Indian Navy unveils Integrated Automatic Aviation Meteorological System at Rajali Air Station: The Indian Navy has inaugurated the Integrated Automatic Aviation Meteorological System (IAAMS) at Rajali Air Station in Tamil Nadu. It has the state-of-the-art meteorological sensors. It undertakes automatic and continuous recording of relevant weather parameters that are vital for accurate weather forecasting that are necessary for safe flying operations. By March 2019, it is expected to be installed at other eight stations.

Shetkar committee Recommendations -  The Union Defence Ministry has accepted 90  proposals of a committee of experts, headed by Lt. Gen. D.B. Shekatkar (Retd) to bring reforms in the military and improve its financial management. Most of these recommendations are measures to increase coordination among the three Services and cut down flab in Army to make it lean and agile. Important recommendations are 

1. Enough capital expenditure to be made available for modernisation.

2. Performance audit: must be conducted for non-combat organisations under the Defence Ministry. 

3. Downsizing of manpower for significant savings.

4. Establishing Joint services war college.

5. Reduce deployment of active-duty soldiers in avoidable postings: 

6. Comprehensive reforms in the running of NCC: 

Implications- If recommendations of committee are implemented over the next five years, government can save up to Rs. 25,000 crore from the current defence expenditure.

News: March 2017

1. Barak Missile test-fired from INS Vikramaditya: India successfully test fired surface to air Barak missile from it’s aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya off it’s western coast. It successfully destroyed a low flying, high speed missile target. It confirms preparedness of Western Fleet of Indian Navy. I NS Vikramaditya was commissioned in Indian Navy in 2013 and can carry more than 30 aircrafts.

2. Reduction of Polar ice caps due to Global Warming According to the scientists this year the ice formation was lowest on poles as for the third consecutive year there was record rise in temperature due to global warming. The present ice cover on the arctic circle has reduced by 12,19,884 sq.km compared to average sea ice extent for 1981-2010. In the Antarctica, it was 1,83,889 sq.km below the previous lowest  in 1997.

3. The Parliament has passed The Employees Compensation (Amendment) Bill, 2016: Parliament amended the Employee’s Compensation Act, 1923. Now, the Employer has to provide a compensation of 1 Lakh rupees to the employee in case of injury due to industrial accident. And the employer has to give this inform ation to the employee in writing at the time of employment.

4. Indo–U.S cyber security tie-up: India’s Computer Emergency Response Team and the U.S Homeland Security will co-operate and exchange the information in the field of Cyber Security.

5. ISRO has indigenously created world’s third largrst hypersonic wind tunnel at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The wind tunnel will help scientists to study air past space vehicles and thus help in aerodynamic characterization of future space transportation system.

6. ‘Medha’ – the first indigenous train  Integral Coach Factory, Chennai has built India’s first indigenous train ‘Medha’ ,it is cheaper by over 1 crore than the imported ones. The twelve coach train can run at the speed of 110 kmph.  

7. RBI to conduct plastic money trials: RBI will conduct the field trials of Rs 10 plastic notes in five cities having different geographic and climatic conditions. Plastic notes are considered to last longer and not easy to counterfeit. It was first adopted by Australia. Presently, they are used in more than 20 countries.

8. India and Russia have signed agreements for the long term spare parts support to the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI combat fleet at Military Industrial Conference held in New Delhi. 

9. BJP forms government in five states: After the declaration of election results for Legislative Assemblies in 5 states of India. The BJP has formed the government in U.P, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa & the Congress in Punjab. The poll verdict has clearly validated the policies like demonetization, surgical strike. KrishiHealth card and others. It also gave a clear message to the political parties that people want the development on the government’s agenda and they cannot be appeased on caste, religion or any other divisive politics. 

10. U.S deploys attack drones in South Korea: The US has started to deploy it’s attack drones ‘Grey Eagles’ in South Korea to counter provocative actions by North Korea. Earlier, the U.S deployment of Terminal High Altitude Air Defence in South Korea was opposed by Russia and China. As THAAD radars can monitor activities beyond North Korea.