🔍‘UFO’ spotted over Imphal airport: A brief history of the term, and the unending curiosity around it

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Modi skips BRICS-Plus meet on Israel-Hamas. Jaishankar attends, says ‘no compromise on terrorism’

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👉China keen to extend Myanmar economic corridor to Sri Lanka ✅

⚡️Central Idea - In a significant move towards expanding the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in South Asia, China has expressed its commitment to prioritize the extension of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) to Sri Lanka. ✅

⚡️About CMEC:

🌊CMEC, one of the six land corridors under BRI, gains prominence, replacing the stalled Bangladesh China India Myanmar (BCIM) corridor.✅

🌊India and Bhutan are the only countries in South Asia that have stayed out of the BRI. ✅

🌊Sri Lanka, actively participating in the BRI, sees the extension as part of the second phase, expecting a more substantial economic impact. ✅

🌊China has been supportive of Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring program amid ongoing discussions with official creditors for economic recovery. ✅

#IR

November 21, 1962: Why China called ceasefire in a war it was winning against India 🔗
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🔍What is tantalum, the rare metal found in Sutlej?

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🔍Have we lost the fight against climate change

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SC begins hearing on pleas against parties offering freebies during elections

THE HINDU BUREAU NEW DELHI

🌟The Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing petitions seeking a judicial declaration that irrational freebies offered by political parties to lure voters during election time should be considered a “corrupt practice”.

🌟In October, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had sought responses from the States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan on a plea that public funds are being misused to offer outlandish freebies ahead of Assembly elections.

🌟The court has made its anxiety plain about parties which form the government riding a wave created by their pre-election promises of “free gifts”, bleeding the State finances dry by actually trying to fulfil their “wild” promises of largesse using public money.

🌟The amicus curiae, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, submitted that the court has to decide whether “giving freebies would be a corrupt practice under Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and become a ground for moving court in an election petition”.

🌟Senior advocate Arvind Datar, for petitioners, said parties have been linking freebies to the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution, which obliges the State to aim for certain ideals in social order and governance.

🌟He also submitted that the court should also consider an argument raised by parties that freebies ought to be considered “expenditure defrayable by the Union or a State out of its revenues” under Article 282 of the Constitution.

‘Welfare cause’

🌟Advocate Prashant Bhushan said illegitimate or discriminatory freebies were not the same as legitimate freebies given to the public for a “welfare cause”. “Doing away with the debts of wilful defaulters is an illegitimate freebie. Giving benefits to a particular religious community would classify as a discriminatory freebie,” he explained.

🌟The hearing signified a shifting of stand by the court from its 2013 judgment in the S. Subramaniam Balaji versus Tamil Nadu case. In this judgment, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court had held that making promises in election manifestos do not amount to a ‘corrupt practice’ under Section 123 of the Representation of People Act.

UPSC 2022 Interview non selected list

✍️ Today we lost two brave sons of India, Captain Shubham Gupta(26)- 9 Para SF and Captain MV Pranjal(28)- 63RR. They got martyred for the nation fighting against terrorists. They were true patriots who gave their life in service to our country.

✍️ As UPSC aspirants, remember that success is not just about reaching the destination but also about the journey. In the tapestry of life, challenges are the threads that weave our story. Each setback is an opportunity for a comeback. Rise from the ashes of despair. Our young soldiers may be gone, but their legacy lives on in the strength and resilience they displayed.

✍️ Life's battles are not always won by the strongest or the fastest, but by those who refuse to give up. Stay resilient, stay focused, and honor the sacrifices made for your freedom.

✍️ Freedom is not free, it cost soldiers. Jai Hind 🇮🇳

Fathima Beevi, first woman judge in Supreme Court, dead

HIRAN UNNIKRISHNAN PATHANAMTHITTA

Almost everything in the remarkable career of Justice M. Fathima Beevi, who died here at the age of 96, was a first.

🖋In 1950, she was the first student to complete a degree in law with full marks in all subjects, and eight years later, she emerged first in a competitive exam conducted by the Public Service Commission and joined the judicial services as a munsiff. Years later, she became the first woman member of the country’s Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, before becoming the first Muslim woman to enter the higher judiciary as a judge in the Kerala High Court in 1983.

🖋Determined to recast the role of women in Indian judiciary, she then went on to become the first woman judge in the Supreme Court of India, six years later.

🖋Fathima Beevi was born to Annaveetil Meeran Sahib and Khadeeja Beevi of Pathanamthitta in 1927. She completed her schooling at the Catholicate High School and did an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University College, Thiruvanathapuram. In line with her father’s aspiration to make her a lawyer, she did a degree in law and enrolled as lawyer in November 1950.

🖋She was the Governor of Tamil Nadu from 1997 to 2001, and her most controversial decision was to administer the oath of office and secrecy to former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa within hours of the AIADMK securing a majority in the Assembly election in May 2001. Jayalalithaa had suffered disqualification from contesting elections that year on account of her conviction in two TANSI land deal cases.

🖋In September that year, the Supreme Court unseated Jayalalithaa. Fathima Beevi’s tenure ended abruptly in a couple of months after the swearing in of the AIADMK leader. Following the midnight arrest of then DMK president M. Karunanidhi in a corruption case, the Centre was displeased with the report submitted by her.

"Governor holds no veto power over Bills, says SC"

📍Bench says if a Governor withholds assent to a Bill, it must be returned to the State Legislature ‘as soon as possible’; if Assembly re-enacts it, as in the case of T.N., then the Governor must give nod
KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL NEW DELHI

📍The Supreme Court has laid down the law that a Governor, in case he withholds assent to a Bill, should send it back to the State legislature “as soon as possible” with a message to reconsider the proposed law.

📍If the Assembly reiterates the Bill “with or without amendments”, the Governor has no choice or discretion, and has to give his assent to it.

📍The November 10 judgment released on Thursday was based on a petition filed by the Punjab government against its Governor’s action to hold back crucial Bills. The verdict would be a significant boost to Tamil Nadu’s case.

📍The Tamil Nadu Assembly had returned 10 crucial Bills to Governor R.N. Ravi, who had withheld assent in the first instance. “The substantive part of Article 200 empowers the Governor to withhold assent to the Bill. In such an event, the Governor must mandatorily follow the course of action which is indicated in the first proviso of communicating to the State Legislature ‘as soon as possible’ a message warranting the reconsideration of the Bill...,” a three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, held.

Ultimate authority

“The ultimate decision on whether or not to accept the advice of the Governor as contained in the message belongs to the legislature alone. That the message of the Governor does not bind the legislature is evident from the use of the expression ‘if the Bill is passed again …with or without amendments’,” the Bench held.

🖋The court held that a Governor who chooses to withhold a Bill without doing anything further would be acting in contravention of the Constitution. “The Governor as the unelected Head of State would be in a position to virtually veto the functioning of the legislative domain by a duly elected legislature by simply declaring that assent is withheld without any further recourse. Such a course of action would be contrary to fundamental principles of a constitutional democracy based on a Parliamentary pattern of governance,” the court held.

🖋The court held that the Bill should be sent back to the Legislature “as soon as possible” with the mandatory message. It said the expression “as soon as possible” conveyed a “constitutional imperative of expedition”.

“Failure to take a call and keeping a Bill duly passed for indeterminate periods is a course of action inconsistent with that expression. Constitutional language is not surplusage,” Chief Justice Chandrachud wrote in the 27-page judgment.

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