General

1. CJI suggests to appoint non-law graduates for speedy despensation of justice.

• Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra has suggested appointing graduates from specialised disciplines, other than law, in district courts to ensure speedy dispensation of justice.
• MBA graduates could be appointed as court managers and they could operate as facilitators of cases, plan the hearing of different cases and so on.

2. Rising drug abuse among women in Punjab

• The problem of drug abuse in Punjab over the years has largely been focused on men, but experts and studies point out that the number of women addicted to drugs is rising “alarmingly” in the State.
• Social stigma, a state of denial and lack of exclusive facilities are the key reasons why women are not seeking help.
• The State government has been providing various treatment options for the youth, primarily focused on men. Punjab has 31 government de-addiction centres but there’s only one centre exclusively for women — in Kapurthala — that was set up in 2017.

3. CAG report – Inadequate training for military personnel

• No facility exists for training Navy crew on various aspects of damage control and firefighting in a submarine, the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) has observed in a report. This is among a series of deficiencies in training noted by the federal auditor.
• In August 2013, Russian-built Kilo class submarine INS Sindhurakshak sank in the Mumbai harbour after an explosion on board, killing 18 sailors. In the next year, a fire on board INS Sindhuratna killed two officers, following which the then Navy Chief, Admiral D.K. Joshi, submitted his resignation.
• India has an ageing submarine fleet.
• Training in damage control and firefighting assumes even greater importance as India inducts nuclear submarines into its fleet.
• Against this backdrop, the Navy is in the process of inducting two deep submergence rescue vessel systems from a U.K.-based firm, which are critical in case of any disaster in the depths of the sea.
• The report highlighted delays in the completion of the Naval Academy Project at Ezhimala, non-availability of training equipment for new induction platforms, a deficiency in quality of training and other issues.

4. FCTC ‘s CoP with out Tobacco farmers in Geneva

• Tobacco Institute of India has appealed to the Government of India to undertake prior consultation with farmers and other Industry stakeholders and include stakeholder representatives in the official Indian delegation to the FCTC COP 8.
• The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of Parties (COP8) Meeting, presided over by India, is being held in Geneva from the 1st to 6th of October 2018 to discuss and adopt measures in relation to the Articles of the Convention. FCTC is an international convention that makes it obligatory on signatory countries to take prescribed tobacco control measures.
• The request is bound to be rejected as the Guide for Delegates to the Conference of the Parties 2018 clearly lays down: “In accordance with Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC and the Guidelines for implementation of Article 5.3 adopted by COP in 2008, Parties should not nominate any person employed by the tobacco industry or any entity working to further its interests, or any person benefiting from the proceeds of tobacco trade.”

5. Indian aid to SAARC nations falls

• India’s financial assistance to SAARC neighbours declined considerably in the past five years
• Significantly, the drop for most SAARC countries was most steep in 2014, the year the NDA government launched its tenure with the “Neighbourhood First” slogan.
• The one exception was the Maldives, to which Indian assistance has been consistently increasing year on year since 2013, despite the dip in bilateral ties. The Maldives is the only country of the grouping that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not yet visited

6. Enlargement of Sikkim Assemly for new communities representation.

• The Home Ministry has proposed an increase in the number of seats in the Sikkim Assembly from 32 to 40. The expansion will be the first since the State merged with India in 1975.
• The seats are being increased to accommodate people from the Limboo and Tamang communities, notified as the Scheduled Tribes in Sikkim in January 2003. Of the eight seats proposed to be increased, five will be reserved for Limboo and Tamangs. Now, Sikkim has 12 seats reserved for Bhutias and Lepchas, two for the Scheduled Castes, one seat for the Sanghas and 17 general seats. As per constitutional provisions, the total number of seats for STs should be in proportion to the population.

7. Nano therapy for cancer cure

• In spite of many advances in cancer treatment, one of the biggest challenges is to ensure that normal cells do not get damaged while destroying malignant tumours.
• In the case of most therapies, either oral or intravenous, the drug gets distributed throughout the body. As a result, higher dosages are required, which makes the treatment expensive.
• To overcome the problems faced in current treatment methods, scientists are trying to take advantage of the increased proliferation activity of cancer cells by adopting targeted therapy through the use of nano materials without causing much harm to a non-cancerous tissue.
• In this type of therapy, a photo-sensitiser is used along with a specific wavelength of light to kill cancer cells. On exposure to light, the photo-sensitiser releases free radicals that kill the cancer cells.

Karnataka

1. Whattsap group by Karnataka Forest Dept to share wild elephant herd movement in Kodagu

• A routine act initiated among the Forest Department staff at the beat level, has become the first line of defence for people facing the brunt of conflict with elephants in the coffee plantations of Kodagu.
• It has now become the most popular interface between the people and the department in tracking the movement of elephants in the estates around Ammathi.
• Between 2011 and 2016 there were about 8 to 10 human deaths reported every year. But in 2017, the number of human deaths was down to one or two and there have been none so far in 2018.

2. Armyworm infestation across state

• The infestation of Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frigeperda), an invasive agricultural pest that was first noticed in Shivamogga district in May this year, is spreading at an alarming pace in Karnataka.
• the lifespan of the pest is 30 to 60 days and each generation can migrate to a distance of more than 400 km. The fecundity of this pest is also high. Owing to these factors, the infestation is spreading at a rapid pace.
• The area of cultivation of maize that was on 6.6 lakh hectares in the State in 2001 has enhanced to around 14 lakh hectare today. Many paddy growers in Malnad region have also switched over to maize as the latter is considered less-labour and less-water intensive. In many parts, mono-cropping of maize is practised.

3. Government office shifting to Belagavi

• The Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam, the special purpose vehicle financing irrigation projects on the river Krishna; the Upalokayukta; and three of the State Information Commissioners, to Belagavi. However, there has been very little action on the ground.
• Suvarna Soudha of Belagavi, which has held seven legislature sessions since 2011, is effectively occupied only for 10 to 15 days each year.
• Successive governments had shifted six State-level offices to north Karnataka districts. But, they were all reverted, along with officers and staff, to Bengaluru within one or two years, say people in the know of these developments.
• A retired bureaucrat recalls that the first attempt to shift offices to Belagavi was made by former Chief Minister D. Devaraj Urs in 1978. He ordered shifting of Irrigation, Education, and Textile departments to the divisional headquarter town. But, the experiment failed as only a few officers joined and some went on leave after reporting. The Urs government fell within a year, and the situation went back to square one.