Daily Current Capsules

28th June 2022

Defence

Indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter MK III

 

What's the NEWS

 

• 835 Squadron (CG), an indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) MK III squadron, was commissioned into Indian Coast Guard at its Air Enclave in Porbandar, Gujarat on June 28, 2022.
• The commissioning of this squadron marks a tremendous leap towards self-reliance in the field of Search and Rescue (SAR) and maritime surveillance

 

ALH MK III helicopters

 

• The ALH MK III helicopters have been indigenously manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
• They feature state-of-the-art equipment including advanced RADAR as well as Electro optical sensors, Shakti engines, full glass cockpit, high-intensity searchlight, advanced communication systems, automatic identification system as well as SAR homer.
• The features enable them to undertake maritime reconnaissance as well as carry out SAR at extended ranges even while operating from ships during both day and night.
• The aircraft has the ability to switch roles from an offensive platform with heavy machine gun to that of a benign one carrying a Medical Intensive Care Unit to facilitate transfer of critically ill patients.
• So far, 13 ALH MK-III aircraft have been inducted in the Indian Coast Guard in a phased manner and four of these aircraft are positioned at Porbandar.

 

 

Governance
OPEN NETWORK FOR DIGITAL COMMERCE (ONDC) 

 

 

 

What's the NEWS

 

 

• The Government of India announced the launch of the pilot phase of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in five cities in April 2022 with an aim to "democratise" the country's fast growing digital e-commerce space that is currently dominated by the two U.S.-headquartered firms - Amazon and Walmart.

 

 

Know! about ONDC

 

 

• It is a not-for-profit organisation that will offer a network to enable local digital commerce stores across industries to be discovered and engaged by any network-enabled applications.
• It is neither an aggregator application nor a hosting platform, and all existing digital commerce applications and platforms can voluntarily choose to adopt and be a part of the ONDC network.
• The ONDC aims to enable buying of products from all participating e-commerce platforms by consumers through a single platform.

• Currently, a buyer needs to go to Amazon, for example, to buy a product from a seller on Amazon.
• Under ONDC, it is envisaged that a buyer registered on one participating e-commerce site (for example, Amazon) may purchase goods from a seller on another participating e-commerce site (for example, Flipkart).
• The ONDC model is trying to replicate the success of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the field of digital payments.
• UPI allows people to send or receive money irrespective of the payment platforms they are registered on.

• The open network concept also extends beyond the retail sector, to any digital commerce domains including wholesale, mobility, food delivery, logistics, travel, urban services, etc.
• Presently, ONDC is in its pilot stage in five cities - Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore - with a target of onboarding around 150 retailers.
• The ONDC will standardise operations like cataloguing, inventory management, order management and order fulfilment, hence making it simpler and easier for small businesses to be discoverable over network and conduct business.

 

 

 

 

 

Factoids
India is first in global digital transactions.

 

 

• The transactions through Unified Payment Interface (UPI) have crossed one trillion US dollar mark in financial year 2022 and today India is first in global digital transactions.
• India accounted for 40 percent of the total global digital payments in 2021 and BHIM-UPI are no longer just an Indian app but have become global.

 

 

International Organisations
G20 COUNTRIES

 

What's the NEWS

 

 

• Jammu and Kashmir will host the 2023 meetings of the G20, an influential group of the world's major economies.

 

 

Know! about the G20 countries

 

 

• The G20 countries include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom.
• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was appointed as India's Sherpa for the G20 in September 2021.
• India will hold the G-20 presidency from December 1, 2022, and convene the first G20 leaders' summit in 2023.
• The participation of the delegates from G-20 countries will be a major boost to the efforts of the Centre to project the situation in J&K as normal, after J&K's special constitutional position was ended in 2019.

 

G7 summit

 

What's the NEWS

 

 

• The Prime Minister of India attended the G7 summit held in the Alpine castle of Schloss Elmau in southern Germany following an invitation by German Chancellor Scholz.
• The summit is being hosted by Germany in its capacity as the chair of G7.
• Besides India, countries such as Indonesia, South Africa, Argentina and Senegal have been invited to the summit of seven of the world's largest economies in an effort to strengthen international collaboration on key issues such as climate action, health and energy security
• India, along with G7 countries and four invited countries, signed the G7 joint statement on ‘Resilient Democracies'.
• This statement called for protecting the freedom of expression and opinion, both online and offline.

 

 

At the G-7 summit in Germany, PM Modi participated in two sessions on:

 

 

• Investing in a better Future: Climate, Energy, Health and
• Food security

 

 

 

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