Dec 13th 2024 Current Affairs

Index:

1. World’s youngest chess champion

CONTEXT: History was made in the small island of Sentosa here on Thursday, as D. Gukesh became the youngest world chess champion after defeating Ding Liren of China in the final game of their match. The 18-year-old from Chennai broke the record held by the Russian Garry Kasparov for nearly four decades.

With his victory against the defending champion, which came after 58 moves, Gukesh took his points tally to 7.5. That was the requirement for a player to win the World title. The game was heading towards a draw in fact, until Ding made a fatal error on the 55th move with his rook. There was no coming back for the Chinese Grandmaster after that.

This was the first-ever World championship match contested by two Asian players.

Gukesh is only the third Asian to win the World championship. Viswanathan Anand, who is now a mentor for Gukesh, was the first, and Ding the second.

Eighteen-year-old D. Gukesh has made history by becoming the 18th world chess champion, which will make him the youngest to do so and emulating the doyen of Indian chess, Viswanathan Anand, the only other Indian to achieve the honour.

The Chennai-born Grandmaster’s mental toughness and wisdom beyond his age have been his calling card. His steady rise was due to his dedication and his accelerated path to glory was helped by the work done by his seconds – Gukesh revealed their names only after the match – besides the mentoring by GM Anand’s WestBridge Anand Chess Academy.

Gukesh becoming the world champion would also motivate his Indian compatriots and will add a fillip to the growth of modern chess as a sport and vocation in the country of its birth.

2. Approval to two Bills related to the implementation of simultaneous elections

CONTEXT: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved two Bills related to the implementation of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies, paving the way to introduce the draft legislation in Parliament in the ongoing Winter Session.

One of the Bills is to amend the Constitution to implement simultaneous elections, while the other is to amend provisions in laws dealing with Union Territories that have Legislative Assemblies to align their terms with other Legislative Assemblies.

For now, the Cabinet has given its approval to the draft legislation for simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies.

The Constitution amendment Bill to hold simultaneous polls will not require to be ratified by at least 50% of the States, the sources added.

A high-level committee, headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, had also recommended holding simultaneous polls to municipalities and panchayats, but the Cabinet has decided not to get into the issue of synchronising local body polls.

This would have not only required a Constitution amendment, to insert a new Article 324A, but also ratification by half the Assemblies.

Simultaneous Elections (popularly known as One Nation, One Election) means holding elections to the House of the People, all the State Legislative Assemblies, and local bodies i.e., Municipalities and Panchayats, together
Simultaneous elections do not mean that voting across the country for all elections needs to happen on a single day.
In India, simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas were held in the years 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967.

This cycle was disrupted due to premature dissolution of State Assemblies in 1968-69 and of the Lok Sabha in 1970

3. Section 69 of BNS - Sexual Intercourse on False Promise of Marriage

Creation of Two Offenses: Section 69 within Chapter 5 of the BNS, titled “Offences against Women and Children,” defines ‘sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means etc.’ and includes two violations: one by deceitful means and one by a ‘false promise to marry.’

Deceitful Means: The first violation involves employing deceitful means, such as a false promise of employment, promotion, or marriage, with the intent to induce sexual relations. If a person uses such means, they could face penalties of up to ten years of imprisonment.

False Promise to Marry: The second violation pertains to making a false promise to marry a woman with the intention of breaking that promise, solely to obtain her consent and exploit her sexually. This offense is also subject to a penalty of up to ten years of imprisonment.

Why Section 69 Is Introduced?

Historical Context: In the absence of a specific provision, cases of sexual intercourse based on false promises of marriage were previously addressed using other sections of criminal law, causing ambiguity.

Prevalence of Cases: Cases of sex under the “false promise of marriage” had been reported frequently, with victims often unable to seek legal remedy effectively.

Legal Ambiguity: The existing legal framework did not clearly distinguish between a ‘false promise’ and a ‘breach’ of promise to marry, creating complications in determining consent and intention

Imprisonment up to 10 years and the possibility of a fine. While it is not treated as rape, it is considered “inducement” and also applies to “false promise of employment or promotion, or marrying by suppressing identity”.

Before the BNS came into being, up to 40% of all rape case allegations pertained to ‘friend,’ ‘live in partners on pretext of marriage,’ and ‘separated husband’, going by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data between 2016 and 2022.
The report no. 246 of the Rajya Sabha on the BNS, released by the Department- related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on November 12 last year, six months before the BNS came into force, had cautioned against reinforcing gender stereotypes.
According to the report, it was difficult to prove whether a promise to marry had actually been made. It also said “intentions can change over time”, alluding to the very nature of relationships.

The report stated that “criminalising a promise to marry” can intrude into an individual’s right to privacy and autonomy. It said that “defining what constitutes a legally binding promise to marry can be vague and open to interpretation”, which could lead to “inconsistencies in enforcement and judgments”. Also, a verbal intention to marry could be a challenge when it came to evidence collection.

4. India's retail inflation

CONTEXT: India’s retail inflation cooled slightly to 5.5% in November from a 14-month high of 6.2% in October, but remained significantly elevated for rural consumers at 5.95%, while dropping to 4.8% for their urban counterparts.

Food inflation, which has been a bugbear for hopes of an interest rate cut, also eased a tad from October’s 15-month peak of 10.9% to 9.04% in November. Rural consumers experienced a slightly higher uptick of 9.1% while urban consumers saw an 8.74% gain in prices.

This marks the third straight month of food inflation staying above the 9% mark, and overall consumer price rise of over 5%.

What is the Wholesale Price Index?

It measures the changes in the prices of goods sold and traded in bulk by wholesale businesses to other businesses.

Published by the Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is the most widely used inflation indicator in India.

Major criticism for this index is that the general public does not buy products at wholesale price.

The base year of All-India WPI has been revised from 2004-05 to 2011-12 in 2017.

What is the Consumer Price Index?

It measures price changes from the perspective of a retail buyer. It is released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

The CPI calculates the difference in the price of commodities and services such as food, medical care, education, electronics etc, which Indian consumers buy for use. The CPI has several sub-groups including food and beverages, fuel and light, housing and clothing, bedding and footwear.

Four types of CPI are as follows:

CPI for Industrial Workers (IW).
CPI for Agricultural Labourer (AL).
CPI for Rural Labourer (RL).
CPI (Rural/Urban/Combined).

Of these, the first three are compiled by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Fourth is compiled by the NSO in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Base Year for CPI is 2012.
Recently, the Ministry of Labour and Employment released the new series of Consumer Price Index for Industrial Worker (CPI-IW) with base year 2016.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) uses CPI data to control inflation. In April 2014, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had adopted the CPI as its key measure of inflation.