Two United States cities declare support for orcas'' legal rights

• Two cities in United States’ state of Washington have taken steps to formally declare their support for legal rights for a group of endangered orcas. City of Port Townsend and City of Gig Harbor in the Pacific Northwest have signed proclamations to secure the inherent rights of the Southern Resident Orcas.
• Orcas are found across the world and are also known as “killer whales”.
• It is the largest member of the Delphinidae family, or dolphins.
• Members of this family include all dolphin species, as well as other larger species, such as long-finned pilot whales and short-finned pilot whales, whose common names also contain "whale" instead of "dolphin”.
• Killer whales are highly social, and most live in social groups called pods (groups of maternally related individuals seen together more than half the time).
• Killer whales rely on underwater sound to feed, communicate, and navigate.

Southern Resident killer whales:

• Southern Resident killer whales are the only endangered population of killer whales in the United States.
• Despite federal legal protections for nearly two decades, the population of the orcas continues to decline and is critically endangered.
• Only 73 Southern Resident Orcas now exist in the wild.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra says, India is not reliant on China for accessing rare earth minerals

• Rare Earth Elements or Rare Earth Metals are a set of 17 elements in the periodic table — the 15 lanthanides, plus scandium and yttrium, which tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides, and have similar chemical properties.
• They used in production in a huge number of sectors, including renewable energy technology, oil refinery, electronics, and the glass industry.
• Rare Earth elements are used in space shuttle components, jet engine turbines, and drones.
  • Cerium, the most abundant Rare Earth element, is essential to NASA’s Space Shuttle Programme.
• Although called "rare", they are actually found relatively abundantly in the Earth''s crust.
• However, they are hazardous to extract, and there are relatively few places in the world that mine or produce them.
• According to the Rare Earth Technology Alliance (RETA), the estimated size of the Rare Earth sector is between $10 billion and $15 billion. About 100,000-110,000 tonnes of Rare Earth elements are produced annually around the world.

Reserves of rare-earth minerals:

• China has the largest reserve (37 percent), followed by Brazil and Vietnam (18 percent each), Russia (15 percent), and the remaining countries (12 percent).
• India has the world’s fifth-largest reserves of rare earth elements (contributing a total value of nearly $200 billion to the Indian economy), nearly twice as much as Australia.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra says, ISRO has taken initiatives for feasibility studies on missions to Venus as well as Aeronomy studies

• The term “aeronomy,” coined and introduced about 60 years ago.
• It refers to the scientific study of the upper atmospheric regions of the Earth and other solar system bodies.
• It includes the distribution of temperature, density, and chemical constituents, and the chemical reactions that occur.
• It also includes the studies of aurora, airglow, the ionosphere, Van Allen radiation belts, cosmic rays, and radiative and photochemical phenomena.
• It covers the chemistry, dynamics and energy balance of both neutral and charged particles.

Punjab’s sacrilege Bills pending with Centre: The provisions, debate

• The Punjab Assembly had unanimously passed The Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, and The Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill in 2018.
• It stipulates punishment upto life imprisonment for injury, damage or sacrilege to Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagwat Gita, Holy Quran and Holy Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings of the people.
• The Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, seeks to amend the IPC by inserting Section 295AA.
• Under the existing Section 295 A [Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs], a convict can be awarded a maximum of three years’ imprisonment with or without fine.

What is the Governor’s function in passing a Bill?

• Under Article 200, the Governor may
  • grant assent
  • withhold assent
  • return for reconsideration by the Legislature or
  • reserve for the consideration of the President any Bill passed by the State legislature and presented to him for assent.
• There is no timeframe fixed in the Constitution for any of these functions.
• The Constitution makes it mandatory that the Governor should reserve for the President’s consideration if, in his opinion a Bill that “so derogates from the powers of the High Court as to endanger the position which that Court is by this Constitution designed to fill”.
• In addition, the governor can also reserve the bill if it is of the following nature:
  • Ultra-vires, that is, against the provisions of the Constitution.
  • Opposed to the Directive Principles of State Policy.
  • Against the larger interest of the country.
  • Of grave national importance.
  • Dealing with compulsory acquisition of property under the Article of the Constitution.

NTPC Bongaigaon observes ''National Energy Conservation Day''

• The purpose is to showcase the achievements of the nation in energy efficiency and conservation.

National Energy Conservation Award 2022:

• To raise awareness about energy efficiency and its conservation, the BEE, under the guidance of Ministry of Power, recognizes and encourages endeavours of industrial units, institutions, and establishments in reducing energy consumption by felicitating them with Energy Conservation Awards on the occasion of National Energy Conservation Day, celebrated on 14th December every year.

National Energy Efficiency Innovation Awards (NEEIA) 2022:

• To recognize outstanding work and innovative minds of India in the area of Energy Efficiency, NEEIA awards were started in the year 2021.
• The awards are evaluated based on Replicability, Affordability, Reliability, Impact on Energy Savings and Impact on Environment & Sustainability.

National Painting Competition 2022:

• To continually bring change in society towards conservation and efficient use of energy, the Ministry of Power has been organizing the National Painting Competition on Energy Conservation since 2005.
• The competition is held in three stages, namely, School, State and National Level.

EV-YATRA PORTAL:

• Bureau of Energy Efficiency has developed a Mobile Application to facilitate in-vehicle navigation to the nearest public EV charger, a website to disseminate information on various central and state-level initiatives to promote e-mobility in the country, and a web-portal to enable CPOs to register their charging details securely into the National Online Database.
• The Mobile application titled “EV Yatra” has been designed and developed to facilitate in-vehicle navigation to the nearest public EV charger.

India has highest number of cervical cancer cases in Asia: Lancet study

• India reported 1,23,907 new cases of cervical cancer and 77,348 deaths, according to the study.
• Though the incidence of cervical cancer has decreased in many parts of the world —notably in Latin America, Asia, Western Europe, and North America — over the past three decades, the burden remains high in many low- and middle-income countries.
• The study found major declines in cases in Latin American countries including Brazil, Colombia, and Costa Rica; Asian nations like India, Thailand, and South Korea; and Poland, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic in Eastern Europe.
• Countries with the largest average declines in incidence rates per year include Brazil (8%), Slovenia (7%), Kuwait (7%), and Chile (6%).
• The highest increases in rates were seen in Latvia (4%), Japan (3%), Ireland (3%), Sweden (3%), Norway (2%), Northern Ireland (2%), Estonia (2%), and China (2%).

Database:

• The study used the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) 2020 database to estimate the burden of cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates in 185 countries.

Incidence:

• In 2020, overall incidence was 13 per 1,00,000 women; mortality was 7 per 1,00,000 women.
• As many as 172 out of the 185 countries saw more than the 4 cases per 1,00,000 women per year threshold for elimination set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
• The development of effective vaccination against the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, and screening programmes have made cervical cancer a largely preventable disease.
• In 2020, the WHO announced a target to accelerate the elimination of the disease as a public health problem, aiming to reduce incidence to less than 4 cases per 1,00,000 women per year in every country by 2030.

Governments around the world jailing record number of journalists: Committee to Protect Journalists

• This figure is a new global high that overtakes last year’s record by 20%.
• New ‘fake news’ laws, criminal defamation, and abuse of judiciary are also tactics used to clamp down on press freedom.
• This year’s top five jailers of journalists were Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey, and Belarus, respectively.
• The report stated that a key driver behind authoritarian governments’ increasingly oppressive efforts to stifle the media was the intent “to keep the lid on broiling discontent in a world disrupted by COVID-19 and the economic fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine”.
• India draw criticism over its use of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, a preventive detention law, to keep few Kashmiri journalists behind bars after they were granted court-ordered bail in separate cases”.

Repression of minorities:

• The report noted that in Iran and Turkey – both classified as “worst offenders” – it was Kurdish journalists who bore the brunt of government crackdown.
• In China, too, another ‘worst offender’, many imprisoned journalists were Uighurs from Xinjiang.

The Committee to Protect Journalists:

• The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide.
• Its headquarters in New York City.

Assam govt launches ''Orunodoi 2.0'', scheme to benefit over 1 mn people

• It is a scheme of the Government of Assam is launched on 2nd October 2020.
• Under ‘Orunodoi’, monetary benefits have been envisaged for more than 24 lac poor household in the state.
• Government of Assam will provide monthly financial assistance to the eligible beneficiaries for procuring medicines, pulses, and sugar.
• The schematic benefit has been enhanced from 830/- to Rs. 1000/ Women.
• Women being the primary caretakers of the family are kept as beneficiaries of the scheme.
• ‘Orunodoi’ scheme will provide Financial Assistance of Rs. 1000 per month through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.
• The financial outlay for Orunodoi is ₹4,142 crore per annum.

Beneficiaries:

• The preliminary selection of the beneficiaries will be done at the level of Gaon Panchayat (GP) Village Council Development Committee (VCDC) Urban Local Body (ULB) based on eligibility/ineligibility conditions.

Geographical Indication tag sought for Beypore Uru

• It is a wooden dhow (ship / sailing boat / sailing vessel) handcrafted by skilled artisans and carpenters in Beypore, Kerala.
• It is mainly made of Malabar teak, probably the biggest handicraft in the world.
• Beypore urus are purely made of wood, without using any modern techniques, and traditional methods are used to launch this ship into the water.
• The carpenters manually join each piece of wood to build the large boat.
• Uru making in Beypore is a centuries old tradition that was established since India began its maritime trade with Mesopotamia.
• Beypore is a town located on the banks of the Chaliyar River.
• According to records, Uru ships have been in high demand for around 2,000 years.

Khalasis:

• The Khalasis are the traditional artisans responsible for the manufacture of the Uru.
• They are the ones who launch these urus into the water, setting them ready for travel.
• Arab traders were especially enamoured of them, and were among the first major patrons of these vessels.
• It takes at least four years and the effort of over forty Khalasis to build an Uru.

UK, France, and UAE extend support for India''s permanent membership at UNSC

• The United Nations Charter established six main organs of the United Nations, including the UN Security Council (UNSC).
• UNSC has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
• Under the Charter of the United Nations, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.
• The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression.
• The Security Council has permanent residence at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

Powers:

• Establishment of peacekeeping operations
• Establishment of international sanctions
• Authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions

Members:

• The U.N. Charter provides for 15 members on the UNSC:
  • 5 permanent members known as P5, including United Kingdom, China, France, Russia and the US.
  • They have veto power over decisions of UNSC.
• 10 non-permanent members
• UNSC non-permanent membership:
  • Each year the 193-member General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for a two-year term at the UNSC.
  • The 10 non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis:
    • 5 for African and Asian countries (3 are for Africa and 2 for Asia)
      • Note: There is an informal understanding between the Africa and Asia to reserve one for an Arab country. The Africa and Asia Pacific group takes turns every two years to put up an Arab candidate.
    • 1 for Eastern European countries
    • 2 for Latin American and Caribbean countries
    • 2 for Western European and other countries