Uttar Pradesh Current Affairs- 30 September

SC says single women get equal abortion rights

Supreme Court declared that single women with pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks are entitled to access the same safe and legal abortion care as married women.
At present Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 prohibits unmarried women who are between 20 and 24 weeks’ pregnant to abort with the help of registered doctors
The court declared that prohibiting single women with pregnancies up to 24 weeks from accessing abortion while allowing married women with the same term of pregnancy to avail the care amounted to discrimination

About The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971

It was introduced to liberalise access to abortion since the restrictive criminal provision (in the IPC) was leading to women using unsafe and dangerous methods for termination of pregnancy.
The Act allowed termination of pregnancy by a medical practitioner in two stages.
- For termination of pregnancy up to 12 weeks from conception, the opinion of one doctor was required.
- For pregnancies between 12 and 20 weeks old, the opinion of two doctors was required.
- In the second case, the doctors must determine if the continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the pregnant woman’s life or the child would suffer physical or mental abnormalities.

The MTP (Amendment) Act, 2021:

The law allowed for a termination under the opinion of one doctorfor pregnancies up to 20 weeks.
For pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks, the amended law requires the opinion of two doctors.
- The government has issued the new Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Rules, 2021, which define the situations that define eligibility criteria for termination of pregnancy up to twenty-four weeks, as opposed to the previous upper limit of 20 weeks.
For the second category(I.e. 20- 24 weeks),the amended act and the MTP (Amendment) Rules, 2021, specified seven categories (Survivors of sexual assault or rape or incest; Minors; etc) of women who would be eligible for seeking termination of pregnancy, for a period of up to 24 weeks.
- While the law recognizes changes in a pregnant woman’s relationship status with her spouse (in the case of divorce and widowhood), it does not address the situation for unmarried women between 20 – 24 weeks pregnant

UNESCO lists 50 iconic Indian textiles

UNESCO released a list of 50 exclusive and iconic heritage textile crafts of the country.
Toda embroidery and Sungadi from Tamil Nadu, Himroo from Hyderabad, and Bandha tie and dye from Sambalpur in Odisha were some of the textiles that made the cut.

Key heritage textiles mentioned in the list

Toda embroidery and Sungadi from Tamil Nadu
Himroo from Hyderabad
Bandha tie and dye from Sambalpur in Odisha
Khes from Panipat, Haryana
Chamba rumals from Himachal Pradesh
Thigma or wool tie and dye from Ladakh
Awadh Jamdani from Varanasi, UP
Ilkal and Lambadi or Banjara embroidery from Karnataka
Sikalnayakanpet Kalamkari from Thanjavur, TN
Kunbi weaves from Goa
Mashru weaves and Patola from Gujarat
Himroo from Maharashtra and
Garad-Koirial from West Bengal etc

Akhilesh Yadav re-elected as SP President for third consecutive term

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav unanimously reelected president of the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the third consecutive time at the party’s national convention

About Samajwadi Party

The Samajwadi Party(Socialist Party, founded 4 October, 1992) is a socialist political party in India
Headquartered in New Delhi.
It is mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as well With a secular and democratic ideology
The Samajwadi Party believes in creating a socialist society, which works on the principle of equality.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, the party won a 32.06% vote share with 111 seats, the highest vote share in party history.
The party was able form the government 3 times, with one full majority since 2012 in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
The party was fifth-largest by vote share since the 2019 general elections but it acquired less seats as compared to other parties due to the constituency-based electoral system.

Government defers proposal to make six airbags mandatory

6 number of mandatory airbags that have to be part of eight-seater cars from October 1, 2023.
The government has deferred the implementation of the proposal by one year.
It had earlier planned to make six airbags mandatory for enhanced safety from October 1, 2022.
The announcement was made by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Govt. blocks 67 porn sites after court order

The government has ordered Internet service providers to block access to 67 pornographic websites following court orders and for violation of the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021.

About New Information Technology Rules

The new Rules have been passed under Sections 69A(2), 79(2)(c) and 87 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. These new rules supersede the previously enacted Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011.
The Rules aim to provide a robust complaint mechanism for the users of social media and over-the-top (OTT) platforms to address their grievances.
They place special emphasis on the protection of women and children from sexual offences on social media.
The rules stress the point that online content publishers and social media intermediaries should follow the Constitution of the country and subject themselves to domestic laws.
With these rules, India joins other international regimes that have provisions for digital media regulation and provides a comprehensive mechanism for the protection of digital media consumers.

IT Rules Background

In 2018, the Supreme Court observed that the Indian Government may frame necessary guidelines to eradicate child pornography, rape and gang rape images, videos and sites in content hosting platforms and other applications.

In 2020, an Ad-hoc committee of the Rajya Sabha submitted its report on the issue of social media pornography and its effect on children and society as a whole. The report recommended tracing the originator of such content.
In 2020, the GOI also brought OTT platforms under the ambit of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Current account deficit widened to 2.8% of GDP in Q1

India’s current account deficit (CAD) widened to $23.9 billion, or 2.8% of GDP, in the April June period, from $13.4 billion or 1.5% in the preceding quarter, and compared with a surplus of $6.6 billion (0.9%) a year earlier

About Current Account deficit

Current account measures the flow of goods, services and investments into and out of the country. The country runs into a deficit if the value of goods and services we import exceeds the value of those we export. The current account includes net income, including interest and dividends, and transfers, like foreign aid.

A nation’s current account maintains a record of the country’s transactions with other nations, it comprises of following components:

Trade of goods,
Services, and
Net earnings on overseas investments and net transfer of payments over a period of time, such as remittances

A country with rising CAD shows that it has become uncompetitive, and investors may not be willing to invest there. In India, the Current Account Deficit could be reduced by boosting exports and curbing non-essential imports such as gold, mobiles, and electronics.

A current account deficit is not always a problem. The Pitchford thesis states that a current account deficit does not matter if it is driven by the private sector. It is also known as the “consenting adults” view of the current account, as it holds that deficits are not a problem if they result from private sector agents engaging in mutually beneficial trade.

Phase 1 of Diamond Research and Mercantile (DREAM) City project has been inaugurated in Surat by PM Modi

the DREAM City project has been launched with the vision to meet the growing demand for commercial and residential space for the rapidly growing diamond trading sector in Surat.
Stating that people from across the country live in Surat, the Prime Minister called the city a “mini-India”

India’s rank in the Global Innovation Index 2022 – 40^th Rank

India has leapfrogged to 40th position on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022.
India was ranked 46th on the index last year.
Switzerland is the most innovative economy in the world in 2022 – for the 12th year in a row – followed by the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands
It is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, in partnership with other organisations and institutions, and is based on both subjective and objective data derived from several sources, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have emerged as top states with foreign tourist visits

The number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India during 2021 decreased to 1.52 million as compared to 2.74 million in 2020, registering a negative growth of 44.5 per cent
The total number of foreign visitors for 2021-22 was 3,18,673, declining 23.4 per cent on year from 4,15,859 in 2020-21
As per Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) data, Taj Mahal was the most popular centrally-protected ticketed monument for domestic visitors in 2021-22, while the Group of Monuments at Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu was the most visited centrally-protected ticketed monument for foreign visitors during the same period.
In 2021-22, the total number of domestic visitors stood at 2,60,46,891, while the corresponding figure in 2020-21 was 1,31,53,076, marking a 98 per cent on-year growth.
The two states with the most domestic tourists visiting are Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh with 140.65 million and 86.12 million, respectively

Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of World Cup T20I

Mohammed Sriraj will replace Jasprit Bumrah in T20I matches against South Africa

About T20 World cup 2022

The 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which is scheduled to be the eighth ICC Men’s T20 World Cup tournament,
scheduled to be played in Australia from 16 October to 13 November 2022.