Recently Philippines has signed an agreement with BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd for supply of shore based anti-ship version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. This is the first export order for this missile, which is a joint product of India and Russia.

The Philippines wants to include this missile amid tensions with China over disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Several countries have shown interest in acquiring the BrahMos missile. For example, discussions with Indonesia and Thailand are in advanced stages.

Features of BrahMos Missile:

• BrahMos is a joint venture between the Defense Research and Development Organization and the NPOM of Russia.

• It is named after the Brahmaputra River of India and the Moskva River of Russia.

• It is a two-stage (solid propellant engine in the first stage and liquid ramjet in the second) missile.

• It is a multiplatform missile i.e. it can be launched with precision from land, air and sea and multi-capacity missile, which works in any weather, day and night.

• It works on the principle of 'fire and forget' i.e. it does not require guidance after launch.

• BrahMos is one of the fastest cruise missiles, it currently operates with a speed of Mach 2.8, which is almost 3 times the speed of sound.

• Recently an improved version of BrahMos (extended range C-to-C variant) was tested.

• After India joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in June 2016, its range was increased to 450 km in the next phase. and 600 kms. plans to expand to

• The BrahMos missile was initially fired at a range of 290 km. The range was developed with.

Why did India sign a deal to sell BrahMos missiles with the Philippines?

South American country Ecuador bought five Dhruv Advance Light Helicopters from India in 2009 and two in 2011. The deal was worth $452 million.

But when four of these helicopters crashed, Ecuador decided to unilaterally break the contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in 2015. Ecuador decided to return the remaining three Dhruv helicopters after the crash.

Ecuador had complained about the quality of the Dhruv helicopter. Just when a Mi-17V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force crashed on December 8 and killed 14 people, including India's first CDS General Bipin Rawat, on December 8, Chinese newspapers questioned India's defense capability while taunting. Although the Mi-17V5 helicopter was made in Russia.

Now India has signed an agreement with the Philippines for the first time to sell the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. A notice was issued on 31 December by the Defense Minister of the Philippines, Delfin Lorenzana.

In this notice, information has been given about the $374 million deal with BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. Experts say that if this deal is successful, it will be the first largest deal of security equipment made in India.

Recently a petition seeking criminalization of marital rape has been filed in the Delhi High Court.

In response, the central government said it was considering a "constructive approach" to criminalize it and sought suggestions from various stakeholders.

The petition has sought amendments to the criminal law, which includes section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The basis of "marital immunity" for the prosecution of rape has emerged from the patriarchal thinking of the society.

According to which, after marriage, a wife's right to personal and sexual autonomy, bodily integrity and human dignity is surrendered.

Australia became the first country to pass reforms in 1976 under the influence of the second wave of feminism in the seventies, and several Scandinavian and European countries made marital rape a criminal offense after that.

Legal provisions regarding marital rape:

Exceptions to marital rape: Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which exempts a man from forcibly involuntary sex with his wife, provided the wife is over 15 years of age. It is also known as "Marital Rape Exception".

That is to say, Exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC excludes involuntary sexual relations between a husband and wife of more than fifteen years of age from the definition of "rape" prescribed under section 375 and thus renders prosecution of such acts prohibited. stops.

Issues relating to the exception of marital rape:

Against the fundamental rights of women: The exception of marital rape is a disregard for the constitutional goals of individual autonomy, dignity and gender equality enshrined in fundamental rights such as Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) and Article 14 (right to equality).

The dismal state of the judicial system: Some of the reasons for the low rate of prosecution in marital rape cases in India include:

Low reporting of crimes due to lack of social conditioning and legal awareness.

Wrong way of collection of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.

Out-of-court settlement due to lengthy process of justice/lack of admissible evidence.

Justice Verma Committee Report: After nationwide protests in the December 16, 2012 gang rape case, J. s. The Verma Committee had also recommended criminalization of marital rape.

With the end of this law, women will be protected from harassing husbands, will be able to get the help they need to recover from marital rape and will be able to protect themselves from domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Government side:

Disruptive effect on the institution of marriage: So far the government has said on several occasions that criminalizing marital rape would endanger the institution of marriage and also violate the right to privacy.

Misuse of Legal Provisions: There is a growing misuse of Section 498A of the IPC (harassment of a married woman by her husband and in-laws) and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

Making marital rape a crime can become an easy tool to harass husbands.

During the Union Budget presentation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the issuance of "Green Bonds". These bonds will be issued to mobilize green infrastructure resources.

What are Green Bonds?

Green bonds are debt instruments. The money collected by selling these bonds is invested in projects that have a positive impact on the environment. These bonds will help India achieve its target of 175 GW of electricity from renewable sources by 2022.

Capital Expenditure and Green Bonds

The Finance Minister announced that the government has increased capital expenditure by 35.4%. That is, in the financial year 2022-23, the Government of India will implement projects worth Rs 7.5 lakh crore. Capital expenditure is the money spent by the government. Most of the money will go to green projects.

green bonds in india

The bonds will be offered in public sector projects. According to RBI, the price of green bonds has been high. This is mainly due to asymmetric information. RBI also says that green bonds contribute only 0.7% of all bonds issued.

challenges

Green bonds in India have a short tenure. In fact, green projects take longer to generate returns. They lack credit rating. Also, there are no rating guidelines for green projects.

Importance

The green bond market is growing rapidly. These bonds will help India access long-term funds. This will also improve the ESG climate in India.

These bonds will help India achieve its target of achieving net zero emissions by 2070.

These bonds will help in mobilizing financial resources of the distribution companies.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh announced the government's decision to convert the pilot scheme to induct women as fighter pilots into a permanent one.

The pilot scheme to allow women to fly fighter aircraft in the Indian Air Force (IAF) was launched six years ago in 2015.

Since the implementation of the pilot scheme in 2016, 16 women have been commissioned as fighter pilots.

Now, the Defense Ministry has approved to make this scheme permanent.

background

The move was announced at a time when new doors have opened up for women in the armed forces. The Indian Navy is proceeding with a plan to provide women opportunities to serve in warships alongside their male counterparts. Indian Army has also allowed women to fly helicopters. They are now eligible for permanent commission. In addition, the National Defense Academy is set to induct the first batch of women cadets in June 2022. In October 2021, the Supreme Court had announced to open the doors of this academy to women.

Women pilots in IAF

IAF women pilots are flying Rafale, MiG-21, Sukhoi-30 and MiG-29 fighter jets. Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh is India's first Rafale pilot. She was a part of the Indian Air Force tableau, which was displayed at the Republic Day Parade 2022.

women in the army

Presently more than 9,000 women are serving in the Army, Navy and Air Force. Services are providing them more opportunities to promote career advancement. As a result, the number of women in the army has increased in the last seven years. Women are now allowed to fly fighter aircraft and serve on warships. For the first time in 1992, women were allowed to join the armed forces outside the medical stream. In May 2021, the Indian Army inducted the first batch of women into the Corps of Military Police. This was the first time that women were allowed to join the army in the non-officer cadre.

Data released this week by NISH researchers showed that the massive Greenland ice sheet has melted enough ice over the past 20 years to submerge the entire United States in half a meter of water.

Significantly, the measurement of ice in Greenland began in April 2002, since then till August 2021, about 47 trillion tonnes (4,700 gigatons) of ice has melted there. It is estimated that due to the melting of this amount of ice, there has been a rise of 1.2 cm in the sea level globally.

The Polar Portal's findings are based on satellite images from the US-German GRACE program (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment). This showed that the edge of the ice sheet in the Arctic region is melting most rapidly near the coast.

According to the data, the rate of melting of ice has become much faster in the last few years. This is the reason that between 2003 and 2011, about 23,400 million tonnes of ice was melting in Greenland every year. Due to this, the sea level is expected to rise by about 0.65 mm. Not only this, independent observations have also shown that the ice is getting thinner there. The west coast of Greenland is particularly affected by this.

This has also been confirmed in another research published in the journal Nature Communications, according to which about 3.5 trillion tonnes of ice deposited on Greenland has melted in the last 10 years. Due to this, the sea level has increased by about one centimeter.

Ice deposited in Greenland is melting at the rate of 25,400 million tonnes per year

A study conducted by the University of Leeds showed that while Greenland's ice was melting at a rate of 3,300 million tonnes per year in the 90s, that rate has increased to 25,400 million tonnes per year in the past decade. This means that its melting rate has increased seven-fold in the last three decades.

Climate change is to some extent responsible for this rapid melting of ice. According to NASA, the temperature in the Arctic is rising faster than anywhere else on Earth. Scientists estimate that the temperature in Greenland is rising three to four times faster than the global average.

It is estimated that melting ice in Greenland is a major factor in global sea level rise. The research also showed that during the past four decades, there has been a 21 percent increase in the flow of ice melt in Greenland. Significantly, there is so much ice stored on this largest island of the world, if it melts, then the sea level will rise by about 20 feet worldwide.

According to scientists, every centimeter rise in sea level will increase the risk of coastal flooding for another 6 million people. In such a situation, this melting ice in Greenland is not only affecting the ecosystem there, but it is also affecting the whole world. To prevent this, there is a need to reduce rapidly increasing emissions, so that the rise in temperature can be stopped.