Daily Current Affairs Prelims 03 May 2024

• An original suit filed by West Bengal under Article 131 of the Constitution against the Union government, alleged that the CBI was probing several cases and registering FIRs within its jurisdiction without obtaining prior consent of the state.
• The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction to deal with any dispute between the Centre and a state; the Centre and a state on the one side and another state on the other side; and two or more states.
• In its extraordinary original jurisdiction, the Supreme Court has exclusive power to adjudicate disputes involving elections of the President and the Vice President, those that involve states and the Centre, and cases involving the violation of fundamental rights.
• For a dispute to qualify as a dispute under Article 131, it has to necessarily be between states and the Centre and must involve a question of law or fact on which the existence of a legal right of the state or the Centre depends.
• In ‘State of Karnataka v Union of India’ (1978), Justice P N Bhagwati put a condition for the Supreme Court to accept a suit under Article 131, the state need not show that its legal right is violated, but only that the dispute involves a legal question.
• Article 131 cannot be used to settle political differences between state and central governments headed by different parties.
• Tamil Nadu also filed an original suit in the Supreme Court under Article 131 recently asking to direct the union to release Disaster Relief Funds.

Dig Deeper: Read about powers of CBI and general consent aspect related to it

• A complaint alleging sexual harassment has been filed in Kolkata against West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose.
• Constitutional immunity bars the police from naming the Governor as an accused or even investigating the case.
• Article 361 of the Constitution deals with immunity to the President and the Governors.
• The President, or the Governor or Rajpramukh of a State, shall not be answerable to any court for the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of his office or for any act done or purporting to be done by him in the exercise and performance of those powers and duties.
• No criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be initiated or continued against the President, or the Governor of a State, in any court during the term of his office.
• No process for the arrest or imprisonment of the President, or the Governor of a State, shall be issued from any court during his term of office.
• No civil proceedings in which relief is claimed against the President or the Governor of a State, shall be instituted during his term of office in any court in respect of any act done or purporting to be done by him in his personal capacity, whether before or after he entered upon his office as President, or as Governor of such State, until the expiration of two months next after notice in writing has been delivered to the President or the Governor.
• The Constitution contemplates a complete bar against prosecuting the Governor. He cannot be named an accused.
• The police can act only after the Governor ceases to be in office, which is when either the Governor resigns or he no longer enjoys the confidence of the President.
• In Rameshwar Prasad v Union of India (2006) judgement, the Supreme Court outlined the immunity enjoyed by the Governor even on allegations of personal malafides, the Supreme Court held that the position in law is that the Governor enjoys complete immunity.

Dig Deeper: Learn about powers of the governor and compare it with powers of President

• India has registered its protest with Beijing against China’s “illegal attempts” to “alter facts on the ground” in the Shaksgam valley of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which faces the Siachen glacier.
• The Shaksgam Valley is a part of the territory of India. India has never accepted the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963 through which Pakistan unlawfully attempted to cede the area to China.
• Recent satellite pictures indicate China is building a road into the lower Shaksgam Valley.
• The Siachen glacier is a piece of Indian territory wedged between China and Pakistan.
• The 2020 standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh has made the control of Siachen even more critical for India.
• China has undertaken a massive build-up and deployment along the Line of Actual Control threatening Indian positions in Depsang and Daulat Beg Oldie.

Dig Deeper: Read about Operation Meghdoot and Karakoram Pass

• Removing exotic plants from forest areas will help ensure food for wild elephants at Chinnakkanal in Munnar, says a study by the Kerala State Forest Protective Staff Organisation, an association of frontline forest officers.
• One of the important steps to mitigate human-elephant conflict in the region.
• The Chinnakkanal landscape is overrun by exotic species like Acacia mearnsii (black wattle), eucalyptus and West Indian Lantana (kongini), inhibiting the growth of other species and restricting access to animals.

Dig Deeper: Learn about Wildlife Protection Act (WPA)

• The Tamil Nadu government issued an advisory banning the use of liquid nitrogen in food and warned of stringent action against violators due to its harmful effects on human health.
• When nitrogen evaporates, it displaces oxygen in the food pack, preventing microbial action and preserving freshness.
• The technique was useful in packing coffee, potato crisps, peanuts and peanut butter, milk products, cheese, and dried potatoes.
• Liquid nitrogen, an inert, colourless, odourless cryogenic liquid has traditionally been used in the management of many benign pre-cancers and cancers since the 1960s.
• The procedure involves using the element at a frosty -196 degrees C to freeze and destroy cancer cells.
• The treatment is scientifically described as cryotherapy. It can also be used to obtain biopsies from cancer tissues for further molecular analysis. Another application is to use it as cryo-adhesion to remove foreign bodies.
• Cryotherapy has been attempted to treat many cancers, including those of skin, bone, breast, cervical, eye, kidney, liver, lung, and prostate.
• Liquid nitrogen should be handled by trained professionals with proper protective gear, preferably in a controlled lab or industry, as improper handling or consumption of liquid nitrogen can cause severe damage to the skin, mucous membranes, and internal organs.
• The Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department cited the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, and the Drug Administration department issued a circular on the use of liquid nitrogen saying the substance can only be used to preserve packaged food.

Dig Deeper: Read about Cryo-preservation and Absolute Zero temperature

• In computational complexity– a subfield of theoretical computer science and mathematics, the question of whether all so-called NP problems are P problems.
• P is a set of relatively easy problems, and NP is a set that includes what seem to be very, very hard problems, so P = NP would imply that the hard problems have relatively easy solutions. But the details are more complicated.
• It is called the most important outstanding question in theoretical computer science; the equivalency of P and NP is one of the seven problems that the Clay Mathematics Institute will give you a million dollars for proving — or disproving.
• A P problem can be solved in “polynomial time,” which means that an algorithm exists for its solution such that the number of steps in the algorithm is bounded by a polynomial function. Thus, P problems are said to be easy, or tractable.
• A problem is called NP if its solution can be guessed and verified in polynomial time, and nondeterministic means that no particular rule is followed to make the guess.
• The barrier that the P vs NP problem stands for encompasses every field where the solution to a problem is blocked by the availability of significant computational resources.
• So, these fields include logistics, finance, and even climate modelling, all of which could experience paradigm shifts if the P vs NP problem is solved in favour of the P = NP outcome.

Dig Deeper: Read about Semiconductors and their working