- 20 MEW COMPANIES BOUGHT POLL BONDS, A PUNISHABLE OFFENCE
- At least 20 newly incorporated companies (less than 3 years old) are in violation of Indian law
- They purchased electoral bonds worth ₹103 crore
- A potential violation of Section 182 of the Companies Act, 2013
- Law: Companies Act, 2013, Section 182
- Details of Law: This section disallows companies from donating to political parties if they haven’t been operational for at least three years
- Why? – Companies are prohibited from making political donations within 3 years of incorporation to prevent shell companies from laundering money
- The 3-year rule is to prevent shell companies from donating anonymously
- This ban was retained even after the introduction of electoral bonds
- Removal of the 7.5% cap on political donations by companies raised concerns about black money and misuse of bonds for money laundering
2. PETER HIGGS, WHO PROPOSED EXISTENCE OF GOD PARTICLE – DIES
- Nobel prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs has died at age 94
- He proposed the existence of the so[1]called “God particle”
- That helped explain how matter formed after the Big Bang
- Mr. Higgs predicted the existence of a new particle — the Higgs boson — in 1964
- But only after 50 years, the particle’s existence could be confirmed at the Large Hadron Collider
- Mr. Higgs’ theory related to how subatomic particles that are the building blocks of matter get their mass
- This theoretical understanding is a central part of the so-called Standard Model, which describes the physics of how the world is constructed
- In 2012, scientists at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, announced that
- They had finally found a Higgs boson using the $10 billion particle collider
- Which was built in a 27-km tunnel under the Swiss-French border
- Mr. Higgs won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work, alongside Francois Englert of Belgium, who independently came up with the same theory
3. THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS NOT GENDER NEUTRAL
- How does climate change poses a greater threat to women in India, especially those in rural areas?
- Unequal Impacts: Women and girls face worse health outcomes due to climate change, particularly during disasters (14x more likely to die than men)
- Livelihood Loss: Climate-driven crop failures worsen food insecurity, impacting poor households with women facing increased workloads and malnutrition
- Gender-Based Violence: Extreme weather events are linked to a rise in domestic violence against women Water Scarcity: Changes in water cycles make access to safe drinking water difficult, increasing burdens on women and girls
- Health Issues: Air pollution harms women’s health, affecting respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and impacting unborn children
- Women as Leaders in Climate Action
- Empowering women in agriculture can increase yields by 20-30%
- Women’s knowledge and leadership are crucial for local climate solutions
- Recommendations -Heatwave Action – Reduce heatstroke deaths with early warnings, work schedule changes, cooling centers, and improved urban planning (more trees, green spaces)
- Water Management – Revitalize traditional rainwater harvesting systems and empower villages (panchayats) to manage water resources
- Gender Integration – State climate action plans (NAPCC, SAPCC) need to include women as agents of change, not just victims
4. Sea Defenders-2024
- The four-day maritime security exercise ‘Sea Defenders-2024’ between the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and United States Coast Guard (USCG) concluded at Port Blair on March 9, 2024, aiming to enhance maritime cooperation and interoperability between the two forces.
- Exercise Scenarios and Demonstrations :
- Included a Pollution Response Demonstration showcasing expertise in responding to oil spills and environmental hazards.
- Simulated Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) Operations for inspecting vessels suspected of illegal activity.
- Search & Rescue and Pollution Response demonstrations were conducted by ICG helicopter and Dornier aircraft.
- Practice to neutralize asymmetric threats like drone attacks on commercial merchant traffic.
- Training in firefighting and damage control skills through simulated scenarios.
- Harbour Activities and Engagements :
- United States Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf participated in engaging in harbour activities.
- Cross-visits allowed crew members to tour each other’s ships, gaining insights into capabilities and procedures.
- Friendly badminton competitions were organized to foster camaraderie among crews.
- Significance :
- Enhanced Maritime Cooperation : The exercise strengthens maritime cooperation and interoperability between the ICG and USCG, fostering greater coordination in addressing maritime security challenges.
- Skill Refinement and Training : Provides valuable training opportunities for both Coast Guards to refine their skills and improve their ability to work together effectively.
- Growing Partnership : The visit of USCGC Bertholf to Port Blair symbolizes the growing partnership between the US and Indian Coast Guard, highlighting their shared commitment to a safer maritime environment.
5. International collaboration of physicists achieves first successful laser cooledPositronium, a short-lived atom significant for quantum studies
- Introduction : – An international collaboration of physicists has achieved the first successful laser cooling of Positronium, a short-lived atom crucial for quantum studies.
- Positronium, composed of an electron and a positron, lacks the usual nuclear matter, making it a purely leptonic atom and ideal for testing quantum electrodynamics.
- Collaboration and Experimentation :The Antihydrogen Experiment : Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEgIS) collaboration, consisting of physicists from 19 European groups and one Indian group, conducted experiments at CERN to accomplish this feat.
- Led by Professor Sadiq Rangwala from the Raman Research Institute, the Indian team contributed significantly to the experiment, particularly in designing laser beam alignment diagnostics.
- Despite decades of research since the late 1980s, advancements in technology, including cutting-edge lasers, were crucial for achieving laser cooling of Positronium.
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37 year old Simon Harris has become Ireland’s youngest ever Prime Minister
