DAILY PIB 4th April 2023

International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI):Recently, the Prime Minister addressed the inaugural session of 5th edition of International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI).

ICDRI is the annual conference of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

It brings together member countries, organizations and institutions to strengthen the global discourse on disaster and climate resilient infrastructure.The fourth edition of ICDRI was being organized in partnership with the United States Government.

Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI):CDRI was first proposed by our Prime Minister during the 2016 Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in New Delhi. It was then launched by the Prime Minister during the United Nations Climate Action Summit in 2019, at New York.The CDRI is a partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and knowledge institutions.It aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development.The following are CDRI’s strategic priorities:Technical Support and Capacity-building,Research and Knowledge Management,Advocacy and Partnerships.The CDRI Secretariat is based in New Delhi, India.

Members:31 nations and 8 organisations.

The Union Cabinet approved the categorization of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) as an ‘International Organisation’.

Central Information Commission:The Central Information Commission was constituted in 2005 under the Right to Information Act, 2005. It is not a constitutional body.

The jurisdiction of the Commission extends over all Central Public Authorities.

The commission shall consist of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and several Central Information Commissioners not exceeding 10 as may be deemed necessary.

The RTI (Amendment) Act, 2019 stated that the central government will notify the term and quantum of salary through rules.The commissioners are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of:The Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee;The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha; and Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.They shall hold office for such term as prescribed by the Central Government or until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier, and shall not be eligible for reappointment.

Exercise SLINEX-2023:The 10th edition of the maritime Exercise SLINEX – 2023 recently began in Colombo.It is an annual bilateral maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Sri Lanka Navy.

The exercise is being conducted in two phases, the Harbour Phase followed by the Sea Phase.

The Indian Navy will be represented by INS Kiltan (Advanced Anti Submarine Warfare Corvette) and INS Savitri (Offshore Patrol Vessel), while the Sri Lanka Navy will have SLNS Gajabahu (Advance Offshore Patrol Vessel) and SLNS Sagara (OPV) in the exercise.SLINEX is in consonance with India’s policy of ‘Neighbourhood First’ and Prime Ministers’ vision of ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR)’.