Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 December 2021

::NATIONAL::

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has approached the Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court order granting bail to advocate and activist Sudha Bharadwaj.

About:

Also known as statutory bail, this is a right to bail that accrues when the police fail to complete investigation within a specified period in respect of a person in judicial custody.
In Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure where it is not possible for the police to complete an investigation in 24 hours, the police produce the suspect in court and seek orders for either police or judicial custody. This section concerns the total period up to which a person may be remanded in custody prior to filing of charge sheet.

How does the provision vary for special laws?

The 60- or 90-day limit is only for ordinary penal law.
Special enactments allow greater latitude to the police for completing the probe.
In the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the period is 180 days.
However, in cases involving substances in commercial quantity, the period may be extended up to one year.
This extension beyond 180 days can be granted only on a report by the Public Prosecutor indicating the progress made in the investigation and giving reasons to keep the accused in continued detention.

Citing growing population and geographical expansion of Bhopal and Indore and the accompanying administrative and law & order problems, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on November 21 announced the implementation of a police commissionerate system in the two cities.

What is the ‘dual command’ system of policing that is in force across Madhya Pradesh?

Under the dual command system, the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police (SP) share powers and responsibilities in a district.
Under this structure, the DM is entrusted with issuing arrest warrants, licenses while the SP has powers and responsibilities to investigate crime and make arrests.
The system is designed to ensure a lower concentration of power and making the police more accountable to the DM at the district level.
Under the police commissionerate system, the powers of both policing and magistracy are concentrated with the commissioner, who is directly accountable to the state government and the state police chief.

How does the commissionerate system empower the police?

The commissioner of police under the commissionerate system exercises the powers and duties of a District Magistrate. These powers are also available to any officer under the commissioner who is not below the rank of an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
This essentially means that such police officers now have powers of preventive arrest, imposing Section 144 of the CrPC Act and also to initiate chapter proceedings which include issuing showcause notices to persons asking them to execute a bond with or without sureties for good behaviour in interest of the public.
The police are also empowered to conduct externment proceedings and issue written orders to remove a person from their jurisdiction of the commissionerate for a maximum of two years.

The tension on the Russia-Ukraine border represents a major security crisis for the region, with the potential to snowball into a broader conflict.

About:

Ukraine says that Russia has amassed around 90,000 troops at the border, and US intelligence reports say that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is possible as early as next month.
Russia has shown, as recently as 2014, that it is not averse to taking military action in Ukraine. In that year, Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in what was the first time a European country annexed territory from another country since World War Two.

What are Russia’s and the West’s interests in Ukraine?

Ukraine and Russia share hundreds of years of cultural, linguistic and familial links. As part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was the second-most powerful Soviet republic after Russia, and was crucial strategically, economically and culturally. Ever since Ukraine split from the Soviet Union, both Russia and the West have vied for greater influence in the country in order to keep the balance of power in the region in their favour.
For many in Russia and in the ethically Russian parts of Ukraine, the shared heritage of the countries is an emotional issue that has been exploited for electoral and military purposes.
For the United States and the European Union, Ukraine is a crucial buffer between Russia and the West. As tensions with Russia rise, the US and the EU are increasingly determined to keep Ukraine away from Russian control.
Efforts to induct Ukraine into NATO have been ongoing for many years and seems to have picked up pace recently. Russia has declared such a move a “red line”, with Moscow worried about the consequences of the US-led military alliances expanding right up to its doorstep.

11thedition of Exercise EKUVERIN between India & Maldives will be conducted at Kadhdhoo Island, Maldives from 06 to 19 December 2021.

About and objectives:

The exercise will enhance synergy & inter-operability between Armed Forces of both the Nations in terms of understanding transnational terrorism both on land & at sea, conducting Counter Terrorism & Counter Insurgency Operations and sharing best military practices and experiences.
Besides rigorous training, the joint military exercise will also include cultural and sports activities to enhance defence cooperation and bilateral relations.
The exercise will go a long way in strengthening India’s relations with Maldives amidst emerging security dynamics in the Indian Ocean Region.

Proposal has been put forward by NITI Aayog to categorise loans to purchase electric vehicles (EVs) under priority sector lending (PSL) segment.

About:

Under PSL, 40% of lenders’ total credit must be compulsorily loaned to specific sectors. Sectors included are mostly cash starved like agriculture, small businesses, export credit.
It can help in reducing cost of finance and also increase penetration of EVs.
EVs are significant in reducing emission of greenhouse gases and helping India in its fight against climate change.

Researchers have developed a chewing gum that they say can potentially reduce transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

About:

The chewing gum is laced with a plant-grown protein, which serves as a “trap” for the virus.
This reduces viral load in saliva and potentially tamps down transmission, say the researchers, who have published their study in the journal Molecular Therapy.
When a person infected with SARS-CoV-2 sneezes, coughs or speaks, some of the virus can be expelled and reach others.
The chewing gum targets the virus in the saliva, and does so by trapping it with the ACE2 protein.
The ACE2 protein in humans is where the coronavirus latches on to, in order to enter the cell.