1) Uttarakhand tables UCC Bill
If the Bill is passed, Uttarakhand will become the first State Assembly in independent India to enact a uniform law for all communities with regard to marriage, divorce, succession, and live-in relationships.
However, the Scheduled Tribes, which constitutes 2.9% of the State’s population, have been kept out of the ambit of this Bill.
The Constitution of India, under Article 44, enshrines the Directive Principle that the state shall endeavor to secure a Uniform Civil Code for its citizens.
Yet, the decision to enact a UCC is left to the discretion of the government, recognizing the intricate nature of the issue.
Hindu Personal Law:
Governed by acts like the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, Hindu personal laws derive from ancient religious texts and customs.
Muslim Personal Law:
Muslims in India follow the Muslim Personal Law, based on Shariah principles. The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, regulates matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and maintenance among Muslims.
Other Communities:
Christians, Parsis, and Jews are governed by the Indian Succession Act of 1925, each with its own provisions concerning marriage, inheritance, and related matters.
2) Mekedatu Project
The Mekedatu project is a multipurpose project involving the construction of a balancing reservoir near Kanakapura in Ramanagara district, Karnataka.
Mekedatu, meaning goat’s leap, is a deep gorgesituated at the confluence of the rivers Cauvery and its tributary Arkavathi.
Its primary objectives are to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and neighboring areas, totaling 4.75 TMC, and generate 400 MW of power.
Current Status:
Karnataka has not obtained the consent of Tamil Nadu, which is mandatory.
The project is still in its preliminary stage and has not obtained the necessary clearances and approvals from authorities such as the Central Water Commission (CWC), the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), and the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).
Practice Previous year Question
Which of the following Protected Areas are located in Cauvery basin? (2020)
Nagarhole National Park
Papikonda National Park
Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve
Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Tributaries of Cauvery
The many tributaries of Kaveri river are Arkavathy, Shimsha, Hemavati, Kapila, Shimsha, Honnuhole, Amaravati, Lakshmana Kabini, Lokapavani, Bhavani, Noyyal, and Tirtha.
The river Cauvery originates from Talakaveri located in the Western Ghats.
3) Rajya Sabha passes Bills to add PVTGs of Odisha, A.P. in ST list
This was done for the addition of many new communities to the ST list of Odisha and the inclusion of synonyms and phonetic variations of existing tribes in the ST lists of both Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Both Bills got support from MPs across party lines.
In Odisha, the PVTG communities added are Pauri Bhuyan and Paudi Bhuyan as synonyms of Bhuyan tribe; the Chuktia Bhunjia as a synonym of Bhunjia tribe; the Bondo as asub-tribe of Bondo Poraja tribe.
In Andhra Pradesh, the PVTG communities included were Bondo Porja and Khond Porja as synonyms of Porja tribe.
About PVTGs
PVTGs are more vulnerable among the tribal groups.
Due to this factor, more developed and assertive tribal groups take a major chunk of the tribal development funds, because of which PVTGs need more funds directed for their development.
In this context, in 1975, the Government of India declared 52 tribal groups as PVTGs on the recommendation of Dhebar commission.
Currently, there are 75 PVTGs out of 705 Scheduled Tribes.
The PVTGs are spread over 18 states and one Union Territory (UT), in the country (2011 census).
Odisha has the highest number (more than 2.5 lakh) of PVTGs.
Characteristics of PVTGs:
Population – stagnant/declining
Technology – pre-agricultural
Literacy Level – extremely low
Economy – Subsistence level
4) Befell Juno mission
It is a spacecraft that NASA launched in 2011 to study the gas-giant Jupiter and its moons.
Juno entered a polar orbit around the planet on July 5, 2016. But before it did, according to data reported by a group of researchers from Denmark and the U.S., dust particles struck the solar panels attached to the Juno spacecraft.
Fortunately the spacecraft is robust and it continues its journey towards Jupiter relatively unfazed. But the solar panels have suffered significant damage.
‘AU’ stands for ‘astronomical unit’, which is the distance between the earth and the Sun. Mars is at a distance of 1.52 AU and Jupiter at 5.2 AU from the Sun.
Zodiacal light is sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust.
From the earth, it is visible as a faint, diffuuse glow on completely dark nights.
Zodiacal light is present across the entire path of the ecliptic, which is the path along which the Sun moves in the sky over the course of a year.
What can be the source of this Dust
Mars’s two moons are called Deimos.
The flux of dust near Mars, and the number of particles escaping the two moons of Mars and concluded that these moons could be the dust source.
This combined with observational data led to a mechanism that could explain how Deimos and Phobos could be contributing to the zodiacal dust.
Phobos. Mars in Greek mythology is the god of war and the planet’s moons are named for his twin sons, the gods of dread and panic, respectively. The American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered both of them in 1877.
Phobos is the bigger of Mars’s two moons. It is drifting closer to Mars at a rate of six feet per century. Eventually, astronomers expect it will either crash into the planet or break up into a ring around it.
The most prominent feature on Phobos is a 10-km-wide crater named in honour of Hall’s wife Angeline Stickney. Stickney crater is in fact half as wide as the entire phobos.
4) 'Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’
Russia gained control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, and its six nuclear reactors are now idled.
5) Variable Reverse Repo Rate (VRRR)
The central bank uses various ways to increase or decrease liquidity in the banking system.
Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank gives loans to commercial banks against government securities.
Reverse repo rate is the interest that RBI pays to banks for the funds.
VRRR is a sub-type of reverse repo, RBI had been absorbing money from the banking system via VRRR auctions.
Mechanism : - VRRR is the rate at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) borrows money from banks for a variable period of time, usually ranging from 14 days to 56 days.
• It is one of the tools used by the RBI to manage liquidity in the banking system and to influence shortterm interest rates.
The banks can bid for the amount and the rate at which they are willing to lend money to the RBI. The RBI decides the cut-off rate and the amount based on the bids received.
The RBI pays interest to the banks for lending money to it. The interest rate is determined by the market forces of demand and supply of liquidity.
6) Hot Money
Hot money signifies currency that quickly and regularly moves between financial markets, that ensures investors lock in the highest available short-term interest rates.
Hot money continuously shifts from countries with low-interest rates to those with higher rates.
Why in News :- India will monitor flows of foreign funds after its inclusion into JPMorgan’s emerging market debt index and take steps to avoid ‘hot money’ that can trigger volatility in currency and bond markets.
The announcement of India's inclusion, starting June 28, 2024, in JP Morgan's widely tracked Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) is a milestone event. India's inclusion is yet another shining example of India's growing importance in the world economy.
Thanks for reading 07 February 2024 Daily Current Affairs
07 February 2024 Daily Current Affairs.
Comments