Himachal poll on Nov. 12,Gujarat on hold for now

•  The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced that the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election would be held on November 12 and votes would be counted on December 8, while the schedule for the other poll bound State, Gujarat, was not announced for now.

 

About Election Commission

• The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering Union and State election processes in India.
• The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and State Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country.

What are the Related Constitutional Provisions

• Part XV of the Indian constitution deals with elections, and establishes a commission for these matters.
• The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.
• Article 324 to 329 of the constitution deals with powers, function, tenure, eligibility, etc of the commission and the member.

 

Articles related to Elections
324	Superintendence, direction and control of elections to be vested in an Election Commission.
325	No person to be ineligible for inclusion in, or to claim to be included in a special, electoral roll on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex.
326	Elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assemblies of States to be on the basis of adult suffrage.
327	Power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to Legislatures.
328	Power of Legislature of a State to make provision with respect to elections to such Legislature.
329	Bar to interference by courts in electoral matters.

 

Key Functions of ECI

• Election Commission of India superintendents, direct and control the entire process of conducting elections to Parliament and Legislature of every State and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India.
• The most important function of the commission is to decide the election schedules for the conduct of periodic and timely elections, whether general or bye-elections.
• It prepares electoral roll, issues Electronic Photo Identity Card (EPIC).
• It decides on the location polling stations, assignment of voters to the polling stations, location of counting centres, arrangements to be made in and around polling stations and counting centres and all allied matters.
• It grants recognition to political parties & allot election symbols to them along with settling disputes related to it.
• The Commission also has advisory jurisdiction in the matter of post election disqualification of sitting members of Parliament and State Legislatures.
• It issues the Model Code of Conduct in election for political parties and candidates so that the no one indulges in unfair practice or there is no arbitrary abuse of powers by those in power.
• It sets limits of campaign expenditure per candidate to all the political parties, and also monitors the same.

 

Eco-sensitive zone: top court may take up Kerala’s review

The Supreme Court on Friday indicated it may consider taking up Kerala’s review of the Supreme Court’s judgment to have a one km eco-sensitive zone ringing protected forests, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across the country along with a plea for clarification sought by the Centre.

 

About Eco-Sensitive Zones

1. Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) are also known as Ecologically Fragile Areas (EFAs).
2. Eco-sensitive zones are areas notified by the MoEFCC around Protected Areas, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
3. The purpose of declaring ESZs is to create some kind of “shock absorbers” to the protected areas by regulating and managing the activities around such areas.
4. As per the National Board for Wildlife NBWL, the delineation of eco-sensitive zones have to be site-specific, and the activities should be regulative in nature and not prohibitive unless required.
5. The basic aim is to regulate certain activities around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries to minimize the negative impacts of such activities on the fragile ecosystem encompassing the protected areas.
6. They also act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to areas involving lesser protection.

Background of Eco-Sensitive Zones

1. National Wildlife Action Plan NWAP 2002-2016indicates that the area outside protected areas networks are vital ecological corridor links and must be protected to prevent the isolation of fragments of biodiversity which will not survive in the long run.
2. Section 3 of the Environment protection rules gives power to the Central Government i.e. the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to take all measures that it feels are necessary for protecting and improving the quality of the environment and to prevent and control environmental pollution.
3. However, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 does not mention the word “Eco-Sensitive Zones”.
4. Besides, Rule 5(1) of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 (EPA) states that the central government can prohibit or restrict the location of industries and carry on certain operations or processes on the basis of certain considerations.
5. To meet this objective, the government can restrict areas in which any industries, operations or processes or class of industries, operations or processes shall be/ not be carried out subject to certain safeguards.
6. However, Section 3(2)(v) of the Act, says that the Central Government can restrict areas in which any industries, operations or processes or class of industries, operations or processes shall be carried out or shall not, subject to certain safeguards.
7. Thus, the government came up with the concept of Eco-Sensitive Zones.
8. The same criteria have been used by the government to declare No Development Zones (NDZs).

 

World’s largest aircraft A380 touches down in Bengaluru

• The world’s largest passenger aircraft – the Airbus A380 – made its maiden touchdown at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Friday.

 

About Airbus A380

• The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by
• It is the world’s largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner.
• Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was announced in 1990 to challenge the dominance of the Boeing 747 in the long-haul market.
• The then-designated A3XX project was presented in 1994; Airbus launched the €9.5 billion ($10.7 billion) A380 programme on 19 December 2000.
• The first prototype was unveiled in Toulouse on 18 January 2005, with its first flight on 27 April 2005.
• It then obtained its type certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 12 December 2006.
• Due to difficulties with the electrical wiring, the initial production was delayed by two years and the development costs almost doubled
• It was first delivered to Singapore Airlines on 15 October 2007 and entered service on 25 October.

 

INS Arihant carries out key missile test

• The country’s first ballistic missile nuclear submarine INS Arihant carried out a successful launch of a Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) ,
• validating India’s second strike nuclear capability. “The successful user training launch of the SLBM by INS Arihant is significant to prove crew competency and validate the SSBN programme, a key element of India’s nuclear deterrence capability,”
• Without confirming the particular missile, a defence source said it was not the longer K4 SLBM but the older SLBM in use. INS Arihant is armed with K15 SLBM with a range of 750 km.

 

About INS Arihant

• INS Arihant is India’s first indigenously-designed, developed and manufactured nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.
• It was designed in 1990s and its development project was officially acknowledged in 1998.
• Its design is based on the Russian Akula-1 class submarine.
• It was launched in 2009 and its nuclear reactor went critical in 2013 and it was commissioned in 2016.
• It is strategic asset developed for over two decades with Russia’s help under Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) programme, which comes directly under Nuclear Command Authority headed by the Prime Minister.
• INS Arihant is 6,000-tonne submarine with length of 110 metres and breadth of 11 metres.
• It is powered by 83 MW pressurised light water nuclear reactor with enriched uranium fuel.
• It can carry 12 Sagarika K 15 submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) having range of over 700 km.
• As it powered by nuclear reactor it can function submerged for months without having to surface.
• This feature allows it to travel further and with greater stealth capability.
• It assures second strike capability to India i.e. capability to strike back after being hit by nuclear weapons first.
• In case of India, second strike capability is important as it had committed to ‘No-First-Use’ policy as part of its nuclear doctrine

 

Missile system in India

Types of Important Indian Missiles

• Surface-To-Air Missiles – SAM
• Air-to-air missiles AAM
• Surface-to-surface missiles
• Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD)/Interceptor Missiles
• Cruise Missiles
• Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles
• Anti-Tank Missiles

About ballistic missile 

• A ballistic missile is a type of missile which uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target.
• These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered.
• Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the Earth’s atmosphere, while intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are launched on a sub-orbital flight.
• These weapons are in a distinct category from cruise missiles, which are aerodynamically guided in powered flight.
• Unlike cruise missiles, which are restricted to the atmosphere, it is advantageous for ballistic missiles to avoid the denser parts of the atmosphere and they may travel above the atmosphere into outer space

 

Global Hunger Index is out, India in ‘serious’ category at rank 107

• The country ranks below Sri Lanka (64), Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84) and Pakistan (99); Afghanistan is the only South Asian country that lags behind India in the listing
• India ranks 107 out of 121 countries on the Global Hunger Index in which it fares worse than all countries in South Asia barring wartorn Afghanistan.
• The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively Measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.
• GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality.
• Countries are divided into five categories of hunger on the basis of their score, which are ‘low’, ‘moderate’, ‘serious’, ‘alarming’ and ‘extremely alarming’.
• Based on the values of the four indicators, a GHI score is calculated on a 100point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where zero is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.
• India’s score of 1 places it in the ‘serious’ category.
• India also ranks below Sri Lanka (64), Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), and Pakistan (99). Afghanistan (109) is the only country in South Asia that performs worse than India on the index.
• China is among the countries collectively ranked between 1 and 17 having a score of less than five. India’s child wasting rate (low weight for height), at 19.3%, is worse than the levels recorded in 2014 (15.1%) and even 2000 (17.15), and is the highest for any country in the world and drives up the region’s average owing to India’s large population.

 

About the Global Hunger Index:

• Annual Report: Jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
  • It was first produced in 2006. It is published every October. The 2022 edition marks the 17^thedition of the GHI.
• Aim: To comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels.
• Calculation: It is calculated on the basis of four indicators:
  • Undernourishment: Share of the population with insufficient caloric intake.
  • Child Wasting: Share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.
  • Child Stunting: Share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.
  • Child Mortality: The mortality rate of children under the age of five.

 

• Scoring:
  • Based on the values of the four indicators, the GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale where0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the
  • Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.

 

India, China agree for more military talks to resolve LAC issues

• India and China on Friday agreed to hold another round of talks between senior military commanders to take up remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and “create conditions for the restoration of normalcy” in ties.
• This followed the 25^th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India China Border Affairs (WMCC) held

 

About Line of Actual Control (LAC)

The Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the context of the Sino-Indian border dispute, is a notional demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory

The concept was introduced by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai in a 1959 letter to Jawaharlal Nehru as the “line up to which each side exercises actual control”, but rejected by Nehru as being incoherent. Subsequently the term came to refer to the line formed after the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

The LAC is different from the borders claimed by each country in the Sino-Indian border dispute. The Indian claims include the entire Aksai Chin region and the Chinese claims include Arunachal Pradesh. These claims are not included in the concept of “actual control”.

The LAC is generally divided into three sectors:

• the western sector between Ladakh on the Indian side and the Tibet and Xinjiang autonomous regions on the Chinese side. This sector was the location of the 2020 China–India skirmishes.
• the middle sector between Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on the Indian side and the Tibet autonomous region on the Chinese side.
• the eastern sector between Arunachal Pradesh on the Indian side and the Tibet autonomous region on the Chinese side. This sector generally follows the McMahon Line.

 

Burkina Faso’s coup leader named transition President

• Captain Ibrahim Traore, who led the latest coup in Burkina Faso, was on Friday named interim President until elections are held in July 2024,.
• Some 300 delegates from political parties, security forces, and people had gathered on Friday to discuss the country’s future

 

Location Burkina Faso

• Burkina Faso (formerly known as Upper Volta; French: Haute Volta) is a landlocked country located in the middle of West Africa’s “hump.”
• The northern part lies geographically in the Sahel zone, the transition zone between the Sahara Desert in north and the tropical savanna in south.
• The capital is Ouagadougou,

 

Rudrankksh wins World Championship gold and Olympic quota for Paris 2024 Games

 

”Son of Mother Bharati’ website launched by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for the Shaheed Sainik Welfare fund

 

For Supporting Andhra Learning Transformation (SALT) project the World bank has extended a loan of $250 million to Andhra Pradesh

 

Raveena Tandon has been appointed as a wildlife goodwill ambassador of Maharashtra

 

Israel and Lebanon have signed a historic agreement on Maritime dispute

 

India and Sri Lanka teams are finalists for Women’s Asia Cup T20 2022, will play final on 15 October

• Venue; Sylhet international cricket stadium Bangladesh

 

 

Source : THE HINDU