12th July Daily Current Affairs – English

99^th meeting of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee:

• The Cauvery Regulation Committee recommended that the state of Karnataka should ensure the release of one TMC of water per day at the rate of 11,500 cubic feet per second in the Cauvery to Tamil Nadu.
• The 99th meeting of the Cauvery River Regulation Committee was held in Delhi under the chairmanship of its Chairman Vineet Gupta.
• Representatives of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry states participated in it.
• The Central Government constituted the Cauvery Water Management Authority on June 1, 2018, using the powers conferred by the Inter-State Water Resources Act, 1956, to manage the Cauvery water.
• The Central Government has set up the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CMA) to solve the problems related to the sharing of Cauvery water between the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.
• The Cauvery Water Management Authority consists of a Chairman, eight members and a Secretary.
• The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee is implementing the order dated February 16, 2018 to implement the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal judgment as modified by the Supreme Court.

Seven new defence projects: Privatized DRDO

• DRDO, India’s premier defence research organization, has awarded 7 new projects to private companies to develop key military technologies including underwater-launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remote operational systems.
• These projects will be implemented under the Technology Development Fund of the Ministry of Defence to meet the various needs of the armed forces, space and defence sectors of the country and promote domestic defence manufacturing.
• The underwater drone manufacturing project has been awarded to The underwater drone manufacturing project has been awarded to Pune-based Saak Defense Engineering Pvt Ltd.
• Technology projects for radar signal operation system production, sensor development for aircraft, remote operating systems capable of detecting, classifying and defeating underwater hazards have been awarded to a Kochi-based start-up company called ‘IROV Technologies’.
• A radar signal operation system with antenna simulator has been awarded to Noida-based start-up ‘Oxygen 2 Innovation’.

BIMSTEC Conference:

• A conference attended by foreign ministries of BIMSTEC member countries was held in Delhi.
• The ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multidisciplinary Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)’ brings together seven South and Southeast Asian countries, namely India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan, bordering the Bay of Bengal for multilateral cooperation.
• BIMSTEC represents a combination of Indian positions of ‘Neighbourhood First’, ‘Act East policy’ and ‘SAGAR’ vision.
• India is making concerted efforts to build BIMSTEC as a vibrant alternative organization for regional cooperation as SAARC’s initiatives have stalled due to various reasons.
• It is an international organization consisting of seven countries located in South Asia and South East Asia.
• These countries have a combined population of 1.5 million and a GDP of $3.5 trillion.
• The member countries of this organization are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.
• All these are countries around the Bay of Bengal
• Thailand, which chairs the BIMSTEC confederation, is set to host the confederation’s annual summit later this year.

Economic empowerment of family heads essential: Supreme Court

• Women heads of the family do not have their own income, so it is mandatory to provide financial security to them, and that is the real development, Supreme Court lady judge B.V. Nagarathna mentioned in the judgment.
• The Supreme Court ruled that Muslim women can also claim alimony (maintenance) under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC).

Impact of Shah Bano Case Verdict:

• In 1985, the Supreme Court ruled that Muslim husbands should pay alimony to their wives after divorce.
• The Muslim Women (Right to Protection from Divorce) Act 1986 was enacted during the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s regime to give shape to this judgment.
• This law was upheld by the Delhi High Court in 2001.
• It also allowed Muslim women to have equal rights in marriage and divorce.

Reservation for Ex-Servicemen:

• 10 percent reservation is to be given to ex-servicemen under Agnipath scheme in the vacancies of constables in Central Industrial Security Force and Border Security Force.
• CISF chief Nina Singh and BSF chief Nitin Agarwal.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs has taken an important decision for the soldiers who were recruited under the Agnipath scheme and released on completion of their service.
• Accordingly, CISF and BSF have embarked on an effort to recruit ex-servicemen.
• Youths between the age of 17 and a half to 21 years are being recruited into the army through the Agnipath program.
• Only 25 percent of them are guaranteed to serve in the army for more than 15 years.
• Others will serve only four years, after which they will be released.

Union Budget:

• With the Union Budget to be presented on the 23rd, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a consultation with leading economic experts in the country.
• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to present the budget for the year 2024-25 in Parliament.
• A budget is a financial plan that outlines expected income and expenses for a specific period of time.
• It integrates revenues from all sources and costs of all activities undertaken.

BRICS Parliamentary Meeting:

• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh participated in the 10th BRICS Parliamentary Session held in St. Petersburg, Russia.
• The five new BRICS members, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, participated in the BRICS parliamentary session.
• The president of Swadeshi Parliamentary Association is Dhulia Aksan.
• BRICS is an international grouping of five developing countries whose members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

International Malala Day: July 12

• Malala Day is observed by the United Nations on 12th July every year.
• It is observed based on the life struggles of Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai, who voiced for equal rights in education for women.

Important Facts:

1. The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of KR Shriram as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
2. Ajay Ganapathy, a student of Punitha Ohm Global CBSE School, won the gold medal in the World Cymbal Competition held in Malaysia.
3. A well inscription dated to the late 20th century AD has been found at Nannagaram near Tenkasi.
4. Tamil Development and Information Minister M. P. Saminathan launched the ‘Makkaludan Mudhalvar’ project in the rural areas of Tirupur district.
5. Gautam Gambhir has been appointed as the head coach of the Indian team.