National
18th Chief Minister of Gujarat
⇒ BJP leader Shri Bhupendra Patel was administered the oath as the 18th Chief Minister of Gujarat by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a function held at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat.
- Bhupendra Patel took oath as the chief minister of Gujarat for a second straight term in Gandhinagar on 12 December 2022 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries.
- Kuvarji Bavaliya, Mulubhai Bera, Kuber Dindor and Bhanuben Babariya were among 16 other MLAs who take oath as ministers.
Gujarat assembly election:
- In the Gujarat assembly election, counting for which was held on December 8, the BJP won a seventh straight term by winning record 156 seats in the 182-member House.
- The Congress won 17 constituencies and AAP 5.
- Bhupendra Patel won the Ghatlodia seat with the highest margin of 1.92 lakh votes in the elections.
Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project (USBRL): India’s Longest Escape Tunnel
⇒ The USBRL (Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Rail Link) is a National project undertaken by the Indian Railways for construction of broad-gauge railway line through the Himalayas, with the aim of connecting the Kashmir region with rest of the country.
On December 15th, 2022, a major milestone has been achieved by executing the breakthrough of Escape Tunnel T-49 between Sumber and Khari Stations on the Katra –Banihal section of the USBRL project.
Method:
The tunnel has been constructed by the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), which is a modern technique of drill and blast processes.
About Tunnel:
- The length of the escape tunnel is 12.895 km.
- This is the longest escape tunnel of India and the line and level of the tunnel are precisely achieved during the breakthrough of the Escape Tunnel.
- It is a modified horseshoe shape tunnel connecting the Sumber Station yard on the Southside & Tunnel T-50 after crossing Bridge no.04 over Khoda Nallah on the North side, at Khoda village.
- The elevation of the South end at Sumberis is approx 1400.5 m and of the North end is 1558.84 m.
- The ruling gradient inside the tunnel is 1 in 80.
- The boring was done from various faces from South portal, north portal and through three Adits i.e. Urnihal (323 m), HingniAdit (280m) & Kundan Adit (739m).
- The Tunnel T-49 is a twin tube tunnel comprising the Main tunnel (12.75 Kms.) & Escape Tunnel (12.895 Kms.) connected with 33 numbers of cross-passages at every cross passages.
- The main tunnel mining was already completed and final lining works are progressing at rapid pace.
- The Tunnel is constructed as per International standards, in which provision of an Escape Tunnel has been made to facilitate rescue and restoration works in emergency cases.
- The Escape Tunnel passes through the Ramban formation of the Young Himalayas and besides this, various distributaries/Nallahs of Chenab River like Khoda, Hingni, Kundan nallah etc. Cross all along the alignment, making mining more of a highly challenging task.
T-49 tunnel (12.75 km) from Sumber to Seeran village in Khari Tehsil area of Ramban district of jammu and Kashmir UT is the longest transportation tunnel in the country.
It is noteworthy to mention that there are three other tunnels on this project, the length for which are close to that of tunnel T-49 and details for these are as follows:
- Tunnel T48 = 10.20km (Breakthrough already achieved) between village Dharam- Sumber station
- Tunnel T15= 11.25 km between Sangaldhan – Basindhadar stations
- Pirpanjal Tunnel= 11.2km between Banihal – Qazigund stations
C-DOT conducts a two-day global IoT/M2M Conference
⇒ The two-day global IoT/M2M conference was held on 14th and 15th December, 2022 at C-DOT Campus, Mehrauli New Delhi.
Organised by:
Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) organised a two-day global IoT/M2M conference in association with the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India and Telecommunications Standards Development Society India (TSDSI).
Theme:
The conference was centred on the theme ‘Growth of IoT/M2M ecosystem through standardised implementations.’
Aim:
The aim of the conference was to evolve a synergistic framework for wider collaboration amongst the key stakeholders of IoT/M2M ecosystem spanning R&D, academia, Government, industry, start-ups, global Telecom associations and Standards Development Organisations.
» Various dignitaries, researchers and officers from the Government, R&D, academia, industry and startups from both India and abroad, attended the inaugural session of the conference.
During the technical sessions, the participants deliberated on diverse contemporary themes, including-
Worldwide IoT/M2M practices and standardisation initiatives for an interoperable and sustainable IoT ecosystem, IoT Security and other underlying challenges, AI & IoT for 5G, Infrastructure for Smart Cities, C-DOT Common Service Platform and Use-cases for rural applications like Agriculture.
Key Points:
- This facilitated the faster development of innovative, standardised and interoperable IoT/M2M solutions for wide-ranging applications in diverse areas.
- This event enhanced collaboration amongst the Govt and loT/M2M Industry, who are involved in policy/planning/ implementation/ deployment of IoT/M2M solutions in the country.
- There was also an exhibition of products and solutions during the conference, with the objective to encourage the growth of loT/M2M Ecosystem.
IREDA inks Rs 4,445 crore loan agreement with SJVN Green Energy Ltd
⇒ Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) signed a historic loan agreement for Rs 4,444.71 crore with SJVN Green Energy Ltd (SGEL, a subsidiary of SJVN Ltd) on 15 December 2022, for a 1,000 MW Solar power project at Bikaner, Rajasthan.
Key Points:
- The IREDA funded project will connect to 400/220 KV substation Bikaner-II (near Bikaner).
- SJVN has bagged the project through the tender floated by IREDA under the CPSU Phase-II (Tranche III) Scheme for development of Grid connected Solar PV Power Project through competitive Bidding Process based on VGF support.
International
Indo-Kazakhstan Joint Military Exercise “Kazind – 2022”
⇒ The 6th Edition of Indo – Kazakhstan joint training exercise “KAZIND-22” was conducted at Umroi, Meghalaya from 15 to 28 December, 2022.
Participation:
Kazakhstan Army soldiers comprised of troops from the Regional Command, South, and Indian Army soldiers from the 11 Gorkha Rifles participated in the exercise.
Aim:
Aim of the exercise was to build positive military relations, imbibe each other’s best practices and promote the ability to operate together while undertaking counter terrorist operations in semi urban / jungle scenario, under a UN peace enforcement mandate.
- This joint exercise enabled the two armies to train, plan and execute a series of combined tactical drills for neutralising of likely threats that may be encountered in UN peace keeping operations.
Scope:
The scope of the exercise involved a Command Post Exercise (CPX) at the Battalion level, and Company level Field Training Exercise (FTX) on sub-conventional operations.
Key Points:
- During the exercise, participants engaged in variety of missions ranging from joint planning, joint tactical drills, basics of special arms skills, HADR and raiding a hostile target.
- “Exercise KAZIND” enhanced the level of defence cooperation between Indian Army and Kazakhstan Army which will further foster the bilateral relations between the two nations.
Background:
Joint annual training exercise with the Kazakhstan Army was instituted in 2016 as Exercise Prabal Dostyk, which was later upgraded to a company level exercise and renamed as Ex Kazind in 2018.