TROPEX 23 (GS Paper 3, Defence)
Why in news?
- The 2023 edition of Indian Navy’s major maritime exercise TROPEX, is currently underway in the Indian Ocean Region.
Participants:
- This operational level exercise is conducted biennially and witnesses participation not only by all Indian Navy units but also of Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard assets.
Key Highlights:
- TROPEX 23 is being conducted over a duration of three months from Jan - Mar 23.
- As part of the exercise, all surface combatants of the Indian Navy including Destroyers, Frigates, Corvettes as well as submarines and aircraft are put through complex maritime operational deployments to validate and refine the Navy’s Concept of Operations including operational logistics and interoperability with other Services.
- The exercise is being conducted in different phases, both in harbour and at sea, encompassing various facets of combat operations, including live weapon firings.
Significance:
Tri-services Amphibious Exercise, AMPHEX 2023 Concludes
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
Why in news?
- The biennial Tri-Services Amphibious Exercise, AMPHEX 2023 was conducted at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh recently.
Details:
- AMPHEX is aimed at joint training of elements of all three services in various facets of amphibious operations to enhance interoperability and synergy.
- AMPHEX 23 is the first time that the exercise was undertaken at Kakinada, and was the largest ever AMPHEX conducted till date.
Key Highlights:
- The participating forces undertook complex exercises in all domains of amphibious operations over five days.
- The exercise witnessed the participation of a number of amphibious ships consisting of Large Platform Dock (LPD), Landing Ships and Landing Crafts, Marine Commandos (MARCOS), helicopters and aircraft from the Indian Navy.
- Indian Army participated in the exercise with over 900 troops which included Special Forces, Artillery and Armoured vehicles. Jaguar fighters and C 130 aircraft from the IAF also participated in the exercise.
Way Forward:
- AMPHEX 2023 successfully demonstrated the amphibious capabilities and validated the excellent coordination that exists between the three Services to undertake the full spectrum of amphibious operations.
PepsiCo Foundation, CARE bring global women farmer programme to Bengal
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Recently, PepsiCo Foundation and CARE announced the expansion of their global ‘She Feeds the World’programme to India in West Bengal, home to the company’s first food factory in the country.
Focus:
- The programme ‘She Feeds the World’ focuses onstrengthening the role of small-scale women producers across three dimensions: economic, social and environmental.
- At the economic level, it would build capabilities for the small-scale farmers; socially, the project aims to promote equitable access to knowledge, resources and inclusive markets and from an environmental perspective, it would tackle soil, water, biodiversity and carbon footprint issues.
Status:
- Through an $18 million, five-year global partnership between the PepsiCo Foundation and CARE International, ‘She Feeds the World’ is already supporting female farmers in Egypt, Uganda, Peru, Thailand and Vietnam.
- In India, it aims to reach more than more than 48,000 women, men and children and indirectly benefit 1,500,000 individuals in West Bengal.
PepsiCo India:
- PepsiCo, which set up its factory in West Bengal 2004, already has a track record of engaging with women in the state as part of the PepsiCo-USAID Women Farmer Economic Empowerment Program.
- With the help of this initiative, PepsiCo has trained over 1,500 women farmers since 2019 on potato agronomy and sustainability; seven women’s groups piloted a shared land-lease programme.
- It is expected that the programme will impact more than 300,000 women through direct and community engagement.
Way Forward:
- PepsiCo in India works with over 27,000 farmers in 14 states in the country and out of these over 65 per cent (17,500) of farmers were from West Bengal.
- West Bengal has about 96 per cent small and marginal farmers with small landholding. The next state where the women farmer economic empowerment programme could be rolled out is Uttar Pradesh.
