National
KAVACH-2023, a national level hackathon
⇒ Advancing India’s cyber-preparedness, KAVACH-2023, a national level hackathon was launched on 16 February 2023 to identify innovative ideas and technological solutions for addressing the cyber security and cybercrime challenges of the 21st century faced by our Law Enforcement Agencies and common citizens.
Conducted by:
KAVACH-2023 is a unique kind of national hackathon, jointly conducted by Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell, AICTE, along with Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D, MHA) and Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C, MHA).
» KAVACH-2023 is conceived to challenge India’s innovative minds to conceptualize ideas and framework in the domain of cyber security using artificial intelligence, deep learning, machine learning, automation, big data and cloud computing.
- KAVACH-2023 is a unique opportunity for higher institutional Students and Startups in India to submit their innovative ideas/concepts under the different problem statements.
KAVACH-2023 is being conducted physical mode in two phases’ viz.- Initial Phase/Idea screening round and Grand Finale round.
In the first phase, the problem statements have been grouped into various buckets such as Fake News/social media, Dark web, Women safety, Phishing Detection, Video analytics/CCTV, Obscene Content Detection, Spam Alert, and Malware Analysis/Digital Forensics.
- In the Initial round the initially submitted ideas were thoroughly screened and scrutinized. The shortlisted teams for the grand finale of KAVACH-2023 have been announced. The Grand Finale will be held in July-2023.
- Total Prize money worth Rs 20,00,000 is announced for the winning teams.
This hackathon has 20 Problem statements related to the cyber security domain.
- New age women safety app
- Obscenity blocker solution
- Advanced fake news detection system
- Phishing Detection Solution
- Advanced ANPR & FRS solution
- Dark web crawler
- Spam alert system
- Malware analysis tool
- Advanced CCTV analytics solution
- RAM dump collection tool
- Citizen safety app for protection against cyber crimes
- Fund trail analysis tool
- Tool for monitoring ground personnel
- Chat messenger decryption tool
- Mesh network app detection
- Detecting usage of LoRa
- Hardware forensic suite
- Plug & play system security audit tool
- Solution for auditing propriety cellular/portable electronic device hardware
- Indigenous Crypto Currency Investigation Tool
24X7 Service of Doordarshan Himachal
⇒ Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur inaugurated the 24-hour telecast service of Doordarshan Kendra, Shimla on 16 February 2023.
Key Points:
- With that the Himachal Doordarshan Kendra Shimla is now providing services to the people of Himachal Pradesh 24/7 from 16th February.
- The 24×7 Channel telecasts about the important tourist destinations, religious places, sports, adventure, local handicraft, artisans and stories related to the lives of our brave soldiers. It also addresses issues concerning the state’s people.
- This is not limited to Himachal Pradesh but is available throughout India with free DTH Dish so that Himachalis living in other parts of the country can remain in touch with their roots and culture.
International
3rd Agriculture Deputies Meeting
⇒ The three-day meeting of the 3rd Agriculture Deputies Meeting along with the Agriculture Ministers under the Agriculture Working Group (AWG) of the G20 was held in Hyderabad from June 15 – 17, 2023.
- More than 200 delegates from member countries, invitee countries, and international organizations participated in the meeting.
Priority areas of the Agriculture Working Group were-
- Food security and nutrition with a focus on improving social protection systems to promote agro-diversification and enhance food security.
- Sustainable agriculture and financing green and climate-resilient agriculture with a climate-smart approach focused on climate-resilient technologies and farming system models for sustainable agricultural production.
- Strengthening infrastructure for small and marginal farmers, women, and youth, sharing technology and investment through increasing economic opportunities inclusive agricultural value chains and food systems to enhance the resilience and efficiency of value chains
- Digitalization for agricultural transformation with an emphasis on standardized agricultural data platforms as digital public goods and leveraging new-emerging digital technologies to transform the agri-food sector.
These were discussed in different sessions of the meeting:
- 1st Agriculture Deputies Meeting
- 2nd Agriculture Deputies Meeting
- Final 3rd Agriculture Deputies Meeting
- In addition to the ADMs, the Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) was held in Varanasi from April 17 – 19, 2023.
The first day of the meeting was dedicated to the Agriculture Deputies meeting followed by Agriculture Ministers’ meeting on June 16 – 17, 2023.
» The first day of the three-day Meeting began with the inauguration of an exhibition by Union Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Kailash Choudhary.
- The exhibition included 71 stalls in the fields of Waste to Wealth management, smart & precision agriculture, Agri innovations, value chain management, etc.
» Post the inauguration of the exhibition, the day was dedicated to the Agriculture Deputies Meeting, followed by side events in the form of panel discussions.
» The first side event was based on ‘Managing Agribusiness for Profit, People, and Planet.’
- The panel discussion focused on concrete examples of managing trade-offs between profit, people, and the planet. They also discussed ways to identify solutions, policies, and programs to achieve greater sustainability for food systems at large.
» The second side event revolved around the topic ‘Connecting the Digitally Disconnected: Harnessing the Power of Digital Technologies in Agriculture.’
- The panel discussion was focused on exploring strategies for scaling up and replicating the best practices of digital agriculture initiatives and on discussing the nature of interventions made by the government and stakeholders in promoting and supporting the bridging of the gap for the digitally disconnected population.
Agriculture Ministers’ meeting:
Day 1: June 16
» The Ministerial meeting started on 16 June 2023. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the gathering through a video message.
- The Prime Minister expressed happiness that work is underway on two concrete outcomes – The ‘Deccan High-level Principles on Food Security and Nutrition’, and the ‘MAHARISHI’ initiative for millets and other grains.
- “The support for these two initiatives is a statement in support for inclusive, sustainable, and resilient agriculture”, the Prime Minister concluded.
Agriculture Minister lauded the G20 Members for their notable contributions towards making the Agriculture Working Group proceedings successful and historic which resulted in the welcoming of two key outcomes in the “Outcome Document and Chair’s Summary” during the Ministerial meeting:
- Deccan High-Level Principles, and
- International Millets and Other Ancient Grains Research Initiative.
Day 2: June 17
After declaring ICAR – Indian Institute of Millets Research (ICAR-IIMR) as the ‘Global Centre of Excellence on Millets (Shree Anna)’ at the Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference which was held on March 18, 2023, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi reiterated the role of the premier institute in the promotion and adoption of millets, in his video message at the G20 Agriculture Ministerial Meeting in Hyderabad on June 16, 2023.
» In order to provide the Agriculture Ministers and delegates from various G20 countries a first-hand experience of ICAR-IIMR, especially during the ongoing International Year of Millets, a technical excursion to ICAR-IIMR was also arranged.
- The excursion was planned as part of the G20 Agriculture Ministerial Meeting (AMM).
- The excursion and exhibition witnessed an enormous participation of more than 300 people including Agricultural Ministers, various delegates from G20 countries, international organizations, and several other dignitaries from India.
During the event, Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Sushri Shobha Karandlaje launched three books titled-
- ‘Milletology’, a dedicated Millet cookbook compiled by noted Indian chefs and culinary professionals of Indian Federation of Culinary Associations,
- ‘Culinary Delights: Millets Traditional Recipes and Savouries’ by IIMR, and
- ‘A Compendium of Indian Millet Startups’
Important Day
76th Raising Day of Delhi Police
⇒ Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah attended the 76th Raising Day celebrations of Delhi Police as the Chief Guest in New Delhi on 16 February 2023.
- On this occasion, the Union Home Minister inaugurated the complete online facility of passport verification and also dedicated mobile forensic vehicles inducted in the Delhi Police to the people.
- Along with this, the Union Home Minister also inaugurated the academic complex of National Forensic Science University’s (NFSU) Delhi Campus.
History:
- An organised form of policing was established by the British after the first war of freedom of 1857, with the adoption of the Indian Police Act of 1861.
- Delhi Police was reorganised in 1946 when its strength was almost doubled. It was on February 16, 1948 that the first IGP of Delhi was appointed.
- A post of Deputy Inspector General of Police was created in 1956.