Short News Article

Geography

Spring equinox

The Spring Equinox falls on 21 March every year, also called the vernal equinox is the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

Why does Spring Equinox happen?

• There is an imaginary line from North to South called the axis along where the Earth rotates.
• This rotation is responsible for day and Night.
• The axis tilts at 23.5 degrees.
• This brings more sunlight to one hemisphere of the planet as compared to the other for half of the year’s orbit around the sun.
• This difference in sunlight results in different seasons. More effect is visible, especially in late June and late December.

Cultural Celebration of Equinox:

• The Persian New Year, ‘Nowruz’ falls on the first day of spring that welcomes all the positivity, peace, and prosperity.
• In China, during the spring equinox, the “trying to stand egg upright” game is played.
• In Japan, the Spring Equinox is declared a public holiday to celebrate the new beginning through family gatherings and paying visits to the graves of family members.

Polity and Governance

First transgender advocate at Bar council Of Kerala

The Bar Council of Kerala has appointed its first transgender woman Advocate Padma Lakshmi among its members.

About:

• She is a resident of Edappally in Kochi and graduated from Ernakulam Government Law College.
• The Bar Council of Kerala is the professional body for Lawyers in Kerala.
• It provides representation and services for the Bar, and Guidance on issues of professional practice.

Transgender in Judiciary:

• In 2017 India got its first transgender judge when Joyita Mondal who was appointed a judge in the Lok Adalat of Islampur in West Bengal in 2017.
• In 2018, transgender activist Vidya Kamble was appointed a member judge in a Lok Adalat in Nagpur in Maharashtra.
• Later that year, the country got the third transgender judge, Swati Bidhan Baruah, who hails from Guwahati.

International Relations

Vienna Convention

Raising pro-Khalistan slogans, the protesters broke open the makeshift security barriers and installed two Khalistani flags inside the Consulate premises, which has involved Vienna convention in talk.

About:

• The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) provides the framework for the establishment, maintenance and termination of diplomatic relations on a basis of consent between independent sovereign States.
• The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations entered into force on April 24, 1964 and is nearly universally ratified, with Palau and South Sudan being the exception.
• The Convention codifies the longstanding custom of diplomatic immunity, in which diplomatic missions are granted privileges that enable diplomats to perform their functions without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country.
• It affirms the concept of “inviolability” of a diplomatic mission, which has been one of the enduring cornerstones of international diplomacy.

Relevance in present case:

• In this case, the host nation is the UK and as per the Vienna Convention, it has some basic obligations towards the diplomatic missions it hosts on its sovereign territory.
• Article 22 of the Convention deals with obligations with regards to the premises of the Mission.
• The security of any High Commission or Embassy is the responsibility of the host nation.
• While diplomatic missions can also employ their own security, ultimately, the host nation is accountable for security.

Economy

3 billion Dollar IMF loan to Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka secured a much-anticipated loan of about $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the South Asian nation navigates its worst financial crisis in decades.

About IMF:

• The IMF was set up along with the World Bank after the Second World War to assist in the reconstruction of war-ravaged countries.
• The two organizations agreed to be set up at a conference in Bretton Woods in the US. Hence, they are known as ‘the Bretton Woods twins’.
• The IMF is governed by and accountable to the 190 countries that make up its near-global membership.
• India joined on 27th December 1945.
• The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system — the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with each other.
• The Fund's mandate was updated in 2012 to include all macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability.

Environment

Kappaphycus alvarezii

The Government is planning a seaweed park in Tamil Nadu, ignoring the threat that Kappaphycus, widely grown invasive seaweed, poses to corals in the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park running along the state's coastline.

About:

• Kappaphycus alvarezii is a red alga (seaweed) native to the Indo-Pacific.
• Its live colour is actually green or yellow. 
• It reaches a length of 2 m, and can double its biomass in 15 days,   has been widely introduced and cultivated in tropical regions as a source of carrageenan.  
• It is cultured in more than 20 countries, and remains confined to farm areas in much of its range, but have also behaved as an invader in the Gulf of Mannar, India, the Kaneohe Lagoon Hawaii, and Bocas del Toro in Caribbean Panama.

Science and Technology

Leprosy

Lecturing on leprosy before the Royal Society of Arts, Sir Leonard Rogers related the favourable results on the treatment of disease with oils such as cod liver oil and royalin oil.

• He was the founder member of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and it’s President from 1933 to 1935.

About:

• Leprosy also known as Hansen’s disease (HD) is a chronic infection caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis.
• Leprosy is not highly infectious.
• It is transmitted via droplets from the nose and mouth during close and frequent contacts with untreated cases.
• Leprosy is curable with the combination of drugs known as Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT).