Current Affairs 27th March

National Affairs

1. Cabinet Approval on March 24, 2023

The following proposals have been approved by the Union Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), which is led by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi:

CCEA approves MSP of raw jute for the 2022-23 season CCEA approves targeted subsidy to PMUY consumers GoI approves setting up of electronic manufacturing cluster at Hubli-Dharwad in Karnataka Union Minister of State (MoS) Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) announced approval for the establishment of the Rs.

 

In the Dharwad District of Karnataka, an estimated 180 crore Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) will create over 18,000 new jobs.

 

The EMC 2.0 project was launched on April 1, 2020, with the intention of encouraging Anchor Units and their supply chain to establish manufacturing and production facilities in India by developing world-class infrastructure and shared testing facilities, such as ready-built factory sheds and plug-and-play infrastructure.

2. The PM opened the new ITU Area Office and Innovation Center in New Delhi; CBuD App and 6G R&D Test Bed went live.

On 22 Walk 2023, the Prime Minister(PM) Narendra Modi initiated India’s new

Global Media transmission Association (ITU) Region office and Development Center at a

program in Vigyan Bhawan, in New Delhi, Delhi.

 

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the UN’s specialized agency for ICTs.

 

Key Points:

 

The Bharat 6G Vision Document and the 6G R&D Test Bed were also unveiled by the PM. The Technology Innovation Group on 6G (TIG-6G), which was established in November 2021 

 

Is responsible for its preparation. A tool designed to prevent damage to underlying assets like optical fibre cables is the Call Before You Dig (CBuD) app.

 

The optical fibre cables are being damaged as a result of uncoordinated digging and excavation, resulting in annual losses of approximately Rs 3000 crore.

3. MoU signed between Ministry of Ayush, ECHS for Integrating Ayurveda at 10 Polyclinics

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on March 24, 2023, by the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) and the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare/Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS/DoESW) under the Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) to incorporate Ayurveda into ECHS Polyclinics as an OPD (

 

In the presence of Pramod Kumar Pathak, Special Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, Brig Jitendra Singh, ECHS, and Col AC Nishil, Director (Medical), Dr Manoj Nesari, Adviser (Ayurveda), and Major General N R Indurkar, Managing Director, ECHS, signed the Memorandum of Understanding.

 

Key Points:

 

Ten polyclinics in Ambala (Punjab), Mysore (Karnataka), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneshwar (Odisha), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), Danapur (Bihar), Alleppey (Alappuzha), and Chennai (Tamil Nadu) will receive Ay

 

Ayush Ministry will help by providing essential Ayurveda medicines, enrolling Ayurveda doctors and pharmacists for engagement, and providing technical guidance and support.

 

The necessary infrastructure will be provided by the Department of Ex-Servicemen’s Welfare/ECHS in the appropriate polyclinics.

 

In addition, they will contract with Ayurveda specialists, medical officers, and paramedical staff and supply the necessary ancillary staff (administrative, clerical, and multitasking personnel).

 

Under the MoU, the joint working gatherings (JWG) would shaped include

delegates from the Service of Ayush and ECHS/DoESW, MoD for laying out

OPDs.

 

Current Centers:

 

Ayurveda centres have been established in 37 cantonment hospitals and 12 military hospitals of the AFMC (Armed Forces Medical College) as a result of two memorandums of understanding that were signed in 2022 by the Ministry of Ayush and the MOD.

 

Ayurveda OPD in Armed force Medical clinic Exploration And Reference (AH R&R), Flying corps (AF)

 

Medical clinic Hindan (Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh ) and five ECHS polyclinics – Framed

through 2019 MoU Service of Ayush and MOD.

4. Finance Secretary T V Somanathan to Head Panel On Pension Schemes 

A committee headed by Finance Secretary TV Somanathan will be established by the Government of India (GoI) to suggest ways to reform the National Pension System (NPS) for government employees.

 

A number of states have switched from the National Pension System (NPS) to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for their employees.

 

Comparison of the National Pension System (NPS) and the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) The OPS gives employees a fixed pension that is equal to 50% of their last salary when they retire.

 

In the meantime, the NPS is a pension program that combines investments and savings.

 

The NPS invests contributions in securities like debt and equity instruments.

As a result, it does not guarantee fixed pensions but does provide substantial lump sum and monthly pensions through high long-term returns.

 

The GoI has been permitting states to improve their acquiring limits by a sum

equivalent to what they contribute every year to new NPS represents their state

government representatives.

 

This means that states that go back to the OPS won’t get as much more borrowing capacity.

states going back to the OPS i. Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh have informed the central government of their decision to return to the OPS and requested a refund of the NPS corpus.

 

In the meantime, Andhra Pradesh has proposed a Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS) that combines OPS and NPS principles.

 

GPS, which was first proposed in April 2022, guarantees state government workers a pension equal to 33% of their last basic pay without deductions.

This would require state government employees to contribute 10% of their monthly basic wage, and the state would match that amount.

 

Note:

 

The Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) oversees India’s NPS and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) pension assets, which were close to Rs. 8.8 million crore

Over the previous five years, this rate of growth represents a CAGR of more than 25%.

5. The Tanakpur-Pithoragarh All-Weather Road receives MoRTH approval worth Rs 318 crore.

The 150-kilometre-long Tanakpur-Pithoragarh all-weather road in Uttarakhand has received Rs 318 crore from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

The road on National Highway (NH)-9 has been approved for construction, which is expected to take place in four stages.

 

The expert agency Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library (THDL), which has been appointed the project’s supervisor by the ministry, provided the basis for the final proposal.

 

The Tanakpur-Pithoragarh section of a larger road project that will connect the “Char Dham” pilgrimage sites at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore was approved by the Indian government in 2016.

6. India Potash allows the import of urea until March 2024.

The import of agricultural-grade urea on the government’s account has, according to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), extended the tenure of Indian Potash Limited (IPL) until March 31, 2024. Previously, urea imports were anticipated to be permitted until March 2023.

 

The notification, which was issued on March 22, 2023, states that India will not need to import food for the upcoming season because there will be more stock than demand during the Kharif season.

 

Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (RCF) and National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) are two additional canalizing agencies that import urea on behalf of the government.

Economy and Business

1. Innovative Highway Engineering is the subject of a memorandum of understanding between CSIR-SERC and NHIDCL.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on March 23, 2023, between the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) that is part of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), and the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research- Structural Engineering Research Centre (CSIR-SERC), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), for the purpose of exchanging information regarding cutting-edge concepts and methods in the field

 

The MoU was endorsed by Chanchal Kumar, Overseeing Chief (MD) of NHIDCL,

also, Dr N. Anandavalli, Head of CSIR-SERC.

 

The Memorandum of Understanding will lay the groundwork for NHIDCL and CSIR-SERC to work together on a variety of projects that share common interests. This cooperation will

reinforce innovative work (Research and Development) exercises in Street Area.

 

The shared interests, such as exchanging information on cutting-edge concepts and technologies in the field of highway engineering and other infrastructure projects under terms and conditions agreed upon by both parties.

Science and Technology

1. NASA’s JWST Detects Silicate Clouds on Exoplanet, VHS 1256 b

With the help of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team led by Brittany Miles of the University of Arizona discovered signs of silicate clouds in the atmosphere of the exoplanet known as VHS 1256 b, which revolves around two stars.

 

In a technique known as direct imaging, this is the first time that JWST has shown the planet’s spectra by actually collecting light from the planet itself.

 

As part of JWST’s Early Release Science program, which aims to improve the astronomical community’s understanding of planets and the disks in which they form, the researchers observed VHS 1256 b.

 

Regarding VHS 1256 b:

 

VHS 1256 b is a great JWST target because it is 40 light-years away and four times farther from its stars than Pluto is from our Sun.

 

A day’s worth of rotation equals 22 hours; a year’s worth of revolution equals 10,000 Earth years. In its upper atmosphere, 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit (830 degrees Celsius).

Sand and silicate dust are found in this planet’s clouds.

 

Focuses to note:

 

VHS 1256 b is the planet’s most variable planetary-mass object to date due to the planet’s constantly rising, mixing, and moving atmosphere, resulting in extremely dramatic brightness changes.

 

VHS 1256 b has low gravity contrasted with additional gigantic earthy-coloured midgets, which construes that its silicate mists can show up and stay higher in its climate where Webb

can recognize them.

 

This is a young planet from an astronomical standpoint: Since its formation, only 150 million years have passed.

 

Background:

 

The examination group utilized 2 instruments known as spectrographs on board the JWST 

Close to Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to

notice the tremendous part of close to mid-infrared light produced via planet VHS 1256 b.

 

They plotted the spectrum of light and discovered carbon dioxide in addition to the signatures of silicate clouds, water, methane, and carbon monoxide.

On a planet outside of our solar system, this is the most molecules ever found in one go.

 

Key Points:

 

The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on Webb collected data that the team analyzed as spectra.

 

Instead of using a coronagraph or the transit method, the researchers were able to observe the planet directly because it orbits at a great distance from its stars.

 

On March 22, 2023, the research team’s paper, which is led by Brittany Miles of the University of Arizona, appears in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

2. Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar launches Skill Hub Portal

The Skill Hub portal was launched by Union Minister of State (MoS) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar on March 24, 2023, in Bengaluru, Karnataka, as part of the government’s efforts to provide young Indians across India with skills that are ready for the workplace.

 

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) developed the Skill Hub portal.

By inviting all Indian universities to join the Skill India Network, the portal makes sure that students can easily access skill training.