DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 13th May 2022

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Polity
• Mains – GS 2 (Judiciary)

In news: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has written to Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India on need for regional branches of top court and urging that Tamil be made the official language of Madras High Court

Why there is a demand for regional branches?

• Pendency of cases: The Supreme Court’s statistics show that 70,362 cases are pending with it as of April 1, 2022
• Article 39A says that the state shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity and it shall ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.
• Travelling to New Delhi or engaging expensive Supreme Court counsel to pursue a case is beyond the means of most litigants.
• Recommendation of Law Commission:
• The Tenth Law Commission of India (95th Report) recommended The Supreme Court of India should consist of two Divisions, namely (a) Constitutional Division, and (b) Legal Division.
• Constitutional Division Bench to be set up at Delhi and Legal Division to be set up in four zones (North, South, East and West) of India

Constitutional Provisions

• The Constitution declares Delhi as the seat of the Supreme Court
• Article 130 authorizes the CJI to appoint other place or places as seat of the Supreme Court.
• He can take decision in this regard only with the approval of the President.
• This provision is only optional and not compulsory. This means that no court can give any direction either to the President or to the Chief Justice to appoint any other place as the seat of the Supreme Court.

Languages of Higher Judiciary

• Article 348(1) (a) states that unless Parliament by law provides otherwise, all proceedings before the Supreme Court and in every High Court shall be conducted in English.
• Article 348(2) provides further that notwithstanding the provisions of Article 348(1), the Governor of a state may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of Hindi or any other language used for any official purpose, in proceedings in the High Court.
• States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have already authorized the use of Hindi in proceedings before their respective high courts
• A further provision states that nothing in this clause would apply to any judgment, decree, or order made by the High Court
• Therefore, the Constitution recognizes English as the primary language of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, with the condition that when some other language is used in the proceedings of High Courts, judgments of the High Courts must be delivered in English.

Official Languages Act 1963:

• It empowers the Governor of a state to, with previous consent of the President; authorize the use of Hindi/the official language of the state, in addition to English, for the purpose of any judgement, decree or order passed by the High Court of that state.
• It further provides that where any judgement/decree/order is passed in any such language it shall be accompanied by a translation of the same in English.

Source: Indian Express

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Science and Technology
• Mains – GS 3 (Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology)

In News: Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) facility, revealed the first image of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

• Astronomers believe nearly all galaxies, including our own, have these giant black holes at their centre
• The Milky Way black hole is called Sagittarius A*, near the border of Sagittarius and Scorpius constellations.
• It is 4 million times more massive than our sun.
• The image of Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) gave further support to the idea that the compact object at the centre of our galaxy is indeed a black hole, strengthening Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
• What is Black Hole?
  • Black hole refers to a point in space where matter is so compressed as to create a gravity field from which even light cannot escape.
  • Light gets chaotically bent and twisted around by gravity as it gets sucked into the abyss along with superheated gas and dust.
  • Black-holes were theorized by Albert Einstein in 1915.
  • A black hole has two parts:
  • Singularity at its core– a point that is infinitely dense, as all the remnant mass of the star is compressed into this point.
  • Event Horizon – There is a region of space beyond the black hole called the event horizon. This is a “point of no return”, beyond which it is impossible to escape the gravitational effects of the black hole.

  Event Horizon Telescope Project

  • EHT is a group of 8 radio telescopes located in different parts of the world.
  • In 2006, an international team of more than 200 researchers, led by Harvard University astronomers, launched the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project with a sole aim: to capture a direct shot of a black hole.

  General Theory of Relativity

  • Essentially, it’s a theory of gravity. The basic idea is that instead of being an invisible force that attracts objects to one another, gravity is a curving or warping of space. The more massive an object, the more it warps the space around it

Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Q.1) Recently, scientists observed the merger of giant ‘blackholes’ billions of light-years away from the earth. What is the significance of this observation? (2019)

1. ‘Higgs boson particles’ were detected.
2. ‘Gravitational waves’ were detected.
3. Possibility of inter-galactic space travel through ‘wormhole’ was confirmed.
4. It enabled the scientists to understand to ‘singularity’.

Source: The Hindu & Indian Express

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Polity
• Mains – GS 2 (Appointment to various Constitutional Posts, Powers, Functions and Responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies)

Why in News: the current Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar will take over as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)

Election Commission

• Part XV of the Indian constitution deals with elections, and establishes a commission for these matters.
• The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.
• Article 324 to 329 of the constitution deals with powers, function, tenure, eligibility, etc of the commission and the member

Structure of the Commission

• Election Commissioner Amendment Act 1989, it has been made a multi-member body
• The commission consists of one Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.
• The President appoints Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.

Tenure

• They have a fixed tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
• They enjoy the same status and receive salary and perks as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of India.

Removal

• The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through a process of removal similar to that of a Supreme Court judge for by Parliament.
• They can resign anytime or can also be removed before the expiry of their term.

Functions

• The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and State Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country
• To determine the territorial areas of the electoral constituencies throughout the country on the basis of the Delimitation Commission Act of Parliament
• To prepare and periodically revise electoral rolls and to register all eligible voters
• To grant recognition to political parties and allot election symbols to them
• Election Commission ensures a level playing field for the political parties in election fray, through strict observance by them of a Model Code of Conduct
• the Commission has advisory jurisdiction in the matter of post election disqualification of sitting members of Parliament and State Legislatures
• The opinion of the Commission in all such matters is binding on the President or, as the case may be, the Governor to whom such opinion is tendered
• The Commission has the power to disqualify a candidate who has failed to lodge an account of his election expenses within the time and in the manner prescribed by law

Limitations:

• The Constitution has not prescribed the qualifications of the members of the Election Commission.
• The Constitution has not specified the term of the members of the Election Commission.
• The Constitution has not debarred the retiring election commissioners from any further appointment by the government.

Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Q.1) With reference to the Union Government, consider the following statements: (2021)

1. The Election Commission of India is a five-member body.
2. Union Ministry of Home Affairs decides the election schedule for the conduct of both general elections and by-elections.
3. Election Commission resolves the disputes relating to splits/mergers of recognized political parties.

Select the correct code:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 3 only

Source: Indian Express

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Syllabus

• Prelims – History
• Mains – GS 1 (Indian Culture – Salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times)

Panniru Tirumurai

• The Panniru Tirumurai is, as the name suggests, a 12-part compilation book
• This was a work in progress for over 600 years as it begins with the Thevaram — the hymns by Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar (the foremost of the 63 Tamil Saivite saints collectively known as the Nayanmar or Arupathumoovar)
• The first seven sections of the Tirumurai comprise the works by the above saints.
• These were compiled in the 11th century by the scholar Nambiyandar Nambi
• The eighth Tirumurai is dedicated to the creations of Manikkavachagar, While ninth Tirumurai comprises the works of nine lesser-known poets of the time of King Raja Raja Chola I (r 992-1014 CE), collectively known as the Tiruvisaippa.
• The last section is Sekkizhar’s Periya Puranam, the hagiography of the Arupathumoovar written in the 12th century.
• After the Sangam works, this would perhaps be the next voluminous corpus.
• The 18,000 verses that it comprises are a valuable archive of not only the creative output of several Saiva saints but also of the various shrines they visited, their observations of life and the evolution of Tamil language.

Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Q.1) With reference to cultural history of India, consider the following statements: (2018)

1. Most of the Tyagaraja Kritis are devotional songs in praise of Lord Krishna.
2. Tyagaraja created several new ragas.
3. Annamacharya and Tyagaraja are contemporaries.
4. Annamacharya kirtanas are devotional songs in praise of Lord Venkateshwara.

Select the correct code:

1. 1 and 3 only
2. 2 and 4 only
3. 1, 2 and 3
4. 2, 3 and 4

Source: The Hindu

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Science and Technology
• Mains – GS 3 (Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology; Indigenization of Technology and Developing New Technology)

Why in News: Two months after the extended-range BrahMos missile was tested from a naval ship, the missile was air-launched from a Su-30 MKI aircraft

About BrahMos:

• BrahMos is an indigenously manufactured supersonic cruise missile, jointly developed with Russia
• Name: BrahMos is named on the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva.
• Stages in Brahmos Missile: It is a two-stage (solid propellant engine in the first stage and liquid ramjet in second) missile.
• Multiplatform Missile:e. it can be launched from land, air, and sea and multi capability missile with pinpoint accuracy that works in both day and night irrespective of the weather conditions.
• Fire and Forgets Principle: It operates on the “Fire and Forgets” principle i.e. it does not require further guidance after launch.
• Range: The range of BrahMos was earlier around 290 km, which, with the new version, has reached around 350 km.
• Speed: Brahmos is one of the fastest cruise missile currently operationally deployed with speed of Mach 2.8, which is nearly 3 times more than the speed of sound.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus

• GS-1: Issues relating to Women
• GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

Why In News:  The Delhi High Court has recently delivered a split verdict on decriminalizing marital rape in the country.

Read Complete Details on Marital Rape – CLICK HERE