17 April 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
In biggest strike in Bastar, 29 Maoists killed in forest firefights ahead of vote
Page no-1
GS3- Linkages between Development and Spread of Extremism
- At least 29 Maoists were killed and three security personnel were injured in a gunbattle Tuesday in a forest in Kanker district of Bastar division in Chhattisgarh.
- This comes days before Lok Sabha elections in the area — Bastar will vote on April 19 and Kanker on April 26.
- Bastar Inspector General Sundarraj P, while confirming that this was the highest number of Maoist casualties in a single operation in the Bastar region, said, “The encounter site is a trijunction area between Abujhmad, Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra, and north Bastar.
- We had information of senior cadres like Lalita, Shankar and Raju being at the spot.
- Acting on this information, a joint team of DRG (District Reserve Guards) and BSF (Border Security Force) was sent there.” The encounter took place under the jurisdiction of the Chhotebethiya police station.
SC rejects return to ballot paper, poses questions on EVMs, counting process
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GS2- Salient Features of the Representation of People’s Act.
- Dismissing the idea of a return to the ballot paper era, the Supreme Court Tuesday questioned petitioners who raised doubts on the sanctity of voting through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with the judges stating that they have not yet forgotten what used to happen when votes were cast through ballot papers.
- “Fortunately, we are now in our sixties.
- We have seen what used to happen earlier. Have you forgotten that? If you have forgotten that, I am sorry, I have not forgotten,” Justice Sanjiv Khanna, presiding over a two-judge bench, told Advocate Prashant Bhushan who appeared for petitioner-NGO Association for Democratic Reforms seeking 100% verification of EVM votes with VVPAT slips.
- At present, 5 EVMs are randomly verified against VVPAT slips per Assembly segment.
Centre notifies panel led by Cabinet Secy on issues of quer community
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GS2- Mechanisms, Laws, Institutions and Bodies constituted for the Protection and Betterment of the Vulnerable Sections
- In line with an undertaking given six months ago when the Supreme Court declined to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages, the Centre on Tuesday notified a committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary “to examine the various issues relating to queer community.”
- “The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its judgment dated 17.10.2023, in Writ Petition No. 1011/2022 Supriyo@Supriya Vs. Union of India, has directed the Central Government to constitute a committee to be chaired by the Cabinet Secretary to examine the various issues relating to queer community,” the gazette notification stated.
A good augury
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GS3- Issues of Buffer Stocks and Food Security
- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a “most likely to be above normal” southwest monsoon this year.
- Rainfall over the country during June-September is expected to be 106 per cent of the “normal” long period average for this four-month season.
- The optimism is based on most global climate models indicating a weakening of the current El Niño conditions to “neutral” in the first half of the monsoon and then developing into a La Niña during the second half.
- El Niño — an abnormal warming of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean waters towards South America — is generally known to suppress cloud formation and rainfall activity in India, while La Niña has the opposite effect.
- La Niña apart, the IMD is deriving hope from “positive” Indian Ocean Dipole conditions — warmer temperatures in the Arabian Sea waters relative to that in the eastern Indian Ocean — developing, again during the latter part of the monsoon season.
Moving past bonds
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GS2- Salient Features of the Representation of People’s Act.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the scrapping of the electoral bond scheme has “pushed the country towards black money” and “everyone will regret it”.
- In an interview with news agency ANI televised Monday, Modi also rejected the allegation of Opposition parties that there is no level playing field for them to fight the elections.
- He said the Opposition is trying to find “excuses”, “setting a reasoning for its impending defeat” in the Lok Sabha elections.
Israel’s weapons that thwarted Iran attack
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GS3- Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life
- Israel’s multi-layered air defence system has defended the country from a major attack, with Iran launching over 300 armed drones and long-range missiles launched towards it on Saturday night (April 13).
- The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said the Iranian attack was thwarted and only a few missiles landed in its territory, causing minimal damage to an airbase in southern Israel and injuring a child.
- Iran had launched the attack in retaliation to an Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, earlier this month, killing several Iranian military commanders.
India-origin Gopi Thotakura heads to space: what is space tourism?
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GS3- Awareness in the fields of Space
- Entrepreneur and Pilot Gopi Thotakura is set to become the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist on the NS-25 mission of Blue Origin — a company founded by Jeff Bezos, who is also the founder of Amazon.
- Thotakura has been selected as one of the six crew members for the mission, whose launch date is yet to be announced.
- If the mission is successful, Thotakura would be the second Indian to go into space.
- The first one was Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who flew to the Salyut 7 space station on a Soviet spacecraft in 1984.
IMF raises India’s FY25 growth projection to 6.8%
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised India’s growth projection to 6.8 per cent from its January forecast of 6.5 per cent citing bullish domestic demand conditions and a rising working-age population.
- With this, India continues to be the fastest growing economy of the world, ahead of China’s growth projection of 4.6 per cent during the same period.
- “Growth in India is projected to remain strong at 6.8 per cent in 2024 and 6.5 per cent in 2025, with the robustness reflecting continuing strength in domestic demand and a rising working-age population,” said the latest edition of the World Economic Outlook released by the IMF ahead of the annual spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.
