM industry in India is poised to grow at 8%. The industry comprising 16,000-plus firms is estimated to employ over 3.9 million professionals directly and over 10 million people indirectly. With 5200-plus startups, India ranks third in the global startup ecosystem. India’s software product revenue stands at USD 7 billion in FY2017, with 9.5% YoY growth rate. 

Indian domestic market witnessed higher growth for software products consumption driven by new customers in government, SMBs and eCommerce. Apart from IT-BPM, India is striving to be the leading eCommerce market with estimated revenue of USD 33 billion in FY2017, a 19% growth from FY2016. In FY2017, 8000- plus digital firms, 2000-plus digital startups and 300,000+ employees with digital skills contributed 14% of IT-BPM revenue. Globally, the demand for digital solutions is going to be the mainstay for growth.

With tectonic evolution in SMAC (Social, Mobility, Analytics, and Cloud), Indian IT companies are rapidly scaling up their business to deliver digital solutions to global clients. Disruptive technologies, impending business exigencies, and customer demands in combination derive a rational business strategy to deliver digital solutions along with traditional IT services. According to industry estimates, the export of digital solutions which was pegged at 4% in FY2014 of the total IT-BPM exports has spiked to 14% in FY2017. The key drivers for this massive jump include increasing demand for enriching customer experience, innovation in client business models, personalized customer services and improved operational efficiency. 

The most exciting part is India’s digital economy is expected to grow exponentially to USD 1 trillion in the coming 5-7 years from the current USD 400 billion. In order to create universal digital natives in India, the Government of India has already connected 1,03,736 gram panchayats by laying 2,40,222 kilometres optical fibre under the National Optical Fibre Programme, which aims to connect all the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats by March 2019. To fuel the digital economy, the role of blockchain can be paramount. As Aadhaar card is becoming universal in India, adoption of blockchain can transform India into a true digital economy by bringing in accountability and efficiency in the system.

Let’s delve deeper into the India’s value proposition for global IT business. Within quarter of a century, Indian IT and Software industry sprinted from USD 382 million in 1992-93 to USD 154 billion in FY 2017, making India the No. 1 preferred destination for setting up technology business. This didn’t happen in silos. Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), as the nodal agency for promoting the development and export of software and software services, has played a cardinal role in transforming India into the IT hub of the world. STPI acted as a catalyst to develop a favorable ecosystem for the IT industry in India. The relentless efforts of STPI in ensuring business-friendly environment attracted global MNCs to establish their offshore development centres in metros. 

Consequently, FDI in IT industry poured in to further boost the operations of Indian IT companies and exports in this sector. STPI’s focus on startups and software products development will now fuel the growth of IT industry and will make India the most preferred country for partnering technology business with the right skill with right pricing and supportive government policies.

India is not stopping there. By 2020 the IT-BPM industry revenue would rise to USD 200-225 billion and by 2025, it would touch USD 350-400 billion. The growth of digital technology and adoption by customers would help this sector to scout for 38% of the pie by 2025. In FY2025, the ratio of digital to traditional IT solutions would be in 60:40 of total global IT-BPM revenue expanding to USD 4 trillion.

Given the mature ecosystem created by Indian IT industry in last 25 years, emphasis on innovative software products development and IP creation would further drive India’s growth in IT/ITES/ESDM sector. The increasing adoption of disruptive technologies including AI, IoT, VR, AR, Cloud, Robotics and Machine Learning by global companies for rapid automation would undoubtedly bring humongous opportunities for India to become the most preferred IT destination of the world in the coming time.

The Author is Director General, Software Technology Park of India (STPI)

New Delhi : Climate change impacts are being felt in many parts of the country, as manifested in erratic rainfall, extreme weather events and changes in cropping patterns. Adapting to these changes at farm and household levels is critical. A new study says women, particularly in marginalised communities, possess necessary knowledge to cope with climate risks.

The study assessed the role of individual women in coping with climatic risks, particularly in managing agriculture, energy and nutrition in flood and drought-prone paddy growing region of eastern India. It was found that women’s participation and involvement is much higher in managing nursery as well as in other farm-related functions like transplanting and weeding. Women resort to exchange of knowledge and resources at their level to face exigencies of climatic variation, given the absence of timely governmental interventions.

For instance, women use creative ways to manage food and nutrition security in their households in lean months. Many of them plant cucurbits like bottle gourd, pumpkin, satputia (a small cultivar of ridge gourd) and okra in their homesteads, catering to vegetable needs of the family since these are costlier in summer. A few women ensured food security by processing fruits and vegetables and storing them for consumption later. They harvest weeds and segregate them for consumption by human and some for cattle, while non-edible ones are composted. 

Women in high-risk zones, especially arid and semi-arid zones choose leaves and stem of many plants available throughout the year for food. “This becomes an important coping strategy to fight food shortage or famine. Many of these plants have been used in traditional medicine systems for their therapeutic effects,” the study says. Researchers have documented such weeds used in three villages in the study area. Their expertise and knowledge about non-agricultural food sources help in dealing with food and nutrition availability resulting due to fluctuating climate, the study says.

“In a situation when not many technological alternatives are available and climate risks have to be coped with, there are ways in which individual women find creative ways by managing resource exchange and pooling, overcoming class and cultural boundaries,” explained Dr Anil Gupta of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, who conducted the study along with Anamika Dey and Gurdeep Singh of Indian Institute of Technology, Dhanbad.  

The research is part of a long-term study on loss of agrobiodiversity underway in three villages (Isoulibhari, Shivnathpur, and Kharella) in Faizabad district in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The villages, located in floodplains of the Sarayu river, are flood prone and mostly follow rain-fed rice-wheat cropping system. The region is facing vagaries of climate change. Data of the past 25 years obtained from Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology showed high fluctuation in onset and withdrawal of monsoon, number of rainfall days, total rainfall received and average rainfall received per number of days. 

“We found that knowledge networks of women contribute immensely to tide over the adverse effect of the risk episodes. But these informal channels of dissemination of the knowledge are often not recorded in formal scientific discourses,” Dr Gupta told India Science Wire. 

Instead of ignoring the role of such informal networks, they can be used as channels for targeting climate adaptation policies and programmes, the study has suggested. If women groups become focal points of knowledge and resource dissemination in situations like crop failure due to flood or drought, there are fair chances that they will share these more openly. In addition, weather information needs to be provided according to local calendars, which are different from the Gregorian calendars, the study has suggested. The study has been published in journal World Development.

New Delhi: In a major development, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave a go ahead for two procurement proposals. 

The first proposal is related to procurement of 240 bombs at a cost of Rs 1254 crore from M/s JSC Rosonboron Exports, Russia. These bombs, which fall under the category of Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs), are used by Indian Air Force (IAF). 

With this, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be able to cope up the deficiency of PGMs in its arsenal, besides enhancing the offensive capabilities.

Another defence proposal, which got clearance, was pertained to procurement of 131 Barak Missiles and associated equipment at a cost of Rs 460 cr under option clause from M/s Rafael Advance Defence Systems Ltd of Israel. 

These missiles are surface-to-air missiles designed to be used as a ship-borne anti-missile defence system against anti-ship missiles.

It may be noted here that the Defence Minister and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in New Delhi recently held wide-ranging talks with a focus on further boosting the bilateral defence and security ties through joint manufacture and co-development of key military platforms and weapon systems.

The Government has given the go ahead for procurement of 131 Barak missile, which is apart from the deal India was having with Israel’s Rafael Advance Defence for procurement of  Spike Anti Tank Guided Missile at a cost of $500 million and scrapped in November 2017. 

Scrapping the project, the Government asked the DRDO to produce the missiles indigenously.