CONTENTS

1. Exercise Sea Dragon-24
2. India Post Payments Bank

Exercise Sea Dragon-24

Context:

Indian Navy’s P8I aircraft landed at Guam, a US island territory in Western Pacific, to participate in Exercise Sea Dragon – 24.

Relevance:

GS III Security Challenges

Exercise Sea Dragon-24: Multinational Maritime Collaboration

• Objective: Enhance collaboration and teamwork among participating navies through professional exchanges.
• Participating Countries: India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the US.

Focus Areas:

• Anti-submarine Warfare (ASW): Locating and neutralizing enemy submarines beneath the seas.
• Surface Warfare: Coordinated attacks on hostile surface vessels using advanced weaponry and tactics.
• Air Defence: Establishing an impenetrable air barrier for the safety of friendly forces.
• Search and Rescue (SAR): Tracking down and rescuing maritime personnel in distress.
• Communication and Coordination: Synchronizing activities across platforms and seamless information exchange.

Key Aspects of the P8I Aircraft:

• Versatility: A potent force multiplier in maritime operations.
• Long-Range Surveillance: Scans vast ocean areas, identifying hostile movements from considerable distances.
• Multi-sensor Fusion: Integrates electronic intelligence systems, sonars, and onboard radars for a comprehensive maritime picture.
• Anti-submarine Warfare Capability: Equipped with depth charges and torpedoes, posing a serious threat to enemy submarines.
• Communication Relay: Serves as a crucial means of communication between various participating fleets’ forces.

India Post Payments Bank

Context:

India Post Payments Bank enter into MoU with Hindustan Zinc to offer financial inclusion services to its CSR beneficiaries

Relevance:

GS III- Indian Economy

About India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)

• The India Post Payments Bank is a public sector payments bank from India operated by the India Post.
• The India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) was setup under the Department of Post, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity Owned by Government of India.
• The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will be like any other banks but its operations will be on a smaller scale without involving any credit risk.
• It will carry out most banking operations like accepting deposits but won’t advance loans or issue credit cards.
• Motto: “Every customer is important, every transaction is significant and every deposit is valuable”.
• Vision: “Building the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man”.
• Mission: “Spearheading financial inclusion by removing barriers and reducing costs for accessing banking services”.
• The IPPB has been integrated with Post Office Savings Bank (POSB).
• The IPPB is the sixth Payments bank, which has become operational after Aditya Birla, Airtel, Fino, Jio and Paytm Payments Banks.
• The freshly-minted payments bank will accept deposits of up to Rs. 1 lakh, offer remittance services, mobile payments/transfers/purchases and other banking services like ATM/debit cards, net banking and third-party fund transfers.
• The Payments bank are licensed under Section 23 of the Banking Regulation Act 1949, and registered as public limited company under the Companies Act, 2013.