Also in News

Posted 06 May 2024

8 min read

Section 498A of the IPC

Citing the misuse of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) the Supreme Court requested the Parliament to bring necessary changes in the corresponding sections of Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
- Court also observed that the Sections 85 and 86 of the BNS is a verbatim reproduction of the Section 498A.
- BNS 2023 is to come into force w.e.f. July 01, 2024.

About Section 498A
- Introduced in 1983 to address domestic violence and harassment faced by married women in India by their husband or his relatives.
- Punishment includes a jail term of up to 3 years or fine.

Bengaluru-based company unveiled FWD-200B, India’s first indigenous bomber unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

About FWD-200B
- It is a medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV.
- It can carry a maximum take-off weight of 498 kg and has an operational altitude of 9,000 ft above mean sea level.
- It comes with optical surveillance payloads and is integrated with missile-like weapons for precision air strikes.

Government of India has announced the buyback of Government Securities worth Rs 40,000 crore.
- Buyback of securities entails the government opting to retire a portion of its outstanding debt before its scheduled maturity date.
- Buybacks release liquidity into the banking system.

About Government Securities (G-Secs)
- It is a tradeable instrument issued by the central government or the state governments.
- It acknowledges the Government’s debt obligation.
- Such securities are short term (usually called treasury bills) or long term (usually called government bonds).
- G-Secs carry practically no risk of default.

An Areca Research Centre in Karnataka has declared Thirthahalli Areca as the best quality Areca in the state.

About Areca Nut:
- Tropical horticultural and commercial crop
- Ideal temperature: 14-36 degree Celsius
- Rainfall: 750-4500 mm
- Ideal altitude: 1000 M above mean sea level
- Ideal soil type: Laterite, loamy, clayey, alluvial.
- Karnataka produces around 80% of the country’s produce followed by Kerala and Assam.
- India imports arecanut from Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Indonesia.
  - The Centre has levied a Minimum Import price on it to curb illegal imports.

Tamil Nadu moves Supreme Court, alleging that Kerala is obstructing in strengthening work of Mullaperiyar Dam.

About Mullaperiyar dam:
- Constructed during 1887-1895, Mullaperiyar Dam is located within the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Idukki district of Kerala.
- It is a composite gravity structure, built at the confluence of Mullayar and Periyar rivers.
- Purpose: To divert the waters of west-flowing River Periyar eastward to arid rain shadow regions of Tamil Nadu (Vaigai basin).
- It is operated and maintained by Tamil Nadu, as per the 999-year lease agreement made in 1886 and another agreement of 1970.

Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks during early May each year.
- Meteors are space rocks that enter Earth’s atmosphere burning and causing steak of light.
- Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids.

About ETA Aquarid meteor shower
- It occurs when the Earth passes through orbital plane of Halley’s Comet, which takes about 76 years to orbit the Sun.
- Eta Aquarid meteors are known for their speed.
- Southern Hemisphere is preferable for viewing Eta Aquarid as its radiant – Aquarius Constellation – is higher up in Sky in Southern Hemisphere.

Recent research papers related to nitrogen fixation and nitroplast generated interest in the endosymbiotic theory.

About Endosymbiotic theory
- It posits that some eukaryotic cell organelles, such as mitochondria and plastids, evolved from free-living prokaryotes.
  - Eukaryotic cells have a membrane-bound nucleus which stores the genetic information.
  - In prokaryotes, DNA is bundled together in the nucleoid region, but it is not stored within a membrane-bound nucleus.
- Some of these organisms ingested prokaryotic cells that then survived within the organism and developed a symbiotic relationship.

Scientists have developed a sheet of Gold, called Goldene, which is just one-atom thick.

About Goldene
- Created by sandwiching silicon between titanium carbide layers, depositing gold, allowing gold atoms to replace silicon, forming monolayer.
- They are roughly 100 nanometres thick, approx. 400 times thinner than the thinnest commercially available gold leaf.
- Potential applications: Catalyst in the electronics industry, carbon dioxide conversion, hydrogen generation, water purification, etc.