Daily Current Capsules
Chandrayaan-3
- Chandrayaan-3, scheduled to be launched from Sriharikota this week, will make India the fourth country to land its Spacecraft on the surface of the Moon.
- It will be launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota
- Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission of Chandrayaan-2 and is aimed to demonstrate India’s capability in soft landing and roving on the surface of the Moon or the Lunar surface.
- The complex mission profile required for the Spacecraft to enter the Moon’s orbit has been executed very precisely.
- After the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the surface of the Moon, the rover, which has six wheels, will come out and is expected to work for 14 days on the Moon.
- With the support of multiple cameras on the rover, we will be able to receive images
Chandrayaan-1, is credited for having discovered the presence of water on the surface of the Moon
The primary objectives of Chandrayaan-3 mission are
- to demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface
- to demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and
- to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
Chandrayaan-3 (Highlights)
- Chandrayaan-3 consists of
- Indigenous Lander module (LM)
- Propulsion module (PM)
- The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit. The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.
- Lander payloads: Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature; Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around the landing site; Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and its variations. A passive Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA is accommodated for lunar laser ranging studies.
- Rover payloads: Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving the elemental composition in the vicinity of landing site.
- The Lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the Rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.
- The Lander and the Rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.
- The main function of PM is to carry the LM from launch vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit and separate the LM from PM.
- Apart from this, the Propulsion Module also has one scientific payload as a value addition which will be operated post separation of Lander Module.
- The launcher identified for Chandrayaan-3 is GSLV-Mk3 which will place the integrated module in an Elliptic Parking Orbit (EPO) of size ~170 x 36500 km.
One District One Product (ODOP)
- One District One Product (ODOP) programme under Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry collaborated with an e-commerce player, Groyyo to onboard aggregators selling ODOP-identified products on its platform consisting of several categories such as home textiles, home décor etc.
- The tagging on this one-stop online platform is intended to strengthen each district’s identity, while giving a greater visibility to ODOP products.
- Currently, ODOP has joined forces with 35+ brands, covering around 100 districts of the country.
Know! about ODOP
- One District One Product (ODOP) program, spearheaded by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
- The ODOP initiative aims to foster socio-economic development of all districts of the country.
The idea is to select, brand, and promote One Product from each District of the country
- For enabling holistic socioeconomic growth across all regions
- To attract investment in the District to boost manufacturing and exports
- To generate employment in the District
- To provide ecosystem for Innovation/ use of Technology at District level to make them competitive with domestic as well as International market
One District One Product Awards
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) proudly launched the One District One Product (ODOP) Awards on June 15th on the Rashtriya Puraskar portal.
The Awards focus on the following:
- Encouraging constructive competition, innovation, and efficient public service delivery in successful ODOP interventions;
- Promoting replication and institutionalization of best practices through experience sharing
- Recognizing innovations done for successful identification and solving bottlenecks in the supply chain of ODOP products.
India & Panama signs MoU on Electoral Cooperation
- The Election Commission of India and Electoral Tribunal (ET) of Panama signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Panama City to establish the institutional framework for their ongoing cooperation in the field of election management and administration.
- ECI has been expanding its links and cooperation with foreign Election Management Bodies (EMBs) through its ‘International Cooperation Programme’.
- Having signed MoUs with Mexico, Brazil and Chile in the past years, this is the fourth MoU signed by ECI with an EMB in the Latin Americas region, with an overall 31 MoUs with EMBs and international organisations across the world.
Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB)
- The ECI delegation will be attending the 11th Executive Board Meeting of A-WEB and an International Conference at Cartagena, Colombia.
- A-WEB’, was established on October 14, 2013 in Song-do, South Korea.
- A-WEB is the first global organization of election management bodies,
- The Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) is the largest association of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) worldwide with 119 EMBs as Members & 20 Regional Associations/Organisations as Associate Members.
- Under the slogan of ‘Democracy to Grow for All Worldwide,’ the A-WEB Secretariat provides training programs for election officials of member nations and undertakes country programs at the request of member organization, providing support during the election cycle to boost election management capacity
Panama Location
Bharat Internet Utsav
- To embrace the transformative role of Internet, DoT, in collaboration with MYGOV, is celebrating “Bharat Internet Utsav”, wherein citizens can share their videos upto 2 minutes on how internet has transformed lives of the people on any of the social media handles with #BharatInternetUtsav or upload in drive link, and the same link can be submitted on MYGOV at https://innovateindia.mygov.in/bharat-internet-utsav/.
National Electrical Code of India 2023
- The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) organized the second batch of the Capsule Course on the National Electrical Code of India 2023, at the National Institute of Training for Standardization (NITS), Noida.
- National Electrical Code of India 2023 (NEC 2023) is a comprehensive electrical installations Code prepared by BIS providing guidelines for regulating Electrical Installations practices nationwide.
- The Capsule Course aimed to enhance the participants’ knowledge of the newly developed National Electrical Code of India 2023, which provides guidelines for the safe design, installation, selection, and maintenance of electrical installations in India.
National Institute of Training for Standardization (NITS)
- The National Institute of Training for Standardization (NITS) was set up under the aegis of BIS in 1995 to meet the growing needs and expectations of the industry for quality training in the fields of standardization, quality assurance, management systems, certification, laboratory testing, etc.
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
- The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India under Department of Consumer affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India.
- It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 which came into effect on 12 October 2017.
- The Minister in charge of the Ministry or Department having administrative control of the BIS is the ex-officio President of the BIS.
Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA)
- Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) Launches 3-Month Certificate Course on Research Methodology: Fostering Innovation, Critical Thinking, and Evidence-Based Decision-Making
- The IICS has launched a 3-month Certificate Course on Research, Theory, and Design.
- The course aims to equip faculty members and students with robust research methodologies to foster a culture of innovation, critical thinking, and evidence-based decision-making.
Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA)
- It is a central civil service training institute under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India for the central civil servants of the Indian Corporate Law Service cadre.
- It was established in 2008 at Manesar, Haryana.
- It has been authorised by Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India to run Graduate Insolvency Program.
- It gives policy support to government for CSR and organises various training program in CSR.
- It also provides various services to Corporates for CSR including Impact Assessment, Need Assessment, Baseline survey, Real time monitoring etc.
Bastille Day Parade
- The Indian Navy Marching Contingent, as part of the Tri services contingent, arrived in France for participation in the Bastille Day Parade at Paris on 14 Jul 23.
Indo-French relations ( Highlights)
- This year marks a quarter century of Indo-French Strategic partnership.
- The two countries enjoy deep ties in the maritime domain which extend to their navies as well.
- Indigenous construction of the Project 75 Scorpene class submarines by M/s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in collaboration with M/s Naval Group, France, has not only enhanced Naval capability but has also paved the way for future programmes.
- The Bilateral exercise (Varuna) between the two navies has matured into a complex exercise involving all domains of Naval power.
- It reflects the growth of India – France strategic bilateral relationship.
- The exercise was initiated in 1993 and christened as ‘Varuna’ in 2001. The 21st edition of Varuna was conducted in Jan 23 in the Arabian Sea.
Dornier Aircraft
- Ministry of Defence signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for procurement of two Dornier Aircraft for Indian Coast Guard (ICG) along with associated Engineering Support package at an overall cost of Rs 458.87 crore.
- The aircraft will be procured under the Buy (Indian) Category.
- The aircraft will be fitted with a number of advanced equipment viz., Glass Cockpit, Maritime Patrol Radar, Electro Optic Infra-Red device, Mission Management System etc.
- The addition will further bolster the aerial surveillance capability of maritime areas of responsibilities of the ICG.
- The Dornier aircraft are being indigenously manufactured at HAL (Transport Aircraft Division), Kanpur and will significantly contribute in achieving Aatmanirbharta in defence, in consonance with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government.
Buy (Indian-IDDM)
- ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’ category refers to the procurement of products from an Indian vendor that have been indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 50% Indigenous Content (IC) on cost basis of the total contract value.
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific’s (UNESCAP) Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation
- The 2023 survey, covering more than 140 economies and evaluating 60 trade facilitation measures, has positioned India at the forefront of global trade facilitation efforts, with an impressive score of 93.55% in 2023 vis a vis 90.32% in 2021.
The 2023 Survey has recognized India’s exceptional progress across various sub indicators, with the country achieving a perfect score of 100% in four key areas:
- Transparency
- Formalities
- Institutional Arrangement
- Cooperation, and Paperless Trade.
- These remarkable scores are a testament to India’s relentless efforts in streamlining trade processes, enhancing transparency, and promoting cooperation among stakeholders through initiative such as Turant Customs, Single Window Interface for Facilitation of Trade (SWIFT), Pre-Arrival data processing, e- Sanchit, Coordinated Border Management etc.
- India has witnessed a substantial improvement in the score for “Women in Trade Facilitation” component from 66.7% in 2021 to 77.8% in 2023
- India is now the best performing country amongst all the countries of South Asia region.
- The overall score of India has been greater than many developed countries including Canada, France, UK, Germany etc.
Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation
- The Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation conducted by UNESCAP covers WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) along with set of nearly 60 trade facilitation measures categorized into eleven sub-groups, namely: Transparency; Formalities; Institutional arrangement and cooperation; Transit facilitation; Paperless trade; Cross-border paperless trade; Trade facilitation for SMEs; Agricultural trade facilitation; Women in trade facilitation; Trade finance for trade facilitation; and Trade facilitation in times of crisis. The survey is fact-based rather than perception-based.
- A three-step approach to data collection and validation is generally followed, implemented over 6-month period every 2 years.
Know! about UNESCAP
- It is the most inclusive intergovernmental platform in the Asia-Pacific region which was established in 1947.It consists of 53 members and 9 associate members.
- India is also a member of this organization.
- Headquarters – Bangkok, Thailand
- It works to overcome some of the region’s greatest challenges by providing results-oriented projects, technical assistance, and capacity building to member States
Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for the year 2020-21 & 2021-22
- The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education released the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) combined report for 2020-21 & 2021-22 which assesses the performance of school education system at the District level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis.
- DoSE&L devised Performance Grading Index (PGI) for States and released report for the reference years 2017-18 to 2020-21.
- Based on the success of State PGI, 83-indicator based PGI for District (PGI-D) has been designed to grade the performance of all districts in school education.
Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) -Highlights
- The PGI-D is expected to help the state education departments to identify gaps at the district level and improve their performance in a decentralized manner.
- The indicator-wise PGI score shows the areas where a district needs to improve.
- PGI-D report for 2018-19 and 2019-20 has been released so far the current one is combined report for 2020-21 & 2021-22.
- The PGI-D structure comprises of total weight age of 600 points across 83 indicators, which are grouped under 6 categories viz., Outcomes, Effective Classroom Transaction, Infrastructure Facilities & Student’s Entitlements, School Safety & Child Protection, Digital Learning and Governance Process.
- These categories are further divided into 12 domains, viz., Learning Outcomes and Quality (LO), Access Outcomes (AO), Teacher Availability and Professional Development Outcomes (TAPDO), Learning Management (LM), Learning Enrichment Activities (LEA), Infrastructure, Facilities, Student Entitlements (IF&SE), School Safety and Child Protection (SS&CP), Digital Learning (DL), Funds convergence and utilization (FCV), Enhancing CRCs Performance (CRCP), Attendance Monitoring Systems (AMS) and School Leadership Development (SLD).
- PGI-D grades the districts into ten grades viz., Highest achievable Grade is Daksh, which is for Districts scoring more than 90% of the total points in that category or overall.
- The lowest grade in PGI-D is called Akanshi-3 which is for scores upto10% of the total points.
- Ultimate objective of PGI-D is to help the Districts to priorities areas for intervention in school education and thus improve to reach the highest grade.
Urban 20 (U20) Mayoral Summit
- The Urban 20 (U20) Mayoral Summit was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Gujarat
- Leading executives from the global convenors of U20, UCLG and C40 Cities also addressed the Summit.
- Urban 20 or U20 is a city diplomacy initiative, comprising of cities from G20 countries.
- It strives to establish a lasting practice of engagement among cities to develop a collective message that emphasizes the role of cities in taking forward the sustainable development agenda.
U20 Highlights
- U20 is an engagement group under the larger intergovernmental forum of G20 and plays a vital role in contributing perspectives, concerns, and ideas from cities to inform and enrich the overall G20 negotiations.
- The U20 brings together mayors from G20 cities under a common framework and coordinates a joint position to inform the discussions of national leaders.
- Current Presidency – India
- U20 is a group of cities from the G20 countries and was first convened in Buenos Aires in 2018.
- Ahmedabad is the chair city for the U20 Engagement Group led by the Hon’ble Mayor as chairperson.
- Technical Secretariat – The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), India’s leading national think tank on urban planning and development, will function as the technical secretariat throughout the U20 cycle.
- Nodal Ministry – The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) will provide overall guidance and support.
Knowledge Partners
- ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is a network of more than 2500 local and regional governments, supported by a team of global experts, driving sustainable urban development worldwide
- ICLEI South Asia – the South Asian arm of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, aims to build and serve a regional network of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in regional and global sustainability through local initiatives.
Know! also about C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group
- It is a group of 96 cities around the world that represents one twelfth of the world’s population and one quarter of the global economy.
- Created and led by cities, C40 is focused on fighting the climate crisis and driving urban action that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, while increasing the health, wellbeing and economic opportunities of urban residents.
Japan-India Association (JIA)
- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met H.E. Mr. Yoshihide Suga, Chairman, Japan-India Association (JIA) and former Prime Minister of Japan
Know! about JIA
- The Japan–India Association is a foundation headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo.
- It was established in 1903 by former Prime Minister Shigenobu Ōkuma, to encourage India-Japan friendship.
- The association has contributed to the improvement of India-Japan relations since the establishment.
- In 1939, the association was authorized as a foundation by Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During WW2, the association supported the Indian independence movement.
- The war ended, the association was disbanded by Allied Forces for the reason of having supported the Indian independence movement.
- In 1947, India gained her Independence, the association restored activities by changing their name to Japan–India Economic Association.
- In 1952, the year of regaining sovereignty, the association restored the association’s name to Japan–India Association and expanded activities to different cultures.
- The association’s activities are expanded from year to year.
MoU for setting up of campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar- Tanzania signed
- The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up of campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar- Tanzania was signed between the Ministry of Education (MoE), Govt. of India, IIT Madras and Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) Zanzibar- Tanzania
- This is the first ever IIT campus to be set up outside India.
- It is reflective of the longstanding friendship between India and Tanzania and a reminder of the focus India places on building people to people ties across Africa and the Global South.
- This will strengthen South-South cooperation as well as forge stronger people-to-people ties with Africa.
- The academic programs, curricula, student selection aspects and pedagogical details will be by IIT Madras, whereas the capital and operating expenditure will be met by the government of Zanzibar-Tanzania.
- IIT Madras degrees will be awarded to the students enrolled in this campus.
- It will include students from Tanzania and other countries as well. Indian students are also eligible to apply to these programs.
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