Open network for digital commerce

• As per the strategy paper on 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.
• Current Status: 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.
• However, experts have pointed out some likely potential issues such as getting enough number of e-commerce platforms to sign up, along with issues related to customer service and payment integration.

Indian Navy''s Operation Sankalp

• In the milieu of the deteriorating security situation in the Gulf region, post attacks on merchant ships in the Gulf of Oman in June 2019, Indian Navy had commenced Maritime Security Operations, code named ‘Op SANKALP’, in the Gulf Region on 19 June 2019 to ensure safe passage of Indian Flag Vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz.
• This operation is being progressed in close coordination with all stakeholders including Ministry of Defence, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and DG, Shipping.

Advanced Light Helicopter Mk-III inducted in to Coast Guard

• The ALH will be the first aircraft of the newly created “840 Squadron” of The Indian Coast Guard that will be stationed in Chennai and will be the first ALH MK-III to be positioned in the Coast Guard Region East.
• Three more ALHs will be added to the “840 Squadron” shortly.
• The aircraft are having Beyond the Visual Range detection, using modern radars. It is equipped for target neutralisation operations, using its mounted Heavy Machine Gun.
• The squadron’s operations area will encompass the entire Eastern Region due to its strategic importance and geographical location.

Jammu and Kashmir will host the 2023 meetings of the G20

• 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.

ISRO has successfully launched communication satellite GSAT-24. The satellite was flown by Ariane-5 rocket from the spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

• GSAT-24, built by ISRO for NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), was launched by French company Arianespace.
• GSAT-24 is a 24-Ku band communication satellite weighing 4180 kg with pan-India coverage for meeting DTH application needs. It was the first demand driven communication satellite mission undertaken by NSIL post space sector reforms.
• NSIL, a Government of India company under the Department of Space, has leased the entire satellite capacity to Tata Play.

MoD approves ''BRO cafes'' in border areas

• The scheme provides for wayside amenities in public-private partnership mode with agencies, on a licence basis, which will design, build and operate the facility as per guidelines of the BRO.
• Proposed amenities include parking for two and four wheelers, food plaza, restaurant, separate rest rooms for men, women and differently abled, and first aid facilities, among others.
• Selection of licences will be done through a competitive process.
• These are intended to provide basic amenities and comfort to tourists and lead to boosting of economic activities in border areas, besides generating employment for the local people.

Vitamin D3-rich weed among 18 plants stifling Kaziranga

• The list released by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) did not contain the “usual culprits” of many protected areas in India – parthenium and lantana that threaten more than 40% of India’s tiger reserves, according to a global study in 2020.
• It did mention ipomoea (Ipomoea carnea) and mimosa (Mimosa himalaica) but marked them as largely controlled and not much of a worry now.
• Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus) is believed to have come to India as contaminants in a consignment of wheat imported from the U.S. in the 1950s while lantana (Lantana camara) was brought by the British as ornamental plants from South America two centuries ago.
• Some weeds have herbal properties, but their toxicity outweighs their utility. For instance, wild boars love to gorge on the succulent rootlets of the Leea macrophylla or ‘kukura thengia’ that is fast clogging the patrolling paths and grasslands.
• Another one is the Cestrum diurnum or day-blooming jasmine of West Indies origin “coming up gregariously” on the Brahmaputra sandbars. The plant is otherwise a source of Vitamin D3.