Supreme Court axes 51-year-old curb, single women get equal abortion rights

• The judgment came in an appeal by a person who wanted to terminate her pregnancy before her term completed 24 weeks.
• The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 prohibits unmarried women who are between 20 and 24 weeks’ pregnant to abort with the help of registered doctors.
• The Supreme Court held that the rights of reproductive autonomy, dignity and privacy give an unmarried woman the right of choice as to whether or not to bear a child on a similar footing as that of a married woman.

UNESCO publishes a list of 50 exclusive Indian heritage textile crafts

• Toda embroidery and Sungadi from Tamil Nadu, Himroo from Hyderabad, and Bandha tie and dye from Sambalpur in Odisha were some of the textiles that made the cut.
• Some of the iconic handcrafted textiles documented from north India are Khes from Panipat, Chamba rumals from Himachal Pradesh, Thigma or wool tie and dye from Ladakh, and Awadh Jamdani from Varanasi.
• From the south, Ilkal and Lambadi or Banjara embroidery from Karnataka, Sikalnayakanpet Kalamkari from Thanjavur have been included.
• Kunbi weaves from Goa, Mashru weaves and Patola from Gujarat, Himroo from Maharashtra and Garad-Koirial from West Bengal also find a place among the 50 iconic textiles.

Doctors need not disclose the identities of minors seeking abortion: SC

• A registered medical practitioner (RMP) is obliged under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act to report to the police when a minor approaches him or her for an abortion.
• In many cases minors and their guardians opt to go to an unqualified doctor for abortion rather than risk being involved in criminal proceedings following a report under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act.
• If there is an insistence on the disclosure of the name of the minor in the report under Section 19(1) of POCSO, minors may be less likely to seek out RMPs for safe termination of their pregnancies under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act.
• The court said it was necessary to harmonise the provisions of the MTP and POCSO laws to enable minors to approach an RMP for abortion without the fear of getting exposed.
• It would also protect the statutory obligation of the RMP to report the offence under the POCSO Act and the rights of privacy and reproductive autonomy of the minor under Article 21 of the Constitution.

US announces $810 mn in new funding for Pacific Islands at summit

• The White House said $600 million will be in the form of a 10-year package to clean up and develop dirty waters to support the tuna industry, while the United States will also expand climate and development aid and its diplomatic presence.
• Biden will also address the first-ever Washington summit of Pacific Island nations, including 12 heads of state or government, in hopes of using a personal touch to reconnect with a region that has been tied closely to the United States since the Second World War.
• With the U.S. until now often seen as taking the region for granted, China has asserted itself strongly in recent years through investment, police training and, most controversially, a security pact with the Solomon Islands.
• The Biden administration also announced that the United States would recognise Cook Islands and Niue, a self-governing territory whose foreign and defence policies and currency are linked to New Zealand. The step will allow the United States to increase its diplomatic footprint in the Cook Island and Niue, which have fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.

India climbs to 40th rank in Global Innovation Index of World Intellectual Property Organization

• The World Intellectual Property Organization yesterday released the Global Innovation Index 2022 in which Switzerland has emerged as the world''s most innovative economy for the 12th consecutive year.
• Switzerland leads globally in innovation outputs, and specifically in patents by origin, software spending, high-tech manufacturing, production, and export complexity. The second position was secured by the US followed by Sweden, the UK, and the Netherlands.

Government defers proposal to make 6 airbags mandatory in cars by one year to October 1, 2023

• The decision has been taken considering the global supply chain constraints being faced by the auto industry and its impact on the macroeconomic scenario.
• The government had earlier planned to make six airbags mandatory in eight-seater vehicles for enhanced safety of occupants from October 1, 2022.

CBI launched Operation ‘GARUDA’ to dismantle drug networks

• The CBI is doing this in close coordination with enforcement actions across international jurisdictions through INTERPOL and Narcotics Control Bureau with special focus on Indian Ocean Region.
• Operation GARUDA seeks to target drug networks with international footprints for action against handlers, operatives, production zones and support elements.
• During the Operation, searches, seizures and arrests were carried out across multiple states and UTs in the country. Apart from CBI and NCB, eight states and UT Police including Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Manipur have also participated in this Operation.

Conveyor belts in CCL mines to reduce carbon emission

• CIL chairman reviewed the preparations for commissioning conveyor belts across several projects of its Ranchi-based subsidiary, Central Coalfields Limited (CCL).
• The CIL has introduced a concept, called ‘first-mile connectivity’, under which the traditional way of transporting coal from the silos and washeries to railway sidings will be replaced by large conveyor belts.

Behind the ‘world’s first CNG terminal’ at Bhavnagar, Gujarat

• This is a three-year-old project that is expected to infuse Rs 4,000 crore in developing the existing port infrastructure at Bhavnagar.
• Why is the Bhavnagar port important? The Bhavnagar port is in close vicinity to the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) and is expected to serve the industries that set up base in the region. It is already connected to the northern hinterland through a railway line that extends to the existing berths at the port.
• It is expected to be made operational by 2026. The proposed port terminal’s capacity is 4.65 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA), of which the capacity of the CNG terminal will be 0.3 MTPA.

Vande Bharat train PM Modi inaugurated

• PM Modi had also inaugurated the Vande Bharat when it was first launched in Delhi in 2019. Then, however, he had not taken a ride on it.
• The name may be the same, but this train, the third in the Vande Bharat series, is being dubbed ‘Vande Bharat 2.0’, because of certain upgrades it has received over its predecessors, the two existing trains running from Delhi to Varanasi and Katra.
• For starters, this train reaches a top speed of 160 km per hour in 129 seconds, around 16 seconds faster than its predecessor. This is because this train weighs around 392 tonnes, 38 tonnes lighter than the last one, and needs to run almost a km less to attain its top speed.
• It also has a better riding index (lower the better) of 3.26 at 180 km per hour, from the earlier 3.87. At a standard speed of 115 km per, its riding index is 3.26, better than 3.62 attained at the same speed by the earlier version.
• Riding index is a global benchmark for rolling stock calculated during trials by measuring vertical/lateral acceleration. In layman’s terms, how comfortable and steady the passenger is while the train is in motion is roughly the idea behind a riding index.