Justice Yashwant Varma submitted his resignation to the President, withdrawing from the proceedings of impeachment process instituted against him.

• No judge has been impeached till now.

Removal of Judges

• Article 124 and Article 218 provides for the removal of supreme court judge and high court judge through impeachment.
  • Removal process is regulated by the Judges Enquiry Act (1968).
• Impeachment Process:
  • Initiation: Removal motion requires signature of 100 members (for Lok Sabha) or 50 members (For Rajya Sabha) to be submitted to Speaker/Chairman.
  • Investigation: On admission of motion, a 3-member committee investigates the charges.
    • If committee finds the judge guilty, both the Houses pass the removal motion with special majority. 
    • The President then passes an order for removal.

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 Recently, the first Conference of CPA India Region (Zone – VII) concluded.

About CPA (HQ: London)

• Founded in 1911, it is an international inter-parliamentary organization within the Commonwealth.
• Objective: advancement of parliamentary democracy and good governance 
• Membership: 180 national, state or provincial legislatures divided up between 9 geographic regions of the Commonwealth. 
• Key publication: The Parliamentarian journal.

Recently, Vice-President of India, released the updated version of the Constitution of India in Sindhi language.

• Sindhi is one of the 22 official languages enlisted in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. 
  • Sindhi language was added by the 21^st Constitutional Amendment Act 1967. 

Original Language of Constitution 

• Indian Constitution, the world’s longest-written constitution, was originally drafted in English.
• Constituent Assembly then formed a Translation Committee led by Ghansyam Das Gupta to translate the Constitution into Hindi.
• 24 Jan 1950: Hindi Constitution submitted to Rajendra Prasad (chairman of constituent assembly)
  • Members signed both English and Hindi versions on 24^th January 1950.

Indian lenders have parked a record amount of funds in the RBI’s Standing Deposit Facility (SDF).

About SDF

• Introduced: in 2022, as a financial stability tool in addition to its role in liquidity management.
• It is the rate at which the Reserve Bank accepts Collateral-Free deposits, on an overnight basis, from all Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) participants. 

• It is placed at 25 basis points below the policy repo rate, making it the floor rate of the interest rate corridor (SDF < Repo Rate < Marginal Standing Facility).
• SDF rate replaced the fixed Reverse Repo Rate as the floor of the LAF corridor.

India relaxes the rice export inspection rule by the Export Inspection Council for some European countries.

About EIC

• Genesis: It was set up by the Government of India under Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963.
• Ministry: Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Aim: To ensure sound development of export trade of India through Quality Control and Inspection.
• Functions: It is an advisory body to Central Government, which is empowered to notify commodities which will be subjected to quality control and inspection prior to export.
  • It also exercises technical and administrative control over the five Export Inspection Agencies (EIAs), one each at Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kolkata and Mumbai established.

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McGill University study finds high microbial methane emissions from inactive oil wells 

• Microbial (biogenic) methane is methane gas produced by microorganisms, specifically archaea known as methanogens — through the decomposition of organic matter in oxygen-depleted (anaerobic) environments.
• Methane is a potent greenhouse gas driving near-term climate change.
• It is a major component of the global carbon cycle, generated in wetlands, rice paddies, landfills and digestive systems of ruminants. 

Government extended the MIP for natural honey.

About Minimum Import Price

• Definition: It is a temporary trade policy tool that sets a floor price for specific imported goods to protect domestic industries and farmers from predatory low-priced imports.
• Notified by: Directorate General of Foreign Trade under the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992.

The National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation celebrated its 25th Foundation Day.

About NSTFDC

• Overview: Apex organisation set up in 2001 under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• Aim: Provides financial assistance for income generating and sustainable livelihood activities for Scheduled Tribes.
• Achievement: Extended 16.8 lakh loans worth ₹4,400 crore.
• Significance: Promotes inclusive growth, livelihood generation, and tribal entrepreneurship.