ISRO puts 36 OneWeb satellites into orbit

 

Relevance in UPSC: General Studies paper – 3: Important contributions of Indians in Science and Technology , Applications of scientific developments in everyday life.

Prelims: About Oneweb Satellite and Orbits

Why in News?

LVM3, the heaviest payload rocket of the Indian Space Research Organisation carrying 36 One Web
satellites on board, took off on Sunday from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space
Centre here.

Key Highlight 

In this mission, LVM3 would place 36 One Web Gen-1 satellites totalling about 5,805 kg into
a 450 km circular orbit with an inclination of 87.4 degrees.

About LVM3 Launch Vehicle –

• GSLV MkIII is configured as a three stage vehicle with two solid strap-on motors, one liquid
  core stage and a high thrust cryogenic upper stage.</>
• GSLV Mk-III (LVM3) is the new heavy lift launch vehicle of ISRO for achieving a 4000 kg
  spacecraft launching capability to GTO (Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit) in a cost effective
  manner.

About One Web –

• It is a space powered global communications network connecting governments business and
  communities.
  Headquartered in London, One Web enables high-speed, low latency connectivity for
  governments, businesses, and communities everywhere around the world
• OneWeb has partnered with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of the nati
  onal space agency Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), to facilitate the launch.

 

One Web Constellation 

 

• The One Web Constellation operates in LEO Polar Orbit.
• Satellites arranged in 12 rings (orbital planes) with 49 satellites in each plane.
• Satellites orbit the Earth every 109 minutes.
• The earth rotates under the satellites, so they always fly over new places on the ground.

 

Types of Earth Orbit

 Geostationary orbit (GEO)

• GEO is used by satellites that need to stay constantly above one particular place over Earth, such as telecommunication satellites.
• In order to perfectly match Earth’s rotation, the speed of GEO satellites should be about 3 km per second at an altitude of 35 786 km. This is much farther from Earth’s surface compared to many satellites.

Low Earth Orbit

• It is normally at an altitude of less than 1000 km but could be as low as 160 km above Earth.
• It is also the orbit used for the International Space Station (ISS), as it is easier for astronauts to travel to and from it at a shorter distance.

Medium Earth orbit (MEO)

• Medium Earth orbit comprises a wide range of orbits anywhere between LEO and GEO.
• It is very commonly used by navigation satellites

 

MARBURG VIRUS DISEASE

 

 

GS Paper 3: Human Health and Diseases

Important For

Prelims: About Marburg Virus Disease

Mains: Effects of Marburg Virus Disease on People

Why in News?

On 21 March 2023, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the United Republic of Tanzania declared an outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in the country.

Key Points

• Marburg virus disease is an epidemic-prone disease associated with high case-fatality rates.
• It is caused by the same family of viruses (Filoviridae) as Ebola virus disease and is clinically similar.
• The current CFR for this outbreak is relatively high, at 62.5%.

About Marburg Disease

• Marburg virus disease (MVD), formerly known as Marburg haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
• The virus causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever in humans.
• The average MVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88% in past outbreaks depending on virus strain and case management.
• Early supportive care with rehydration, and symptomatic treatment improves survival. There is as yet no licensed treatment proven to neutralize the virus, but a range of blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently under development.
• Rousettus aegyptiacus, fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, are considered to be natural hosts of Marburg virus. The Marburg virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through human-to-human transmission.
• Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks.

 

 

Tanzania Location

 

• Tanzania is a country in East Africa’s Great Lakes Region.
• Tanzania is located just below the Equator in the Southern and Eastern Hemisphere.
• It is one of the 10 countries with the most international borders in the world.
• Lake Natron is a fascinating natural wonder located in the Arusha Region of Tanzania.
• It is bordered by 8 countries. Uganda bounds it to the north, Kenya to the northeast, Malawi and Mozambique to the south, and Zambia to the southwest.
• The three countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda border Tanzania to the west.
• The country’s eastern borders are formed by the Indian Ocean.

 

 

MGNREGS wage rates revised

 

GS Paper 3: Employment

Important For

Prelims: About MGNREGA, CPI-AL

Mains: Significance of revised wages of MGNREGA

Why in News?

The government has notified an increase in wage rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for the financial year 2023-24, with Haryana having the highest daily wage and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh the lowest.

Key Points

• The wage hikes, which range from ₹7 to ₹26, will come into effect from April 1.
• Compared with last year’s rates, Rajasthan registered the highest percentage increase in wages.
• Bihar and Jharkhand have registered a percentage increase of around eight from last year’s.
• For Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which have the lowest daily wages at ₹221, the percentage increase from last year was recorded at 17.
• Karnataka, Goa, Meghalaya and Manipur are among the States to register the lowest percentage increase.

About MGNREGA

• The Government of India passed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 in September, 2005.
• The Act gives legal guarantee of a hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to adult members of a rural household who demand employment and are willing to do unskilled manual work.
• The Act applicable to areas notified by the Central Government.
• The objective of the Act is to enhance the livelihood security of the people in the rural areas by generating wage employment through works that develop the infrastructure base of that area.
• Wage rates are fixed according to changes in the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labour), which reflects the increase in the inflation in rural areas.

Target Group

• Scheme is open to all rural households who are in need of wage employment and desire to do manual and unskilled work.
• Period of employment should ordinarily be at least fourteen days continuously with not more than six days in a week.
• Priority to works where at least one third of wage seekers are women.
• Persons desirous for work may submit their applications to the Gram Panchayat.
• Gram Panchayat shall register the household. After verification, job card is to be issued to the applicant household.
• Gram Panchayat or Block Programme Officer shall provide unskilled manual work to the applicant within fifteen days of receipt of application preferably within a radius of 5 kilometers of the village, where the applicant resides.
• In case the employment is provided outside such radius, it must be provided within the Block and the laborers shall be paid 10% of the wage rate as extra wages to meet additional transportation and living expenses.

About WPI and CPI

The WPI and CPI are two commonly used terms to determine inflation in the country.

WPI (Wholesale Price Index)

• It measures changes in the prices of goods that wholesale businesses sell and exchange wholesale with other businesses.
• It is published by the Office of the Economic Adviser,Department of Trade and Industry.
• This is the most widely used measure of inflation in India.
• The main criticism of the index is that the public does not buy the products at wholesale prices.
• In 2017, the base year for WPI for All India was revised from 2004-05 to 2011-12.

CPI (Consumer Price Index)

• It measures price changes from the perspective of retail buyers.
• It is published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
• The CPI calculates the price difference of goods and services such as food, medical care, education, electronics, etc. purchased by Indian consumers for their use.
• It Include several subgroups, including food and beverages, fuel and lighting, housing and clothing, bedding and footwear.
• The four types of CPIare:
  • CPI for Industrial Workers (IW)
  • CPI for agricultural labor (AL)
  • CPI for the rural labor force (RL)
  • CPI (rural/urban/combined)
• Among them, the first three items are compiled by the Labor Office of the Ministry of Labor and Employment. 
• The fourth is prepared by the National Statistics Office of the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation.
• The base year of the CPI is 2012.
• The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) uses CPI data to control inflation.In April 2014, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) adopted the CPI as its primary measure of inflation.

 

Biotransformation technology

GS Paper 3: Biotechnology

Important For

Prelims: About Biotransformation Technology

Mains: Significance of Biotransformation Technology for Environment

Context

Ecommerce giant Amazon generated an estimated 321 million kilograms (709 million pounds) of plastic from packaging waste in 2021 alone. This is a result of billions of boxes it shipped to its customers globally, according to a December 2022 report by Oceana.

Background

• The ocean advocacy group notes that this is enough plastic to circle the Earth over 800 times as air
• Amazon refuted Oceana’s claim, stating that it follows a science­based approach to reduce packaging waste, there is a lot left to be
• A K.•based startup,claims to have developed a technology that could alter the state of plastics and make them biodegradable.
  • The company calls the process “biotransformation”.
  • It claims the technology would digest the plastic packaging waste naturally with the help of microbes and biodegrade the waste without leaving behind any

 

 

What is Biotransformation Technology?

• Biotransformation technology ensure plastics that escape refuse streams are processed efficiently and broken
• Plastics made using this technology are given a pre•programmed time during which the manufactured material looks and feels like conventional plastics without compromising on
• Once the product expires and is exposed to the external environment, it self•destructs and biotransforms into bioavailable
• This wax is then consumed by microorganisms, converting waste into water, CO2, and

• It is the world’s first that ensures polyolefins fully biodegrade in an open environment causing no microplastics.

Why do we need it?

• The country is generating 3.5 billion kgs of plastic waste annually and that the per capita plastic waste generation has doubled in the past five years.
• Of this, a third comes from packaging

• In 2019, plastic packaging waste from e•commerce firms was estimated at over a billion kilograms worldwide, according to

 

• A joint research project noted that Amazon generated, nearly 210 million kgs (465 million pounds) of plastic from packaging waste in
• They also estimated that up to 10 million kgs (22.44 million pounds) of Amazon’s plastic packaging ended up in the world’s freshwater and marine ecosystems as pollution in the same year.

• Amazon India has now eliminated single•use plastics across its fulfilment
• Flipkart has also done the same in 2021 across its supply

 

 

Where can this technology be used?

• Food packaging and health care industries are the two prime sectors that could use this technology to reduce
  • The increase in cost is relatively small compared to conventional plastic that does not contain this

Is this being used in India?

• Some well•known Indian firms in food and packaging industries deploy such technologies.
• Within healthcare and pharma industries, this technology provides biodegradable solutions for non•woven hygiene products like diapers, sanitary napkins, facial pads, etc.

Are we heading in the right direction?

• The Indian government has launched multiple initiatives to move the country towards They have introduced a plastic waste management gazette to help tackle the ever•growing plastic pollution caused by single•use plastics.
• Last year, the government imposed a ban on single•use plastics to bring a stop to its use in the
• The National Dashboard on Elimination of Single Use Plastic and Plastic Waste Management brings all stakeholders together to track the progress made in eliminating single•use plastic and effectively managing such
• An Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) portal helps in improving accountability traceability, and facilitating ease of compliance reporting in relation to EPR obligations of the producers, importers and brand•owners.
• India has also developed a mobile app to report single use plastics grievances to check sale, usage or manufacturing of single use plastics in their

What are the alternatives to reducing plastic waste?

• A switch to jute or paper•based packaging could potentially cut down plastic
• This could also build sustainability within the paper industry, and save on the import bill on ethylene
• The wooden packaging is yet another alternative, but that will make the packaging bulkier and increase
• The Government of Tamil Nadu, in Chennai, organised a National Expo and Conference of Startups to raise awareness on alternatives to single•use
• The alternatives showcased were made using coir, bagasse, rice and wheat bran, plant and agricultural residue, banana and areca leaves, jute and

 

Conclusion

Environmental degradation can have catastrophic effects on the social, economic and environmental systems of a country or region, as well as on the ecosystems of the planet as a whole. Environmental degradation threaten the legacy of a healthy and supportive environment for future generations. To reduce the dangers associated with environmental degradation and its drivers, such as climate change, governments, international organizations and communities must work together at all levels.