CURRENT AFFIARS 18th JUNE 2021 Admin CURRENT AFFIARS JUNE 2021 Mon, Jun 21, 2021, at ,11:10 AM => Continue demolition of 10,000 unapproved buildings in Aravali forest land The Supreme Court refused to halt the demolition of about 10,000 unauthorised residential constructions encroaching into the ecologically fragile Aravali forest land near Lakarpur Khori village in Haryana. A Bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari had refused to give the encroachers any quarter on June 7 while ordering the demolition. The court had categorically said that “land-grabbers cannot take the refuge of the rule of law” and demand fairness. The bench had refused to give encroachers any quarter on June 7 while ordering the demolition => COVID-19 third wave unlikely to affect children It is unlikely that a possible third wave of COVID-19, due to the prevailing variant of the virus, would disproportionately affect children, according to the interim result of a multicentre study by researchers at AIIMS, Delhi, and other hospitals. The study is yet to be peer-reviewed and has appeared in pre-print on an online platform. SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity rate among children was high and was comparable to the adult population. Hence, it is unlikely that any future third wave by the prevailing COVID-19 variant would disproportionately affect children two years or older. => Assam seeks realignment of rail track through Wetlands The Assam government has proposed the realignment of a broad gauge railway line through the Deepor Beel, an ‘Important Bird Area’ designated under the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands. Several elephants have been run over on the railway track between the elevated Rani Reserve Forest and the sanctuary. The elephants use four corridors crossing the track to often bathe and feed on the aquatic plants in the wetland => Rules regulating Cable TV network amended The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Thursday amended the rules regulating Cable TV networks, providing for a “statutory” mechanism for complaints raised by citizens regarding any content broadcast. At present, there are over 900 TV channels that are required to comply with the Programmed and organization side laid down by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The complainant able Television Network Rules. The complainant may prefer an appeal to the Central government for review under the oversight mechanism. The Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2021 provides for a three-level grievance redressal mechanism — self-regulation by broadcasters, self-regulation by the self-regulating bodies of the broadcasters, and oversight by an Inter-Departmental Committee at the level of the Union government. The committee will be headed by the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and have members from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Defense, and representatives of other Ministries and organizations, including experts, as the Centre may decide. => Centre opens 14 disability early intervention centres The Union Social Justice and Empowerment (SJE) Ministry on Thursday launched 14 cross disability early intervention centre’s across the country to provide support to infants and young children at risk of or with disabilities. SJE Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot virtually inaugurated the centre’s that are located at seven national institutes and seven composite regional centres of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. The facility wills provide support to infants and young children at risk of or with disabilities. => India wants Pakistan to address shortcomings in new law for review of death sentence to Jadhav A new Pakistani law that will allow Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav’s right to appeal is flawed, said the Ministry of External Affairs.Addressing the weekly press briefing virtually, Official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the Review and Reconsideration Bill 2020 has codified into law the earlier ordinance with its ‘shortcomings’ The Ordinance, now the Bill, invites the municipal courts in Pakistan to decide whether or not any prejudice has been caused to Shri Jadhav on account of the failure to provide consular access. This is a breach of the basic tenet that municipal courts cannot be the arbiter of whether a State has fulfilled its obligations in international law. It further invites the municipal court to sit in appeal, as it were, over the judgment of the International Court of Justice,” said Mr. Bagchi pointing out the problems with the Pakistani legislation. => Birth, death registrations up in 2019 The level of registration of births and deaths in the country improved in 2019, according to the “Vital Statistics of India Based on The Civil Registration System” report.Some states and Union Territories were, however, lagging. The report states that the level of birth registration increased from 87.8% in 2018 to 92.7% in 2019, and death registrations went up from 84.6% to 92% during the period. Sex ratio at birth Based on the information received from 32 States/Union Territories, the share of institutional births in the total registered births was 81.2%. The number of registered births increased to 2.48 crore in 2019 from 2.33 crore in 2018. The share of males and females was 52.1% and 47.9%. The highest sex ratio at birth (SRB) based on registered events was reported by Arunachal Pradesh (1,024), followed by Nagaland (1,001) Mizoram (975), and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (965). The lowest SRB was reported by Gujarat (901), Assam (903), and Madhya Pradesh (905), followed by Jammu & Kashmir (909).The number of registered deaths increased from 69.5 lakh in 2018 to 76.4 lakh in 2019. The share of male and female was 59.6% and 40.4% => Chinese astronauts dock with space station The first group of Chinese astronauts on Thursday entered the country’s under-construction space station, a major step in China’s plans to have a fully functioning station by next year. The Shenzhou-12 spaceship, carrying the three astronauts, completed an “automated rendezvous and docking” with the Tianhe module, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said, adding this "signified that for the first time the Chinese have entered their space station” Shenzhou-12 was launched morning from the Jiuquan launch centre in the Gobi desert, and the astronauts entered Tianhe around six and a half hours later => Flipkart challenges Karnataka High Court order on antitrust Probe: Walmart Inc’s Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc have filed legal challenges against the resumption of an antitrust investigation into their business practices, according to sources and a legal filing viewed by Reuters. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched an investigation in January last year after a complaint accused Flipkart and Amazon of promoting select sellers on their e-commerce platforms and using deep discounts to stifle competition. => Class 12 marks: Supreme court approves CBSE's 30:30:40 formula The CBSE has divided the marks’ assessment process into two components — theory and practical. The theory component would be assessed by first giving 30% weightage to average scores obtained by students in Class 10 in their three best performing subjects out of a lot of al five. Secondly, another 30% weightage would be given to marks based on the theory component of the final exam taken in Class 11. Finally, 40% weightage would be given for marks obtained in one or more unit tests, mid-term exams, and pre-board exams in Class 12. A result committee under the principal would be formed in each school comprising two seniormost postgraduate teachers from the same school and two postgraduate teachers from neighboring schools. The committee has been given the liberty to prepare the result by following the policy.Students unsatisfied with the evaluation formula can take up Class 12 exam to be held when situation is conducive. => A judicial pushback to a draconian legal regime The judgment of the Delhi High Court granting bail to activists Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, and Asif Iqbal Tanha — they have been in jail for over a year (without trial) for their alleged role in the 2020 Delhi riots — is significant for many reasons. It brings to a close many months of jail time for three people who are yet to be proven guilty of any crime, something that should be anathema to any civilized justice system. Judgment represents an important judicial pushback to the authoritarian legal regime under the Unlawful Activities (Previous word in list section) Act (“UAPA”). The judgment of the Delhi High Court granting bail to activists Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, and Asif Iqbal Tanha — they have been in jail for over a year (without trial) for their alleged role in the 2020 Delhi riots — is significant for many reasons. It brings to a close many months of jail time for three people who are yet to be proven guilty of any crime, something that should be anathema to any civilised justice system. Judgment represents an important judicial pushback to the authoritarian legal regime under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (“UAPA”). The judgment of the Delhi High Court granting bail to activists Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, and Asif Iqbal Tanha — they have been in jail for over a year (without trial) for their alleged role in the 2020 Delhi riots — is significant for many reasons. It brings to a close many months of jail time for three people who are yet to be proven guilty of any crime, something that should be anathema to any civilized justice system. Judgment represents an important judicial pushback to the authoritarian legal regime under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (“UAPA”)