News Summary · 3 minutes read
Stay ahead in your UPSC CSE preparation with our daily News Summary. Designed to save time, it highlights key national and international events from leading newspapers and government websites.
Contents
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Forest Advisory Committee (FAC)
- A statutory body under MoEFCC → constituted under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
- Plays a key role in clearance/rejection of proposals for diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes → considers only cases involving >5 hectares of forest land.
- FAC’s role is advisory in nature.
- Functions of FAC
- Evaluation of proposals
- Assessment of environmental impact
- Reviewing Forest Rights Act compliance and compensatory afforestationetc.
- Recommendation for approval, rejection, or conditional clearance
Wildlife Institute of India (WII)
- Established at Dehradun in 1982 → received the status of an autonomous institution of the MoEFCC in 1986.
- Objectives: building knowledge base and capacity in wildlife science for conservation and management of wildlife.
High Court judge removal process
A High Court judge can be removed by a presidential order after following a procedure laid down in the Judges Enquiry Act (1968).
Constitutional provisions
- Article 217(1)(b): a High Court Judge may be removed from office by the President in the same manner as a Supreme Court Judge is removed under Article 124(4).
- Article 124(4): specifies the removal process of a Supreme Court Judge via parliamentary address (needs special majority: majority of total membership and 2/3rd present & voting) on the grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity, followed by a presidential order.
- Article 218: extends Article 124(4) and Article 124(5) to High Courts.
- Article 124(5): empowers the Parliament to regulate the removal procedure by law → Parliament has enacted the Judges Inquiry Act, 1968.
Process (Judges Inquiry Act, 1968)
- Motion initiation: Signed by 100 LS MPs or 50 RS MPs → submitted to Speaker/Chairman.
- Motion admission: Speaker/Chairman can admit or reject.
- Inquiry committee (3 members)
- Chief Justice of India or a judge of Supreme Court
- Chief Justice of a High Court
- A distinguished jurist
- Committee report: If guilty, report tabled in both Houses.
- Parliament’s decision: report must be passed with a special majority (2/3rd members present & voting + majority of total membership).
- Presidential order: if Parliament’s address is presented to the President in the same session in which it is passed by both houses, the President issues a removal order.
No judge of a High Court has been removed so far.
Great Nicobar Island (GNI) project
- A ₹92,000-crore mega-infrastructure project conceived by NITI Aayog and proposed to be implemented by Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO).
- Includes:
- an international container transshipment port
- an airport
- power plants
- a township.
- Challenged by Nicobarese and Shompen people, alleging that their forest rights have not been settled → Under consideration by Calcutta High Court.
Final voter list of Uttar Pradesh
- Final voter list of Uttar Pradesh has been released after the 166-day Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the State.
- 2 crore+ names have been removed from the UP’s electoral rolls, representing 13.21% of the total pre-SIR UP voters.
- Total electorate in UP is now at over 13.39 crore.
- 54% males
- 45.46% females
- 3rd gender voters = 4,206
- Gender ratio = 834 female voters per 1,000 male voters (increased)
- Districts with maximum deletions = Lucknow (22.89%) > Ghaziabad (20.84%) > Agra (17.71%) > Prayagraj (17.62%).
Artemis II
- A 10-day lunar flyby mission carried out by NASA from April 1–10, 2026.
- Sent 4 astronauts: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch (NASA), and Jeremy Hansen (CSA).
- Used Orion spacecraft atop the SLS rocket.
- Crew tested Orion’s life support, navigation, and deep-space systems without landing on the Moon.
- Significance: 1st humans beyond low-Earth orbit since Apollo 17 (1972).
Quick Picks for Pre and Mains (QPPM)
- Anticipatory bail: pre-arrest protection against a non-bailable offence granted under Section 482 of BNSS (2023) → issued by Sessions Courts or High Courts.
- Nabatiyeh city: Lebanon
- Hezbollah: Iran-backed fighters in Lebanon
- Min Aung Hlaing: Myanmar junta leader,recently elected as Myanmar’s president.
Coming soon…