5th MAY CURRENT AFFAIRS

1. What is a Hung Assembly?

Article 164(1): Empowers the Governor to appoint the Chief Minister. In a hung assembly, the Governor uses discretion to decide who has the best chance to form a stable government.

Usually, one party or a clear coalition wins a majority of seats in a legislative assembly and forms the government without much uncertainty.

A hung assembly is the stark opposite of this. No single party or pre-poll declared alliance secures the minimum number of seats required for a majority. In the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, the majority mark is 118 out of 234 seats.

What is Majority

Secure more than half of the total seats of legislative assembly

In a hung assembly, no party can govern on its own, and parties may attempt to form alliances after the results. Independent candidates or smaller parties can also becomecrucial kingmakers.

What happens if there is a hung assembly?

Once again in the spotlight in Tamil Nadu, albeit for different reasons than usual, is the governor. Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has to invite the leader of the coalition with the highest number of seats or the party with the largest number of seats to form the government.

The usual procedure is that the Governor would invite the largest party or alliance to form the government and prove its majority on the floor of the House. Instead, he could also encourage a coalition that can demonstrate majority support.

If the majority is proven in the floor test, they come into power. A floor test is a process where MLAs present in the House vote to determine whether the government has the support of a majority.

If the party fails to prove a majority, the Chief Minister must resign, and the Governor may invite the next viable party or coalition to attempt forming a government.

If no party or alliance is able to form a stable government, the state may come under Article 356 of the Constitution (President’s rule), leading to Union government rule. Eventually, a fresh election would be conducted to resolve the deadlock.

2. State Assembly Election in 4 States and 1 UT

West Bengal: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) achieved a landslide victory, securing 206 seats out of 294, ending the 15-year rule of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), which managed 80 seats.

Tamil Nadu: Actor Vijay’s party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), disrupted the traditional Dravidian duopoly by emerging as the largest party, winning 108 seats out of 234, just short of the 118 majority mark.

Kerala: The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) made a strong comeback, winning 102 seats out of 140, ending the 10-year rule of the Left Democratic Front (LDF)

Assam: The NDA retained power, with the BJP and its allies securing a comfortable majority (approx 102/126 seats), highlighting the stability of Himanta Biswa Sarma’s government.

Puducherry: The NDA retained control, winning 16/30 seats.

3. First Genome-Edited Rice -DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice

Developed by ICAR using CRISPR-Cas9 (SDN1) technology, these rice varieties are drought-tolerant, early-maturing, and high-yielding without containing foreign DNA, enhancing climate resilience and resource efficiency

Key Details on India's First Genome-Edited Rice:

Varieties:DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala): Developed from the popular Samba Mahsuri variety, this rice is edited to improve grain number by targeting the \(CKX2\) gene.Pusa DST Rice 1: Short for Drought and Salt Tolerant, this variety is developed from MTU 1010 to provide high tolerance to drought and salinity.

Genetic modification (GM) is a technology that involves inserting DNA into a host oThemost widely grown GM crops worldwide are cotton, soybeans, maize, and canolawith herbicide tolerance and insect resistance.

USA, Brazil, Argentina, India, and Canada are the five top GM-growing countries, together accounting for approximately 90% of area of the GM cultivation.

GM crops were first introduced in the USA in 1994 calledFlavr Savr tomato

Current Status of GM Crops in India

Bt Cotton: The only GM crop approved for commercial cultivation (since 2002). It contains genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis to resist the pink bollworm

GM Mustard (DMH-11): Developed by Delhi University, it is a hybrid designed for higher yields. While GEAC granted environmental clearance in 2022, its commercial release is currently on hold due to ongoing litigation in the Supreme Court.

Bt Brinjal: Approved by GEAC in 2009, but remains under an indefinite moratorium (ban) due to public health and biosafety concerns.

4. 69th ED Foundation Day Celebrations in New Delhi- 1st May

The ED, set up on May 1, 1956, works under the Union Finance Ministry and handles cases under PMLA 2002,the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (2018), and The Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999.

The Directorate of Enforcement, with its headquarters at New Delhi, is headed by the Director of Enforcement.

There are five regional offices at Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Delhi headed by Special Directors of Enforcement

Recruitment: Recruitment of the officers is done directly and by drawing officers from other investigation agencies.

It comprises officers of IRS (Indian Revenue Services), IPS (Indian Police Services) and IAS (Indian Administrative Services) such as Income Tax officer, Excise officer, Customs officer, and police.

Tenure- 2 years to 5 years

Statutory function of ED includes enforcement of :-

1)Prevention of Money Laundering Act (2002): a criminal law enacted to prevent money laundering and to provide for confiscation of property derived from, or involved in, money-laundering

2)Foreign Exchange Management Act (1999): ED has responsibility to conduct investigation into suspected contraventions of foreign exchange laws and regulations, to adjudicate and impose penalties on those adjudged to have contravened the law.

3)Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (2018): ED is mandated to attach the properties of the fugitive economic offenders who have escaped from the India warranting arrest and provide for the confiscation of their properties to the Central Government.

4)Sponsoring agency for preventive detention under Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974, (COFEPOSA) (1974) with regard to contraventions of FEMA.

5. Cabinet approves increase in the Judge strength of the Supreme Court of India by Four to 37 from 33

Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 provides for increasing the number of Judges of the Supreme Court by 04 i.e. from 33 to 37 (excluding the Chief Justice of India).

The increase in the number of Judges will allow Supreme Court to function more efficiently and effectively ensuring speedy justice.

Expenditure :The expenditure on salary of Judges and supporting staff and other facilities will be met from the Consolidated Fund of India.

Constitutional amendment or SC act 1956:

Article 124 (1) in Constitution of India inter-alia provided “There shall be a Supreme Court of India consisting of a Chief Justice of India and, until Parliament by law prescribes a larger number, of not more than seven other Judges…”.

The number of Supreme Court judges is increased by amending the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, not by a Constitutional Amendment.

The last increase was made by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2019, which raised the strength from 31 to 34 (including the Chief Justice of India

Background :

The Supreme Court initially functioned from the old Parliament House till it moved to the present building located on Tilak Marg, New Delhi in 1958.

On 28 January 1950, two days after India became a Sovereign Democratic Republic, the Supreme Court was inaugurated

The original Constitution of 1950 envisaged a Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and 7 puisne Judges – leaving it to Parliament to increase this number.

Parliament increased the number of Judges from 8 in 1950 to 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978, 26 in 1986, 31 in 2009 and 34 in 2019