• NEWS:SC stays HC’s ‘inhuman’ remarks on rape attempt
• GS-S POLITY AND GOVERNANCEImportant Aspects of Governance, Transparency and Accountability,
• Justice Gavai noted that parts of March 17 order, which described a minor’s trauma but concluded the accused lacked intent to rape, showed a ‘complete lack of sensitivity’ in handling the case
• The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed an Allahabad High Court order of March 17, which concluded that “mere” grabbing the breasts of a minor victim, breaking the string of her pyjama to “bring down” her lower garment are not suffcient to constitute an offence of attempt to rape
• A day after the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the order
• a Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai said the observations made by a Single Judge Bench of Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra of the High Court were “totally insensitive, inhuman” and “unknown to the tenets of law”
• Justice Gavai pointed out that certain paragraphs of the order, which graphically recounted the trauma endured by the minor victim at the hands of the two accused persons only to conclude their actions did not show any determination on the part of the duo to rape her, showed a “complete lack of sensitivity”

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act:

• About:
  • It is the first comprehensive law in the country dealing specifically with sexual abuse of children, enacted in 2012 and is administered by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
  • It was intended to protect children from sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornographic violations, as well as to establish Special Courts for such trials.
  • In 2019, the Act was amended to strengthen the penalties for specified offences in order to deter abusers and promote a dignified upbringing.

Key provisions:

• Gender-neutral legislation: The Act defines a child as “any person” under the age of 18.
• Non-reporting is a crime: Any person in charge of an institution (excluding children) who fails to report the commission of a sexual offence involving a subordinate faces punishment.
• No time limit for reporting abuse: A victim may report an offence at any time, even years after the abuse has occurred.
• Keeping victim’s identity confidential: The Act forbids the disclosure of the victim’s identity in any form of media unless authorised by the special courts established by the Act.

NEWS:‘Over half of ₹1-lakh crore collected for the welfare of mining districts not spent’

GS-2 GOVERNANCEImportant Aspects of Governance, Transparency and Accountability

ISSUE:

• A first-of-its-kind analysis of the District Mineral Foundations (DMF) shows that despite collecting about ₹1-lakh crore in the past decade, more than half the funds is unspent
• Moreover, the funds are often diverted to activities that are not directly linked to the welfare of mining districts — a contravention of the Centre’s guidelines
• In 2015, the Centre launched the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana to drive change in mining-affected areas through investments in various developmental projects

DMF Scheme

• As per the Mine and Minerals Development Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2015, in every district affected by mining-related operations, the state government shall, by notification, establish a trust as a non-profit body to be called the District Mineral Foundation.
• DMF Funds:
  • Funds every mining lease holder of will pay a fraction of royalty, not exceeding one-third of the royalty, to the DMF as per rates prescribed by Central Government.
  • This fund will be used for welfare of the people affected in the mining affected areas.
    • In Keonjhar, the total DMF fund collection has touched an astounding ₹8,840 crore, the highest for any district in India.
• Objective:
  • The idea behind the contribution is that local mining-affected communities, mostly tribal and among the poorest in the country, also have the right to benefit from natural resources extracted from where they live.
• Functioning:
  • The functioning of the DMF trusts and the fund use governed by states’ DMF Rules incorporate the mandates of a central guideline, Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY).

 PMKKY

• It is a scheme by the Ministry of Mines for the welfare of people & affected areas by using the funds accrued under District Mineral Foundation (DMF)
• Objectives:
• To implement various developmental and welfare projects/programs in mining affected areas that complement the existing ongoing schemes/projects of State and Central Government.
• Implementation:
  • At least 60% the fund will be utilized for “High Priority Areas” like Drinking water supply, Environment preservation & pollution control measure, Health care, Education, etc.
  • Rest of the fund will be utilized for “Other Priority Areas”, such as Physical infrastructure, Irrigation, Energy & watershed development and Measures for enhancing environmental quality.

NEWS:GE Aerospace to deliver jet engines for Tejas LCA-Mk1A

GS-3 INTERNAL SECURITY

• IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh had said that the force needs to add 35-40 Fighter jets every year and that HAL has promised to produce 24 Tejas Mark-1A jets next year
• Engine manufacturer General Electric (GE) Aerospace on Wednesday announced the delivery of the first of 99 F404-IN20 engines to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft Mark-1A fighter jet, marking the commencement of deliveries for the delayed programme.
• Defence sources said that 12 engines are expected to be delivered this year.

the Fifth-generation Fighter Jets

• Fifth-generation (5G) fighters are aircraft capable of operating in heavily contested combat zones, characterised by the presence of the most advanced air and ground threats, both current and anticipated.
  • 5G fighter jets have stealth capabilities and can cruise at supersonic speeds without engaging afterburners.
  • It stands out from fourth-generation (4G) peers due to its multi-spectral low-observable design, self-protection, radar jamming capabilities, and integrated avionics.
  • 5G jets are possessed by Russia (Sukhoi Su-57), China (Chengdu J-20), and the US (F-35).

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

• it is a prominent Indian public sector aerospace and defence company headquartered in Bangalore.
• Established in 1940, HAL is distinguished as one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers globally.
• Presently, HAL operates 11 dedicated Research and Development (R&D) centres and 21 manufacturing divisions across four production units spread throughout India.
• It is managed by a board of directors appointed by the President of India , acting through the Ministry of Defence, Government of India

NEWS:UPI outage disrupts digital transactions

GS-2 GOVERNANCE

• Digital transactions were impacted on Wednesday due to a widespread Unified Payments Interface (UPI) outage, with a large number of users reporting problems in the instant payment interface.
• The outage triggered a surge in complaints on Downdetector, a platform that monitors service disruptions based on user reports.
• The system faced a temporary issue for about an hour or so, and it was subsequently stabilised by the National Payments Corporation of India.
• National Payments Corporation of India had faced intermittent technical issues, owing to which UPI had a partial decline
• Unified Payments Interface (UPI):
  It is an advanced version of Immediate Payment Service (IMPS)- round–the-clock funds transfer service to make cashless payments faster, easier and smoother.
• UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
• UPI is currently the biggest among the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) operated systems including National Automated Clearing House (NACH), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), RuPay etc.
• The top UPI apps today include PhonePe, Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon Pay and BHIM, the latter being the Government offering.
• As part of an agreement, India’s UPI will be linked to Singapore’s PayNow.
• NPCI launched UPI with 21 member banks in 2016.
• MAINS QUESTION

 provisions of POCSO ACT execution faces some constraints on deploying it