Daily Current Affairs – 19-03-2025
Tamil Nadu
Madurai HC directs
prominent display of Ombudsman availability in Tamil Nadu local bodies
® The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court ordered the Municipal Administration Department to prominently exhibit the availability of the Ombudsman at all local body offices. ® Established under the Tamil Nadu Local Bodies Ombudsman Act, 2014, the Ombudsman addresses complaints against elected local officials and staff. ® The Ombudsman investigates allegations of corruption, maladministration, favoritism, and abuse of power to ensure transparency in local governance.
Madras HighCourt Stays New Laws on Vice-Chancellor Appointments
® The Madras High Court has granted an interim stay on newly enacted laws that shifted the power to appoint vice-chancellors of state universities from the Governor to the Chief Minister. ® The laws were automatically passed following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Governor’s limited powers. ® A petition challenged the Acts, citing conflict with UGC norms and concerns over lack of transparency in the appointment process.
K. Veeraswami
Judgment (1991) Reconsideration Suggested
® The Vice President has called for a revisit of the 1991 Supreme Court judgment in the case of K. Veeraswami vs Union of India. ® The judgment addressed whether High Court and Supreme Court judges fall under the definition of “public servants” under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947. ® In a 3:2 verdict, the Supreme Court held that judges are public servants, but an FIR for corruption can only be registered with prior sanction from the Chief Justice of India (CJI). ® The case stemmed from a 1976 FIR against Justice K. Veeraswami, then Chief Justice of Madras High Court. ® In 2019, for the first time, CJI Ranjan Gogoi gave permission to register an FIR against Justice S.N. Shukla of the Allahabad High Court, invoking the Veeraswami ruling. ® The suggestion to revisit the ruling raises key questions about judicial accountability and oversight mechanisms in the higher judiciary.
Representation of
Non-General Categories in High Court Judge Appointments
® Under Chief Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Sanjiv Khanna, 15 out of 17 judges appointed to the Madras High Court belonged to BC, OBC, MBC, SC, or ST communities, reflecting increased inclusivity. ® Among 34 women judges appointed nationally, several hailed from non-general categories; Madras High Court appointed 5 women judges, including representatives from BC, MBC, and OBC groups. ® Southern states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh showed higher representation of judges from non-general categories compared to the national average of 24.4%. ® For instance, the Andhra Pradesh High Court recorded a 27.3% share of appointees from non-general communities, while Kerala had less than 20%. ® Conversely, nine High Courts—including Calcutta, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh—approved only judges from the general category. ® States like Gujarat, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan had under 17% representation from non-general categories. ® Despite Bihar housing over 12.2% of India’s OBC population, its contribution to OBC representation in higher education and judicial appointments remains below 8%. ® Tamil Nadu, with about 10% of India’s OBC population, accounts for 13% of OBCs in higher education, reflecting relatively better educational inclusion.
Design and
development of Matsya-6000
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The National Institute of Ocean Technology , under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is developing a 4th Generation deep-ocean human scientific submersible named “ Matsya-6000 ” under the Samudrayan Project .
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The submersible can carry three humans inside its 2.1-meter diameter spherical hull.
Indigenous
semiconductor chip by IIT and ISRO
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IIT Madras and ISRO have jointly developed an indigenous aerospace quality Shakti- based semiconductor chip.
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The Shakti class of systems are based on RISC-V (reduced instruction set computing), an open-source instruction set architecture for designing custom processors.
ISRO tests CE20
cryogenic engine
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ISRO has successfully conducted the ignition trial of its indigenous CE20 cryogenic engine , which powers the upper stage of LVM3 , with a multi-element igniter under vacuum conditions.
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The test was conducted at the High Altitude Test Facility of the ISRO Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.
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The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of ISRO develops the engine.
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It is already qualified to operate for thrust levels between 19t to 22t in flight with a single start and is qualified for the Gaganyaan mission .
Russia launches
space weather satellites
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Russia has launched a Soyuz rocket carrying two Ionosfera-M satellites .
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The Ionosfera-M satellites are designed to monitor space weather around the Earth.