PRIASoft

• It aims to keep track of all the in-flow (Receipts) and out- flow (Expenditure) of the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• The Application facilitate better financial management of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) by bringing about transparency and accountability in the maintenance of accounts thereby leading to better credibility and ultimately strengthening of PRIs.
• It is a centralized Accounting Software intended for use by all the three levels of Panchayati Raj namely Zilla, Block and Village Panchayat.
• Apart from making the process of accounting simple and easy (necessarily due to lack of trained manpower at this level), it ensures a better financial management, transparency and accountability at the Panchayat level.

• The annual report ‘Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2019’ was released recently by a Swedish think tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
• According to the report, China and India were, respectively, the second- and third-largest military spenders in the world.
• In 2019, the top five largest spenders — U.S. ($732 bn), China, India, Russia ($65.1 bn) and Saudi Arabia ($61.9 bn) — accounted for 62% of the global expenditure.
• The report quoted that India’s tensions and rivalry with both Pakistan and China are among the major drivers for its increased military spending.
• The $71.1 billion spent by India on defence in 2019 was 2.4% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• India was at the fourth position in 2018 with Saudi Arabia at the third.

• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on countries to refrain from violating fundamental rights “under the guise of exceptional or emergency measures”.
• The UN rights chief has recently warned that countries flouting the rule of law in the name of fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic risk sparking a “Human Rights Disaster”.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

• The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) is the leading UN entity on human rights.
• The General Assembly entrusted both the High Commissioner and her Office with a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights for all people.
• The High Commissioner for Human Rights is the principal human rights official of the United Nations.
• The High Commissioner heads OHCHR and spearheads the United Nations' human rights efforts.
• UN Human Rights is part of the United Nations Secretariat and its headquarters in Geneva.

The Human Rights Council

• It was established on 15 March 2006 by the UN General Assembly and reporting directly to it.
• It replaced the 60-year-old United Nations Commission on Human Rights as the key United Nations intergovernmental body responsible for human rights.
• The Council, consisting of State representatives, is a primarily political body with a comprehensive human rights mandate, and a forum empowered to prevent abuses, inequity and discrimination, protect the most vulnerable, and expose perpetrators.
• The Human Rights Council is a completely distinct entity from OHCHR, which is part of the United Nations Secretariat answering to the Secretary-General.
• OHCHR provides technical, substantive and secretariat support to the Council.

• Exactly 47 years ago, the Supreme Court passed its landmark judgment in Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala, considered among the most significant constitutional cases in India’s judicial history.
• On April 24, 1973, Chief Justice Sikri and 12 judges of the Supreme Court by a 7-6 verdict ruled that the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution is inviolable, and could not be amended by Parliament.
• The basic structure doctrine has since been regarded as a tenet of Indian constitutional law.

Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala Case, 1973

• In the Kesavananda Bharati case3 (1973), the Supreme Court overruled its judgement in the Golak Nath case (1967).
• It upheld the validity of the 24th Amendment Act (1971) and stated that Parliament is empowered to abridge or take away any of the Fundamental Rights.
• At the same time, it laid down a new doctrine of the ‘basic structure’ (or ‘basic features’) of the Constitution.
• It ruled that the constituent power of Parliament under Article 368 does not enable it to alter the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution.
• This means that the Parliament cannot abridge or take away a Fundamental Right that forms a part of the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution.

• The Chinese government had unilaterally “named” 80 islands, reefs and other geographical features around the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands with Chinese names.
• Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands are located in the middle of the South China Sea waters between the territory of Vietnam and the Philippines.

Paracel Islands

• This archipelago is a collection of 130 islands and coral reefs and is located in the South China Sea, almost equidistant from China and Vietnam.
• Beijing says that references to the Paracel Islands as a part of China sovereign territory can be found in 14th century writings from the Song Dynasty.
• Vietnam on the other hand, says that historical texts from at least the 15th century show that the islands were a part of its territory.