RELIGIOUS CONVERSIONS
The Supreme Court said that people are free to choose their religion, even as it lashed out at a petition claiming there is mass religious conversion happening “by hook or by crook” across the country.
About:
- The supreme court said that people have a right under the Constitution to profess, practise and propagate religion.
- Article 25 of the Constitution grants Fundamental right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion, subject to public order, morality and health.
- Every person is the final judge of his/her choice of religion or who their life partner should be. Courts cannot sit in judgment of a person’s choice of religion or life partner.
- Religious faith is a part of the fundamental right to privacy. The Constitution Bench judgment had earlier upheld inviolability of the right to privacy, equating it with the rights to life, of dignity and liberty.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION OPERATION (FONOP)
India has protested the U.S. decision to conduct a patrol in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the western Indian Ocean, rejecting the U.S.’s claim that its domestic maritime law was in violation of international law.
About:
- In a rare and unusual public statement, the U.S. Navy announced that its ship, USS John Paul Jones, had carried out Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) in the Indian EEZ, adding that its operations had “challenged” what the U.S. called India’s “excessive maritime claims”.
- USS John Paul Jones asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India’s exclusive economic zone, without requesting India’s prior consent, consistent with international law, the U.S. Navy’s 7th fleet said
- The Government of India’s stated position on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is that the Convention “does not authorise other States to carry out in the EEZ and on the continental shelf, military exercises or manoeuvres, in particular those involving the use of weapons or explosives, without the consent of the coastal state.
- While India ratified UNCLOS in 1995, the U.S. has failed to do it so far.
2001 MARS ODYSSEY
NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft marks 20 years of mapping red planet.
About:
- NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft launched 20 years ago on April 7, has made it the oldest spacecraft still working at the Red Planet.
- The orbiter, which takes its name from Arthur C. Clarke's classic sci-fi novel "2001: A Space Odyssey", was sent to map the composition of the Martian surface in 2001 .
- Project Scientist Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said that before Odyssey, we didn't know where water was stored on the planet.
- The feasibility of humans traveling to Mars was also the focus of an instrument aboard Odyssey that measured how much space radiation astronauts would have to contend with before it stopped working in 2003.
- The most complete global maps of Mars were made using Odyssey's infrared camera, called the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS.
IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON BIODIVERSITY
Many animals and plants unique to the world’s most scenic natural places face extinction if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, according to a new study published in the journal Biological Conservation.
Key findings:
- if the planet heats by over 3°C, then a third of endemic species living on land, and about half of endemic species living in the sea, face extinction. On mountains, 84% of endemic animals and plants face extinction at these temperatures, while on islands that number rises to 100%.
- Endemic species threatened by climate change include lemurs, which are unique to Madagascar, and the snow leopard, one of the most charismatic animals of the Himalayas.
- They also include important medical plants such as the lichen Lobaria pindarensis, used to alleviate arthritis.
- However, remaining within the climate goals of the Paris Agreement — which aims to keep global heating well below 2°C, ideally at 1.5°C, compared to a baseline — would save the majority of species.
ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ODR)
NITI Aayog—in association with Agami and Omidyar Network India and with the support of ICICI Bank, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Trilegal, Dalberg, Dvara, NIPFP—will launch the first-of-its kind Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) handbook in India.
About:
- The handbook is an invitation to business leaders to adopt ODR in India. It highlights the need for such a mechanism, the models of ODR that businesses can adopt and an actionable pathway for them.
- ODR is the resolution of disputes outside courts, particularly of small and medium-value cases, using digital technology and techniques of alternate dispute resolution (ADR), such as negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
- While courts are becoming digitized through the efforts of the judiciary, more effective, scalable, and collaborative mechanisms of containment and resolution are urgently needed.
- ODR can help resolve disputes efficiently and affordably
POST MATRIC SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME FOR SCHEDULED CASTES
Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment reviewed the progress of the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Castes in the last financial year.
About:
- The government had completely revamped the Post Matric Scholarship scheme for Scheduled Castes to provide universal access to the SC youth for higher education.
- The funding pattern under the Scheme was changed from the committed liability formula to a fixed sharing pattern of 60:40 between the Centre and the States (90:10 for the North EasternStates), thus increasing the commitment of the Government in the scheme by almost four times.
- An amount of Rs.35,534 crore was committed by Central Govt. for this scheme till 2025-26 and it is estimated that about 4 crore youth from the SC community will be benefitted during this period.
- Apart from increasing the central share in the scheme, the Government has brought in several process improvements to avoid delays in payment of scholarships using the DBT system.
NanoSniffer
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ launched NanoSniffer, the world’s first Microsensor based Explosive Trace Detector (ETD).
About:
- This home-grown Explosive trace detector device (ETD) - NanoSniffer can detect explosives in less than 10 seconds and it also identifies and categorizes explosives into different classes.
- It detects all classes of military, conventional and homemade explosives. It gives visible & audible alerts with sunlight-readable color display.
- NanoSniffer is a 100% Made in India product in terms of R&D and manufacturing. It has been developed by NanoSniff Technologies, an IIT Bombay incubated startup and has been marketed by Vehant Technologies, a spin-off from a former IIT Delhi incubated startup Kritikal Solutions.
- This affordable device will reduce India's dependence on imported explosive trace detector devices.
PRE-PACKAGED INSOLVENCY RESOLUTION PROCESS (PPIRP)
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 promulgated on 4th April, 2021 provides for pre-packaged insolvency resolution process (PPIRP) for corporate debtors classified as micro, small and medium enterprises.
About:
- The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Pre-packaged Insolvency Resolution Process) Regulations, 2021 (PPIRP Regulations) to enable operationalisation of PPIRP.
- The PPIRP Regulations detail the Forms that stakeholders are required to use, and the manner of carrying out various tasks by them as part of the PPIRP.
- These provide details and manner relating to:
- Eligibility to act as resolution professional, and his terms of appointment;
- Eligibility of registered valuers and other professionals;
- Identification and selection of authorised representative;
- Public announcement and claims of stakeholders;
- Information memorandum;
- Meetings of the creditors and committee of creditors;
- Invitation for resolution plans;
- Competition between the base resolution plan and the best resolution plan;
- Evaluation and consideration of resolution plans;
- Vesting management of corporate debtor with resolution professional;
- Termination of PPIRP.
HARICHAND THAKUR
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid homage to Harichand Thakur on his Jayanti.
About:
- Harichand Thakur (1812 – 1878), worked among the untouchable people of Bengal Presidency.
- He formed the Matua sect of Hindus.
INDIA-NETHERLANDS VIRTUAL SUMMIT
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands held a Virtual Summit.
About:
- It was the first high level Summit attended by PM Rutte after the general elections held in March 2021. Prime Minister Modi congratulated PM Rutte on his election victory and on becoming the Prime Minister of the Netherlands for the fourth consecutive term.
- During the Summit, the two leaders exchanged views on further expanding the relationship in trade and economy, water management, agriculture sector, smart cities, science & technology, healthcare and space.
- The two Prime Ministers also agreed on instituting a ‘Strategic Partnership on Water’ to further deepen the Indo-Dutch cooperation in the water related sector, and upgrading the Joint Working Group on water to Ministerial-level.
- Prime Minister Modi thanked the Netherlands for their support to International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). PM Modi also welcomed the Netherlands’ Indo-Pacific Policy
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