Tarang Shakti-2024, Prerana Sthal, Electromagnet

• The Indian Air Force’s first multinational air exercise, Tarang Shakti-2024, will be held in August, and is likely to see the participation of 10 countries, in addition to observers.
• The plan is to invite friendly foreign countries with whom the IAF interacts regularly and has a certain degree of interoperability.
• The exercise is scheduled to be held in two phases.
• The first will be held in southern India in the first two weeks of August and the second will be in the western sector from the end of August to mid-September.
• Among the countries sending contingents are Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• Germany will deploy fighter jets and also an A-400M transport aircraft. The A-400M aircraft will be on showcase for the IAF, given that it is a contender for the open tender for medium transport aircraft.
• The IAF recently deployed eight Rafale fighters, a first at Red Flag, supported by IL-78 mid-air refuellers for the transatlantic ferry, as well as C-17 Globemaster aircraft.

Dig Deeper: Read about India’s bilateral exercises with countries with Indian Armed Forces that have interoperability.

• Allegations of irregularities in the counting of postal ballots and alleged OTP-based unlocking of EVM in Mumbai North-West constituency reported recently.
• Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) was developed by the Election Commission of India with the help of C-DAC.
• The ETPBS is a system created to enable remote voting for individuals who cannot vote in person at a polling station.
• The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 was amended in 2016 to allow service voters to use the ETPBS.

Voters eligible for ETBPS

• Service Voters: Members of the Armed Forces, Members of the Armed Police Force of a State, serving outside that state. Persons employed under the Government of India in a post outside India.
• Special Voters: The President of India, Vice President, Governors, Speaker, union cabinet ministers, Chief Ministers, and Ministers of State Government of India, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, The Speaker and Ministers of State Legislative Assemblies and Councils. CEC and other Election Commissioners along with CAG.
• Persons with Disabilities (PwD).
• Voters who are 80 years of age or above.
• Essential Services Personnel as notified by the Election Commission of India, including those in government services who are on election duty.

• It is a fully secured system, which enables the entitled service voter to cast their vote using an electronically received postal ballot from anywhere outside their constituency.
• Postal Ballot for entitled voters will be uniform across all categories. It will be delivered in electronic data format to the entitled voter on a real-time basis.
• The process of delivery will incorporate a mechanism to authenticate the voter using electronic means such as OTP.
• The Postal Ballot delivery through Electronic Media document also indicates the sections that need to be sent back to the Returning Officer (RO).
• Counting of Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System [ETPBS] happens in physical form.
• Every counting sheet is signed by all counting agents after due diligence.

Dig Deeper: Read about the election petition.

• The vice-president inaugurated Prerna Sthal at the Parliament House premises, accommodating statues of 15 freedom fighters and icons of Indian history relocated from various parts of the compound.
• The Prerna Sthal is being described as inspiring, highlighting the inclusion of statues of national icons.
• Statues of Dr Ambedkar and Gandhi ji are amongst the relocated statues.

Dig Deeper: Read about the National War Memorial and Prime Ministers Museum.

Qatar announced the end of the Kafala System in 2020

• Migrant worker can change jobs without needing to obtain their employers’ permission, ending one of the most criticised elements of the country’s labour system.
• No longer exit permit needed to leave the country, effectively dismantles the ‘kafala’ sponsorship system. 
• Qatar did not fully implement it.

• After the fatal fire in Mangaf, Kuwait, which killed 49 migrant workers—mostly Indians, actions of suspensions of concerned officials took place.
• Though addressing the systemic issues of the Kafala system remains crucial for safeguarding workers’ rights.
• The kafala – or sponsorship – system, under which workers are unable to change jobs without their employer’s permission. This practice leaves many vulnerable to exploitation and in some cases forced labour.
• The Kafala system ties work and residence visas to employers, creating dependency for nearly three million low-income migrants in Kuwait.
• Kuwait and other GCC states, home to 35 million migrant workers (10% of all international migrants), follow similar practices under the Kafala system. Indians are the largest group among these workers.
• The immediate concern is the unsafe and unhygienic labour accommodations, making residents vulnerable to emergencies.
• The cost of decent living far exceeds the minimum wage, reflecting the low value placed on migrant labour.
• The minimum salary requirement to sponsor a family is KD800, making it impossible for most migrants to bring their families.
• Low wages ensure perpetual vulnerability, forcing workers into poor housing and minimal socio-cultural spaces.
• GCC states do not permit labour organizing or unionization, keeping workers financially insecure and easily deportable.
• Despite promises of better safety standards and penalties, systemic changes to empower workers are unlikely.
• Domestic workers, 27% of Kuwait’s labour force, are excluded from labour laws and face aggravated vulnerabilities.

Dig Deeper: In how many countries Kafala System still exist?

• British physicist William Sturgeon invented electromagnets in 1824.
• They have become integral to human life and appear in devices like loudspeakers, motors, MRI machines, maglev trains, and particle accelerators.
• An electromagnet is created when an electric current flows through a coiled wire, producing a concentrated magnetic field.
• Coiling the wire around a magnetic material, such as iron, amplifies the magnetic field due to the alignment of the material’s internal magnetic domains with the external field.
• This produces a stronger overall magnetic field. The magnetic field exists as long as the current flows; some core materials retain weak magnetism after the current stops (Hysteresis).
• Superconducting electromagnets, like those in MRIs, use superconducting wire to generate magnetic fields up to 30 Tesla (600,000 times as powerful as the earth’s).
• Bitter electromagnets achieve fields up to 40 tesla through a spiral stack of coiled wires.

Dig Deeper: What is Magnetic Levitation?

Global Risk Report, 2024

• The Global Risks Report, developed by WEF in collaboration with Marsh McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group.
• It explores some of the most severe risks we may face over the next decade, against a backdrop of rapid technological change, economic uncertainty, a warming planet and conflict.
• As cooperation comes under pressure, weakened economies and societies may only require the smallest shock to edge past the tipping point of resilience.

• The global gender gap has closed 68.5% in 2024, a slight increase from 68.4% in 2023, indicating a slow pace of change that will take 134 years to achieve full parity, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).
• Iceland retains the top position, having closed 93.5% of its gender gap, while India has slipped to 129th out of 146 countries, closing 64.1% of its gender gap. This decline is due to small decreases in education and political empowerment.
• India’s labour force participation rate for women is 45.9%, and measures are needed to ensure girls stay in higher education, acquire job skills, have safe workplaces, and retain jobs post-marriage.
• The literacy gap between men and women is 17.2 percentage points, ranking India 124^th in this area.
• Although there has been a slight improvement in economic participation, women’s representation in Parliament has decreased, with only 74 women MPs out of 543, or 13.6%.
• The Women’s Reservation Bill, 2023, which aims to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for women, has yet to take effect.

Dig Deeper: Read about the four reference points used in calculating the Global Gender Gap Report.