Context:

After sending missions to the Moon and Mars, the ISRO is now readying a spacecraft to orbit Venus

Key Points:

• Purpose: to study what lies below the surface of the solar system’s hottest planet, and also unravel the mysteries under the Sulfuric Acid clouds enveloping it.
• ISRO is planning to launch the mission in December 2024.

About Venus:

• Venus is the second planet from the sun and the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface temperature of 500C – high enough to melt lead.
• The planet’s thick atmosphere has cranked the surface pressure up to 90 bars.
• A day on Venus is longer than a year. It takes Venus longer to rotate once on its axis than to complete one orbit of the Sun.
• That’s 243 Earth days to rotate once – the longest rotation of any planet in the Solar System – and only 224.7 Earth days to complete one orbit of the Sun.
• Venus has been called Earth’s twin because of the similarities in their masses, sizes, and densities and their similar relative locations in the solar system.
• Venus is one of just two planets that rotate from east to west. Only Venus and Uranus have this “backwards” rotation.

Context: The Lokpal has now got its own office at World Trade Centre in south Delhi.

Key Facts

About Lokpal Act of 2013:

• The Act allows setting up of anti-corruption ombudsman called Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta at the State-level.
• The Act also incorporates provisions for attachment and confiscation of property acquired by corrupt means, even while the prosecution is pending.
• The States will have to institute Lokayukta within one year of the commencement of the Act.
• The Lokpal will consist of a chairperson and a maximum of eight members.

Jurisdiction and powers of Lokpal:

• The Lokpal can inquire into allegations of corruption against anyone who is or has been Prime Minister, or a Minister in the Union government, or a Member of Parliament, as well as officials of the Union government under Groups A, B, C and D.
• The body also covers complaints against chairpersons, members, officers and directors of any board, corporation, society, trust or autonomous body either established by an Act of Parliament or wholly or partly funded by the Centre and any society or trust or body that receives foreign contribution above ₹10 lakh.
• The Lokpal will have the power of superintendence and direction over any investigation agency including CBI for cases referred to them by the ombudsman.
• As per the Act, the Lokpal can summon or question any public servant if there exists a prima facie case against the person, even before an investigation agency (such as vigilance or CBI) has begun the probe.
• Any officer of the CBI investigating a case referred to it by the Lokpal, shall not be transferred without the approval of the Lokpal.
• An investigation must be completed within six months. However, the Lokpal or Lokayukta may allow extensions of six months at a time provided the reasons for the need of such extensions are given in writing.
• Special courts will be instituted to conduct trials on cases referred by Lokpal.

• Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has announced that a stadium will be built in Olympic gold-medal list Neeraj Chopra’s native village in Panipat.
• A stadium would be built in Neeraj Chopra’s village for Rs 10 crore.
• Last year, Chopra became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Olympic track and field.

Key Points:

• Recently, the Ministry of Culture has ordered the restoration of Historic Anang Tal lake in South Delhi.
• The lake is situated in Mehrauli, Delhi and is claimed to be created by Tomar King, Anangpal II, in 1,060 AD.
• He is known to have established and populated Delhi in the 11th century.
• The millennium old Anang Tal signifies the beginning of Delhi.
• Anang Tal has a strong Rajasthan connection as Maharaja Anangpal is known as nana (maternal grandfather) of Prithviraj Chauhan whose fort Rai Pithora is on the list of the ASI.

Recently, the Election Commission issued notice to Jharkhand chief minister on a reference that he held an “office of profit” by granting a mining lease to himself in 2021.

About Office of Profit

• The law does not clearly define what constitutes an office of profit but the definition has evolved over the years with interpretations made in various court judgments.
• An office of profit has been interpreted to be a position that brings to the office-holder some financial gain, or advantage, or benefit.
• Under Article 102 (1) and Article 191 (1) of the Constitution, an MP or an MLA (or an MLC) is barred from holding any office of profit under the central or state government.
• The articles clarify that “a person shall not be deemed to hold an office of profit under the government of India or the government of any state by reason only that he is a minister”.

Key Points:

• On the World Press Freedom Day (3rd May), the 20th edition of the World Press Freedom Index was published by Reporters Without Borders.
• Theme for 2022:: Journalism under digital siege
• It has been published every year since 2002 by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) or Reporters Without Borders.
• The Index’s rankings are based on a score ranging from 0 to 100 that is assigned to each country or territory, with 100 being the best possible score (the highest possible level of press freedom) and 0 the worst.
• Top and Worst Performers:
  1. Top positions.: Norway (1st) Denmark (2nd), Sweden (3rd) Estonia (4th) and Finland (5th) grabbed the top positions.
  2. Worst Performer: North Korea remained at the bottom of the list of the 180 countries.
• India’s Ranking:
• India ranked 150th among the 180 countries.
• India has fallen eight places from 142nd to 150th in the 2022 among the 180 countries.

Ranking of Countries

1. Nepal has climbed up by 30 points in the global ranking at 76th position.
2. The index placed Pakistan at 157th position, Sri Lanka 146th, Bangladesh 162nd and Myanmar at 176th position.
3. China was ranked at 175th position.

Key Points:

• Operation Satark has been recently started by Railway Protection Force.
• Objective:Taking action against illicit liquor/FICN/illegal tobacco products/unaccounted gold and any other items being transported through railway networks for the purpose of tax evasion and smuggling.

Key points

• Sangeeta Singh, a 1986 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer has been given additional charge of Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
• After incumbent JB Mohapatra retired as the head of the direct taxes administration body on April 30.
• Currently, the board has four members including Sangeeta Singh.

About Monetary Policy Committee(MPC):

• The MPC is entrusted with the responsibility of deciding the different policy rates including MSF, Repo Rate, Reverse Repo Rate, and Liquidity Adjustment Facility.
• The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 was amended by Finance Act (India), 2016 to constitute MPC.

Composition of MPC:

• The committee will have six members. Of the six members, the government will nominate three. No government official will be nominated to the MPC.
• The other three members would be from the RBI with the governor being the ex-officio chairperson. Deputy governor of RBI in charge of the monetary policy will be a member, as also an executive director of the central bank.
• Term: Members of the MPC will be appointed for a period of four years and shall not be eligible for reappointment.

• Kerala beat West Bengal 5-4 in the penalty shootout to win the 75th Santosh Trophy 2022 at the Manjeri Stadium in Malappuram, Kerala.
• This is Kerala’s third win in a Santosh Trophy tournament on home soil.
• Earlier, they had won two editions in Kochi, in 1973-74 and 1992-93.
• Kerala captain Jijo Joseph, was adjudged the player of the match for a commanding performance in the middle of the park.