1) Panel of Vice-Chairpersons (VCs): Rajya Sabha Chairman constituted an all-women panel of VCs in Rajya Sabha.
- Under the Rules of Rajya Sabha, the Chairman nominates from among the members a panel of VCs.
- Any one of them can preside over the House in the absence of the Chairman/Deputy Chairman.
- However, they cannot preside over the house when the seat of Chairman/Deputy Chairman is vacant.
- In this case, President appoints a member of the House to perform the Chairman’s duties.
- He/she has the same powers as the Chairman when presiding and holds office until a new panel of VCs is nominated.
2) Immunity to legislators on bribery: Supreme Court has transferred the 1998 judgement of a 5 judges bench in PV Narasimha Rao case to a 7-judge bench to review it.
- 1998 judgement held that legislators have immunity against criminal prosecution on bribery charges as per the provisions of Articles 105(2) and 194(2) of the Constitution.
- Article 105(2) and Article 194(2) provide immunity to MPs and MLAs (respectively) from proceedings with respect to anything said or voted in Parliament or State Legislature (as the case may be)
3) Remission: Supreme Court favoured remission to convicts who have served a long period of incarceration if they show reformation.
- Remission refers to the reduction in the duration of sentence without changing the nature of punishment.
- It is mostly granted on the basis of good conduct, reformation, health grounds etc.
- Article 72 and 161 of the Constitution allows the President and the Governor respectively to pardon, suspend, remit, or commute a sentence
- Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) from Section 432 to 435 also lays the procedure for remission
4) International Congress on the Chemistry of Cement (ICCC): India will host the ICCC at New Delhi in 2027.
- ICCC is a global platform which summarizes the state of the art of cement chemistry and major trends in cement application.
- Congresses have been held generally at intervals of four to six years since 1918.
- Permanent Secretariat: Dusseldorf, Germany.
- India also organised the 9th ICCC in 1992.
- India is the second-largest producer of cement in the world. It accounts for more than of the global installed capacity
Places in News:
1) Statue of Oneness: Madhya Pradesh unveiled unveiled a 108-foot-tall statue Adi Shankaracharya in Omkareshwar and named it as Statue of Oneness.
- Adi Shankaracharya, also known as Jagadguru, was the founder of Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism) in 8th century.
- He was born in Kaladi in Kerala.
- Other statues in India
- Statue of Unity: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Kevadia in Gujarat,
- Statue of Equality: Vaishnavite Ramanuja in Hyderabad
- Statue of Peace: Jain monk Acharya Shree Vijay Vallabh Surishwer in Rajasthan
- Statue of Prosperity: Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, Bengaluru
