Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War, dies aged 91

• Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – 2022) was a Russian and Soviet politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union.
• As the country''s head of state from 1988 to 1991, he served as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990 and President of the Soviet Union from 1990 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
• Ideologically, Gorbachev initially adhered to Marxism–Leninism, but he moved towards social democracy by the early 1990s.
• Gorbachev believed significant reform was necessary, particularly after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
• He withdrew from the Soviet–Afghan War and embarked on summits with United States president Ronald Reagan to limit nuclear weapons and end the Cold War.
• Domestically, his policy of glasnost ("openness") allowed for enhanced freedom of speech and press, while his perestroika ("restructuring") sought to decentralize economic decision-making to improve efficiency.
• The recipient of a wide range of awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, he was widely praised for his pivotal role in ending the Cold War.

Nearly 60% of fake money seized in 2021 were of ₹2,000 denomination

• Of the fake Indian currency notes with a face value of ₹20.39 crore seized in 2021, ₹12.18 crore was in the denomination of ₹2,000.
• The new ₹2,000 and ₹500 currency notes were introduced in 2016 after the old ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes were scrapped by the Union government. The government had said that curbing of fake notes was one of the primary objectives of the 2016 demonetisation exercise.
• Post-2016, there has been an increase in seizure of fake money, the NCRB data reveal.
• The highest recovery of fake ₹2,000 notes was made in Tamil Nadu (₹5 crore), followed by Kerala (₹1.8 crore) and Andhra Pradesh (₹1 crore).

Process underway to ensure commercial availability of Lumpy Skin disease vaccine

• Lumpi-ProVac has been developed by the National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar, Haryana, in collaboration with the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar (Bareilly). The vaccine was launched earlier this month by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
• Lumpy skin disease is an infectious viral disease of cattle, which often occurs in epizootic form. The disease is characterised by the eruption of nodules in the skin, which may cover the whole of the animal’s body.

Solomon Islands bans foreign navies from docking, in blow to U.S., U.K.

• The decision comes amid concerns over the Solomons’ growing ties with China in recent years, switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019 and signing a security pact with the Asian power in April.
• Western governments are wary that the islands could provide China with a military foothold in a strategically important region.
• Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu. Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal.

SC notice to NHRC, others on pleas challenging constitutional validity of polygamy, nikah halala

• The Supreme Court also issued notice in a separate petition in the batch, which said the personal law practices violated Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code.
• The section makes “marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife” an offence punishable with imprisonment up to seven years and fine. The case will be listed after the Dasara holidays.
• Petitioners argue that polygamy and nikah halala (bar against remarriage with divorced husband without an intervening marriage with another man) are unconstitutional.

Delhi Police first force to make collection of forensic evidence mandatory

• The order was issued hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the Police Headquarters here. Since Delhi is a Union Territory, its police force is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The order comes following a push by Mr. Shah who had said the government was going to overhaul the British-era Indian Penal Code and one of the changes being considered was making collection of forensic evidence compulsory in criminal cases punishable by more than six years.
• “The era of third degree torture is over. Custodial torture has roots in colonial India. Conviction of criminals can be achieved based on forensic evidence that is irrefutable,” Mr. Shah had said.

Telangana tops inflation charts at 8.32%

• There are wide disparities in the pace of price rise experienced by consumers across the country, with a dozen States clocking an average inflation of less than 6% and another 12 States averaging more than 7% through 2022 so far.
• Headline inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index has averaged 6.8% in the first seven months of 2022, well above the 6% upper tolerance threshold set by policy makers.
• However, consumers in Telangana, West Bengal and Sikkim faced the steepest spike in prices, with their combined retail inflation for rural and urban areas averaging 8.32%, 8.06%, and 8.01%, respectively.
• Smaller States such as Manipur, Goa and Meghalaya have had an average inflation of less than 4% through this period, at 1.07%, 3.66%, and 3.84%, respectively.

Challenging the Special Marriage Act, 1954

• The Supreme Court dismissed a writ petition challenging the Constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 under which couples seek refuge for inter-faith and inter-caste marriages.
• The writ petition has called the provisions under the SMA violative of the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution as they require couples to give a notice of 30 days before the date of marriage inviting objections from the public.
• These public notices have been used by anti-social elements to harass couples getting married.

Effects of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Civil Aviation

• After nearly two years of COVID-19 lull, the increased international air traffic has helped Chennai airport climb one rank up to become the fifth busiest airport in the country after Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
• Till February 2014, Chennai airport held onto being the third busiest in the country and post March, Bengaluru airport overtook and continues to retain that position. Hyderabad and Kolkata airports too recorded sharp growth, relegating Chennai to the sixth spot.
• Interestingly, if one looks at the international passenger traffic data for July, Chennai airport stood third behind Delhi and Mumbai; it overtook Bengaluru and Hyderabad, recording 4.29 lakh passengers.
• But Chennai lags behind other metro cities in terms of domestic passenger traffic. In July, the Chennai airport had only 10.2 lakh domestic air passengers, far behind Delhi (36.5 lakh passengers), Mumbai (21.5 lakh passengers), Bengaluru (19.1 lakh passengers), Hyderabad (13.1 lakh passengers) and Kolkata (11.99 lakh passengers).