What is the news : Noted freedom fighter and centenarian H S Doreswamy passed away

About HS Doreswamy:

He-

• Was born in Harohalli on the outskirts of Bengaluru
• With a degree in science from the Central College of Bengaluru began teaching mathematics and physics, it was the call of Mahatma Gandhi that made him plunge into the freedom movement
• Took on the British in revolutionary style by bombing British Record Rooms and serving prison sentences
• Active participation in the Bhoodan movement, the struggle for the unification of Karnataka and the JP movement, made him popular
• Was also the face of Bengaluru Mill workers’ struggle and championed the labourer causes along with other leaders.
• Also ran a publication ‘Pauravani’ highlighting the problems faced by common people and drew the attention of the rulers

What is the news: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the State government to ensure that the present status of Hesarghatta Grasslands in Bengaluru is not altered in any manner until further orders.

Details : The petitioner had questioned the legality of the decision taken by the Karnataka State Board for Wildlife (KSBWL) in its 15th meeting on January 19, 2021 to reject the proposal to declare Hesarghatta Grasslands comprising of 5,010 acres as ‘Greater Hesarghatta Grasslands Conserve Reserve’.

ABOUT HESARGHATTA GRASSLANDS

• Located about 30 km to the north-west of Bengaluru, the Hesaraghatta lakebed spans an area of about 1912 acres (744 ha) and is essentially dry for most part of the year. It is fully dependent on rainfall for its water. The 356 acres of landscape surrounding the lakebed is the last remaining grassland habitat in the Bengaluru region.
• The grassland surrounding the lakebed supports unique biodiversity. Around 235 species of birds, some of them listed as endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, glide across the sky. Around 400 species of insects, of which nearly 30 have been described as new to science by entomologists, and 100 species of butterflies including the rare lilac silverline (Cigaritis lilacinus), have chosen this land as their breeding spot.
• Hesaraghatta tank is one of the two major water reservoirs of the Arkavathy river. Originating in the Nandi Hills, the river Arkavathy was once an important source of water for Bengaluru before the city switched to river Cauvery for all its water needs. Arkavathy river feeds a series of cascading tanks including Hesaraghatta.
• Hesaraghatta tank was mostly neglected until the Yettinahole river diversion project caught the fancy of the Karnataka government. The project proposes to divert 24 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water from streams like Yettinahole, Kadumanehole, Kerihole and Hongadahalla, originating in the upper reaches of Western Ghats in Karnataka, to drought-prone areas of the state like Kolar and rural Bengaluru. As part of the project, lakes like Hesaraghatta would be augmented to provide water to rural Bengaluru.

 

What is the news : Subodh Kumar jaiswal appointed as CBI director

Details :

• Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana’s opinion in the high-level committee to avoid officers with less than six months left to retire for appointment as CBI Director is a simple “statement of law"
• The Role played by CJI made it sure  that the committee’s selection of officers should be able to withstand the “scrutiny of law in the future”.

Points noted by CJI-

• Officers with a “few days left” in service should not be considered. In this context, 10 of the senior most officers of the 1984 batch, scheduled to retire soon, were not considered
• The six-month minimum residual tenure rule was introduced by the Supreme Court in a March 13, 2019 order.
• SC RULING: recommendation for appointment to the post of Director General of Police by the Union Public Service Commission and preparation of panel should be purely on the basis of merit from officers who have a minimum residual tenure of six months, that is, officers who have at least six months of service prior to retirement

• The CJI had also studied a Supreme Court judgment, Union of India versus C. Dinakar, reported in 2004, in the context of the appointment process. In this, the apex court had held that “ordinarily IPS officers of the senior most four batches in service on the date of retirement of CBI Director, irrespective of their empanelment, shall be eligible for consideration for appointment to the post of CBI Director”.

What is the news : Residents of Lakshadweep have been protesting against some new regulations that have been introduced by their new administrator Praful Khoda Patel. The citizens are even saying that the administrator is not working for the island.

What is LDAR 2021 and its provisions:

• The Draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, 2021 or LDAR 2021 was notified on the official website of the administration.
• Its proposal is to change the existing land ownership on the island.
• It also aims to modify the usage in Lakshadweep by providing sweeping, arbitrary, unchecked powers to the government. This in turn is directly interfering with the island’s resident’s right to possess and retain their property.
• The Regulation also gives the powers to the Government to choose any land for “development” activities that have been provided under its regulation.
• Once the land is picked, it could be used as per the government sees fit. This means the owner would have no control over the land whatsoever because the land would be provided for a "public purpose".
• This draft report also raises concerns as development would mean the activities including "building, engineering, mining, quarrying or other operations in, on, over or under, land, the cutting of a hill or any portion or the making of any material change in any building or land, or in the use of any building or land, and includes sub-division of any land."
• As per the regulation the development plan would not, (either before or after being approved), be questioned by anyone, be it in any legal proceedings too.
• A controversy that surrounds the regulation is the ban on contesting elections of the Panchayat in case anyone has more than 2 children. This ban has been put forward in the Draft Lakshadweep Panchayat Regulation, 2021.
• It reads, "No person shall be a member of a Gram Panchayat or continue as such who... has more than two children."

Why is LDAR 2021 being opposed:

As per the citizens the following are the reasons for the discontent of the citizens/ residents:

• The 10 inhabited islands were under a two month lockdown.
• The Lakshadweep administration is accused of exploitation of the public's inability at this time to mobilise arbitrary legislation.
• Locals also say that these regulations are out of sync with the socio-political and environmental requirements.
• Many islanders also suspect that LDAR might have been issued for seeking real estate interests to usurp small holdings of property owned by islanders.
• The islanders also fear that the LDAR may provide for forcible eviction. It puts the onus on the owner ro develop the holding as per plan by the authority.
• The Regulation also provides for unchecked power to the Government and it's bodies interfering with the rights of the islanders to retain their property.

Beef Ban and Goonda Act:

The people of Lakshadweep have also opposed the administrator of trying to interfere in the traditional life by introducing a ban on buying or selling beef products. The Goonda Act being introduced in the island that has negligible crime rate and revoking of restrictions on alcohol for benefit of tourism also have attracted criticism from the islanders.

What : Forensic auditing investigates if the concerned firms are engaged in financial reporting misconduct. The process applies different skills and methods to determine if there is financial fraud of not. It looks for Economic damage calculations, Bankruptcy, insolvency, Money laundering, Tax Fraud, Securities fraud, Business valuation and Computer forensics.

Who can be Forensic Auditor: Forensic auditors or accountants is not different than financial accountants. But they have some special skills to detect fraud & document it. Thus; any graduate candidate, with at least one year experience in banking & financial sector; will have to clear Certified Banking Forensic Accountant exam to become forensic auditor.

What is the news : Security and Exchange Board of India is considering to appoint auditors in a bid to conduct forensic audits of financial statements of listed companies to strengthen its efforts towards curbing frauds.

Why this move :

• In recent times, SEBI has already conducted forensic audit of several companies. To initiate the process, SEBI has invited applications from eligible chartered accountant firms to take up assignments on forensic audit of financial statements of listed companies.
• In October 2020, SEBI had asked several listed firms to disclose information about initiation of forensic audit in October 2020, because gaps were there in the availability of information.

Does RBI allow Forensic Auditing: Yes, Reserve Bank of India has also made forensic audits compulsory for large advances and accounts restructuring

What : Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, is to set up One-Stop Centres (OSCs) in 10 missions across 9 countries. It will be set to curb the cases of violence against women.

Countries : Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Canada, Australia,Saudi Arabia

Who will operate the OSCs?

All OSCs will be supported by Women and Child Development Ministry while, Ministry of External Affairs will operate it.

Existing OSCs

Currently, about 701 One Stop Centres are operating in country since 2015 across 35 states & Union Territories. Through these centres, three lakh women have been provided assistance since in 2015.

What is One Stop Centre Scheme:

This centrally sponsored scheme, funded through Nirbhaya Fund, launched in 2015 by Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) to address the problem of violence against women. Scheme was launched under umbrella scheme “National Mission for Empowerment of Women” and “Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana”. These centres help in providing an integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence in private as well as public spaces. Singapore, Saudi Arabia

What is the news : Researchers have found Argentine ant have destroyed much areas of Japan

About :

• The ant is native to northern Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil.
• It is an invasive species, established across many Mediterranean climate areas.
• It has been introduced by humans to places like Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Easter Island, Hawaii, Europe and United States. Worker ants are 1.6–2.8 millimetres long. Thus, can squeeze through cracks and holes of 1 millimetre easily. This ant species is counted among 100 worst animal invaders of the world.

AFRICAN VIOLET PLANT

What is the news : A new species of plant, called African violet, was discovered by Indian Institute of Science education and research (IISER), Bhopal.

Key Points

• African violet is found in parts of Mizoram and adjoining areas in Myanmar.
• This discovery has given a platform for northeast in biodiversity which is still understudied and undiscovered.
• Discovery was done under Tropical Ecology and Evolution Lab, a unit of IISER.
• IISER Bhopal described new species as “Didymocarpus Vickifunkiae”.
• This species is found in only three locations currently in Mizoram.
• They are considered as an endangered species.

About African violet plants

• They are the flowering plants in genus Saintpaulia of family Gesneriaceae.
• These plants are native to higher elevations in tropical eastern Africa.
• They are widely grown horticulturally and are characterised by small perennial herbs having thick, hairy, ovate leaves. Leaves are dark green and have long stems.
• These plants are bilaterally symmetric comprising of five petals.
• They can be white, violet or pink in colour.

About IISER Bhopal: It was established by Ministry of Human Resource & Development (now, Ministry of Education) in 2008. Institute has been ranked 26 in Times Higher Education 2021 Rankings

What is the news : On Wednesday, May 26 — Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, or Vesak — India’s largest statue of the Reclining Buddha was to have been installed at the Buddha International Welfare Mission temple in Bodh Gaya.

The Reclining Buddha

• A reclining Buddha statue or image represents The Buddha during his last illness, about to enter Parinirvana, the stage of great salvation after death that can only be attained by enlightened souls. The Buddha’s death came when he was 80 years old, in a state of meditation, in Kushinagar in eastern Uttar Pradesh, close to the state’s border with Bihar.
• The Reclining Buddha comes from this very well-recorded final moment of the Buddha’s life, which is why it could be recreated visually with such distinct details in statues and paintings.
• This also signifies the Buddha’s last deeksha — even while on his deathbed, he took a follower into the fold
• Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha is supposed to be a very important event that happened in Kushinagar; it is not simply a demise, it is the great demise, after which there is no rebirth for him. So, it is his final going away.
• Iconographic representation
• Statues and images of the Reclining Buddha show him lying on his right side, his head resting on a cushion or on his right elbow. It is a popular iconographic depiction in Buddhism, and is meant to show that all beings have the potential to be awakened and be released from the cycle of death and rebirth.
• The Reclining Buddha was first depicted in Gandhara art, which began in the period between 50 BC and 75 AD, and peaked during the Kushana period from the first to the fifth centuries AD

Reclining Buddha outside India

• In Sri Lanka and India, the Buddha is mostly shown in sitting postures, while the reclining postures are more prevalent in Thailand and other parts of South East Asia.
• The largest Reclining Buddha in the world is the 600-foot Winsein Tawya Buddha built in 1992 in Mawlamyine, Myanmar
• In the late 15th century, a 70-metre statue of the Reclining Buddha was built at the Hindu temple site of Baphuon in Cambodia’s Angkor.
• The Bhamala Buddha Parinirvana in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which dates back to the 2nd century AD, is considered the oldest statue of its kind in the world.
• There are several statues of the Reclining Buddha in China, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Reclining Buddha in India: Cave No. 26 of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ajanta contains a 24-foot-long and nine-foot-tall sculpture of the Reclining Buddha, believed to have been carved in the 5th century AD.

Other depictions of the Buddha

• Elsewhere in India, Prof Panth said, there are a lot of Buddhas in sitting postures, mostly pertaining to his Enlightenment rather than to his demise.
• At the Mahabodhi temple, the Buddha is sitting in the bhoomi-sparsha mudra, where his hand is pointing towards the ground. It symbolises earth as being witness to his enlightenment.
• At Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, the stone statue has a hand gesture called the dharma-chakra mudra, which signifies preaching. This is also the most popular depiction in India, along with the Bodhi tree depiction.
• Experts say the Buddha is depicted in over a hundred poses around the world. While the Sitting Buddha — most common depiction — is believed to be teaching or meditating, the Standing Buddha signifies rising to teach after reaching nirvana.
• The Walking Buddha is either beginning his journey toward enlightenment or returning after giving a sermon. This is the least common of the Buddha postures, and is seen mostly in Thailand.

What is the news : WhatsApp questions new IT rules in Delhi high court

Background :

• The guidelines, announced in February, had asked all social media platforms to set up a grievances redressal and compliance mechanism, which included appointing a resident grievance officer, chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person.
• The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology had also asked these platforms to submit monthly reports on complaints received from users and action taken.
• A third requirement was for instant messaging apps was to make provisions for tracking the first originator of a message.
• Failure to comply with any one of these requirements would take away the indemnity provided to social media intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.

What is Section 79 of the IT Act?

• Section 79 says any intermediary shall not be held legally or otherwise liable for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted on its platform. This protection, the Act says, shall be applicable if the said intermediary does not in any way, initiate the transmission of the message in question, select the receiver of the transmitted message and does not modify any information contained in the transmission.
• This means that as long as a platform acts just as the messenger carrying a message from point A to point B, without interfering in any manner, it will be safe from any legal prosecution brought upon due to the message being transmitted.
• The protection accorded under Section 79, however, is not granted if the intermediary, despite being informed or notified by the government or its agencies, does not immediately disable access to the material under question. The intermediary must not tamper with any evidence of these messages or content present on its platform, failing which it lose its protection under the Act
• Section 79 of the IT Act 2000 makes it clear that “an intermediary shall not be liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by him”.
• Third party information means any information dealt with by a network service provider in his capacity as an intermediary.
• This protects intermediaries such as Internet and data service providers and those hosting websites from being made liable for content that users may post or generate.
• Sections 79 also introduced the concept of “notice and take down” provision.
• It provides that an intermediary would lose its immunity if upon receiving actual knowledge or on being notified that any information, data or communication link residing in or connected to a computer resource controlled by it is being used to commit an unlawful act and it fails to expeditiously remove or disable access to that material.

Supreme Court’s Stand Related to Intermediaries in IT Act 2000:

In Shreya Singhal vs Union of India (2015), the Supreme Court read down the provision to mean that the intermediaries ought to act only upon receiving actual knowledge that a court order has been passed, asking [them] to expeditiously remove or disable access to certain material.

What are the Concerns being raised?

• Various industry bodies have written to the government for up to a one-year compliance window, particularly in view of the pandemic.
• Concerns have also been expressed over potential unavailability of ‘safe harbour’ protection given to intermediaries under Section 79 of the IT Act, under the new rules.
• They have requested a re-think over a clause in the new rules which can lead to imposition of criminal liability upon the employees for non-compliance by intermediaries, asking for it to be dropped in the interest of ease of doing business.
• Originator traceability mandate in end-to-end encrypted platforms could end up weakening the security architecture of the platform. This could render the entire citizenry susceptible to cyberattacks by hostile actors.
• Additionally, the extant data retention mandate entailed risking privacy of users in India and abroad in addition to security risks and technical complexities which requires a lot of time for development and testing before integration with the existing ecosystem.

• "Bengaluru in Bloom 21" is an online event organized to showcase gardens of residents of Bengaluru during lockdown.
• To curb the rapid growth of black fungus infections, the government of Karnataka is set to revise the policy for discharging Covid-19 patients by which all patients will be checked for fungus infection before discharge with a follow-up tele-consultation a week later.
• Guillermo Lasso, a conservative, assumed presidency of Ecuador on May 24, 2021 and has become first right-wing leader in 14 years in Ecuador
• NASA has set up a new Earth System Observatory which will help in mitigating climate change, forest fires and hurricanes. It will also support real-time agriculture.
• World Health Organization along with three other international bodies have set up a team of experts who will help in developing a global plan on preventing the spread of diseases from animals to humans.

What is Ricochet Impact?

Ricochet means rebound, bounce, or skip off from surface, particularly in projectile cases