CURRENT AFFAIRS

Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar’s recent public criticism of the judiciary and remark that courts cannot dilute “parliamentary sovereignty” sparked a debate on the separation of powers, bringing the focus back to the “basic structure” doctrine of the Constitution.

The Central government has constituted a committee headed by Amarjeet Sinha to review the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, especially to assess the programme’s efficacy as a poverty alleviation tool.

The Supreme Court recently announced that it would examine whether minor girls, as young as 15 years, can marry on the basis of custom or personal law when such marriages are considered an offence in statutory law.

The Army has begun the process for selection of women officers for command postings in the rank of Colonel, which has so far been the domain of male officers.

The theme of UN World Water Day 2022 was ‘Groundwater, Making the Invisible Visible’ is a reflection of the importance given to the resource across the globe.

Recently, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved an incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (person-to-merchant) in FY 2022-23 with an outlay of Rs 2,600 crore.

Signs of a confrontation between Raj Bhavan and the elected government in a State are not infrequent in the country.

In an order on January 20, 2023, the government used emergency powers under the Information Technology Rules, 2021 and Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 to direct Twitter and YouTube to disable access to the documentary within India and prevent its re-upload.

The controversy over the very meaning of ‘We the People’, after the speech made by the Vice-President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankhar was erupted as he viewed that ‘We the People’ essentially gives primacy to elected members of Parliament and the State legislatures.

Children with disability/disabilities (CWD) needed higher care to complete basic tasks which required physical involvement like playing or going to the toilet and became tougher in schools which do not have accessible spaces and other guiding infrastructure to get there safely.