INDIAN EXPRESS

Uttarakhand Govt clears UCC rules, set to be rolled out after local body elections

Tatkal Registration, door-to-door services in remote areas, and a state-wide mock drill - these are some of the key provisions in Uttarakhand's Uniform Civil Code manual of rules, which the Pushkar Singh Dhami Cabinet approved. The rules manual, which was approved at the Cabinet meeting convened for the purpose is expected to be announced after the election. The training of the officials is also in the final stages. Once these are rolled out, Uttarakhand will become the first state to implement the UCC.

ISRO to repeat SpaDeX docking manoeuvre to perfect precision

After Successfully completing the space docking experiment (SpaDeX), the Indian Space Research Organisations (ISRO) is now preparing for a second docking attempt to perfect precision in space, the agency said. It will also attempt undocking separation of the two satellites - for the first time, said officials. India became the fourth country in the world-after the United States, Russia, and China - to have the space docking capability when. India requires the capability for its planned Chandrayaan-4 mission that will bring back lunar samples, its own Bharatiya Antariksh Station and a mission to take an Indian to the Moon by 2040. The Bharatiya Antariksh Station is planned to be constructed by bringing together five modules, the first of which is scheduled to be launched in 2028.

Centre allows 10 LMT sugar exports for current season

The Centre allowed the export of 10 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of sugar during the 2024-25 season (October- September). Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said. India's sugar production in the current sugar season is estimated to be 27 million tonnes in 2024-25, a decline from 32 million tonnes last year. According to data with the Department of Consumer Affairs, the all-India retail price of sugar was ₹44.67 per kg, almost similar a month ago and a year ago. The retail inflation too has come down in recent months, with the Consumer Price Index-based retail inflation recorded at -0.40 per cent in December 2024.

SC asks 23 states, 7 UTs to file compliance reports of road safety provisions

The Supreme Court directed 23 states and seven Union Territories to file compliance reports indicating implementation of the motor vehicle law's recent provisions besides rules on electronic monitoring and road safety measures. A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Delhi had filed their reports. The top court on September 2, 2024 passed directions on the implementation of Section 136A of the Motor Vehicles Act read with Rule 167A of the Motor Vehicles Rules, which allow authorities to electronically monitor speeding vehicles .

ASI excavations in Ratnagiri spotlights ancient Buddhist site, its SE Asia links

In December, when Archaeological Survey of India's superintending archaeologist D B Garnayak and his team took upexcavations at the 5th-13th Century Buddhist complex in Ratnagiri, in Odisha's Jajpur district, after a gap of 60 years, their aim was two-fold -to uncover more of the complex and to find material evidence of the state's link to the larger Southeast Asian culture. So far, the mission has been partially successful-they have unearthed a colossal Buddha head, a massive palm, an ancient wall and inscribed Buddhist relics, all of which are estimated to date back 8th and 9th Century AD.The discoveries are significant, especially given Odisha's historical relationship with Buddhism beginning with Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (304- 232 BCE), one of Buddhism's greatest patrons whose invasion of the kingdom of Kalinga - the ancient name for Odisha led to him embracing the religion.

Mitigating, aggravating circumstances in death penalty cases

A sessions court in Kolkata sentenced Sanjoy Roy, convicted of the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court has held that a sentence of death should be passed only in the "rarest of rare" cases, after the court has considered possible "aggravating" and "mitigating" circumstances (Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, 1980). In several cases including Ramnaresh and Ors v. State of Chhattisgarh (2012) and Ramesh v. State of Rajasthan (2011), the Supreme Court considered the young age of the accused persons (below 30 in these cases) as an indication that they could be reformed. However, as the Law Commission of India noted in its 262nd Report (2015), The Death Penalty, age as a mitigating factor "has been used very inconsistently".

ANNUAL MEET BEGINS IN DAVOS: WHAT IS THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is holding its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Attendees will include European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, and other leaders in business and politics. German professor Klaus Schwab founded the WEF. Initially, Schwab focused the meetings on how European firms could catch up with US management practices. Events in 1973, namely the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate mechanism and the Arab-Israeli War, saw the Annual Meeting expand its focus to socio-economic issues. The WEF is largely funded by its partnering corporations. These are generally global enterprises with annual turnover greater than $5 billion. In 1998, participants emphasised the need to include major developing countries in the process. One idea was to set up a body to include 20 countries - half developed economies and the other developing ones. Such a meeting of what would become the G20 was held in Bonn, Germany, later that year.

Redefining obesity

The lancet medical journal's Diabetes & Endocrinology Commission last week proposed a new definition and method for diagnosing obesity, beyond simply looking at a person's Body Mass Index (BMI), the ratio of one's weight and height. A person with a BMI of less than 18.5 is considered to be underweight, a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered to be normal, those with BMI between 25 and 29.9 are considered to be overweight, while those with BMI over 30 are considered to be obese. The Lancet Commission defines clinical obesity as a chronic illness that results in alteration in organ functions regardless of other conditions a person might have. "It can lead to life-altering or life-threatening complications," the Commission states. The new definition broadens the meaning of obesity to take into account a number of physical parameters such as height, weight, and waist circumference, as well as things such as muscle mass, and the functioning of various organs.

Bail under PMLA: interpretation by SC, HCs of law on exception for women

The Supreme Court criticised the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week for arguing that the rigorous bail conditions in money laundering cases will apply to women even though the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) provides an exception to this standard. Section 45 of the PMLA, which provides for bail, puts the onus on the accused seeking bail to prove that there is no prima facie case against them. This is similar to the stringent bail standard under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA). However, there is an exception to this bail standard, which applies to minors, women, and sick people: "Provided that a person, who is under the age of sixteen years or is a woman or is sick or infirm, may be released on bail, if the Special Court so directs."

10.

Who's afraid of Trump?

America has always been first for its leadership after the Second World War. It has refused to step away from the countries it defeated and occupied in that war. On the other hand, it engaged in new wars to secure control over new territories, and then claimed it was ensuring global peace and stability in the name of a "rules-based liberal international order". If the US looks inward to improve its infrastructure, invest in the education and health of its citizens, create more jobs at home for the unemployed that would be good for the world economy. The US still has the capacity to do global good and in helping itself it could help the world. There was once a brief period that was called the "unipolar moment". The entire edifice of the post-war balance of power system came crashing down with the implosion of the Soviet Union. The US emerged as the paramount global power. Scanning literature of that era, the early 1990s, one comes across similar predictions of US power disrupting the global order Of Pax Americana.

11.

MIS, NOT MSP

In November 2021, the Narendra Modi government repealed its three agricultural reform laws following protests by farm unions agitating at Delhi's borders. At that time, it tried hard to reach out to the unions and convince them about how the laws which allowed trade in produce to take place outside state government controlled markets and agri-businesses to source directly from growers were in farmer interest, but in vain. Today, the shoe's on the other foot. Since February last year, farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been unsuccessfully attempting to enter the national capital, while demanding enactment of a law guaranteeing payment of the government declared minimum support price (MSP) for all crops.

12.

FIELDS OF VIKSIT BHARAT

India is starting to deploy Al for critical use cases such as weather forecasting, pest detection and control, and crop yield optimisation. However, penetration is limited to a small subset of tech- savvy farmers. In the US and Europe, generative Al tools have started offering precision farming at scale, integrating large datasets to provide real-time agronomic insights. Monoculture practices and excessive chemicals and fertiliser use dominates most farming systems, leading to soil degradation and biodiversity loss. France and the US lead in regenerative agriculture through structured policies, farmer incentives and R&D on sustainable practices. India stands at a crossroads in modernising its agricultural practices. By embracing innovation and fostering public-private collaborations, it can become a global leader in sustainable and technologically advanced farming. The idea is not to copy-paste solutions that have worked elsewhere in the world, but rather to customise and adapt farming practices based on the Indian agri context.

13.

'Drill, baby, drill': Trump vows to pump, export more oil, lower prices

Trump, who said that he will be declaring a "national energy emergency" to boost US oil and gas production and bring prices down, also announced that the US will increase its energy exports. For India, which is the world's third-largest consumer of crude oil and depends on imports to meet over 85 per cent of its requirement of the commodity, that would be a good thing. The US is already the fifth-largest supplier of crude oil to India, and a boost in US oil exports could further benefit India. Heavy dependence on imported crude oil makes the Indian economy vulnerable to global oil price volatility, apart from having a bearing on the country's trade deficit, foreign exchange reserves, rupee's exchange rate, and inflation.

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