Ex Ekuverin (GS Paper 3, Defence)
Why in news?
- Recently, the 12th edition of joint military exercise “Ex Ekuverin” between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force has commenced at Chaubatia, Uttarakhand from 11 to 24 June 2023.
Key Highlights:
- A platoon strength contingent from Indian Army and Maldives National Defence Force will be participating in 14 days long exercise.
- The exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability in Counter Insurgency/ Counter Terrorism Operations under the UN mandate and carry out joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations.
- The focus is to share best practices, enhance coordination and cooperation between both the forces at tactical level.
About Ex Ekuverin:
- Ekuverin meaning ‘Friends’ is a bilateral annual exercise conducted alternatively in India and Maldives.
- The 11th edition of the exercise was held in Maldives in December 2021.
Way Forward:
- The defence cooperation between the two countries extends from joint exercises to assisting Maldives with defence training and equipment requirements.
- Both the nations have very close and friendly relations in economic, cultural and military cooperation. ‘Ex Ekuverin’ will assist in further bolstering of these ties between the two nations.
ADB, India sign $130 million loan to promote horticulture in Himachal Pradesh
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $130 million loan to increase agricultural productivity, improve access to irrigation and promote horticulture agribusinesses to raise farmers’ income in the state of Himachal Pradesh.
Significance:
- Improving subtropical horticulture in the southern areas of Himachal Pradesh, hitherto dependent on temperate horticulture in northern areas, offers opportunities for crop diversification, climate adaptation and more equal economic and social development across the state’s rural areas.
- Supporting horticulture value chains will also boost the subsector’s contribution to the country’s development and food security.
Key Highlights:
- The project interventions will help increase the income and resilience to the effects of climate change of at least 15,000 farm households across 7 districts of the state namely Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Sirmour, Solan, and Una.
- These households have stopped farming or have reduced their farming areas because of a lack of irrigation facilities and crop damage by wild and stray animals.
- The project will improve on-farm irrigation and water management in about 6,000 hectares of farmland by rehabilitating or building new irrigation schemes and strengthening the capacity of WUAs for micro irrigation management through joint efforts from the state’s Jal Shakti Vibhag (Water Resources Department) and Department of Horticulture (DOH).
CHPMAs:
- The project will also help create an ecosystem to enhance farmers’ access to markets of subtropical horticulture. The farmers will be organised into cluster-wide community horticulture production and marketing associations (CHPMAs) and district-wide CHPMA cooperative societies.
- CHPMA apex institution, a farmer producer company (FPC), will lead state-wide agribusiness development with the aim of ensuring profitability and access to markets of subtropical horticulture.
- The FPC will handle business plan development; agribusiness promotion; and designing value-addition facilities such as sorting and packaging facilities, and storage and collection centres. It will also assist CHPMAs in managing these facilities.
Way Forward:
- The project will also modernise public and private subtropical horticulture nursery facilities for improved plant health, and boost beneficiary farmers’ access to information and communication technologies, and other digital agri-technology systems for real-time farm advisories and better CHPMA management.
India's Azista BST Aerospace launches 1st runner satellite
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Why in news?
- India's Azista BST Aerospace launched its first satellite, ABA First Runner (AFR), onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-8 Mission.
- The company aims to make India a hub for the mass manufacturing of satellites and the successful mission puts it on the path.
Details:
- The satellite lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Musk's SpaceX rideshare mission.
- There were 72 spacecraft, including CubeSats, MicroSats, a re-entry capsule, and orbital transfer vehicles on the rocket alongside India's AFR.
Salient features:
- The 80-kilogram satellite was built on a modular bus platform and hosts a wide-swath optical remote sensing payload with both panchromatic & multispectral imaging capabilities.
- AFR represents the first satellite of its size and performance built by the private space industry in India, capable of supporting various critical applications for civilian and defense purposes
What’s next?
- Azista BST Aerospace, the Ahmedabad-based company claims to have a production capacity of at least two satellites per week at its 50,000-square-foot facility.
- It is working to develop the next set of satellites to demonstrate its capabilities with versatile payloads with its modular satellite buses and that Several of these satellites will be launched within the next two years.
