Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 July 2022

::NATIONAL::

Indian Navy Accepts Delivery of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier “Vikrant”

Indian Navy has created maritime history today by taking delivery of the prestigious Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) ‘Vikrant from her builder Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi.

About:

Designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house Directorate of Naval Design (DND) and built by CSL, a Public Sector Shipyard under the Ministry of Shipping (MoS), the carrier is christened after her illustrious predecessor, India’s first Aircraft Carrier which played a vital role in the 1971 war.
The 262-meter-long carrier has a full displacement of close to 45,000 tonnes which is much larger and more advanced than her predecessor. The ship is powered by four Gas Turbines totaling 88 MW power and has a maximum speed of 28 Knots.
Built at an overall cost of close to Rs. 20,000 Crs, the project has progressed in three Phases of a contract between MoD and CSL, concluded in May 2007, Dec 2014, and Oct 2019 respectively. The ship’s keel was laid in Feb 2009, followed by launching in Aug 2013.
With an overall indigenous content of 76%, IAC is a perfect example of the nation’s quest for “AatmaNirbhar Bharat” and provides a thrust to Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
With the delivery of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant, India has joined a select group of nations having the niche capability to indigenously design and build an Aircraft Carrier.

Kangaroo Court

Chief Justice of India N V Ramana Saturday (July 23) said that “rising number of media trials” are proving to be hurdles towards doing justice, and “kangaroo courts” run by the media are causing harm to the health of the democracy.

About:

Oxford Dictionary defines it as “an unofficial court held by a group of people in order to try someone regarded, especially without good evidence, as guilty of a crime or misdemeanour”.
In a less literal sense, it is used to refer to proceedings or activities where a judgement is made in a manner that is unfair, biased, and lacks legitimacy.
The origin of the phrase is not clearly known, but it is believed to have been used from the 19th Century onwards. Why the word ‘kangaroo’ is used is also not clear, but there are several theories.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Technical Recession

The US economy is expected to avoid a technical recession.

About:

A technical recession is a term used to describe two consecutive quarters of decline in output.
In case of a nation’s economy, it usually refers to back-to-back contractions in real GDP.
It is most often caused by a one-off event (say COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns imposed)and is generally shorter in duration.
It is mainly used to capture trend in GDP while a ‘recession’ encompasses more broad-baseddecline in economic activity that covers several economic variables including employment,household and corporate incomes etc.

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BM-SEAL-11 project

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved additional investment of USD 1,600 million (about Rs. 12,000 crore) by Bharat PetroResources Ltd. (BPRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) for development of BM-SEAL-11 Concession Project in Brazil.

About:

The start of production from BM-SEAL-11 project is expected from 2026-27.
BPRL has 40% Participating Interest (PI) in this Concession along with Petrobras, National oil company of Brazil, as the Operator with 60% Participating Interest.
BPRL has been associated with exploration and development of this project in Brazil since 2008.

This will help in:
1.   accessing to equity oil to strengthen India’s energy security.
2.   diversifying India’s crude oil supply and Indian oil companies have expressed interest in sourcing more crude oil from Brazil.
3.   Strengthening India’s foothold in Brazil, which will further open business avenues in neighbouring Latin American countries.

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::ECONOMY::

Reserve Bank of India –Digital Payments Index(RBI-DPI)

Reserve Bank of India –Digital Payments Index(RBI-DPI) has demonstrated significant growth (between March 2021- March 2022) indicatingrapid adoption and deepening of digital payments across the country.

About:

The index for March 2021 stands at 270.59 as against 207.84 for March 2020, announced while launching the index on January 1, 2021.
RBI-DPI was launched on 01 January, 2021 with March 2018 as the base period.
RBI-DPI comprises 5 broad parameters that enable measurement of deepening and penetration ofdigital payments in the country:

1.   Payment Enablers (weight 25%),
2.   Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors (10%),
3.   Payment Infrastructure–Supply-side factors (15%),

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::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Google Street View

Google Street View is finally available for ten cities in India and is expected to roll out in about 50 more cities by the end of the year.

About:

Google Street View is an immersive 360-degree view of a location captured using special cameras mounted on vehicles or on backpacks by data collectors moving around the city streets.
The images are then patched together to create a 360-degree view which users can swipe through to get a detailed view of the location. It is available to viewon Android and iOS using the app, or as a web view.
In India, unlike in other markets, Google Street View is powered by images from third parties as per the National Geospatial Policy, 2021.

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