Consumer inflation slides below 6percent mark for first time in 2023 (GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- India’s retail inflation slid below the 6% mark for the first time in 2023 and only the third time in the last 15 months to touch 5.66% in March 2023.
- The steep drop in headline inflation was aided by a high base effect, which is expected to keep the inflation rate lower at least in the entire first quarter of 2023-24.
- March’s inflation level was last seen in December 2021, following which prices rose at a pace faster than the Central bank’s upper tolerance threshold of 6% for 10 months in a row.
RBI projections:
- Despite the moderation in March, Indian consumers faced an average inflation of 6.66% through 2022-23. This is higher than the 6.5% average price rise projected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in February.
- While pausing interest rate hikes to check inflation in its monetary policy review, the RBI has projected price rise to moderate to 5.2% in 2023, with the April to June quarter averaging 5.1% inflation. The same quarter had clocked an average price rise of 7.28% in 2022.
Key Highlights:
- Rural consumers saw a sharper dip in inflation as it eased from 6.72% in February to 5.51% in March, while the statistical relief for their urban counterparts was minimal, as their price rise dropped only marginally from 6.1% to 5.89% over the same period.
- Within food items, vegetables remained in deflationary mode, with prices dropping 8.5% year-on-year.
- Oil prices also fell for the second month in a row, with the price correction from a year ago quickening from 0.5% in February to 7.9% in March.
- Meat and fish prices dropped 1.4% last month from March 2022 levels, as opposed to a 3.4% inflation recorded this February.
Cereals:
- However, cereals, milk and spices inflation remained significantly high, while fruit prices surged 7.6% in March compared to 6.4% in February.
- Price rise in cereals eased only marginally from 16.7% in February to 15.3% in March. Similarly, milk inflation dropped slightly from 9.65% to 9.31% in February, while spices inflation was 18.2% in March after a three-month spell over 20%.
Way Forward:
- Assuming normal southwest monsoon rains and only a limited impact from unseasonal rain in March, food inflation is expected to ease notably and fuel prices to trend down this year.
U.S. aviation watchdog retains India’s safety category after review
(GS Paper 3, Infrastructure)
Why in news?
- The aviation safety regulator of the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has retained the “Category 1” status for India’s aviation safety oversight following a review.
Details:
- The FAA, which is part of the US Department of Transportation, had conducted an audit of the Indian regulator DGCA from 25 to 29 October, 2021, in the areas covering aircraft operations, airworthiness and personnel licensing under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme.
- Under the IASA, the FAA determines whether a country’s oversight of its air carriers that operate or seek to operate in the US or codeshare with a US air carrier complies with safety standards established by the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
What it means for India?
- A codeshare is a commercial arrangement between airlines whereby one sells seats on a flight operated by the other, with each airline using their own flight number.
- FAA’s IASA focuses on a country’s ability to adhere to the international safety standards and recommended practices.
- Air carriers of Category 1 countries are permitted to operate/ expand their services to destinations in the US and codeshare with US air carriers.
India’s scores:
- The FAA conducted the programme over a one-year period which included physical audits from October 25 to October 29, 2021 and a review in July and September, 2022.
- In the recent ICAO audit in November 2022, India scored an Effective Implementation (EI) of 85.65% from the previous EI of 69.95%.
DST Institute to partner Indian Navy in developing secure maritime communications using Quantum Technology
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- Quantum technologies will soon be used to develop secure maritime communications in a joint effort by the Raman Research Institute (RRI) and the Indian Navy.
Key Highlights:
- RRI, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Weapons and Electronics Systems Engineering Establishment (WESEE), the R&D establishment of the Indian Navy.
- Under this agreement, RRI’s Quantum Information and Computing (QuIC) lab will lead the research efforts towards developing quantum key distribution techniques that the Indian Navy could leverage in the nation's efforts towards securing free space communications.
QuIC lab:
- This lab has been leading the country’s research in the field of secure quantum communication.
- Some of its major achievements include the development of an end-to-end simulation toolkit named “qkdSim”, ensuring safety in communication platforms, establishing secure communication between two buildings, and, more recently, between a stationary source and a mobile receiver.
- QuIC lab also happens to be India’s first laboratory to propose and implement a wide range of applications using single and entangled photons, particularly towards establishing secure communications in strategic areas like banking, defence, and cyber security.
