Current Affairs 28th March

National Affairs

1. Bhupender Yadav, Union Forest Minister, introduced the Aravalli Green Wall Project.

On the 25th Walk 2023, Bhupender Yadav, Association Pastor for Climate, Woodland and

Environmental Change, sent off the Aravalli Green Wall Task, a significant drive to green

the 5 km cradle region around the Aravalli Slope Reach in four states(Haryana,

Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi) where the Aravalli slopes length more than 6 million hectares of land.

 

The event that was held to commemorate the International Day of the Forest on March 21 at Tikli Village in Gurugram, Haryana, was the launching point for the initiative.

The Indian government’s commitment to creating an additional 2.5 billion tonnes of carbon sinks by 2030 is in line with this project.

2. India’s first quantum registering-based telecom network connect is currently functional

Sanchar Bhawan and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) office in the Central Government Offices (CGO) Complex in New Delhi, Delhi, now share India’s first quantum computing-based telecom network link.

 

During her speech to the 1st International Quantum Enclave in New Delhi, Delhi, Union Minister of Communication (MoC) Ashwini Vaishnaw made the announcement.

 

Key Points:

 

Additionally, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced a challenge round for ethical hackers: a hackathon.

 

The ethical hackers who can break the encryption of the system developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communication, will receive a prize of Rs 10 lakh.

 

The Union Minister also opened an exhibition of quantum computing companies and invited them to run pilot projects for Indian Railways and communication networks.

 

3. NALCO & BARC Releases India’s 1st Bauxite CRM ‘BARC B1201’

The Bauxite Certified Reference Material (CRM) – BARC B1201, the first of its kind in India and fifth in the world, was released on March 24, 2023, at the NALCO Research & Technology Centre in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, by The National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), a Navratna Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Ministry of Mines and India’s leading manufacturer and exporter of alumina and aluminium.

 

NALCO and the National Centre for Compositional Characterization of Materials (NCCCM), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), and Hyderabad (Telangana), collaborated on the development of BARC B1201.

 

It was officially introduced by M.P. Mishra, Director (Projects & Technical) of NALCO, and Dr A.C. Sahayam, Head of Division of NCCCM. This will serve as an import substitution that can be used by industries, research labs, and academic institutions as a calibration standard for evaluating the performance of instruments, data quality control, and analytical methods in routine bauxite analysis.

4. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) concludes a contract worth Rs. 3,000 crores with BEL to acquire two integrated electronic warfare systems, or “Project Himshakti.”

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) entered into a contract with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), based in Hyderabad, Telangana, on March 24, 2023, to acquire two Integrated Electronic Warfare Systems known as “Project Himshakti” at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore each.

 

The project falls into the Buy [Indian – IDMM (Indigenously Designed, Developed, and Manufactured)] category, which includes cutting-edge and specialized technologies.

 

Indian Electronics and related industries, such as the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which are sub-vendors of BEL, will be encouraged to participate in “Project Himshakti.”

 

The project represents a significant step forward in developing indigenous capabilities and transforming India into an “Aatmanirbhar,” as stated by the government’s Make-in-India initiative.

Banking and Finance

1. WB approves USD108mn to improve Assam’s Flood, Disaster Preparedness

 

The “Assam Integrated River Basin Management Project (AIRBMP)” has received approval from the World Bank’s (WB) Executive Board of Directors on March 24, 2023, for a loan of USD 108 million (Rs 8,896,517,496) to enhance flood forecasting and disaster preparedness in Assam.

 

The International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which is managed by the World Bank, will distribute this funding, which has a maturity of 11.5 years and a grace period of 4 years.

 

As part of a larger investment program for Assam, it is worth 500 million dollars (Rs. 40,890,925,000).

2. ICICI Lombard Becomes the First to Offer “Anywhere Cashless” Feature

The “Anywhere Cashless” feature is a first-of-its-kind program for health insurance policyholders at ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. (ICICI Lombard). It enables customers to use cashless facilities at any hospital, even if it is not currently a part of ICICI Lombard’s hospital network.

 

The help, which was at first made accessible as an experimental run program, is currently

accessible to clients across India by means of the “IL TakeCare” application, with no

personal costs included. ICICI Lombard is one of India’s driving confidential general protection suppliers.

 

Key Points:

 

From admission to discharge in a hospital, the “Anywhere Cashless” feature ensures that everything runs smoothly.

 

Customers can also pick a well-known or nearby hospital and concentrate on the health of their loved ones during treatment rather than worrying about insurance issues.

 

The ultimate goal is to increase insurance coverage in Tier II and Tier III cities by expanding the network of partners.

 

Even as the number of cases continues to rise, it intends to actively seek out better solutions for customers and provide them with them.

 

ICICI Lombard had issued over 29.3 million policies, settled 2.3 million claims, and a gross written premium (GWP) of Rs as of March 31, 2022. 18,562 crore for the year 2022, which ended on March 31.

Economy and Business

1. S&P Global Ratings’ “Economic Outlook Asia-Pacific Q2 2023”: India’s economic growth projection for FY24 remained the same at 6%.

S&P Global Ratings maintained its projection for India’s economic growth at 6% in fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24), which begins on April 1, 2023, before increasing to 6.9% in FY25, in its quarterly economic update for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, “Economic Outlook Asia-Pacific Q2 2023.”

 

The agency predicts that the rate of inflation will decrease to 5% in FY24, from 6.8% in FY23.

S&P Worldwide Evaluations is a credit score organization that is the world’s driving wellspring of free FICO assessments. It maintains that the APAC region, excluding China, will slow to 3.8% in 2022 from 4.7%.

 

Key Expectations:

 

S&P Global Ratings predicts that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase by 7% in the current fiscal year FY23, which will end on March 31 (2022-23), before falling to 6% in FY24.

 

With an average growth rate of 7% between 2024 and 2026, India leads.

 

Over the next two fiscal years, 2024-25 (FY25) and 2025-26 (FY26), and in 2026-27 (FY27), India’s GDP is expected to rise to 6.9%.

 

Homegrown interest has generally determined the Indian economy, however as of late,

incompletely because of expanded products sends out, it has developed more defenceless against the worldwide cycle.

 

India’s annual GDP growth slowed to 4.4% in the fourth quarter (October to December 2022) as a result.

 

India’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation could moderate to 5% in FY24 (ending March 2024), despite the agency’s forecast of upside risks, particularly from weather-related factors.

 

The agency says that APAC energy-importing nations’ current account balances are getting worse, and India’s external deficit will be about 3-3.5 per cent of GDP in 2022.

 

According to the agency, growth in the Eurozone and the United States (US) will be significantly lower in 2023, with only 0.7% and 0.3% growth, respectively.

Science and Technology

1. LVM3-M3 OneWeb India-2 Mission: ISRO Successfully Launches 36 OneWeb Gen-1 Satellites from SDSC, AP 

The “LVM3-M3 OneWeb India-2 Mission” was successfully launched on March 26, 2023, by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) Sriharikota Range (SHAR) in Andhra Pradesh (AP).

 

Under this, ISRO sent its largest rocket, LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark Three), into space, carrying 36 OneWeb Gen-1 satellites weighing 5,805 kg each. OneWeb Group, based in London, England (UK), owns these satellites. OneWeb Gen-1 is a satellite of the 150 kg class.

 

With an inclination of 87.4 degrees, LVM3 placed these satellites in their intended 450 km circular orbit.

 

Concerning LVM3-M3 Mission:

 

This is NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO,’s second dedicated commercial satellite mission for its customer M/s. M/s. Network Access Associates Ltd OneWeb Group), which will send 72 satellites into Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) orbit.

 

After being placed in LEO, the satellites would be distributed among 12 planes at an altitude of approximately 1,200 km above the surface of the Earth. To prevent an interplane collision, each plane was separated by 4 km.

 

Background:

 

In 2022, ISRO’s commercial arm, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), signed a contract with OneWeb to launch 72 satellites in two phases.

 

LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1 mission: On October 23, 2022, the first 36 satellites were launched.

 

In order to make it possible for governments and businesses to connect, one Web Group plans to implement the constellation of low-Earth satellites.

 

Key Points:

 

This send-off was the eighteenth for the OneWeb Gathering organization, the third in 2023, it is complete to bring the satellite armada to 618.

 

Following the successful launch of the SSLV/D2-EOS07 mission in February 2023 iii, this was ISRO’s second mission in 2023. This is LVM3’s sixth flight.

 

About the LVM3-M3 vehicle’s features:

 

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MkIII (GSLVMkIII) with a cryogenic upper stage was the previous name for LVM3.

 

It can send off satellites gauging as much as 10 tons. It is 43.5 meters tall and weighs 643 tons.