News in Short – 27 November, 2025

Article 141

Syllabus: GS2/ Polity

In News

• The Supreme Court of India strongly criticized the rising trend of “bench hunting,” where litigants seek out subsequent benches to overturn or modify earlier rulings.

About Article 141

• Article 141 is the constitutional provision that mandates that the law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the territory of India.
• This establishes the Supreme Court as the highest authority, and its decisions are essential for maintaining the uniformity and certainty of the law throughout the country.
• This principle, meaning “to stand by things decided,” is the foundation of Article 141. It ensures that once a point of law has been authoritatively decided, it should be followed in future cases.

Why is Article 141 Important?

• Prevents different High Courts from interpreting laws differently.
• Provides stability in jurisprudence.
• Ensures lower courts follow established principles.
• Strengthens constitutional supremacy and judicial discipline.

Source: TH

International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance

Syllabus: GS2/IR/Governance 

In News

• Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar is going to assume the Chairship of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) for the year 2026.

About International IDEA

• It was founded in 1995, is an inter-governmental organisation.
• It works to strengthen democratic institutions and electoral processes worldwide.
• It currently has 35 member countries, with the United States and Japan as observers.
• India is a founding member of International IDEA and has played an active role in its governance and initiatives. 

Significance

• The Chairship is seen as a recognition of the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) credibility and innovation as one of the world’s leading Election Management Bodies.

Source :DD

Passive Euthanasia

Syllabus: GS2/Polity/Health

Context

• The Supreme Court asked the Noida district hospital to constitute a primary board to explore passive euthanasia for a 31-year-old man who has been in a vegetative state for over a decade.

Euthanasia

• Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person’s life to eliminate pain or suffering
  • Ethicists differentiate between active and passive euthanasia.
• Passive euthanasia entails the deliberate decision to withhold or withdraw medical interventions, like life support, with the aim of permitting a person’s natural death.
  • Active Euthanasia is the intentional act of killing a terminally ill patient on voluntary request, by the direct intervention of a doctor for the purpose of the good of the patient. It is illegal in India.

Legal Stance

• The Supreme Court had in 2018 legalised passive euthanasia, contingent upon the person having a “living will”.
  • SC held that the ‘right to die with dignity’ forms a part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. 
  • A living will is a written document that specifies the actions to be taken if the person is unable to make their own medical decisions in the future. 
  • Goa is the first state that has formalised, to some extent, the implementation of directives issued by the Supreme Court.

Source: TH

Revised guidelines for ‘Top Class Scholarship Scheme for SC Students’

Syllabus: GS2/Governance

In News

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has released updated guidelines for the ‘Top Class Scholarship Scheme for SC Students’ expanding financial support and tightening institutional accountability for the 2024–25 academic year.

About the Scheme

• The scheme aims to promote quality higher education for Scheduled Caste (SC) students by covering full tuition fees and providing academic allowances across India’s premier institutions.
• The scholarship will be available to SC students with an annual family income of up to ₹8 lakh who secure admission in notified institutions, including IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, NITs, National Law Universities, NIFT, NID, IHMs and other accredited colleges.

Revised Financial Norms

• The Centre will directly transfer full tuition fees and non-refundable charges to students through DBT, capped at ₹2 lakh per year for private institutions.
• Students will also receive an academic allowance of ₹86,000 in the first year and ₹41,000 in subsequent years to cover living expenses, books and laptops.
• Beneficiaries will be barred from availing similar scholarships from other Central or State schemes.
• For 2024–25, 4,400 fresh slots are available within the overall cap of 21,500 (2021–26), with 30% reserved for SC girls. 
• Only first-year students can apply, with renewals subject to performance, and benefits limited to two siblings per family. 

Source :TH

Internet Rights Group Challenges Australia Under-16 Social Media Ban

Syllabus: GS2/Governance

Context

• An internet rights group named the Digital Freedom Project launched a legal challenge to halt world-first Australian laws that will soon ban under-16s from social media.

About

• More than one million accounts held by teenagers under 16 are set to be deactivated in Australia.
• The ban includes platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.
  • Companies that fail to comply with the ban could face penalties of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32.22 million).
• The Digital Freedom Project had challenged these laws arguing they were an “unfair” assault on freedom of speech.
• Governments and tech firms around the world are closely watching Australia’s effort to implement the ban, one of the most comprehensive efforts to police minors’ social media access.

Source: ET

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)

Syllabus: GS2/Polity and Governance

Context

• At the UPSC’s ‘Shatabdi Sammelan’ (Centenary Conclave), the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Personnel praised UPSC as the “Guardian of India’s Steel Frame.”

About the UPSC

• Subsequent to the provisions of the Government of India Act, 1919, and the recommendations of the Lee Commission (1924), the Public Service Commission was established in India on 1st October 1926. 
• Later named the Federal Public Service Commission (1937), it was renamed the Union Public Service Commission with the adoption of India’s Constitution on 26th January 1950.
• It conducts civil services examinations to select officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Forest Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. 
• Members: Besides the chairman, it can have a maximum of 10 members.
  • A UPSC chairman is appointed for a term of six years or until attaining 65 years of age, all members have the same term.
• Reappointment: The UPSC Chairman is not eligible for reappointment after completing their term.
• Removal (Article 317): Deals with the removal and suspension of a member of a Public Service Commission by the President.

Other Constitutional Provisions – Article 309 empowers Parliament and State Legislatures to regulate recruitment and conditions of service. – Article 310 of the Constitution states that civil servants of the Union and the States hold office during the pleasure of the President or the Governor, respectively. – Article 311 provides safeguards for civil servants against arbitrary dismissal. – Article 312 outlines the process for creating All India Services, such as the IAS, IPS, and IFS.

Source: PIB

Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO)

Syllabus: GS3/ Science & Technology

In News

• China has finished building its Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO).

About 

• It is the world’s largest underground neutrino detector, operational since August 2025, designed to study elusive “ghost particles” called neutrinos with unprecedented precision.
• Located 700 meters underground in Kaiping City, Guangdong Province.
• JUNO primarily measures electron antineutrinos from nearby Yangjiang and Taishan nuclear power plants to determine neutrino mass hierarchy, test three-flavor oscillation, and probe physics beyond the Standard Model.

Source: TH

Safran’s MRO for LEAP engines in Hyderabad

Syllabus: GS3/Economy

In News

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the Safran Aircraft Engine Services India-SAESI facility in Hyderabad, Telangana.
  • A LEAP engine is a modern, fuel-efficient engine that powers several narrow-body aircraft.

SAESI 

• It is a dedicated facility for Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion- LEAP  engines.
• It is developed at a cost of over 1300 crore rupees in 45 thousand square meters at the GMR Aerospace and Industrial Park-SEZ.
• It is designed to service up to 300 LEAP engines annually. 
• It will employ over thousand highly-skilled Indian technicians and engineers upon achieving full operational capacity by 2035.

Importance 

• The establishment of this facility marks a significant milestone, as it is one of the largest global aircraft engine Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities. 
• It is also the first time a global engine OEM (original equipment manufacturer) has set up an MRO operation in India.
• It is expected to be very helpful for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy and play a key role in achieving self-reliance in the sector.

 Source :TH

Crater on Mars named after Indian Geologist

Syllabus: GS3/Science and Technology

Context

• A 3.5 billion-year-old crater on Mars will be known after M.S. Krishnan, the pioneering Indian geologist.

About

• Apart from ‘Krishnan,’ the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has also accepted several Kerala-based names for smaller landforms associated with the crater.
  • These are ‘Valiamala,’ ‘Thumba,’ ‘Bekal,’ ‘Varkala’ and ‘Periyar’ for smaller craters and a vallis (valley).
  • This means, these places in Kerala now have counterparts on Mars.

Planetary nomenclature

• Planetary nomenclature is like naming places on Earth. 
• This list, created by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), includes all the names given to different spots on planets, moons, and even some ring systems since 1919.
• IAU guidelines allow large, significant Martian craters to be named after deceased scientists who have made foundational contributions to planetary science. 
• Smaller craters can be named after towns or villages with populations under 1,00,000, provided the names are easy to pronounce and have historical or cultural relevance.

Mars – Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and has a distinct rusty red appearance and two unusual moons.  1. Phobos: ~6000 km above Mars; Deimos: ~20 000 km above Mars. – Mars also has the largest volcanoes in the solar system, Olympus Mons being one of them. – Atmosphere: The temperature on Mars ranges between 20 degrees Celsius and -153 degrees Celsius.  1. The planet has a rocky surface with canyons, volcanoes, dry lake beds, and craters, all covered in red dust. 2. It has about one-third the gravity of Earth and the atmosphere is much thinner than Earth’s, containing more than 95% carbon dioxide and less than 1% oxygen. – The planet turns on its axis more slowly than Earth, and being farther from the Sun, takes longer to revolve around the Sun.  1. A day on Mars is 24.6 hours and a year is 687 Earth days long.

Source: TH

Finn’s Weaver

Syllabus: GS3/ Species In News

In News

• The Finn’s Weaver is silently disappearing from the marshy lowlands of the Terai.

About About Finn’s Weaver

• Finn’s Weaver (Ploceus megarhynchus), also known as Finn’s Baya or Yellow Weaver, is a vulnerable weaver bird species native to the grasslands of the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys in India and Nepal.
• Primary threats include habitat loss from agricultural expansion, grassland reclamation, overgrazing, industrialization, and nest predation by crows on exposed nests.

Source: TH

India to Host 2030 Commonwealth Games

Syllabus: Miscellaneous

Context

• India has been officially awarded the 2030 Commonwealth Games (CWG), with Amdavad (Ahmedabad) declared the host city.
  • India last hosted the CWG in Delhi in 2010.

About the Commonwealth Games (CWG)

• Started in 1930 (inaugural event in Hamilton, Canada) as the British Empire Games, the present-day Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport international event, modeled on the Olympics, involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations and their associated territories.
• The Commonwealth of Nations, or simply the Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 54 sovereign countries, most of which were former colonies of the British Empire.
• The membership has evolved over time due to political changes and voluntary withdrawals or additions.
• Today, the Commonwealth Games is the world’s second-largest multi-sport event and the fourth most-watched global broadcast sports event, featuring athletes from 71 nations and territories.

Source: TH