Dharma Guardian 2018 is the joint military exercise between India and Japan.
It involves the Indian Army and Japan Ground Self Defence Force at Counter Insurgency Warfare School, Vairengte, Mizoram, India.
It will be a 14-day long exercise, with emphasis on increasing interoperability between forces from both countries.
Both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well developed tactical drills for neutralization of likely threats that may be encountered in urban warfare scenario.
Exercise 'DHARMA GUARDIAN-2018' is another step in deepening strategic ties including closer defense cooperation between the two countries.
JIMEX and MALABAR are the Naval exercises conducted by Indian and Japanese Navy.
Veer Surendra Sai
The Union Cabinet has approved renaming of Jharsuguda Airport, Odisha as “Veer Surendra Sai Airport, Jharsuguda”.
Veer Surendra Sai was a well-known freedom fighter of Odisha. He played a significant role in the first Indian struggle for freedom of 1857.
Surendra Sai began protesting the British at age 18 in 1827, moved operations to the hilly tracts of Western Orissa in 1857 and continued until he surrendered in 1862.
Though the great revolt of 1857 was suppressed elsewhere in India in 1858, it continued till 1862 in the district of Sambalpur in Orissa, largely due to efforts of Veer Surendra Sai.
In 2005, Government of India decided to put a statue of Veer Surendra Sai at the premises of Parliament of India to honour him.
LMDC and BASIC
India is hosting two key meetings in New Delhi with a group of countries called the LMDC (Like Minded Developing Countries-India, China, Venezuela, Iran, etc.) and BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China), ahead of December climate talks in Katowice, Poland.
BASIC is a group of four large newly industrialized countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China. It was formed in 2009.
The Conference of Parties (COP), a league of at least 190 countries signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), meets annually to discuss ways to address issues related to climate change.
The Katowice talks will be 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or COP24.
Ease of Moving Index, 2018
Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has released India’s first Ease of Mobility Index 2018.
The report has been prepared by Ola Mobility Institute - Ola’s research and social innovation arm.
As part of report findings, Kolkata ranks the highest in terms of affordability of public transportation with 80% of commuters finding Kolkata’s public transport reasonable and affordable.
Chennai emerged as the city with the most sustainable mobility practices amongst other metros in the country.
The Index offers a source of information to aid transit agencies and urban planners to make informed decisions and align solutions with the preference of commuters.
The report further seeks to offer a comprehensive action plan for cities to further strengthen their public transportation systems and improve the overall state of mobility.
