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A routine testing of a recently-acquired automatic underwater vehicle (AUV) by the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology stumbled upon a large debris that eventually solved the seven-year-old mystery of a missing transport plane of the Indian Air Force.
The AN-32 transport plane, with 29 people on board, was flying from Chennai to Port Blair on July 22, 2016 when it had gone missing.
The AUV, used for deep sea exploration up to a depth of 6,000 metres, was imported from Norway by the NIOT about six months ago for its own use, and was being lowered in the Bay of Bengal last week for testing and training purposes, when it spotted a few metal parts.
The first thing it saw was a chakra, a three-coloured emblem. When the people at NIOT saw it they first thought it might be the remains of a ship-wreck. Some nearby areas were also searched and a few metal pieces were observed.
We sent the images to the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force. The IAF identified it as their plane,” M Ravichandran, Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences under which NIOT functions.
Govt & Politics
SC declines to stay new law on picking CEC, ECs (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
The Supreme Court declined a request for an interim stay of the new law excluding the Chief Justice of India from the panel to select the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs).
A two-judge bench presided by Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice on a plea by Congress leaders Jaya Thakur and Sanjay Narayanrao Meshram.
“Please, we can’t stay a statute like this,” Justice Khanna said as Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioners, pressed for a stay.
Singh told the bench also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta that the new law was against the concept of separation of powers.
He also referred the bench to the March 2, 2023 Constitution bench ruling which had directed that the CEC and ECs shall be appointed on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
Where no leader of Opposition is available, the committee was to include the leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, in terms of numerical strength.
Editorial
A safe house for dissent (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
In recent weeks, two American university presidents, Claudine Gay from Harvard and Liz Magill from the University of Pennsylvania, resigned from their positions after evasive responses during a testimony at a Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism on campuses following the October 7 attack by Hamas in Israel.
President Magill from the University of Pennsylvania explicitly condemned anti-Semitism as well as Islamophobia, but still, she came under fire for refusing to relieve a professor who led chants for intifada, revolution, that has come to characterise calls for violent protests by Palestinians against the Jewish state. President Gay from Harvard, also under fire, resigned voluntarily to protect the institution from further controversy.
This incident provides an intriguing insight into the culture wars of 21st century America while offering a cautionary tale for other nations seeking civil discourse about difficult issues.
Freedom of expression is enshrined in the American Constitution and is often taken to an extreme where the individual right to carry guns or to burn the American flag is hotly defended.
Nonetheless, as this incident shows, this freedom is under considerable threat, a threat that is not limited to the present controversy.
Explained
Why HPV vaccine push matters (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
In a bid to reduce cases of cervical cancer, the government is likely to roll out an immunisation campaign against Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in the second quarter of the year.
Girls between the ages of 9 and 14 years across India will be vaccinated for free in three phases under the government’s programme over the next three years.
After the “catch-up” is completed, the HPV vaccine will be included in the government’s routine immunisation programme for 9-year-old girls.
The quadrivalent vaccines, including the Serum Institute of India’s Cervavac, prevent the entry of four of the most commons types of HPV 16, 18, 6 and 11 thereby preventing infections, genital warts, and eventually cancer. The indigenously developed, cheaper Cervavac will be used in the government campaign.
At least 14 HPV types have been identified to have the potential to cause cancer. Among these, HPV types 16 and 18 are considered to be the most oncogenic, causing about 70 per cent of all cervical cancer cases globally.
Universal immunisation of girls also reduces the transmission of the infection to boys and protects them from other cancers.
The vaccine has to be administered in adolescent girls before they are sexually active. This is because the vaccine can only prevent the entry of the virus.
HPV is a very common infection and 90% of sexually active women already have it. Other than that, the response to the vaccine is also better in the adolescence.
This is the reason a booster is needed for girls over the age of 15 years who get the shot,” said Dr Sarika Gupa, consultant of gynaecologic-oncology at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute-New Delhi.
In Taiwan’s Presidential election, the question of relation with China (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Taiwan sounded an alarm, four times in a row. “Air Raid Alert! Missile flyover Taiwan airspace, be aware,” warned the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense in English.
It sparked the question in many people’s minds: Is Beijing attacking days before the Taiwanese presidential and parliamentary elections?
Many foreign journalists, including DW reporter Richard Walker, also received the warning message during a press conference with Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
But the minister was able to reassure everyone, as the Chinese language warning message described the situation more clearly: “China launched a satellite at 15:04, which flew over the southern airspace (of Taiwan). Inform the local police and fire department if any unknown missiles fall from the sky.”
Nevertheless, Wu also misunderstood the warning message in Chinese at first.
“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) has fired a satellite in this region and it went over Vietnam’s airspace,” he told journalists.
The misunderstanding was due to a line break in the warning text message, which briefly caused confusion. But the minister’s nervousness about a conflict scenario with China was palpable, even when he had to correct himself.
World
US, UK launch strikes across Yemen in response to Houthis Red Sea Attack (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The United States and the United Kingdom launched strikes aimed at Houthi groups in Yemen on January 11, in response to the persistent Houthi attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea, the narrow body of water that separates Asia from Africa, and which is one of the world’s busiest and most important maritime trade routes.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have attacked ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to protest the Israeli military’s continuing bombardment of Gaza.
After Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, launched an attack against Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,200 people, Israel retaliated with a disproportionately heavy hand.
The Israeli military action has claimed around 23,000 lives so far, most of them civilians and including a very large number of children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Relentless Israeli bombardment has reduced vast areas in the tiny Palestinian enclave to uninhabitable rubble.
Ever since the Hamas attack, there have been concerns around the conflict drawing in other countries and groups such as the Houthis, given the various alliances and rivalries that have existed for decades in the Middle East.
Myanmar military and guerilla groups reach truce deal in northeast: China (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Myanmar's military has reached a cease-fire agreement with an alliance of ethnic minority guerrilla groups it has been battling in the north, the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The agreement was brokered at talks mediated by China and Thursday in Kunming, a Chinese provincial capital about 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the border with Myanmar, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
China hopes the relevant parties in Myanmar can conscientiously implement the agreement, exercise maximum restraint toward each other and solve the issues through dialogue and consultations,” she said at a daily briefing in Beijing.
Myanmar has been wracked by violence that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. An alliance of three armed groups launched an offensive against the military in October and took control of Laukkaing, a key city on the border with China, last week.