Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
Underlining that India is a “vital partner” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “the key leader”, Japan’s ambassador to India, Hiroshi F Suzuki, said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wants Modi to explain to G7 leaders, at the meeting in Hiroshima, what he — as the “voice of the Global South” — intends to put on the agenda for the G20 summit regarding global challenges including food security.
Modi is headed to Hiroshima for the G7 summit to be held between May 19 and 21, where the Russia-Ukraine war impacting the rules-based order and food security, and the issue of nuclear non-proliferation are expected to dominate the agenda. Modi is the first Indian PM to visit Hiroshima after India conducted nuclear tests in 1974.
Suzuki, when asked about differences between India and Japan on the Russia-Ukraine war, said: “Japan fully understands where India stands in the context of Russian invasion into Ukraine.”
PM Kishida aims to achieve two things – one is to send a strong message that Russia cannot go on like this. If a big state can bully neighbouring smaller countries and go unpunished then other countries will get tempted. So this has a real risk of generating so many more conflicts around the world.
While India has not condemned the Russian invasion explicitly, walking the fine diplomatic tightrope between the US-led West and Russia, Japan has condemned it and joined the sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Express Network
Supreme Court upholds validity of amendments by states to carry on with bovine races (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Supreme Court upheld amendments made by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, to allow the traditional bull-taming sports of Jallikattu and Kambala, and bullock-cart racing.
A five-judge Constitution bench presided by Justice K M Joseph held that the state amendments did not violate the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling banning Jallikattu.
The bench also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar said that in its 2014 judgment, Jallikattu was held to attract restrictions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act due to the manner in which it was practised then.
The amendment, however, seeks to minimise the pain and suffering caused to animals. It also noted that the amendments, having received the assent of the President, cannot be faulted.
Saying that the sport is at least one century old, the court, however, did not go into the question of whether Jallikattu is an integral part of Tamil culture, saying that would require a detailed analysis and that the legislature would be more appropriate to do so.
Ideas Page
Our quantum leap (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
India is getting serious about building her own technology base and the upcoming National Quantum Mission could be a game changer in multiple sectors, from defence, energy, and environment to healthcare and civil applications. Any technology is first devised and then thrives on material innovation, and quantum technology is no exception.
For India, investments in quantum materials and devices promise far more dividends than meets the eye. The process can generate a cadre of highly skilled workforce.
As India gears to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027, a strongly networked material infrastructure in the country will be crucial.
It will cater to not just quantum technologies but also other major scientific megaprojects ranging from the semiconductor mission to neutrino observatory and gravitational wave detection. The infrastructure will play a key role in building self-reliance in energy and electronics industries.
Quantum materials are a class of matter or systems that allow us to exploit some of the unique properties of quantum physics and accomplish tasks that classical technology is incapable of.
The concept of “quantum materials” was originally introduced to identify some of the exotic quantum systems, including unconventional superconductors, heavy-fermion systems, and multifunctional oxides.
It has now morphed into a powerful unifying concept across diverse fields of science and engineering, including solid state physics, cold atoms (atoms cooled to close to absolute zero whereby their quantum mechanical properties are unveiled), materials science and quantum computing.
Explained
SC upholds Tamil Nadu Jallikattu law: what is this decade-old case (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 1, Art and Culture)
A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has upheld the amendments made by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka to The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, allowing Jallikattu, Kambala, and bullock-cart races.
The court overturned the verdict of a two-judge Bench in ‘Welfare Board of India v. A. Nagaraja’ (2014), which had banned practices such as Jallikattu, the traditional bull-taming sport of the Pongal harvest festival.
The five-judge Bench noted that Jallikattu has been held in Tamil Nadu for at least a century, and “we will not disrupt the view of the legislature that it is part of the cultural heritage of the state”.
In the 2014 ‘Nagaraja’ judgment, an SC Bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghose had ruled that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 “over-shadows or overrides the so-called tradition and culture”.
In its judgment delivered on May 18, the Constitution Bench said, “We do not accept the view of Nagaraja that Jallikattu is not a part of cultural heritage of State of Tamil Nadu. We do not think that there was sufficient material for the Court to come to that conclusion.”
Credit card spends abroad (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Centre has amended rules under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), bringing international credit card spends outside India under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS).
Also, from July 1, spending on international credit cards will attract a higher rate of Tax Collected at Source (TCS) at 20%.
The government said the decision was taken in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India.
The move, notified Tuesday night, will likely impose a significant compliance burden on both card-issuing banks and consumers.
Credit card spends outside India have been brought under the ambit of the LRS — under which all resident individuals, including minors, can remit up to US $2,50,000 (approximately Rs 2.06 crore) abroad per year without prior approval from the RBI.
Bringing credit card transactions under LRS enables the levy of a higher TCS, as announced in the Budget for 2023-24. Till June 30, a TCS of 5% will be levied on such spending on overseas tour packages (without threshold) or any other category (beyond threshold of Rs 7 lakh), except for medical and education purposes.
The use of an international credit card to make payments towards meeting expenses while overseas was so far not covered under the LRS.
The spending on international credit cards was excluded from the LRS by way of Rule 7 of the Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transaction) Rules, 2000. With the new notification, Rule 7 has been omitted.
The government has clarified that the changes will not apply to payments for the purchase of foreign goods/ services from India, such as subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, or online streaming services.
Dotted Lands (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Andhra Pradesh government has started removing “dotted lands” in the state from the prohibited list, restoring full rights of selling or pledging these lands to the farmers who own them. Over 2 lakh acres of these British-era dotted lands have been identified for permanent denotification.
Dotted lands are disputed lands for which there are no clear ownership documents. Typically, one or more individuals as well as the government’s Revenue Department lay claim over the land.
These lands came to be known as “dotted lands’’ because when, during the British era, land ownership surveys and resettlement of land records were taken up, local revenue officials who were tasked with identifying government-owned and privately-owned lands put dots in the ownership column if more than one person claimed ownership, or if ownership could not be clearly established.
These lands were also noted as disputed lands in the resettlement register or land records register. The dots on the land documents indicated their disputed status.