Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

NEWS

13th Bengaluru International Film Festival 2022 (BIFFES 2022) held

BISFF

• Conceived by multi-award winner Prakash Belawadi
• Idea was to create a platform for young and amateur filmmakers where they could screen their shorts to discerning audiences and find constructive and critical feedback from experts in the field
• First edition of the festival held in 2010
• Indian and foreign language films are screened
• BISFF has the distinction of being one of the largest Short Film Festivals in India

NEWS

Only the appropriate authorities notified by the State Government can initiate criminal prosecution against health facilities for violation of provisions of the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act 1994, ruled the Karnataka High Court.

THE CASE AND RULING

• HC passed the order while quashing a criminal proceeding initiated against Dhondiba Anna Jadhav Memorial Hospital of Gokak in Belagavi district and two medical practitioners for allegedly failing to maintain records as required under the Act
• HC noted that the Act empowers only those officers, who have been notified as ‘appropriate authorities’ under Section 17 of the Act, are entitled to launch criminal prosecution for violation of provisions of the Act and the rules
• Act notifies Assistant Commissioners as ‘appropriate authorities’ for the respective sub-divisions of some of the
• The High Court also noted from the Act that there is a bar on the magistrate taking cognisance of an offence except on a complaint lodged by the appropriate authority or an officer authorised on his/her behalf by the government

ABOUT PCPNDT ACT

• Passed in 1994
• Enacted in response to the decline in Sex ratio

AIM –

• Ban the use of sex selection techniques before or after conception
• Prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic technique for sex selective abortion

OFFENCES-

• Conducting or helping in the conduct of prenatal diagnostic technique in the unregistered units
• Sex selection on a man or woman
• Conducting PND test for any purpose other than the one mentioned in the act, sale, distribution, supply, renting etc. of any ultra sound machine or any other equipment capable of detecting sex of the foetus.

AMENDMENTS-

• 2003
• Improve the regulation of the technology used in sex
• Bring the technique of pre conception sex selection and ultrasound technique within the ambit of the act
• Empowered the central supervisory board and state level supervisory board was constituted

NOTE - In 1988, the State of Maharashtra became the first in the country to ban pre-natal sex determination through enacting the Maharashtra Regulation of Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act.

MAIN PROVISIONS -

• Provides for the prohibition of sex selection, before or after conception
• Regulates the use of pre-natal diagnostic techniques, like ultrasound and amniocentesis by allowing them their use only to detect few cases
• No laboratory or centre or clinic will conduct any test including ultrasonography for the purpose of determining the sex of the foetus
• No person, including the one who is conducting the procedure as per the law, will communicate the sex of the foetus to the pregnant woman or her relatives by words, signs or any other method
• Any person who puts an advertisement for pre-natal and pre-conception sex determination facilities in the form of a notice, circular, label, wrapper or any document, or advertises through interior or other media in electronic or print form or engages in any visible representation made by means of hoarding, wall painting, signal, light, sound, smoke or gas, can be imprisoned for up to three years and fined Rs. 10,000
• Mandates compulsory registration of all diagnostic laboratories, all genetic counselling centres, genetic laboratories, genetic clinics and ultrasound clinic.

NEWS

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Celebrates its 17th Foundation Day

NCPCR

• Set up in March 2007
• Under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005
• Under the administrative control of the Ministry of Women & Child Development
• Child is defined as a person in the 0 to 18 years age group
• Mandate -  ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Under the RTE Act, 2009, the NCPCR can:
  • inquire into complaints about violation of the law.
  • summon an individual and demand evidence.
  • seek a magisterial enquiry.
  • file a writ petition in the High Court or Supreme Court.
  • approach the government concerned for prosecution of the offender.
  • recommend interim relief to those affected.
• Composition:
  • Chairperson and six members of which at least two should be women
  • All of them are appointed by Central Government for three years
  • The maximum age to serve in commission is 65 years for Chairman and 60 years for members

NEWS

Uthralikkavu Pooram festival celebrated

THRISSUR POORAM

• Annual Hindu festival held in Vadakkancherry
• Held every year in the Malayalam month of Kumbham (usually falls on February / March)
• Eight-day celebration
• Traditional musical ensembles like the Panchavadyam and the Pandimelam can be seen
• About twenty-one elephants in the traditional attire line up with colourful parasols; swaying venchamarams (white tufts) and alavattams (peacock-feather fans
• Sree Ruthira Mahakalikavu Temple is dedicated to Goddess Kali

 NEWS

FIFA decided to indefinitely suspend all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, from participation in all competitions run by the two football bodies

FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

• Highest global governing body of Football
• Also the international governing body for futsal (a kind of mini football played indoors on a hard court between two teams of five players each) and beach soccer (five-a-side, played on a beach)
• Membership now comprises 211 national football associations around the world
• Each of these national associations are members of one of the six confederations into which the footballing world is divided: Africa, Asia, Europe, North & Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and South America.
• Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, supports these national associations financially and logistically through various programmes
• FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of FIFA, in which each of the 211 members of the organisation has a vote(Meets annually)
• FIFA Council is the main decision making body of FIFA. The FIFA Council consists of 37 members, including the president, eight vice presidents, and 28 other members elected by the member associations. Each member is elected for a term of four years. Each confederation must elect at least one representative who is a woman.

Role of FIFA

• Responsible for organising and promoting football’s major international tournaments, most importantly the football World Cup, which began in 1930, and the Women’s World Cup which began in 1991.
• The men’s World Cup, held every four years, is FIFA’s marquee event. The next World Cup is scheduled to be held in Qatar in November-December this year. Brazil has won the World Cup competition the most number of times (5), followed by Italy and Germany (4 each), and Argentina, France, and Uruguay (2 each).
• FIFA is a member of the International Football Association Board, which sets the rules of football, and it applies and enforces those rules across all FIFA competitions
• All FIFA tournaments generate revenue from sponsorship

NEWS

Turkey is set to implement MONTREUX CONVENTION on naval passage through two of its strategic straits, which would allow them to limit the movement of Russian warships between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.

WHAT IS THE MONTREUX CONVENTION?

•  Gives Turkey certain control over the passage of warships from the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Straits that connect the Aegean, Marmara, and Black Sea.
• In peace time, warships can pass the straits by prior diplomatic notification with certain limitations on the weight of the ships and arms they carry
• At times of war, Turkey can bar the passage of the warships of belligerent parties from crossing.
• According to the convention, if Turkey is a party to the war or considers itself threatened with imminent danger, it can shut down the straits to the passage of warships.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STRAITS

• The Bosporus and Dardanelles straits are also known as the Turkish Straits or the Black Sea Straits
• Only passage through which the Black Sea ports can access the Mediterranean and beyond
• Over three million barrels of oil, about three per cent of the daily global supply, mostly produced in Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, pass through this waterway every day
• Also ships large amounts of iron, steel, and agricultural products from the Black Sea coast to Europe and the rest of the world

Could Turkey block Russian warships?

• Russia’s location on the Black Sea complicates the situation
• Article 19 of the treaty contains an exception for the countries on the Black Sea that can effectively undermine Turkey’s power in blocking the Russian warships

NEWS

Ukraine launched a case against Russia at INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE accusing Moscow of planning genocide and asking for the court to intervene to halt the invasion and order Russia to pay reparations.

                                                      INTERNATIONAL COURT         

 WHAT - Principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN)

WHEN WAS IT ESTABLISHED - June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.

LOCATION - Peace Palace in The Hague (Only one of the six principal organs of the UN that is not located in New York City)

ROLE

• Settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States
• Give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies

MEMBERS –

• All members of the UN are automatically parties to the ICJ statute
• ICJ gets jurisdiction only if both parties consent to it

JUDGES

• 15 judges
• Elected to nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and Security Council, which vote simultaneously but separately
• To be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of the votes in both bodies, a requirement that sometimes necessitates multiple rounds of voting
• Elections are held at the UNHQ in New York during the annual UNGA meeting.
• A third of the court is elected every three years
• The judges elected at the triennial election commence their term of office on February 6 of the following year
• The president and vice-president of the court are elected for three-year terms by secret ballot. Judges are eligible for re-election
• judges of the court are assisted by a Registry, the administrative organ of the ICJ. English and French are the ICJ’s official languages.

OTHER DETAILS

• The judgment of the ICJ is final and technically binding on the parties to a case
• No provision of appeal; it can at the most, be subject to interpretation or, upon the discovery of a new fact, revision
• ICJ has no way to ensure compliance of its orders, and its authority is derived from the willingness of countries to abide by them
• Court is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), which was brought into being through, and by, the League of Nations, and which held its inaugural sitting at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, in February 1922
• After World War II, the League of Nations and PCIJ were replaced by the United Nations and ICJ respectively
• PCIJ was formally dissolved in April 1946, and its last president, Judge José Gustavo Guerrero of El Salvador, became the first president of the ICJ
• The first case, which was brought by the UK against Albania and concerned incidents in the Corfu channel — the narrow strait of the Ionian Sea between the Greek island of Corfu and Albania on the European mainland — was submitted in May 1947

INDIA AT THE ICJ

• Four Indians have been members of the ICJ so far. Justice Dalveer Bhandari, former judge of the Supreme Court, has been serving at the ICJ since 2012
• Former Chief Justice of India R S Pathak served from 1989-91, and former Chief Election Commissioner of India Nagendra Singh from 1973-88. Singh was also president of the court from 1985-88, and vice-president from 1976-79. Before him, Sir Benegal Rau, who was an advisor to the Constituent Assembly, was a member of the ICJ from 1952-53.
• India has been a party to a case at the ICJ on six occasions, four of which have involved Pakistan. They are:
  • Right of Passage over Indian Territory (Portugal v. India, culminated 1960); Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council (India v. Pakistan, culminated 1972)
  • Trial of Pakistani Prisoners of War (Pakistan v. India, culminated 1973)
  • Aerial Incident of 10 August 1999 (Pakistan v. India, culminated 2000)
  • Obligations concerning Negotiations relating to Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and to Nuclear Disarmament (Marshall Islands v. India, culminated 2016)
  • (Kulbhushan) Jadhav (India v. Pakistan, culminated 2019).

• Air Marshal Sreekumar Prabhakaran assumed command of Delhi based Western Air Command
• President of India Inaugurates Arogya Vanam at President’s Estate. Spread in 6.6 acres, the Arogya Vanam has been developed in the shape of a human sitting in the Yoga Mudra. The concept of Arogya Vanam has been conceived with the aim of publicising the importance of Ayurvedic plants and their effects on human body.
• Madhabi Puri Buch is the first woman chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
• NCPCR & Border Security Force jointly launched special initiative called ‘SAHARA’, which is an initiative to provide psycho-social counselling & support to children of BSF jawans who made the supreme sacrifice.