Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 January 2022

::NATIONAL::

The Supreme Court has observed that the suspension of 12 BJP MLAs from the Maharashtra Assembly for a full year is prima facie unconstitutional, and “worse than expulsion”.

What have the suspended MLAs argued?

The 12 MLAs have said they were not given an opportunity to present their case, and that the suspension violated their fundamental right to equality before law under Article 14 of the Constitution. They have also submitted that they were not given access to video of the proceedings of the House, and it was not clear how they had been identified in the large crowd that had gathered in the chamber.
The MLAs have also contended that under Rule 53 of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules, the power to suspend can only be exercised by the Speaker, and it cannot be put to vote in a resolution as was done in this case.
Rule 53 states that the “Speaker may direct any member who refuses to obey his decision, or whose conduct is, in his opinion, grossly disorderly, to withdraw immediately from the Assembly”. The member must “absent himself during the remainder of the day’s meeting”.

What has Maharashtra said in its defence?

Counsel for Maharashtra argued that the House had acted within its legislative competence, and that under Article 212, courts do not have jurisdiction to inquire into the proceedings of the legislature.
Article 212 (1) states that “The validity of any proceedings in the Legislature of a State shall not be called in question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure”.

The ‘Mekedatu march’ had been launched for implementation of a project to build a reservoir on the Cauvery at Mekedatu near the Tamil Nadu border.
The proposed reservoir, which aims to supply drinking water to Bengaluru and surrounding regions, has been challenged in the Supreme Court by Tamil Nadu on the ground that it would eat into the state’s share of Cauvery water as adjudicated by the court in 2018.
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, which had labelled the march the ‘Walk for Water’, has temporarily suspended it citing rising Covid-19 cases, and saying it would resume when the crisis subsided.

The project:

Proposed by Karnataka, the project envisages a reservoir near Ontigondlu, about 1.5 km from Mekedatu (which literally means goat’s leap) in Ramanagara district of south Karnataka at the confluence of the Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers.
It is 4 km from the Tamil Nadu border and 100 km from Bengaluru.

India’s passport is now ranks at 83rd position in the Henley Passport Index, climbing seven places from 90th rank last year.
Japan and Singapore were among to top the list.

About:

Since 2005, Henley Passport Index ranks world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without prior visa and is based on data from International Air Transport Association (IATA).
However, in 2020, its rank stood at 84 while in 2016, India was ranked 85th along with Mali and Uzbekistan. Japan and Singapore top the index.
The current rankings are for first quarter of 2022 and India shares the position with Sao Tome and Principe in Central Africa, behind Rwanda and Uganda.
India now has visa-free access to 60 destinations worldwide with Oman and Armenia being the latest additions. India has added 35 more destinations since 2006.

Art restorers in Italy worked to rid a priceless Michelangelo Painting (famous Italian sculptor,painter and architect) of centuries of accumulated dirt and grime.

About:

Bio-cleaning technology is based on the use of safe environmental microorganisms, includingBacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes, for cultural heritage (CH) restoration.
During 1980s researchers in U.S. first used the bacteria Desulfovibrio vulgaris to clean amonument.Advantages over chemical methods are

The Global Economic Prospects report, produced by the World Bank recently.
It cites mainly are slowing down the economy, namely new waves of COVID-19 infections, persistent labour market and lingering supply-chain challenges, and rising inflationary pressures.

Key Highlights:

Global economic growth will dip sharply from 5.5% in 2021 to 4.1% in 2022 and 3.2% in 2023.
India’s annual growth is projected to be 8.3% in the current fiscal year, 8.7% in 2022-23, and 6.8% in 2023-24.

Flags risks specific to South Asia:

Emergence of Omicron could hinder economic activity with mobility restrictions and lower external demand;
Region remains vulnerable to climate-induced increases in poverty, disease, child mortality and food prices.

As the news of doctors transplanting a genetically modified pig’s heart into a patient in a Maryland hospital in the US.

About:

This is considered as a breakthrough surgery to solve the organ shortage crisis.
Experts have been turning to xenotransplantation to bridge the organ shortage gap.
Xenotransplantation involves the transplantation, implantation, or infusion into a human recipient of live cells, tissues, or organs from a nonhuman animal source.
Pigs are increasingly being used as their organs are anatomically similar to those of humans and are more tuned for genetic engineering.

Key highlights:

Assam’s Dr Dhani Ram Baruah said that what America has managed in 2022 he had done back in 1997.
Dr Baruah, now 72, was embroiled in a controversy when, in 1997, he performed a xenotransplantation (transplanting organs from one species to another) surgery and managed to transplant a pig’s heart and lungs on a 32-year-old man.
Following the surgery, performed in Baruah’s clinic in Sonapur, on Guwahati outskirts, the 32-year-old survived for seven days, before dying of multiple infections.
The transplantation led to a huge controversy and the then Asom Gana Parishad government in Assam instituted an inquiry and ordered the arrest of Saikia and Hong Kong surgeon Dr Jonathan Ho Kei-Shing, who had assisted him in the surgery.
Held guilty of unethical procedure and culpable homicide under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, Baruah and Ho Kei-Shing were both imprisoned for 40 days.