Protect right of ordinary people to bail, SC tells judges

SC gave a clarion call to judges to protect personal liberty and the right of ordinary people to bail, saying liberty is not a gift for the few.

• A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra declared “Deprivation of liberty even for a single day is one day too many”.
• Justice Chandrachud said that the State should not be allowed to use criminal law as a ruse to harass citizens.
• The Supreme Court reminded that the common citizens without means or resources to move the High Courts or the Supreme Court were languishing in jails as undertrials.
• It was highlighted that 91,568 bail pleas were pending in High Courts, while 1.96 lakh bail applications continued to wait for a hearing in the district courts.
• The judgment focused on the importance of the district judiciary.
  • Justice Chandrachud said the district judiciary was only “subordinate” in the hierarchy.
  • It was less to none when it came to saving the lives of citizens or doing justice for them.
  • He asserted that the district judiciary must be alive to the situation as it prevails on the ground – in the jails and police stations where human dignity has no protector.

Hafiz Saeed – the chief of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Mumbai terror attack mastermind has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan in two more terror financing cases.

Willow warbler has been sighted for 1st time in India in Thiruvananthapuram.

•  one of the longest migrating small birds that breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic.
• It migrates to sub-Saharan Africa during early winter.
• 17 species of warblers have been recorded from Kerala and the willow warbler forms the 18th warbler and 533rd species of bird to be recorded from the State

FArmer’s displeasure

Minimum Support Price (MSP)

1. Guaranteed Government procurement had secured protection of the farmers from demand and supply shock but the new farm bills have cast doubts over the future of MSP.
2. On paper, seek to promote more choices for the farmers, seek to establish a ‘Free market economy’ for their produce with a unified national market.
3. However, with the dismantling of MSP and mandis, the farmers will be exposed to the contracts with private players with little bargaining power.
4. Farmers need a strong unequivocal commitment from the Government with regards to MSP and it has to be more than just verbal assurances.

Concerns

1. Deliberation – Parliament passing the farm bills that have a significant impact on the agrarian sector without much deliberation in the Legislature has raised questions about the lack of political consensus and the need for such hastiness.
2. Consultation – Agriculture sector employs > 50% of the total workforce in India and is the backbone of India’s rural sector, but the farmers and the agriculture trade unions have been kept out of the loop and their views hadn’t been elicited while drafting the bill.
3. Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020
   1. Farmers want an immediate withdrawal. Farmers believe that this amendment will spell an end to the subsidized electricity.
   2. Though subsidized power has led to environmental concerns such as depleting water tables, taking such a major reform without keeping the farming community and its representatives in the loop has heightened fear and distrust amongst the farming community

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has 57 states over 4 continents

1. It is the second-largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations.
2. Its Permanent Secretariat is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
3. The OIC has permanent delegations to the European Union.

 Lifetime risk of diabetes in metros alarming: study

 Men- 55% and Women- 65% aged 20 years in India will likely develop diabetes, with most of those cases (around 95%) likely to be type 2 diabetes.
The researchers noted that — urbanisation, decreasing diet quality and decreased levels of physical activity — are all contributing to this hidden epidemic

PM–>Bengaluru Tech Summit 2020–> ‘technology first’ is India’s governance model.

• Addressing the summit, the Australian PM said India and Australia had unlimited possibilities of working together in space research, critical minerals, 5G, Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing and much more.
• The two countries are working together for an open, free, safe and secure Internet.
• Australia’s PM said that Australia-India cyber and critical technologies partnership grant programme would be soon launched.
• They have already signed the landmark Australia-India Technology Framework agreement on cyber and cyber-enabled technology.

5 eyes

1. It is an anglophone intelligence alliance.
2. It comprises Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
3. The “Five Eyes” are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement.