26 March 2023

• Space: ISRO's LVM3 places 36 OneWeb satellites into low Earth orbit, the rocket's sixth consecutive success and India's second commercial mission of 2023.
• Sports: Mumbai Indians defeat Delhi Capitals in the inaugural WPL final at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.
• Internal security: The Centre reduces AFSPA-notified disturbed areas in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur effective 1 April 2023.
• Digital India: Internet users in India grew from 25 crore in 2014 to 84 crore in 2022; data costs fell from Rs 300 per GB to Rs 13.50 per GB in the same period.
• Environment: India's first plastiglomerate find, at Aves Island off Goa, signals plastic pollution is reaching the geological record.

GS Paper III: Science and technology; space; ISRO.

ISRO launched its LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark 3) rocket at 09:00 IST on 26 March 2023 from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, carrying 36 OneWeb broadband satellites into low Earth orbit.

• Rocket profile: LVM3 was formerly designated GSLV Mk III. It is ISRO's heaviest operational rocket with a lift capacity of approximately 8 tonnes to low Earth orbit (LEO) and 4 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). Its three-stage configuration uses two solid-fuel strap-on boosters (S200), one liquid-fuel core stage (L110) and one cryogenic upper stage (C25).
• This mission: The payload mass was 5,805 kg, making it the heaviest payload placed in orbit by an Indian rocket. The 36 satellites were released in six batches into a circular LEO orbit at an altitude of approximately 450 km.
• OneWeb constellation: OneWeb is a UK-headquartered satellite internet company now operating under the Eutelsat OneWeb brand after a 2023 merger. After this launch the constellation reached 618 out of 648 planned satellites. The OneWeb network is designed for low-latency broadband connectivity in the high-latitude regions poorly served by geostationary satellites.
• Commercial significance: This was ISRO's second commercial satellite launch of 2023 and the first contracted through NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the government commercial arm. LVM3 competes directly with SpaceX Falcon 9 and Arianespace Ariane 6 in the heavy-LEO launch market.
• Sixth consecutive success: LVM3 has achieved six successful missions in a row, demonstrating the launch reliability that large commercial customers require before committing multi-satellite contracts.

Revises: ISRO; Space technology; Commercial space.

GS Paper I / general awareness: Sports; women's cricket governance.

The inaugural Women's Premier League concluded on 26 March 2023 with Mumbai Indians defeating Delhi Capitals by 7 wickets in the final at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and led the team to victory.

• Tournament structure: Five franchises participated: Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz. The tournament ran from 4 March to 26 March 2023.
• Significance: WPL is modelled on the Indian Premier League format and is the first fully franchised women's T20 league in India. The BCCI sold five franchises for a combined bid value of Rs 4,669.99 crore, signalling large commercial appetite for women's cricket.
• Harmanpreet Kaur: Captain of the Indian women's cricket team and Mumbai Indians in WPL. She is one of three Indian women to score a T20 international century.

Revises: Sports governance; BCCI.

GS Paper II / III: Internal security; Acts and constitutional provisions.

The Union Home Ministry announced that the areas notified as "disturbed" under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 would be reduced in Nagaland, Assam and parts of Manipur with effect from 1 April 2023.

• What AFSPA does: The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 empowers armed forces personnel in a "disturbed area" to arrest without a warrant, search without a warrant, and use force including lethal force if they believe it is necessary to maintain public order. Officers also enjoy near-total immunity from prosecution without prior sanction of the central government.
• Disturbed area declaration: The central government or a state government may declare an area "disturbed" under Section 3 of AFSPA. Once declared, AFSPA applies automatically. The declaration is reviewed periodically.
• Nagaland reduction: The effective coverage was reduced from 9 districts to operational presence in 1 district. This followed prolonged civil society pressure after the December 2021 killings of civilians in Mon district.
• Assam reduction: 8 districts in Assam were removed from the disturbed area notification. Assam's insurgency has declined significantly over the past decade, and the state government had sought a phased withdrawal.
• Manipur: Reductions were made in some valley districts while hill areas retained the notification.
• Earlier full withdrawals: AFSPA has been fully withdrawn from Meghalaya (2018), Tripura (2015) and Mizoram (1986). The Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee (2004) recommended complete repeal of AFSPA and replacement with a fresh law with stronger accountability mechanisms. That recommendation has not been implemented.

The reduction is a meaningful signal. It is not a repeal. The immunity provisions and the arrest-without-warrant power remain intact in notified areas, and the human rights critique of those provisions is unchanged.

Revises: Internal security; Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958; Federalism.

GS Paper II / III: Governance; digital infrastructure.

The Digital India programme presented a data dashboard on its outcomes as India approached the G20 Presidency summit events, underlining the shift in digital connectivity since 2014.

• Internet users: India had approximately 25 crore internet users in 2014. By 2022 the number reached 84 crore, making India the second-largest internet user base in the world after China.
• Data cost collapse: Mobile data cost Rs 300 per GB in 2014. By 2022 the average fell to Rs 13.50 per GB, one of the lowest data prices globally. The primary driver was competition following Reliance Jio's 2016 market entry.
• CoWIN platform: The Co-WIN (COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network) platform tracked 150 crore vaccine doses administered within 12 months of the vaccination drive launch. It is cited internationally as an example of public digital infrastructure at scale.
• OCEN (Open Credit Enablement Network): A protocol layer that allows any digital platform to offer credit products by connecting to the banking system. The government's target is to increase India's credit-to-GDP ratio from 57 per cent to 100 per cent by 2031 by making credit accessible to the unbanked through OCEN-enabled applications.
• Digital Public Infrastructure framing: India is promoting the India Stack (Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, CoWIN, OCEN) as a replicable model for developing countries under the G20 Digital Economy Working Group.

Revises: Digital India; India Stack; Economic growth.

GS Paper III: Environment; species conservation; judiciary.

The conservation breeding programme for the Great Indian Bustard at the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, received fresh attention amid the Supreme Court's directive on power line undergrounding in the bird's habitat.

• GIB status: The Great Indian Bustard is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Its population has declined to fewer than 150 individuals in the wild, almost entirely confined to the Thar Desert in Rajasthan with a small population in Gujarat.
• Primary threat: High-tension overhead power lines are the leading cause of GIB mortality. The birds are heavy and fly low; they cannot detect overhead lines in time to avoid them. Collision with power lines has been identified as the single largest mortality driver.
• Supreme Court order: The Supreme Court directed that overhead power lines in the core and potential GIB habitat in Rajasthan be placed underground. Power transmission companies challenged this on grounds of cost and technical feasibility.
• Breeding programme: The Central Zoo Authority runs the ex-situ conservation breeding programme at the Desert National Park. Eggs collected from wild nests are artificially incubated and hatched. The programme aims to maintain a captive reserve population while wild habitat is secured.
• State bird: The Great Indian Bustard is the state bird of Rajasthan.

Revises: Biodiversity; Wildlife Protection Act; Judiciary and environment.

GS Paper III / I: Labour; women and social development.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2021-22 data reinforced the trend of feminisation of agriculture in rural India, with women making up the majority of the rural agricultural workforce.

• What PLFS is: PLFS is an annual labour force survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). It replaced the older National Sample Survey Employment-Unemployment Survey.
• Key finding: 62.9 per cent of all female workers in rural India were engaged in agriculture (cultivation and animal husbandry combined) in 2021-22.
• Manufacturing share: Manufacturing employed 11.2 per cent of rural female workers.
• Policy implication: The high concentration of women in agriculture, combined with the sector's low average wages and informal status, means that agricultural income shocks (drought, crop failure, price collapse) fall disproportionately on women. This is the context for schemes such as the Tamil Nadu Universal Basic Income scheme for women in informal employment.

Revises: Labour force; Women empowerment; Agriculture.

GS Paper III: Environment; pollution.

Scientists reported finding plastiglomerate for the first time in India at Aves Island (also known as Ilha das Aves) off the coast of Goa.

• What plastiglomerate is: Plastiglomerate is a hybrid material formed when plastic debris melts and fuses with natural sediment, rock fragments, organic material (shells, coral) or volcanic debris. The plastic acts as a binding agent, producing a rock-like material that can persist for geological timescales.
• Significance: Plastiglomerate is considered a marker of the Anthropocene, the proposed new geological epoch defined by human impact on Earth systems. Its presence in the rock record could allow future geologists to date human industrial activity precisely.
• Global first find: Plastiglomerate was first described scientifically in 2014 from samples collected on Kamilo Beach, Hawaii. The Indian find at Aves Island is the first documented occurrence in India.
• Implication: Finding plastiglomerate off the Indian coast confirms that plastic pollution has penetrated environments well beyond the immediate coastline and is entering geological processes.

Revises: Pollution; Anthropocene; Ocean conservation.

• Satish Dhawan Space Centre: ISRO's primary launch facility on Sriharikota island in Andhra Pradesh. It has two launch pads. ISRO uses the Second Launch Pad for LVM3 missions.
• PLFS survey methodology: PLFS uses a rotating panel design with quarterly urban surveys and annual rural surveys, allowing both short-term and annual labour market tracking.