# Anti conversion laws

• The supreme court on wednesday agreed to examine the constitutional validity of laws enacted by states, such as uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

• These laws criminalise religious conversions via marriage and mandate prior official clearance before marrying into another faith.

• However, Supreme court did not stayed the implementation of these laws, but will look into the constitutional validity of the laws.

# Sabrimala rail project

• The angmaly-sabrimala rail project has got a new lease of life with kerela agreeing to bear 50% of the estimate of 2,815.62 crore rupees.

• Bowing to the stance of the railways and the centre that the state should share 50% of the cost, kerela cabinet decided to make available funds from the Kerela Infrastructure investment fund board (KIIFB).

• The income will be shared 50:50 between the state and the railways after deducting the expenses.

# New Anubhava Mantapa

• Karnataka CM BS yediyurappa on wednesday laid the foundation stone for the “new anubhava mantapa” in Basavakalyam.

• It is the place where 12th century poet philosopher Basaveshwara lived for most of his life.

• Basavakalyan is an important pilgrim centre for “lingayats”.

# Committee for Ladakh

• A committee would be constituted under minister of state for home G. kishan reddy.

• This committee would find an appropriate solution to the issues related to language, culture and conservation of land in the Union territory of Ladakh.

# Science policy

• The proposed science, technology and innovation policy (STIP) aims to establish a system whereby all researchers in India can access research published in top international journals at no cost.

• The price of subscription is  very high and individual colleges cannot negotiate with publishers.

# Spectrum bidding

• Bidding for the sixth round of spectrum auction for radio waves worth 3.92 lakh crore rupees will start from march 1.

• A notice was issued by the department of telecom on wednesday.

• The auction is being held after a gap of four years.