Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 09 March 2022

::NATIONAL::

As per diplomatic sources, over 500 Indians from across the country, including some veterans, have submitted applications volunteering to join the International Legion created to fight Russian forces in Ukraine.

About:

The International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine is sometimes known as the Ukrainian Foreign Legion.
It is a volunteer foreign legion military unit created by the Government of Ukraine on the request of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to fight in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It would function under the territorial defence squad.
It is one of several Ukrainian volunteer battalions formed since 2014.

Indian response:

One Indian has, so far, joined the Ukraine International Legion.
Indian domestic law clearly states such an act is punishable under Chapter VI, Section 121-130 of the Indian Penal Code (offences against the state).
They are punished under the section “Committing depredation on territories of power at peace with the Government of India”.

On March 7, the Gujarat government marked 100 years of the Pal-Dadhvav killings, calling it a massacre “bigger than the Jallianwala Bagh”.

About the incident:

The Pal-Dadhvav massacre took place on March 7, 1922, in the Pal-Chitariya and Dadhvaav villages of Sabarkantha district, then part of Idar state.
The day was Amalki Ekadashi, which falls just before Holi, a major festival for tribals. Villagers from Pal, Dadhvav, and Chitariya had gathered on the banks of river Heir as part of the ‘Eki movement’, led by one Motilal Tejawat. The movement was to protest against the land revenue tax (lagaan) imposed on the peasants by the British and feudal lords.
Tejawat, who belonged to Koliyari village in the Mewad region of Rajasthan, had also mobilised Bhils from KotdaChhavni, Sirohi, and Danta to participate.
The Mewad Bhil Corps (MBC), a paramilitary force raised by the British that was on the lookout for Tejawat, heard of this gathering and reached the spot.While the British claimed some 22 people were killed, the Bhils believe 1,200-1,500 of them died.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister has said, India was looking to advance a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Bangladesh.

About:

A comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) is a free trade agreement between two countries.
Bangladesh is India’s fifth largest export destination.
Uninterrupted Supply chain is need of the hour.
Need to give more impetus to Joint Production of Defence Equipment.
Explore potential areas of investments, like Textiles, Jute products, Leather & Footwear, APIs for Pharmaceuticals, Medical Equipment, Digital Health & Education Services, Agribusiness, Electronics, Renewable Energy, etc.
India and Bangladesh can become Pharmacy of the world.

The war in Ukraine may delay negotiations for a free trade agreement between India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Russia is the largest country in the bloc.

About:

India and the five-nation EAEU -- comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan -- were to launch trade talks at the beginning of the year.
The potential trade deal was expected to double India’s trade with Eurasian countries who have a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $5 trillion.
According to analysts, an agreement with the EAEU will have strategic significance for India, given Russia’s worsening ties with the West following its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is India’s biggest trading partner among Eurasian countries, importing Indian goods worth $2.65 billion in 2020-21, followed by Kazakhstan ($225 mn), Armenia ($69 mn), Belarus ($62 mn) and Kyrgyzstan ($38.7 mn).

Union Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav launched the ‘Donate-a-Pension’ program under Pradhan Mantri Shram yojana.
It is an initiative under (PM-SYM) pension scheme where citizens can donate the premium contribution of their immediate support staff such as domestic workers, drivers, helpers etc.

Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM):

According to the labour ministry website, the PM-SYM is a 50:50 voluntary and contributory pension scheme in which the beneficiary makes a stipulated age-specific contribution and the Central Government matches it.

The jets of plasma - the fourth state of matter consisting of electrically charged particles that occur just about everywhere in the sun’s chromosphere.

About:

Chromosphereis the atmospheric layer just above the Sun’s visible surface.
These jets, or spicules, appear as thin grass-like plasma structures that constantly shoot up from the surface and are then brought down by gravity.

Based on experiment, Scientists elaborated the following:

The plasma right below the visible solar surface (photosphere) isperpetually in a state of convection.
This is ultimately powered by the nuclear energy released in the hot-densecore. The convection serves almost periodic but strong kicks to the plasmain the solar chromosphere.
These strong kicks from the bottom, shoot the chromosphere plasmaoutward at ultrasonic speeds in the form of thin columns or spicules.
Spicules come in all sizes and speeds.