# Environment protection act

• The Union Environment ministry has proposed to soften the provisions of the Environment protection Act.
• The proposal is to replace a clause that provides for imprisoning violators with one that only requires them to pay a fine.
• However, this does not apply to violations that cause grave injury or loss of life.
• The proposed fines, in lieu of imprisonment, are 5 to 500 times greater than those currently levied.

# Twitter

• Alleging “disproportionate use of power”, twitter has moved the Karnataka high court, seeking review and relief from allegedly ” Overbroad and arbitrary” content blocking orders from the government.
• Last month, the ministry of Electronics and IT had written to Twitter granting it the last opportunity to comply with a series of blocking orders, while also setting out serious consequences of non-compliance, including initiating criminal proceedings against the firm’s chief compliance officer.
• Twitter has been blamed in many countries of arbitrarily using it algorithm for promoting or suppressing a particular view point.
• Recently, Nigeria had banned Twitter for non-compliance of Nigerian government order.

# Paddy sowing

• The centre has asked the state governments to take steps to increase the sowing of paddy in the wake of reports that the sown area has shrunk.
• The centre’s data say that paddy has been sown on 43.45 lakh hectares till July 1, which is 27.05% less than the 59.56 lakh hectares during the corresponding period of 2021.
• Meanwhile, the Uttar pradesh and Gujarat governments urged the centre not to supply rice in place of wheat for distribution.

# NATO

• NATO’s 30 allies signed an accession protocol for Finland and Sweden on Tuesday to allow them to join nuclear armed alliance once allied Parliaments ratify the decision.
• The protocol means Helsinki and Stockholm can participate in NATO meetings and have greater access to intelligence but will not be protected by the NATO defence clause.