Flag Code of India

• The Flag Code of India, 2002 reads that the Flag shall not be used as a drapery in any form whatsoever except in State / Military / Central Paramilitary Forces funerals hereinafter provided.
• It also says that on the above occasions too, the flag shall be draped over the bier or coffin with the saffron towards the head of the bier or coffin.
• The Flag shall not be lowered into the grave or burnt in the pyre.
• The flag can only be used during a funeral if it is accorded the status of a state funeral.
• The state funerals are held when people below pass away,

1. People from police and armed forces,
2. People who are holding or have held office of President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Cabinet Minister, Chief Minister.

• The status of a state funeral can be accorded in case of death of people not belonging to the above-mentioned categories by state government.
• Section 2 of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act says that whoever insults the National Flag or the Indian Constitution shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Democracy Index 2020

• Democracy Index had classified 167 countries, as full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.
• It looks at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on freedom and democracy around the world.
• India had slipped two places to 53rd position in the Democracy Index.
• This is due to the democratic backsliding by authorities and crackdowns on civil liberties have led to a further decline in the country's ranking.
• India has been classified as a 'flawed democracy' along with countries such as the U.S., France, Belgium and Brazil.
• Reporters without Borders releases world press freedom Index.

Einsteinium

• The high radioactivity and short half-life of all einsteinium isotopes is the primary reason that it cannot be found in nature.
• It needs to be manufactured using very precise and intense processes.
• The element has been produced in very small quantities and its usage is limited except for the purposes of scientific research.
• It was discovered in 1952 in the debris of the first hydrogen bomb (the detonation of a thermonuclear device called “Ivy Mike” in the Pacific Ocean).
• It produced an explosion that was about 500 times more destructive than the explosion that occurred at Nagasaki.

Nord Stream 2 Pipeline

• The entry point of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline into the Baltic Sea will be the Ust-Luga area of the Leningrad Region.
• The pipeline will stretch across the Baltic Sea.
• Its exit point in Germany will be in the Greifswald area close to the exit point of Nord Stream.
• It will carry 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
• The under-construction pipeline will run along the already-completed Nord Stream 1 system, and the two together will supply an aggregate of 110 billion cubic metres of gas to Germany per year.

Quit India Movement

• On 7 to 8 August 1942, the All India Congress Committee met at Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay and ratified the 'Quit India' resolution.
• In August 1942, Gandhiji started the 'Quit India Movement' and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement 'Do or Die' call to force the British to leave India.
• The movement was followed by large-scale violence directed at railway stations, telegraph offices, government buildings, and other emblems and institutions of colonial rule.
• It was the direct result of Britain's mounting difficulties in the World War II and the failure of the Cripp's mission.
• Recently, the Prime Minister has visited the ‘Martyr Town of Dhekiajuli’ to lay the foundation stone for two medical colleges and launch a road and highway project.
• In 1942, as part of the Quit India movement, processions of freedom fighters marched to various police stations across several towns in Assam.
• In Dhekiajuli, Assam (known as Martyr’s Town) at least 15 people were shot dead, three of them women, including the 12-year-old Tileswari Barua.