2 March 2024

• Polity: The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 discussion highlighted how India's new evidence law treats electronic records as documentary evidence, replacing the Indian Evidence Act.
• Society: International Waste Pickers Day (March 1) brought focus to the 1.5 million informal waste workers who handle India's solid waste outside any legal framework.
• Space: The International Astronomical Union confirmed three new moons around Uranus and Neptune, one of which is the smallest known moon in the solar system.
• Heritage: The world's first timekeeping device based on Indian panchang calculations was inaugurated at Jantar Mantar, Ujjain.

GS area: Polity, Governance

The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 is one of three new criminal laws replacing British-era statutes. It replaces the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 and comes into force from 1 July 2024. The other two are:

• Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023: replaces the Indian Penal Code 1860.
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023: replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973.

Key changes in evidence law:

• Electronic records as documentary evidence: the new law explicitly classifies electronic records within the definition of "document," aligning with the Information Technology Act 2000.
• Oral evidence by electronic means: witnesses may depose remotely.
• Chain of custody protocols: forensic standards for handling electronic evidence are now codified.

Concerns raised by legal experts include the susceptibility of electronic records to tampering without robust safeguards, ambiguous admissibility criteria, and the potential for coercion in obtaining digital information.

Static linkage: Criminal justice system, polity (Parliament and legislation).

GS area: Society, Environment, Governance

India's urban solid waste system relies on roughly 1.5 million informal waste pickers who collect, sort and sell recyclable material before it reaches landfills. About half are women. They work without safety equipment, social security or formal recognition. The policy tension:

• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2022 require manufacturers to take back plastic waste. The rules do not specifically include informal waste pickers, who risk displacement when private operators take over collection.
• Caste and informality: waste picking in India is structurally tied to caste hierarchy, making exclusion from policy frameworks a social justice issue as well as an environmental one.
• Global Plastics Treaty negotiations: India and other countries are debating whether the forthcoming international plastics agreement should guarantee protections for informal workers.

Static linkage: Society (poverty, labour), environment (solid waste management).

GS area: Art and Culture, History

The world's first clock based on Indian panchang calculations was inaugurated at Jantar Mantar in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. Key facts:

• Ujjain: historically considered India's central meridian before Kolkata (and before Greenwich). Located at the intersection of the zero meridian and the Tropic of Cancer in traditional Indian astronomical reckoning.
• Jantar Mantar: a network of five astronomical observatories built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur in the early 18th century. Sites at Delhi, Mathura, Varanasi, Jaipur and Ujjain. All are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
• Panchang: the traditional Hindu calendar that integrates solar and lunar cycles, tithis (lunar days) and nakshatras (lunar mansions).

Static linkage: Art and culture (ancient observatories), history (medieval India).

GS area: Government schemes, Society

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment inaugurated 34 residential hostels across states under the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY). The scheme merges three older centrally sponsored programmes:

• Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana: integrated development of SC-dominated villages into model villages.
• Special Central Assistance to SC Sub Plan: grants to states for projects benefiting Scheduled Caste communities.
• Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana: hostel construction in NIRF-ranked higher educational institutions for SC students.

Static linkage: Government schemes (SC welfare), polity (Article 17, untouchability).

GS area: Science and Technology (space science)

The International Astronomical Union confirmed three new moons, one around Uranus and two around Neptune.

• S/2023 U1 (Uranus): approximately 5 miles (8 km) across, making it the smallest known moon around any planet in the solar system. It will be named after a Shakespeare character, in keeping with the convention for Uranian moons.
• S/2002 N5 and S/2021 N1 (Neptune): named following the convention of Nereids, daughters of the sea god Nereus from Greek mythology.

Uranus now has 28 confirmed moons; Neptune has 16.

Static linkage: Science and technology (space).

• FIR vs General Diary: the Supreme Court's 2014 Lalita Kumari ruling requires police to register an FIR for any information disclosing a cognizable offence. A General Diary is an internal administrative record and is not legally binding. Cognizable offences allow arrest without warrant; non-cognizable offences require court permission.
• Haemophilia A gene therapy trial: India conducted its first human clinical trial for gene therapy for Haemophilia A, a hereditary bleeding disorder caused by a deficiency of clotting Factor VIII. The trial used a lentiviral vector to deliver the Factor VIII gene into the patient's haematopoietic stem cells.
• Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project: a joint hydropower project on the Mahakali River shared by Nepal and India. Governed by the Mahakali Treaty of 1996. Target capacity 6,480 MW split equally. Stalled over benefit-sharing disagreements.