Today in History (Apr 26^th, 1514)

In 1514, on 26th April, Astronomer and Mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus made his first observation of Saturn.

Let’s revise

A) Which Article of the Indian Constitution provides that State shall not discriminate on the grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, or any of them?

1. 18
2. 16
3. 15
4. 12

Ans. (c)

B) Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary is located in _____

1. Karnataka
2. Kerala
3. Maharashtra
4. Tamil Nadu

Ans. (d)

C) The largest brackish water lake in India____

1. Lake Chilika in Odisha.
2. Lake Chilika in West Bengal
3. Lake Pulicut in Tamil Nadu
4. Lake Keetham in Uttar Pradesh

Ans. (a)

D) This lake runs parallel to the Bay of Bengal and has a sand bar, making it a lagoon of its own kind. Sriharikota Island separates it from Bay of Benga. This lake is____

1. Dal Lake
2. Lake Keetham
3. Lake Pulicat
4. Lake Chilika

Ans. (c)

E) This Island is also known as Wheeler Island, is an island off the coast of. Odisha, India, approximately 150 kilometres east of. the state capital Bhubaneswar. Which one correct option?

1. Dr. Abdul Kalam Island
2. Ross Island
3. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose island
4. Andman Island

Ans. (a)

F) What is the full form of ASEAN?

1. Association of Southeast Asian Nations
2. Asian Southeast East Alliance Network
3. Alliance for South East Asia Network
4. Association of South East Asia Nations

Ans. (a)

G) Bangkok Declaration is associated with the foundation of which organisation?

1. ASEAN
2. SCO
3. Asian Development Bank
4. Indian Ocean Rim Association

Ans. (a)

H) The headquarters of ASEAN is located in ___

1. Cambodia
2. Vientiane
3. Jakarta
4. Laos

Ans. (c)

I) The Miyawaki technique is in news it is associated with______

1. Floriculture
2. Agriculture
3. Urban reforestation
4. Blue economy

Ans. (c)

J)Which one is the largest fresh water lake in India?

1. Chilika Lake
2. Wular Lake
3. Pulicat Lake
4. Lake Titikaka

Ans. (b)

Summary of Today’s News

Modi thanks Italian PM for invitation to G-7 meeting in June

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on Thursday to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, thanking her for an invitation to the G-7 meeting in June, if he is re-elected.
Recently, the invitation for India to be a special invitee at the G-7 summit’s outreach sessions was received. This session will be held in from 13-15 June. It will be in Puglia, Italy
There are multiple invitations for the Prime Minister or External Affairs Minister one is to attend the Ukraine Peace Conference to be held on June 15-16 in Lucerne, Switzerland, where G-7 leaders are expected to travel from Italy.
Another invitation is for the External Affairs Minister for the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting on June 10-11 in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.
But the final response will be after the result of general elections.

Arrest of criminal politicians does not affect free elections

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the Supreme Court on Thursday that arresting politicians who are “criminals” is not a blow to free and fair elections. It was responding the accusations that such arrests are against the free and fair elections.
The AAP said that the real intention behind the arrest of Mr. Kejriwal on March 21 was to prevent him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha election.
Politicians who are criminals cannot enjoy immunity from arrest merely because they are required to campaign in the election, the ED said in an 87-page affidavit.
“Treating a politician differently from an ordinary criminal in a matter of arrest would amount to arbitrary and irrational exercise of power of arrest which would violate the principle of equality enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution,” the ED reasoned.
The ED said that the arrest of Mr. Kejriwal was based on material evidence which indicated that the Chief Minister was guilty of money laundering.
The ED said that Mr. Kejriwal had avoided the investigation, disobeyed nine summons, and was totally non-cooperative. He either did not cooperate or had given evasive answers to simple, non-incriminating questions during his interrogation on the day of the search, leading to his arrest.

SC declines petition to end Collegium, to revive NJAC

The Supreme Court Registry has refused a petition to end the Collegium system of judicial appointments. This petition was requesting to revive the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). The SC registry said that it was rejected to “prevent needless waste of judicial time and energy”.
The Supreme Court Registrar Puneet Sehgal said that the Collegium system had already been upheld, while the NJAC had been struck down by a Constitution Bench in October 2015. A review plea against the judgment was also subsequently dismissed by the court in 2018. It is critical to ensure litigants do not overburden courts with matters which already stand adjudicated. The petition says that the 2015 judgment should be rendered void ab initio as it had revived the Collegium system, which the petitioners called a “synonym for nepotism and favouritism”

Do resources of individuals belong to community? Asks the Apex Court

A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is hearing a reference on the contours of Article 39(b) of the Constitution, including whether privately-owned resources could be considered as “material resources of the community”.
Article 39 provided that the state should direct policy in such a way that the ownership and control of material resources of the community were distributed to best subserve the common good.
In this hearing the Supreme Court asked the Union government whether all material resources created by individual human labour constitute the resources of the community.
Representing the Union of India, Attorney General (AG) R. Venkataramani, submitted that “all things in the material world which are available and made available by human interaction or engagement constitute the material resources of the community”. He said that “Once resources are in the hands of the state, no further questions about ownership and control issues will make sense,”
This prompted Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, to ask the AG if he was suggesting that “everything created by the application of private labour was the material resource of the community”.
“So I build a house using my own income, is it the material resource of the community? I own a car, is it the material resource of the community? Is there no concept of private property,” Chief Justice Chandrachud queried.
Mr. Venkataramani responded that “if it goes beyond the boundary of private consumption, there is an element of the community having a call on the resource”.