24 April 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Deportation to Rwanda: UK clears Bill, Channel crossing bid claims five
Page no- the world section
GS2- Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries
on India’s interests
- Five people, including a child, died in an attempt to cross the English Channel from France on Tuesday, hours after Britain passed a bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda to try to deter the dangerous crossings.
- The deaths occurred after an overcrowded small boat carrying around 110 people set out to cross one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The French coastguard was still searching for any survivors.
How Surat was won BJP member says attested affidavits disowning
signatures on Cong form
Page no-1
GS2- Salient Features of the Representation of People’s Act.
- The affidavits in which three proposers of Surat Lok Sabha Congress nominee Nilesh Kumbhani and another of the party’s dummy candidates Suresh Padsala disowned the signatures on the nomination papers were notarised (attested) by a member of the Surat City BJP legal cell.
- On Monday, following the rejection of the Congress nomination Sunday and the withdrawal of eight others including the BSP nominee, BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared as elected unopposed from the Surat Lok Sabha constituency.
IMD introduces specialised heatwave forecasts for Lok Sabha elections,
Railways
Page no-8
GS3- Disaster and Disaster Management
- With several parts of the country experiencing extended heatwaves this April, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has for the first time introduced tailored heatwave forecasts for the 18th Lok Sabha elections that got underway on April 9.
- And, extending its specialised transport sector forecasts beyond airports, sea ports and highways, the IMD also recently introduced forecasts for rail travellers.
- Railway demand is set to increase this summer amid school and college vacations, and with election-duty security and other personnel required to take frequent long-distance trips.
India 4th largest military spender in 2023: SIPRI
Page no- 11
GS3- Various Security Forces and Agencies and their Mandate
- With military expenditure worth $83.6 billion in 2023, India was the fourth largest spender globally in 2023, the latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) states.
- This was a result of growing personnel and operations costs that comprised about 80 per cent of the total military budget, the report said.
- The latest data showed that the United States, China and Russia remained the top three military spenders globally followed by India and Saudi Arabia.
Asia worst hit by disasters in 2023, 79 extreme weather events killed over
2k
Page no-14
GS3- Disaster and Disaster Management
- Asia faced the most disasters in the world as 79 events associated with extreme weather, climate, and water-related hazards in 2023 affected over nine million people in the region, directly killing over 2,000 people, a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
- Over 80 per cent of the reported hydrometeorological hazards in Asia were flood and storm events.
- Over 60 per cent of the 2,000 deaths due to disasters were associated with flooding and over 15 per cent with storms, the ‘State of the Climate in Asia 2023’ report released on Tuesday said.
- Storms affected the largest number of people and caused the most economic damage during 2023.
Thermal units can sell surplus power from ‘linkage coal’ in market
Page no- 15
GS3- Infrastructure: Energy
- Coal-based thermal plants can use linkage coal to offer surplus power in the power market, the Ministry of Power clarified to all generating companies Monday.
- The clarification was issued to ensure “optimum utilisation of generating stations” as India braces for a hotter-than-normal summer, which is set to push peak demand to a record 260 GW.
- In recent weeks, the power ministry has already issued instructions to imported coal-based units and all gas-based thermal plants to remain operational during the coming months to avoid power outages.
Govt plans to focus on 20 items as agri exports slip 9%
Page no-15
GS3- Storage, Transport and Marketing of Agricultural Produce and Issues
and Related Constraints
- As India's agricultural exports slipped nearly 9 per cent between April to February in FY24 to $43.7 billion due to the Red Sea crisis, the Russia-Ukraine war, along with domestic restrictions, the government has begun formulating plans to boost exports of 20 items, including bananas, mangoes, potatoes, and baby corn, that have significant growth potential in the global export markets.
- “We have identified 20 products. At present, India’s share is low in global exports. We are working on detailed action for all these products. India’s share is about 2.5 per cent in global exports, and the aim is to increase it to about 4-5 per cent in the coming years,” Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Rajesh Agarwal said on Tuesday.
Ethylene oxide
Page no- 17
GS3- Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and
Effects in Everyday Life
- Do the spice mixes that you pick up from the shop shelf contain cancer-causing chemicals that may harm your health in the long run? This is the big question that the country’s apex food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards of Authority India (FSSAI), is finding an answer to as it has asked all states to collect samples of different brands of powdered spices and do random testing.
- This comes after authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore withdrew four spice mixes from two of India’s top manufacturers, MDH and Everest, after finding high levels of the carcinogen ethylene oxide in them.
- However, FSSAI doesn’t allow its use in any food product but an official says that exports are not under its purview, “Our job is to ensure that products consumed by the Indian population are safe.
- So, we decided to check whether this contaminant is present in products available in the Indian market as well,” he adds.
Reservations for Muslims: Andhra Pradesh case and issues before the court
Page no- 17
GS2- Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the
Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes
- At an election rally in Tonk in Rajasthan on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Congress has often tried to give reservation to muslims by reducing the quota for SCs, STs and OBCs.
- The PM specifically cited attempts at providing a 5% quota for Muslims in Andhra Pradesh as a “pilot project, which Congress wanted to try in the entire country”.
After wars, deaths, political turmoil, the era of Indira
Page no- 17
GS1- Post-independence Consolidation and Reorganization within the country
- The years between the third (1962) and fourth (1967) Lok Sabha elections were traumatic for the young republic.
- Defeat in the month-long war with China was followed by the deaths of two Prime Ministers — Jawaharlal Nehru on May 27, 1964, and Lal Bahadur Shastri less than two years later.
- In between came the second war with Pakistan, which lasted for almost a month and a half in August-September 1965, before both countries agreed to a UN call for ceasefire.
- On January 10, 1966, Shastri and Pakistan’s Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration — but the Indian Prime Minister passed away in the Uzbek city the very next day, January 11.
