THE VERITY LIBERATE

 ~Preet Chinese President Xi Jinping recently proposed a new Global Security Initiative (GSI). The GSI seeks to oppose the United States' Indo-Pacific strategy and the Quad (India, US, Australia, Japan grouping). China, on the other hand, did not give much clarity or explanation regarding the planned global security programme. With escalating challenges from unilateralism, hegemony, and power politics, as well as growing deficiencies in peace, security, trust, and governance, humanity is confronted with more intractable issues and security concerns.  As a result, China maintained that the Global Security Initiative is intended to safeguard the notion of "indivisible security." According to the notion of "indivisible security," no country may increase its own security at the expense of others. GSI advocates for "shared, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable" security, as well as the development of an Asian security paradigm based on mutual respect

 ~Preet The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (IT) recently remarked on the need for a legal update of the 22-year-old Information Technology Act, 2000. The first IT Act was adopted by the government in 2000. The IT (Amendment) Act went into effect in 2009, with the goal of promoting e-governance, reducing cybercrime, and encouraging security practises throughout the country. The government has published the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. In a few years, India will have a trillion-dollar digital economy, and a big number of firms will be on the Indian Internet. As a result, an open and secure Internet becomes a critical economic component of our society. Because of aggressive national policies, trade conflicts, censorship, and frustration with giant tech corporations, the global internet as we know it is on the point of splintering into smaller bubbles of national networks. This will have far-reachin

~Preet In its most recent annual report for 2020-21, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 is a humane and ameliorative law that does not deprive any Indian of citizenship.  The CAA, which intends to offer citizenship to migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan who belong to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian groups, was notified on December 12, 2019, and went into effect on January 10, 2020.  Protests erupted around the country in response to the law. There are concerns that the CAA, which will be followed by a nationwide compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), will benefit non-Muslims who are not on the planned citizens' register, while excluded Muslims will have to justify their citizenship. It violates the Assam Accord of 1985, which specifies that unlawful migrants from Bangladesh arriving after March 25, 1971, regardless of faith, will be deported. There are an estimated 20 million undocum

 ~Preet. Despite the economic repercussions from the epidemic, global military expenditure increased in 2021, hitting an all-time high of USD 2.1 trillion, according to the most recent figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). As a consequence of a strong economic rebound in 2021, the worldwide military burden—global military spending as a proportion of global GDP—will fall by 0.1 percentage point, from 2.3 percent in 2020 to 2.2 percent in 2021. SIPRI is an independent international institute committed to conflict, weaponry, arms control, and disarmament research. It was founded in Stockholm in 1966 (Sweden). The top five spenders in 2021 will be the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom, and Russia. They contributed for 62 percent of total expenditure, with the United States and China accounting for the remaining 52 percent. In 2021, military spending in Asia and Oceania will equal USD586 billion. Spending in the region was 3.5 percent great

 ~Preet. Recently, the Vice-President stated that the time has come to modify the country's anti-defection legislation to close current loopholes. Individual Members of Parliament (MPs)/MLAs are punished under the anti-defection statute for defecting from one party to another. In 1985, Parliament inserted it to the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule. Its goal was to keep governments stable by deterring MPs from switching parties. The Tenth Schedule, often known as the Anti-Defection Act, was included into the Constitution by the 52nd Amendment Act of 1985. It establishes the procedures for disqualifying elected members for defecting to another political party. It was a reaction to the overthrow of various state administrations by party-hopping MLAs following the 1967 federal elections. It enables a group of MPs/MLAs to join (i.e., combine with) another political party without incurring the defection penalty. Furthermore, political parties are not penalised for soliciting or tolerat

~Preet. Ukraine recently asked the US to identify Russia as a "state supporter of terrorism." The designation would trigger the most severe penalties authorised to the US against Russia.  The US Secretary of State (the minister principally in charge of foreign affairs) has the authority to designate countries as "State Sponsors of Terrorism" if they "have persistently given assistance for acts of international terrorism." Sanctions can also be imposed on nations and individuals that participate in specific commerce with designated countries. There are now four nations on the list of state supporters of terrorism.  Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba are all on the list.  There are currently three statutes that allow the Secretary of State to designate a foreign government for providing repeated support for acts of international terrorism: the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which prohibits the transfer of most aid, the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), which

 ~Preet. The US State Department just published a strong and critical assessment on human rights in India in 2021. The report is submitted to the US Congress each year and is retrospective in nature, containing a country-by-country discussion of the state of internationally recognised individual, civil, political, and worker rights as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements. The Ministry of Home Affairs released statistics on human rights abuses in states to Rajya Sabha in December 2021. In 2021, the US State Department issued a harsh and scathing evaluation of human rights in India. The report, which is submitted to the US Congress each year, is retrospective in nature, with a country-by-country discussion of the state of internationally recognised individual, civil, political, and worker rights as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements. In December 2021, the Ministry of Home Affairs pro

 ~Preet. The Union Cabinet has adopted a policy for the use of land acquired under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act of 1957 [CBA Act]. The policy calls for the use of such land for the development and construction of coal and energy infrastructure.  The policy establishes a clear policy framework for the use of lands acquired under the CBA Act that are no longer appropriate or economically feasible for coal mining operations; or sites from which coal has been mined out / de-coaled and such land has been reclaimed. Government coal firms, such as Coal India Ltd. (CIL) and its subsidiaries, would continue to own the lands acquired under the CBA Act. The government firm that owns the property would lease it for the time period specified in the policy. In order to obtain best value, leasing firms must be selected through a transparent, fair, and competitive bid process and method. The lands will be examined for operations such as the establishment of washeries, coa

 ~Preet The Foreign Secretary of India recently conducted the inaugural meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Group (IMCG) at the Secretary level.  The IMCG was established as a high-level vehicle to mainstream India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy objective, which intended to improve ties with the country's neighbours. Inter-ministerial Joint Task Forces (JTFs) constituted by joint secretaries in the Ministry of External Affairs provide support to IMCG. The IMCG offered a comprehensive direction with a whole-of-government strategy to encourage improved connectivity, stronger interconnections, and more people-to-people connections with neighbours. The meeting focused on the construction of border infrastructure to facilitate greater trade with neighbours such as Nepal, the special needs of countries such as Bhutan and the Maldives in terms of supply of essential commodities, the opening of rail connectivity with Bangladesh, humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan

 ~Preet Recently, the Supreme Court decided to consider a petition seeking to streamline the legal procedure for child adoption in India. Adoption (First Amendment) Regulations, 2021 were issued in 2021, allowing Indian diplomatic missions abroad to be in responsibility of protecting adopted children when parents go overseas with the kid within two years of adoption.  There is a significant gap between adoptable children and prospective parents, which may lengthen the adoption process. According to data, while over 29,000 potential parents are eager to adopt, there are only 2,317 children available for adoption. The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) had an extraordinary increase in adoptive parents returning children after adoption between 2017 and 2019. The Ministry of Women and Child Development established the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) as a legislative organisation. It serves as the main organisation for Indian child adoption and is responsible for monitori

 ~Preet The NITI Aayog has recently begun work on developing a set of objective criteria to assess value creation by enterprises that get financial incentives under Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) programmes. The empowered group of secretaries, established in June 2020, was entrusted with finding bottlenecks in PLI schemes, liaising with states and firms for speedier approvals, analysing and assuring timely investments in PLI schemes, and ensuring total project turnaround. The Cabinet Secretary chairs the group, which includes the Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, the secretaries of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Revenue, the Department of Economic Affairs, and the Secretary of the concerned ministry. The NITI Aayog wants to enlist the help of an external organisation — state-owned IFCI Ltd or SIDBI – to create and prepare a centralised database to track success in the PLI projects across sectors. This da

 ~Preet. The Ministry of Rural Development recently announced new compensation rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for the fiscal year 2022-23. The salary rates are published in accordance with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005. The MGNREGA wage rates are determined by changes in the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labor), which indicates the growth in rural inflation. The Ministry of Rural Development recently announced new compensation rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for the fiscal year 2022-23. The salary rates are published in accordance with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005. The MGNREGA wage rates are determined by changes in the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labor), which indicates the growth in rural inflation. MGNREGA is one of the world's largest work-guarantee programmes. The scheme's major

 ~Preet. Recently, a Supreme Court (SC) Bench agreed to thoroughly scrutinise processes in death penalty cases in order to guarantee that judges who must choose between life imprisonment and the death penalty have complete sentencing information. Previously, the Supreme Court expressed concerns about the procedure of assessing mitigating facts in death penalty cases. The court is reforming the procedures for bringing information required in a death penalty case before the courts. In doing so, the Supreme Court expresses its dissatisfaction with the method in which death sentence sentencing is carried out. While the death sentence has been declared legitimate, the way in which it has been carried out has sparked complaints of injustice and arbitrariness. Capital punishment, commonly known as the death penalty, is the execution of an offender condemned to death after being found guilty of a criminal offence by a court of law. It is the most severe sentence that may be imposed on an offen

 ~Preet. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations' climate scientific authority, has issued the third part of its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). The second half of the study, which included climate change consequences, risks and vulnerabilities, and adaptation strategies, was released in March 2022. The first section of this study, which covered the physical science of climate change, was released in 2021. It has previously cautioned that 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming was likely to be attained by 2040.  Global net anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 59 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) in 2019, up 54% from 1990. The term "net emissions" refers to emissions that are accounted for after subtracting emissions absorbed by the world's forests and seas. Anthropogenic emissions are those that result from human-caused activities such as coal combustion for energy or forest harvesting. This increase in emissions has

~Preet. The inclusion of a single city, Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, in the recently issued United Nations Environment Programme study titled Annual Frontiers Report 2022, has sparked controversy. The Frontiers report identifies and proposes solutions to three environmental issues: urban noise pollution, wildfires, and phenological shifts, all of which require attention and action from governments and the general public to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.  The report compiles studies on noise levels in various cities around the world and depicts a subset of 61 cities as well as the range of dB (decibel) levels that have been measured. The five Indian cities included in this list are Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Asansol, and Moradabad. Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, was observed to have a dB range ranging from 29 to 114. It was the second-noisiest city on the list, with a maximum rating of 114. While road traffic, industry, and high populatio

 ~Preet. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has announced the merging of four film media entities with the National Film Development Corporation, comprising the Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archive of India, and Children's Film Society of India. The decision is consistent with the expert group chaired by Bimal Julka's (2020) report on the rationalisation, closure, and merging of film media entities. The National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that was founded in 1975 with the goal of promoting and organising an integrated development of the Indian Film Industry and fostering excellence in cinema. It is now led by Ravinder Bhakar, who also serves as the chief executive officer of the Central Board of Film Certification. It will provide a strong impetus to the production of films of all genres, including feature films, documentaries, children'