Short News
Short News
Language in Judiciary
- Context (The Hindu - TH): The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Union Government to recognise Tamil as the principal language of the Madras High Court alongside English.
- Under Article 348(1) of the Constitution of India, proceedings in the Supreme Court and High Courts as well as authoritative texts of central and state enactments—must strictly be conducted in English.
- Article 348(2) empowers the Governor of a State, with the prior consent of the President of India, to authorise the use of Hindi or any other official language of the state in High Court proceedings.
- Under Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963 (OLA), the Governor—with prior presidential assent may permit the state's official language for judgments, decrees, and orders of the High Court, mandating an authoritative English translation.
Declining Cotton Production in India
- Context (Indian Express - IE): Persistent pest resurgence and acreage contractions across the northern agrarian belt have led to a marked decline in India’s domestic raw cotton output.
- Production fell to 290.91 lakh bales, below domestic consumption of 328.00 lakh.
- Bacillus thuringiensis Cotton (Bt Cotton) has suffered technology fatigue, as secondary pests like Pink Bollworm (PBW) and whiteflies evolved resistance against dual-toxin Bollgard II (BG-II) traits.
- Distorted incentives—primarily guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement and unmetered electricity subsidies for tubewells—accelerated a regional shift toward water-intensive summer paddy.
- To counteract productivity stagnation, the Union Government approved the Mission for Cotton Productivity (Kapas Kranti) alongside the Pradhan Mantri Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme.
Belgium Prime Minister’s Visit to India
- Context (Press Information Bureau - PIB): Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever conducted an official state visit to India, representing the first bilateral tour by a Belgian Prime Minister in nearly two decades.
- Both nations instituted an Investment Fast-Track Mechanism (IFTM), targeted doubling bilateral trade within five years, and formalized co-investment frameworks between Belgium's Federal Holding and Investment Company (Société Fédérale de Participations et d'Investissement - SFPIM) and India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).
- Security cooperation was institutionalized via a Letter of Intent (LoI) on defense, while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Belgian Federal Police concluded an operational pact against cross-border organized crime and cyber threats.
- Belgium reaffirmed its diplomatic backing for India’s permanent membership in an expanded United Nations Security Council (UNSC) alongside deep-tech alignment through the Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy and Astrophysics (BINA).