World Press Freedom Index

• It is released by the global media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
• The objective of the World Press Freedom Index, which it releases every year, “is to compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories” in the previous calendar year.
• The RSF defines press freedom as “the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety.”
• Countries are ranked after being assigned a score ranging from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the highest possible level of press freedom and 0 the worst.
• The scoring has two components: a quantitative one, that tallies abuses against journalists and media outlets, and a qualitative analysis based on the responses of press freedom specialists to an RSF questionnaire.
• Countries are evaluated on five contextual indicators: political context, legal framework, economic context, socio-cultural context, and safety.
• India’s ranking in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index has fallen to 150 out of 180 countries, in last year’s report, India was ranked 142.
• The top three positions for countries with the highest press freedom were taken by the Nordic trio of Norway (a score of 92.65), Denmark (90.27) and Sweden (88.84).

Basis Points (Bps)

• A basis point is a standard measure for interest rates and other percentages in finance, representing one-one hundredth of one percent.
• The "basis" in basis point comes from the base move between two percentages, or the spread between two interest rates.
• The basis point is commonly used for calculating changes in interest rates, equity indices, and fixed-income security yields.
• Basis points are also used when referring to the cost of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

Sex Ratio Ranking 2020

• Sex ratio at birth is number of females per thousand males.
• Highest Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) based on registered events has been reported by Ladakh (1104) followed by Arunachal Pradesh (1011), A&N Islands (984), Tripura (974), and Kerala (969).
• Lowest sex ratio at birth was reported by Manipur (880), followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (898), Gujarat (909), Haryana (916) and Madhya Pradesh (921).
• The report said that the requisite information from Maharashtra, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi on sex ratio at birth was “not available.”
• None of the States or Union Territories have recorded sex ratio at birth below 880.
• It is compulsory to report births and deaths to the Registrar of Births and Deaths under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 and births and deaths are registered only at the place of their occurrence.

President has no role to play in Perarivalan’s plea, says Supreme Court.

Article 161

• Definition: The Governor of a State shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the State extends.

• Under Article 161 of the Constitution, the Governor was bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
• The Governor prima facie had no authority to transfer the mercy plea to the President.
• The Governor is bound by the State Council’s advice under Article 161.
• The President has no role under Article 161.
• In case the Governor has a different opinion, he has to send it back to the State.
• The President and Governor exercised two distinct powers of mercy under Articles 72 and 161, respectively.
• The former exercised his power under the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers at the Centre while the latter depended on the State Council of Ministers.

Shigella Bacteria

• Shigella is a bacterium that causes a diarrheal illness called shigellosis.
• Symptoms of shigellosis include diarrhea (often bloody), abdominal pain, stomach cramps, and fever. Sometimes people infected with Shigella have no symptoms at all, but can still pass the bacteria to others.
• Shigella is found in the stool (feces) of infected people, in food or water contaminated by an infected person, and on surfaces that have been touched by infected people.