Female circumcision issue goes to Constitution Bench

 Why in news?

The Supreme Court referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench petitions seeking a declaration that the practice of female circumcision or ‘khafz,’ prevalent in the Dawoodi Bohra sect, amounts to female genital mutilation (FGM) and is a violation of women’s right to life and dignity.

What supreme court said earlier?

• At hearings, Justice Chandrachud had observed that circumcision leaves permanent, emotional and mental scars in a young girl.
• The Chief Justice had orally observed that the Constitution does not allow a person to cause injury to another.
• The Bench had said the practice should be tested in the light of constitutional morality.

What is Female genital mutilation (FGM)?

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and within communities from countries in which FGM is common.

SC to rule on barring accused in heinous crimes from polls

Why in news?

A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, is scheduled to pronounce its judgment on petitions to bar politicians facing charges of heinous crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping, from contesting elections.

What the court said?

• The Bench, including Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, Rohinton Nariman, D.Y. Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, had made it clear that the Supreme Court could not legislate for Parliament.
• Chief Justice Misra had pointed out the urgency to do something to keep criminals at bay and prevent them from contesting elections.
• The Chief Justice had voiced the Supreme Court’s anguish at the helplessness of society to prevent criminalisation of politics at the very entry-point itself.
• The CJI had pointed out that Parliament was obliged under Article 102 (1) (e) (talks about disqualification to stand as a candidate for election to the Lok Sabha from a Parliamentary Constituency) to make a law.

What does the constitution say?

• Currently, under the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act, lawmakers cannot contest elections only after their conviction in a criminal case.
• Section 8 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951 disqualifies a person convicted with a sentence of two years or more from contesting elections. But those under trial continued to be eligible to contest elections. The Lily Thomas case (2013), however, ended this unfair advantage.

Mosquito population made extinct with genetic tweak

 Why in news?

Scientists have succeeded for the first time in wiping out an entire population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the lab using a gene editing tool to programme their extinction.

Details

• So-called gene drive technology works by forcing evolution’s hand, ensuring that an engineered trait is passed down to a higher proportion of offspring — across many generations — than would have occurred naturally.
• In experiments with the species Anopheles gambiae, scientists at Imperial College London tweaked a gene known as doublesex so that more females in each generation could no longer bite or reproduce.
• After only eight generations, there were no females left and the population collapsed due to lack of offspring.
• The next step will be to test the technology in a confined laboratory setting that mimics a tropical environment.

India’s 100th airport opens in Sikkim

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the first airport in Sikkim.
• With this, the number of functional airports in the country went up to 100.
• The airport at Pakyong, about 30 km from Gangtok and surrounded by mountains, is a major boost to connectivity in the mountainous State.
• The airport would be linked to the Union government’s UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) regional connectivity scheme and the airfare for about an hour would come to ₹2,500.

Severe acute malnutrition

 Why in news?

The National Technical Board on Nutrition (NTBN) has approved guidelines proposed by WCD Ministry for severe acute malnutrition. The measures are part of the community-based health management of children suffering from SAM.

What are the Guidelines?

• Severely malnourished children must be fed freshly cooked food prepared from locally available cereals, pulses and vegetables. This is to be distributed by anganwadi centres, as part of the country’s first-ever guidelines for nutritional management of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM).
• The guidelines outline the role of anganwadi workers and auxillary nurse midwives (ANMs) in identifying severely wasted children. According to the recommendations, anganwadi workers have to provide modified morning snacks, hot cooked meals and take home ration for SAM children.
• They have to segregate those with oedema or medical complications and sending them to the nearest health facility or nutrition rehabilitation centres. The remaining children are enrolled into “community based management”. This includes provision of nutrition, continuous monitoring of growth, administration of antibiotics and micro-nutrients as well as counselling sessions and imparting of nutrition and health education.
• The morning snacks and hot-cooked meals, which are served at anganwadis to children between the age of three to six years, should be “prepared freshly and served at the centralised kitchen/ anganwadi centres. Locally available cereals, pulses, green leafy vegetables and tubers, vitamin C rich fruits, as well as fresh milk and 3-4 eggs every week” have also been prescribed.
• Importantly, the government has also revised the method to be used to measure wasting and advised calculating weight based on the height of children instead of the mid-upper arm circumference.

What is severe acute malnutrition?

Severe acute malnutrition is the most extreme and visible form of undernutrition. Its face is a child – frail and skeletal – who requires urgent treatment to survive.

Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) Mission

Why in news?

India successfully conducted an interceptor missile test off the Odisha coast, achieving a major milestone in developing a two-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system. The interceptor was launched from Abdul Kalam Island, earlier known as Wheeler Island of the Integrated Test Range (ITR).

About Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) mission

• PDV mission is for engaging the targets in the exo-atmosphere region at an altitude above 50 km of the earth’s atmosphere DRDO.
• The PDV is slated to replace the existing Prithvi Air Defense (PAD)/Pradyumna Ballistic Missile Interceptor, which has a maximum interception altitude of 80 kilometers.
• The new two-stage solid-fueled PDV interceptor is fitted with an Imaging Infrared (IIR) seeker, developed by DRDO, to distinguish between incoming warheads and decoys.
• It is guided by high-accuracy Inertial Navigation System (INS) supported by Redundant Micro Navigation System for estimating point of interception.

World Wildlife Foundation’s (WWF) ‘Tx2’ programme

 Why in news?

Nepal is set to become the first country in the world to double its tiger population as part of the World Wildlife Foundation’s (WWF) ‘Tx2’ programme which aims to double the number of tigers all over the world.

Details

• The success of Nepal in doubling tiger numbers has been largely attributed to the country’s political commitment and the adoption of innovative tools and approaches towards tiger conservation.
• Nepal was the first country to achieve global standards in managing tiger conservation areas, an accreditation scheme governed by the Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CA|TS).

 About ‘Tx2’ programme

• The World Wildlife Foundation had launched its ambitious TX2 programme at the St Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010.
• The programme aims to double the world tiger population by 2022, which is the year of the tiger in the Chinese calendar.

Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha

 Why in news?

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the centenary celebrations of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha on September 22, 2018.

About Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha

• The organisation was established by Annie Besant in 1918 with support from Mahatma Gandhi, who became the founder president of the Sabha, who held the post till his death.
• In 1964, the institution was recognised by the Indian Government as one of the Institutes of National Importance.
• It was established to propagate the study of Hindi in the then Madras Presidency and princely states of Banganapalle, Cochin, Hyderabad, Mysore, Pudukkottai, Sanduru and Travancore.
• The first Hindi class was taken by Gandhi’s son Devdas Gandhi.

NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft

Why in news?

NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft has beamed back a selfie to mark its four years orbiting Mars and studying the upper atmosphere of the red planet.

Background

MAVEN completed its primary mission in November 2015 and has been operating in an extended mission since that time, continuing its investigation of Mars’ upper atmosphere and exploring additional opportunities for science that the new relay orbit will bring.

About MAVEN mission

• Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission was developed by NASA to study the Martian atmosphere while orbiting Mars. MAVEN was launched aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle.
• Mission goals include determining how the planet’s atmosphere and water, presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time.
• MAVEN mission has four primary scientific objectives:
• Determine the role that loss of volatiles to space from the Martian atmosphere has played through time.
• Determine the current state of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the solar wind.
• Determine the current rates of escape of neutral gases and ions to space and the processes controlling them.
• Determine the ratios of stable isotopes in the Martian atmosphere.