UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council

• This was part of the global response to the alleged war crimes in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv, where more than 300 bodies of civilians have been found after the withdrawal of the Russian forces.
• The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system, which is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the world.
• The Human Rights Council replaced the former UN Commission on Human Rights. It was created by the UNGA on March 15, 2006, and the body met in its first session from June 19-30, 2006.
• The Council, which meets at the UN Office in Geneva, Switzerland, is made up of 47 UN Member States who are elected by majority vote through a direct and secret ballot at the UNGA.
• The membership of the Council is based on equitable geographical distribution. African and Asia-Pacific states have 13 seats each, Latin American and Caribbean states have 8 seats, Western European and other states 7 seats, and Eastern European states 6 seats.
• The members serve for three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.
• The Council has a five-person Bureau, consisting of a president and four vice-presidents, each representing one of the five regional groups. They serve for a year each, in accordance with the Council’s annual cycle.

Russia and UNHRC

• With membership on the Council comes a responsibility to uphold high human rights standards. This is a criteria insisted on by States themselves when they adopted resolution 60/251 in March 2006 to create the Human Rights Council.
• It is this responsibility that Russia is alleged to have wilfully violated in Ukraine. Russia’s three-year term as member of the Council began on January 1, 2021.

Public participation sought for child protection

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development sent its draft guidelines for Mission Vatsalya Scheme to States and Union Territories and sought suggestions by April 18, 2022.
• Mission Vatsalya is essentially renaming of a pre-existing scheme called Child Protection Services, and also includes child welfare services.
• To encourage public participation and utilise the resources available for success of the mission, the civil society, people’s groups and various volunteering organisations can be encouraged to participate under Mission Vatsalyain a systematic and planned manner.
• These could include organisations under government initiatives such as Bharat Scout and Guide, NSS Volunteers, and Nehru Yuva Kendras. More NGOs and Self-Help Groups could be identified.
• The Ministry has also proposed a Vatsalya portal that will allow volunteers to register so that State and District Authorities can engage them for executing various schemes.
• Child protection programme components include institutional services through child care institutions (CCI) and family-based non-institutional care through sponsorship, foster care and adoption.
• It also supports after-care programme for children at CCIs once they turn 18, and emergency outreach service through Childline or the national helpline 1098 for children.

The fineprint on the new tax on Employees’ Provident Fund income

• An Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account is mandatory for formal sector workers earning up to ₹15,000 a month in firms with over 20 employees, as a means of ensuring retirement income.
• The Finance Ministry had rationalised the tax move by arguing that the ₹2.5 lakh cap on contributions will cover about 93% of EPF members, and the tax-free, assured income was being milked by the super-rich and high net-worth individuals.
• On August 31, 2021, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notified rules to calculate the taxable income on PF contributions exceeding the specified limits, starting from the financial year 2021-22.
• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) issued a circular in April 2022 to explain the operational details of the tax.
• the EPFO will maintain a non-taxable account for contributions up to ₹2.5 lakh a year, and a taxable account for members who contribute over that threshold.
• Tax will be levied at 20% on such income for EPF members whose retirement savings accounts have not been linked to their Permanent Account Number (PAN), while the rate will be 10% for those who have linked their tax and EPF accounts.

The common complaints about Aadhaar, which CAG has now flagged in UIDAI audit

• UIDAI is the statutory authority established in 2016 to issue Aadhaar to all residents of the country. As of October 31, 2021, UIDAI had issued 131.68 crore Aadhaar numbers.
• There are issues of data-matching, errors in authentication, and shortfall in archiving, the CAG has said in its audit report on the functioning of the UIDAI.
• The CAG has said the data of Aadhaar card holders have not been matched with their Aadhaar number even after 10 years in some cases.
• It has also criticised the absence of a system to analyse the factors leading to authentication errors.
• even though UIDAI was maintaining one of the largest biometric databases in the world, it did not have a data archiving policy, which is considered “a vital storage management best practice.

Indonesia’s palm oil crisis, and its implications for India

• The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated the archipelago’s palm oil production for 2021-22 (October-September) at 45.5 million tonnes (mt). That’s almost 60% of the total global output and way ahead of the next bigger producer: Malaysia (18.7 mt).
• It is also the world’s No. 1 exporter of the commodity, at 29 mt, followed by Malaysia (16.22 mt).
• Yet, the country has seen domestic prices of branded cooking oil spiral, from around 14,000 Indonesian rupiah (IDR) to 22,000 IDR per litre between March 2021 and March 2022.
• The first has to do supply disruptions — manmade and natural — in other cooking oils, especially sunflower and soyabean.
• The second factor is linked to petroleum, more specifically the use of palm oil as a bio-fuel. The Indonesian government has, since 2020, made 30% blending of diesel with palm oil mandatory as part of a plan to slash fossil fuel imports.
• India is the world’s biggest vegetable oils importer. Out of its annual imports of 14-15 mt, the lion’s share is of palm oil (8-9 mt), followed by soyabean (3-3.5 mt) and sunflower (2.5).
• Indonesia has been India’s top supplier of palm oil, though it was overtaken by Malaysia in 2021-22.

CAG pulls up UIDAI over privacy gaps, duplication of cards

• The list, notified by Department of Military Affairs, Ministry of Defence (MoD), lays special focus on equipment/systems, which are being developed and likely to translate into firm orders in next five years.
• These weapons and platforms are planned to be indigenised progressively with effect from December 2022 to December 2027. These 101 items will, henceforth, be procured from local sources as per provisions of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.
• This follows issue of first list (101) and second list (108) that were promulgated on August 21, 2020 and May 31, 2021 respectively.
• The third list comprises Light Weight Tanks, Mounted Arty Gun Systems (155mmX 52Cal), Guided Extended Range (GER) Rocket for PINAKA MLRS, Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH), Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPV) etc.

IEA releases extra oil to calm prices

• The move is aimed at calming crude oil prices that hit a 14 year-high of $139 per barrel in March.
• India had in November 2021 announced that it would release 5 million barrels from the strategic reserve as part of a coordinated effort with other crude oil importing countries to stabilise the price of crude oil.

International Energy Agency (IEA)

• The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation.
• It was established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis.
• The IEA was initially dedicated to responding to physical disruptions in the supply of oil, as well as serving as an information source on statistics about the international oil market and other energy sectors.
• It is best known for the publication of its annual World Energy Outlook.
• Membership: Only OECD member states can become members of the IEA. In 2022, Lithuania joined the IEA and became its 31st member.

Ministry of Environment informed Rajya Sabha about the Indian Tent Turtles.

• The Indian tent turtle (Pangshura tentoria) is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae. The species is endemic to India and Bangladesh.
• The preferred habitats of P. tentoria are freshwater rivers and swamps.
• Indian tent turtle is listed in Schedule –I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and is thereby provided the highest degree of protection.
• There are no reports to indicate that the Indian tent turtle is on the verge of extinction due to illegal mining in Narmada River.
• IUCN Status: Least Concern.
• CITES Status: Appendix II.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, EOS-02 satellite will be launched in second quarter of 2022

• EOS-02 is Technology demonstration satellite for various new technologies with applications that include agriculture, forestry, geology, hydrology, miniaturised power electronics, reaction wheels etc. and forming the payload for SSLV-1.
• EOS-01: Earth Observation satellite meant for Agriculture, Forestry & disaster management support
• EOS-02: Technology demonstration satellite for various new technologies with applications that include agriculture, forestry, geology, hydrology etc. and forming the payload for SSLV-1.
• EOS-03 : First Agile Earth Observation satellite in Geostationary orbit and applications which include near real time imaging, quick monitoring of natural disasters, spectral signatures for agriculture, forestry etc.
• EOS-04 : Radar Imaging satellite meant to provide high quality images under all weather conditions for applications such as Agriculture, Forestry & Plantations, Soil Moisture & Hydrology and Flood Mapping.
• EOS-05 : Earth Observation Satellite in the Geostationary Orbit.
• EOS-06 : Earth Observation satellite meant for applications, which include ocean related services and advisories towards potential fishing zone forecast , ocean state forecast