Defence Acquisition Council: Defence Acquisition Council was set up in 2001 as part of reforms that followed Kargil War. The Council evaluates the long-term integrated perspective plan for the Armed Forces, determines the necessity of acquiring equipment and gives approval to various defence deals. It also has to approve any changes in already approved acquisition processes. It also recommends major procurements to the CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security) for approval. The Council is chaired by the Defence Minister. The members of the Council include Defence Secretary, Chiefs of Army, Navy & Air Force, Chief of DRDO, amongst others. DAC was in news as it has approved acquisition of 12 High Power Radars and Air Cushion Vehicles proposal of the Indian Armed Forces.

Maternal Mortality in India: As per World Health Organisation, Maternal Mortality is death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes. Maternal Mortality Rate is measured per 1,00,000 live births. It is one of the major indicator of female healthcare in India. The Global MMR for the year 1990 was 385 while in 2015 it stood at 216 i.e. a drop of 44% in 25 years. Most of the Global maternal deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa (66%), followed by South Asia (22%). In Indian context, in 2011-13 period, the MMR was 167 and as per the data released recently by the Registrar General of India, the MMR during 2014-16 stands at 130. The three states that performed best in India are Kerala (MMR 46), Maharashtra (MMR 61) and Tamil Nadu (MMR 66). The three worst performing states in India are Rajasthan (MMR 199), UP and Uttarakhand (MMR 201) and Assam (MMR 237). A significant decline in MMR was seen in Empowered Action Group (EAG) states and Assam. Amongst its neighbourhood, India lags behind China, Maldives and Sri Lanka in terms of MMR.

Empowered Action Group (EAG) states: EAG states are 8 socio-economically backward states of the country that include Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. These states lag behind in the demographic transition and have the high infant mortality rates in the country besides poor performance in other socio-economic indicators.

Agni V: India successfully test fired its indigenously developed Agni- 5 missile on 3rd June. The missile was launched from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast. Agni missile is a surface to surface missile and is launched with the help of mobile launcher of the Integrated Test Range at Dr Abdul Kalam Island formerly known as Wheeler Island. This is the 6th test fire of the state-of-the-art Agni 5 missile. Agni-5 is a nuclear capable long range missile with new technologies in terms of navigation and guidance, warhead and engine. The three stage, 17- meter tall, two-meter wide Agni-5 missile has a range of Agni-5 missile is 5000 km. It can carry a nuclear warhead weighing up to 1.5 tonnes. The missile is highly reliable, has longer shelf life and enhanced mobility compared to the other versions. Agni-1 has a range of 700 km, Agni-2 with a 2000 km range, Agni-3 and 4 have a range of 2500 km to 3500km.

Ensemble Prediction Systems (EPS): The Ministry of Earth Science (MoES) has launched a new system to generate more accurate and area specific forecast of extreme weather events including rains, heat wave and cold wave. The new Ensemble Prediction System (EPS) has been touted as best available model after such a system available in Europe. The new EPS system has been developed by three bodies under Ministry of Earth Sciences viz. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. The most salient feature of new EPS is its high resolution for short-medium range weather forecasts. Under the new system, the area of spatial resolution (currently 23 km grid scale) will come down to 12 km. This would help sending out district level warning and forecast extreme weather events as before as five days. In its calculations, the system will use a newly procured 8 petaflops high-power computing system.