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By admin: March 16, 2022

National Vaccination Day

Tags: Important Days

Every year in India 16 March is celebrated as the National Vaccination Day . On this day the Government of India launched Pulse Polio Immunization and started administering the  first dose of oral vaccine against polio on this day in 1995.

Theme of the National Vaccination Day 2022 : "vaccines work for all".

History of Vaccine  

Edward Jenner of Britain  is considered the founder of vaccinology in the West in 1796, after he inoculated a 13 year-old-boy with vaccinia virus (cowpox), and demonstrated immunity to smallpox. In 1798, the first smallpox vaccine was developed. 

The Word Vaccine has been derived from the Latin word Vacca for cow.

Karnataka High Court rule that Hijab is not a part of Islamic culture

Tags: Popular National News

A three judge bench of the Karnataka High Court headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and which also included justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice Jaibunnisa M Khazi has dismissed petition filed by some muslim students  which challenged the Karnataka government order  to ban the wearing of hijab in educational isntituions where uniform were prescribed.

The petition challenged the state government order dated 05.02.2022 issued under sections 7 & 133 of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983. This order directs the College Development Committees all over the State to prescribe ‘Student Uniform’,

In the  RESHAM AND ANOTHER VS. STATE OF KARNATAKA AND OTHERS 2022 main issues  raised by the petitioners in the court were as follows :

• Whether wearing the hijab or the headscarf is part of essential religious practice in Islamic faith under article 25 of the Constitution?”

• Second issue was ;Whether wearing school uniform is violation of petitioners fundamental rights guaranteed under article 19 (1) a of the constitution that is freedom of expression and article 21 that is privacy?

• Third Issue was ; The government order of 5 February 2022 which made uniform compulsory in educational institution was violative of fundamental rights of article 14 ,which guarantees equality before law and article 15 which prohibits the dicrimination by state on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them?

The High Court Judgement

• The High Court held that “wearing of the hijab by Muslim women does not make up an essential religious practice in Islamic faith” as per the article 25 of the constitution which provides freedom  to practice and propagate of  religion in India.

• On the second issue the court held that the government has the power to impose reasonable restrictions  on the right to freedom under Article 19 of the constitution. Hence the government move to prescribe uniforms for the students is a reasonable restriction under article 19 of the constitution. The state can make this rule.

• On the third issue the court held that the government was competent to issue the 5 February order 2022 which made uniform compulsory for students and banned hijab was valid.

Seat of Karnataka High Court : Bangalore 

Covid risk surveillance centre set up by IIT Kanpur

Tags: National

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has set up IIT Kanpur – CII Risk Surveillance Centre to monitor and control the spread of Covid-19 and other such infections in the future.

The IIT-CII Centre would work on mathematical forecast models based on health data that would help minimise the impact of infectious diseases. It would assist in understanding the transmission of infections and identify risk factors involved.

Important for Exam 

CII : Confederation of Indian Industries 

Founded in 1895.

President : T.V. Narendran 

Headquarters : New Delhi 

CII is  a lobby group of industrialists which try to influence the government’s in India  to make policies which are favourable to the industrialists in India.

Anirban Lahiri makes history in Golf

Tags: Sports

Anirban Lahiri became the first Indian golfer to finish runner-up in the Players Championship at Florida, United States. The PGA (Professional Golf Association) Players Championship title was won by the Australian golfer, Cameron Smith.

Anirban Lahiri won $2.18 million prize money. His ranking jumped to a career best 89 in the world.

The only Indian who has won a PGA title is Arjun Atwal,who won the 2010 Wyndham Championship held in the United States of America.

Farmers debt increased by 53% in the last 6 years

Tags: Economy/Finance

The Government of India has informed the Lok Sabha on 15 March 2022 that the farmers’ debts in the country have increased by 53% over the past six years.

In 2015-16 the total debt of the farmers to the scheduled commercial banks was Rs 12 Lakh crores which jumped to Rs 18.4 lakh crore in 2020-21.

• The number of such loan accounts increased from 6.9 crore to more than 10 crore.

• The growth of farmers’ debt burden is highest in Maharashtra, an increase of  116% in the outstanding amounts due over the six-year period. The state also has the highest agricultural loan  in the country with a total loan amount of Rs 5.5. Lakh crore. The State also consistently has the largest number of farmer suicides, as recorded by the National Crime Records Bureau.

• Other States which saw significant increase in farmers’ debt burden include Odisha (76%), Tamil Nadu (68%), Andhra Pradesh (65%) and Gujarat (64%). 

• The state which saw the highest  drop in the farmer debt was Karnataka, posting a 37% drop.

Concept Clearing 

Scheduled Commercial Banks 

Scheduled banks are those banks in India which are included in the second schedule of the Reserve Bank of India act 1934. These banks are all allowed to participate in the clearing house. They can participate in government business (buying and selling of government securities etc). They have to maintain Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) etc.

Commercial means these banks work for profit and earning profit is their main aim.

Which type of banks comes under the Scheduled Commercial Bank category in India? 

Public sector banks ; Banks in which the government of India holds 51% or more equity shares are called public sector banks. for e.g SBI, BOB, Canara Bank, PNB etc.

Private Sector Banks : Banks in which the non-government person (private persons)holds 51% or more equity shares are called public sector banks. for e.g HDFC Bank, ICICI bank, Yes bank, IDBI bank, Kotak Mahindra, Karnataka bank etc.

Foreign Banks : Banks in which foreigners hold 51% or more equity shares in the banks. For e.g  Citibank, HSBC bank, Standard Chartered Banks etc.