Prelim Bits 20-11-2018

Remission of Convicts

Three girls of TN Agricultural University were burnt alive when their bus was set afire by 3 after Jayalalithaa was convicted in a corruption case in 2000.
Three convicts were initially sentenced to death, but the punishment was commuted to life in prison by the Supreme Court 2 years ago.
They were recently granted remission and set free. TN governor cleared the government’s recommendation to release them prematurely.
The Governor had earlier returned the file seeking remission of their life sentence for reconsideration by the government.
However, the State sent back the file sticking to its stand, following which the governor accepted the recommendation to release them.
Legal provision – Section 433A deals with the restriction of powers of remission or commutation in certain cases.
It says that, a sentence of death imposed on a person has been commuted under section 433 into one of imprisonment for life, such person shall not be released from prison unless he/she had served at least 14 years of imprisonment.

Pardoning Terms

Pardon - It removes both the sentence and the conviction and completely absolves the convict from all the sentences, punishments and disqualifications.
Commutation - It denotes the substitution of one form of punishment for a lighter form.
Remission - It implies reducing the period of sentence without changing its character.
Respite - It denotes awarding a lesser sentence in place of one originally awarded due to some special fact, such as the physical disability of convict or the pregnancy of a woman offender.
Reprieve - It implies a stay of the execution of a sentence (especially that of death) for a temporary period. Its purpose is to enable the convict to have time to seek pardon or commutation from the President/Governor.

Most Luminous Galaxy

Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile has recently observed the most luminous galaxy in the Universe.
The light from this galaxy, known as W2246-0526, took 12.4 billion years to reach Earth.
Its brightness is not due to its stars rather it is powered by a tiny energetic disk of gas that is being superheated as it spirals in on the supermassive black hole.
The light from the energetic disk is then absorbed by the surrounding dust which re-emits the energy as Infrared light.
This extreme infrared radiation makes this galaxy one of a rare class of quasars known as Hot, Dust-Obscured Galaxies or Hot DOGs.

Global Fight on Malaria

The World Health Organisation in its recent report has revealed that global efforts to fight Malaria stalled.
The number of cases of the disease climbed by 2 million to 219 million in 2017.
The international funding to fight the disease has declined in the recent years.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by Plasmodium parasites.
It is transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
The mosquito transmits the parasite in to bloodstream and after it gets matured it begin to infect red blood cells.
There are 5 parasite species that cause malaria in humans, and 2 of these species P. falciparum and P. vivax pose the greatest threat.
It is preventable and curable.
An infected mother can also pass the disease to her baby at birth. This is known as congenital malaria.
Malaria is transmitted by blood, so it can also be transmitted through:

2. a transfusion

3. use of shared needles or syringes

Igla-S missile

Igla-S is a Russian man-portable Surface to Air missile.
Russia has recently bagged the contract of Indian Army’s bid for air defence missile.
Igla-S system has been confirmed as the lowest bidder for the mega deal.

Telescope to View Kartarpur Sahib

The government has decided to install a high-powered telescope along the India-Pakistan border for devotees to view kartarpur sahib in Punjab.
It is organized to mark the 550^th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikh faith.
Kartarpur sahib, one of the holiest shrines, is the final resting place of Guru Nanak.
The telescope would be installed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Click here to know about Sikh Gurus

Source: The Hindu, Economic Times