15-01-2021 | 12:18 PM
Sea Vigil-21
Context
Recently, the second edition of the biennial pan-India coastal defence exercise Sea Vigil-21 has been conducted. The exercise aims to assess India’s preparedness in the domain of coastal defence and maritime security. The inaugural edition of the exercise was conducted in January 2019.
Key Highlights
The 2021 exercise is being undertaken along the 7516 km coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) defines an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as generally extending 200 nautical miles from shore, within which the coastal state has the right to explore and exploit, and the responsibility to conserve and manage, both living and non-living resources.
It involves all the 13 coastal States and Union Territories along with other maritime stakeholders, including the fishing and coastal communities.
13 Coastal States and UT’s are: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Daman & Diu, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Bay of Bengal) and Lakshadweep Islands (Arabian Sea).
Assets of the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Customs and other maritime agencies are also participating in the Exercise.
The Indian Air Force, National Security Guard, the Border Security Force, oil handling agencies and airports also participate in the exercise.
Exercise 2021 version will provide a realistic assessment of India’s strengths and weaknesses and thus will help in further strengthening maritime and national security.
This exercise aims to check the efficacy of the measures initiated to plug gaps in coastal security following the Mumbai terror attack in 2008.
Several other initiatives were set forth, including the National Committee for Coastal and Maritime Security (NCSMCS), creation of Joint Operations Centres (JOC) at Mumbai, Cochin, Visakhapatnam and Port Blair, raising of Sagar Prahari Bal (SPB), installation of the Harbour Defence Surveillance System, setting-up of National Command Control Communication and Intelligence (NC3I) Network.
The Sea Vigil is a build-up towards the major theatre level exercise TROPEX (Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercise) which the Indian Navy conducts every two years. Both Sea Vigil and TROPEX will together cover the entire spectrum of maritime security challenges.
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20-01-2021 | 12:25 PM
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0
Context
On January 15, 2021, the Government of India launched the third phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). It will be launched in 600 districts across all states of India. The third Phase is to be implemented by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
About Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0
Skill India Mission PMKVY 3.0 envisages training of eight lakh candidates over a scheme period of 2020-2021 with an outlay of Rs. 948.90 crore.
This third phase will focus on new-age and COVID-related skills.
It will be implemented in a more decentralized structure with greater responsibilities and support from States/UTs and Districts.
Under the guidance of State Skill Development Missions (SSDM), District Skill Committees (DSCs) will play a key role in addressing the skill gap and assessing demand at the district level.
The 729 Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs), empanelled non-PMKK training centres and more than 200 ITI’s under Skill India will be rolling out PMKVY 3.0 training to build a robust pool of skilled professionals.
Skill India Mission is an initiative of the Government of India, launched by the Prime Minister on the 16th of July 2015 with an aim to train over 40 crore people in India in different skills by 2022.
It includes various initiatives of the government like National Skill Development Mission, National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) Skill Loan scheme.
The third phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana will be more trainee- and learner-centric addressing the ambitions of aspirational Bharat and its focus is on bridging the demand-supply gap by promoting skill development in areas of new-age and Industry 4.0 job roles.
It will be a propagator of vocational education at an early level for youth to capitalize on industry-linked opportunities.
By pursuing a bottom-up approach to training, it will identify job roles that have demand at the local level and skill the youth, linking them to these opportunities (Vocal for Local).
It will encourage healthy competition between states by significantly increasing allocation to those states that perform better.
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