Why in news

• Meghalaya has become the ninth state of the country to withdraw consent to CBI to investigate cases in the state.

About general consent

• The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, governs the CBI and it is mandatory to obtain the concerned state government’s consent before beginning to investigate a crime in a state.
• States typically give a general consent to assist the CBI in conducting a seamless investigation of cases of corruption involving central government personnel in their states.
• This is consent by default otherwise CBI would have to seek permission from the state government in every case, even for small tasks.

Withdrawal of consent

• It means that the CBI will not be able to file any new cases involving central government officials or private persons in the state without the permission of the state government.
• CBI officers who will be entering the state that has withdrawn consent will lose all powers of a police officer as soon as they enter the state unless they have received permission from the government of the state.
• Before Meghalaya, the eight other states that had withdrawn consent to the CBI are Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, and Kerala.
• The first state to withdraw consent was Mizoram which did so in 2015.

Why in News

• The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) received the ‘Special Jury Award’ for its considerable contribution in Ganga Rejuvenation at the 7th India Industry Water Conclave and the 9th edition of FICCI Water Awards, held virtually, from 2nd to 3rd March, 2022.
• The Jury acknowledged NMCG’s strategic role to bring about a paradigm shift in water management, besides its involvement in reviving the river Ganga.
• It also insisted on the need for a real Jan Andolan (Mass Movement) around the river Ganga to revive not only its main stream but also the other order of streams, catchments, aquifers that provide base-flows to the river.

About National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)

• The aim of this mission is to take measures for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution in river Ganga and to ensure continuous adequate flow of water so as to rejuvenate the river Ganga
• It is registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act 1860. It acts as an implementation wing of National Ganga Council (set in 2016; which replaced the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA)).
• It operates under the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• Establishment of NMCG: August 12, 2011.

Why In News

• The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) has organised the 2022 Mobile World Congress (MWC), which took place in Barcelona, Spain from 28 February to 3 March.
• The MWC-22 focused on increasing the global connectivity of the 5G network and economic recovery.
• Global Mobile Economy Report expects 5G connections globally to reach 1 billion in 2022 by 5G adoption. Increase in the 5G network connection will increase the global GDP by 5% up to $5 trillion in 2025.

About Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA):

• The GSM Association is an industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide. More than 750 mobile operators are full GSMA members and a further 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem are associate members.
• Established in 1995
• Headquarters – London, United Kingdom

Why in News

• Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) has partnered with The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) to help preserve and promote the intangible cultural heritage of India, as part of an initiative which aims to transform the travel landscape in the post pandemic world.
• IHCL & UNESCO Partnership is the Industry’s first collaboration to work towards preserving India’s intangible cultural heritage.
• IHCL and UNESCO will offer experiential tours for travellers at various IHCL hotels and enable them to experience better the living heritage of India.
• 1^st phase: Visits to local communities practicing art forms like Patachitra – a traditional scroll painting technique in West Bengal, Ganga Aarti – the prayer ceremony at Dasashwamedh Ghat at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, as well as Kalbelia performances, Blue Pottery making, Bagru Hand Block printing, and the Terracota art of Molela.
• The visitors will alo experience the tribal life of the Bishnoi village in Rajasthan, or Mysuru Dasara and Janpadaloka in Karnataka.

Other information

UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List 2021: All Inclusions From India

• Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre
• The tradition of Vedic chanting
• Ramlila, the traditional performance of the Ramayana
• Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas, India
• Chhau dance
• Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan
• Mudiyettu, ritual theatre and dance drama of Kerala
• Durga Puja in Kolkata
• Buddhist chanting of Ladakh: recitation of sacred Buddhist texts in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh region, Jammu and Kashmir, India
• Sankirtana, ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur
• Traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making among the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Punjab, India
• Nawrouz
• Yoga
• Kumbh Mela

Why in news?

• The Europa Clipper which is formerly known as the Europa Multiple Flyby Mission is an interplanetary mission being developed by NASA and also includes an orbiter.
• The spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch in October 2024, is being designed to study the moon Europa through a series of flybys while in Jupiter’s orbit.
• Follow-up studies to those conducted by the Galileo spacecraft during its eight-year orbit around Jupiter will be done by the Europa Clipper. Galileo had revealed the existence of a subsurface ocean beneath Europa’s ice crust.
• This project started as a joint mission between the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and will be developed with a scientific payload of nine instruments supplied by APL, JPL, the University of Texas at Austin, Southwest Research Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, and Arizona State University.

Launch of Europa Clipper Spacecraft

• During a 21-day launch window in October 2024, this mission will be launched on a Falcon Heavy. Gravity assists from Mars will be received by this spacecraft in February 2025, in December 2026 from Earth before arriving at Europa in April 2030.

Objectives of this spacecraft

• The objective of this mission is to explore Europa, aid in selecting a landing site for the future Europa Lander, and investigate its habitability. The focus of this investigation is to learn about the three basic requirements for life: liquid water, energy, and chemistry.
• Basically, it will study the ocean and the ice shell and characterize nature and confirm the existence of water within or beneath the ice, as well as process the surface-ice-ocean exchange. The chemistry and distribution of key compounds along with the links to ocean composition will also be studied. The geological characteristics as well as surface feature formation, including sites of current or recent activity, will also be looked into.

Why in News

• Recently, Union Minister of Communications and Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) signed the Host Country Agreement (HCA).

About the agreement

• HCA was signed in a virtual ceremony during the World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly-20 (WTSA-20) being held in Geneva, Switzerland.
• HCA provides the legal and financial framework for the establishment and operations of the Area Office and innovation center of ITU in New Delhi, India.

About the Area Office and innovation center

• The Area Office and Innovation Centre is expected to be operational by mid-2022.
• Innovation Centre will provide opportunities to academics, start-ups, and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to showcase their innovation on a global stage.
• It will serve Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

• ITU is the United Nations specialized agency responsible for information and communication technologies (ICTs).
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It was established in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, making it the oldest UN agency.
• ITU currently has a membership of 193 countries.

World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly (WTSA)

• WTSA is a four-yearly global conference of ITU dedicated to standardization of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs).
• WTSA defines general policy and adopts working methods and procedures for ITU-T.
• Article 18 of the ITU Constitution and Article 13 of the ITU Convention provides the  functions of the WTSA.
• India has proposed to host the next WTSA to be held in 2024.

Why in News

• The Kaliyattam festival is an annual Theyyam festival held in the temples in Kerala’s Malabar region.

About Theyyam Festival

• Theyyam is the name of a grand dance festival that is held in different parts of Kerala, including Kasargod.
• Theyyam consists of thousand-year-old rituals, traditions, and customs. The people of these districts where this festival is celebrated consider Theyyam as a channel to a god and they thus seek blessings.
• There are around 456 different varieties of Theyyam. Males perform Theyyam, with the exception of the Devakoothu Theyyam, which is the only Theyyam ritual done by women. It can only be seen at the Thekkumbad Kulom temple.
• Theyyam is performedin the North Malabar region consisting of present-day Kannur Districts, Kasargod, Vadakara and Koyilandy Taluks of Kozhikode and Mananthavady Taluk of Wayanad.

Performance of the Ritual

• Generally, the dance is performed in front of the village shrine. It is also practiced as ancestor worship in homes, with elaborate rituals and rites.
• For the performance, there is no stage, curtain, or another similar setup. The devotees would either be standing or sitting in front of the shrine on a sacred tree. The shrine’s performance of a particular deity, depending on its hierarchy and significance, lasts 12 to 24 hours with intervals. The chief dancer who worships the shrine’s central deity has to reside in the rituals.
• The dancer, accompanied by the drummers, recites the ritual song, which narrates the stories and tales of the shrine’s deity or the folk deity to be worshipped. Folk musical instruments are played in the background.

Why in News

• Human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and Ukraine’s ambassador to the USA, accused Russia of using thermobaric weapons in the ongoing war against Ukraine.

About thermobaric weapon

• A thermobaric weapon is one of the most devastating weapons as they cause significantly greater destruction than a conventional bomb of comparable size.
• It uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion.
• It is also known as an aerosol bomb, fuel-air explosive (FAE), or vacuum bomb.
• The fuel-air explosive is one of the best-known types of thermobaric weapons. Different fuels can be used, including toxic powdered metals & organic matter containing oxidants.
• It can be fitted to hand-held launchers, can be fired as rockets from tank-mounted launchers, or dropped from aircraft.

Mechanism

• These weapons generally work in two stages.
• As the weapons hit the target, a first explosion occurs and it will open the bomb’s fuel container, releasing a cloud of fuel and metal particles that spreads over a large area.
• Then a second explosion occurs to ignite the aerosol cloud into a giant ball of fire and send out intense blast waves that can cause huge destruction.

Comparison with conventional weapons

• Conventional explosives consist of flue-oxidizer premix-like black powder which contains fuel and oxidizer in the ratio of 25:75. On the other hand, thermobaric weapons are almost 100% fuel and rely on atmospheric oxygen.
• The blast wave of a thermobaric weapon lasts longer than that of a conventional condensed explosive. However, their dependence on atmospheric oxygen makes them unsuitable for use underwater, at high altitudes, and in adverse weather.

International law

• Thermobaric munitions are not explicitly prohibited for use against military targets.
• However, their use against civilian populations in built-up areas, schools, or hospitals, could attract action under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.
• The use of weapons in indiscriminate attacks – those that cannot distinguish between combatants and civilians – is forbidden by the Geneva Conventions. A thermobaric weapon might be targeted specifically at military installations but it will kill civilians too.

Why in News

• Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh has created a Guinness record by lighting 71 lakh clay lamps (diyas) in 10 minutes. The diyas were lighted as part of the ‘Shiv Jyoti Arpanam Mahotsava’ on the occasion of Mahashivratri.
• The certificate was received by Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
• With this they broke the earlier record of lighting 9.41 lakh diyas created in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh on 03 November 2021. Ujjain is also known as the ‘Land of Mahakal’.
• It was a zero-waste programme. The clay from the lamps will be used to prepare idols, while the oil left in the lamps will be offered to gaushalas. The plastic used for the I-cards will be used to make chairs and other items for public gardens.

Why in news?

• World Obesity Day is observed every year on March 04. It is observed to spread awareness about obesity and encourage action towards its elimination.
• The day is organised by the World Obesity Federation, a non-profit body that is in official relations with the World Health Organisation.
• The theme of World Obesity Day 2022 is ‘Everybody Needs to Act’. The campaign aims to improve the world’s understanding, prevention and treatment of obesity.
• Significance-Obesity is one of the biggest health crises in the world, affecting 800 million people with millions more at risk, according to worldobesity.org.
• Background: World Obesity Day goes way back to the year 2015,wherein a non-profit organization worked closely with World Health Organisation and Lancet Commission in helping spread awareness.
• Later in 2016,the focus was shifted to childhood obesity, while later in 2017, the idea was to treat obesity now and avoid consequences later.