Current Affairs – 28/11/2019
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its forty ninth flight (PSLV-C47), successfully launched Cartosat-3 and 13 commercial nanosatellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the 21st flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration (with 6 solid strap-on motors).
Cartosat-3 satellite is a third generation agile advanced satellite having high resolution imaging capability. The mission life of the Cartosat-3 is 5 years.
This is the 9th satellite of Cartosat series developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).One of Cartosat-3’s cameras offers a ground resolution of 25 cm. Currently, WorldView-3, a satellite owned by U.S. company Maxar, has the best ground resolution of 31 cm. An existing policy allows only government and government authorised agencies to access ISRO’s high-resolution imageries below a resolution of 1 m.
At 1,625 kg, Cartosat-3 is unusually heavy and more than double the mass of the previous eight in its class.
Cartosat-3 will address the increased user’s demands for large scale urban planning, rural resource and infrastructure development, coastal land use and land cover, etc.
Lok Sabha passed the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019.
Key features of the Bill include:
The First Schedule to the Constitution specifies the territories that come under various states and UTs. The Bill amends the First Schedule to merge the territories of the two UTs: (a) Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and (b) Daman and Diu. The merged territory will form the UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Article 240(1) of the Constitution allows the President to make regulations for certain UTs, including the UTs of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu. The Bill amends the Article to replace these two UTs with the merged UT.
Representation in Lok Sabha: The First Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 provides one seat in Lok Sabha to each of the two UTs. The Bill seeks to amend the Schedule to allocate two Lok Sabha seats to the merged UT.
Jurisdiction of High Court: The Bill provides that the jurisdiction of the High Court of Bombay will continue to extend to the merged UT.
Services under the UTs: There will be no change in the status of Group III and IV employees.
