1.CBI DIRECTOR

Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, a 1985-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, took charge as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director.

About:

• The Maharashtra cadre officer has served the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) for 10 years. He was also on deputation with the elite Special Protection Group (SPG) for six years.
• In July 2018, Mr. Jaiswal was appointed the Mumbai Police Commissioner. He became the Maharashtra Director-General of Police (DGP) in March 2019.
• He took over as the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) chief on January 8, 2021, following which he was empanelled as one of the candidates for selection as Director, CBI. 

Important Info :

• The CBI is headed by a Director, an IPS officer with a rank of Director General of Police.
• The director is selected by a high-profile committee constituted under The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 as amended through The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and has a two-year term.

Source : The Hindu

2.INTERMEDIARY GUIDELINES AND DIGITAL MEDIA ETHICS CODE

The new rules for social media platforms and digital news outlets, called the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, came into effect.

About:

• The guidelines had asked all social media platforms to set up a grievances redressal and compliance mechanism, which included appointing a resident grievance officer, chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person.
• The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology had also asked these platforms to submit monthly reports on complaints received from users and action taken.
• A third requirement was for instant messaging apps was to make provisions for tracking the first originator of a message.
• Failure to comply with any one of these requirements would take away the indemnity provided to social media intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.
• Section 79 says any intermediary shall not be held legally or otherwise liable for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted on its platform.

Source : Indian Express

3.PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (PFRDA)

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) crossed the milestone of Rs 6 lakh crore (Rs 6 trillion) of Assets Under Management (AUM) under the National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY), after 13 years.

About:

• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is the statutory authority established by an enactment of the Parliament, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the National Pension System (NPS) and pension schemes to which this Act applies.
• NPS was initially notified for central government employees recruits w.e.f. 1st January 2004 and subsequently adopted by almost all State Governments for its employees.
• NPS was extended to all Indian citizens (resident/non-resident/overseas) on a voluntary basis and to corporates for its employees. 

Source : PIB

4.TOLL PLAZAS

In order to ensure smooth and quick passage of vehicles at the toll plazas, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued guidelines to ensure service time of not more than 10 seconds per vehicle even during peak hours at the toll plazas on the National Highways.

About:

• The new guidelines will also ensure seamless flow of traffic at the toll plazas by not allowing vehicles to queue up more than 100 metres.
• Although at most of the toll plazas, there is no waiting time after mandatory 100% Fastag, even then if there is queue of waiting vehicles of more than 100 metres due to some reason, the vehicles will be allowed to pass without paying toll till the queue comes within 100 metres from the toll booth.
• Since NHAI has successfully transitioned to 100% cashless tolling from middle of February 2021, the overall FASTag penetration at NHAI Toll Plazas has reached 96% and stands at 99% at many toll plazas.
• As social distancing has become the new normal, more and more commuters are opting to use FASTag as it removes the chances of any direct contact between the drivers and toll operators. 

Source : PIB

5.TULSA RACE MASSACRE

US President Joe Biden will next week visit the city of Tulsa in Oklahoma state, in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, known among the worst incidents of racial strife in American history.

About:

• In 1921, from the evening of May 31 until the afternoon of June 1, a violent mob of Tulsa’s White residents attacked a prosperous Black neighbourhood, killing hundreds and leaving the locality in ashes.
• The massacre took place in Greenwood, a thriving Black-dominated neighbourhood that had sprung up at the start of the 20th century on the northern side of Tulsa, separated by a railroad track from the city’s White-dominated part on the south.
• Known as the “Black Wall Street”, Greenwood was a favoured destination for African Americans from the Southern US states– where laws actively upheld racism and disempowered Black people– to come and seek upward mobility.
• The visit by a US president on the occasion is being read as a signal to acknowledge the race massacre, whose history has long been suppressed and left out of national memory. 

Source : Indian Express

6.RECLINING BUDDHA

On May 26 — Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, or Vesak — India’s largest statue of the Reclining Buddha was to have been installed at the Buddha International Welfare Mission temple in Bodh Gaya. The ceremony has been put off due to Covid-19 restrictions.

About:

• A reclining Buddha statue or image represents The Buddha during his last illness, about to enter Parinirvana, the stage of great salvation after death that can only be attained by enlightened souls.
• Statues and images of the Reclining Buddha show him lying on his right side, his head resting on a cushion or on his right elbow.
• The Reclining Buddha was first depicted in Gandhara art, which began in the period between 50 BC and 75 AD, and peaked during the Kushana period from the first to the fifth centuries AD.
• The largest Reclining Buddha in the world is the 600-foot Winsein Tawya Buddha built in 1992 in Mawlamyine, Myanmar.
• Cave No. 26 of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ajanta contains a 24-foot-long and nine-foot-tall sculpture of the Reclining Buddha, believed to have been carved in the 5th century AD. 

Important Info :

• Other depictions of the Buddha
• At the Mahabodhi temple, the Buddha is sitting in the bhoomi-sparsha mudra, where his hand is pointing towards the ground. It symbolises earth as being witness to his enlightenment.
• At Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, the stone statue has a hand gesture called the dharma-chakra mudra, which signifies preaching. This is also the most popular depiction in India, along with the Bodhi tree depiction.
• While the Sitting Buddha — most common depiction — is believed to be teaching or meditating, the Standing Buddha signifies rising to teach after reaching nirvana.
• The Walking Buddha is either beginning his journey toward enlightenment or returning after giving a sermon. This is the least common of the Buddha postures, and is seen mostly in Thailand. 

Source : Indian Express

7.MARRIAGE TRENDS

Compared to a decade ago, Indian youth are now marrying later in life.

About:

• Lokniti-CSDS Youth Studies in 2016 and 2007 show the proportion of married youth decreased by eight percentage points from 55% In 2007 to 47% in 2016 .
• a much higher share of young men were unmarried (61%) compared to women (41%).
• Educational attainment too is an important factor associated with marriage. One observes a decline in the proportion of married youth with successive levels of education.
• In an age of online dating, growth of social networking and matrimonial sites, arranged marriages are still a preferred choice: 84% of the married youth in 2016 said their marriage was decided by families and only 6% reported self-choice.
• Around 31% of the youth said their parents will have or had a lot of influence on their marriage decision. This influence was greater for women (35%) than men (28%).
• The Youth Study 2016 shows that marriage across caste and religion is still not accepted in an arranged marriage set-up. Among the married youth, very few had opted for inter-caste (4%) or marriage outside their religion (3%). These were more prominent among love marriages (inter-caste 34%; inter-religious 12 %).
• To sum up, the youth are marrying late; the institution of arranged marriage is still intact; marrying across caste or religion is still not much accepted; and overall, attitudes to marriage remain within the boundaries of traditional thinking.

Source : Indian Express

8.TOBACCO SMOKERS

The number of smokers worldwide has increased to 1.1 billion in 2019, with tobacco smoking causing 7.7 million deaths – including 1 in 5 deaths in males worldwide.

About:

• Of particular concern are the persistently high rates of smoking among young people, with over half of countries worldwide showing no progress in reducing smoking among 15-24 year olds. 89% of new smokers become addicted by age 25.
• China (26·5 million), India (19·8 million), and Indonesia (9·91 million) are among the top three countries with the largest numbers of current tobacco smokers aged 15–24 years in 2019 and accounted for 55·9% of total tobacco smokers in this age group.
• In 2019, global prevalence of smoking tobacco use among males aged 15-24 years was 20.1 %% and among females was 4.95% . In 2019, an estimated 155 million individuals aged 15–24 years globally were tobacco smokers.
• In 2019, smoking was associated with 1.7 million deaths from ischaemic heart disease, 1.6 million deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 1.3 million deaths from tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer, and nearly 1 million deaths from stroke.
• The study have been published in The Lancet and The Lancet Public Health journals by the Global Burden of Disease collaboration.

Source : Indian Express

9.AYUSH

Union Minister for Ayush Kiren Rijiju will launch the Ayush Clinical Case Repository (ACCR) portal and the third version of Ayush Sanjivani App on MAY 27, 2021.

Ayush Clinical Repository (ACCR) portal:

• The Ayush Clinical Repository (ACCR) portal (https://accr.ayush.gov.in/) will serve as a platform to support both Ayush practitioners and general public.
• This portal aims to aggregate information about clinical outcomes achieved by Ayush practitioners on a large scale. It is expected to document the strengths of Ayush systems for treatment of various disease conditions.
• One notable feature of the ACCR portal is the dedicated section for reporting and publishing details of Covid 19 cases treated through Ayush Systems. 
• Ayush Sanjivani App
• The Ayush Sanjivani App (Third Version) is now published on Google Play Store and iOS.
• This version facilitates a significant study/ documentation regarding the efficacy of selected Ayush interventions, including Ayush 64 and Kabasura Kudineer medicines in the management of asymptomatic & mild to moderate Covid 19 patients.

Source : PIB

10.MEKEDATU MULTI-PURPOSE PROJECT

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has appointed a joint committee to look into allegations of unauthorised construction activity taking place in Mekedatu, where the Karnataka government had proposed to construct a dam across the Cauvery River.

About:

• Acting suo motu based on a media report, the NGT has directed the panel to submit a report on or before July 5.
• The Mekedatu multi-purpose project involves building a balancing reservoir across the Cauvery River near Kanakapura in Ramanagaram district.
• It envisages supplying drinking water to Bengaluru and Ramanagaram districts, besides generation of power.
• The project was conceived in 2013 and in 2017, the Karnataka state cabinet decided to implement it. The project, however, ran into a controversy after Tamil Nadu opposed it on the grounds that the project violates the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award. 

Source : The Hindu