Prelim Bits 27-02-2018

Starlink Constellation

• Recently SpaceX launched the Paz mission with two experimental satellites Tintin A and Tintin B.
• These two satellites, if successful will pave the way for Starlink, a constellation of satellites that would provide a cheap, high speed, global Internet connection.
• Starlink will have 12,000 small satellites in two layers — low earth orbit (LEO) and very low earth orbit (VLEO).

• The LEO constellation will provide high-speed broadband services around the world; the VLEO constellation will enhance capacity.
• The UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development estimated in 2016 that 57% of the world’s population was offline.
• Paz mission is mainly about the Spanish radar imaging satellite with applications such as border control, intelligence, military operations, environmental monitoring.

Letter of Undertaking(LoU)

• The massive PNB fraud was perpetrated for over seven years by Nirav Modi and his firms, by procuring LoUs from PNB.
• Letter of Undertaking is a bank guarantee under which a bank allows its customer to raise money from another Indian bank’s foreign branch in the form of short-term credit.
• The loan is used to make payment to the customer’s offshore suppliers in foreign currency.
• The overseas bank usually lends to the importer based on the LoU issued by the importer’s bank.
• Letter of Undertakings, which are essentially a form of guarantee, have come to be a far cheaper and convenient way for importer to raise credit.

Viral load testing for all People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV)

• Ministry of Health has launched free ‘Viral load testing to people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Viral load kits are used to determine the severity of an infection before deciding on the treatment regimen that is appropriate for HIV patients.
• The viral load is used to monitor the effectiveness of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) over time.
• It measures the amount of HIV genetic material (RNA) in the blood and reports how many copies of the virus are present.
• The routine viral load testing will optimize the utilization of first line regimens, thus preventing drug resistance and ensuring the longevity of people living with HIV.
• India has the third largest population of people with HIV after South Africa and Nigeria, according to UNAIDS.
• Only 49% of patients in India were on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2016.

Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (KITTS)

• The Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (KITTS) have been featured by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in its newsletter.
• KITTS is an autonomous institute under the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala catering to the needs of the global tourism industry.
• In 2015 and 2017, KITTS was elected as vice president of affiliated members in the UNWTO Asia Pacific Region.
• In the backdrop of International Year of sustainable Tourism, KITTS conducted the National Conference on Responsible tourism at Thiruvanthapuram in 2017.

Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav

• Ministry of Culture is organising the cultural carnival ‘Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav’ in Madhya Pradesh.
• It is conducted under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat matrix, Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav in Madhya Pradesh is enjoined with Nagaland and Manipur as its pairing states.
• The festival showcases a titanic variety of tribal and classical art forms from different cities and towns across the country.
• Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav was conceived by the Ministry of Culture in the year 2015.
• The intent of the event is to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Country in all its rich and varied dimensions, viz Handicrafts, Cuisine, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Documentation and Performing Arts-Folk, Tribal, Classical and Contemporary- all in one place.

National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC)

• Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water resources, laid the foundation stone for setting up of  NTCPWC, at IIT Chennai recently.
• NTCPWC is being set up under the Shipping Ministry’s flagship program Sagarmala.
• It will act as a technology arm of the Ministry of Shipping for providing engineering and technological inputs and support for Ports, Inland Waterways Authority of India and other institutions.
• The setting up of NTCPWC would give a boost to the development of indigenous port and maritime sector technology in India, which will reduce our dependence on foreign institutions.
• It will also reduce the cost of research drastically and result in cost and time savings for work in the port and maritime sector

Source: PIB, The Hindu, Business Standard.