Current affairs 03 April 2023

India records highest ever defence export during FY 2022-23.

• In Financial Year 2022-23, India's defense exports have reached an all-time high of 15920 crore rupees, which is almost Rs 3,000 crore more than the previous financial year (2021-22).
• At present, India is now exporting to over 85 countries.
• India exports major platforms like Dornier-228, 155 mm Advanced Towed Artillery Guns (ATAGs), Brahmos Missiles, Akash Missile System, Simulators, Mine Protected Vehicles, Armoured Vehicles, PINAKA Rockets & Launchers, etc.

ISRO successfully conducts the "Reusable Launch Vehicle" test.

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in association with the DRDO and IAF successfully demonstrated a precise landing experiment for a Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) test.
• It was conducted at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka.
• This is a part of ISRO’s efforts to develop RLVs, or space planes/shuttles, which can travel to low earth orbits to deliver payloads and return to earth for use again.

Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO.

• The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg has informed that Finland has become the 31st member of the alliance.
• Turkey’s approval has allowed the extension of NATO.
• Finland shares a long border (over 1,300 kilometers) with Russia, and its decision to join NATO was prompted by security concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
• However, Turkey and Hungary have declined Sweden’s application to join NATO.

Irdai names LIC, GIC as "domestic systemically important" insurers.

• Insurance regulator, IRDAI has identified Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), New India Assurance, and General Insurance Corporation (GIC Re) as domestic systemically important insurers (D-SIIs) for 2022-23.
• These were the same institutions identified as DSII in 2021-22.
• D-SIIs refer to insurers of such size, market importance, and domestic and global interconnectedness, whose distress or failure would cause a significant dislocation in the domestic financial system.

Women between 15-29 years spend more time than men doing Unpaid Labour.

• According to the report titled Women and Men in India 2022, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, an average Indian woman aged between 15 and 29 spends 5.5 hours doing unpaid labor.
• While a man between 15 and 29 spends about 50 minutes daily doing work that yields no money.
• A senior woman (above 60 ) spends four hours a day doing unpaid labor, while a senior man spends 1.5 hours on the same.