Law Commission of India has recently recommended to the Government of India to re-think or even repeal the provision of sedition (Section 124A) from the Indian Penal Code.
Section 124a, commonly known as Sedition law made words or any visible representation that attempts to bring hatred or contempt or excite disaffection towards the government punishable by law.
They shall be charged with cognizable and non-bailable offence with punishment up to imprisonment for life & fine or imprisonment for 3 years & fine or with fine alone.
The expression disaffection includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity.
It was introduced in the 1870s, originally to deal with increasing Wahabi activities that posed a challenge to the colonial government.
The section has been misused in recent times to suppress even minor dissent.
Non-bailable offence – The police cannot release anyone on bail and so the arrested person must make an application for bail before a magistrate or court.
Leptospirosis
Health Department has recently given the warning about leptospirosis disease in the post-flood period.
Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection in rodents and other wild and domesticated species.
It is a zoonotic disease (i.e) spread from animals to humans caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira.
It is transmitted to humans by exposure through water contaminated by urine from infected animals.
The infection in man is contracted through skin abrasions and the mucosa of the nose, mouth and eyes.
Human-to-human transmission is rare.
In most of the cases, leptospirosis only causes mild flu-like symptoms, such as headache, chills and muscle pain.
However, in some cases the infection is more severe and can cause life-threatening problems, including organ failure and internal bleeding.
Severe form of leptospirosis is known as Weil's disease
It is an emerging tropical infectious disease.
Without treatment, Leptospirosis can lead to kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure, respiratory distress, and even death.
Monster Galaxy
Astronomers have captured the clearest image of Monster galaxy using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
The monster galaxy called as COSMOS-AzTEC-1 is located 12.4 billion light-years away.
Monster galaxies, or starburst galaxies, form stars at a startling pace, 1000 times higher than the star formation rate in Milky Way Galaxy.
It has molecular clouds that are highly unstable and leads to runaway star formation.
They are thought to be the ancestors of the huge elliptical galaxies in Universe.
Therefore, these findings pave the way to understand the formation and evolution of such galaxies.
SAARC
South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Council of Ministers’ meeting is going to be held in New York.
It is expected to be chaired by Nepal Foreign Minister.
SAARC is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of nations in South Asia.
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are its members.
Its secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal.
The organization promotes development of economic and regional integration.
It launched the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) in 2006.
States with observer status include Australia, China, European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea and United States.
RCEP Trade Minsiters’ Meeting
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Trade Ministers’ Meeting was recently held in Singapore.
RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of the ASEAN and the six states with which ASEAN has existing free trade agreements - Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam are ASEAN members.
RCEP is viewed as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed trade agreement which includes several Asian and American nations but excludes China and India.
RCEP will cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical co-operation, intellectual property, competition, dispute settlement and other issues.
Negotiations of RCEP will aim to achieve the high level of tariff liberalisation, through building upon the existing liberalisation levels between participating countries.
