16 May 2024, The Indian Express
No mining within 1-km radius around tiger habitats: SC to Rajasthan
Page no- 5
GS3- Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation
- The Supreme Court on Wednesday told authorities in Rajasthan that there cannot be any mining activity within 1-km radius of critical tiger habitats.
- A bench of Justices B R Gavai, S V N Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta pointed out that on April 26, 2023, the court, in a judgment, had said that mining within 1-km from the boundary of a national park or a wildlife sanctuary shall not be permissible.
- It added, “as such the prohibition… will be automatically applicable even to the critical tiger reserves”.
Foetus has right to live: SC rejects plea to abort 27-week pregnancy
Page no- 8
GS2- Indian Constitution—Historical Underpinnings, Evolution, Features, Amendments, Significant Provisions and Basic Structure
- The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a prayer to allow abortion of a 27-week pregnancy while observing that the foetus too has a right to live.
- A bench of Justices B R Gavai, S V N Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta told the counsel appearing for the 20-year-old single woman that the pregnancy was in excess of seven months now and asked “what about the right of the child to survive? How do you address that?”.
Centre hands over citizenship certificates to 14 under CAA
Page no- 9
GS2-Indian Constitution—Historical Underpinnings, Evolution, Features, Amendments, Significant Provisions and Basic Structure
- Two months after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notified the rules for implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which was enacted by Parliament in December 2019, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Wednesday physically handed over the first set of citizenship certificates to 14 applicants.
- Despite its enactment four years ago, the CAA could not be implemented because the rules were not notified.
Froth and risk
Page no- 10
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- In recent years, there has been a surge in stock market participation in India. At the end of 2018-19, the number of demat accounts in the country stood at 3.59 crore.
- By October 2021, the figure had risen to 7.38 crore and as per more recent reports, there are now more than 15 crore demat accounts.
- Then there are the millions who invest through mutual funds.
- According to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India, investments just through the SIP route (systematic investment plan) stood at Rs 1.99 lakh crore in 2023-24, more than doubling from Rs 92,693 crore in 2018-19.
- All this points towards a spreading culture of equity. But, alongside this growing participation by households in stock markets, there are concerns over the sharp surge in trading in futures and options (F&O) by retail investors.
The CDS that should be
Page no- 10
GS3- Various Security Forces and Agencies and their Mandate
- Media reports suggest (‘Armed Forces’ integrated commands structure plan looks at Vice CDS, Dy CDS with clear roles’, IE, May 13) that the complex and contentious policy issue of rewiring the Indian military into integrated theatre commands (ITC) is gaining traction and that the armed forces are looking at the appointment of a Vice Chief of Defence Staff and a Deputy Chief of Defence Staff.
- This is to be cautiously welcomed and while an official announcement would provide more detail, a review of the post of a CDS in India’s higher defence management matrix is merited.
C the signs
Page no- 10
GS2- Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health
- It’s well-known that spotting signs of cancer at an early stage significantly increases the possibilities of surviving the disease. In India, government projects, including the National Programme for the Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke, recognise this necessity.
- These programmes have given special emphasis to checking for cervical, oral and breast cancers — they constitute a third of all cases of the disease in the country — before symptoms appear.
- Yet, successive National Family Health Surveys have revealed that a very small percentage of people in the vulnerable age group — those over 30 years of age — get screened for malignancy.
- Turning 1,50,000 health and wellness centres (HWCs) into nodal points for cancer detection under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) could have proved to be a game changer.
India’s merchandise trade gap widens to a 5-month high in April
Page no- 13
GS3-Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment
- Amid weak global demand in the western countries and a sharp surge in gold imports, India’s goods trade gap widened to a five month high of $19.1 billion in April with a 10 per cent jump in imports and 1 per cent uptick in exports, data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Wednesday showed.
- While goods export in April this year at $34.99 billion was 1.09 per cent higher compared to the $34.62 billion in April 2023, imports surged at a much faster pace, widening the trade gap to $19.1 billion in April this year compared to $14.34 billion in April last year.
Testing of Ethylene Oxide residue in all spice shipments to Singapore, Hong Kong mandatory
Page no- 13
GS2- Statutory, Regulatory and various Quasi-judicial Bodies
- India has made the testing and sampling of Ethylene Oxide (EtO) residue for all spice shipments to Singapore and Hong Kong from May 7 mandatory, the commerce and industry ministry said on Wednesday.
- The ministry said that a techno scientific committee conducted a root cause analysis, inspected processing facilities and collected samples for testing in accredited labs after reports on recall of India spice products from Singapore and Hong Kong.
Why SC said NewsClick founder’s arrest illegal, why bail is significant
Page no- 14
GS2- Indian Constitution—Historical Underpinnings, Evolution, Features, Amendments, Significant Provisions and Basic Structure
- Supreme Court on Wednesday released on bail NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha, arrested on Oct 3 last year under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, after finding that Delhi Police blatantly violated his fundamental right to be informed in writing about the grounds of arrest and the trial judge illegally remanding him to custody.
Nakba
Page no- 14
GS2- Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- On May 15, every year, Palestinians mark the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic), referring to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians, and the near-total destruction of Palestinian society in service of the creation of Israel.
- Nakba Day is observed on the day after Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948. But the dispossession and displacement of Palestinian people neither began nor ended in 1948. Here is the history.
V P Sing’s turbulent tenure
Page no- 14
GS1-Post-independence Consolidation and Reorganization within the country
- In the Lok Sabha election of 1989, the corruption scandals of Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure overshadowed some significant reforms his government had carried out. For the second time in a dozen years, the Congress lost power at the Centre.
- But after V P Singh formed a coalition government, Rajiv repeated his party’s “Charan Singh experiment” of 1979 — propping up Chandra Shekhar and, within months, pulling the plug on him. In the space of 19 months in 1989-1991, India saw two Lok Sabha elections and two Prime Ministers.
