Cabinet approves Amendments to the National Policy on Biofuels

• The policy to introduce 20% ethanol in petrol will take effect from April 1, 2023.
• India achieved 9.45% ethanol blending as on March 13, 2022. The Centre projects that this will reach 10% by the end of financial year 2022.
• Immense Benefits could accrue to the country by 20% ethanol blending by 2025, such as saving ₹30,000 crore of foreign exchange per year, increased energy security, lowered carbon emissions, better air quality, self-reliance, better use of damaged foodgrains, increased farmers’ incomes and investment opportunities.
• The new policy would allow more feed stock for producing biofuel and foster the development of indigenous technologies.
• A 20% blend could require some changes and may even drive up the prices of vehicles.
• A greater percentage of blending could also mean more land being diverted for water-intensive crops such as sugar cane, which the government currently subsidises.

Supreme Court allows OBC quota for Madhya Pradesh local body elections

• It said the Backward Classes Commission had submitted a revised report that satisfied the triple test for reservation for OBCs and gave a break-up of the reservation local body-wise.
• The SC in its March 4, 2021 judgment in Vilas Krishnarao Gawli judgment had provided for the triple test benchmark for states in quantifying OBC quota in local body elections.
• The three tests are:
  • To set up a dedicated Commission to conduct contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua local bodies, within the State;
  • To specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body wise in light of recommendations of the Commission, so as not to fall foul of over breadth;
  • In any case such reservation shall not exceed aggregate of 50% of the total seats reserved in favour of SCs/STs/OBCs taken together.

Finland, Sweden submit applications to join NATO

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European states, the United States, and Canada.
• The organization, headquartered in Brussels, implements the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed on 4 April 1949.
• The reversal of the Nordic countries'' long-standing policy of non-alignment came amidst the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The membership push could represent the most significant expansion of NATO in decades, doubling its border with Russia.
• But the applications face resistance from NATO member Turkey, which accuses the Nordic neighbours of harbouring anti-Turkish extremists.

Intelligence Bureau gets ₹138 crore

• The funds are meant to upgrade the multi-agency centre (MAC), a common counter-terrorism grid under the IB conceptualised in 2001 after the Kargil war.
• The idea behind the MAC was to create an institutional memory on terrorism and act as a platform to analyse the information on terror-related activities.
• The MAC had the main server in Delhi which is linked to the subsidiary multi-agency centre (SMAC) under the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIBs) in all States, which further disseminates information to the intelligence branch or wing of the respective State police forces.
• Plans are now afoot to link it to the district office of the Superintendent of Police which has been pending for more than a decade now. If MAC is linked to the district SP’s office, relevant information on terror can be fed in the system leading to the expansion of terror database.
• As many as 28 organisations including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), armed forces and State police are part of the platform and various security agencies share real time intelligence inputs on MAC.

Past seven years warmest on record

• La Nina is a cooling of surface temperatures in the Central Pacific. While this had a temporary cooling effect, it did not reverse the overall trend of rising temperatures. The average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.11 (± 0.13) degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.
• Four key climate change indicators — greenhouse gas concentrations, sea-level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification — set new records in 2021, according to the report.
• Extreme weather led to economic damage estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars and triggered shocks for food, water security and displacement that worsened in 2022.
• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics.
• It was established in 1950 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Indian Navy to commission 2nd squadron of P-8I aircraft

• During the mission, long range surveillance, electronic warfare, imagery intelligence, ASW missions and Search & Rescue capabilities employing the state-of-the-art mission suite and sensors were demonstrated.
• The induction of P8I aircraft commencing 2013, have significantly enhanced Indian Navy''s persistent surveillance operations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• The P-8I’s state-of-the-art sensors such as multi-mode radars, electronic intelligence system, sonobuoys, electro-optic, infrared camera and advanced weapons provide the Indian Navy with a very potent platform with significant capability to deter and destroy.
• These aircraft have been utilised along the International Border, the Line of Control and the Line of Actual Control to keep an eye on adversaries’ movement.

Article 142 of the Constitution under which Supreme Court ordered release of Perarivalan

About Article 142 of Constitution:

• Title: Enforcement of decrees, orders of Supreme Court and orders as to discovery, etc.

• Provisions: This article has 2 provisions –

  • 142(1): The Supreme Court may pass an order for doing complete justice.
  • 142(2): It confers three different powers on the Supreme Court. They are:
    • Securing the attendance of persons before it.
    • Discovery and production of documents and
    • Investigation and punishment of contempt of itself.

  About A-142(1): Doing Complete Justice

• The objective of Article 142(1) is that the Supreme Court must not be dependent on the executive for the enforcement of its decrees and orders.

• Such dependence would otherwise violate the principles of independence of the judiciary and separation of powers, both of which are part of the basic structure of the Constitution.

• In Supreme Court Bar Association v. Union of India (1998), it was decided that this article

  • Cannot be used to over-ride the existing law, but only to supplement the law and
  • Can be invoked for procedure purposes only.