Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 8th & 9th May 2022

 NEWS : Centre told the Supreme Court that it has decided to re-examine

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 attempt to bring hatred or contempt, or attempt to excite disaffection towards the government
• Punishment - Imprisonment for life or three years

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.

NEWS: The Union Environment Ministry has approved an exemption to the laws governing the regulation of coastal zones and has paved the way for gas-powered plants to be set up on the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

WHAT IS HAPPENING

• The Andaman and Nicobar administration is expected to commission a 50-MW power project running on liquefied natural gas at Hope Town, Port Blair, to be developed by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
• The Island Coastal Zone Regulation (ICRZ), 2019, limits infrastructure development on vulnerable coastal stretches
• In the aftermath of a proposal from the Andaman and Nicobar Coastal Zone Management Authority (ANCZMA), an expert body of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, called the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA), recommended in August 2021 that it was necessary to provide an “enabling provision in the ICRZ notification” to meet the energy requirement of the islanders while reducing the dependence on highly polluting energy sources such as conventional diesel generator (DG) sets
• The NCZMA has recommended that gas-based power plants be permitted within the Island Coastal Regulation Zone area only on islands with geographical areas greater than 100 sq. km
• Diesel is necessary, the Andaman administration authorities argued, as a back-up fuel when the region faced inclement weather
• There has been an increased interest in the development of the Andaman region following a policy push by the NITI Aayog
• A proposed project plans to develop the Greater Andaman region or the southernmost stretch of the island group
• Proposals include a 22-sq.km airport complex, a transshipment port (TSP) at South Bay at an estimated cost of ₹12,000 crore, a parallel-to-the-coast mass rapid transport system and a free trade zone and warehousing complex on the southwestern coast.

NEWS : Punjab state agriculture department is promoting the cultivation of green manure

WHAT IS GREEN MANURE?

• Crops grown specifically for maintaining soil fertility and structure
• Normally incorporated back into the soil, either directly, or after removal and composting
• Three main varieties -  Dhaincha, Cowpea, Sunhemp
• Some crops such as summer moong, mash pulses and guar act as green manure
• Varieties are incorporated into the soil when the crop is 42-56 days old
• Pulses crops are incorporated in soil after plucking of beans after 60 days
• Experts said that green manure must be leguminous in nature, bear maximum nodules on its roots to fix large amount of atmospheric nitrogen in the soil

WHY IS SOWING OF GREEN MANURE IMPORTANT IN PUNJAB?

Punjab’s per hectare fertiliser consumption, which is around 244 kg, is one of the highest in the country and is also higher than the national average.Growing green manure can curtail this consumption to a large extent by 25 to 30% and can save huge input cost for the farmers.

Experts said that in Punjab high-intensity agricultural practices are prevalent as farmers take two-three crops in a year, which requires lots of chemical fertilisers such as urea, diammonium phosphate (DAP) etc. And this leads to deficiencies of micronutrients like iron and zinc, especially in the soils where rice is cultivated thus affecting productivity. In such a situation, green manuring helps improve soil health and enhance the productivity of the crops.

Whenever a cyclone hits a country, the first thing that strikes the minds of most is what these names mean.

HOW ARE THE CYCLONES NAMED?

• In 2000, a group of nations called WMO/ESCAP (World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), which comprised Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, decided to start naming cyclones in the region
• After each country sent in suggestions, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) finalised the list
• The WMO/ESCAP expanded to include five more countries in 2018 — Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen
• The list of 169 cyclone names released by IMD in April 2020 were provided by these countries — 13 suggestions from each of the 13 countries

Why is it important to name cyclones?

• Makes it easier for people to remember, as opposed to numbers and technical terms
• Helps the scientific community, the media, disaster managers etc
• With a name, it is also easy to identify individual cyclones, create awareness of its development, rapidly disseminate warnings to increase community preparedness and remove confusion where there are multiple cyclonic systems over a region

What are the guidelines to adopt names of cyclones?

While picking names for cyclones, countries need to follow some rules. If those guidelines are followed, the name is accepted by the panel on tropical cyclones (PTC) that finalises the selection

The guidelines are:

• The proposed name should be neutral to (a) politics and political figures (b) religious believes, (c) cultures and (d) gender
• Name should be chosen in such a way that it does not hurt the sentiments of any group of population over the globe
• It should not be very rude and cruel in nature
• It should be short, easy to pronounce and should not be offensive to any member
• The maximum length of the name will be eight letters
• The proposed name should be provided with its pronunciation and voice over
• The names of tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean will not be repeated. Once used, it will cease to be used again. Thus, the name should be new.

NEWS : Health authorities in the United Kingdom have confirmed a case of monkeypox, a rare viral infection similar to smallpox, in an individual who recently travelled to that country from Nigeria

MONKEYPOX DISEASE

• Caused by Orthopoxvirus/Monkeypox virus , which is a genus of viruses that also includes the variola virus, which causes smallpox, and vaccinia virus, which was used in the smallpox vaccine
• Symptoms similar to smallpox, although they are less severe.
• While vaccination eradicated smallpox worldwide in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in a swathe of countries in Central and West Africa, and has on occasion showed up elsewhere
• According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), two distinct clade are identified: the West African clade and the Congo Basin clade, also known as the Central African clade
• Monkeypox is a zoonosis, that is, a disease that is transmitted from infected animals to humans
• According to the WHO, cases occur close to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the virus. Monkeypox virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys

NEWS : Virtual private network (VPN) service providers are up in arms against a new directive of The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team that mandates they must maintain all customer data for five years

VPN

• Any and all devices connected to the internet are a part of a large network of computers, servers and other devices spread across the world
• To identify each device connected to the internet, service providers globally assign a unique address to each such device called the internet protocol address or IP address
• It is this IP address that helps websites, law enforcement agencies and even companies track down individual users and their accurate location
• A virtual private network, when switched on, essentially creates a safe network within the larger global network of the internet and masks the IP address of the user by rerouting the data
• Acting as a tunnel, a VPN takes data originating from one server and masks it in a different identity before delivering it to the destination server
• In essence, a VPN creates several proxy identities for your data and delivers it safely without disturbing the content of the data

NEWS : Fresh findings at the pre-Harappan-era site in Haryana’s Rakhigarhi have indicated the presence of an industrial society replete with a planned city, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

WHAT WAS FOUND

• Structure of some houses, lanes and drainage system
• 18-metre-long wall and evidence of a jewellery-making unit
• Pieces of copper and gold jewellery, terracotta toys
• Thousands of earthen pots and seals at excavation
• Steatite seals, terracotta unbaked sealing with relief of elephants and Harappan script
• Findings are in line with other Harappan-era sites like Mohenjodaro, Dholavira and Binjore, Manjul said, with evidence of strong civic sense

RAKHIGARHI

• Harappan site
• Haryana’s Hisar district
• Largest Harappan site in the Indian subcontinent
• 27 km from the seasonal Ghaggar river

 NEWS : Birth Anniversary of Maharana Pratap celebrated

MAHARANA PRATAP

• Eldest son of Udai Singh II (founder of city of Udaipur)
• Known for his bravery in the Battle of Haldighati. It was fought in 1576 between Maharana and the forces of Akbar led by Man Singh of Amber.
• Rana’s forces were defeated in 6 hours. But the Mughals failed to capture him. Maharana re-gathered his forces, fought and won against the Mughals after six years in 1582
• Having faced a terrible defeat, Akbar stopped his military campaigns against Mewar after the battle.
• His defiance of the mighty Mughal empire, almost alone and unaided by the other Rajput states, constitute a glorious saga of Rajput valour and the spirit of self-sacrifice for cherished principles.
• His Methods of sporadic warfare was later elaborated further by Malik Ambar, the Deccani general, and by Shivaji Maharaj

NEWS : 161st Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore celebrated

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

• Also known as “Gurudev”
• Bengali poet, Brahmo Samaj philosopher, visual artist, playwright, composer, and novelist whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
• Played a leading role in Indian cultural renaissance and came to be recognized, along with Mohandas Gandhi, as one of the architects of modern India.
• Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for his work ‘Gitanjali‘ in 1913.
• Emphasized self-help and intellectual uplift of the masses, stating that British imperialism was not a primary evil, but instead a "political symptom of our social disease", urging Indians to accept that "there can be no question of blind revolution, but of steady and purposeful education".
• In 1919, following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Tagore renounced his knighthood condemning the act.
• Wrote the national anthems of two countries, India and Bangladesh. But he deeply influenced the words and music of a third, the Lankan national anthem, 'Sri Lanka Matha'.
• Influenced by the mysticismof the Upanishads, and the Bhakta- Sufi saints like Kabir and his notable poetry include Manasi (1890) (The Ideal One), Sonar Tari (1894) (The Golden Boat), Gitanjali(1910).

 NEWS : Birth anniversary of Gopal Krishna Gokhale celebrated

GOPAL KRISHNA GOKHALE

• Indian liberal political leader and a social reformer during the Indian Independence Movement.
• Born on 9 May 1866
  • Became a member of the Indian National Congress(INC) in 1889.
  • Associated with the Moderate Group of Indian National Congress.
  • Became president of INC in 1905 in the Banaras session.
  • Elected to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1899
  • Elected to the Imperial Council of the Governor-General of India in 1901.
  • Played a key role in framing the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909.
  • Served as Secretary of the Deccan Education Society.
  • Established the Servants of India Society in 1905. This society trained people to be selfless workers so that they could work for the common good of the people.
  • Mentor to both Mohammed Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi even wrote a book called, ‘Gokhale, My Political Guru’.
  • In 1908, he founded the ‘Ranade Institute of Economics’.
  • Started an English weekly newspaper, The Hitavada (The people’s paper).
  • Published a daily newspaper Jnanaprakash
  • Associated with the Sarvajanik sabha journal started by Govind Ranade.

• The State Government has constituted a commission headed by former Karnataka High Court judge Bhaktavatsala to conduct a study on providing suitable political representation for the backward classes besides appointing a three-member Pre-Tender Scrutiny Committee to curb irregularities in tendering process
• Carbon dating of cultural deposits found during archaeological excavations in Mayiladumparai in Krishnagiri district has found they belong to 2172 BCE, establishing that the Tamils were aware of the iron technology 4,200 years ago
• Union Finance Ministry has ordered revised rules, under which the interest that the fund accrues will be deposited in the Consolidated Fund of India

The paramilitary Assam Rifles felicitated the surviving soldiers of Operation Dudhi, marked in the country’s defence history as India’s most successful counter-insurgency operation more than 30 years ago.