B4U India

Unmanned drones to ensure security during Beijing Olympics

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:43:00 -0400

China’s security forces would use unmanned drones to patrol the skies over the Olympics venue Qingdao City, to watch for suspicious activities and transmit photos and videos back to command stations.

This would be the country's first known use of the spy craft, reported Xinhua.

The unmanned scout made its debut at a drill on Wednesday in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. During the drill, two armed police personnel remotely piloted the meter-long reconnaissance aircraft by a third-floor window in a building more than 50 meters away, and watched activities inside the room on a screen at their ground station.

Costing around one million yuan (approx. 147,000 US dollars) each, the low-altitude, low-noise aircraft can reconnoiter several square kilometers and stay in the air for an hour, said Dai Sujin, head of the armed police forces of Shandong.

But, he did not reveal the source of the technologies or the total number of the weapons dispatched during the Games, citing operational security.

Qingdao City will receive 464 athletes from 65 countries for 11 sailing events. It is also the only host city beside Beijing to hold opening and closing ceremonies.

Besides the unmanned drones, another 35 kinds of anti-terrorist weapons were on show in mock hijackings and bomb attacks. "They are expected to be used by the security forces during the Beijing Olympics," Dai said.

China has put emphasis on security in the run-up to the Games. An anti-terrorist force of nearly 100,000 commandos, police and army troops is on high alert for attempted terrorist attacks.

Security forces in host cities Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao and Hong Kong have been patrolling the ground and skies of all venues and the maritime safety of coastal venues. (ANI)

Advanced Light Helicopter ‘Dhruva’ becomes great asset for security forces

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:29:00 -0400

Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) named Dhruva (Pole Star), a light (5.5t class) multi-role and multi-mission helicopter has proved useful for security forces in Kashmir.

"Dhruva", an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), which developed indigenously by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), is a new generation helicopter in the 5.5-ton weight class with twin-engine configuration allowing a continued flight virtually throughout the flight envelope.

The helicopter which has been designed to meet the requirements of both the military and the civil operations, has high military capabilities for heli-borne assault, casualty evacuation, inspection, logistic support, and training.

Ajay Chauhan, a Colonel of Indian army fighting insurgency in Kashmir valley said that the multi-functionality of 'Dhruva' has certainly made it a force multiplier.

"We have the Dhruva helicopter flying overhead and giving us surveillance of the area. It also was useful in transporting material and personnel with its ability to fly at high altitudes and its all weather ability. It definitely is a force multiplier," said Colonel Ajay Chauhan.

Defence sources said the "Dhruva" can operate in various geographical conditions. It can fly at higher altitudes, has sea level high lift potential and is a performer at higher speed.

They said that it aptly fulfills the requirements of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Coast Guard.

Its Integrated Dynamic System ensures low vulnerability, increased safety and reliability. (ANI)

Manmohan Singh to discuss Indo-US nuclear deal with Bush on July 9

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:29:00 -0400

Prime Minister Manamohan Singh is expected to meet US President George W. Bush on July 9 on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Hokkaido in Japan.

Singh is expected to discuss the progress of the Indo-US nuclear deal with Bush.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters here that the Indian government would like to go ahead with the deal, but cannot give timeframe.

"We will go ahead with it as soon as we can. Once we take a decision to approach the IAEA, we will let you know. The US was committed to getting India exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for nuclear commerce under July 2005 civil nuclear cooperation agreement,” he said.

Menon said India was in touch with the NSG and would proceed on the deal as early as possible.

Many world leaders going to attend the Hokkaido summit are also the members of the NSG, he added.

The Prime Minister, during his three-day visit, would discuss various topics including climate change, energy and food security with G-8 leaders and those from the outreach countries like China, Brazil and South Africa.

India has been attending G-8 outreach meetings since 2003 and an important outcome of the last year's G-8 summit in Heiligendamm in Germany was the initiative to launch a high-level dialogue between the G-8 and the five-outreach countries to be completed at next year's summit in Italy.

Menon said India has also come out with a national action plan for climate change and it would like to see an international framework for climate change in place and would work for this.

The action plan declares that India's greenhouse emissions will not be more than the emissions of developed countries. (ANI)

President launches Gateway Portal to connect with rural poor

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:28:00 -0400

President Pratibha Patil launched the Government’s multi-lingual portal ‘India Development Gateway (InDG)’ in New Delhi today to connect with the rural people by providing information on strategic needs of the poor and the marginalized in local languages.

Rural communities can immediately access information in six important sectors namely, Agriculture, Rural Energy, Education, Health and e-Governance in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and English.

President said: “The portal can link panchayats across the country, empower village people and open a window of opportunity to rural development. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) must help bring about a second green revolution in agriculture.”

“The Gateway should help achieve universalisation of primary education, energy conservation and energy efficiency and health objectives in the villages. It should be used to inform rural population about benefits from Government Schemes and income generation options,” she added.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja said: “The Gateway Portal is part of the national e-Governance vision to make all government services accessible to the common man in his locality.”

He hoped the portal would bring about change in villages and promote holistic human development. He described the initiative as another attempt to bring the power of IT to the unreached.

Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Jyotiraditya Scindia said the portal would bridge the knowledge gap, empower the youth and give full choices to citizens.

The Chairman of the India Development Gateway Initiative and eminent scientist Professor M.S. Swaminathan, said the portal marks a new architecture of growth based on social inclusion, knowledge revolution and national development.

He said, the portal would provide dynamic information in areas like weather and market to support agriculture and other sectors in villages.

The ceremonial launch of the portal was attended by a host of partner organizations and senior officials. (ANI)

IIT Delhi revokes termination order of 3 students

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:28:00 -0400

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi has revoked the expulsion of three students for under performance here today, including two belonging to the Scheduled Caste.

The premier institute had expelled 20 students, of these 11 belonged to the SC category, one to the ST and eight were General Category students citing unsatisfactory performance in June first week.

The IIT official said the decision on 17 others would remain the same.

The decision was taken today after a meeting of the IIT's review committee which looked into a complaint regarding expulsions.

A senior IIT official said, "The committee took a lenient view because of the special circumstances."

Recently, the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes had summoned IIT Delhi Director Surendra Prasad on a complaint that the administration had “deliberately handpicked” the students from the SC/ST communities. (ANI)