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Farewell ceremonies for retired judges usually have the country’s top law officers wish them on behalf of the government a “healthy and peaceful” retirement. Now the government seems bent on fulfilling those wishes.
The Centre amended the Supreme Court Judges Rules the second time in a week to provide chauffeurs and domestic help for retired Chief Justices of India and Supreme Court judges for their entire lifetime.
Retired CJIs would also get secretarial assistants. The staff would be paid the salary and allowances of regular employees of the Supreme Court.
The first series of amendments in the Rules on August 23 had allowed retired Chief Justices of India and Supreme Court judges chauffeurs, secretarial assistants and security cover only for a year. There was no mention of “domestic help”, who would be an employee in the level of junior court assistant.
The benefit of 24-four hour security cover has been extended to five years for retired Chief Justices and three years for retired judges of the Supreme Court. The judiciary had recently raised concerns about attacks on judges.
Besides, former CJIs and retired judges of the top court can get their monthly mobile phone and Internet bills reimbursed to the extent of Rs. 4,200.
A retired CJI is also entitled to a rent-free Type VII accommodation, other than the designated official residence, in New Delhi for six months immediately after retirement.
The amended Rules mandate that retired Chief Justices and judges should be extended courtesies as per protocol at ceremonial lounges of airports.
The notification issued by the Law Ministry however said these post-retirement benefits would be available only if the retirees were not getting similar facilities from any High Court or government body.
The government is one of the biggest litigants in the Supreme Court. There has been public debate on whether post-retirement benefits dangled by the government could influence the judicial work of serving judges.
States
Vikrant will take time to be fully ready: commanding officer(Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
It is going to take a ‘finite time’ for the maiden indigenous aircraft carrier, set to be inducted into the Navy as Vikrant on September 2, to be fully ready for deployment, according to the ship’s commanding officer (designate) Commodore VidhyadharHarke.
The flight deck of the spanking new vessel, which carries the crest and the pennant number (R11) of India’s first aircraft carrier Vikrant inducted in 1961, CmdeHarke said the aircraft carrier had done exceedingly well in the series of sea trials undertaken from August, 2021.
Its progress has been very encouraging. We achieved full power on the first sortie itself, which is a record of sorts for any ship constructed in India or abroad. We followed it up with four more sorties, altogether for over 35 days at sea, to prove the ship’s systems, manoeuvring capabilities, engine performance, various machines, sensors, and the like.
The ship has been put through the paces to prove herself at sea.And nearly all the systems have matured to such a level that we can confidently operate at sea. So, it’s ready for commissioning and to be put to the sea.
While helicopter operations were carried out from the deck of the carrier during the trials, integration of the fighter aircraft MiG 29K, for now and the carrier’s integration with the fleet, the Carrier Battle Group (CBG), would be undertaken soon after its induction.
So far, we have been proving our internal machineries. Now, we will see how this behemoth, a potent fighting platform, integrates with the fleet as we do our training, hone our warfighting skills, do drills and conduct aircraft operations.
It does take a finite time for the complete realisation of the potential of a carrier. If you take the example of HMS Queen Elizabeth, after commissioning, it was only last year that it undertook a deployment of about six months to the South China Sea.
Several countries, China, Japan, South Korea and many others, were building carriers which indicated that “carriers have a future and that’s why countries are investing in it. The IAC-1, Vikrant, has self-defence capabilities, with its escorts part of the CBG providing a layered defence and the integral fighter fleet providing the long vector offensive.
The ship, would have a large ‘surveillance bubble’ around it and should not ideally face any trouble from missiles. The long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) -- Barak 8, jointly developed by the IAI and DRDO — and the track and guidance radar MFSTAR would be fitted on the carrier as per a schedule drawn up for the same.The close-in weapon system (CIWS) is already up and operational.
News
Single brand to help cut fertilizer cost (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Centre’s decision to introduce “One Nation, One Fertilizer” by branding it as the PradhanmantriBharatiyaJanurvarakPariyojna (PMBJP) is for self-promotion, Union Minister for Fertilizers and Chemicals said that the scheme was aimed at reducing the logistics cost involved in the transportation of fertilizers.
Centre had taken steps to ensure the steady availability of fertilizers by entering into agreements with countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia at the time of a global shortage for fertilizers.
Recently, the Centre signed an agreement in Saudi Arabia for the supply of 2.5 million tonnes of fertilizers for different Indian manufacturers.
“One Nation One Fertilizer” would stop the criss-cross movement of fertilizers for longer distances. It will reduce logistics costs and also ensure the availability of fertilizers to the farmers throughout the year.
This concept will strengthen to monitor real-time movement, availability and sales of fertilizers in a State. The Minister said that the production and distribution process would be redrawn as the companies would not have to transport their products beyond 500 kilometres on average.
On the criticism that prices of essential fertilizers such as diammonium phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MoP) and single super phosphate (SSP) are high, he said the prices were decontrolled as per the nutrient-based subsidy policy from 2010.
Prices are fixed by phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilizer companies as per market dynamics. Due to the rise in international prices of fertilizers and raw materials due to the pandemic, supply chain disruptions and the present geopolitical situation, the Centre increased substantial amount of subsidy on fertilizers to subsume rise in prices.
Army pushes new tank and armoured carrier projects(Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
With the main battle tank proving pivotal in the modern-day battlefield, the Indian Army is looking to procure a new-generation ‘Future Tank’ under the Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) project in a phased manner, with expected induction by 2030, according to official sources.
An earlier ambitious attempt failed to take off and official sources said the domestic industry is now ready to take the project forward quickly.
The mechanised infantry too, in addition to upgrading the large inventory of Russian BMP-II armoured personnel carriers in service, is gearing up to procure a new vehicle under the Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) project.
The Army is taking time to define the case and the requirements of the new tank. If all goes well, the prototype should be ready by 2030.
The Army has a large fleet consisting of Russian T-72 and T-90 tanks and two regiments of indigenous Arjun tanks with an upgraded Arjun-MK1A to be inducted shortly.
The tank has been the dominant battle-winning factor of the land forces for a long time and future wars will have mobile protected systems taking the lead. T-72s have been the main battle tank of the Armoured Corps for close to 40 years and are now required to be replaced with a modern state-of-the-art tank.
The Army’s Mechanised Infantry operates the versatile BMP-IIs which are in the process of being upgraded including night enablement and the second generation Konkurs wire-guided Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) on them are being replaced with an indigenous third gen ATGM. In parallel, the FICV project and induction of other new platforms are also under way.
The Army is also looking at new airburst ammunition that can be fired from the 30 mm cannon of BMPs to destroy drones. A threat-cum-capability-based approach is being adopted while contextualising the modernisation plan.
Sources said that planned acquisitions include a tracked FICV to replace the BMP-II. The Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for 480 new vehicles is expected to be put up before the Defence Acquisition Council in its next meeting.
CJI Lalit has got big plans lined up for his short term (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
With little more than two months till retirement on November 8, the 49th Chief Justice of India, Justice UdayUmeshLalit, is looking at a tenure that is set to be a race against time — especially given the holiday-heavy court schedule this time of the year.
The past few days have seen the new CJI provide glimpses into his plans. For one, he has listed 25 Constitution Bench cases for hearing from August 29, his first working day as the top judge.
These include the challenge to the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 that provided for reservations for economically weaker sections, WhatsApp privacy policy issue and pleas related to jallikattu.
The last time a Constitution Bench assembled was between March and May 2021 in the Maratha reservation case. Former Chief Justice N.V. Ramana’s tenure did not see a single Constitution Bench being formed.Chief Justice Lalit has further promised that at least one Constitution Bench will function throughout the year.
The top judge has also assured transparency in listing of cases so that lawyers are not kept in the dark about the fate of their cases. He has promised lawyers that they would be given every opportunity to directly approach the Bench concerned to seek early hearing in cases seeking urgent relief, for example bail pleas.
The CJI has already begun to address the alarming pendency of over 71,000 cases in the apex court by creating more Benches. He will soon have 15 Benches of two-judge combinations functioning from Tuesday to Thursday every week.
However, it is to be seen whether he will use his short tenure to make any judicial appointments to the top court. A relatively short tenure of six months as the 41st Chief Justice of India did not stop Justice R.M. Lodha from successfully initiating the appointment of two senior advocates directly to the Supreme Court Bench, one of them being Justice Lalit himself.
However, Chief Justice Lalit may also leave it to Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, who would be his successor as per the seniority norm and has a tenure of 24.5 months, to make appointments.
More Muslim women are opting for ‘khhula’, their right to ‘instant divorce’ (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issue)
More Muslim marriages end with khhula, the woman’s inalienable right to instant divorce, and not, as it’s widely perceived, through instant triple talaq , which was set aside by a Supreme Court verdict in 2017, or talaq-e-hassan , divorce at the man’s initiative.
Data available at the Imarat-e-Shariah’sDarulQaza or Islamic arbitration centres show most cases of divorce are filed through the khhula method, and an increasingly larger number of women are opting to end their marriage through khhula.
Unlike talaq , which is pronounced by the man, in the case of khhula , it’s the woman who initiates divorce, and surrenders her mehr (wealth transferred or promised to the woman at the time of marriage) at the time of such a divorce.
Khhulacan be effected orally or through a document called the Khhulnama. It has the effect of an instant divorce. If the mehrhad not been given to the woman by the time she opted for khhula, she cannot demand the mehr as the marriage is being called off at her behest.
While cases of talaq-e-biddatare automatically ruled out due to the very nature of the act, there are few cases coming to the Islamic arbitration centres of women complaining against cases of talaq-e-hassan.
The pronouncement of three divorces separated by at least a month between each pronouncement, or even mubarat , which is mutual divorce granted to a Muslim couple by the Shariah.
In the last Islamic year corresponding to 2021-22, we had 572 cases in ImaratShariahMarkaz. Almost all cases were of khhula with only a handful of mubarat cases and none of triple talaq,” AnzarAlamQasmi, the chief quazi responsible for deciding issues of marriage and divorce at the famed Imarat-e-Shariah in Patna.
Only of the ImaratShariah headquarters. Data from all such centres in Bihar-Jharkhand show a bigger picture. In 2020-21, corresponding roughly to the 1443 Islamic calendar, there were nearly 5,000 cases of khhula at all DarulQazas. The data show a similar rising trend in Delhi and Mumbai.
More than half of the cases end on an amicable note with the parties opting for reconciliation rather than divorce. When a woman first files for khhula , we initially counsel her.
Across the country, DarulQazas provide timely and cost-effective ways to end unhappy marriages. “Many cases of khhula are resolved within an hour or two.
Up to 70% cases are settled with two months. Only a handful take six months or more, when the man does not respond to the notices sent to him,” Mr. Qasmi said.
However, some quazi s insist that khhulacan be obtained only through the husband’s consent. They feel the husband is not bound to agree to the divorce proposed by his wife.
Intel agencies seek law on crypto deals (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Investigation and intelligence agencies of the government are pressing the Centre to list cryptocurrency exchanges distinctly under the existing regulatory mechanism, thus making it mandatory for the exchanges to proactively share information regarding suspicious transactions with the police and other law enforcement authorities.
The issue was discussed at the National Security Strategies Conference in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah.
A senior government official said that it had emerged during investigation in the past few months that several Chinese shell companies, which operate digital loan mobile apps in India, sent funds out of India through the crypto exchanges.
Ownership of cryptocurrency exchanges, operated in India, by Chinese companies is not yet on record.At present, the authorities can seek information from such exchanges only after a criminal case has been registered.
The official said that though the law-enforcement agencies and the police were authorised to seek information under Section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), on many occasions, in the absence of a first information report (FIR), crucial information could not be sought from these exchanges.
At the conference, the Intelligence Bureau gave a presentation on the challenges posed by crypto exchanges. An official said most of the exchanges did not have a physical office and the data storage was cloud-based.
The agencies were seeking powers akin to those available under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to get information from the exchanges.
There is no specific law to make the crypto exchanges report suspicious transactions. The reporting entities such as a bank, wallets, etc. have to be distinctly mentioned in the law for them to report such activities.
Recently, the Enforcement Directorate, while investigating a case, froze assets worth Rs. 370 crore of Flipvolt and allied companies in a money laundering case and assets worth Rs. 65 crore of another such exchange, WazirX.
World
Russia blocks agreement on UN nuclear treaty (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Russia blocked agreement on the final document of a four-week review of the UN treaty considered the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament which criticised its military takeover of Europe’s largest nuclear plant soon after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, an act that has raised fears of a nuclear disaster.
Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, told the delayed final meeting of the conference reviewing the 50-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that “unfortunately there is no consensus on this document.”
The final document needed approval of all countries at the conference that are parties to the treaty aimed at curbing the spread of nuclear weapons.
Argentine Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen, president of the conference, said the final draft represented his best efforts to address divergent views and the expectations of the parties “for a progressive outcome” at a moment in history when “our world is increasingly wracked by conflicts, and, most alarmingly, the ever growing prospect of the unthinkable nuclear war.”
The NPT review conference is supposed to be held every five years but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This marked the second failure of its 191 state parties to produce an outcome document.
The last review conference in 2015 ended without an agreement because of serious differences over establishing a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction.
Russia-China cooperation in Arctic a concern: NATO(Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned about Russia’s military buildup in the Arctic and China’s increasing interest in that part of the world.
During a visit to Canada’s north, Mr. Stoltenberg said the shortest path to North America for Russian missiles and bombers is over the North Pole.
He said Russia has set up a new Arctic Command and has opened hundreds of new and former Soviet-era Arctic military sites, including airfields and deep-water ports.
We see a significant Russian military build-up with new bases, new weapons systems and also using the High North as a test bed for their most advanced weapons, including hypersonic missiles,” Mr. Stoltenberg said at a Canadian military base in Cold Lake, Alberta.
Mr. Stoltenberg also noted China has declared itself a “near Arctic” state. He said Beijing plans to build the world’s largest icebreaker and is spending tens of billions of dollars on energy, infrastructure and research projects in the north.
Beijing and Moscow have also pledged to intensify practical cooperation in the Arctic. This forms part of a deepening strategic partnership that challenges our values and interests.
He also noted climate change is making the Arctic more accessible for militaries and welcomed Canada’s recent announcement that it will bolster its spending on defence.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who accompanied Mr. Stoltenberg, highlighted some of the spending and activities that Canada is making in the north. Those include promises to allocate billions of dollars for new military equipment and capabilities.
Science and Tech
Fruit fly: novel method to study nuclear matrix (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Every cell that makes up an organism contains a copy of its genome. This genome is packaged in special ways with the help of a structure known as the nuclear matrix. The nuclear matrix gives an organisation and architecture to the nucleus.
A familiar figure, the nuclear matrix of fruit flies, for instance, has been studied for many years, mainly by isolating it in nuclei that have been taken out from fruit fly embryos.
Now, using a novel method, a group of researchers from CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (CCMB) and Tata Institute for Genetics and Society, Bengaluru (TIGS), have established a way of studying the nuclear matrix of the fruit fly ( Drosophila melanogaster ) without removing the nucleus from the embryo.
This allows comparative study of nuclear matrix in different cells within the embryo, giving a boost for fruit fly genetics.
Two of the most recent papers on this work have been published in the journals Nucleus and Molecular and Cell Proteomics .
The nuclear matrix is like a scaffolding. Using biochemical means, if the nucleus is taken out and treated with an enzyme that digests all the DNA, then washed with a solution of high salt concentration so that viable DNA proteins or protein-protein interactions are removed, what is then left is a fibrous meshwork of proteins called the nuclear matrix.
This is like a building from which all movables have been sucked out, leaving only the beams, ceiling, walls, plug points, etc.Analogous to the building, the nuclear matrix creates the architecture in which the genome is packaged.
Decoding mosquitoes’ sense of smell(Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Of the nearly 3,000 species of mosquito, a handful are choosy and will only target people for their blood. Some of these, for instance, AedesAegypti , Anopheles and Culex are well known as vectors for diseases such as dengue, malaria and West Nile fever.
A science question apart, understanding these behavioural patterns of the insect influences methods to trap and eliminate them. Mosquito repellents work on the principle of obfuscating the insect’s sense of smell.
The most common chemical in repellents, diethyltoluamide (DEET) for instance, confuses the mosquito’s antennae that’s sensitive to sweat and carbon dioxide from the human body.
However, this and several other ingredients such as picaridin, IR3535 and eucalyptus oil are not foolproof. The reason for this, a study this month in the journal Cell reports, is that mosquitoes have evolved resilient back-ups in their olfactory system that make sure they can always smell our scents.
Mosquitoes are breaking all of our favourite rules of how animals smell things,” Margo Herre, a scientist at Rockefeller University and one of the lead authors of the paper, said in a statement.
Olfactory neurons, that are designed to transmit sensations of smell to receptors in the brain, are only responsible for detecting one type of odour in animals.
Thus, if a single odorant receptor is damaged in a person, all of the neurons that express that receptor will lose the ability to sense that smell. However, the researcher-team found that mosquito’s olfaction didn’t work like that.
You need to work harder to break mosquitoes because getting rid of a single receptor has no effect,” said co-author Leslie Vosshall of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Maryland, in a statement.
Any future attempts to control mosquitoes by repellents or anything else has to take into account how unbreakable their attraction is to us.
Improving access to antibiotics through innovation (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
In his Nobel lecture, Sir Alexander Fleming, who was awarded the Prize for the discovery of penicillin, had a profound warning. The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops.
Then, there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant. Within a century of his prophecy, the time has come.
Our reckless use of antibiotics, including penicillin, has given rise to bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that have become resistant to commonly used antimicrobials.
What is more concerning is that these microbes are evolving faster than we can invent drugs to tackle them. Our stash of antimicrobials is drying up while more drug resistant ‘superbugs’ are evolving and taking over the world.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing health crisis, and tackling it needs a multi-pronged approach. We need newer, more effective antimicrobial drugs, improved access to life-saving antimicrobials across the globe; better diagnostics to identify drug-resistant infections and treat them with drugs that work, and robust surveillance systems to monitor the spread of drug resistant infections.
While discovering new antimicrobial drugs through pharmaceutical research and development is expensive, time-consuming, and often out of reach for many low- and middle-income countries, India can rely on collaborations and innovations to build game-changing strategies in tackling the AMR crisis and catch up with the evolving superbugs.
In 2019 alone, drug-resistant superbugs killed about 1.27 million people globally — a toll more than HIV/AIDS or malaria — and according to the United Nations’ (UN) estimates, that number could reach 10 million by 2050.
In India, the largest consumer of antimicrobials globally, AMR is gaining ground, and the use of last-resort antibiotics like cephalosporins is soaring.
Business
Need to diversify agri towards power, energy sectors: Gadkari(Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
With India being energy deficient, there is a need for the country to diversify agriculture into the energy and power sectors, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday.
We are making an expenditure of Rs. 15 lakh crore every year for importing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products.
So, this is the time we can diversify agriculture towards the energy and power sector,” added Mr. Gadkari while addressing the felicitation programme of National Cogeneration Awards 2022.
While 65-70% of our population depends on agriculture, our agricultural growth rate is only 12-13%. And the next move should be cogeneration to increase revenue from sugar.
The industry should produce less sugar and more byproducts, embracing the vision for futuristic technologies and using the power of leadership to convert knowledge into wealth.
India’s requirement for sugar was 280 lakh tonnes this year, while the production was more than 360 lakh tonnes.
However, we need to divert production towards ethanol as ethanol requirement is very high. Last year’s capacity was 400 crore litres of ethanol and the government has taken a lot of initiatives to increase ethanol production. Now is the time for industry to plan demand for ethanol, using technologies such as power generators run by bioethanol.