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The general services administration (GSA) designated Biden as the apparent winner of the November 3 election. This was after a long reluctance on its part to acknowledge Biden's victory. GSA has a crucial role to play in the transition process.  TRANSITION PROCESS IN US The transitions between presidents are governed by the presidential transaction act of 1963 and its amendments.  As per the law, the transition phase kicks off when the winner of the presidential race is ascertained by the GSA.  The full transition period lasts roughly one year.  The period until election day is called the planning phase.  From election until inauguration, the time is known as the transition phase.  The final phase is the hand over phase. In the transition process, the decision to ascertain a winner lies with the GSA's administrator.  The current administrator of GSA is Emily Murphy, a functionary appointed by Trump.  She had refused to acknowledged the victory of ...

Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Nivar is a cyclone in Bay of Bengal (North Indian Ocean). The storm originated from a disturbance in the Intertropical Convergence Zone. After Cyclone Gaja in 2018, Nivar will be the second cyclone to cross Tamil Nadu in the last two years. Northern districts of Tamil Nadu are expected to face the maximum hazard from the cyclone. The name Nivar was proposed by Iran. NAMING OF CYCLONES  Cyclones that form in every ocean basin across the world are named by the regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs).  There are six RSMCs in the world, including the India Meteorological Department (IMD), and five TCWCs. As an RSMC, the IMD names the cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean, including the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, after following a standard procedure.  The IMD is also mandated to issue advisories to 12 other countries in the region on the development of cyclones and storms. In 2000...

China launched the Chang’e-5 lunar probe from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern province of Hainan. The Long March-5, the country’s largest carrier rocket, carried the Chang’e-5 spacecraft. China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission became the first probe in over four decades to bring back samples of lunar rock from a previously unexplored portion of the Moon. Early in 2019, China’s Chang’e-4 probe successfully transmitted images from the far side of the Moon, also referred to as the dark side. This was the first probe to land in this portion of the Moon. CHANG'E-5 Chang’e-5 probe is named after the Chinese Moon goddess, It is the Chinese National Space Administration’s (CNSA) lunar sample return mission. The goal of the mission is to land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon, It will operate in the region for one lunar day, which is two weeks long. It will return a 2 kg sample of the lunar rock possibly by digging about 2 metres deep into the surface of the Moon. The missi...

The protests in Nigeria was started  against police brutality in October,  with a simple hashtag #EndSARS, that in turn became the name by which the movement came to be identified. .  Some Nigerian youths had started a peaceful protest asking for the proscription of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) – a tactical unit of the Nigeria Police Force. They accused SARS of going beyond their constitutional boundaries in the discharge of their duties The protests has since expanded into popular resistance against the country’s politicians, the government and corruption.  SARS The SARS unit is Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad created in 1984.  The unit was created to deal with rising cases of violent crimes in the country. However, it did not take long for the unit to become a powerful entity, one that acted with impunity and without any accountability. An Amnesty International report issued in June this year showed how SARS officers had been involved in at least...

Shuggie Bain by Scottish American writer Douglas Stuart won this year’s Booker Prize. Shuggie Bain is an autobiographical novel set in Glasgow in the 1980s.  It follows the life of Shuggie, an impoverished boy struggling to look after his single mother, Agnes, an alcoholic, even as he grapples with his own sexuality. The novel is Stuart’s first book. Stuart is only the second Scotsman to win the £50,000 Booker Prize.  James Kelman won the award in 1994 for "How Late It Was, How Late". BOOKER PRIZE The Booker Prize for Fiction has been given since 1969. It is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in the English language and published in the United Kingdom. The award was formerly known as the Booker–McConnell Prize (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019).

On November 15, 15 countries solidified their participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).  Even as India opted to stay out after walking out of discussions last year, the new trading bloc has made it clear that the door will remain open for India to return to the negotiating table. RCEP The initiative to establish RCEP was taken by the member­-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2011. RCEP members accounted for about 30% of world output and population and 28% of world trade.  RCEP was originally being negotiated between 16 countries — ASEAN members and countries with which they have free trade agreements (FTAs), namely Australia, China, Korea, Japan, New Zealand and India. The purpose of RCEP was to make it easier for products and services of each of these countries to be available across this region.  Negotiations to chart out this deal had been on since 2013, and India was expected to be a signatory until its deci...

Peru swore in  Francisco Sagasti as  its third president in just over a week on November 17. The man Peruvians elected in 2016, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, was supposed to be in power until 2021.  Instead, repeated corruption scandals and strong arming by Congress has brought the nation four leaders before the term expires. MARTIN VIZCARRA Peru plunged into turmoil when Congress voted to oust ex-President Martin Vizcarra. Martin Vizcarra was a centrist figure who was not affiliated with any political party. He became the “first” vice-president of Peru in July 2016. He, then, became president in March 2018 after then-incumbent Pedro Kuczynski resigned over corruption charges. Ever since he assumed office, Vizcarra had a fraught relationship with Congress, Peru’s 130-member unicameral legislative body, and had it dissolved in 2019, triggering a constitutional crisis.  Lawmakers used a 19th century-era clause to oust Vizcarra for “moral incapacity”. The congress accused him ...

As part of NASA’s first commercial human spacecraft system in history, a crew of four astronauts has been sent to the International Space Station (ISS). The crew is onboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft called Resilience. Crew-1 is the first operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS. It is also the first of the three such flights scheduled over the course of 2020-21. The flight lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 14. In May, NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight had lifted off for the ISS. It had become the first crewed flight to launch from American soil since the conclusion of the space shuttle era in 2011. SIGNIFICANCE  Crew-1 is the first of six crewed missions that NASA and SpaceX will operate as part of the Commercial Crew Program. The Crew-1 team will join members of Expedition 64 and conduct microgravity studies. The objective of the commercial crew program is to make access to space easier in terms o...

The isolated UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha, which is home to the world’s most remote human settlement, declared the largest fully protected marine reserves in the Atlantic Ocean at 687,000 square kilometers.  This will close over 90 percent of their waters to harmful activities such as bottom-trawling fishing, sand extraction and deep-sea mining. TRISTAN DA CUNHA Tristan da Cunha is a small chain of islands over 6,000 miles from London in the South Atlantic. After joining the UK’s Blue Belt Programme, it will become the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth largest on the planet.  This means fishing, mining and any such activities will not be allowed. The almost 700,000 square kilometers of the Marine Protection Zone (MPZ) is almost three times the size of the UK and will safeguard the future of sevengill sharks, yellow-nosed albatrosses and rockhopper penguins. SOURCE: IE 

 Attorney General K K Venugopal  gave his consent for the initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra. This was for his tweets following the Supreme Court’s decision to grant interim bail to television anchor Arnab Goswami. WHAT IS CONTEMPT OF COURT? According to the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, contempt of court can either be civil contempt or criminal contempt. Civil contempt means willful disobedience of any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court, or willful breach of an undertaking given to a court. Criminal contempt, on the other hand, is attracted by the publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise) of any matter or the doing of any other act whatsoever which: Scandalizes or tends to scandalize, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court; or Prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with, the due course of any judicial proc...

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually unveiled a life-sized statue of Swami Vivekananda at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on November 12. JNUSU (JNU students' union), un response, planned to protest on campus.  They believe the Modi government “openly supported” violence on campuses and is attacking universities with the National Education Policy which will result in fund cuts and privatization of education. FUNDING CONTROVERSY It was on June 30, 2017 that JNU’s Executive Council (EC) first gave approval for the statue.  The administration said it was installing the statue to give the campus a more “pleasing look” as Vivekananda had contributed to “nation building”. The administration remained mum on who was funding the statue and how much it would cost.  Then JNU Students’ Union president N Sai Balaji filed several RTIs to know about the funding. In January 2018, he filed an RTI seeking the total cost of construction of the statue as well as the sour...

From January, FASTag, India’s electronic toll collection chip for national highways, is going to be mandatory for all vehicles.  Already, over 80 per cent of all toll collected across national highways is through FASTag.  WHAT IS FASTAG? It is a sticker or a tag usually pasted on the windscreen of the car.  The system was initially set up as a pilot project in 2014 on the stretch of the Golden Quadrilateral between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The system was implemented on the Delhi - Mumbai arm of the Quadrilateral on 4 November 2014. On 15 December 2019, FASTag became mandatory throughout India. The number of FASTag users has grown 400 per cent in last one year. FUNCTIONING The device uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to communicate with scanner installed at toll plazas.  Once the car crosses the toll plaza the requisite toll amount is automatically deducted from a bank account or a prepaid walled linked to the FASTag.  The National Highways Autho...

Republic TV owner and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was on November 4 arrested by Maharashtra Police in connection with a 2018 suicide case.  In 2018, an architect and his mother died by suicide over alleged non-payment of dues by Goswami’s Republic TV. THE CASE Interior designer Anvay Naik, along with his mother Kumud Naik, were found dead at their bungalow in Alibaug in May 2018.  The police said Anvay, had committed suicide. The post mortem report of Kumud indicated that she had been strangulated and did not commit suicide. Police believe Anvay killed her before committing suicide.  Following that, the police registered an accidental death report and a case of murder.  WHY FIR WAS REGISTERED AGAINST ARNAB? The police had found a suicide note written in English in which Anvay said he and his mother decided to take the extreme step on account of payments due to them not being cleared by the owners of three companies. The three were television journalist Arnab Goswam...

Russia brokered a new peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two countries have been in a military conflict for over six weeks over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus. The deal was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan.  Since the conflict started in September, multiple ceasefire agreements were signed between the two sides, but none proved successful. Russia’s role in the conflict is seen to be somewhat ironic since it supplies arms to both countries. It is also in a military alliance with Armenia called the Collective Security Treaty Organization.  THE DEAL As per the new peace deal, both sides will now maintain positions in the areas that they currently hold. This mean a significant gain for Azerbaijan as it reclaimed over 15-20 per cent of its lost territory during the recent conflict. Under the agreement, all military operations will be suspended. Russia...

The peaceful transfer of power is considered a cornerstone of US democracy.  The transitions between presidents are governed by the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 and its amendments. Under the law, the candidate who is running for a first term has to set up a transition organization well in advance to begin preparing for a possible administration.  The incumbent also needs to start planning for his or her second term. According to the Center for Presidential Transition, the entire transition period lasts roughly one year, from April or May of the election year until 200 days after January 20 of the next year, when the new administration is inaugurated.  The period until election day is called the “planning” phase; from election until inauguration the “transition” phase; and the final being the “handover” phase. As per law, the most critical period part of the process– the 75 days-odd transition phase– kicks off when the winner of the presidential race is “ascertained...

Democratic candidate Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., was elected the 46th President of the United States on November 7. Kamala Harris became the first woman, first African-American and first Asian-American to win the second highest U.S. office. Biden secured more than the required 270 of 538 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. He also became the oldest US President (He will turn 78 on November 20). THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS FACTS 2020 was the 59th presidential elections. A record 100 million Americans opted for early voting in the presidential polls. Mr. Joe Biden became the 15th vice-president of US to become the president, and one of only six to ascend by election rather than the resignation, natural death or assassination of a sitting president. Mr. Trump added his name to the list of Presidents who didn't get re-elected. The list includes William Taft, Herbert Hoover, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George Bush Sr. (the last president, in 1992, before Trump t...

 Recently, a virtual Bilateral Summit between India and Italy was held to comprehensively review the broad framework of the bilateral relationship and also strengthen cooperation against common global challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic. OUTCOMES Both nations decided to adopt the Action Plan for an enhanced Partnership between India and Italy (2020-2024) to set up priorities, strategic goals and mechanisms of a bilateral partnership India and Italy agreed to coordinate closely at multilateral fora especially G-20. Italy will assume the Presidency of G-20 in December 2021 followed by India in 2022. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Cassa Depositi Prestiti (CDP), an Italian investment bank and National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) to promote innovative financial schemes capable of supporting bilateral investments. Italy thanked India for extending support during the pandemic by supplying medicines and personal protection equipment (PPE). The Indian...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spotted fast Radio Burst for the first time in the Milky Way. FAST RADIO BURST (FRB) FRB was first discovered in 2007. FRB are bright bursts of radio waves whose durations lie in the millisecond-scale. This is the reason of it being difficult to detect them and determine their position in the sky. Radio waves can be produced by astronomical objects with changing magnetic fields. THE CURRENT OBSERVATION  NASA observed a mix of X-ray and radio signals never observed before in the Milky Way. The X-ray portion of the simultaneous bursts was detected by several satellites, including NASA’s Wind mission. NASA’s Wind is a spin stabilized spacecraft launched on 1st November, 1994. The radio component was discovered by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). CHIME CHIME is a radio telescope located at Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in British Columbia. It is led by McGill University in Montreal, the Unive...

A 3.2-km stretch in Delhi, the Central Vista of New Delhi houses comprises Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House, North and South Block, India Gate, National Archives among others.  HISTORY  All these iconic buildings were constructed before 1931, the year in which the new capital was inaugurated. In December, 1911, King George V made an announcement in Delhi Durbar (a grand assembly) to shift the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi.  Delhi Durbar was hosted to mark the coronation of King George V. Parliament House building was designed by both Lutyens and Baker.  Rashtrapati Bhavan was designed by Edwin Lutyens.  The Secretariat which includes both north and south block was designed by Herbert Baker. Temple which inspired design of Indian Parliament: Madhya Pradesh’s ChausathYogini Mandir.  THE PROJECT   The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs proposed a Central Vista redevelopment project in 2019. The project envisages Constructing a trian...

The United Arab Emirates on November 7 announced a slew of legal reforms relating to personal freedoms that seek to move the country away from its hardline interpretation of Islamic law. As per the state-run Emirates News Agency (WAM) and The National, the overhaul includes changes in laws related to honor killings, alcohol restrictions, cohabitation of unmarried couples, divorce and succession. EXPO 2020 The modernization efforts have been announced before Expo 2020. Expo 2020 is the mega world event hosted by Dubai that is expected to bring in investments and around 2.5 crore visitors to the country.  The Expo was to be held from this year October until April 2021. It was postponed to October 2021-March 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic. HONOUR KILLINGS AND HARASSMENT OF WOMEN Previously, under “honor crimes”, male relatives could evade prosecution or get lighter sentences for assaulting women who purportedly brought “dishonor” to the family by acts such as disobeying reli...

President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office to Sinha. The new CIC in turn administered the oath to three newly selected Central Information Commissioners:  Former Labour Secretary Heera Lal Samariya,  Former Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General Saroj Punhani,  Journalist Uday Mahurkar. YASHVARDHAN SINHA The post of Chief Information Commissioner was lying vacant for over two months after Bimal Julka completed his term on August 26. Sinha, a former diplomat, joined as the Information Commissioner on January 1, 2019.  He has served as India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka. CIC The Central Information Commission is a statutory body set up under the Right to Information Act in 2005. Headquarter- New Delhi. The commission includes one chief information commissioner and not more than ten information commissioners. With the induction of Mahurkar, Samariya and Punhani, the strength of Information Commissioners will be seven. APPOINTMEN...

The Pakistan government’s decision to transfer the management and administrative control of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur from a Sikh body — Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (PSGPC) — to a trust under the Evacuee Trust Property Board, a non-Sikh body, invited sharp reactions from India. India termed the move “highly condemnable” and against the spirit of the Kartarpur Corridor. The Shiromani Akali Dal termed Pakistan’s decision as a move to take full control of the gurdwara, which is also the final resting place of Sikh faith’s founder Guru Nanak Dev.  The PSGPC, however, claimed that there is no change in the administration of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.  ROLE OF ETPB AND PSGPC ETPB looks after the building and maintenance of all Sikh gurdwaras in Pakistan whether they have been opened or still lying closed.  The ETPB spends money from its own pocket.  The Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (PSGPC) looks after the religious affairs of the...

India sent its first space mission in almost a year with a launch of EOS-01. It is an earth observation satellite.  EOS-01 was launched along with nine satellites from foreign countries. The launching was done by a PSLV rocket. ISRO had launched RISAT-2BR1, another earth observation satellite similar to EOS-01, on December 11 last year.  EOS-01 AND THE NAMING SCHEME EOS-01 is a Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT). It will work together with RISAT-2B and RISAT-2BR1 launched last year.  EOS-01 was initially named RISAT-2BR2. It was supposed to be the third of the three-spacecraft constellation aimed at providing all-weather round-the-clock service for high-resolution images. With EOS-01, ISRO is moving to a new naming system for its earth observation satellites. Till now, the satellites were named thematically. Now, the satellites will be named according to the purpose they are meant for.  PURPOSE OF EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES  Land and forest mapping and monitoring...

Punjab Congress MLAs, ministers, MPs sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on October 4 to highlight the state’s issues. WHY SO? The dharna was led by CM Amarinder Singh. It was a mark of symbolic protest against Centre for the crisis being faced by Punjab due to suspension of goods train traffic leading to disruption of coal, fertilizers and other essential items supplies, non-payment of RDF and farm laws.  The immediate provocation was the President not giving time to a delegation of the state government for a meeting.  The CM said if the President was not willing to give them a hearing they had no option but to sit on a dharna to highlight issues affecting the state. WHY DID THE CM WANT TO LEAD A DELEGATION TO THE PRESIDENT? The state Assembly had passed four Bills to negate Centre’s farm laws (1) (2) (3) .  The state’s Bills needed assent from the President.  The CM had written to the President seeking his time soon after the Vidhan Sabha passed the Bills....

  PROVISIONS  The bill takes away cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities.  Therefore, these commodities are now free of the Essential Commodities Act restrictions and stand deregulated.  However, the central government has retained the right to regulate them under extraordinary circumstances, such as in case of a war, famine, natural calamity, and impose stock limits if there is a steep rise in prices. PROS The move will attract private sector/FDI into farm sector as it will remove hairs of private investors of excessive regulatory interference in business operations.  This in further will bring investment for farm infrastructure like cold storages, and modernizing food supply chains. The amendment will help both farmers and Consumers by bringing in price stability. It will create a competitive market environment and cut wastage of farm produce. CONS Price limits for extraordinary circumstances are so hi...

  PROVISIONS  The bill creates a framework for contract farming.  It provides a template at the national level of farming agreements, with regard to agribusiness, processing, and the entire range of services for sale of farming produce at a mutually pre-agreed price through a contract. The services include wholesalers, exporters and large retailers. The Act provides for a three-level dispute settlement mechanism by the conciliation board, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Appellate Authority. The agreement must provide for a conciliation board as well as a conciliation process for settlement of disputes. PROS Farmers can enter into a contract with the business persons in advance at a pre-agreed price which will help farmers in fetching a higher prices.  Farmers can transfer the risk of market unpredictability.  Farmers can engage in direct marketing by eliminating intermediaries for full price realization. CONS Farmers in contract farming agreements will be the weak...

PROVISIONS It seeks to completely open up the sale of produce outside the Agricultural Produce Market Committees, or the APMCs.  It not only creates an e-highway for trading and transactions, but also creates a structure for e-trading of agriculture produce.  Farmers are allowed to sell their produce outside of the APMCs.  The market is thrown completely open for the private players to come in the agriculture sector and deal directly with the farmers. The act also prohibits state governments from levying any market fee or cess on farmers, traders and electronic trading platforms for trading farmers’ produce in an 'outside trade area'. PROS It will create an ecosystem where farmers and traders enjoy the freedom to sell and purchase farm produce outide registered 'mandis' under states' APMCs. It will promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade of farmers' produce. It will reduce marketing/transportation costs and help farmers in getting better prices. I...

The United States on 4th November formally left the Paris Climate Agreement. This happened three years after President Donald Trump announced his intention to undo what had been seen as a key achievement of his predecessor Barack Obama. The same day, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, who has expressed confidence about winning the 2020 election, announced that his administration (if elected), would rejoin the landmark accord in 77 days — on January 20, 2021, the day the country’s next president gets inaugurated. PARIS AGREEMENT In December 2015, 195 countries signed an agreement to slow the process of global warming by making efforts to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. It was also decided to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This basically means that the countries would try to limit the increase in global temperature rise.  Climate experts have, howev...

On November 3, voters in Mississippi approved a new flag. The flag was named, “The New Magnolia”, featuring a magnolia flower.  The flag will replace the old one that has been in use for 126 years.  The old flag carried the Confederate battle emblem on it. The Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag received nearly 3,000 submissions, from which the magnolia was chosen on September 2. CONFEDERATE SYMBOLS The Confederate States of America or the Confederacy refers to the government of 11 Southern slaveholding states that seceded from the Union in 1860-61 in the American Civil War. The secession was after they felt threatened by the election of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln as the US President in 1860. These pro-slavery states operated under the presidentship of Jefferson Davis and vice president Alexander Stephens.  Soon, the Confederacy acquired symbols such as the Confederate flag and their own stamps.  These states carried out all their affairs sepa...

As part of ‘Mission Sagar-II’, the Government of India provided assistance to Friendly Foreign Countries to overcome natural calamities and Covid-19 pandemic. The countries included in this mission are Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea. As part of Mission Sagar-II, Indian Naval Ship Airavat will deliver food aid to Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea. Mission Sagar-II, follows the first ‘Mission Sagar’ undertaken in 2020. Earlier, India had sent Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kesari, carrying food items and medical assistance teams, to countries in the southern Indian Ocean to deal with Covid-19 pandemic as part of a "Mission Sagar" initiative. SAGAR INITIATIVE The deployment is also in consonance with the Prime Minister's vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR). Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) was launched in 2015.  It is India’s strategic vision for the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Through SAGAR, India seeks to deepen economic an...

Family: Coronaviridae. It is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can jump from animals to people. Scientist Leo Poon first decoded the recent virus. Coronaviruses were discovered in the 1960. So far, there are 4 known disease-causing coronaviruses, among which the best known are Severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) corona virus and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, both of which can cause severe respiratory diseases. The disease is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The outbreak began with a pneumonia case in Wuhan city of Hubei province. The first confirmed case of human-to-human transmission outside China was reported from Vietnam. India reported its first confirmed case of novel coronavirus in Thrissur district of Kerala. PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY  Coronavirus was declared a public health emergency of International concern(PHEIC) by WHO. Under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), states have a legal duty to respond...

The Supreme Court has ruled on a long-pending question of law on whether statements recorded under Section 67 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act can be admissible as confessional statements during criminal trials.  The majority judgment ruled that statements recorded by officers under the NDPS Act cannot be treated as confessions.  THE QUESTION AND THE TWO ARGUMENTS For over 30 years, multiple court judgments have been contrary opinion on this point of law – whether officers invested powers under the NDPS Act can be considered “police officers” and therefore, whether statements given to them by accused persons can be considered as confessions. One argument was that the officers under Section 53 of the NDPS Act are not defined as “police officers” but are given the powers of an “officer-in-charge of a police station”. Therefore, confessions given to them should be admissible in evidence.  The contrary opinion states that safeguards available for ...

The film 800 is the biopic on the legendary Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan. The 800 number in the film title is a reference to the number of Test wickets that Muralitharan took in his career. The movie is being produced by Movie Train Motion Pictures and Dar Motion Pictures. Actor Vijay Sethupathy recently pulled out of starring as Murali in the biopic.  It seems that he did this upon the advice of Murali himself, who said that he didn’t want the actor’s career to be tarred by the controversy. MUTTIAH MURALITHARAN Muralitharan's career started in 1992 and ended in 2010, in test cricket, and in 2011, in T20I and ODI.  He holds the record of being the first, and currently the only, bowler to take 800 Test wickets.  Muralitharan is a Sri Lankan Tamil who has roots in India. His grandfather came from India to work in the tea plantations of Sri Lanka in 1920s. Murali was born and brought up in Kandy, Sri Lanka His wife is from Chennai. THE OPPOSITION Tamil nationali...

Phase 1 of the Malabar Naval Exercise kicked off on 03 November, off the coast near Visakhapatnam. The second phase will be in the Arabian Sea in mid-November.  India, the United States, Japan and Australia conducted the exercise in the Bay of Bengal This was Malabar’s 24th edition. This year’s Malabar Exercise was planned on a “non-contact-at sea” format keeping Covid-19 protocols in mind. MALABAR AND ITS HISTORY Malabar is a multilateral naval exercise that includes simulated war games and combat manoeuvres.  It is an annual exercise. It was started in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the Indian and US navies.  The Americans suspended exercises in 1998, after India tested nuclear weapons. However, the United States renewed military contacts in 2002, following the September 11 attacks when India joined President George W Bush's campaign against international terrorism. 2007 AND POST-2007 EVENTS Malabar 2007 was the ninth Malabar exercise and was the first one to be h...

For the last several months, Thailand has been witnessing pro-democracy demonstrations with protesters demanding that the monarchy be reformed and that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha resign.  The current wave of protests is among the biggest seen in recent times.  THAILAND AND ITS HISTORY  Thailand is officially known as the Kingdom of Thailand and formerly it was known as Siam.  It is a country in Southeast Asia and is located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula. It is composed of 76 provinces. Constitutional monarchy: 24 June 1932.  Current constitution; 6 April 2017. Monarch: Maha Vajiralongkorn. Thailand has had 20 constitutions and charters since the overthrow of absolute monarchy in 1932. The latest one was that of the 2014 and 2017 constitutions, both of which have been made my Military. RECENT HISTORY  In 2014, Prayuth Chan-ocha, the Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Army invoked new constitution .  Prayuth declared martial law and ...