Interceptor spot on, though without blast: DRDO
India’s ambitious mission on Sunday to intercept an “enemy” ballistic missile at a altitude of 120 km seems to have achieved only partial success. While the missile technologists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) say the interception did take place and the mission met its “important objectives,” they concede that the warhead in the interceptor missile, which took off from the Wheeler Island, did not explode.
- Supreme Court commuted the death sentences of three of the 7 convicts in Rajiv Gandhi's Assassination case in February on account of the long delay in disposing of their mercy petitions to the President.
- Tamil Nadu government ordered release of the convicts after the SC decision.
- Central Government challenged legality of Tamil Nadu government's decision - whether the State government was the appropriate government to invoke the power of remission to convicts who had been prosecuted by the Central Bureau of Investigation but convicted under sections of the Indian Penal Code and some Central laws.
- So a three judge bench was to decide this matter but since they were not reaching an unambiguous verdict so it was decided to constitute a 7 judge bench for the case. This 7 judge bench would decide upon 7 substantial questions.
- Justice Lodha will have a brief tenure of five months till September 27.
- he said his top priority would be to appoint judges with impeccable character so that judicial institutions run smoothly.
- He wants the collegium system to be continued but with more transparency and wider consultation.
- On the question of CJI having fixed tenure his views were not in favour of it as a fixed tenure would effect the next member since average tenure of Sc judges is about 4 years.
Issue - several lakh names of voters missing from the electoral rolls in Maharashtra, mainly from the country’s financial capital, Mumbai, in the most recent phase of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, has raised troubling questions about the efficiency of the process of periodic electoral rolls revision, inclusion of new voters who have attained 18 years of age, and special enrolment drives and camps periodically organised by the election authorities before a general election or byelection.
Authors views on it :
- technology cannot be a substitute for care, verification and proper supervision of the process.
- Burgeoning urbanisation, with people frequently shifting residences, or large numbers of migrant workers moving to cities, calls for a great deal of care to ensure that all eligible voters are included.
Solutions offered:
- The process of inclusion and deletion has perforce to be decentralised at the ward level, and the changes made by authorised officials linked to a real-time database that can quickly reflect these changes. This should be possible as the Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) gives a unique number to every registered voter.
- Address-change verification processes could also be made citizen-friendly: long lists of apparently missing names that are stuck on house doors often go unnoticed.
Syria still holds around eight per cent of its declared chemical weapons material, as the deadline for it to be handed over expired on Sunday, the task force overseeing the operation said.
Syria also needs to complete the closure or destruction of production and storage facilities. There is a dispute over whether Damascus will have to destroy 12 remaining chemical weapons production sites. Damascus wants to seal the sites, which it says have already been rendered unusable, but Western countries want them completely destroyed.
South Korea’s Prime Minister resigned on Sunday, blaming corruption and “deep-rooted evil” for the sinking of a passenger ferry that left 300 people dead or missing, as anger grows over the bungled response to the tragedy.
Chung Hong-Won admitted he had not been up to the task of overseeing rescue operations after the Sewol capsized with 476 people — many of them schoolchildren — on board.
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