Current Affairs – 27th August 2023

DAILY ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME

Today Topics List:

1. Minimum distance Between Liquor shops and Schools

2. Inmates Rights to Conjugal visit

3. Government imposes restrictions on export of Basmati Rice

4. Neeraj Chopra – World Champion

POLITY, GOVERNANCE &LAWS AND SCHEMES

Minimum distance Between Liquor shops and Schools

News:

• Supreme Court accepted a plea by a Puducherry based liquor outlet to clear the haze on the minimum distance that liquor vends need to maintain from religious or educational Institutions in Municipal areas.
  • The petitioners said the issue was “vexed” and liquor outlets face the brunt of the uncertainty.
  • The allegation against the petitioner is that it has violated the Puducherry Excise Rules, which prohibit liquor outlets within 50 meters of religious or educational institutions in municipal areas and 100 meters in other areas.

Related Court Orders:

• Earlier, in December 2016, in the Case of Tamil Nadu Vs K. Balu, the apex court had prohibited liquor outlets within 500 m of a national or state highway.
• In March 2017, the court brought down the distance from 500 to 220 meters in local body areas with a population of 20,000 people or less.
• In 2018, the court left it to the discretion of the state government concerned to determine the location of liquor vends in their municipal jurisdiction.

Inmates Rights to Conjugal visit

• • Several courts across the country seem to be in favour of allowing inmates a private moment with their partners.

Why are Conjugal rights required:

• Conjugal visits generate positivity among prisoners
• A man commits a crime and gets a punishment of 5 to 15 years in a jail. Why should the family also be subjected to the same punishment?
• It will destress the inmates and there will be fewer fights in the prison and would be a very positive development

Some Initiatives:

• On September 15, 2022 – Ludhiana Central jail introduced Parivar mulakat programme, where it allows inmates to meet their loved ones within the prison premises.
• In July, 2023, Madras High court requested the State Government to consider allowing prisoners to have conjugal relationships.
  • “Conjugal visits of the spouse of the prisoners is also the right of the prisoner”;
• In 2014, the Punjab and Haryana government allowed a couple lodged in jail to engage sexually within the prison premises to have a child.
• In 2019, the then Director general (Prisons) of Delhi to the High Court that “The right to procreation is desirable, however not practicable in the present prison scenario, citing limited infrastructure in city prison.

      The opportunity to preserve family ties and marital stability is ensured through regular releases on parole/ furlough / interim bails etc.

ECONOMY

Government imposes restrictions on export of Basmati Rice

• • Government of India halted the export of basmati rice valued at less than $1,200 a tonne. The export of non-Basmati white rice was prohibited on July 20, In September 2022, Centre banned the export of Broken rice.

What does the order say?

• The Union Commerce Ministry had directed the Agricultural & Processed Food products Export Development Authority (APEDA) that contracts for Basmati exports with a value of $1,200 and above should be registered for issue of registration – cum – allocation certificate (RCAC).
  • APEDA is the agency responsible for regulation of export of basmati rice.
• It also asked the APEDA that contracts with a value below $ 1,200 a tonne may be kept in abeyance and evaluated by a committee set up by the APEDA Chairman.
  • This has to be done for understanding the variation in prices and use of this route of export of non-basmati white rice.
  • It has directed the committee to submit report in one month.

Why is this being done:

• To restrict possible “illegal” shipment of plain white rice by wrongly classifying it as Basmati rice.
  • It has been noted that there has been a large variation in the contract price of Basmati being exported with lowest contract price being $359 per MT in the backdrop of average export price of $1214 per MT during August.

MISCELLANEOUS

Neeraj Chopra – World Champion

News:

• Neeraj Chopra added a world title to his Olympic gold, recording a best throw of 88.17m.
  • He already is an Olympic Champion – Gold Medal in 2021 Olympics.
  • Campion of Asian Games and Common wealth Games.
  • He also became the first Indian man to win a world medal when he took silver at the Eugene World Championship

Javelin Throw:

History of javelin Throw:

• Throwing the javelin as sport evolved from the everyday use of the spear in hunting and warfare.
• It was widely practised in Ancient Greece and incorporated into the Olympic Games in 708BC as part of the pentathlon.
  • It has been part of the modern Olympic Games programme since 1908 for men and 1932 for women. 

How does it Work?

• A throwing event in which athletes throw a metal-tipped javelin as far as possible.
• The athlete must hold the javelin by its corded grip with his or her little finger closest to the tip of the implement. 
• The men’s javelin must weigh at least 800g and be 2.6m-2.7m long while the women’s javelin must weigh 600g and be 2.2m-2.3m long. 
  • For the throw to be measured, the athlete must not turn his or her back to the landing area at any stage during their approach and throw.
  • They must throw the javelin over the upper part of their throwing arm, and they must not cross the foul line, aka scratch line, at any time. 
  • The javelin must also land tip first and within the marked 29-degree sector. 
  • If the tip touches the ground first, the throw is measured from this point. Athletes will commonly throw three or six times per competition.
  • In the event of a tie, the winner will be the athlete with the next-best effort.