# Quotas for IIT faculty

• A committee constituted by the union ministry of education to suggest measures for effective implementation of reservation policies in IITs has recommended that the institutions be exempted from following the policies in faculty recruitment.

• The committee based its recommendations primarily on arguements claiming the need for IITs to maintain their academic excellence and the lack of candidates from the reserved categories who fulfil the qualification criteria.

• The committee suggested that IITs be included in the list of institutes of excellence (IOEs) that are exempted from reservation policies under the cetral educational institutions (reservations in teacher’s cadre) act of 2019.

• Currently, eight institutions, including the Homi bhabha national institute and its constituent units, Tata institute of fundamental research, space physics laboratory and Indian institute of remote sensing are on the list.

# Postal ballots for NRIs

• The proposal of the Election commission of India (ECI) to extend the postal ballot option to overseas electors is pending with the law ministry.

• On november 27, the ECI had written to the ministry proposing to extend the facility to NRIs, starting with the assembly elections in Assam, West bengal, Kerela, Tamil nadu and Puducherry.

• The ECI letter stated, the conduct of election rules 1961, would need to be amended to send postal ballots to NRIs electronically and then have them sent back via post.

• The electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETPBS) used to send ballots to service electors, would be extended to overseas Indians if the proposal is adopted.

# Illegal migration from Bangladesh

• In the past four years, nearly twice the number of illegal bangladeshi migrants were caught leaving the country compared to those coming in illegaly.

• This data is provided by BSF and NCRB (national crime records bureau).

• This trend has been accelerated due to lack of work for these illegal migrants in the time of covid-19 lockdown.

# India-Britain relations

• British PM Boris Johnson will be the chief guest of India’s republic day celebrations.

• The UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who is in India on a visit confirmed it.

• He also said that PM Boris johnson has invited PM Modi to join the UK hosted G7 summit next year.

• India and UK are working on an ” enhanced trade partnership” that would be a stepping stone for a FTA between two sides.

# CAATSA sanctions

• US has imposed sanctions on NATO ally Turkey for its purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile defense system.

• The issue of sanstions under section 231 of the Countering the America’s adversaries through sanctions act (CAATSA) for purchase of Russian arms is of particular interest to New Delhi, which is also in the process of buying the S-400 from Moscow.

# Uighurs in Xinjiang

• Hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority muslim labourers in China’s north western Xinjiang region are being forced to pick cotton through a coercive state run scheme.

• This report has been published on monday by a Washington based think tank namely the center for global policy.

• Also, around a fifth of the yarn used in America comes from this Xingjiang region, which are in some way is used by companies like Nike, Gap and Adidas.

# Word of the day

• Plea bargaining process (related to Tablighi jamaat case) – plea bargaining is a provision under the CrPC in which an accused can negotiate with the prosecution at the pre trial stage and plead guilty in exchange for certain concessions. eg: In Tablighi jamaat case, many accused filed a plea seeking lesser sentence under the plea bargaining process by accepting mild charges.