Important Facts for Prelims (7th September 2018)

• 07 Sep 2018

Centenary of the Battle of Haifa

• The Embassy of India held a ceremony in Haifa to mark the Centenary of the Battle of Haifa.
• On  Sep 23, 1918, Indian soldiers from the Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad Lancers liberated the city of Haifa during World War I from the Ottoman Empire forces.
• The Indian Army commemorates September 23 every year as Haifa Day to pay its respects to the three Indian Cavalry Regiments - Mysore, Hyderabad and Jodhpur Lancers.
• Earlier, in his visit to Israel, the Prime Minister of India unveiled a plaque commemorating Major Dalpat Singh, known as the ‘Hero of Haifa’ for his critical role in the liberation of the city.
• The famous Teen Murti Memorial in Delhi has been recently rechristened as Teen Murti-Haifa Memorial by the Indian government to pay respect to the brave Indian soldiers who fought in this historical battle.
• The Teen Murti memorial was constructed in 1922 in the memory of the Indian soldiers from three princely states of Jodhpur, Hyderabad and Mysore.

AAPOORTI Mobile App

• The Ministry of Railways has launched  ‘AAPOORTI’ mobile App of ‘Indian Railways e-procurement system (IREPS)’.
• This App provides information and data related to e-tendering and e-auction related activities of Indian Railways.
• Digitization of Railway supply chain is an ongoing program with new features and facilities being added through the e-procurement system “IREPS”.
• Central Vigilance Commission has recognized and awarded the system under “Vigilance Excellence Awards-2017” for outstanding contribution in the category of “IT initiatives for transparency in the organization”.

Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX-2018)

• While addressing the 6th edition of the biennial Bengaluru Space Expo, held from September 6-8, the ISRO Chairman urged country's industry to invest in space business in a big way.
• BSX-2018 is organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with ISRO and the Department of Space.
• The three-day event consists of an international exhibition and conference on ‘World Space-Biz.’
• The theme of the Conference is “Creating Dynamism in Indian Space Ecosystem” with specific focus on enabling New Space in India.

Bharat Ke Veer Trust

• Government has granted status of a trust to ‘Bharat Ke Veer’, a private initiative promoted by actor Akshay Kumar, which aids families of paramilitary personnel killed in action.
• The web portal and mobile application named “Bharat ke Veer” was launched in 2017 which is an IT based platform, with an objective to enable willing donors to contribute towards.
• Bharat Ke Veer Trust now comes under under section 80G of Income Tax Act 1961 which means that all contributions to the trust will be exempted under the income tax.
• The general public can visit the Bharat Ke Veer application and website, and make a contribution to support the families of bravehearts who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.

2^nd World Hindu Congress

• The 2^nd World Hindu Congress (WHC) is being held in Chicago on the occasion of 125th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s historic speech at the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893.
• Organised by the World Hindu Foundation, the first Congress was held in New Delhi in 2014.
• Held once every four years, WHC is a global platform for Hindus to connect, share ideas, inspire one another and impact the common good.
• WHC 2018 theme is “Sumantrite Suvikrante” – THINK COLLECTIVELY, ACHIEVE VALIANTLY.

1893 World’s Parliament of Religions

• The 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago, was the largest and most spectacular event among many other congresses in the World’s Columbian Exposition.
• The World Congress of Religions marks the first formal gathering of representatives of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. Today it is recognized as the birth of formal interreligious dialogue worldwide.
• Swami Vivekananda influenced the 5,000 assembled delegates, greeting them with the words, “Sisters and brothers of America!”. This speech, which introduced Hinduism to America is memorized by school children in India to this day.
• 19 women spoke at this Parliament, an unprecedented occurrence in 1893.

Tsunami mock Exercise IOWave18

• India, along with 23 other Indian Ocean Nations, participated in a major Indian ocean-wide tsunami mock exercise.
• The Exercise, known as IOWave18, was organized by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, which coordinated the setting up of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) in the aftermath of the December 26, 2004 tsunami.
• In India, IOWave18 is being coordinated by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) with support from National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Coastal States/UTs.

National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)

• ESSO-INCOIS was established as an autonomous body in 1999 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and is a unit of the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO).
• ESSO- INCOIS is mandated to provide the best possible ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies and the scientific community through sustained ocean observations and constant improvements through systematic and focussed research.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

• NDMA is an agency of the Ministry of Home Affairs whose primary purpose is to coordinate response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster resiliency and crisis response.
• It has been constituted under the Disaster Management Act 2005, with the Prime Minister of as its Chairman, a Vice Chairman with the status of Cabinet Minister, and eight members with the status of Ministers of State.
• The agency is responsible for framing policies, laying down guidelines and best-practices and coordinating with the State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) to ensure a holistic and distributed approach to disaster management.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)

• NDRF is a unit created by the government for the purpose of specialised response to natural and man-made disasters.
• It works under the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) which lays down the policies, plans and guidelines for disaster management.
• It consists of eight battalions of Central paramilitary forces - two battalions each from the Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for the purpose of specialist response in disaster situations.