Topic 1: SC urges Centre to transfer cheetahs to another location

Context: Recently, the Supreme Court told the Union Government that the deaths of 40% of the 20 cheetahs brought from South Africa and Namibia to the Kuno National Park (KNP) in under a year do not present a good picture.
 

About the Cheetah:

• The fastest land animal in the world.
• Social animals, cheetahs are usually found in groups, consisting of either a mother and her young, siblings or a coalition of males who live and hunt together.
• Adult females, however, tend to be solitary and only meet with males to mate.
• Females usually give birth to between two to eight cubs at a time. 
• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species: IUCN Status:

Asiatic Cheetah – Critically Endangered

African Cheetah – Vulnerable

Project Cheetah:

• The Government of India has launched an ambitious project on bringing back Cheetah to India.
• The Project Cheetah is being implemented by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Cheetah experts from Namibia and South Africa.
• The project implementation is being done as per the ‘Action Plan for Introduction in India’ and a Steering Committee comprising eminent experts/ officials involved in the first-ever successful tiger reintroduction in Sariska and Panna Tiger Reserve, to oversee the project has also been constituted.
• Under Project Cheetah, a total of 20 radio-collared Cheetahs were brought from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, in a first-ever transcontinental wild-to-wild translocation.
• After the mandatory quarantine period, all Cheetahs were shifted to larger acclimatization enclosures.
• Currently, 11 Cheetahs are under free-ranging conditions, and 5 animals, including a cub born on Indian soil, are within quarantine enclosures.
• Each of the free-ranging Cheetahs is being monitored around the clock by a dedicated monitoring team.
   

The major objectives of the introduction project are:

1. To establish breeding cheetah populations in safe habitats across its historic range and manage them as a metapopulation,
2. To use the cheetah as a charismatic flagship and umbrella species to garner resources for restoring open forest and savanna systems that will benefit biodiversity and ecosystem services from these ecosystems,
3. To use the ensuing opportunity for eco-development and eco-tourism to enhance local community livelihoods and
4. To manage any conflict by cheetahs or other wildlife with local communities within cheetah conservation areas expediently through compensation, awareness, and management action. Topic 2: Centre bans export of non-basmati white rice to check price rise

Context: Recently, the Centre banned the export of non-basmati white rice with immediate effect to boost domestic supply and help control inflation.

• Paddy had been planted in around 10.32 million hectares, which is almost 9.8 percent less than the area covered during the same period of last year.

Why the centre bans export of non-basmati rice:

• The domestic prices of rice are on an increasing trend. The retail prices have increased by 11.5 percent over a year and 3 percent over the past month
• Rice stocks in the central pool as on July 1 are estimated to be around 48.65 million tonnes, almost 13 percent less than the same period last year.
• This sharp increase in exports can be ascribed to high international prices due to the geopolitical scenario, El Nino sentiments, and extreme climatic conditions in other rice-producing countries

Export

• Non-basmati white rice accounts for nearly 25-30 percent of total rice exported from the country.
• The total exports of non-basmati white rice from India were $4.2 million in 2022-23, as against $2.62 million in the preceding year.
• Major destinations of India’s non-basmati white rice exports include Thailand, Italy, Spain, Sri Lanka, and the USA.
• Volume-wise, India exported 6.5 million tonnes of this variety in FY23, compared to 5.3 million tonnes in the previous financial year (a rise of nearly 22 percent).

Why India is Crucial to global rice Trade?

• It accounts for more than 40% of the world’s rice exports.
• Its rice shipment in 2022 was more than the next 4 exporters combined – Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, and the US.
• It exports rice to more than 140 countries.
• India exported 17.86 mt of non-basmati rice in 2022, including 10.3 million tons of non-basmati white rice.Topic 3: Delimitation Commission

Context: Recently, Delimitation Commission finalize the Delimitation Order for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

What is the Delimitation Commission of India?

• The Delimitation Commission of India, also known as the Boundary Commission of India, is a commission established by the Indian government under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act.
• The commission’s principal responsibility is to redraw the borders of the various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on a recent census. During this practice, the representation from each state remains constant.
• The seats for SC and ST in a state, on the other hand, are adjusted by the census. 
• Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and State Assembly constituencies based on a recent Census to ensure that each seat has an almost equal number of voters.
• The last delimitation exercise took place in 1976. While the current boundaries were drawn based on the 2001 Census, the number of Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats remained frozen based on the 1971 Census.
• In 2002, the Constitution was amended to place a freeze on the exercise until the first Census conducted after the year 2026.
• The basic objective of this is a fair representation, fair geographical division for all the political parties, and to follow the motto of ” One Vote One Value.”
   

Constitutional Provisions

• Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.
• Under Article 170, States also get divided into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after every Census.
• Topic 4: No prescription, no painkillers: Govt’s dengue advisory

Context:  The Delhi government’s Department of Drugs Control has written a letter to the president of All Chemist Associations of Delhi to avoid the sale of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like Aspirin, Ibuprofen, and Diclofenac, without a prescription from a regular medical practitioner.

Concern:

• Painkillers should be avoided and the only thing one can take is paracetamol for fever.
• Even if the fever is high, they should not take any other drug and consult a doctor immediately. Painkillers can lead to a drop in blood platelet count, gastritis, and kidney failure.

Dengue

• Infection with the dengue virus, transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, ranges from asymptomatic or undifferentiated febrile illness to fatal hemorrhagic fever and affects up to 100 million people per year worldwide.
• Dengue infection is a mosquito-borne arboviral infection. An important criterion to consider in the diagnosis of dengue infection is the history of travel or residence in a dengue-endemic area within 2 weeks of the onset of fever.
• The spectrum of dengue virus infection ranges from an asymptomatic or undifferentiated febrile illness to severe infection.

Dengue shock syndrome

• It is characterized by severe plasma leakage, severe bleeding, and severe organ involvement manifested as elevated liver enzymes, impaired sensorium, and myocarditis.
• Dengue shock syndrome is a major cause of hospital admission and mortality in children.
• If untreated, mortality can be as high as 20%. With appropriate case management, mortality can be reduced to less than 1%, depending on the availability of appropriate supportive care.Topic 5: Rule 176 vs Rule 267: What Govt agrees to, what Opp demands

Context: While the govt agreed for a short discussion on the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Opposition insisted that the Prime Minister make a suo motu statement followed by a discussion, suspending all business under Rule 267.
What is Rule 267, and Rule 176

• According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States, Rule 267 relates to the suspension of rules.
• It says, any member, may, with the consent of the Chairman, move that any rule may be suspended in its application to a motion related to the business listed before the Council of that day and if the motion is carried, the rule in question shall be suspended for the time being.
• Provided further that this rule shall not apply where a specific provision already exists for suspension of a rule under a particular chapter of the Rules.

Rule 176

• Short-duration discussion, on the other hand, is a brief discussion not exceeding two-and-a-half hours under Rule 176.
• It says that any member desirous of raising discussion on a matter of urgent public importance may give notice in writing to the Secretary-General specifying clearly and precisely the matter to be raised.
• Provided that the notice shall be accompanied by an explanatory note stating reasons for raising discussion on the matter in question.
• Provided further that the notice shall be supported by the signatures of at least two other members.Topic 6: Constitution Benches

Context: Recently, the Supreme Court referred the Delhi Government’s challenge against a Central ordinance — which effectively returns power over the civil services in the national capital to the Lieutenant Governor — to a Constitution Bench.

Delhi Ordinance

The Ordinance promulgated by the President amending the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act 1991(GNCTD Act) took away the services from the jurisdiction of the Delhi government. The services had been earlier restored to the Delhi government by the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment delivered. The Ordinance nullifies that judgment of the Supreme Court. 

What is a Constitution Bench?

The Supreme Court is at the apex of the Indian judicial system. As the guardian of the Constitution, it is the primary duty of the SC to uphold the fundamental rights of citizens and protect their liberties. Whenever a matter of law arises that requires a provision or provision of the Constitution to be interpreted, or there is a “significant legal question”, it is required to be decided by a Bench involving a minimum of five judges of the Supreme Court. Such a Bench is called Constitution Bench.

Constitution Benches have decided some of India’s most significant cases over the years:

• Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India
• Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (retd) v. Union of India
• The Berubari Union and Exchange of Enclaves (1960)
• Kedar Nath Singh v. State of Bihar 

When does the SC set up a Constitution Bench?

Article 145(3), which deals with the rules of the court, provides for the setting up of a Constitution Bench. Article 145(3) says a minimum of five judges need to sit for deciding a case involving a “substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution”, or for hearing any reference under Article 143, which deals with the power of the President to consult the SC.

Other scenarios in which a Constitution Bench can be constituted are: 

• If two or three-judge Benches of the Supreme Court have delivered conflicting judgments on the same point of law
• If a later three-judge Bench of the SC doubts the correctness of a judgment delivered by a former Bench with as much strength and decides to refer the matter to a larger Bench for reconsideration of the previous judgment.

The Strength of Constitution Benches

• As per the legal provisions, a Constitution Bench consists of a minimum of five judges and the number can go up to an odd number of seven, nine, and so on.