Daily Current Capsules - 27^th May 2019

Space Awareness
ISRO's new commercial arm New Space India officially inaugurated New Space India Limited (NSIL)
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about NSIL) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of space developments )

What's the NEWS

• India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was officially inaugurated in Bengaluru.
• NSIL's main objective is to scale up industry participation in Indian space programmes.
• NSIL was inaugurated by ISRO's honorary adviser, Dr K Kasturirangan in the presence of chairman Dr K Sivan.

Know! more about NSIL

• NSIL was incorporated on March 6 2019, for commercially utilising research and development activities carried out by ISRO in the area of space with an authorised share capital of Rs 100 crore and initial paid up capital of Rs 10 crore.
• NSIL will act as an aggregator for all space related activities in industry and develop private entrepreneurship in space related technologies.
• Specifically, it will be responsible for manufacturing the and production of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) through technology transfer mechanisms.
• It will also cater to emerging global commercial SSLV market demand, providing satellite building and satellite-based services, including supply of sub-systems for various domestic and international application needs and will enable space technology spin-offs through Indian industry interface.
• The Department of Space (DoS) registered its second commercial entity called NSIL in ISRO.
• The first commercial venture of DoS was Antrix Corporation Limited, which was set up in September 1992 to market products and services of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Defence
Defence Research Body Test Fires Guided Bomb From Sukhoi Combat Jet
Inertial Guided Bomb from Su-30 MKI Aircraft
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Inertial Guided Weapons and successfully test fired indigenously-developed 500 kg class guided bomb)

What's the NEWS

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test fired an indigenously-developed 500 kg class guided bomb from a Sukhoi combat jet at Pokhran in Rajasthan.

Know! more about the test

• The test firing of guided bomb is conducted just two days after Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test fired aerial version of supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi jet at Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The guided bomb achieved desired range and hit the target with high precision thus meeting all the mission objectives.

Know! about Inertial Guided Weapons

• It is a type of Precision guided munition (smart bomb) which is intended to precisely hit a specific desired target so as to minimize collateral damage and increase fatality against intended targets.
• It is basically an air-dropped guided bomb which contains metal penetrator rods of various sizes.
• It was designed to attack targets where an explosive effect may be undesirable and my result in unwanted casualties, like fuel storage tanks or chemical weapon stockpiles in civilian areas....

International Affairs
Chagos Archipelago
UN General Assembly Gives UK a Six-month Deadline to Stop Occupying Indian Ocean Archipelago
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Chagos Islands )

What's the NEWS

• The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly demanded that Britain give up control over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean within six months, dealing a diplomatic blow to Britain and the United States.
• Britain, which has overseen the region since 1814, detached the Chagos islands in 1965 from Mauritius - a colony that gained independence three years later - to create British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). It is home to a joint British and US airbase.

Know! more about the resolution

• The UN resolution adopted backs a non-binding advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ),which found Britain had acted unlawfully in the decolonisation process and should relinquish control.
• The resolution won the support of 116 countries, while 56 abstained and only Australia, Hungary, Israel and the Maldives joined Britain and the United States in voting against it. Fifteen countries did not vote.
• The UN General Assembly had requested the court's opinion in a resolution adopted in June 2017 with 94 votes in favour, 15 against and 65 abstentions. The Hague-based institution is the top United Nations court for inter-state disputes.
• UN General Assembly resolutions are non-binding but can carry political weight. Britain and the United States had written to all UN members to ask them to vote against the resolution.

Stand Taken by India

• India was among 116 nations who voted in favour of resolution.
• India supported draft resolution, submitted by Senegal on behalf of members of Group of African States and voted in favour of it, as Mauritius is a fellow developing nation from Africa, with which India shares age-old people-to-people bonds.
• India for long has been supporter of all peoples striving for decolonization and has consistently supported Mauritius since beginning its quest for restoration of its sovereignty over Chagos Archipelago.

Know! more about the island

• Chagos Archipelago, a group of seven atolls comprises of more than 60 islands in Indian Ocean.
• It is located about 500 km south of Maldives. Since 18th century when the French first settled in islands, it had been part of Mauritius only. In 1801, all of the islands of French colonial territory in region were ceded to British.
• Britain leased the Chagos archipelago's biggest island, Diego Garcia, to the United States in 1966, paving the way for construction of an airbase that required the forced removal of some 2,000 people.
• As part of Britain's 1965 separation agreement with Mauritius, it pledged to cede the islands when they were no longer needed for defence purposes.

Infrastructure Development
Asian Development Bank to provide USD 750 million loan to India for railway track electrification project
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about ABD and about IRFC ) + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development)

What's the NEWS

• Multilateral funding agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed an agreement to provide USD 750 million equivalent in Indian rupee long-term financing to electrify railway tracks in India.
• It is the largest single non-sovereign loan ever committed by ADB to Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) to fund the railways track electrification project, ADB said in a release.

Know! about Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC)

• It is financing arm of Indian Railways that was set up in 1986.
• It works toward mobilizing funds from domestic and international capital markets.
• It is complete government owned entity and is registered as Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC).

Know! bout Asian Development Bank (ADB)

• It is regional development bank and multilateral lending agency. It was established on 19 December 1966 and is headquartered in Manila, Philippines.
• It is an official United Nations (UN) Observer.
• It envisions inclusive, resilient, prosperous, and sustainable Asia and Pacific, and aims towards sustaining efforts to eradicate extreme poverty in region.
• In 1966 ADB was started with 31 member countries. At present there are 68 member nation which includes 49 from Asia-Pacific region (including India) and 19 from outside. It is collectively owned by its members.
• It is closely modeled on World Bank (WB) and has similar weighted voting system i.e votes are distributed in proportion with member's capital subscriptions to bank. As of 2016 United States and Japan hold largest proportion of shares.
• It gives finance assistance to both sovereign countries and to private entities. It also provides soft loans to poorer countries and hard loans to middle-income countries.

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