8 October 2024

• Elections: Results for Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections were declared on 8 October 2024. The BJP won 48 seats in Haryana's 90-seat assembly, securing a historic third consecutive term. The National Conference-Congress alliance won 48 of 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Polity: The Supreme Court held that caste-based labour assignment in prisons was unconstitutional, violating Articles 14, 15, 17, and 23.
• Nobel Physics: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 was announced for John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for foundational work on artificial neural networks.
• Economy: SEBI's MF Lite Framework came into effect to promote passively managed mutual funds.

GS area: Polity (Elections)

The Bharatiya Janata Party won 48 seats in the Haryana Legislative Assembly, which has 90 seats. The majority mark is 46.

• Historic significance: This is the first time any party has won three consecutive terms in Haryana since the state was formed in 1966. Haryana has a reputation for anti-incumbency that has historically ejected the ruling party every five years.
• Congress performance: The Indian National Congress won 36 seats. Pre-election surveys had predicted a Congress majority, making the result a significant upset.
• Other parties: The Indian National Lok Dal won 2 seats. Independents won 3.
• Chief Minister: Nayab Singh Saini won from the Ladwa constituency with a margin of over 16,000 votes.
• Notable winner: Wrestler Vinesh Phogat, contesting on a Congress ticket, won from the Julana constituency.

Static linkage: State assembly elections, Election Commission, Haryana state (Polity).

GS area: Polity (Constitutional Status, Elections)

The National Conference-Congress alliance won 48 seats in the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly. This was the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir after it was converted from a state to a Union Territory in October 2019.

• Seat breakdown: National Conference alone won 42 seats. Congress won 6. The alliance crossed the 46-seat majority mark comfortably.
• BJP performance: Won 29 seats, largely from Jammu division. The party did not cross the halfway mark despite strong expectations in the Hindu-majority Jammu region.
• Constitutional context: Article 370 was revoked and J&K was bifurcated into two Union Territories in August 2019. J&K retains a legislature with a Chief Minister, while Ladakh became a UT without a legislature.
• Lieutenant Governor's role: As a Union Territory with a legislature, J&K has a Lieutenant Governor whose powers in relation to the elected government remain subject to ongoing legal and political interpretation.

Static linkage: Article 370, Union Territories with legislature, J&K reorganisation (Polity).

GS area: Polity (Fundamental Rights, Judiciary)

The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the provisions in state prison manuals that assigned labour on the basis of caste.

• The practice: In more than 10 states including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, prison manuals historically assigned menial labour such as sweeping and drain cleaning to prisoners from lower castes. Cooking was reserved for prisoners from upper castes.
• Articles violated: Article 14 (equality before law), Article 15 (prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth), Article 17 (abolition of untouchability), and Article 23 (prohibition of forced labour and traffic in human beings).
• Article 17's significance: It is one of the few fundamental rights that operates against both the state and private individuals. "Untouchability" is abolished in all its forms.
• Court's order: States must revise their prison manuals within three months to remove all caste-based work assignments.
• Prison overcrowding context: India's prisons operate at 117 per cent of capacity on average. Undertrial prisoners make up about 75 per cent of the prison population.

Static linkage: Fundamental Rights, untouchability, prison reforms (Polity).

GS area: Science and Technology (Physics, Artificial Intelligence)

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 on 8 October 2024 for John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton.

• Citation: "For foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks."
• Hopfield's contribution: Created the Hopfield Network, which stores and retrieves patterns. It uses the physics of spin glasses (a type of magnetic material) to model how information is stored as energy states. The network can recall stored patterns even from corrupted inputs.
• Hinton's contribution: Used statistical physics tools to create the Boltzmann Machine, which can learn to recognise patterns in data through an iterative process that adjusts connection weights.
• Why it is a Physics prize: Both researchers borrowed physics concepts (energy minimisation in spin systems, statistical mechanics) to build computational models. The Nobel Committee emphasised the physical inspiration rather than the computer science application.
• Scale of impact: Their foundational work underlies today's deep learning systems, including large language models and image recognition systems.

Static linkage: Artificial intelligence, scientific prizes (Science and Technology).

GS area: Economy (Capital Markets)

SEBI's Mutual Fund Lite Framework, announced on 30 September 2024, came into effect. It creates a separate regulatory path for asset management companies that want to offer only passive investment products.

• Reduced entry requirements: Minimum net worth set at 35 crore rupees, significantly lower than the standard AMC requirement. This lowers the barrier for new entrants.
• Scope: MF Lite applies exclusively to passively managed schemes such as index funds and exchange-traded funds. Actively managed schemes require the full standard framework.
• Why passives: Index funds and ETFs have far lower compliance complexity than active funds because investment decisions are rule-based rather than discretionary. Lower capital requirements can attract more competition and drive down expense ratios for investors.

Static linkage: SEBI, mutual funds, capital market regulation (Economy).

GS area: Economy (Agriculture)

NITI Aayog released data showing Indian agriculture grew at an average annual rate of 3.70 per cent during 2014-15 to 2023-24, higher than the historical average of 2.90 per cent.

• Top performers by commodity: Poultry meat grew at 9.2 per cent annually, fishing and aquaculture at 9.1 per cent, and eggs at 6.6 per cent.
• Weakest segment: Field crops (cereals, pulses, oilseeds) grew at only 1.6 per cent annually despite MSP interventions, indicating that price support alone does not reliably drive yield growth.
• High-growth states: Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and 11 other states achieved annual growth above 4 per cent.
• Lagging states: Punjab grew at only 2 per cent annually, reflecting soil degradation, water stress, and the limits of the Green Revolution model.

Static linkage: Agricultural growth, NITI Aayog, MSP (Economy).

• Ni-Kshay Poshan Yojana enhanced: Monthly nutritional support to TB patients increased from 500 to 1,000 rupees. Additional energy-dense nutritional supplements for patients with BMI below 18.5. Household contacts of TB patients now included in food basket support.
• ISRO Third Launch Pad: Cabinet cleared a third launch pad at Sriharikota for the Next Generation Launch Vehicle. It will be capable of placing 20 tonnes in low earth orbit.