Recently Karnataka High Court dismissed a woman's plea for quashing a sexual assault complaint against her under POCSO Act.

• Court observed that the POSCO Act applies to both men and women and is "gender neutral".

About POCSO Act 

• Objective -  to protect children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography
• Gender neutral - defines “child” as any person below the age of 18 years.
• Procedural safeguards -
  • Establishment of special courts within camera proceedings 
  • Mandates reporting of offences
  • Use of simple language in report if reported by child 
  • Penalty upto Death penalty in case of  aggravated penetrative sexual assault

Opposition Parties are considering motion to remove Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).

Process for Removal (as mentioned under Article 124(4)):

• Article 324(5) of the Constitution states that the CEC can be removed from office only “in like manner and on like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court.”

• Thus, the removal of the CEC begins with a motion in either House alleging misbehaviour or incapacity.
  • Once the motion is admitted, a committee enquires into validity of the charges.
• The motion of removal then must be passed by a majority of two-thirds members present and voting in both the Houses of Parliament.

Recently the quarterly ( for April - June 2025) and Monthly PLFS ( for July 2025) were released 

About PLFS

• Aim - To estimate various indicators related to employment and unemployment in the country on:-
  • Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR),
  • Worker Population Ratio (WPR), 
  • Unemployment Rate (UR), 
  • distribution of workers by employment status and industry of work
• Conducted by National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) 
• Coverage and frequency- 
  • Monthly for rural and urban areas in the Current Weekly Status (CWS). 
  • Annual estimates for rural and urban areas in Usual Status (US) and CWS.
    • CWS - 7 days as reference period 
    • US-  365 days as reference period 

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways launched FASTag Annual Pass facility.

• Annual Pass eliminates the need to frequently recharge FASTag through one-time fee of Rs. 3,000 for one year or 200 toll plaza crossings. 

About FASTag

• It is a device that employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from account while the vehicle is in motion.
  • RFID consists of tags and readers and employs radio waves to communicate information of objects or people to nearby readers. 
  • It is a short-range technology.
• It is managed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

TDB backs Indigenous AI-Powered Blood Testing Devices for primary healthcare.

About TDB

• Genesis: Established in 1996, under the Technology Development Board Act, 1995, as a statutory body.
• Objective: To promote the development and commercialization of indigenous technology and the adaptation of imported technology for wider application.
• Function: It provides equity capital or loans to industrial concerns and financial assistance to research and development institutions. 
  • The loan carries a simple interest rate of 5% per annum.

Yield on the benchmark sovereign bonds has increased significantly. 

• A bond's yield is the return an investor realizes over the capital invested in the bond. 

Factors impacting Bond Yield

• Bond yield is directly affected by the bond’s price, following an inverse relationship: when bond prices decrease, yields rise and vice versa. 
• When market interest rates rise, newly issued bonds offer better returns, causing existing bond prices to fall and yields to increase, and vice versa. 
• Bond yields also fluctuate in response to changes in market sentiment, inflation expectations, and economic outlook. 

UNHCR has temporarily suspended the process of facilitating the repatriation of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.

About UNHRC

• Genesis:  Formerly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR was established by the UN General Assembly in 1950 in the aftermath of the Second World War.
• Objective: It is UN Refugee Agency dedicated to saving lives and protecting rights of refugees, internally displaced communities and stateless people.
• Key Documents: UNHCR serves as the guardian of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. 
• Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
• It received the Nobel Peace Prize both in 1954 and 1981.

Government scraps import duty on cotton as well as Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) in “public interest”.

About AIDC

• It is an additional duty of excise that has been imposed on Petrol and Diesel and as duty of customs on specified imported goods.
• It was introduced in the Union Budget 2021-22.
• Purpose:  financing agricultural infrastructure and other development expenditure

A recent study identified a general spatial organization of biodiversity within the Earth’s different biogeographical regions.

• Species biodiversity in biogeographical regions tends to be organized into a core-to-transition organization, with dense, unique biodiversity at the centre and grading outward towards porous, mixed margins.
  • Core hotspots – Very rich in species, highly endemic, almost no foreign species.
  • Next inner layers – Species-rich, more endemic species, but some widespread species.
  • Middle layers – No species richness, presence of some non-characteristic species.
  • Transition zones – Species-poor, dominated by wide-ranging generalist species from many regions.