| THE TENTH SCHEDULE | POLITY | PRELIMS |
| Right to safe travel on National Highways part of right to life: Supreme Court order | POLITY | PRELIMS |
| GEOTHERMAL ENERGY | TECHNOLOGY | PRELIMS |
| LEAF SPOT DISEASE IN ARECANUT | AGRICULTURE | PRELIMS |
| WILDFIRES | GEOGRAPHY | PRELIMS |
| PRSC-EO3 SATELLITE | TECHNOLOGY | PRELIMS |
THE TENTH SCHEDULE
Denouncing the move by seven Rajya Sabha members who recently quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and announced their merger with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
The Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985. It lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House. A legislator is deemed to have defected if he either voluntarily gives up the membership of his party or disobeys the directives of the party leadership on a vote. This implies that a legislator defying (abstaining or voting against) the party whip on any issue can lose his membership of the House. The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.
Are there any exceptions under the law?
Yes, legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances. The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of the merger. In such a scenario, neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the original party will face disqualification.
Right to safe travel on National Highways part of right to life: Supreme Court order
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY.
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras is piloting a project to generate electricity from abandoned oil and gas wells through geothermal energy.
- The pilot project is coming up at an Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (OMGC) site in Ankleshwar near Surat, Gujarat.
LEAF SPOT DISEASE IN ARECANUT
Arecanut leaf spot is a severe fungal disease (mostly caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Phyllosticta arecae) affecting young and mature palms, particularly in warm, humid regions of Karnataka and Kerala. It causes up to 60% yield loss, characterized by yellow-brown spots, leaf blight, and reduced crop yield.
WILDFIRES
- Japan has deployed 1,400 firefighters and dozens of Self-Defense Force personnel to battle mountain blazes that have been raging in the north for five days and threaten to reach homes in the picturesque coastal town of Otsuchi,
PRSC-EO3 SATELLITE
- China successfully launched a Pakistani remote sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China’s Shanxi province.The satellite, named PRSC-EO3
- noting it will enhance capabilities in urban planning, disaster management, food security, and environmental monitoring.