EePM-KUSUM Scheme

- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme
to facilitate solar enabled agriculture pump sets up to 15 Horse Power (HP) capacity.
- Under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Swachh Survekshan 2022

- Indore has been adjudged the cleanest city of India for the sixth year in a row, while
Madhya Pradesh is the cleanest State in the country.
- Surat is the second cleanest city and Navi Mumbai ranks a close third in the category of
cities with a population more than a lakh.
- In the population category of less than one lakh, Panchgani and Karad from
Maharashtra bagged the first and third positions respectively, while Patan from
Chhattisgarh bagged the second position.
- Tripura got the cleanest state award in the “less than 100 urban local bodies category”,
dislodging Jharkhand, which had won in the last two consecutive years. Jharkhand and
Uttarakhand received the second and third spots respectively.

MeFSAT (Medicinal Fungi Secondary Metabolites And Therapeutics)

- Secondary metabolites are chemical compounds that fungi produce when they are
stressed. They enhance the fungus’ ability to survive.
- Cordycepin, a secondary metabolite produced by Cordyceps species of fungus, is
known to have anti-tumour properties.
- The secondary metabolites were structurally distant from existing drugs. Also, their
‘scaffolding’ was different from known drugs. About 94% of the chemical scaffolds
identified in secondary metabolites of medicinal fungi were not present in approved
drugs. As for the complete chemical structure, the secondary metabolites were quite
dissimilar to the approved drugs.
- Medicinal fungi belongs to two taxonomic divisions namely, basidiomycota and
ascomycota. Mushrooms belong to the basidiomycota division. An example is Agaricus
bisporus, the button mushroom, which can be consumed. Fungi belonging to the
ascomycota division are generally not mushrooms.

Abortion Rights in India

- The recently amended provisions of the MTP Act, which recognised the need for a
request for an MTP by an unmarried woman on the grounds of contraceptive failure;
however, this was only till 20 weeks of gestational limit. A change in circumstance
was available, as per the law, only for a married woman up to 24 weeks.
- Interpreting the Rules framed under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act,
1971, a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said “the rights of reproductive
autonomy, dignity and privacy give an unmarried woman the right of choice as to
whether or not to bear a child on a similar footing as that of a married woman.” In
another judicial recognition of marital rape, which is not recognised as an offence under
the Indian Penal Code, the Court also said sexual assault by a man on his wife can take
the form of rape.
 - Under the current legal framework, and as the Court too noted, the MTP Act lays out
exceptions to the provisions criminalising abortion in Sections 312-318 of the Indian
Penal Code.
- Taking a “purposive” view of a “beneficial legislation” like the MTP Act, the Court
declared that unmarried women be included within the ambit of Rule 3B of the MTP
Rules. The MTP (Amendment) Act, 2021, had introduced a key change in Section 3 by
extending the upper limit for termination of pregnancy from 20 to 24 weeks.
- Rule 3B, which listed the women eligible for termination of pregnancy — such as rape
survivors, minors, those with physical disabilities and mental illness — did not explicitly
include single women who had become pregnant in a consensual relationship.
- The National Family Health Survey 5 (2019) pegs spousal violence (physical and sexual)
faced by women in the age group 18-49 years at 29.3%.
- The Court said that the meaning of the words “sexual assault” or “rape” in Rule 3B(a)
includes a husband’s act of sexual assault or rape committed on his wife. “The meaning
of rape must therefore be understood as including marital rape, solely for the purposes
of the MTP Act and any rules and regulations framed thereunder.
- The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act has included married women whose
marital status has changed (widowed or divorced) during the course of their pregnancy
in the category of women eligible for termination of pregnancies up to 24 weeks.
- Any drastic change in the matrimonial life of a pregnant woman is equivalent to the
‘change of her marital status.’ The word ‘divorce’ cannot in any manner qualify or
restrict that right. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act does not contain any
provision requiring a woman to obtain her husband’s permission for terminating the
pregnancy.
- The Justice Verma Committee had recommended that the law should specify that a
marital relationship cannot be a defence against sexual violation. “A rapist remains
a rapist regardless of his relationship with the victim,” Justice Verma had concluded.

Armed Forces Special Powers Act

- The Act gives unbridled powers to the armed forces to kill anyone acting in contravention
of law, arrest and search any premises without a warrant and protection from
prosecution and legal suits without the Central government’s sanction.
- Under Section 3 of the Act, the State governments and the Ministry of Home Affairs have
concurrent powers to notify areas under the AFSPA.
- The AFSPA was applicable in whole of Nagaland and Assam till March 31.

Jal Jeevan Mission

- To ensure piped water to every rural household by 2024.
- Drinking water and Sanitation.

The Mediation Bill, 2021

- The Bill proposes mandatory mediation before litigation. At the same time, it
safeguards the rights of litigants to approach competent adjudicatory
forums/courts for urgent relief. The pre-litigation mediation is mandatory for both
 parties before filing any suit or proceeding in a court. Parties who fail to attend
pre-litigation mediation without a reasonable reason may incur a cost.
- The mediation process will be confidential and immunity is provided against its
disclosure in certain cases. It also establishes the Mediation Council of India and
also provides for community mediation.
- The outcome of the mediation process in the form of a Mediation Settlement
Agreement (MSA) will be legally enforceable and can be registered with the
State/district/taluk legal authorities within 90 days to ensure authenticated records of the
settlement.
- Bill considers international mediation to be domestic when it is conducted in India with
the settlement being recognised as a judgment or decree of a court.
- The Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee of the Supreme Court of India
describes mediation as a tried and tested alternative for conflict resolution. As India
is a signatory to the Singapore Convention on Mediation (formally the United Nations
Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation), it is
appropriate to enact a law governing domestic and international mediation.

India's Forex Reserves

- Section 40 of the RBI Act, 1934 (“Transactions in foreign exchange”) stipulates that the
Central Government orders the “rate” at which the RBI shall buy or sell forex to
banks (authorised persons). This “rate”, in turn, will be governed by India’s “obligations
to the International Monetary Fund [IMF]”. The dollar/rupee rate has thus been
subjugated to the United States from British India days.
- The forex market is regulated by the RBI with impregnable exchange control regulations.
All the player (banks) are required to be square or near square in their forex
positions (spot or forward) at the close of business hours each day. This “overnight
limit” is prescribed for each bank by the RBI. Even during the day, the prescribed
“daylight limit” cannot be breached. The RBI enforces these limits strictly.

Interpol
- The head of Interpol is the President who is elected by the General Assembly. He comes
from one of the member-nations and holds office for four years. The day-to-day activities
are overseen by a full-time Secretary General also elected by the General Assembly for
the term of five years.
- CBI represents India in Interpol.
- The General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) is
meeting in Delhi for four days from October 18. This is the second time since 1997 the
195 member-strong body is holding such a large conference in India.
- RED NOTICE - It is a structured communication issued by the Interpol to all
member-nations notifying the name(s) of persons against whom an arrest warrant is
pending in a particular country. The notice issued requests all member nations that if the
named individual(s) is located in their country an immediate communication should be
sent to the nation that wants him in connection with a criminal investigation.
Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)
- India's apex drug regulator.
- Drugs and Cosmetics Act
- Maiden Pharma banned- cold and cough syrup contained diethylene glycol
(DEG) and ethylene glycol that may have caused acute kidney failure and
deaths of children in Gambia.

Global Hunger Index

- India ranks 107 out of 121 countries on the Global Hunger Index in which it fares worse
than all countries in South Asia barring war-torn Afghanistan.
- 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’.
- The zero is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. India’s score of 29.1 places
it in the ‘serious’ category. India also ranks below Sri Lanka (64), Nepal (81), Bangladesh
(84), and Pakistan (99).

Lab Grown Meat

- Three kinds of cell-lines are critical to recreate meat: fibroblasts — the cells that
form connective tissue and collagen — myoblasts, which form muscles and
adipocytes, which make up fat tissue.
- Cell-lines are a group of cells derived from an animal that can be used to
recreate several of their kind indefinitely. However, deriving an ideal stock is often
a challenge because of which some companies have set their sights on relatively
simpler life forms such as shrimp and prawn, whose texture and taste are easier
to create.
- SMART PROTEINS- smart protein or foods that are high on protein but require
less land and water and aren’t reliant on slaughtering animals and sea-life.

Collegium system
- Its importance lies in the fact that its opinion has primacy in the matter of
appointments to the high courts and the Supreme Court, as well as
transfers. Its legal basis is found in a series of three judgments — usually
referred to as the ‘Judges Cases’ — concerning the higher judiciary. Its manner
of functioning has been laid down in the form of a ‘Memorandum of Procedure’.
- The Constitution says a Supreme Court judge is appointed by the President
in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
- In the ‘First Judges Case’, the court held that the consultation with the CJI should
be “full and effective”. The Second Judges case introduced the collegium
system in 1993. It ruled that the CJI would have to consult a collegium of his two
senior-most judges in the apex court on judicial appointments. The ‘Third Judges
Case’ case in 1998, which was a Presidential reference, expanded the collegium
to its present composition of the CJI and four of his senior-most judges.
 - It functions mainly through the system of adopting resolutions and sending
them to the Union Law Ministry for further action. If a proposal for appointment
of a judge is returned for reconsideration, the Collegium may either drop it or
reiterate it. When the Collegium reiterates its decision after reconsideration,
it is binding on the government.
- By convention, once a recommendation for the successor to the CJI’s office is
made, the Collegium ceases to make decisions. There is no law or rule that
says the Collegium should become dysfunctional during the last month of a
Chief Justice’s tenure, but it is observed as a matter of convention.

Dugong Conservation Reserve

- Tamil Nadu has taken the lead in saving Dugong by setting up the nation’s first
Dugong Conservation Reserve in the Palk Bay.
- According to estimates, there are only 240 dugongs left in the whole country, and
the majority of them are in the Palk Bay, especially off the coast off
Thanjavur and Pudukkottai districts. Although dugongs are present in the Gulf
of Kutch and in the waters around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a major
chunk of them are in the Palk Bay. Once in a while, they move into the adjacent
Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park
- In September, the State government notified 448 square kilometres as the
conservation reserve for dugongs, the largest herbivorous marine mammals
in the world, thriving primarily on seagrass beds.
- Protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act.
- The conservation reserve is different from the wildlife sanctuaries. There
are no restrictions on the local communities in the conservation reserve. It
works by involving the local communities in the conservation.
- Seagrass beds grow naturally along the Palk Bay coast and serve as a
breeding ground for fish, molluscs, mammals and many other invertebrate
species. Apart from dugongs, sea horses, sea cucumbers and pipe fishes live
in the seagrass beds.

The Hunger Hotspots Outlook (2022-23)

- The report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP)
- over 205 million people across 45 countries will need emergency food assistance
to survive.
- An International Monetary Fund paper titled ‘Pandemic, Poverty, and
Inequality: Evidence from India’ asserted that ‘extreme poverty was maintained
below 1% in 2020 due to the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
(PMGKAY).

LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA

 - Law Commission of India is neither a constitutional body nor a statutory
body, it is an executive body established by an order of the Government of
India. Its major function is to work for legal reforms and works as an advisory
body to the Ministry of Law and Justice.
- The first such Commission was established in 1834 under the Charter Act of
1833 under the Chairmanship of Lord Macaulay which recommended
codification of the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.
- The Indian Code of Civil Procedure, the Indian Contract Act, the Indian Evidence
Act, the Transfer of Property Act. etc. are products of the first four Law
Commissions.
- The Government of India established the First Law Commission of
Independent India in 1955 with the then Attorney-General of India, Mr M. C.
Setalvad, as its Chairman. Since then twenty one more Law Commissions have
been appointed, each with a three-year term.

International Solar Alliance funding facility

- The ‘Solar Facility’, a payment guarantee mechanism expected to stimulate
investments into solar projects through two financial components — a Solar
Payment Guarantee Fund and Solar Insurance Fund.
- The thrust of the facility is to attract private capital to flow into “underserved
markets” in Africa.
- The payment guarantee fund will only provide a partial guarantee. With
minimal default, the guarantee fund would enable investments in geographies
that do not receive investments. In addition, the Solar Insurance Fund will reduce
the burden of insurance premium for solar developers in the pre-revenue phase
of the project. It will offset the cost of insurance for a specified period.
- ISA’s mission is to unlock US$ 1 trillion (₹80 lakh crore) of investments in solar
power by 2030 while reducing the cost of the technology and its financing.

Tamil Nadu launches mission to save critically endangered vultures

- In Tamil Nadu, four species of vultures are found — the Oriental white-backed
vulture, the long-billed vulture, the red-headed vulture, and the Egyptian
vulture. “The first three are residents and can be found in the landscapes of the
Nilgiris and Sathyamangalam,”
- There is evidence of Egyptian vulture breeding only at one site in Dharmapuri.
- Vultures play a key role as nature’s scavengers, keeping the environment clean.
- Home to the nesting sites of three of the four species of vultures seen in the
State, the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, parts of the Nilgiris forest division and
the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve are crucial strongholds for the vultures in
southern India. Occasional migrants such as the Himalayan griffon vulture and
the Cinerous vulture are also spotted each year. Tamil Nadu boasts the largest
population of vultures south of the Vindhiya Mountain Range.
 - Experts agree that the use of some Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
(NSAIDs) to treat cattle, such as diclofenac, nimesulide, ketoprofen among
others, has led to the crash in vulture populations across India.
- Another threat is the spread of invasive weeds such as the Lantana camara in
vulture-landscapes, which hinder the birds from scavenging as their large
wing-spans require plenty of open area to safely land and to take to the skies in
case of any major threats.
- Finally, due to the illegal tapping of water along the streams running through
these areas, possible climate change, and forest fires, the Terminalia arjuna
trees, that many vultures use as nesting sites are disappearing.

‘Mission LiFE’ (Lifestyle For Environment),

- A new initiative for sustainable and healthy lifestyle.
- Mission LiFE makes the fight against climate change democratic with the
contribution of everyone in own capacity.

GREEN MUNIA
- Andhra Pradesh’s sole grassland in the Gudisa reserve forest is arguably the
country’s third ecosystem supporting a thriving population of green munia or
Green Avadavat (Amandava formosa).
- Mt. Abu and Central India are the only other regions where a good ‘known
population’ of green munia can be sighted in India.
- The Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Bill-2022, passed by Parliament in
August, listed green munia in the ‘Schedule-1’ category, which covers
endangered species that need rigorous protection. The birds are ‘Vulnerable’ as
per the Red List of the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- Indiscriminate use of pesticides, Bauxite mining, Unregulated tourism are some
of the threats.

New species of genus Allmania spotted

- A plant named Allmania multi flora spotted on the granite hillocks of
Palakkad has been identified as a new species of the genus Allmania.
- An annual herb that grows to a height of about 60 cm, Allmania multiflora is only
the second species of this genus identified so far anywhere. That is not all: the
discovery has come 188 years after the genus and the first species were
described by botanists.
- The first species, Allmania nodiflora, was originally published under the genus
Celosia as Celosia nodiflora in 1753.
- Specimens found in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) were first described as Allmania nodiflora
in 1834. Its new-found cousin, Allmania multiflora, is currently known only from a
few locations. Given its small population, the researchers have assessed it as
critically endangered, applying IUCN Red List criteria.
Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas
(CAQM)
- The Government of India has developed a framework and action plan for the
effective prevention and control of stubble burning. The framework/action plan
includes in-situ management, i.e., incorporation of paddy straw and stubble in the
soil using heavily subsidized machinery (supported by crop residue management
(CRM) Scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare).
- Ex-situ CRM efforts include the use of paddy straw for biomass power projects
and co-firing in thermal power plants, and as feedstock for 2G ethanol plants,
feed stock in CBG plants, fuel in industrial boilers, waste-to-energy (WTE) plants,
and in packaging materials, etc.
- In its search for a workable solution, NITI Aayog approached FAO India in 2019
to explore converting paddy straw and stubble into energy and identify possible
ex-situ uses of rice straw to complement the in-situ programme.
- To mobilise 30% of the rice straw produced in Punjab, an investment of around
₹2,201 crore ($309 million) would be needed to collect, transport and store it
within a 20-day period. With 30% of the rice straw produced in Punjab, a 5%
CBG production target set by the Government of India scheme, “Sustainable
Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT)” can be met.

SENNA SPECTABILIS
- An invasive Species that is taking over the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
- It was introduced as ornamental species for the use of firewood from South and
Central America.
- Senna spectabilis, along with Lantana camara, is among five major invasive
weeds that had taken over vast swathes of the Nilgiris, with wattle being the
other major invasive species. Eucalyptus and pine, though exotic, do not
spread as quickly as the other species and are considered easier to manage.

State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)

- The SPCBs were initially constituted under the Water (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Under the Air (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1981, the SPCB mandate was expanded to include air quality
management.
Reasons for poor performance of SPCBs
- Conflict of Interest in membership of the board. - Over 50% of the Board members
across the 10 SPCBs and PCC studied represent potential polluters: local authorities,
industries, and public sector corporations. They are subject to the SPCB’s regulatory
measures, and their overwhelming presence raises fundamental questions around
conflicts of interest. At the same time, scientists, medical practitioners, and
academics constitute only 7% of the Board members.
- SPCB leadership - the chairperson and the member secretary — do not enjoy a long,
stable, and full-time tenure. In many States, persons in these two posts hold an
additional charge in other government departments. Data (In a recently published series
 of papers by the Centre for Policy Research) also show that several chairpersons and
member secretaries have held their posts for less than a year. In such a scenario,
long-term policy planning, strategic interventions and effective execution aimed at
reducing air pollution substantially are extremely difficult.
- Vacancies/ Understaffed SPCBs - At least 40% of all sanctioned posts are vacant
across nine SPCBs/PCCs for which there is data. Vacancy levels in technical positions
are as high as 84% in Jharkhand, and over 75% in Bihar and Haryana. An inadequate
staff strength forces the Boards to recast their priorities among their various functions.
Less staff strength also means weaker regulatory scrutiny and poor impact
assessment. For example, given their workload, engineers in Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab
and Uttar Pradesh have less than a day to inspect, evaluate and decide on each
consent application.

Mangarh Dham as a global tribal destination

- Mangarh Dham, situated near the Rajasthan-Gujarat boundary, is known for the
massacre of tribespeople by the British Indian Army in 1913.
- Nearly 1,500 Bhil tribals and forest dwellers were killed in a hill in Mangarh on
November 17, 1913, when the British Indian Army opened fire on the protesters who
were demanding abolition of bonded labour system and relaxation in heavy
agricultural taxes imposed by the rulers of princely states. The tribes in the
southern Rajasthan region were led by Govind Guru.