Month: November 2022

Former Indian diplomat Amit Dasgupta has been appointed Honorary Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) for tirelessly promoting India-Australia bilateral relationship.

“Congratulations Mr Amit Dasgupta AM for your appointment as an Honorary Member, General Division, Order of Australia (AM). Honoured to confer this award, on behalf of Australia’s Governor-General, to @amit_adg for his longstanding contribution to the Australia-India bilateral relationship,” Sarah Storey, Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner to India, tweeted.

Congratulations @amit_adg! Your tireless support to the Australia-India bilateral relationship over the years is so worthy of this national recognition, Australian High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrel, tweeted.

As Consul-General of India to Sydney from 2009 to 2012, he was awarded a gold medal by the Multicultural Commission of the New South Wales government for promoting multiculturalism and harmony.

During this period, attacks against Indian students threatened Australia’s international reputation. Dasgupta’s personal efforts diffused the tensions and reassured the Indian diaspora.

Dasgupta played a pivotal role in establishing the Australia India Youth Dialogue. Now in its second decade, the Dialogue is a permanent fixture of the bilateral relationship, and fosters connections between Australian and Indian young people.

He continues to advance relations between the two countries as a Distinguished Fellow of the Australia India Institute, a Senior Fellow at the Society for Policy Studies, and as the Inaugural Country Director of the University of New South Wales since 2016.

Dasgupta’s deep and longstanding service to the Australia-India bilateral relationship is commendable and worthy of formal national recognition through his appointment as an Honorary Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM).

A published author and educator, Dasgupta has served in various capacities in India and abroad in the course of his diplomatic career, including Cairo, Brussels, Kathmandu, Berlin and Sydney.

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Using locally available materials like cement, fly-ash, river sand, ground granulated blast furnace slag, micro-silica, water, steel fiber, polypropylene fibers and high range water reducing agent (HRWRA), a team of researchers at IIT Hyderabad (IIT-H) has successfully developed an affordable special ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC).

The cost of UHPFRC developed at IIT-H is about two times cheaper than commercially available proprietary products, a release said on Friday.

Prof. S. Suriya Prakash, CASTCON Lab, Department of Civil Engineering and his research group at IIT-H, brought down costs by reducing the quantity of cement, fibers and replacing costly fine aggregates with cheaper locally available ones through proper gradation.

The composition combines the best features of self-consolidating concrete (SCC), fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) and high-performance concrete (HPC).

UHPFRC, developed at IITH for pre-stressing applications, yields a cube compressive strength of 150 MPa and a direct tensile strength of 8.0 MPa.

Several full-scale post-tensioned UHPFRC concrete bridge girders were tested to understand the shear behaviour.

Test results show that providing a minimum web shear reinforcement ratio and adequate steel fiber dosage leads to better serviceability, ultimate strength, and stiffness of bridge girders.

The overall cost of UHPFRC girders in bridge applications can be further reduced by providing the minimum web-shear reinforcement of 0.6 per cent and a hybrid fiber volume dosage of about 1 per cent.

Prof S. Suriya Prakash, CASTCON Lab, IIT-H, said: “Several full-scale bridge girders made of UHPFRC were tested. Our test results have given deeper insights into the shear behaviour of pre-stressed bridge girders, which will be used to develop design guidelines for practising engineers. Our research is expected to increase the confidence in using UHPFRC in India for various infrastructure applications.”

Prof B.S. Murty, Director, IITH, said: “Strong and durable infrastructure is a must for holistic development of any nation. Developing construction materials with improved strength using locally available raw materials is a creditable stride towards realising our dream of AatmaNirbhar Bharat. I am sure such innovation will not only benefit local development in terms of economic & efficient infrastructure but extend its advantage to the infrastructure sector globally.”

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh termed it as a unique interceptor available with only very few nations.

India conducted the first successful flight test of the Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor missile capable of neutralising long-range missiles and aircraft, from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast on Wednesday.

“The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful maiden flight-test of phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor AD-1 missile with a large kill altitude bracket from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha on November 2.

The flight-test was carried out with participation of all BMD weapon system elements located at different geographical locations,” said the Ministry of Defence in a press statement

The system, which is capable of striking down incoming adversary missiles and aircraft, has been developed under the Ballistic Missile Defence programme.

The AD-1 (Air Defence) is a long-range interceptor missile designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long-range ballistic missiles as well as aircraft. The missile is propelled by a two-stage solid motor and equipped with an indigenously developed advanced control system and a navigation and guidance algorithm to precisely guide the vehicle to the targets that move at very high speeds.

During the flight-test, all the subsystems performed as per expectations and were validated by the data captured by a number of range sensors including radar, telemetry and electro-optical tracking stations deployed to capture the flight data. DRDO scientists said the fully functional ballistic missile defence system contained high-power radars and could potentially protect large areas from the adversary missile or other air attacks.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO and other teams associated with the trial of the AD-1. He termed it as a unique type of interceptor with advanced technologies available with only very few nations in the world. He exuded confidence that it will further strengthen the country’s BMD capability to the next level.

DRDO chairman Dr Samir V Kamat congratulated his team on the successful trial, stating that the interceptor would provide great operational flexibility and have the capability to engage many different types of targets.

The development of anti-ballistic missiles is said to have started by the DRDO around the 2000s in view of the development of ballistic assets by Pakistan and China. The phase-1 of the programme is said to have been completed towards the end of 2010s and consisted of the advanced air defence systems and air defence systems based on the Prithvi missile.

The second phase, according to sources, focuses on the development of anti-ballistic defence systems like the US’s Theatre High-Altitude Area Defence system, which can neutralise intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

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The lead internal Security Force Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has for the first time not only promoted its two lady cadre officers to the rank of Inspector General but have also put them to command two sensitive sectors of the force.

Seema Dhundia and Ms Annie Abraham with their accompanying 35 years of experience will be heading the Bihar Sector and as the head of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) respectively. Both Seema Dhundia and Ms Annie Abraham were amongst the first batch of lady officers ever inducted into the Force as they joined as the Directly Appointed Gazetted Officers (DAGos) of 1987 batch of CRPF Cadre officers in 1987.

The CRPF in a statement said, “Both had illustrious careers marked with challenging roles, achievements, and laurels. Seema Dhundia, IG rendered her valuable services to the nation in highly sensitive areas across the country and was actively involved in raising the 2nd Mahila Battalion of the Force. She was also the contingent commander of the first ever all female Formed Police Unit (FPU) in the United Nation’s Mission in Liberia and had been serving as DIG in RAF.”

India sent an all-female Formed Police Unit (FPU) to be deployed in Liberia in 2007 after a civil war ravaged the African nation. The RAF is a specialized wing of the CRPF for riot and crowd control is getting IG Annie Abraham as its first female head since its raising in 1992. Ms. Annie Abraham, IG in addition to commanding the all female FPU in UN Mission in Liberia, had served as DIG Intelligence in Force Headquarters, as DIG Ops in Kashmir Operations Sector and as DIG CR and Vigilance.

Both the officers have been awarded President’s Police Medal for distinguished Service, Police Medal for Meritorious service and Ati Utkrisht Sewa Padak besides numerous other national and International recognitions.

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In a push to gradually equip the Indian Army with indigenously developed niche technologies, the force has approved Project Sanction Orders (PSOs) of five Make II projects. 

The projects include the High-Frequency Man Packed Software Defined Radio (HFSDR), Drone Kill System, Infantry Training Weapon Simulator (ITWS), 155mm Terminally Guided Munitions (TGM) and Medium Range Precision Kill System (MRPKS). 

For the indigenous anti-drone ecosystem, the Indian Army has approved Project Sanction Order (PSO) to 18 Developing Agencies (DAs) for procurement of 35 sets of Drone Kill Systems under the Make II scheme, post the successful development of the Prototype. 

The project is reserved for MSMEs/Start-ups. It is being developed to function in all types of terrains, both during the day and night. Hundred and twenty-five Infantry Training Weapon Simulator (IWTS), will be a tri-service project, for which the sanction has been issued to four Developing Agencies (DAs) to develop the prototype. 

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Irene Dkhar of Meghalaya was crowned Miss Northeast after she won the hearts of the judges in the final round, raising the issue of mental health. She took home a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh.

Dkhar, 20, said she aspires to be a psychologist.

In the last round all the 14 finalists from the Northeastern states were asked what social issue would they take up given the opportunity to discuss it with world leaders.

Replying to the question, Dkhar said she would want to discuss the issue of the mental health of the youth.

“It is high time to fight against mental illness and anxiety,” she told the judges, winning their hearts.

Eshanee Hatimuria from Assam and Dyna Jomo from Arunachal Pradesh became first and second runners-up and received Rs 1 lakh and Rs 70,000, respectively.

Eshanee was awarded ‘Miss Talent’, while Lika Chophy of Nagaland was crowned ‘Queen of Hearts’. Mannasha Devi Sapam of Manipur was awarded ‘Miss Beautiful Skin’.

The final round had two winners from the state-level pageants from all the Northeastern states, except for Tripura, which was represented by only one contestant.

This was the first edition of the pageant organised by the North East Beauty Pageant Organisation (NEBPO) and sponsored by the Nagaland government.

It was held at the Cultural Hall in Kohima on Thursday.

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