National
River Cities Alliance
⇒ Union Minister for Jal Shakti Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched the River Cities Alliance, a dedicated platform for river cities in India to ideate, discuss and exchange information for sustainable management of urban rivers on 25 November 2021.
Launched by:
This first of its kind Alliance in the world symbolizes the successful partnership of the two Ministries i.e., Ministry of Jal Shakti and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA) have collaborated together to launch the River Cities Alliance (RCA).
Theme:
The Alliance will focus on three broad themes:
- Networking
- Capacity Building
- Technical Support
Objective:
The primary objective of RCA is to provide the member cities with a platform to discuss and exchange information on aspects that are vital for sustainable management of urban rivers such as minimizing their water footprint, reducing impacts on river and water bodies, capitalizing on natural, etc.
Secretariat of the Alliance:
The Secretariat of the Alliance will be set up at National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA), with NMCG’s support.
» 30 members cities from across the country signed the alliance.
The participating cities in the River Cities Alliance are:
Dehradun, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Srinagar, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Munger, Patna, Berhampore, Hooghly-Chinsurah, Howrah, Jangipur, Maheshtala, Rajmahal, Sahibganj, Ayodhya, Bijnor, Farrukhabad, Kanpur, Mathura-Vrindavan, Mirzapur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Aurangabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Pune, Udaipur and Vijayawada
» The Alliance cities will work towards adopting and localizing national policies and instruments with key river-related directions, prepare their Urban River Management Plans and develop city-specific sectoral strategies that are required for sustainable urban river management.
INS Vela
⇒ INS Vela, the fourth submarine in the series of six submarines of Project-75, was commissioned on 25 November 2021 at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. INS Vela would form part of the Western Naval Command’s Submarine fleet.
Built by:
The Scorpene Class submarines are being built in India by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai, under collaboration with M/s Naval Group (earlier DCNS), France.
About:
- The Scorpene submarines are extremely potent platforms, they have advanced stealth features and are also equipped with both long range guided torpedoes as well as anti-ship missiles.
- These submarines have a state-of-the-art SONAR and sensor suite permitting outstanding operational capabilities.
- They also have an advanced Permanent Magnetic Synchronous motor (PERMASYN) as its propulsion motor.
Noida International Airport (NIA) in Jewar
⇒ Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation Stone of Noida International Airport (NIA) in Jewar, Uttar Pradesh on 25 November 2021.
» With this, Uttar Pradesh is poised to become the only state in India to have five international airports.
Key Points:
- Noida International Airport is planned in 1334 hectares area at Jewar in the Yamuna Expressway International Development Authority (YEIDA) notified area of district Gautam Budhha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.
- It will be India’s first net zero emissions airport. It has earmarked dedicated land to be developed as forest park using trees from the project site.
- The project will be completed in 4 phases.
- The development of the first phase of the airport is being done with a cost of over Rs 10,050 crore.
- Spread over more than 1300 hectares of land, the completed first phase of the airport will have a capacity to serve around 1.2 crore passengers a year and work on it is scheduled to be completed by 2024.
- It will be executed by the international bidder Zurich Airport International AG as concessionaire.
International
Ex SHAKTI- 2021
⇒ 6th Edition of the biennial Indo-France joint military exercise “Ex SHAKTI- 2021” was conducted from 15 to 26 November 2021 in Frejus, France.
Commenced on:
Ex SHAKTI 2021 commenced at the Military School of Draguignan, France on 15 November 2021.
Participation:
- The Indian Army contingent was represented by a composite team of three Officers, three Junior Commissioned Officers and 37 soldiers from a battalion of Gorkha Rifles and support Arms.
- The French side was represented by troops of 21st Marine Infantry Regiment of 6th Light Armoured Brigade.
Culminated on:
“Ex SHAKTI- 2021” culminated on 25 November 2021 after twelve days of intense joint military training, exhibiting their combat power and dominance over the extremist groups in simulated Counter Insurgency / Counter Terrorism environment.
Focus:
The exercise provided opportunity to both the contingents to train in Counter Terrorism operations in joint environment under United Nations charter.
The exercise was conducted in two phases involving combat conditioning and tactical training of Counter Terrorism operations culminating with validation of training in semi urban environment.
Background:
» The last edition of Exercise SHAKTI was conducted at Foreign Training Node in Mahajan Field Firing Ranges, Rajasthan from 31 October to 13 November, 2019.
» India and France carry out three biennial training exercises namely-
- Exercise GARUDA with Indian Airforce
- Exercise VARUNA with Indian Navy
- Exercise SHAKTI with Indian Army