Talaq-e-Kinaya or Talaq-e-Bain (GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Supreme Court issued a notice declaring all forms of unilateral extra-judicial Talaq including Talaq-e-Kinaya and Talaq-e- Bain” as void and unconstitutional.
- The decision came when a bench of Justices were hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a doctor from Karnataka seeking the criminalisation of all forms of Talaq.
What was the PIL before SC?
- The petitioner, said in her PIL that she was married to her husband as per Muslim rites on October 22, 2020, and after the marriage, she was tortured physically-mentally by the husband and his parents for dowry.
- After the demands were not met by her family, the husband, also a doctor, gave her Talaq-E-Kinaya/Talaq-E-Bain through a Qazi and lawyer.
- Talaq-e-kinaya/Talaq-e-bain (an instantaneous and irrevocable and extra-judicial form of talaq, in a single sitting, either pronounced or in written/electronic form) was given to her by her husband, she claimed.
Constitutionality:
- Talaq-E-Kinaya and Talaq-E-Bain are arbitrary irrational and not only contrary to Articles 14, 15, 21, and 25 of the Constitution of India but also totally against the international conventions on civil rights and human rights.
- Hence, the petitioner challenged the constitutional validity of Talaq-E-Kinaya and Talaq-E-Bain and also seeking direction to the Centre to frame “gender neutral religion neutral uniform grounds of divorce and uniform procedure of divorce for all citizens”.
Uniform ground of divorce:
- The PIL also sought direction to the Centre to frame guidelines for “gender neutral religion neutral uniform grounds of divorce and uniform procedure of divorce for all citizens”.
sedaDNA can reveal how climate change will affect Antarctica
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- Recently, Scientists have dug up fragments of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), in the Scotia Sea, north of the Antarctic continent. The DNA is a million years old and makes it possible to study the responses of ocean ecosystems to climate change.
- A study, conducted by researchers from University of Tasmania and University of Bonn discovered ancient sedimentary DNA (sedaDNA).
SedaDNA:
- SedaDNA analysis is a new technique that helps decipher ‘who’ has lived in the ocean in the past and ‘when’.
- It can help study long-term responses of ocean ecosystems to climate change, as demonstrated by the study Ancient marine sediment DNA reveals diatom transition in Antarctica.
- The study can also help assess current and future changes in marine life around Antarctica.
Why focus is on Antarctica?
- Antarctica is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change on Earth, so studying the frozen continent’s past and present responses to environmental and climate change is therefore critical and urgent.
- Antarctica is arguably the most susceptible polar region to climate, evidenced in the fact that west Antarctica is one of the fastest-warming regions globally.
- Understanding how southern Ocean organisms respond to climate variability, including throughout past climate shifts, is thus of key importance to predict how the Antarctic marine ecosystem will evolve in the near future, the study added.
Key Findings:
- Amongst the detected organisms were diatoms as key primary producers whose DNA was detected back to half a million years.
- Diatoms were consistently abundant during warm climatic periods, showed data collected by the researchers. The last such change in the food web of the Scotia Sea occurred about 14,500 years ago.
- The warming apparently caused an increase in ocean productivity around Antarctica.
- The study demonstrates that marine sedaDNA analyses can be expanded to hundreds of thousands of years, opening the pathway to the study of ecosystem-wide marine shifts and changes to paleo-productivity throughout many ice-age cycles.
- These periods of natural climate change can also give insight into the current and future human-induced climate warming and how the ecosystem might respond to it.
Background:
- An international team studied sediments acquired during the International Ocean Discovery Program, an international, multi-drilling platform research program. The samples were collected in 2019 expedition 382, called Iceberg Alley and Subantarctic Ice and Ocean Dynamics.
- Investigation of characteristic age-related damage patterns in the recovered DNA fragments revealed they were as old as a million years.
4th Heli-India Summit 2022
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Union Minister of Civil Aviation inaugurated 4th Heli-India Summit 2022 with the theme ‘Helicopters for last Mile Connectivity’ at Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre, Srinagar.
Air connectivity in J&K:
- A civil enclave will be built in Jammu at a cost of Rs 861 crores and the Srinagar’s present terminal will be expanded three times from 20,000 square meters to 60,000 square meters at a cost of Rs 1500 crores.
- The decrease in VAT on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) from 26.5 percent to one percent by the J&K government has set a new dawn for air connectivity in the Union territory with 360 percent increase in refueling, thus increasing the air connectivity to Jammu and Kashmir.
Heli services in India:
- The helicopters have multifarious roles, providing urban connectivity which is no more an elitist prerogative in India but is based on PM Narendra Modi’s vision ‘Sab Ude, Sab Jude'.
- The other roles of helicopter service has been the emergency medical services and disaster management during floods, rescue operations etc.
- Jammu & Kashmir has set an example of the best use of helicopter service when it erected transmission lines and towers using heli-cranes (sky cranes) on the Peer Panjal mountain range.
Sankalps at 3rd Heli-India Summit:
- During the 3rd Heli-India Summit at Dehradun, the eight Sankalps taken like providing Heli-Sewa Portal, Heli-Disha, Helicopter Accelerator Cell, doing away with the landing & parking charges for helicopter service, creation of specific helicopter corridors, helipads to be given priority while framing DPR for all new highways, upgradation of Juhu airbase to accommodate night operations etc. were taken to their logical end.
- HeliSewa portal is fully online and being used by all operators for obtaining landing permissions to helipads, and it also is creating a database of helipads in the country.
- HeliDisha, the guidance material on helicopter operations for State administration has been distributed to 780 districts.
- The Helicopter Accelerator Cell is fully active in resolving helicopter issues and the advisory group of industry representatives is helping identify problems areas.
- Three helicopter corridors from Mumbai-Pune, Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar, and Shamshabad-Begumpethave been created and new IFR corridors are being planned.
- And it have already commenced work on the upgradation of Juhuhelibase which is the largest in the country, to accommodate night operations and helicopter IFR routes using GAGAN.
Fractional Ownership Model:
- The guidelines on Fractional Ownership Model have been released to help grow the non-scheduled operations.
- Fractional ownership will lower the barrier on the cost of acquisition of helicopters and aeroplanes through pooled capital by multiple owners. This will allow companies and individuals to minimise their capital outflow by sharing the purchase cost, reducing their exposure to risks and making it financially easier to run a NSOP business.
- Fractional Ownership Model has the potential to energize the NSOP segment by democratising ownership of aircraft and it can be a key driver to boost the number of aircraft existing in the NSOP industry. The helicopter industry should be recognised for its social service.
Project Sanjeevani:
- The Ministry have also decided to incubate a HEMS pilot called Project Sanjeevani by deploying a helicopter in the next few weeks to provide emergency medical services at AIIMS Rishikesh.
- The helicopter will be based at the hospital at 20 min notice and will have a service cover to an area of 150 km radius.
- It is the intention of the Govt to expand medical outreach and access to trauma care services to a wider population base across the country using the speed advantage and mobility of helicopters.
Aviation sector:
- From 1947 to 2014, India had only 74 airports, but now the number has increased to 141, with 67 added in last seven years which shows the pace of progress in the Civil Aviation sector.The government is committed to increase the number to above 200 in the next few years.
- The sector has huge impact with economic multiplier of 3.1 and employment multiplier of 6.
