• PM recently inaugurated Kochi-Lakshadweep Islands Submarine Optical Fibre Connection.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

• The KLI-SOFC project will lead to an increase in internet speed unlocking new possibilities & opportunities.
• For the first time since independence, Lakshadweep will be connected through Submarine Optic Fibre Cable.
• It will include cable connectivity from Mainland (Kochi) to eleven Lakshadweep Islands namely, Kavaratti, Agatti, Amini, Kadmat, Chetlet, Kalpeni, Minicoy, Androth, Kiltan, Bangaram and Bitra.
• Specifics
  • Total link distance: 1,868 kilometres.
  • Total cost of project : Rs 1072 crore plus taxes.
• The project is funded by Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF), Department of Telecommunication.
• Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is the Project Executing Agency.
• The major activities related to the project include Marine Route Survey, Submarine Cable laying, Civil Construction of CLS stations, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of End Terminals (SLTE).
• The dedicated submarine OFC will ensure a paradigm shift in communication infrastructure in the Lakshadweep islands, enabling faster and more reliable internet services, telemedicine, e-governance, educational initiatives, digital banking, digital currency usage, digital literacy etc.

• New Space India Limited (NSIL) will launch GSAT-20 (renamed as GSAT-N2), on-board SpaceX’s Falcon-9 during the second quarter of 2024.

ABOUT GSAT-20

• The GSAT-20 is a high- throughput Ka-band Satellite (HTS) which will be fully owned, operated and funded by NSIL.
• GSAT-20, weighing 4700 kg, offers Ka-Ka band HTS capacity with 32 beams having Pan-India coverage including Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands.
• The satellite offers an HTS capacity of nearly 48Gpbs.
• It has been specifically designed to meet the demanding service needs of remote and unconnected regions.

ABOUT FALCON 9

• Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX, the Elon Musk-founded company, for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond.
• Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital class reusable rocket.

ABOUT NSIL

• NSIL is a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Department of Space.
• It is commercial arm of ISRO.
• NSIL was mandated to build, launch, own and operate satellites in “Demand-driven mode” to meet service needs of the user.

• Queen Margrethe of Denmark has announced her abdication after 52 years, leaving her son, Crown Prince Frederik, as the successor.
• She will formally step down on 14 January 2024, 52 years to the day since she became queen.
• The 83-year-old is the longest-serving living monarch in Europe, having taken the throne after the death of her father King Frederik IX in 1972.

• Startups like Pine Labs and Udaan have been planning for Reverse Flipping.

WHAT IS REVERSE FLIPPING?

• It is a term used to describe the trend of overseas start-ups shifting their domicile to India and listing on Indian stock exchanges.
• Here, start-ups that once relocated their holding companies outside India are now considering a strategic move back to India.
• Reasons for Reverse Flipping-
  • to capitalise on India’s large and growing economy,
  • access to deeper pools of venture capital,
  • favourable tax regimes,
  • better intellectual property protection,
  • young and educated population, and
  • favourable government policies.

• January 4 is celebrated as World Braille Day annually as a tribute to Louis Braille, the visionary behind the braille system.
• He was born on this day in 1809 in France and became blind after birth due to an accident in childhood.
• This day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 and celebrated since 2019.
• Braille is a tactile representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols using six dots to represent each letter and number and even musical, mathematical and scientific symbols.

• Francoise Bettencourt Meyers has made history by becoming the first woman to amass a staggering $100 billion fortune.
• L’Oréal– The French beauty empire was founded by her grandfather and is on track for its best stock market performance in decades.
• Ms Bettencourt Meyers is the vice-chairperson of the company’s board.
• She and her family are the single biggest shareholders of L’Oréal with a stake of around 35%.

• North India’s first river rejuvenation project ‘Devika’ is in the final stages and it will be soon dedicated to the nation.
• Built on the lines of ‘Namami Ganga’, the project was launched by the Prime Minister in February 2019.
• Besides a Liquid Waste Management Project, a Solid Waste Management (SWM) project will also be constructed under Devika Rejuvenation Project.

ABOUT DEVIKA RIVER

• Devika river is considered the sister of the sacred river Ganga, and it has a great religious significance.
• It originates from the hilly Suddha Mahadev temple in the Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir and flows down westward towards Pakistan, where it merges with the Ravi River.
• In the Nilmat Puran that was written in the 7th century by Nela Muni, it is mentioned that the Devika River is a manifestation of the mother Goddess Parwati herself to benefit the people of Mader Desha that covers areas between river Ravi and Chenab.

• India started its four-year term as a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission

ABOUT UN STATISTICAL COMMISSION

• Established in 1947
• It is the highest decision making body for international statistical activities, responsible for setting of statistical standards and the development of concepts and methods, including their implementation at the national and international level.
• Headquarters- New York, USA
• The Commission consists of 24 member countries of the United Nations elected by the United Nations Economic and Social Council on the basis of an equitable geographical distribution. These include-
  • Five members are from African States,
  • four from Asia-Pacific States,
  • four from Eastern European States,
  • four from Latin American and Caribbean States and
  • seven members from Western European and other States.

• Indian telecom operators have asked the government to auction the spectrum that will be used for direct-to-mobile (D2M) services.
• The government is also considering to reserve 526-582 MHz spectrum for D2M services.
• Telecom operators consider this spectrum to be “precious” as they are already being identified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for mobility services.
• The science behind D2M is similar to that of an FM radio, where a receiver within the device can tap into different radio frequencies.
• This new-age technology is a combination of broadband and broadcast that uses mobile phones to capture territorial digital TV signals.
• Using D2M, multimedia content, including live TV matches, can be streamed to phones directly without using the internet.
• Other advantages
  • Emergency Alerts are delivered directly, reliably and without dependence on internet/cellular networks.
  • Targeted Disaster Management audio content

• The Union Cabinet recently approved India’s participation in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, along with a financial commitment of Rs 1,250 crore.

ABOUT SKA PROJECT

• SKA will be a group of radio telescopes operating out of South Africa and Australia in two different ranges of radio frequency.
  • The South-African array will scan for mid-frequency signals, between 350 MHz and 15.4 GHz, while the Australian telescope will work in the low-frequency range of 50-350 MHz.
• Its headquarters are at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK.
• Once constructed, the SKA will be the most powerful telescope ever built.
• Scientific Objectives
  • SKA will observe and map galaxies at the edge of the observable universe, going back in time.
  • The telescope will study magnetism and radiation from distant galaxies and map them as well.
  • SKA will also aim to detect and understand the role of dark matter and dark energy in the universe.
  • It will aid in the search for life beyond the Earth by looking for planets that orbit stars in habitable zones.
• Founded in 2019, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) has 16 consortium members — Australia, South Africa, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Italy.
• The Indian Pathfinder research partner for the SKA project is Pune’s Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).