Uttarakhand

• 09 May 2023

Chief Minister released the book 'Cyber Encounters'

Why in News?

On 7 May 2023, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami released the Hindi version of the book 'Cyber Encounters' at St. Joseph's Academy, Rajpur Road, Dehradun.

Key Points:

• This book is written by DGP Uttarakhand Ashok Kumar and former DRDO scientist O.P. Manocha.
• DGP Ashok Kumar and O.P. Manochahaves wrote this book analyzing cyber crimes and based on true incidents, it will help readers a lot in avoiding cyber crimes. In this book, where on the one hand an attempt has been made to make people aware by mentioning true incidents, on the other hand, the book is also entertaining. Each page of the book will work to inspire people to protect themselves from cybercrime.
• Cybercrime is the biggest challenge of the current era of technology and the DGP of the state has made the public aware of this challenge, increasing the relevance of this book even more.
• It is worth mentioning that the author of this book, DGP Ashok Kumar, is a 1989 Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Uttarakhand cadre.
• On 30 November 2020, he became the 11th DGP (Director General of Police) of Uttarakhand. In his nearly three decades of service, from undivided Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand, he has been posted to important posts in Police, ITBP and BSF. Over the years, he also wrote books on many subjects, in which his book 'Khakee Mein Insaan' has been very famous.
• Ashok Kumar was born on 20 November 1964 in Kurana village of Panipat district, Haryana. He received B.Tech and M.Tech education from IIT Delhi.
• DGP Ashok Kumar received the UNA Mission Medal in 2001 for his outstanding work in Kosovo. He was awarded the President's Police Medal for long and excellent services in the year 2006.
• O.P. Manocha is a DRDO scientist. O. P. Manocha is a Post Graduate of Physics (Electronics) and has 35 years of experience working in DRDO, the research wing of the Ministry of Defense where he has spearheaded various defense projects.
• He has six published works in various international & national journals and conferences, including Proceedings of Defense Science Journal, International Conference of Image Information Processing & International Conference on Advances in Computer Science.
• He is a Life Fellow of the Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers and a life member of the Computer Society of India & the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. He is the former President of IETE, Dehradun Chapter. He retired from DRDO in the year 2018.

Tungnath temple will be declared a National Monument

Why in News?

According to the information received from the media on 6 May 2023, Devraj Singh Rautela, the officer-in-charge of the Archaeological Department of Uttarakhand, said that Kedar Tungnath Temple, the third of the Panchkedars, will be declared a national monument.

Key Points:

• It is known that the Tungnath Temple in the Rudraprayag district of the state is the highest Shivalaya (12800 feet) above sea level in Asia. The distance of Tungnath Temple from Rudraprayag district headquarters is 70 km. From Chopta, one has to climb 4 km on foot to reach the temple.
• Significantly, the Central Government issued a notification on 27 March 2023 to declare the ancient temple Tungnath as a monument of national importance.