Current Affairs Dec 3

AYUSH Day Care Therapy Centres

Why in News?

• A proposal of Day Care Therapy Center facility under Ayurveda, Yoga, and Naturopathy systems for central government employees and pensioners has been approved by the Ministry of Health and Family welfare.
• Private Day Care Therapy centers of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy will be empanelled under Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) shortly, in a manner similar to empanelment of Day Care Therapy Centers of conventional (Allopathy) medicine already provided by CGHS.

Benefits

• All CGHS beneficiaries, serving as well as pensioners will be able to avail the benefit of these centres.

Where it starts

• Initial empanelment of Day Care Therapy Centres will be undertaken on pilot basis for Delhi and NCR for a period of one year and subsequently would be considered for other places.

Aim

• To improve the health and wellbeing, reduce health care expenditure and provide excellence in service delivery, efficiency, and comfort to the patients.
• As the treatment procedure does not require overnight stay in the unfamiliar environment, it is extremely convenient for children and elderly patients.

About AYUSH Day Care Centre

• AYUSH Day care Centre means and includes Community Health Centre (CHC), Primary Health centre (PHC), Dispensary, Clinic, Polyclinic or any such centre which is registered with the local authorities, wherever applicable and having facilities for carrying out treatment procedures and medical or surgical/ Para surgical interventions or both under the supervision of registered AYUSH Medical Practitioners on day care basis without in-patients services.

PIB

Combined Guided Weapons Firing at AFS Suryalanka

Why in News

• Surface to Air Guided Weapons Firing as a part of Combined Guided Weapons Firing 2020 at Air Force Station Suryalanka.
• Indigenous Akash Missile System along with Russian short range Igla missiles were fired and engaged the Manoeuverable Expendable Aerial Targets (MEAT) providing near realistic training to the combat crew.
• The exercise was conducted from 23 Nov to 02 Dec 2020.

PIB

Imparting Technical Education in Mother Tongue

Why in News?

• Union Education Minister has set up a task force for preparing a roadmap on imparting technical education in Mother Tongue.

How it Work

• The task force set up under the chairmanship of Secretary, Higher Education will take into consideration the suggestions made by various stakeholders and will submit a report in a month.

Purpose

• Achieving Prime Minister’s vision that student may pursue the professional courses such as medicine, engineering, law, etc in their mother tongue.
• No language will be imposed on any student but enabling provisions should be made so that bright students are not deprived of Technical Education due to lack of knowledge of English language.

PIB

High-level Ministerial Committee for implementation of Paris Agreement

Why in News?

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has constituted a high-level inter-ministerial Apex Committee for Implementation of Paris Agreement (AIPA) under the chairmanship of Secretary, MoEFCC.

Purpose

• To generate a coordinated response on climate change matters that ensures India is on track towards meeting its obligations under the Paris Agreement including its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

Committee Consists of?

• Senior officials from fourteen ministries will serve as Members to AIPA who will oversee the progress in implementation of India’s NDC and receive periodic information updates to monitor, review and revisit climate goals to fulfil the requirements of the Paris Agreement.

Other Functions of AIPA

• To operate as a National Authority to regulate carbon markets in India under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement,
  • • Formulate guidelines for consideration of projects or activities under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement,
    • Issue guidelines on carbon pricing, market mechanism, and other similar instruments that have a bearing on climate change and NDCs.
    • It will take note of the contributions of the private sector as well as multi-/bi-lateral agencies in the field of climate change and provide guidance for aligning their climate actions with national priorities.

Paris Agreement

• The year 2021 would mark the beginning of implementation of the Paris Agreement and constitution of AIPA is central to strengthening the national systems and institutional arrangements for implementation and monitoring of climate actions.
• It will also ensure that India maintains its climate leadership as one the few countries in the world whose climate actions are consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

PIB

International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS)

Why in News?

• The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) obtained membership of International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS).

About IAIS

• Established in 1994, the IAIS headquartered in Switzerland is a voluntary membership organization of insurance supervisors and regulators from more than 200 jurisdictions, constituting 97% of the world’s insurance premiums.
• It is the international standard-setting body responsible for developing and assisting in the implementation of principles, standards and other supporting material for the supervision of the insurance sector.
• The IAIS also provides a forum for Members to share their experiences and understanding of insurance supervision and insurance markets.
• In recognition of its collective expertise, the IAIS is routinely called upon by the G20 leaders and other international standard setting bodies.

IFSCA benefits from this membership

• With this membership IFSCA would have access to IAIS’s global network and would be able to exchange ideas and information with other global regulators.
• This would help in developing a vibrant global Insurance hub in IFSC at GIFT City.

PIB

West Bengal’s Digital Platforms for Public Finance Reforms

Why in News?

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $50 million policy-based loan to improve financial management procedures and operational efficiencies.

Aim

• Achieving more fiscal savings, promote informed decision making, and improve service delivery in the state of West Bengal.

Benefits

• Integration of the state’s financial and information systems, will help improve delivery of public services and generate fiscal savings that could help the state augment growth-enhancing development financing.
• Through support to interoperable e-Government platforms, the programme will ensure streamlining of social protection benefits such as pension and provident fund, facilitate gender-disaggregated data, tax payments, and revenue collection.
• Development projects could be better tracked and monitored with the help of a new module within the integrated financial management system (IFMS) leading to improved project management.
• The loan builds up on past ADB policy-based programmes in 2012 and 2017, supporting the Government of West Bengal on sustainable public financial management reforms.

About ADB

• ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
• Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

PIB

World Malaria Report 2020

What it Says?

• India made impressive gains in the global fight against malaria, recording the largest reduction in cases in South-East Asia from 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million last year.

Released by World Health Organisation

• In 2019, malaria cases globally numbered about 229 million, an annual estimate that has remained virtually unchanged over the last four years.
• Countries in South-East Asia made particularly strong progress, with reductions in cases and deaths of 73% and 74%, respectively.
• South-East Asia Region accounted for about 3% of the burden of malaria cases globally.

India’s Scenario

• Reductions in cases and deaths of 18% and 20%, respectively, over the last two years.
• Malaria deaths in India declined from about 29,500 in 2000 to about 7,700 last year.
• India, however, still accounted for 88 per cent of malaria cases and 86 per cent of malaria deaths in the WHO South-East Asia Region in 2019.
• A better targeting of interventions, new tools and increased funding are needed to change the global trajectory of the disease and reach internationally-agreed targets.
• The report noted that the 11 highest burden countries – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, India, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania – account for 70% of the global estimated case burden and 71% of global estimated deaths from malaria.

Lion’s share from Africa

• As in past years, the African Region shouldered more than 90% of the overall disease burden.
• Since 2000, the region has reduced its malaria death toll by 44%, from an estimated 6,80,000 to 3,84,000 annually.
• Funding shortages have led to critical gaps in access to proven malaria control tools.

High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) initiative

• WHO has initiated the High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) initiative in 11 high malaria burden countries, including India.
• Started in four states i.e. West Bengal and Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in July, 2019.
• A key strategy to reignite progress is the “High burden to high impact” (HBHI) response, catalyzed in 2018 by WHO and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria continued to make impressive gains in India, with 18% reductions in cases and 20% reductions in death respectively, over the last 2 years.

THE HINDU

Treatment of Sewage Water

Why in News?

• Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that treatment of sewage water is essential to meet the challenge of water scarcity in coming years.
• Inaugurating the eco-friendly and efficient Phytorid Technology Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL)-Pune.
• He called upon Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) scientists to scale up their sewage treatment technology and install it in all their campuses across the country.

About PHYTORID

• PHYTORID is a subsurface mixed flow constructed wetland system developed and internationally patented by CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur.
• Phytorid is a self sustainable technology for wastewater treatment that works on the principle of natural wetland.
• It uses certain specific plants which can absorb nutrients directly from wastewater but do not require soil. These plants act as nutrient sinker and remover.
• Using Phytorid Technology for the treatment of sewage, it is possible to recover and reuse the treated water for gardening purposes.
• Compared to the conventional processes, this natural system based Phytorid Technology for sewage treatment is zero energy and zero operation & maintenance (O&M).

PIB

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

Why in News?

• Britain approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, jumping ahead of the United States and Europe to become the West’s first country to approves its emergency use.
• Britain’s medicines regulator approved the vaccine in record time by doing a “rolling” concurrent analysis of data and the manufacturing process while Pfizer raced to conclude trials.

What about other Countries?

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to meet on Dec. 10 to discuss whether to recommend emergency use authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
• European Medicines Agency (EMA) could give emergency approval for the shot by Dec. 29.
• The speed of the rollout depends on how fast Pfizer can manufacture and deliver the vaccine – and the extreme temperature of -70C (-94F) at which the vaccine must be stored.
• Other frontrunners in the vaccine race include U.S. biotech firm Moderna, which has said its shot was 94% successful in late-stage clinical trials, and AstraZeneca, which said last month its COVID-19 shot was 70% effective in pivotal trials and could be up to 90% effective.

THE HINDU

Women Judges in India

Why in News?

• Attorney-General took the Supreme Court’s (SC) invitation to suggest ways to gender-sensitise judges as an opportunity to tell the court it has never had a woman Chief Justice.

What all he Says

• Told the Supreme Court that more women judges in constitutional courts would certainly improve gender sensitivity in the judiciary.
• Improving the representation of women could also go a long way towards a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving sexual violence.
• SC has only two women judges as against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges.
• There are only 80 women judges out of the sanctioned strength of 1,113 judges in the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
• Only two of these 80 women judges are in the Supreme Court and the other 78 are in various High Courts, comprising only 7.2% of the number of judges.
• There are six High Courts — Manipur, Meghalaya, Patna, Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand — where there are no sitting women judges.

THE HINDU

Two Liquids of Water

What is it?

• Computer simulations have previously shown that deeply super cooled water can exist in two different liquid states: it can transition between a high- and low-density forms.

Now researchers have been able to demonstrate this transformation.

• Using X-ray lasers, amorphous ice formed at -73 degrees Celsius was rapidly heated.
• The heating process at high pressure created the high-density liquid water and as it expanded and decompressed, the low-density liquid appeared.

THE HINDU

New Biomaterial for Bones

JNK3

• A molecule called JNK3 helps children’s stem cells regenerate better than adults’, partially explaining why children’s bones heal more quickly.
• Now using this knowledge, researchers have created a biomaterial that mimics the structure of our bone tissue and also contains nanoparticles that can activate this JNK3.
• Pre-clinical trials showed that the biomaterial was able to quickly repair large bone defects.

THE HINDU

“Child-friendly” Police Station

Why in News?

• A “child-friendly” police station set up in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the National Commissioner for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was launched in Pune.
• This police station will work towards character building among children and will also work in changing the notion that police are not enemies but friends of people.
• Launched with an aim to ward off fear among children, the child-friendly police station will work towards raising high morale.

AIR

First Ever Virtual Aadi Mahotsav

Why in News?

• Tribal Affairs Minister launched the virtual edition of Aadi Mahotsav- Madhya Pradesh.
• The 10-day long festival, commencing on December 1, 2020, is being hosted on the Tribes India website(tribesindia.com).
• The main focus is on the tribal craft and culture of Madhya Pradesh.
• The highlights of the virtual launch included a virtual tour of the artisans’ work place and glimpses of the tribal dance and music from Madhya Pradesh.
• It was also announced that the next focus state from the 11th December would be Gujarat, following which the spotlight would shift to Bengal from the 21st December, 2020.

About Aadi Mahotsav

• The Aadi Mahotsav – A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Culture, Crafts, Cuisine and Commerce – is a successful initiative that was commenced in 2017.
• The festival was an attempt to familiarise the people with the rich and diverse craft, culture of the tribal communities across the country, in one place.
• The event will showcase the tribal traditions of the various tribal communities – by having their crafts and natural produce on display.

AIR

Jammu & Kashmir’s Roshni Act

Why in News?

• The Jammu & Kashmir administration has recently released a series of lists of alleged beneficiaries of the Roshni Act of 2001, now scrapped, which gave ownership rights to the unauthorised occupants of state land against payment of a premium.
• Political leaders and bureaucrats have been among those named.
• The transfers are being probed by the CBI.

What was the Roshni Act?

• Formally the Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001, it was passed by the then National Conference government, to give ownership to people in possession of state land, with a cut-off of 1990, and against a payment as determined by the government.
• Since the aim was to generate resources for hydroelectric power projects, it was called Roshni (Light) Act.
• In 2005, the PDP-Congress coalition government amended the Act to relax the cut-off year from 1990 to 2004.
• In a later amendment, government set the premium at 25% of the market rate and the cut-off date at 2007.
• The government gave free ownership rights on agricultural land to farmers occupying it, who only needed to pay Rs 100 per kanal of land as documentation fee.

J&K Roshni Act: Why has it been controversial?

• In its 2014 report, the CAG termed the scheme a Rs-25,000-crore scam.
• It flagged irregularities and said arbitrary reduction of prices by a standing committee was done to benefit politicians and influential people.
• Shortly after the government had approved the Act, the then State Vigilance Organisation filed an FIR against some people who didn’t satisfy the criteria but managed to vest ownership of land under the scheme.
• A petition was also filed in the High Court to check violations of the Act based on the 17 FIRs.

When was the Roshni Act scrapped?

• In October 2018, then Governor Satya Pal Malik repealed the Roshni Act prospectively. “All pending proceedings under the Act shall stand cancelled immediately… any action taken under the provisions of the repealed Act shall not be invalid,” his order read.
• In September 2019, Malik ordered a probe by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau into all dealings under the Roshni Scheme.
• Following this, another petition was filed in the High Court seeking transfer of the probe to the CBI.

What did the court say?

• In October this year, the High Court declared the Roshni Act “illegal, unconstitutional and unsustainable” and held allotments under the Act as void ab initio.
• It ordered a CBI probe into transfer of ownership, sought action against bureaucrats involved, and asked the government to make public the names of prominent people allotted land.
• In lists of beneficiaries made public sofar, names of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen were enumerated with parents’ names, residence, job profile and affiliation. For others, only names and parents’ names were specified.

Why did groups in Jammu campaign against the Roshni Act?

• Some right-wings groups in Jammu have alleged the Roshni Act was meant to change the demography of the Hindu-majority Jammu district.
• The court observation has proved that there was a demographic change.
• Thirty thousand cases of land transfer were reported in the state government order, out of which over 25,000 cases were from Jammu and only 4,500 from Kashmir,” said petitioner and lawyer Ankur Sharma, who heads the group Ik Jutt Jammu.
• Government figures show that ownership rights have been transferred for 44,912 kanals in Jammu district — which is more than the land transferred in the entire Kashmir Valley.

IE

International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December

• Every year, the 3rd of December is observed as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPwD).
• It was proclaimed in the year 1992 by United Nations Assembly resolution 47/3 and was known as ‘International Day of Disabled Persons’ till 2007.
• In 2020, the UN’s theme was “Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World”.
• WHO supported this theme by underlining the importance of fostering an inclusive culture and responding to the urgent needs of people with disability in all aspects of society, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is a disability?

• With respect to health conditions, as defined by the WHO (World Health Organisation), “disability is a broader term, covering activity limitations, impairments, participation restrictions, etc.
• Impairment is a problem with body structure or function; any difficulty encountered by an individual in executing an action or task is known as activity limitation; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations.”
• In simple words, disability is any condition or a body function that is considered to be significantly impaired with respect to the usual or normal standard of an individual of their group.

TIMES NOW

C32-LH2 tank

Why in News?

• The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has delivered the biggest cryogenic propellant tank (C32 LH2) ever formed by the company to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

What is it?

• The C32-LH2 tank is a developmental cryogenic propellant tank of aluminium alloy designed for improving the payload capability of GSLV MK-III launching vehicle.

INDIA TODAY

Alligators can REGROW their tails

Why in News?

• Just like their smaller cousins, the lizards, young alligators are capable of regenerating lost tails — re-growing them by up to 9 inches, a study has found.

• While small lizards are known to have limited regenerative capabilities, it was not clear whether the same applied to the larger reptiles, which can reach 14 feet long.
• Experts found that young ones could regrow complex tails of cartilage, connective tissues and nerves.
• Like us humans, alligators and lizards belong to a group of backboned animals called the amniotes.
• Understanding how different species regenerate lost body parts will shine light on the extent and nature of the process across the amniotes.

About Amniotes

• Amniota, a group of limbed vertebrates that includes all living reptiles (class Reptilia), birds (class Aves), mammals (class Mammalia), and their extinct relatives and ancestors.
• The amniotes are the evolutionary branch (clade) of the tetrapods (superclass Tetrapoda) in which the embryo develops within a set of protective extra-embryonic membranes—the amnion, chorion, and allantois.

DAILY MAIL

Learning Management System

Why in News?

• Karnataka Chief Minister launched the Karnataka Learning Management System (LMS), an initiative that would benefit nearly 4.5 lakh students and 24,000 teachers to make an impact on their learning and teaching, respectively.
• The KLMS is implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 34.14 crore in two ways – LMS-based digital learning and establishing 2500 ICT enabled classes.
• Claimed that the KLMS is a first of its kind initiative in the country and hoped that this system, which encourages digital learning, would improve the quality and Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education.
• Students can access study material anytime and anywhere through the KLMS.

TOI

Ethereum 2.0

Ethereum

• The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is planning a major update to its network.
• The Ethereum 2.0 upgrade aims to address the network’s scalability and security.
• The first phase of the upgrade, due in 2020, will see Ethereum switch to a proof of stake consensus mechanism.

What is Ethereum 2.0?

• Ethereum 2.0, also known as Eth2 or “Serenity”, is an upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain.
• The upgrade aims to enhance the speed, efficiency, and scalability of the Ethereum network so that it can process more transactions and ease bottlenecks.

How does Ethereum 2.0 differ from Ethereum?

• While Ethereum 1.0 uses a consensus mechanism known as proof of work (PoW), Ethereum 2.0 will use a proof of stake (PoS) mechanism.

How does proof of stake differ from proof of work?

• With blockchains such as Ethereum, there is a need to validate transactions in a decentralized way.
• Ethereum, like other cryptocurrencies, currently uses a consensus mechanism known as proof of work (PoW).
• In this system, miners use computer hardware processing power to solve complex mathematical puzzles and verify new transactions.
• The first miner to solve a puzzle adds a new transaction to the record of all transactions that make up the blockchain.
• They are then rewarded with cryptocoins. However, this process can be energy-intensive.
• Proof of stake (PoS) differs in that instead of miners, transaction validators stake crypto for the right to verify a transaction.
• These validators are selected to propose a block based on how much crypto they hold, and how long they’ve held it for.
• Other validators can then attest that they have seen a block. When there are enough attestations, a block can be added to the blockchain.
• Validators then are rewarded for the successful block proposition. This process is known as “forging” or “minting”.
• The main advantage of PoS is that it is far more energy-efficient than PoW, as it decouples energy-intensive computer processing from the consensus algorithm. It also means that you don’t need a lot of computing power to secure the blockchain.

Decrypt

Wolf Brigade 44

Why in News?

• Recently, Police found a crossbow, machete, knives and Nazi symbols in early-morning raids after banning a far-right extremist group called “Wolf Brigade 44” which the government says wants a Nazi state.

About Wolf Brigade

• Members of the “Wolf Brigade” openly pledge allegiance to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and seek to end the democratic state, while propagating racism and antisemitism.
• The government also banned the symbols of the group, such as a skull with two grenades marked with the number 44.
• In Nazi code, the four stands for the letter D as the fourth letter in the alphabet, the number 44 being an abbreviation for the so-called “Division Dirlewanger.”
• This alludes to a unit of the Nazi’s paramilitary SS during World War Two that was particularly brutal and bore the name of Oskar Dirlewanger, who is accused of ordering massacres against civilians in Belarus in the 1940s.

JPOST

T.N. Not Experiencing More Cyclones Now Than Before

Why in News?

• With the Tamil Nadu coast bearing the impact of Cyclone Burevi within days of having been battered by Cyclone Nivar, the question that many ask is whether the State has been experiencing more tropical cyclones in recent years than in the past.
• A firm ‘no’ is the response.

Average figure

• State on an average gets one cyclonic system or disturbance annually.

• Going by the data for the period from 1965 to 2019, the average number of systems that affected the Bay of Bengal region during October-December was 3.6 a year.
• In other words, there were 198 weather systems in total. Apart from Tamil Nadu, the region includes Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal, and the neighbouring countries of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Different stages

• The term, ‘cyclonic system or disturbance’, covers different stages — depression, deep depression, cyclonic storm, severe cyclonic storm, very severe cyclonic storm, extremely severe cyclonic storm and super cyclonic storm, which are all graded on the basis of associated maximum wind speed.
• There has not been any perceptible rise in the number of cyclonic systems that crossed the Tamil Nadu coast.

Factors at play

• It is the Arabian Sea region that experiences the increase in the number of systems.
• This can be attributed to factors such as warming of the sea and reduction in vertical wind shear, which is characterised by changes in the speed or the direction, or in both.
• The coastal belt between Tiruvallur and Pudukottai is hit by more number of cyclones than the region south of Pudukottai.
• Among the reasons is Sri Lanka acting as a shield for the southern belt.

THE HINDU

Theremin

Why in News?

• The Theremin turned 100-years-old this year.
• It is one of the most intriguing inventions ever and revolutionised music by being the predecessor of the modern synthesiser, among others.
• Its history is tied to the world war, the prisons of Siberia and Hollywood films of the 20th century.
• It was the world’s first electronic instrument.
• Lev Sergeyevich Termen — who later became famous by the name Léon Theremin — was also a classical musician, trained in the cello, created it.

IE

Consent for Contempt

Why in News?

• Attorney General for India granted consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against comic illustrator Rachita Taneja for allegedly scandalising the judiciary through her tweets and illustrations.
• Law student had brought the tweets and illustration by Taneja — made in the context of the Supreme Court’s decision to grant bail to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.

What is the procedure for bringing a criminal contempt of court case against an individual?

• The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, lays down the law on contempt of court.
• Section 15 of the legislation describes the procedure on how a case for contempt of court can be initiated.
• In the case of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General or the Solicitor General, and in the case of High Courts, the Advocate General, may bring in a motion before the court for initiating a case of criminal contempt.
• However, if the motion is brought by any other person, the consent in writing of the Attorney General or the Advocate General is required.
• The motion or reference made for initiating the case will have to specify the contempt of which the person charged is alleged to be guilty.

But why does the Attorney General have to grant consent?

• The procedure in cases of criminal contempt of court, which means the publication of material that scandalises or lowers the dignity of the court or prejudices or interferes with the proceedings of the court, the consent of the Attorney General is required under the law.
• The objective behind requiring the consent of the Attorney General before taking cognizance of a complaint is to save the time of the court.

Is the AG’s consent mandatory for all contempt of court cases?

• The AG’s consent is mandatory when a private citizen wants to initiate a case of contempt of court against a person.
• Before such a plea can be filed, the Attorney General must sign off on the complaint, determining if it requires the attention of the court at all.
• However, when the court itself initiates a contempt of court case, as it did in the case of Prashant Bhushan recently, the AG’s consent is not required.
• This is because the court is exercising its inherent powers under the Constitution to punish for contempt and such Constitutional powers cannot be restricted because the AG declined to grant consent.

And what happens if the AG denies consent?

• If the AG denies consent, the matter all but ends.
• The law has a limitation period of one year for bringing in action against an individual.
• The complainant can, however, separately bring the issue to the notice of the court and urge the court to take suo motu (on its own motion) cognizance.
• If the court does take suo motu cognizance, as it did in the case of Prashant Bhushan, the consent of the senior-most law officer is not required.
• Article 129 of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the power to initiate contempt cases on its own, independent of the motion brought before it by the AG or with the consent of the AG.
• “The Supreme Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself,” Article 129 states.

IE

Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)

Why in News?

• The radio telescope, dubbed the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), was able to map about three million galaxies in just 300 hours. Comparable surveys of the sky have taken as long as 10 years.
• What makes this telescope unique is its wide field of view, using receivers designed by CSIRO, which allow it to take panoramic pictures of the sky in sharper detail than before.
• The telescope only needed to combine 903 images to map the sky, compared with other all-sky radio surveys that require tens of thousands of images.

THE HINDU

Que-    India has invited which country Prime Minister as chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations in January 2021

a) Australia

b) K.

c) Japan

d) France

Ans-     (b)