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■ Rajamannar Committee, 1969: • On 2nd September 1969, the Tamil Nadu Government (DMK) appointed a three member committee under the chairmanship of Dr P.V.Rajamannar to examine the entire question of Centre–state relations and to suggest amendments to the Constitution so as to secure utmost autonomy to the states. • The committee was headed by Dr P.V. Rajamannar. The other two members are A.Lakshmanaswamy, and P. Chandra Reddy. • The committee submitted its report to the Tamil Nadu Government in 1971. • The important recommendations of the committee are: i) An Inter-State Council should be set up immediately. ii) Finance Commission should be made a permanent body. iii) Planning Commission should be disbanded and its place should be taken by a statutory body. iv) Articles 356, 357 and 365 (dealing with President’s Rule) should be totally omitted. v) The provision that the state ministry holds office during the pleasure of the governor should be omitted. vi) Certain subjects of the Union List and the Concurrent List should be transferred to the State List. vii) The residuary powers should be allocated to the states. viii) All-India services (IAS, IPS and IFS) should be abolished. • The Central government completely ignored the recommendations of the Rajamannar Committee.

■ Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP): • The Directive Principles of State Policy are enumerated in Part IV of the Constitution from Articles 36 to 51. • DPSP consists of all the ideals which the State should follow and keep in mind while formulating policies and enacting laws for the country. • The Directive Principles are non justiciable in nature, that is, they are not legally enforceable by the courts for their violation. • India borrowed the concept of DPSP from Irish Constitution.(Irish Constitution borrowed DPSP from Spanish Constitution). • The Constitution does not contain any classification of DPSP. However, the DPSP are classified on the basis of their ideological source and objectives. • The 86th Amendment Act of 2002 changed the subject-matter of Article 45 and made elementary education a fundamental right under Article 21 A. The amended directive requires the State to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of 6 years. • These are Directives based on: Socialist Principles (Articles 38 - 39A, 41 - 43A, 47), Gandhian Principles (Articles 40, 43, 43B, 46, 47, 48), Liberal and Intellectual Principles (Articles 44, 45, 48 - 51). □ Articles (36-51): • Article 36 - Definition of State. • Article 37 - Application of the principles contained in this part. • Article 38 - State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people. • Article 39 - Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State. To secure (a) the right to adequate means of livelihood for all citizens; (b) the equitable distribution of material resources of the community for the common good; (c) prevention of concentration of wealth and means of production; (d) equal pay for equal work for men and women; (e) preservation of the health and strength of workers and children against forcible abuse; and (f) opportunities for healthy development of children. • Article 39A - Equal justice and free legal aid. (Added by 42nd Amendment Act, 1976) • Article 40 - Organisation of village panchayats. • Article 41 - Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases. • Article 42 - Provision for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief. • Article 43 - Living wage, etc., for workers. • Article 43A - Participation of workers in management of industries. (Added by 42nd Amendment Act, 1976) • Article 43B - Promotion of co-operative societies. (Added by 97th Amendment Act, 2011) • Article 44 - Uniform civil code for the citizens. • Article 45 - Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of 6 years. • Article 46 - Promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections. • Article 47 - Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health. • Article 48 - Organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry. • Article 48A - Protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of forests and wildlife. (Added by 42nd Amendment Act, 1976). • Article 49 - Protection of monuments and places and objects of national importance. • Article 50 - Separation of judiciary from executive. • Article 51 - Promotion of international peace and security. □ Others about DPSP: • Dr B R Ambedkar described these principles as ‘novel features’ of the Indian Constitution. • Granville Austin described DPSP and the Fundamental Rights as the ‘Conscience of the Constitution'. • Alladi Krishna Swamy Ayyar, ‘no ministry responsible to the people can afford light heartedly to ignore the provisions in Part IV of the Constitution’. • Dr.B.R.Ambedkar said in the Constituent Assembly that ‘a government which rests on popular vote can hardly ignore the Directive Principles while shaping its policy. If any government ignores them, it will certainly have to answer for that before the electorate at the election time.’ • According to L M Singhvi, ‘the Directives are the life giving provisions of the Constitution'.

■ Bommai Case, 1994: • S.R. Bommai was the Chief Minister of the Janata Dal government in Karnataka between August 13, 1988 and April 21, 1989. • His government was dismissed on April 21, 1989 under Article 356 of the Constitution and President’s Rule was imposed, in what was then a mostly common mode to keep Opposition parties at bay. • The dismissal was on grounds that the Bommai government had lost majority following large-scale defections engineered by several party leaders of the day. • Then Governor P. Venkatasubbaiah refused to give Bommai an opportunity to test his majority in the Assembly despite the latter presenting him with a copy of the resolution passed by the Janata Dal Legislature Party. • Bommai went to court against the Governor’s decision to recommend President’s Rule. First he moved the Karnataka High Court, which dismissed his writ petition. Then he moved the Supreme Court. • On March 11, 1994, a nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court issued the historic order , which in a way put an end to the arbitrary dismissal of State governments under Article 356 by spelling out restrictions. □ What did the judgement say? • The verdict concluded that the power of the President to dismiss a State government is not absolute. • The verdict said the President should exercise the power only after his proclamation (imposing his/her rule) is approved by both Houses of Parliament. • Till then, the Court said, the President can only suspend the Legislative Assembly by suspending the provisions of Constitution relating to the Legislative Assembly. • "The dissolution of Legislative Assembly is not a matter of course. It should be resorted to only where it is found necessary for achieving the purposes of the Proclamation," the Court said. □ What happens if the Presidential proclamation is not approved by the Parliament? • In case both Houses of Parliament disapprove or do not approve the Proclamation, the Proclamation lapses at the end of the two-month period. • In such a case, the government which was dismissed revives. • The Legislative Assembly, which may have been kept in suspended animation gets reactivated, the Court said. • Also the Court made it amply clear that a Presidential Proclamation under Article 356 is is subject to judicial review. □ Significance of the S.R. Bommai vs Union of India case: • The case put an end to the arbitrary dismissal of State governments by a hostile Central government. • And the verdict also categorically ruled that the floor of the Assembly is the only forum that should test the majority of the government of the day, and not the subjective opinion of the Governor, who is often referred to as the agent of the Central government.  □ When was the verdict’s impact was first seen? • In one of the first instances of the impact of the case, the A.B. Vajpayee government in 1999 was forced reinstate a government it dismissed. • The Rabri Devi government, which was sacked on February 12, 1999 was reinstated on March 8, 1999 when it became clear that the Central government would suffer a defeat in the Rajya Sabha over the issue. • And later whenever the case of a hung Assembly, and the subsequent exercise of government formation, came up, the Bommai case would be cited, making it one of the most quoted verdicts in the country's political history.

■ Places, Species, Other names in News (January & February 2022) Part 2: □ Other names: ● SKOCH Award - Instituted in 2003, SKOCH Award recognises people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation. ● Molflu - Molnupiravir capsules 200 mg, the anti-viral drug that India recently granted emergency use authorisation for COVID-19 treatment, at ₹35 each under the brand name Molflu. ● Khukuri dance- In Gorkha culture, 'Khukuri' is a small knife which symbolises victory. It is used as a prop in the dance which is also performed as a tribute to soldiers. ● Mutagenesis - Mutagenesis is a process by which the genetic information of an organism is changed by the production of mutation. ● Xenotransplantation - Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of organs from a different species, such as pigs to humans. ● United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) - UNCITRAL on Cross-Border Insolvency, 1997 has emerged as the most widely accepted legal framework to deal with cross-border insolvency issues. • It has been adopted by 49 countries until now, such as Singapore, the U.K., the U.S., South Africa and Korea. • This law addresses the core issues of cross border insolvency cases with the help of four main principles which includes access, recognition, cooperation, and coordination. ● Quad Green Shipping Network - "Quad Green Shipping Network”, where port authorities in Los Angeles, Mumbai, Sydney, and Yokohama are working together to “decarbonize” the shipping value chain by building 2-3 low-emission, or zero-emission shipping corridors by 2030, as well as a Green Hydrogen partnership.  ● Pheromone Application Technology (PAT) - The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) here in association with the National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) in Cuttack, Odisha, has successfully implemented the ‘pheromone’ technology in Odisha for protecting crops like maize, groundnut, cucurbits, col crops like cabbage and cauliflower, and vegetables like brinjal and tomato. • Pheromone Application Technology (PAT) is when an adult male insect is lured through a female sex hormone-mimicking scent prepared in the lab and taken to fields to stop natural mating and thereby, preventing reproduction of next generation of pests. • What is Pheromone? - A pheromone is a chemical substance released by an animal that serves to influence the physiology or behavior of other members of the same species. ● Pashmina Shawl- Kashmir. ● Mission Vatsalaya - An umbrella scheme for child welfare and protection. ● Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 - An umbrella scheme for nutritional development for children. ● Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - Ukraine. ● Minsk accords - Minsk accords of 2014 and 2015 attempted to end the war in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine between Ukraine and Russian speaking separatists in the disputed areas of Donetsk and Luhansk. ● Cobra Warrior - Multilateral Air exercise. ● MILAN - Multilateral Navy exercise. ● Khajuraho Dance festival held at Khajuraho temple. Khajuraho temple is in Madhya Pradesh. It was declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. ● Corbevax - It is the 1st indigenously developed Receptor Binding Domain Protein sub-unit vaccine against COVID-19. This is the 3rd vaccine to be granted emergency use authorisation for 12 - 18 age group after Bharat Biotech's Covaxin  and  Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D. Currently, only Covaxin is given to kids above 15. ● Maramadi/Cattle race - Bull surfing is an old cultural practice in Kerala that takes place during the post harvest season. ● Operation Ganga - Centre launches "Operation Ganga" to bring back citizens stranded in Ukraine.

■ Places, Species, Other names in News (January & February 2022) Part 1: □ Places : ● Orang, Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri, Dibru-Saikhowa, Raimona and Dehing Patkai National Parks are in Assam. ● Ranthambore National Park - Rajasthan. ● Sariska Tiger Reserve - Rajasthan. ● Panna Tiger reserve - Madhya Pradesh. ● Kakoijana Reserve Forest - Assam. ● Kuno Palpur National Park (KNP) - Madhya Pradesh. ● Gir National Park - Gujarat. ● Torres strait - Torres strait connects the Coral and Arafura seas, lies between the southwestern coast of Papua New Guinea and Australia's Cape York. □ Species: ● Septemeranthus - It partially depends on its host but also have leaves capable of photosynthesis. • A new genus of a parasitic flowering plant has recently been discovered from the Nicobar group of islands. • The genus Septemeranthus grows on the plant species Horsfieldia glabra (Blume) Warb. The parasitic flowering plants have a modified root structure spread on the stem of the tree and are an chored inside the bark of the host tree. • The plant was found on the periphery of the tropical forest in one of the biodiversity hotspots referred to as the Nicobar group of islands. ● Humayun’s Night Frog (Nyctibatrachus humayuni) and Amboli Bush Frog (Pseudophilautus amboli). Both species of anurans are endemic to the Western Ghats. ● Black Percher or Black Ground Skimmer (Diplacodes lefebvrii), a species of dragon fly, was sighted for the first time in the Seshachalam Hill ranges recently. It belongs to the phylum arthropoda, class insecta and order odonata. • According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of threatened species, Black Ground Skimmer was labelled in 2016 as of ‘least concern’ in view of its wide prevalence in Southern Eurasia and the whole of Africa. • The insect has been sighted in forest locations of Karnataka and coastal Andhra Pradesh, but this appears to be its maiden appearance in the Seshachalam ranges. It is known to move near forest streams. ● Ariosoma Maurostigma - A newly Eel was discovered in Kochi. It belongs to the congrid eels group and has been named Ariosoma Maurostigma (Two-spot short tail conger). ● Black-necked stork - Black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) is one of the eight species of storks found on the Indian subcontinent. • It is classified as "Near Threatened" in the IUCN Red List. ● Kakoijana Reserve Forest is in Assam. It is one of the better-known homes of the golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) found only in Assam and Bhutan and a Schedule-I species under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It is listed as among the world’s 25 most endangered primates.

■ The North Atlantic Treaty organisation (NATO): • The North Atlantic Treaty organisation (NATO) is also called the North Atlantic Alliance is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 countries. • The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949. • NATO's purpose is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means, according to the NATO website. • A key provision of the treaty, the so-called Article 5, states that if one member of the alliance is attacked in Europe or North America, it is to be considered an attack on all members. That effectively put Western Europe under the "nuclear umbrella" of the US. • The NATO headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium. • NATO was formed largely to counter the threat from the Soviet Union post World War II. • The USSR had created its own military alliance in 1955 to counter NATO, called the Warsaw pact. • Warsaw got disbanded with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 and several of the Warsaw pact countries became NATO members.  • Currently, NATO has 30 member countries. • The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020. • In 1949, there were 12 founding members of the Alliance: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. • The other member countries are: Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020). • India is not a member of NATO. □ Is Ukraine under NATO? • No, Ukraine is not a NATO member country. On 12 June 2020, Ukraine joined NATO's enhanced opportunity partner interoperability program, which means that it may join NATO in the future. □ What is Russia's issue with Ukraine? • Of the 15-post Soviet states that emerged from the collapse of the USSR in 1991, 3 countries have become full NATO members: Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, who joined in 2004. • Russia desires NATO to stop its expansion in East Europe. Putin is demanding a guarantee from NATO, that Ukraine would not be given its membership. • Putin wants NATO to retreat to pre-1997 status and stop deployment of weapons in Russia's neighborhood. • Russia fears that, if Ukraine would join NATO, the forces of NATO nations would be at its borders. • Putin has objected NATO expansion. "America is at our doorstep with missiles". How will America, feel if Missiles are deployed at Canada or Mexico's borders? Putin has asked in December 2021. • If Ukraine becomes a NATO member, then Russia would be totally circled, which is not acceptable for Putin. • Russia wants assurance from the West that Ukraine will never be allowed to join NATO. • Kyiv is currently a “partner country”, which implies that it will be allowed to join the military alliance in the future. • However, the US and its western allies are refusing to bar Ukraine from NATO, saying it is a sovereign country that is free to choose its own security alliances.

📰 NEWS (27-02-2022): ■ Cabinet approves implementation of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission with a budget of ₹1,600 crore for five years: • The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the national roll-out of Central sector scheme, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with a budget of ₹1,600 crore for five years. • The National Health Authority (NHA) will be the implementing agency of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).  • The Central government on Saturday said digital health solutions across healthcare ecosystem have proven to be of immense benefit over the years, with CoWIN, Arogya Setu and eSanjeevani further demonstrating the role technology can play in enabling access to healthcare. • However, there is a need to integrate such solutions for continuum of care and effective utilisation of resources. • Under the ABDM, citizens will be able to create their ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) numbers, to which their digital health records can be linked. This will enable creation of longitudinal health records for individuals across various healthcare providers, and improve clinical decision making by healthcare providers.  • The mission is expected to improve equitable access to quality healthcare by encouraging use of technologies such as telemedicine and enabling national portability of health services. • "Based on the foundations laid down in the form of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile (JAM) trinity and other digital initiatives of the government, the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is creating a seamless online platform through the provision of a wide-range of data, information and infrastructure services, duly leveraging open, interoperable, standards-based digital systems while ensuring the security, confidentiality and privacy of health-related personal information,” said the release. • The pilot of the ABDM was completed in the six Union Territories of Ladakh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep with successful demonstration of technology platform developed by the NHA. ■ Wait for the cheetah to get longer: • It could be many months before cheetahs from Namibia make it to India. • Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav launched an “action plan” at the 19th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on January 7 saying, “The cheetah that became extinct in independent India, is all set to return.” • The word ‘cheetah’ is derived from the Sanskrit chitraka , which means ‘spotted’. The earliest visual evidence of the Asiatic cheetah, dating back to 2500 to 2300 BCE, is found in cave paintings in Kharvai and Khairabad, and in the upper Chambal valley, in Madhya Pradesh. • The country's last spotted Asiatic cheetah died in Chhattisgarh in 1947 and it was declared extinct in the country in 1952. • The proposed site for introduction is the Kuno Palpur National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, though at least three other reserves in Central India are being considered. • The Kuno National Park was also supposed to be a site for the Asiatic Lion that is now confined to Gir. ■ Operation Ganga: • Centre launches "Operation Ganga" to bring back citizens stranded in Ukraine.

🇷🇺 Russia: • The country, officially the Russian Federation, which is commonly referred to as Russia, is located partly in Eastern Europe and partly in North Asia; it borders the Arctic Ocean to the north. • The capital of Russia is Moscow. • Russia is bordered by 14 countries, They are Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland and Ukraine. 🇺🇦 Ukraine: • The Capital of Ukraine is Kyiv/Kiev. • Ukraine borders with 7 countries. They are Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Russia, and Belarus. • It also has a maritime border in the Black Sea where Ukraine has an Exclusive Economic Zone, and Azov Sea. ■ The Soviet Union: • The Russian Revolution of 1917 ended the Russian empire. This was followed by Russian Civil War which finally resulted in the formation of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922. • The collapse of the Soviet Union, sequence of events that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 31, 1991. • The Soviet Union was broken into 15 independent countries: Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. ■ North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO): • It is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April, 1949, by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. • A key provision of the treaty, the so-called Article 5, states that if one member of the alliance is attacked in Europe or North America, it is to be considered an attack on all members. That effectively put Western Europe under the "nuclear umbrella" of the US. • At present, NATO has 30 members. • In 1949, there were 12 founding members of the Alliance: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. • The other member countries are: Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020).