Why in News

A Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) court in Delhi granted bail to two activists who were held for allegedly breaching peace bonds, although the police sought more custody.

The case has brought into focus the powers of SEMs and how they differ from Judicial Magistrates.

About Special Executive Magistrates

• Appointment: The State government appoints SEMs for a specified period, area or function, with the powers of Executive Magistrates under Section 15 of the BNSS, 2023.
• Purpose: Their powers let authorities intervene when a disturbance is likely, instead of responding after an offence.
• Role: They maintain public order and prevent breaches of peace through preventive and administrative functions.

About the Functions of SEMs

• Show cause (Section 126): They can require a person likely to breach the peace or disturb public tranquillity to show cause why they should not execute a bond to keep the peace, for up to one year.
• Urgent orders (Section 163): They can issue orders in cases of nuisance or apprehended danger, which replaced Section 144 CrPC.
• Preventive arrest (Section 170): It is made through the police, when needed to prevent a cognisable offence that cannot otherwise be prevented. It is a police power, not limited to SEMs.

About SEMs and Judicial Magistrates

Mains Angle

• Preventive power and liberty: Peace bonds act before an offence, so they need a specific apprehension and written reasons.
• Executive, not judicial: SEM orders are open to judicial review, which is the main safeguard against misuse.
• Protest rights: Preventive tools must be balanced with Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b).

Why in News

Double Fortified Salt (DFS), salt fortified with iodine and iron, is being pushed as a proven but underused tool against anaemia, after the launch of the revised Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) 7X7X7 strategy.

Anaemia affects over half of Indian women and almost three-fourths of children.

About Anaemia and the AMB Strategy

• Burden: Anaemia, driven mainly by iron deficiency, adds to maternal deaths, the cycle of malnutrition, weak cognitive development and lower productivity.
• AMB: It was launched in 2018 under POSHAN Abhiyaan with the 6x6x6 strategy, and the revised 7x7x7 version is the new one. It covers prevention, screening, treatment, dietary diversification and behaviour change.
• Data: NFHS-5 (2019-21) reported 57% of women aged 15–49 as anaemic.
• Constitutional basis: Article 47 makes raising nutrition levels and public health a duty of the State.

About Double Fortified Salt

• Why salt: Almost every household eats it daily, and about 95% use iodised salt under Universal Salt Iodisation, so DFS builds on an existing platform.
• Reach: DFS goes to about 76 million people in four States through safety-net programmes.
• Standards: FSSAI, the statutory body under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, has issued a DFS standard. DFS is linked to PM POSHAN and ICDS, which come under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
• Evidence: A global review shows DFS can cut anaemia by up to 21%. Trials in Bengaluru, Darjeeling and Punjab and use in Uttar Pradesh support this.
• Cost: About ₹14 to ₹20 per person a year, with a benefit-cost ratio of 4.2:1.

About the Barriers and Safeguards

• Barriers: They are institutional, not technical. DFS in the PDS, which reaches about 800 million beneficiaries, is uneven because it depends on State governments.
• Needs: Policy commitment, dedicated financing, quality assurance and consumer awareness.
• Safeguards: DFS should match sodium reduction goals and come with screening for thalassaemia and sickle cell disease.

Mains Angle

• Prevention at scale: A food everyone eats can reach people that supplements may not reach regularly.
• Delivery gap: The hurdle is State-level delivery through the PDS, not technology.
• Balance of risks: Iron through salt must be matched with sodium limits and screening for blood disorders.

Why in News

A study by SKUAST-Kashmir researchers, published in The Plant Genome, found that Kashmir’s traditional rice varieties carry cold-tolerance genes and are genetically closer to rice from the Korean Peninsula and Northeast China.

Key Points

• The team placed Kashmir’s rice on a larger genetic map using the 3K rice panel (3,000 rice genomes sequenced in 2018) and sequenced 142 local germplasm accessions.
• Kashmir’s japonica-type rice shares ancestry with varieties from Korea and Japan, not with nearby rice from the Indian plains.
• The varieties carry cold-tolerance genes such as COLD1 and CTB4a, plus locally adapted genes that modern varieties have partly lost.
• The study suggests the rice may have travelled along ancient trade routes such as the Silk Road, though this is not yet proven.
• Archaeological evidence from Burzahom and Gufkral shows rice, wheat, barley and millets were grown in Kashmir in the Neolithic period.
• The varieties are valuable for climate-resilient farming as cold snaps and erratic weather increase.
• Researchers say limits remain, as the study is small in scale and did not test traits such as aroma or grain quality.

Background

• Germplasm is the genetic material of a crop that is conserved for breeding. Landraces are traditional farmer-developed varieties adapted to local conditions.
• Oryza sativa has two main subspecies: indica (tropical) and japonica (temperate).
• The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001 protects farmers’ varieties and breeders’ rights.
• NBPGR (National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources), New Delhi is the nodal body for plant genetic resources. India’s National Gene Bank is housed there.
• IRRI (Philippines) hosts a major global rice gene bank.

Why in News

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by the Defence Minister, accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for proposals worth about ₹2.12 lakh crore. About 82% of the procurement is to be sourced from the domestic industry.

Key Points

• Army: High Mobility Vehicles, self-propelled tracked gun systems, Gun Shot Response Systems (GSRSs), Light Multi-Role Helicopters, VSHORADS, counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) and long-range Kamikaze drones.
• Navy: Active Offboard Decoy Systems (AODS) to strengthen anti-missile defence.
• Air Force: Helicopters, air defence systems and mobile X-band Doppler weather radars.
• The approvals will boost domestic defence manufacturing and Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Background

• The DAC is the highest decision-making body in the Ministry of Defence for capital acquisition.
• AoN is the first approval step under the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP). It is not a contract.
• DAP 2020 gives top priority to Buy (Indian-IDDM), meaning Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured.
• VSHORADS are short-range air defence missiles against low-flying targets, developed by the DRDO.

Why in News

T-138, a three-year-old tigress brought to Buxa Tiger Reserve (West Bengal) from Valmiki Tiger Reserve (Bihar) on 30 September, has travelled about 35 km into Raimona National Park in Assam. It was meant to start a programme to bring tigers back to Buxa, and an alert has been sounded in Assam.

Background

• Tiger: It is in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
• Project Tiger was launched in 1973, and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is the statutory body that oversees tiger reserves.
• Buxa lies in the Duars along the Indo-Bhutan border, and Valmiki is in West Champaran, Bihar.
• Raimona National Park is in Kokrajhar district, Assam, and is part of the Manas landscape.
• Translocation means moving animals from a source population to another area to restore or build a population.