THE HEADLINES:

• President Droupadi Murmu stresses on ensuring a safe, secure, and equitable digital environment to protect human rights. 
• Both Houses of Parliament adjourned for the day amid continued uproar over various issues; Opposition moves No Confidence Motion against Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. 
• Students can appear for any subject in Common University Entrance Test for Undergraduate irrespective of stream in Class 12th, announces UGC. 
• India and Russia review full range of bilateral defence ties; Both countries committed to further strengthen Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership, says Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. 
• Israel conducts air strikes across Syria; Says action taken to prevent chemical weapons from falling into hands of extremists after end of Assad regime. 

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President Droupadi Murmu has stressed on ensuring a safe, secure, and equitable digital environment that protects the rights and dignity of every individual. She said, cyber crime and climate change are new threats to human rights. The President was addressing a programme on the occasion of Human Rights Day in New Delhi today.

President Murmu said, India stands as a shining example before the world by implementing policies for poverty alleviation, hunger eradication and offering equal opportunities to the youth. 

 

On the occasion, President Murmu released three publications of the National Human Rights Commission.

Human Rights Day is celebrated on the 10th of December every year to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The theme for this year is “Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now”.

Addressing the event organised by National Legal Services Authority  in New Delhi today to commemorate the day, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna highlighted that criminal courts require reform. He underlined that National capacity of undertrial prisoners is 4 lakhs 36 thousand but there are 5 lakh 19 thousand undertrials prisoners.

During the event, Justice Khanna also launched a Special Campaign for Old Prisoners and Terminally ill Prisoners. He said, the campaign is reinforcing the commitment to reformative justice.

 

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Home Minister Amit Shah today chaired a review meeting on the implementation of three new criminal laws in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini in New Delhi. The meeting reviewed the implementation and current status of various new provisions related to police, prisons, courts, prosecution and forensics in Haryana. Senior officials of the Union Home Ministry and the State Government were present in the meeting.

During the discussions, the Home Minister asked Haryana to ensure 100 percent implementation of new criminal laws in the state by the 31st of March next year.

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Both Houses of Parliament adjourned for the day today amid continued uproar over various issues. Treasury and Opposition members in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha traded barbs at each other on the issues of alleged bribery charges against a prominent Indian business group and Congress leaders alleged links with a renowned US based foundation. This is the second day of this week, which was marred by allegations and counter allegations between the Treasury and the opposition benches.

Meanwhile, the opposition has submitted a no confidence motion against Rajya Sabha Chairman, Jagdeep Dhankhar accusing him of being partisan in functioning in the House. In a social media post, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said that the notice has been submitted to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha. He said, parties belonging to the I.N.D.I.A. group have taken this step in the interest of parliamentary democracy.

On the other hand, Talking to the Media in New Delhi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju condemned the opposition’s notice against the Rajya Sabha Chairman.

“As the Treasury and Opposition benches continued to lock horns in Parliament, opposition MPs moved a no-confidence motion against Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. They accused the Chairman of conducting the House in a partisan manner. Meanwhile the government has condemned the opposition move saying that the NDA has the majority in the House. This Winter Session of Parliament had begun on a stormy note and the first week was washed out completely without transacting any business. In the second week, the government and the opposition reached a consensus resulting in restoration of normalcy in functioning of the House. However, this arrangement did not stand for long and both Treasury and Opposition benches again started trading barbs against each other resulting in stalemate in the Houses. Now, only nine days are left for the scheduled business in Parliament, but it seems highly unlikely that the rest of the session will witness any productive business. Bhupendra Singh, Akashvani News, New Delhi.”

 

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The University Grants Commission (UGC) has announced a series of changes to the Common University Entrance Test for undergraduate (CUET-UG) from next year. Talking to reporters, UGC Chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said, students will be allowed to appear for CUET-UG in any subject irrespective of subjects studied in Class 12th from next year. He said, this will allow candidates to cross over the rigid disciplinary boundaries in higher education. CUET-UG will now only be conducted in Computer Based Test mode. CUET-UG will be conducted in 63 subjects instead of 37 from the next session. Mr Kumar said, an expert panel set up by the Commission conducted a review of the exam and proposed several changes.

“All CUET-UG exams will have uniform duration of 60 minutes. The concept of optional questions in the exam has been done away with and all questions will be compulsory now. Students will be able to appear for maximum of five subjects from 2025, as against six previously. The first edition of the exam was held in 2022. By encouraging universities to adopt a single, national-level entrance test, CUET has streamlined admissions. This has reduced the reliance on varying cut-offs, and made the admission process transparent and technology-driven. Suparna Saikia, Akashvani News, Delhi.   “

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The One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme for providing equitable access to all scholarly research articles and journal publications, will likely be rolled out at the start of next year. The Government will pay a unified subscription charge to international publishers for access to their articles and journals, replacing the earlier set-up where each institute individually paid for different subscriptions.
Principal Scientific Adviser to the government, Professor Ajay Kumar Sood in a press conference in New Delhi today said, the ONOS scheme will prevent overlap of research journal subscriptions and reduce inefficient utilization of funds. Our Correspondent reports the six thousand crore rupee scheme will grant unrestricted access to research journals and articles to students, faculty, and researchers at government academic institutions:

“The One Nation One Subscription scheme will provide complete access to the full collection of the world’s 30 leading research publishers. Under the first phase, over 1 crore 77 thousand users from around 6 thousand 300 government education institutes will benefit. This will cover all streams of STEMM, management, social sciences, and humanities, with no discipline specific restrictions. The scheme also aims to tackle the limited visibility of Indian researchers by providing discounts on Article Processing Charges – APCs for Indian authors while paying APCs of select good-quality Open Access journals. Speaking exclusively with Akashvani News, Principal Scientific Adviser Sood detailed how the various phases of the ONOS scheme will be rolled out.

 

The ONOS scheme is likely to be introduced by the start of next year till 2027. Adarsh for Akashvani News, Delhi.”

 

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov today co-chaired the 21st meeting of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation in Moscow. In a social media post, the Defence Minister termed the meeting as productive. He said, India and Russia reviewed the full range of bilateral defence ties, and discussed ways to deepen cooperation between both the countries. Mr Singh said both countries are committed to further strengthen India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership.

During talks with Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, the Russian Defense Minister said, Moscow and New Delhi are effectively developing defense cooperation. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also held a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

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Israeli warplanes have carried out dozens of attacks across Syria, including in the capital, Damascus. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there have been hundreds of Israeli airstrikes in the past two days, including on a site in Damascus said to have been used for rocket development by Iranian scientists.

According to local media reports, a research center with suspected links to chemical weapon production was among the sites hit. Meanwhile, Israel said the action has been taken to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of extremists following the end of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria recently.

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Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has called for strict action against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants residing in the National Capital. In a letter to the Chief Secretary and Police Commissioner, the Lieutenant Governor has called for a special drive spanning over two months to identify illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Delhi.

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The Nation is paying tribute to the martyrs of the historic Assam Movement on Swahid Diwas today.

In his message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Swahid Diwas is an occasion to remember the courage and sacrifice of those who dedicated themselves to the historic Assam Movement. Mr Modi added that their valour also inspires everyone to continue working towards a developed Assam.

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India has witnessed a substantial rise in female labour force participation rate, LFPR particularly in rural areas, from 2017-18 to 2022-23. A research paper on Female Labour Force Participation Rate stated that rural female LFPR surged from 24.6 percent to 41.5 percent while urban LFPR rose modestly from 20.4 percent to 25.4 percent, from 2017-18 to 2022-23. In rural areas, significant increases are seen in states like Jharkhand with 233 percent growth and Bihar with six-fold growth. Northeastern states have also also showed remarkable growth.

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In the World Squash Team Championships 2024, the Indian women’s team defeated Italy 3-0 with Akanksha Salunkhe, Anahat Singh and Nirupama Dubey winning their respective matches in straight games today in Hong Kong, China. As a result, they made it to the pre-quarterfinals.

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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:

 

• President Droupadi Murmu stresses on ensuring a safe, secure, and equitable digital environment to protect human rights. 
• Both Houses of Parliament adjourned for the day amid continued uproar over various issues; Opposition moves No Confidence Motion against Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. 
• Students can appear for any subject in Common University Entrance Test for Undergraduate irrespective of stream in Class 12th, announces UGC. 
• India and Russia review full range of bilateral defence ties; Both countries committed to further strengthen Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership, says Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. 
• Israel conducts air strikes across Syria; Says action taken to prevent chemical weapons from falling into hands of extremists after end of Assad regime.