06 August 2025
(Current Affairs Notes - Prelims)

Article 332

• Deals with reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Legislative Assemblies of States.

• Seats are reserved for SCs & STs in proportion to their population in the state.

• Reservation initially for 10 years (till 1960), but extended through successive constitutional amendments (currently valid till 2030).

• It ensures political representation of marginalized communities in state legislatures.

• In the case of Scheduled Tribes in autonomous districts of Assam, special provisions are made.

• Recently, the Lok Sabha passed a bill to provide Scheduled Tribe (ST) reservation in the Goa Legislative Assembly.

• Why the Parliament is involved in passing a bill that relates to State Legislative Assembly?

  • • No Assembly seats were reserved for STs. Despite having a much higher ST population than SCs, STs have no reserved seats in the Goa Assembly, while SCs do.

    • Under Articles 82 & 170, delimitation is frozen until after 2026 Census. Representation of People Acts (1950 & 1951) and Delimitation Act, 2002 do not allow mid-term readjustment. Also, the Delimitation Commission ceased in 2008, so no mechanism currently exists.

    • The latest Bill was to be introduced in Parliament to: Empower Election Commission to amend the Delimitation Order, 2008 and to ensure effective democratic participation of Goa’s ST communities.

Cloudburst

• If 10 cm rainfall is received in one hour, the rain event is termed as cloud burst.

• These are difficult to predict due to their small scale and short duration.

• Monitoring requires dense radar networks or high-resolution weather models.

• Though possible in plains, they are more common in hilly areas due to the terrain.

• Recently, a cloudburst over the Kheer Ganga River led to flash floods in Dharali village of Uttarkashi district (Uttarakhand).

  • • Kheer Ganga River is a tributary of Alaknanda River.

• National Disaster Management Plan, 2019, provides for Cloudburst Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategy.

HDV is Carcinogenic

• Hepatitis D virus (HDV) is a virus that requires hepatitis B virus (HBV) for its replication. Chronic HDV occurs only in people living with HBV.

• This means hepatitis D only affects people who already have hepatitis B.

• HDV affects globally nearly 5% (an estimated 12 million) of people who have a chronic infection with HBV.

• Chronic HDV infection is considered the most severe form of chronic viral hepatitis due to more rapid progression towards liver-related death.

  • • Hepatitis D infection can be prevented by hepatitis B immunization.

• HDV has recently been classified as carcinogenic to humans, meaning it can cause cancer, just like hepatitis B and C.

Sea Buckthorn

• Botanical Name: Hippophae rhamnoides.

• A thorny shrub found in cold arid regions like the Himalayas (Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh).

• Rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin E, omega fatty acids; used in nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and traditional medicine.

• Prevents soil erosion, helps in land reclamation, and supports cold desert ecology.

• Cultivated by DRDO in Ladakh as a nutritional supplement for soldiers in high-altitude areas.

• Seeds of Sea Buckthorn were part of experiments on board the International Space Station flown by NASA’s Crew-11 Mission.

Krill

• Small shrimp-like crustaceans found in oceans.

• Form the base of marine food chain, eaten by whales, seals, penguins, fish.

• Used in aquaculture feed, krill oil (omega-3), pharmaceuticals.

• Abundant in the Southern Ocean (Antarctica); huge biomass.

• Overfishing and climate change (melting sea ice) threaten krill populations.

• A recent study found that krill removes 20 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year.

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

• INF Treaty was signed between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987.

• The treaty required destruction of all ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500–5,500 km.

• Recently, Russia officially ended its commitment to the INF Treaty. It had already weakened after the US withdrew in 2019.

Places in News: Philippines

• The Philippines (Capital: Manila) is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia.

  • • An archipelago is an island group or collection of islands.

    • An archipelagic country is a nation comprised of one or more archipelagos.

• Located in the western Pacific Ocean, The Philippines consists of nearly 7600 islands, which are broadly categorised in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

• The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea, the Philippine Sea, and the Celebes Sea. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan, Japan, Palau, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and China.

• Recently, the President of the Philippines visited India which led to the signing of the India-Philippines Strategic Partnership Plan of Action (2025–29).