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National

Centre passes ordinance to nullify SC decision

• The President Promulgated the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 on 19 May 2023.
• The Ordinance creates a new statutory authority – the National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA) – which will be headed by the elected Chief Minister of Delhi in addition to the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary of the Home department.
• The NCCSA will make “recommendations” to the LG regarding “transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters.”

Immunity under the President’s name

• The Supreme Court has held that the government, when entering into a contract under the President’s name, cannot claim immunity from the legal provisions of that contract under Article 299 of the Constitution.

TELANGANA- ANDHRA PRADESH (AP) WATER DISPUTE

• Water-sharing disputes regarding sharing of Krishna basin water between both states have been unresolved even nine years after the bifurcation of combined State in 2014.
• In 1969, Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-I (KWDT) was set up under Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, 1956.
• KWDT-II, instituted in 2004, made allocations of Krishna water at 65 percent dependability and for surplus flows as follows: 81 TMC for Maharashtra, 177 TMC for Karnataka, and 190 TMC for AP.

NATIONAL TIGER CONSERVATION AUTHORITY FORMED CPSC

• The 11 member Cheetah Project Steering Committee (CPSC), comprising national and international experts constituted to oversee the implementation of Project Cheetah will be in force for two years.
• ‘Project Cheetah’ is the world's first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project.
• Since Cheetah is a keystone species the project was expected to restore open forest and grassland ecosystems, conserve biodiversity, etc.

Foucault’s Pendulum in the new Parliament

• Suspended from the ceiling of the Central Foyer of India’s new Parliament building, inaugurated on 29 May 2023, is a Foucault pendulum that all but touches the floor as it rotates on its axis.
• Foucault pendulum created by the National Council of Science Museum (NCSM) in Kolkata, the pendulum is being dubbed as the largest such piece in India, 22 metre in height, and weighing a staggering 36 kg.

International

India’s role in G20’s disaster management initiatives

• The G20 under India’s Presidency has endorsed a new working group on disaster risk reduction.
• This makes it to prioritise disaster risk financing to achieve the targets set by Sendai framework for 2030.

The FIPIC summit 2023

• The PM visited in the capital city of Port Moresby for his first visit to the Papua New Guinea, the first by any Indian prime minister, for the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) summit, 2023.
• The Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) was launched during PM Modi’s visit to Fiji in November 2014.
• FIPIC includes 14 island countries – Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu – that are located in the Pacific Ocean, to the northeast of Australia.

IPEF Agreement on supply chain cooperation

• The 14 partner countries of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), including India, have successfully concluded negotiations for an international supply chain agreement.
• The IPEF, launched by the US and 12 other countries in May 2022, is a grouping that comprises more than 40 per cent of global GDP.

Economy

RBI's 'Clean Note Policy'

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to withdraw the Rs 2,000 note after only seven years of circulation under the ‘Clean Note Policy’.
• The goal of the RBI's Clean Note Policy is to provide citizens with high-quality currency notes and coins while removing worn-out notes from circulation.

 Science And Technology

New NavIC satellite launched

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the first of the second-generation satellites for its navigation constellation successfully on 29 May 2023.
• The second-generation satellite — christened NVS-01, the first of ISRO’s NVS series of payloads — is heavier.
• NavIC provides coverage over the Indian landmass and up to a radius of 1,500 km around it.

India’s first polarimetry mission

• The Indian Space Research Organisation is collaborating with the Raman Research Institute (RRI), to build the X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat).
• XPoSat will study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.
• It has been billed as India’s first, and only the world’s second polarimetry mission that is meant to study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.

ASTR to detect phone frauds

• The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has developed an artificial-intelligence-based facial recognition tool.
• The tool called Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification (ASTR)can potentially bring down cyber frauds by detecting and blocking possible fraudulent mobile connections.

India’s supercomputing ambitions

• India is today home to 23 supercomputers — powerful computers that are primarily used for scientific and engineering work that demands ultra high-speed computations.
• Although indigenous development of supercomputers began in 1980 — with the involvement of organisations such as BARC, C-DAC and C-DOT, among others — it was the launch of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) in 2015 that accelerated efforts in a big way.

Indian Navy achieves historic milestone

• The Indian Navy test pilots on 25 May 2023, achieved another historic milestone when the MiG-29K made its maiden night landing on the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
• This is the most complex warship ever built in India which was built by Cochin shipyard Limited and was designed by the Warship Design Bureau of the Indian Navy.

‘Disease X’ cause a ‘deadlier pandemic’

• The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that COVID-19 was no longer a global health emergency, expert’s fear that “Disease X” can lead to an “even deadlier” pandemic.
• According to the WHO, “Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.

The term, which was coined in 2018, is on WHO’s shortlist of ‘priority diseases’.

Miscellaneous

Sikkim Day celebrated

• Sikkim day is annually celebrated on 16 May, recalling the history of the former kingdom’s integration with India in 1975.
• This year too, political leaders conveyed their messages, marking the day India’s the 22nd state joined the union.

Supreme Court upholds Jallikattu sport

• A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has upheld the amendments made by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka to The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, allowing Jallikattu, Kambala, and bullock-cart races.
• The court overturned the verdict of a two-judge Bench in ‘Welfare Board of India v. A. Nagaraja’ (2014), which had banned practices such as Jallikattu, the traditional bull-taming sport of the Pongal harvest festival.

Freeing of ‘dotted lands’

• The Andhra Pradesh government has started removing “dotted lands” in the state from the prohibited list, restoring full rights of selling or pledging these lands to the farmers who own them.
• Dotted lands are disputed lands for which there are no clear ownership documents.

Working of narco test

• Protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar on 22 May 2023 said they were willing to undergo a narco analysis test, provided it was monitored by the Supreme Court.
• In a ‘narco’ or narco analysis test, a drug called sodium pentothal is injected into the body of the accused, which transports them to a hypnotic or sedated state in which their imagination is neutralised.

Sengol a symbolic gesture

• Sengol is the Tamil word for sceptre which in medieval and pre-medieval times used to be presented to the kings during their coronation by the high priests.
• In 1947, during the time of transfer of power from the British to India, it was used as a symbolic gesture to show a ceremonial transfer of power from the British to Indians.

 World No-Tobacco Day 2023

• World No Tobacco Day is observed on 31^st May each year. It is an annual awareness day organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocate for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption worldwide.
• World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) originated in 1987 when the World Health Organization (WHO) designated 31^st May as a day to raise awareness about the health risks associated with tobacco use.