Bharat Ratna Awards

The Union Government recently announced it would award the Bharat Ratna posthumously to Karpoori Thakur, former chief minister of Bihar.

• Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award in the country instituted in the year 1954.
• The award is conferred "in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour ", without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex.
• The award was originally limited to achievements in the arts, literature, science, and public services but the government expanded the criteria to include "any field of human endeavour" in December 2011.
• The first recipients of the Bharat Ratna were politician C. Rajagopalachari, philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and scientist C. V. Raman, who were honoured in 1954.
• It is also not mandatory that Bharat Ratna be awarded every year.
• The number of annual awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year.
• The Award does not carry any monetary grant.
• The recommendations for Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister himself to the President. No formal recommendations for this are necessary.
• On conferment of the award, the recipient receives a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion.
• In terms of Article 18 (1) of the Constitution, the award cannot be used as a prefix or suffix to the recipient's name.
• Maharashtra has maximum number of Bharat Ratna recipients.
• It is followed by Uttar Pradesh (8 recipients) and Tamil Nadu (7 recipients).

Operation Sarvashakti

The Indian army recently launched the Operation Sarvashakti  that deploy forces on both sides of the Pir Panjal range to target terrorists who have carried out a series of attacks on troops in the area.

• Operation Sarvashakti is an initiative of Indian army to neutralise terrorist threats in Pir Panjal range.
• As part of the operation at least three brigades of additional troops are being deployed in the sector from various reserve and strike corps formations in order to increase the density of troops.
• It is similar to the Operation Sarpvinash.
• In 2003, Indian forces launched Operation Sarpvinash to flush out terrorists who had infiltrated from across the border and set up camps in the thick forests south of the Pir Panjal range, especially in the Hilkaka area in Poonch.
• The operation flushed out terrorists and brought peace to the area that lasted until 2017-18, even as terrorist incidents continued to take place in the valley.

Tax-GDP Ratio

The time-series data that was released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) indicates that the Direct tax-GDP ratio rose to 15-year high in FY23.

• The tax-to-GDP ratio is the measure of a nation's tax revenue relative to the size of its economy.
• It's calculated by dividing a period's tax revenue by its GDP.
• According to the World Bank, tax revenues above 15% of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) are a key ingredient for economic growth and poverty reduction.
• It reflects the share of taxes in the overall output generated in the country.
• It has not steadily increased in the recent years.
• For the year 2020-21, the direct tax decreased in relative to the previous year (2019-20).
• The direct tax rate has peaked in the year 2022-23.
• The growth rate for taxes was recorded at 17.79 % in 2022-23, higher than 15.11 % nominal GDP growth.
• In the overall tax collections by the government, direct tax collections accounted for 54.62 % share in financial year 2022-23, a four-year high.
• Tax buoyancy is an indicator to measure efficiency and responsiveness of revenue mobilization in response to growth in the Gross domestic product or National income.
• A tax buoyancy greater than 1 reflects a faster growth in taxes as against the country’s national income.
• In India, Tax buoyancy had improved to 2.52 in 2021-22 due to a low base effect.

Curative Petition

Recently the Supreme Court has decided to take up Shinde govt’s curative petition on quota which provided reservation to the Maratha community for admission in educational institutions and government jobs.

• Curative jurisdiction is a rare remedy evolved by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in 2002 in the Ashok Hurra Vs Rupa Hurra case.
• It is a final remedy to reconsider dismissed review petitions.
• The Supreme Court could entertain a curative petition under the following grounds:
  • Violation of principles of natural justice
  • Question of bias against the presiding judge
  • Abuse of the process of the court
• These grounds were not exhaustive. However, the Court should consider such petitions only in rare circumstances to prevent frivolous litigation.
• Curative petition can be filed in the Supreme Court by elucidating the scope of:
  • The curative nature of power conferred on the Supreme Court under Article 142.
  • The power to review judgment pronounced or order made by the Supreme Court under Article 137.
• The following cases were subjected to Curative Petition
  • National Commission for Women v Bhaskar Lal Sharma, 2013.
  • Navneet Kaur v State of NCT of Delhi, 2014.
  • Yakub Abdul Razak Memon v State of Maharashtra, 2015.
  • Union of India v Union Carbide, 2025.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Recently Sweden has cleared a major hurdle after Turkey’s parliament supported its membership to join in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
• It was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of the Western Hemisphere.
• For a new country to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), all the existing members have to approve it.
• Once a country is a NATO member, an attack on its territory is considered an attack on the US-led alliance, and all 31 members are obliged to defend each other.
• Sweden is officially not part of the NATO.
• But Sweden will soon officially become the member of NATO.