Rajnath about LOC

Project Akashteer: Def Min Inks Rs 2,400Cr Deal With BEL

In yet another boost to self-reliance in defence sector, the Ministry of Defence on Wednesday signed three contracts — two with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Ghaziabad and one with New Space India Limited (NSIL) — at a total cost nearly Rs 5,400 crore, to bolster the defence capabilities of the country.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the first contract with BEL pertains to the procurement of the Automated Air Defence Control and Reporting System ‘Project Akashteer’ worth Rs 1,982 crore for the Indian Army.
The second contract with BEL relates to the acquisition of Sarang Electronic Support Measure (ESM) systems along with the associated Engineering Support Package from BEL, Hyderabad at an overall cost of Rs 412 crore for the Indian Navy.

The contract with NSIL, a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Department of Space, Bengaluru pertains to the procurement of an advanced Communication Satellite, GSAT 7B, which will provide High Throughput Services to the Indian Army at an overall cost of Rs 2,963 crore, said the Defence Ministry statement.

The Automated Air Defence Control and Reporting System ‘Project Akashteer’ will empower the Air Defence units of the Indian Army with an indigenous, state-of-the-art capability, to effectively operate in an integrated manner. Akashteer will enable monitoring of low-level airspace over the battle areas of the Indian Army and effectively control the Ground-based Air.

Further, Sarang is an advanced Electronic Support Measure system for helicopters of the Indian Navy, designed and developed indigenously by the Defence Electronics Research Laboratory, Hyderabad under the programme Samudrika. The scheme will generate employment of approximately 2 lakh man-days over a period of three years.

Both projects will encourage the participation of Indian Electronics and associated industries, including MSMEs, who are sub-vendors of BEL.

Advanced Communication Satellite will considerably enhance the communication capability of the Indian Army by providing mission-critical beyond-the-line-of-sight communication to troops and formations as well as weapon and airborne platforms. The geostationary satellite, being a first-of-its-kind in the five-tonne category, will be developed indigenously by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Many parts and sub-assemblies and systems will be sourced from indigenous manufacturers, including MSMEs and start-ups, thereby giving a fillip to the private Indian space industry, in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. The project will generate employment of approximately 3 lakh man-days over a period of three and half years. (ANI)

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J'khand Polls

MPs Seek More Clarity On Remote Voting During Parliamentary Panel Meet

Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi led Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee for Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice on Monday discussed several issues including the Election Commission of India’s recent proposal of ‘remote voting for migrants’.

Senior officials of the Election Commission of India including Deputy Election Commissioners were present at the meeting.
In a detailed presentation before the parliamentary panel, the ECI said the matter of Remote Voting needs comprehensive analysis, apart from the technological issues.

“Necessary modifications required in The Representation of the People Acts, 1950 and 1951. The Conduct of Elections Rules 1961 and The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 are being studied. However, such changes can only be proposed after larger stakeholder consultations,” the ECI said in its presentation.

The Election Commission further underscored before the panel that the definition of a domestic migrant for the electoral purpose has to be deliberated on and addressed.

“The District Election Officer/Returning Officer, a territory – based offices, are the most important authorities for a district/constituency as far as the elections are concerned. Now in a scenario of ‘Remote Voting’ wherein the voters of a constituency are spread across geographies, the definition and roles of DEO/RO have to be suitably modified as per the statutory need. Various other such aspects also need attention,” the Election Commission (EC) told the parliamentary panel while discussing the feasibility of remote voting.

On the technical viability of such machines, the ECI told the panel that Remote Voting Technology should be standalone like Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and should not be network connected in any form to rule out any transmitting data in any possibility of loss, visibility of data. Accordingly, the ECI is working with the Technical Expert Committee and Electronics Corporations of India Limited (ECIL)/Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL),” sources said.

The ECI informed the parliamentary panel that all stakeholders would be taken on board before arriving at any decision on the timing and mode of vote by the eligible domestic migrants under the ‘Remote Voting’ model.

During the discussion in today’s meeting various political parties said that while electoral reforms were welcome it is important to ensure such steps taken are foolproof.

“None of us is against the reforms but there have to be specific questions that have to be answered on the viability- legal technical and legal of such a move”, a source privy to the developments of the meeting told ANI.

As per the available data from the 2011 Census, more than 45 crore Indian migrants were working away from their hometowns. This number now stands close to 60 crores.

During the meeting, the panel was informed that the ECI Officers have already made a presentation on the subject before the Parliament Standing Committee on November 25, 2O21 covering all important aspects including schematics of the Remote Voting Machine prototype.

It may be noted that the ECI has called for a meeting of all political parties on January 16 to show a demo of a multi-constituency electronic voting machine (EVM) retaining to facilitate remote voting while being able to retain all security features of the EVMs currently in use. (ANI)

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