Navy takes delivery of India''s 1st indigenous aircraft carrier ''Vikrant''

• Designed by Indian Navy''s inhouse Directorate of Naval Design (DND) and built by CSL, a Public Sector Shipyard under Ministry of Shipping (MoS), the carrier is christened after her illustrious predecessor, India''s first Aircraft Carrier which played a vital role in the 1971 war.
• The 262 mtr long carrier has a full displacement of close to 45,000 tonnes which is much larger and advanced than her predecessor. The ship is powered by four Gas Turbines totaling 88 MW power and has a maximum speed of 28 Knots.
• Built at an overall cost of close to Rs. 20,000 Crs, the project has been progressed in three Phases of contract between MoD and CSL, concluded in May 2007, Dec 2014 and Oct 2019 respectively. The ship''s keel was laid in Feb 2009, followed by launching in Aug 2013.
• With an overall indigenous content of 76%, IAC is a perfect example of the nation''s quest for "Aatma Nirbhar Bharat” and provides thrust to Government''s ''Make in India'' initiative.
• With the delivery of Vikrant, India has joined a select group of nations having the niche capability to indigenously design and build an Aircraft Carrier.
• The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier would soon be commissioned into the Indian Navy as Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vikrant which would bolster India''s position in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and its quest for a blue water Navy.

Government worried about teen pregnancies

• It added that participation of men will be encouraged in the family planning programme and that lack of access to contraceptives had been identified as a priority challenge area.
• While multiple factors have been identified that explain low contraceptive use among married adolescents and young women, two most important factors are child marriage and teenage pregnancy.
• Over 118 districts reported high percentage of teenage pregnancies and are mostly concentrated in Bihar (19), West Bengal (15), Assam (13), Maharashtra (13), Jharkhand (10), Andhra Pradesh (7), and Tripura (4).
• Additionally, over 44% of the districts in India reported high percentage of women marrying before they reach the age of 18. These districts were in Bihar (17), West Bengal (8), Jharkhand (7), Assam (4), two each in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

Govt launches 11th agricultural census 2021-22

• Agriculture Census is conducted every 5 years, which is being undertaken now after delay due to corona pandemic. The field work of agricultural census will start in August 2022.
• Agricultural Census is the main source of information on a variety of agricultural parameters at a relatively minute level, such as the number and area of operational holdings, their size, class-wise distribution, land use, tenancy and cropping pattern, etc.
• This is the first time that data collection for agricultural census will be conducted on smart phones and tablets, so that data is available in time. Most of the States have digitized their land records and surveys, which will further accelerate the collection of agricultural census data.

Singapore, US, Mauritius top countries for FDI

• It may be noted that as per the UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2022, in its analysis of the global trends in FDI inflows, India has improved one position to 7th rank among the top 20 host economies for 2021.
• India is rapidly emerging as a preferred country for foreign investments in the manufacturing sector. FDI Equity inflow in Manufacturing Sectors have increased by 76% in FY 2021-22 (USD 21.34 billion) compared to previous FY 2020-21 (USD 12.09 billion).
• Despite the ongoing pandemic and global developments, India received the highest annual FDI inflows of USD 84,835 million in FY 21-22 overtaking last year’s FDI by USD 2.87 billion. Earlier, FDI inflows increased from USD 74,391 million in FY 19-20 to USD 81,973 million in FY 20-21.

Centre to develop a capacity of 111.125 LMT of Hub and Spoke Model Silos at 249 locations across the country

• With a view to modernize storage of food grains and to ramp-up the storage capacity for food grains in India, a new model ‘Hub & Spoke’ Model for implementation in Public Private Partnership (PPP) Mode has been proposed.
• The proposed Silos will operate under Design, Build, Fund, Own & Transfer (DBFOT) (FCI’s land) and Design, Build, Fund, Own & Operate (DBFOO) (Land of concessionaire/other agency) mode, through implementing agency i.e. Food Corporation of India (FCI).
• Hub and Spoke Model is a transportation system which consolidates the transportation assets from standalone locations referred to as “Spoke” to a central location named as “Hub” for long distance transportation.
• Hubs have a dedicated railway siding and container depot facility while the transportation from Spoke to Hub is undertaken through road and from Hub to Hub via rail.
• This model by harnessing the efficiency of railway siding, promotes cost efficiency through bulk storage & movement, reduces cost and time of handling and transportation and simplifies operational complexities in addition to economic development, infrastructure development & employment generation in the country.

After the referendum: The challenges of a power grab in Tunisia

• Tunisian voters have approved a new Constitution that would turn the country back into a presidential system, institutionalising the one-man reign of President Kais Saied, who suspended the elected Parliament and awarded more powers to himself last year.
• While Mr. Saied has welcomed the result, his critics have warned that the new Constitution would erase whatever democratic gains Tunisia has made since the 2011 Arab Spring (Jasmine) revolution and push the country back into an authoritarian slide.
• The Arab Spring protests began in Tunisia in December 2010, leading to the fall of the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had been in power since 1987. Ben Ali had to flee the country in the face of the mass uprising.
• Quickly, protests spread to other Arab countries such as Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria.
• While protesters brought down the 30-year-long dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, the revolution did not last long in that country.
• In Libya, the protests against Mohammar Gaddhafi slipped into a civil war, which saw a military intervention by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
• In Bahrain, the Shia majority country ruled by a Sunni monarchy, neighbouring Saudi Arabia sent troops to crush protests in Manama’s Pearl Square.
• In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh had to relinquish power, but the country fell into a civil war, leading to the rise of the Shia Houthi rebels.
• In Syria, protests turned into a proxy civil war. President Assad seems to have won the civil war, for now.
• Tunisia was the only country that saw a peaceful transition to democracy, and with the new Constitution, it is witnessing another transition.

Google Street View comes to India, with data from local partners

• Google Street View is an immersive 360-degree view of a location captured using special cameras mounted on vehicles or on backpacks by data collectors moving around the city streets.
• The images are then patched together to create a 360-degree view which users can swipe through to get a detailed view of the location.
• It is available to view on Android and iOS using the app, or as a web view.
• In India, unlike in other markets, Google Street View is powered by images from third parties as per the National Geospatial Policy, 2021.
• Street View in India is not allowed for restricted areas like government properties, defence establishments and military areas. This means in a place like Delhi, the cantonment area will be out of bounds for Street View.

Why the govt plans to scrap the decades-old Coffee Act

• The Coffee Act, 1942 was first introduced during World War II, in order to protect the struggling Indian coffee industry from the economic downturn caused by the war.
• The government is now trying to scrap the law because the substantive portion of the Coffee Act, 1942, which deals with pooling and marketing of the commodity, have become redundant/inoperative.
• The new legislation is now primarily concerned with promoting the sale and consumption of Indian coffee, including through e-commerce platforms, with fewer government restrictions.
• It also aims at encouraging further economic, scientific and technical research in order to align the Indian coffee industry with “global best practices.”
• While the Coffee Board continues to have limited control over marketing, exporters will still require a certificate from the statutory body.

Chief Justice of India said that “rising number of media trials” are proving to be hurdles towards doing justice, and “kangaroo courts” run by the media are causing harm to the health of the democracy.

• Oxford Dictionary defines kangaroo court as “an unofficial court held by a group of people in order to try someone regarded, especially without good evidence, as guilty of a crime or misdemeanour”.
• In a less literal sense, it is used to refer to proceedings or activities where a judgement is made in a manner that is unfair, biased, and lacks legitimacy.
• The origin of the phrase is not clearly known, but it is believed to have been used from the 19th Century onwards. Why the word ‘kangaroo’ is used is also not clear, but there are several theories.
• The Collins Dictionary argues that it could be to evoke a sense that “justice progresses by leaps and bounds” in case of kangaroo court verdicts.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury refers to President as ''Rashtrapatni''

• India has had a woman President earlier. The first time this happened, there was a minor debate on the proper way to address the Head of State, apparently because “Rashtrapati”, according to some people, has a “male” connotation.
• That debate died down soon, after it was agreed that in India’s constitutional scheme, words like Rashtrapati and Sabhapati (Speaker) are understood to be gender-neutral.
• Activists and feminists objected to expressions like “Rashtrapatni” and “Rashtramata”, saying the use of such terms for a constitutional post was “patriarchal” and “gender-biased”.
• Constitutional experts argued that the word Rashtrapati, which was finalised after discussions in the Constituent Assembly, should not be changed only because India had a woman President — because the word has no gender connotations; it’s simply that ‘President’ translates into Hindi as ‘Rashtrapati’.