Transgender persons get portal for gender certificate
News: Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment has e-launched ‘National Portal for Transgender Persons’ and e-inaugurated a ‘Garima Greh: A Shelter Home for Transgender Persons’ in Vadodara, Gujarat.
Facts:
- National Portal for Transgender Persons: The portal aims to help the transgender persons in applying for certificate and ID cards digitally without having to visit any government office.Through the portal, they can also monitor the status of their application that ensures transparency in the process.
- Garima Greh: It is a shelter home for transgender persons that will be run in association with Lakshya Trust, a Community based organisation entirely run by the Transgenders.The purpose of the Shelter Home is to provide shelter to Transgender persons with basic amenities like food, medical care, recreational facilities and skill building among others.
Navy’s IMAC to become national maritime domain awareness centre
News: The Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC), will soon become a National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) centre wherein it will be a multi-agency centre.
Facts:
- Information Management and Analysis Centre(IMAC): It was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in 2012 and it became operational in 2014.
- Purpose: IMAC tracks vessels on the high seas and gets data from the coastal radars, white shipping agreements, Automatic Identification Systems(AIS) transponders fitted on merchant ships, air and traffic management systems and global shipping databases.
- Nodal Centre: It is also the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence System(NC3I).
- NC3I was established to link the operational Centres and lower echelons of the Navy and the Coast Guard spread across the country’s coastline including island territories.
- Location: Gurugram, Haryana.
Additional Facts:
- White Shipping agreements: It refers to exchange of relevant advance information on the identity and movement of commercial non-military merchant vessels.
- Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean region(IFC-IOR): It was set up in 2018 within the premises of the IMAC to coordinate with regional countries on maritime safety and security and act as a regional repository of maritime data.
Navy inducts two Sea Guardian drones from U.S
News: Indian Navy has inducted two American MQ9B Sea Guardian unarmed drones.
Facts:
- Sea Guardian: It is the maritime variant of the Predator MQ9 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV).It has a maximum endurance of 40 hours and a maximum flying altitude of 40,000 feet.
- Applications: It can be used in operations such as Anti-Surface and Anti Submarine Warfare, Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief, Search and Rescue among others.
PM chairs the 33rd PRAGATI meeting
News: Prime Minister(PM) has chaired the 33rd PRAGATI meeting.
Facts:
- PRAGATI: It stands for Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation.
- Launched Year: It was launched in 2015 and has been designed by the Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) team with the help of the National Informatics Center(NIC).
- Purpose: To address the common man’s grievances and simultaneously monitor and review important programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State Governments.
- Significance: It offers a unique combination in the direction of cooperative federalism since it brings on one stage PMO, Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries of the States.
South Asian University still headless after one year
News: The South Asian University has not had a president for over a year while its executive council and governing board have not met for almost two and three years respectively.
Facts:
- South Asian University: It is an International University established in 2010 by the governments of the SAARC countries.
- Objective: To create a Centre of Excellence in the form of a University that would provide world-class facilities and professional faculty to students and researchers drawn from every country of the SAARC region.
- Significance: Degrees and certificates awarded by the South Asian University are recognized by the University Grants Commission(UGC) in India and by other SAARC countries.
- Where is it located: New Delhi, India.
Additional Facts:
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC): It was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka in 1985.
- Members: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
- Secretariat: Kathmandu,Nepal.
