Current Affairs

 

Statue of Social Justice: World’s Tallest BR Ambedkar Bronze Statue
About :-

Location of Statue of Social Justice:

The Statue of Social Justice is the tallest Dr BR Ambedkar bronze statue in the world, and is situated at the Ambedkar Smriti Vanam in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.

• The statue is 125 feet tall and is installed on an 81-foot pedestal.

• With a total height of 206 feet, it is the fourth tallest, and the second tallest standing statue in India.

• Cost: The complete cost of the project is ₹404.35 crores.

• Material: The statue of social justice is made of steel frame and bronze cladding and is completely made in India.

• Base of the Statue: The 81-foot pedestal building Is designed as Kalachakra Maha Mandal of Buddhist architecture.

• Complex areas also include the Dr BR Ambedkar Ambedkar Experience center under the statue where the exhibits of BR Ambedkar Ambedkar’s life are displayed.

Bharat Ratna

• Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of the country.

• It is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour.

• Bharat Ratna is not a title under Article 18. Clause 1 of article 18 covers exceptions like academic or military titles. Awards like Padma Vibhushan, Padma Shri etc. can be given to the citizens for exceptional and distinguished services rendered in art, literature, science and other fields.

 

• In the case of Balaji Raghavan v. Union of India, AIR 1996, the court said that National awards aren’t titles under clause 1 of Article 18. The court asked for setting up guidelines while giving these awards as they are highly respected.

• It is treated on a different footing from Padma Award. The recommendations for Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to the President of India.

• The number of Bharat Ratna Awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year.

BSF

• The BSF was raised in 1965, after the India-Pakistan war.

• It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces of the Union of India under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

• Other Central Armed Police Forces are: Assam Rifles (AR), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), National Security Guards (NSG) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

• The 2.65-lakh force is deployed along the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders.

 

• It is deployed on Indo-Pakistan International Border, Indo-Bangladesh International Border, Line of Control (LoC) along with Indian Army and in Anti-Naxal Operations.

• BSF has been defending Sir Creek in Arabian Sea and Sundarban delta in the Bay of Bengal with its state of art fleet of Water Crafts.

• It contributes dedicated services to the UN peacekeeping Mission by sending a large contingent of its trained manpower every year.

 

Constitutional Viewpoint on Deployment of Armed forces in States

• Under Article 355, the Centre can deploy its forces to protect a state against “external aggression and internal disturbance,” even when the state concerned does not requisition the Centre’s assistance and is reluctant to receive central forces.

• In the case of a state’s opposition to the deployment of armed forces of the Union, the right course for the Centre is to first issue directives under Article 355 to the state concerned.

• In the event of the state not complying with the directive of the Central government, the Centre can take further action under Article 356 (President’s Rule).

 

Semiconductor Chips

• About: 

• Semiconductors are materials which have a conductivity between conductors and insulators. They can be pure elements, silicon or germanium or compounds; gallium, arsenide or cadmium selenide.

• Significance of Semiconductor Chips: They are the basic building blocks that serve as the heart and brain of all modern electronics and information and communications technology products.

• These chips are now an integral part of contemporary automobiles, household gadgets and essential medical devices such as ECG machines.

India Stand in the Semiconductor Market

• India currently imports all chips and the market is estimated to touch USD 100 billion by 2025 from USD 24 billion now. However, for the domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips, India has recently launched several initiatives:

• The Union Cabinet has allocated an amount of Rs 76,000 crore in 2021 for supporting the development of a ‘semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem’.

• Consequently, a significant number of incentives would be provided to design companies to design chips.

• India has also launched the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) for manufacturing of electronics components and semiconductors.

• In 2021, India announced its roughly USD 10 billion-dollar Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to encourage semiconductor and display manufacturing in the country.

• In 2021, the MeitY also launched the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme to nurture at least 20 domestic companies involved in semiconductor design and facilitate them to achieve a turnover of more than Rs.1500 Crore in the next 5 years.

• India’s own consumption of semiconductors is expected to cross USD 80 billion by 2026 and to USD 110 billion by 2030.