Published on: May 21, 2025
Snippets : 21 MAY 2025
Snippets : 21 MAY 2025
- Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, recently launched the revamped Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Portal in New Delhi to enhance user experience and address technological limitations of the original portal developed in 2013. Serving over 5 million OCI cardholders globally and processing approximately 2,000 applications daily through 180+ Indian missions and 12 FRROs, the upgraded portal introduces several user-friendly features including user account creation, auto-fill forms, dashboards, online payments, document categorization, and a built-in image cropping tool. Technical improvements include modernized infrastructure with multiple web servers and RedHat 9 OS, updated frameworks (JDK, Struts 2.5.30, Bootstrap 5.3.0), enhanced security with SSL/TLS encryption, MFA, and regular security audits. It also offers process automation, centralized data management, and a responsive design for all device types. The OCI scheme itself was introduced in 2005 via an amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955, offering eligibility to persons of Indian origin post-26th January 1950, while excluding individuals associated with Pakistan or Bangladesh through lineage or citizenship.
- SEBI has issued comprehensive guidelines on internal audit mechanisms for Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) like stock exchanges, clearing corporations, and depositories, aiming to strengthen governance, efficiency, transparency, and compliance. Internal audits must be conducted at least once annually, covering three key verticals: critical operations, regulatory compliance and risk management, and business development. Auditors must be from independent firms, and their appointment requires approval from both the Audit Committee and the Governing Board. Internal auditors will report solely to the Audit Committee, with audit scope approved by the same. Observations must be sent to relevant HoDs for comments and included in final reports regardless of their closure. Internal auditors must brief the Audit Committee biannually without management present. The Audit Committee handles related party transactions, financial scrutiny, and risk evaluations, and must exclude executive directors like the MD. While KMPs and auditors can attend meetings for discussion, they cannot vote. Additionally, SEBI has removed the cooling-off period for Public Interest Directors moving between MIIs, with all changes effective 90 days post-circular issuance.
- The Axiom-4 Mission, a joint venture between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is scheduled to launch on June 8, 2025, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission features Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla as India’s astronaut representative and aims to deepen international cooperation in space exploration, enhance public engagement, and support joint scientific and outreach efforts. Among the planned outreach activities are a joint public downlink event hosted by both space agencies, student interaction sessions in India led by Group Captain Shukla, and an amateur radio contact enabling real-time student communication with the astronaut. On the scientific front, ISRO has selected seven microgravity experiments proposed by Indian researchers from R&D labs and academic institutions, alongside five collaborative human research studies with NASA, in which Group Captain Shukla will also participate.
- A sculptural inscription found near Chandrashekara temple at Guttala in Haveri district records the tragic death of 6,307 people due to a severe drought, marking it as the earliest epigraphic evidence of a humanitarian disaster caused by a natural calamity in India. Dated to Saka 1461, Vikari, Bhadrapada su.5 (August 18, 1539 CE), the inscription is inscribed in Kannada script and language, and it solemnly commemorates the catastrophe, highlighting the large-scale human loss caused by drought. It narrates that the bodies of the deceased were buried by Marulaih Odeya, son of Nanideva Odeya of Guttala, who carried them in baskets for the merit of Timmarasa Svami, the territorial ruler, after paying homage to Lord Basaveshwara, and features a sculpture depicting a figure—likely Marulaih Odeya—carrying a basket of bodies on his head. This rare inscription, described as a landmark by epigraphist K. Munirathnam Reddy of the Archaeological Survey of India, offers invaluable insights into the socio-economic conditions of the period and provides a crucial historical record of natural calamities’ human toll, which are often absent in literary sources. Such inscriptions help scholars understand how communities coped with disasters, trace climatic patterns, and study administrative or demographic responses, thereby enriching India’s epigraphic and historical heritage. The ASI’s epigraphy branch has been actively discovering and copying over 1,000 inscriptions across India, including deep in jungles, with more than 100 inscriptions uncovered in 2024-25 alone, emphasizing the vital role of epigraphy in reconstructing India’s history.
