India’s biggest Defence Expo 2016 begins in Goa

India’s biggest ever land, naval and homeland security exhibition Defence Expo 2016 began in Goa. The four-day biennial event was inaugurated by the Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. This for the first time, the Expo is being held outside the national capital New Delhi.

Key facts:

• Defence Expo 2016 is the 9th edition of the series of biennial land, naval and internal homeland security systems exhibitions.


• The 2016 theme is “Rise of Futurism” and its vision is to make India prosperous by establishing world class science and technology base in defence sector.


• It also seeks to provide India’s Defence Services decisive edge by equipping them with internationally competitive systems and solutions.


• The Expo will see participation of 1,053 companies from 47 countries including major defence production countries like Russia, US, Germany, Italy, Japan and Israel.


• They will display their warfare ware in their stalls to each other and demonstrate the capabilities of their defence equipment.


• It will also see participation of the major public and private sector companies in India including Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).


• DRDO will display live demo of Airborne Early Warning & Control System (AEWCS), Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Main Battle Tank (MTB) Arjun, Wheeled Armoured Platform AKASH, Air Defence System, Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher, state of art Radars, and other equipment.

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India’s biggest Defence Expo 2016 begins in Goa

8th BRICS Summit to be held in Goa

On 22 March 2016 External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced that India will host 8th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa) Summit from 15th October to 16th October 2016 in Goa. India will host the summit in its capacity as chair of the influential block comprising 5 countries with 42 percent of the world population & combined GDP of over 16 trillion US dollars.

India assumed chairmanship of BRICS from Russia on 15th February 2016 and it will last till 31st December 2016.

The minister also unveiled a logo and website of the Summit in New Delhi. The logo for the Summit is a lotus having colours from all the 5 member countries and a traditional Namaste in the centre.

During India’s BRICS Chairmanship, 5 pronged approach will be adopted.
They are:

• Institution building to further deepen, sustain & institutionalise BRICS co-operation

• Implementation of the decisions from previous Summits

• Integrating the existing co-operation mechanisms
• Innovation:

New co-operation mechanisms on government to government, Track-2, business to business and people to people to tap the full potential of BRICS co-operation

• Continuity: Continuation of mutually agreed existing BRICS co-operation mechanisms.

In 2015, the 7th BRICS summit was held from 8 to 9 July in the Russian city of Ufa in Bashkortostan.

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8th BRICS Summit to be held in Goa

1st time Falcated Duck sighted in Goa

Birdwatchers for 1st time have sighted Falcated Duck in Goa which is considered as rare vagrant migrant bird species to the south of India. Earlier the bird was sighted 2 times in southern parts of India away from its natural migratory habitat in North India. For 1st time ever it was sighted in Tamil Nadu in 2012 and the 2nd time in Akola (Maharashtra) in January 2015.

About the Falcated Duck:

Falcated Duck is a migratory bird, breeding in Russia & north China in summers and in winter migrate towards north of India.

Conservation prioritisation: The Falcated Duck is classified as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. World population of this species is about 89,000 individuals as per the recent estimates.

Threats faced globally: Loss of habitat and hunting. Loss of habitat especially wetland ecosystem in their winter migratory region is also a cause for concern.

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1st time Falcated Duck sighted in Goa

Naval Exercise IBSAMAR 2016 between the India, South Africa & Brazil kicked off in Goa

5th edition of IBSAMAR 2016 trilateral naval exercise between Brazil, India & South Africa kicked off in Goa. IBSAMAR is abbreviated as India-Brazil and South Africa Maritime. This is the for the 1st time the exercise is held in India as all the previous editions were held in South Africa since it began in 2006.
Key facts:

• This trilateral naval exercise aims at increasing :
  
  (i) Interoperability among navies of three countries
  
  (ii) Common understanding maritime security between them.


• This edition of IBSAMAR naval exercise will be conducted 2 phases namely Harbour phase and Sea Phase.


• During harbour phase, wide range of the professional interactions will be undertaken & during Sea Phase diverse range operational activities will be conducted off Goa coast.


• The thrust of the exercises will be on anti submarine warfare (ASW), air defence, flying operations, surface firing, search & rescue & tactical procedures.


• Indian navy is represented by INS Mumbai– a missile destroyer, INS Shalki– a Shisuhumar class diesel electric submarine and INS trishul– a stealth frigate.


• The Brazilian Navy is represented by the Brazilian Naval Ship (BNS) Amazonas embarked with Special Forces. South African Navy is represented by the SAS Spioenkop with integral helicopter & embarked with the Special Forces.

Comment The IBSAMAR trilateral naval exercise epitomises the strong long-term strategic relationship between the three democracies or vibrant economies. It represents the most visible manifestation of convergence of democratic values, economic interests and maritime co-operation.

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Naval Exercise IBSAMAR 2016 between the India, South Africa & Brazil kicked off in Goa

Tunnel technology institute at Margao in Goa will be established by Konkan Railway

Tunnel technology institute to be established by Konkan Railway at Goa’s Margao town ,annonced by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 19 October 2015. This institute will provide that training technologies,which are not introduced in india till now.

It will be established in the honour of former Railway Minister George Fernandes,and will be one of its kind.George Fernandes is said to be the driving force behind the Konkan Railway. The institute will be named as George Fernandes Institute of Tunnel Technology.

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Tunnel technology institute at Margao in Goa will be established by Konkan Railway