National
India’s first national repository for life science data- ‘Indian Biological Data Center’
⇒ Union Minister of State (I/C) Ministry of Science and Technology; Minister of State (I/C) Ministry of Earth Science; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Space and Atomic Energy, Dr Jitendra Singh dedicated to the nation India’s first national repository for life science data-‘Indian Biological Data Center’ (IBDC) at Faridabad, Haryana on 10 November 2022.
» Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said, as per the BIOTECH-PRIDE guidelines of the Government of India, IBDC is mandated to archive all life science data generated from publicly-funded research in India.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed that IBDC has started nucleotide data submission services via two data portals viz.-
- ‘Indian Nucleotide Data Archive (INDA)’
- ‘Indian Nucleotide Data Archive – Controlled Access (INDA-CA)’
About ‘Indian Biological Data Center’:
- IBDC has accumulated over 200 billion bases from 2,08,055 submissions from more than 50 research labs across India.
- It also hosts an online ‘Dashboard’ for the genomic surveillance data generated by the INSACOG labs. The dashboard provides customized data submission, access, data analysis services, and real-time SARS-CoV-2 variant monitoring across India.
- Fundamentally, IBDC is committed to the spirit of data sharing as per FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles.
- IBDC is being developed in a modular fashion wherein different sections would typically deal with particular type/s of life science data.
- Supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Center has been established at Regional Centre of Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad with a data ‘Disaster Recovery’ site at National Informatics Centre (NIC), Bhubaneshwar.
- It has a data storage capacity of about 4 petabytes and houses the ‘Brahm’ High Performance Computing (HPC) facility.
- The computational infrastructure at IBDC is also made available for researchers interested in performing computational-intensive analysis.
- Users can contact the data center by submitting their requests at support@ibdc.rcb.res.in.
India Agribusiness Awards 2022
⇒ Indian Chamber of Food and Agriculture (ICFA), an Indian Government body on technical collaborations with large number of national/international industrial associations and related organisations organized “AgroWorld 2022” – India International Agro Trade and Technology Fair – 2022.
» “AgroWorld 2022” was organized on November 9-11, 2022 at Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Pusa Campus, New Delhi.
- The fair was organised for showcasing the development and modernisations achieved by key stakeholders in major sectors like food, agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries & allied.
India Agribusiness Awards 2022:
Best Agribusiness Award under Fisheries Sector:
» As a part of this event, National Fisheries Development Board was one of the organisation to be awarded with “India Agribusiness Awards 2022” for the best Agribusiness Award under Fisheries Sector for the exemplary work done in fisheries sector.
- This support is playing a crucial and exemplary role dedicated to the stakeholders for supporting various need-based projects for technology upgradation, species diversification in aquaculture, dissemination of new and improved fish varieties, promoting seaweed cultivation, ornamental fisheries, training & capacity building etc. to bring a significant increase in fish production and productivity, improve the livelihoods of fishers, promote entrepreneurship opportunities in fisheries, employment generation, promote hygienic handling and marketing of fish and increase fish consumption.
» National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad is a vibrant organization under the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India.
Best State:
» Haryana has been conferred with the India Agribusiness Award-2022 in the category of “Best State” by the Indian Chamber of Food and Agriculture.
- Haryana has been awarded for its outstanding contribution in the areas of policies, programmes, production, inputs, technologies, marketing, value addition, infrastructure and exports in the agriculture sector.
International
Chief of the Naval Staff made an official visit to Japan
⇒ Adm R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff, made an official visit to Japan from 05 to 09 November 2022.
International Fleet Review:
» During the visit the CNS witnessed the International Fleet Review (IFR), hosted by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) off Yokosuka on 06 November 22 in commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of its formation.
- HE Mr Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, was embarked on board JMSDF Ship Izumo for the Fleet Review, along with distinguished heads of delegations from participating Navies.
- Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kamorta represented the Indian Navy in the IFR.
- Participation of the two indigenously built ships of the Indian Navy at the IFR aptly showcased the ship-building prowess of Indian shipyards to the international gathering and participating navies.
18th Western Pacific Naval Symposium:
» Following the IFR, Japan, as the current Chair of WPNS, hosted the 18th Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) at Yokohama on 07-08 November 2022.
- Indian Navy participates in the WPNS, as Observer, since 1998.
- At the WPNS, Adm R Hari Kumar stressed on primacy of a Rules Based Order and expressed commitment of the Indian Navy and that of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium towards promoting the idea of ‘collective responsibility’ for maritime security in the Indo-pacific.
» In addition to representing India and the Indian Navy during the IFR and WPNS, he was also present for the inauguration of the 2022 edition of Exercise MALABAR, held at Yokosuka with the participation of Australia, Japan and the USA.
» Adm R Hari Kumar also interacted with his counterparts and other Heads of Delegations from close to 30 countries participating in the IFR, WPNS and MALABAR.
» The visit of the CNS to Japan exhibited India’s consistent support to multilateral maritime security constructs in the Indo-Pacific and further consolidated the high level of bilateral defence engagements with Japan.
26th International Malabar Naval Exercise
⇒ The 26th International Malabar Naval Exercise commenced in Yokosuka of Japan on 08 November 2022. The 26th edition of the multinational maritime exercise MALABAR culminated in the seas off Japan on 15 November 2022.
Host:
This edition also marked the 30th anniversary of the exercise and was hosted by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).
» JMSDF ships Hyuga, Takanami, Shiranui along with P-1 aircraft, US Navy ships Barry, Ronald Reagan, Chancellorsville, Benfold along with P8A and Australian Navy ships Arunta, Stalwart along with P8A aircraft participated in the exercise.
Indian Navy represented by:
» The Indian Navy was represented by Eastern Fleet ships Shivalik and Kamorta led by Rear Admiral Sanjay Bhalla, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.
- One P8I Maritime Patrol Aircraft of the Indian Navy was also deployed to Japan separately to participate in Exercise MALABAR-2022.
Sea phase:
- The sea phase of MALABAR 2022 was conducted over a period of five days near Yokosuka and witnessed live weapon firings, surface, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare drills and tactical procedures.
- Another highlight of the sea phase was the conduct of War at Sea exercise which enabled all four navies to consolidate interoperability and hone their tactical skills.
- The high-tempo exercise saw the participation of eleven surface ships including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with its integral air elements, along with four long-range maritime patrol aircraft, integral helicopters and two submarines. The exercise also involved exchange of ‘Sea Riders’ between various participating ships.
- Apart from operational drills and exercises, the bilateral logistics support agreements between the participating countries were validated during this edition of exercise Malabar.
» The exercise helped enhance understanding of each others operational methodologies and ability to co-operate to tackle myriad maritime challenges.
About Exercise Malabar:
Malabar series of exercises began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the navies of India and US and gained further prominence with joining of the navies of Australia and Japan.