Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 4th April 2023

Proba-3 Mission : European Space Agency

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission, consisting of two spacecrafts, will demonstrate precision formation flying in space. It is set to revolutionize scientific observation and space applications.

• Proba-3 is an mission that aims to form a 144-m long solar coronagraph, allowing scientists to study the Sun’s faint corona closer to the solar rim than has ever before been achieved.
• Achieving precise formation flying opens up a whole new era for science and applications, including Earth observation and in-orbit satellite servicing.
• Proba-3’s spacecrafts will be deployed by India’s PSLV in a high Earth orbit. Engineers will subject them to a simulated space environment during the testing phase.
• The spacecrafts will maintain formation to a few millimetres and arc second precision at distances of 144 m or more for six hours at a time, achieved autonomously without relying on guidance from the ground.
• ESA is responsible for designing and implementing Proba-3’s mission, while PSLV will be used to deploy its spacecrafts into orbit. Proba-3 marks the next step in formation flying, and the spacecrafts will be in a highly elliptical orbit of 600 x 60530 km.

Combined Commanders Conference 2023:

The Combined Commanders’ Conference (CCC) is an annual event where India’s top military commanders come together to discuss and brainstorm on military matters and national security.

• This year, the theme of the CCC was ‘Ready, Resurgent, Relevant.’
• The objective was to assess the progress made by the Armed Forces in meeting the challenges of modern warfare and ensuring that they remain prepared, resilient, and capable of fulfilling their mandate.
• The CCC 2023 also reviewed the progress made towards attaining ‘Aatmanirbharta’ or self-reliance in defence.
• The conference assessed the preparation of the Armed Forces and progress in the defence ecosystem towards achieving this objective.
• During his speech at the CCC, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi complimented the Armed Forces for their role in nation-building and providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) assistance to friendly countries.

Foreign Trade Policy 2023:

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles has launched the Foreign Trade Policy 2023.

• The Key Approach to the Foreign Trade Policy is based on 4 pillars:
  • Incentive to Remission,
  • Export promotion through collaboration – Exporters, States, Districts, Indian Missions,
  • Ease of doing business, reduction in transaction cost and e-initiatives and
  • Emerging Areas – E-Commerce Developing Districts as Export Hubs and streamlining SCOMET policy.

Features of Foreign Trade Policy 2023:

• The new policy will have no sunset date (ending date) and will be tweaked based on the emerging world trade scenario and industry feedback. While the policy will be open-ended, the schemes sanctioned under it will be time bound.
• There are no major new schemes, barring a one-time amnesty under the existing Advance Authorisation and Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) schemes, that allow imports of capital goods subject to specified export obligations.
• The Policy had opened up a new area of potential exports called “merchanting trade”.
• Merchanting trade refers to shipment of goods from one foreign country to another foreign country without touching Indian ports, involving an Indian intermediary. This will also enable exports of restricted goods
• Four towns in Uttar Pradesh — Faridabad, Moradabad, Mirzapur and Varanasi — were announced as centres of export excellence for their performance in the apparel, handicrafts, handmade carpets and handlooms, respectively.
• It is also looking to lower qualification thresholds for star ratings which recognise exporters based on export performance.
• The importance of simplifying the SCOMET( Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment, and Technologies) Licensing Procedure which aims at streamlining the export of dual-use items.
• Special one-time Amnesty Program for Export Obligations Default.
• The dairy industry will be excused from maintaining average export obligations under the new foreign trade strategy, and a particular advance authorization procedure has been extended to textiles and clothing.

What Is Hue And Cry Notice?

A ‘hue and cry’ notice was issued against Amritpal Singh.

• Hue and cry notice is issued by the Police.
• The ‘hue and cry’ rule simply means that if a suspect or a criminal is found running down the street in front of some bystanders, each of them needs to yell out to help the police identify and catch them.
• It is issued when it requires the help of the public in cases such as:
  • locating missing persons
  • identifying unclaimed bodies
  • looking out for a suspect

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations Of The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI):

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

• Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was established as the Special Police Establishment in 194.
• Objective is to investigate cases of corruption in procurement during the Second World War.
• Later, the Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption recommended the establishment of the CBI.
• As a result, it was set up in 1963 by a resolution of the Union Home Ministry.
• The Special Police Establishment setup in 1941 was also merged with the CBI
• Later, it was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and now it enjoys the status of an attached office.
• The CBI is not a statutory body.
• It derives its powers from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, of 1946.
• The CBI is the main investigating agency of the Central Government.
• The CBI investigates the crime of corruption, economic offences and serious and organized crime other than terrorism.
• The CBI is headed by a Director who is assisted by a special/additional director.
• The Director of CBI has been provided security of two-year tenure by the CVC Act, 2003.
• As per the CVC Act of 2003, the Central Government shall appoint the Director of CBI on the recommendation of a three-member committee consisting of the
  • Prime Minister as Chairperson,
  • Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha
  • Chief Justice of India or Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him.
  • If there is no recognized leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, then the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha would be a member of that committee.
• The CBI Academy is located in Ghaziabad, UP and started functioning in 1996.
• It also has three regional training centres at Kolkata, Mumbai & Chennai.

Mahila Samman Savings Certificate 2023:

Mahila Samman Savings Certificate (MSSC) 2023 has been notified.

• It is a one-time small savings scheme for women to commemorate celebrations of 75 years of Independence.
• It will be made available for a two-year period up to March 2025.
• It will be under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• The small saving certificate will have a fixed interest rate of 7.5% for two years.
• The deposit can be made in the name of a woman or a girl child.
• The maximum deposit amount has been kept at ₹2 lakhs and the scheme will have a partial withdrawal facility as well.
• Application for opening an account under the scheme can be made by a woman for herself or by the guardian on behalf of a minor girl.
• Any number of MSSC accounts can be opened by a woman, or in the name of a minor girl by the guardian, subject to the maximum limit of Rs 2 lakh.
• The Government has notified 7.5% interest on deposits in an MSSC account.
• The interest will be compounded on a quarterly basis and credited to the account.
• The notification said that the deposit shall mature on completion of two years from the date of the deposit.
• The eligible balance may be paid to the account holder on an application in Form-2 submitted to the accounts office on maturity.

Defense Cooperation Agreement : India And Romania

India and Romania have signed the Defense Cooperation Agreement, aiming to set up and expand Military Cooperation between both countries.

• The agreement will provide the legal framework for future cooperation in the field of defense through the exchange of expertise and knowledge on subjects of mutual interest including co-development and co-production of military hardware.
• The agreement will promote cooperation in the field of defense between both countries and open up enormous opportunities in sectors like defense medicine, scientific research, cyber defense, technology and research and development.
• India-Romania bilateral ties, formally established in 1948, have witnessed a steady growth.
• Both maintained friendly and cordial relations, culminating in the celebration of 70 years of diplomatic ties in 2018.
• Since the 1989 revolution in Romania, which overthrew the communist government, both countries have steadily increased trade and investments in each other.
• At the multilateral level, India and Romania have extended support to each other at the UN.

Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD):

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out the landing experiment of the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD) programme at the Aeronautical Test Range in Challakere, Karnataka.

• An Indian Air Forces (IAF) Chinook helicopter was used to drop the RLV-TD from a 4.5 km altitude and ISRO executed the landing experiment of the RLV-TD as planned.
• The release of this vehicle was autonomous as it performed approach and landing manoeuvres using Integrated Navigation, Guidance, and control system and completed an autonomous landing on the airstrip
• It is the first in the world; a winged body has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km.
• It is the second in the series of experimental flights of the programme.
• Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration programme is planned as a series of technology demonstration missions that have been considered as a first step towards realising a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) fully reusable vehicle.
• A Winged RLV-TD has been configured to act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies namely, hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, and powered cruise flight.
• These technologies will be developed in phases through a series of experimental flights.
• RLV-TD is similar to that of an aircraft and combines the complexity of both launch vehicles and aircraft.
• It consists of a fuselage (body), a nose cap, double delta wings, and twin vertical tails.
• It also features symmetrically placed active control surfaces called Elevons and Rudder.

Amogha-III Missile:

The Bharat Dynamics (BDL) has successfully conducted a field firing test of its latest 3rd generation man-portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM), Amogha-III.

• Amogha-III is an indigenous missile which has been developed under Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
• It has a fire-and-forget capability and does not require external intervention after the launch.
• The missile also features dual-mode Imaging Infra-Red (IIR) Seeker systems with a range of 200 to 2500 meters.
• It showcases a tandem warhead, consisting of two separate explosive charges that are detonated in sequence.
• The first charge, known as the precursor charge, penetrates the target’s armour, creating a hole for the second charge, the main charge, to detonate inside, maximizing damage inflicted on the target.
• One of the unique features of the missile is it has both top and direct attack modes

Poseidon Torpedoes:

Russia plans to form a division of special-purpose submarines that will carry Poseidon torpedoes as part of the country’s Pacific Fleet by the end of 2024.

• Poseidon Torpedo is a massive Russian, nuclear-powered autonomous torpedo armed with a nuclear warhead built to strike enemy coastal targets from great distances.
• It is about 65 feet long and 6.5 feet wide, making it the largest torpedo ever deployed.
• It can also reach speeds of up to 70 knots, or 80 miles per hour.
• It is reportedly equipped with a 2-megaton thermonuclear warhead.
• The use of nuclear power gives it nearly unlimited range.
• It is unreachable due to its working depth—possibly 1,000 meters (3,300 feet).

Exercise Cope India:

India-U.S. air exercise ‘Cope India’ to begin next week. Exercise with the US Air Force (USAF) will begin at the Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal.

• It is a bilateral joint exercise between Indian Air Force (IAF) and the United States Air Force (USAF).
• Cope India began in 2004 as a fighter training exercise.
• The exercise has evolved to incorporate subject matter expert exchanges, air mobility training, airdrop training and large-force exercises, in addition to fighter-training exercises.
• The exercise will further enhance operational capability and interoperability between the two air forces..
• The last edition of the exercise was held in 2019.