National
India's first situational awareness observatory to monitor space activity
⇒ Digantara, a space sector start-up of India, is going to set-up India’s first commercial space situational awareness observatory in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, to track objects as small as 10 cm in size orbiting the earth.
Key Points:
- The space situational awareness (SSA) observatory will assist in tracking any activity in space including that of space debris and military satellites hovering over the region.
- The observatory will help to monitor events occurring in deep space, especially in the geostationary, medium-Earth, and high-Earth orbits.
- The observatory will also help in avoiding great losses since there is an increasing need for efficient collision avoidance systems in highly congested orbital regions like low earth orbit and geosynchronous earth orbit.
Askary Awards 2022
⇒ The annual Askary Awards was instituted in 1997 to encourage photographic talent among young photographers in Karnataka State, India. It also provides insights into photography aspects and recalls memories of photographers who have rendered great service to the art of photography in Karnataka State.
- The Askary Awards are awarded every year to encourage the youth and promote the art of photography. Photographers below the age of 35 years from the State of Karnataka, India are eligible for the awards.
Winners of Askary Awards 2022:
- Mr Shravan BM, Mangalore, Karnataka for his series on ‘Portraits of tiger cubs’
- Mr Vivek Gowda, Mangalore, Karnataka for his photo series on ‘Intha Fishermen’
Key Points:
- The Askary Awards is organised by the Youth Photographic Society (YPS), Bangalore.
- Youth Photographic Society (YPS) has served to promote photographic art among amateurs and professionals since 1971.
International
13th Edition of the Indo-US Joint Special Forces exercise “Ex Vajra Prahar 2022”
⇒ The 13th Edition of the Indo-US Joint Special Forces exercise “Ex Vajra Prahar 2022” was commenced at the Special Forces Training School (SFTS), Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh on 08 August 2022.
Army Contingent:
- The US contingent was represented by personnel from the 1st Special Forces Group (SFG) and Special Tactics Squadron (STS) of US Special Forces.
- The Indian Army contingent was formed by drawing Special Forces personnel under the aegis of SFTS.
Joint Training:
The 21-day joint training provided an opportunity for the Special Forces from both nations to train in Air Borne Operations, Special Operations and Counter Terrorism operations in a joint environment under United Nations Charter.
The exercise was conducted in two phases:
- The first phase involved combat conditioning and tactical level special missions training exercises.
- The second phase included 48 hours of validation of training received by both contingents in the first phase.
Key Points:
- Both contingents expressed immense satisfaction on the outcomes of the exercise, in terms of the standards achieved and sharing of best practices, when both contingents undertook joint training, planning and execution of a series of mock operations in simulated conventional and unconventional scenarios in mountainous terrain.
- Exercise VAJRA PRAHAR with the US Special Forces is significant in terms of security challenges faced by both Nations in the backdrop of the current global situation.
- The joint military exercise has further strengthened the traditional bond of friendship between the special forces of both Nations as well as improved bilateral defence cooperation between India and the USA.
» The 13th Edition of India – USA Joint Special Forces Exercise VAJRA PRAHAR 2022 culminated at Bakloh (HP) on 28 August 2022.
About joint exercise:
- The Vajra Prahar series of joint exercise aims to share best practices and experiences in areas such as joint mission planning and operational tactics as also to improve inter-operability between the Special Forces of both the Nations.
- This annual exercise is hosted alternatively between India and the United States.
» The 12th edition was conducted at Joint Base Lewis Mc Chord, Washington (USA) in October 2021.
Raksha Mantri meets Tanzanian Minister of Defence and National Service
⇒ Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with Tanzanian Minister of Defence and National Service Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax in New Delhi on August 26, 2022.
Discussion:
- A wide range of issues concerning bilateral, regional and defence industrial cooperation were discussed during the meeting.
- The two Ministers reviewed the existing military-to-military activities and discussed ways to enhance cooperation in all domains with a focus on defence industry cooperation.
- Both the Ministers agreed to the formation of a Task Force to prepare a Five-Year Future Road map for enhancing defence cooperation between both the countries and to hold the next Joint Defence Cooperation meeting in Tanzania at an early date.
- The Raksha Mantri also invited his Tanzanian counterpart to the India-Africa Defence Dialogue and DefExpo.
The Booker Prize 2022
⇒ The Booker Prize 2022 announcement was made by Neil MacGregor, Chair of the 2022 judges, in a ceremony at the Roundhouse, London, on October 17, 2022.
Winner:
Shehan Karunatilaka has won the Booker Prize 2022 for his second novel, ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’. The book is Published by Sort of Books.
Read More About The Booker Prize 2022
Sports
14th Asian U-18 Championship
⇒ Indian men’s volleyball team won bronze medal by defeating Korea 3-2 in the 14th Asian U-18 Championship in Tehran on 22 August 2022.
- In a five-set thriller, India defeated South Korea 25-20, 25-21, 26-28, 19-25, 15-12 in the third-place playoff.
» The Indian U-18 team has qualified along with Japan, Iran, and South Korea for the FIVB World U-19 Men’s Volleyball Championship.
» Japan clinched the gold after beating Iran in the final match in straight sets.
About 14th Asian U-18 Championship:
» The 2022 Asian Boys’ U18 Volleyball Championship was held at Volleyball Federation Hall, Tehran, Iran from 15 to 22 August 2022.
- It was the 14th edition of the Asian Boys’ U18 Volleyball Championship, a biennial international volleyball tournament.
- It was organised by Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) with Islamic Republic of Iran Volleyball Federation (IRIVF).
- This tournament was served as qualification tournament for the FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship.