Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 11th Dec 2021

Biennial elections of 25 Karnataka Legislative Council seats from 20 Local Authorities’ Constituencies was recently conducted

DETAILS

• Composition - Article 171 - shall not have more than one-third of the total strength of the State Assembly, and not less than 40 members.
• Tenure - Continuing chamber, that is, it is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution. The tenure of a Member is six years, with one-third of the members retiring every two years.
• Election
  • One-third of the MLCs are elected by the state’s MLAs,
  • Another 1/3rd by a special electorate comprising sitting members of local governments such as municipalities and district boards,
  • 1/12th by an electorate of teachers and another 1/12th by registered graduates.
  • The remaining members are appointed by the Governor for distinguished services in various fields namely, literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service.

Union Law Minister told the Lok Sabha that the Ministry of Home Affairs had no proposal under consideration to scrap Section 124A of IPC that deals with sedition.

ABOUT SECTION 124A

• Drafted by Thomas Macaulay (introduced in the 1870s)
• Originally to deal with increasing Wahabi activities between 1863 and 1870 that posed a challenge to the colonial government
• Meaning of sedition - Bring or attempts to bring hatred or contempt, or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government
• Punishment - Imprisonment for life or three years

Issue

• Centre and the States have invoked this section against activists, detractors, writers and even cartoonist seeking to silence political dissent by accusing dissenters of promoting disaffection. Dissent and criticism of the government are essential ingredients of robust public debate in a vibrant democracy.
• According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 35 cases of sedition were reported in 2016. Many of these cases did not involve violence or incitement to violence
• Jawaharlal Nehru said that the provision was “obnoxious” and “highly objectionable”, and “the sooner we get rid of it the better”.
• It is a constraint on the legitimate exercise of constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and expression.
• The British, who introduced sedition to oppress Indians, have themselves abolished the law in their country

The Need

• Utility in combating anti-national, secessionist and terrorist elements.
• Protects the elected government from attempts to overthrow the government with violence and illegal means.
• Need to retain the provision to effectively combat anti-national, secessionist and terrorist elements.

Kedarnath vs. The State of Bihar (1962)

• The court, in this case, considered two possible interpretations of Section 124A.
• It held that if sedition is understood to mean incitement of disorder, the section will lie within the ambit of permissible legislative restrictions (it is ok to charge with Sedition in this case) mentioned in clause (2) of Article 19, which guarantees freedom of expression.
• Without any tendency to disorder or intention to create disturbance of law and order by the use of words which merely create disaffection or feelings of enmity against the government, then such an interpretation would make the section unconstitutional.

NEDFI Announces Atmanirbhar Hastshilpkar Scheme for the Artisans under Ministry of Doner

ABOUT

• Objective - develop the petty artisans of the North Eastern Region
• Provide financial assistance in the form of term loan for income generating activities for setting up / expansion / modernization / working capital requirement and other activities related to the sector
• Assistance of Rs.1 lakh per artisan will be provided
• Credit facility is collateral free and carries a subsidized interest rate of 6% p.a., which is repayable in 24 months.
• For regular repayment, an incentive of 1% on the interest rate is provided, which will be refunded to the artisans on successful repayment of loans.​

ABOUT NEDFI

• Full form - North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (NEDFi
• A premier financial institution in the North-Eastern Region
• Head office at Dispur, Guwahati
• Establishment in 1995
• Over the years, the Corporation has provided loans to over 7500 projects and taken up several development initiatives through its CSR activities in the eight states of North-East India.

WHAT :

Debt financial instruments

Companies use to raise medium- to long-term capital

Cannot be converted into equity shares of the company

Major players - Housing finance companies, Gold loan companies Non-banking financial companies

RISKS:

• High in the case of unsecured NCDs, even though they offer high interest rates.
• Issuers with credit rating below investment grade

Benefits:

Interest rates between 8.25–9.7%.

Union Government is working on a plan to use stubble as a biofuel and manure as part of an effort to deal with stubble burning

What are Biofuels:

• Hydrocarbon fuel

• Produced from an organic matter (living or once living material) in a short period of time (days, weeks, or even months)
• May be
  • Solid: Wood, dried plant material, and manure
  • Liquid: Bioethanol and Biodiesel
  • Gaseous: Biogas

Classification

• 1st generation biofuels
  • Called conventional biofuels
  • Made from things like sugar, starch, or vegetable oil
  • Made from a feedstock that can also be consumed as a human food
• 2nd generation biofuels
  • Produced from sustainable feedstock
  • No second generation biofuel is also a food crop, though certain food products can become second generation fuels
  • Often called “advanced biofuels.”
• 3rd generation biofuels
  • Derived from algae
  • Given their own separate class because of their unique production mechanism and their potential to mitigate most of the drawbacks of 1st and 2nd generation biofuels.
• 4th generation biofuels
  • In the production of these fuels, crops that are genetically engineered to take in high amounts of carbon are grown and harvested as biomass.
  • The crops are then converted into fuel using second generation techniques.

The UN General Assembly has conferred Observer Status on the International Solar Alliance (ISA)

What it means : Would help provide for a well-defined cooperation between the alliance and the UN that would benefit global energy growth and development.

ABOUT ISA

• Alliance of more than 122 countries
• Initiated by India
• Most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn
• Now extended to all members of UN.
• Established By The Paris Declaration
• Entered into force on December 6th, 2017
• Formally became a de-jure treaty based International Intergovernmental Organization
• Headquartered at Gurugram, India.
• Dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its member countries.
• Objectives
  • Global deployment of over 1,000GW of solar generation capacity
  • Mobilisation of investment of over US$ 1000 billion into solar energy by 2030

NASA launched a new mission named Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer or IXPE.

ABOUT

• Onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket
• Sent to its orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
• Joint effort of NASA and the Italian Space Agency
• Will study “the most extreme and mysterious objects in the universe – supernova remnants, supermassive black holes, and dozens of other high-energy objects.”
• Mission’s primary length is two years
• Observatory will be at 600 kilometers altitude, orbiting around Earth’s equator
• Expected to study about 40 celestial objects in its first year in space.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

10th December celebrated as International Human Rights Day

ABOUT

• Why 10 December – Adoption , in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by United Nations General Assembly
• The UDHR established a set of common basic values both with regard to the view of human beings and to the relationship between the state and the individual.
• Theme 2021: “EQUALITY – Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights” .
• Objective: To promote equality, peace, justice, freedom and the protection of human dignity. Every individual is entitled to rights irrespective of race, colour, religion, sex, language, or social status.

What are Human Rights:

• Rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.
• Include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more.

• South Western Railway (SWR), which was the first railway zone in the country to implement UTS mobile app ticketing (for other than suburban trains), has seen good response to the initiative and the application has slowly gained popularity.
• NITI Aayog in partnership with Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, launched Convoke 2021-22. Convoke is a National research Symposium which aims at addressing challenges in imparting education and strengthening its quality with special focus on all teachers, educationists, heads of schools across India.