In SC , center defends appointment of new ECs
·
In Supreme Court, the Union
government refuted allegations that it had rushed to fill vacancies with
‘favored ‘ persons .
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It was regarding filling of
Election Commissioners ( ECs ) vacant posts recently by new Laws .
·
Center cited that the General
Election was scheduled to take place and manpower in form of EC was required .
·
On petitioners demand that CJI be
included in the committee that chooses ECs was “ fundamentally fallacious “
.Center reminded that ECs were chosen entirely by Executive before 2023 .
CCI rejects pleas against Google play store’s billing policy
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Competition Commission of India (
CCI ) on Wednesday dismissed four petitions by Indian app companies filed
against Google’s new play store billing policy to levy 11% to 26% charge on app
payments .
·
Indian origin app firms alleged
that Google’s play store payment policies are anti competitive .
·
Recently Google had banned a few
apps from its Play store for not complying with payment rules . However after
Government intervention these were restored .
Lok Sabha election procedure kicks off as EC notifies first
phase nomination window
·
The nomination process for the first
phase of Lok Sabha elections began on Wednesday , with issuance of notification
by Election Commission .
·
A total of 102 seats in 21 states
and Union territories will go on polls in first phase on April 19 .
TamilNadu CM released manifesto ; pledges more autonomy for
states
·
TamilNadu’s CM M K Stalin on
Wednesday released his party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha Polls .
·
Among the key poll promises are :
Granting more autonomy to states , Appointment of Governor after consulting
chief ministers , Abolition of Article 356
and Article 361 , establishment of a branch of Supreme Court in
Chennai ; statehood for puducherry ;
Reduction of prices of LPG ,Petrol and Diesel to ₹500 ,₹75 and ₹65 respectively
.
Modi cancels visit to Bhutan due to inclement weather
·
A day ahead of his planned
departure , Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi put off his visit to
Bhutan due to “ inclement whether, MEA Announced .
·
PM was scheduled to land on
Bhutan’s Paro Airport on 21 March . But due to heavy rain and possibility of
snowfall mutual decision to cancel the visit took place .
·
New date is being finalized .
·
The information was given by MEA .
PM speakers to Putin , Zelensky , calls for dialogue
diplomacy
·
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
Wednesday spoke to Russian President Vladmir Putin and Ukrainian President
Valdmir Zelensky and called for early “
end to the ongoing conflict “ .
·
Mr Modi first called to the
Russian President and congratulated him for recent election wins .
·
Later he called Mr. Zelensky and
reinterated India’s commitment to “ do everything within its means to support a
peaceful solution “ .
·
Mr Zelensky has called upon India
to participate in Inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland .
·
Ukrianian Foreign Minister Dmytro
Kuleba is also expected to visit later this
month .
Don’t use counseling to turn LGBTQ persons against their
identity , says SC
·
The Supreme Court has cautioned
judges against using Court ordered counselling for members of LGBTQ+ community
to turn them against their own identity .
·
“ judges must eschew the tendency
to substitute their own subjective values for the values which are protected by
Constitution “ CJI DY Chadrachued observed
Center notifies fact check unit to screen online content
·
The Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology ( Meity ) has notified the Press Information Bureau’s (
PIB ) as a fact checking unit as a designated body to flag misinformation .
·
Now if PIB flags certain content
on social media platform as ‘ misinformation ‘ , the social media sites will
have to remove that content .
·
This is in accordance with IT
rules ,2021 .
Zomato scraps green
Uniform for ‘veg fleet ‘
·
Zomato recently launched a “ pure
veg fleet “ .
·
For “ pure veg fleet “ delivery
the delivery was to be done. from a restaurant that served only Vegetarians .
The dresses under “ pure veg mode “ were kept green , away from Usual red by
Zomato .
·
Zomato however has done away with
Green clothing for delivery persons after a huge uproar on social media that it
will result into discrimination based on caste , religion ..
BEML conducts maiden test firing of indigenous 1500 HP engine
for main battle tanks
·
BEML has successfully conducted maiden test
firing of indigenously built 1500 HorsePower engine for main battle tanks .
World
IMF to release 1.1billion dollar from bailout fund to
Pakistan
·
Pakistan and the International
Monetary Fund ( IMF ) reached an agreement for the release of 1.1 billion
dollars from the 3 Billion dollar bailout following days long talks with
Islamabad , the IMF said on Wednesday .
·
The agreement was signed last year
between Shahbaz Sharif govt and IMF .
·
In a statement on Wednesday , the
IMF said that “ Pakistan’s economy and financial position has improved “ in
recent months .
·
Recently Imran Khan had wrote a
letter to IMF , saying that the elections were rigged and IMF should look into
audit report of elections before making an agreement with Pakistani govt .
Irish PM Leo Vadakar announces resignation
·
Ireland President Leo Vadakar
on Thursday announced his retirement citing “ personal and political
reasons “ .
·
“ After seven years in office , I
am not longer the best person for that job “ , he said .
·
“ My reasons for stepping down are
personal and political , but mainly political “.
·
Earlier this month ,Mr Vadakar was
widely blamed for a twin defeat , including the biggest ever referendum loss by
government.
Australia hosts China FM sees ‘stability ‘ relations
despite evident tensions.
·
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
visited Australia for the first time since 2017 . He met his Australian
counterpart Penny Wang .
·
The two sides shared warm words .
·
Mr. Wang saying that the two sides
had “ broken the ice “ and that “
mutually trust “ and “ good momentum “ are slowly building .
·
Australian Foreign Minister Penny
Wong praised renewed “ stability “ in relations and said it was crucial to
recognise “ how much progress we have made in short period of time “
·
Australia being a member of five eyes and close to US is having a
tensed relation with China . Still there
are lots of issues including South China Sea , Taiwan and Hong Kong over which
Australia is not in favour of China .
Text / Context
Why has
Karnataka banned certain coulori f agent ?
·
Karnataka became the third South
Indian state to ban the use of certain colouring agent in Cotton Candy and Gobi
Manchurian that are found to be harmful .
·
TamilNadu and Goa has already
banned these .
·
The harmful chemicals used as
added colors were : Sunset Yellow , Tartrazine
mainly . These are found to be carcinogenic and harmful for health .
Science
NASA
craft that diverted space rock also diverted it .
·
In 2022 NASA sent its DART spacecraft to slam
into the asteroid Demorphous.
·
NASA recentlu said that the
collision not only changed asteroid’s path but also it’s shape.
·
DART ( Double Asteroid Redirection
Test ) collided on September 26,2022 at a speed of 22, 530 kmph .
·
The shape of Dimorphous was about
25 km wide , roughly 11 million km from earth .
