THE HINDU ANALYSIS,09/12/22,BY :SANJAY KUMAR SAH

 01:-SC reserves verdict on pleas to strike down Tamil Nadu law which protects Jallikattu -

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• A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday reserved for judgment a batch of petitions seeking to strike down a Tamil Nadu law which protects Jallikattu by claiming that the bull-taming sport is a cultural heritage of the State and is protected under Article 29 (1) of the Constitution. 

• The bone of contention is the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of 2017 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Conduct of Jallikattu) Rules of 2017, which had reopened the gates for the conduct of the sport despite a 2014 ban by the Supreme Court. 

• The case was referred to the Constitution Bench in February 2018.

 • The primary question involved was whether Jallikattu should be granted constitutional protection as a collective cultural right under Article 29 (1). 

What is Jallikattu? 

•About 

• Jallikattu is a bull taming competitive sport and a tradition over 2,000 years old in part of Tamilnadu. 

• The word ‘Jallikattu’ has evolved from the words ‘Calli’ (coins) and ‘Kattu’ (tie), which denote a bundle of coins tied to the bull’s horns.

 • There are references of Jallikattu in Silappatikaram, the great epics of Tamil classical period.

 •Celebrations 

• It is celebrated in the second week of January, during the Tamil harvest festival, Pongal. 

• It is popular in Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Theni, Pudukkottai and Dindigul districts of Tamil Nadu known as the Jallikattu belt. 

• The most popular Jallikattu is the one celebrated at Alanganallur near Madurai. 

•The Supreme Court in its 2014 verdict banned Jallikattu and struck down the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act, 2009.

 •In January 2016, in what could be seen as a clearly political move, the union environment ministry revoked the ban by issuing a notification months before the elections in Tamil Nadu were due to be held.

 •In January 2016, the Supreme Court stayed this 2016 Union Government notification, as it was challenged by the AWBI and PETA

. •In January 2017, several hundreds of protesters conducted a rally at Chennai Marina opposing the ban on Jallikattu.

 •In January 2017, Tamil Nadu passed the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of 2017 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Conduct of Jallikattu) Rules of 2017. 

• The statutes had re-opened the gates for the conduct of the popular bull-taming sport in the name of culture and tradition despite the 2014 ban by the Supreme Court. 

•In the aftermath of Jallikattu comeback due to Tamilnadu legislation the Supreme Court had referred a bunch of petitions to the Constitution Bench in February 2018.

02:-Collegium system is the law until Centre brings new legislation, says SC - 

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• The Supreme Court on Thursday said nobody was stopping the Union government from bringing a new law on judicial appointments, but till then, the Collegium system and its Memorandum of Procedure was the “final word”.

 • The court’s remarks came after Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar on Wednesday criticised the striking down of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act by a Constitution Bench in October 2015.

 • The court said the law on judicial appointments to the High Courts, as it stood now, was the Collegium system evolved by the Supreme Court in the Three Judges cases.

 •The ‘First Judges Case’ (1981) ruled that the “consultation” with the CJI in the matter of appointments must be full and effective.

 • However, it rejected the idea that the CJI’s opinion, albeit carrying great weight, should have primacy.

 •The Second Judges Case (1993) introduced the Collegium system, holding that “consultation” really meant “concurrence”.

 • It added that it was not the CJI’s individual opinion, but an institutional opinion formed in consultation with the two seniormost judges in the Supreme Court. 

•On a Presidential Reference for its opinion, the Supreme Court, in the Third Judges Case (1998) expanded the Collegium to a five-member body, comprising the CJI and four of his senior-most colleagues.

 •The President of India appoints the CJI and the other SC judges. 

•As far as the CJI is concerned, the outgoing CJI recommends his successor.

 • In practice, it has been strictly by seniority ever since the supersession controversy of the 1970s.

 • The Union Law Minister forwards the recommendation to the Prime Minister who, in turn, advises the President.

03:- Poll bonds worth ₹676 cr. sold in a week in November - 

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•About:

 • State Bank of India is authorised to issue and encash these bonds.

 • Electoral bonds are purchased anonymously by donors and are valid for 15 days from the date of issue.

 • As debt instruments, these can be bought by donors from a bank, and the political party can then encash them. 

• These can be redeemed only by an eligible party by depositing the same in its designated account maintained with a bank.

 • The bonds are issued by SBI in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore. 

• The bonds are available for purchase by any citizen of India for a period of ten days each in the months of January, April, July and October as may be specified by the Central Government.

 •Eligibility: 

    • Only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and have secured not less than 1% of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly, are eligible to receive electoral bonds.

04:- Field trials of GM mustard DMH-11 showed high yield, says Minister for Science - 

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Field trials of the transgenic mustard variety, Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11), revealed them to be higher yielding and they did not deter the pollination habits of honeybees, Union Science Minister Jitendra Singh said in the Rajya Sabha in a written response to a query. 

The DMH-11 had recently been approved by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) for cultivation in farmer fields, as a precursor to commercial cultivation. The GEAC is an autonomous body of experts authorised by the Environment Ministry to appraise the safety of genetically modified seeds.

                                                     Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11):

                                            Dhara Mustard Hybrid- 11( DMH- 11), was developed by Deepak Pental of Delhi University, through transgenic technology, in 2002. DMH – 11 was created through transgenic technology, primarily involving the Bar, Barnase and Barstar gene systems.

 DMH-11 by crossing a popular Indian mustard variety ‘Varuna’ (the barnase line) with an East European ‘Early Heera-2’ mutant (barstar). DMH-11 is claimed to have shown an average 28% yield increase over Varuna in contained field trials carried out by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)

 •The GEAC is a statutory body notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. 

•It was formed as the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee and was renamed to its current name in 2010. 

•It functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change.

 •The body regulates the use, manufacture, storage, import, and export of hazardous microorganisms or genetically-engineered organisms and cells in India.

05:- Need to urgently fix basics of water, education and health: BCG’s Sinha - 

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 • India needs to urgently fix the ‘fundamental gaps’ in areas like water, health, education, besides addressing the ‘inconsistent’ policies of financial sector regulators and refrain from ‘drum beating’ in its pursuit of becoming a larger global economy, Boston Consulting Group’s India chief Janmejaya Sinha. suggested on Thursday. 

• “If we don’t fix water... we can’t double agricultural productivity, which we need for internal food security and to release the labour force,” he noted.

 • Mr. Sinha added that health and education spends also needed to double to prevent the demographic dividend from becoming a ‘disaster’. “We have an average age of 27 but that doesn’t help if there is complete lack of productivity,” he said.

 06:-Text and Context - The sustained growth in remittances 

• Remittance denotes a sum of money sent by one party to another. These days, the term typically describes the money sent by someone working abroad to their family back home. 

• Remittances to India are set to touch a record $100 billion in 2022, according to the World Bank’s latest Migration and Development Brief titled, ‘Remittances Brave Global Headwinds’. India received $89.4 billion in 2021 — this is the first time a country will reach the $100 billion mark.

 • In the case of India, the largest sources of remittances have been from Indians working in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait), and the U.S./U.K

. • In fact, between 2016-17 and 2020-21, while the remittances from the U.S., U.K. and Singapore increased from 26% to 36%, the share from five GCC countries dropped from 54% to 28%. In 2020-21, the U.S., with a share of 23%, surpassed Saudi Arabia as India’s top source country for remittances.

 This means India is set to retain the highest receiver of remittances spot this year as well. According to the World Bank Report, “Remittance flows to India will rise 12% to reach $100 billion this year. That puts its inflows far ahead of countries including Mexico, China and the Philippines."

07:-Text and Context - What will India offer during its presidency of the G20?

 • On December 1, India assumed the presidency of the G20 forum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a “huge opportunity for India”.

 The G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the U.K., the U.S. and the European Union. 

• The G20 forum was established in 1999 by the Finance Ministers and central bank governors of seven countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. after a meeting in Washington DC.

 • The uniting factor was the 1997-98 financial crisis and its aftermath.

 • The first meeting of G20 leaders took place in 1999, and it was elevated to the level of heads of government/state in 2008. In 2009, G20 was designated the “premier forum for international economic cooperation”.

 • The G20 Summit is held annually under a rotating presidency, which rests with India for 2023. The group does not have a permanent secretariat, and the presidency is supported by the previous, current, and future holders of the post, together called the troika.

                                            India plans on showcasing its philosophies of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (one earth, one family, one future), and LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) through the theme and the logo of the event.

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