Legal Current Affairs for 16 January 2026

EPI is a comprehensive assessment of export readiness across India’s States and Union Territories (UTs).
It is aligned with India’s USD 1 trillion merchandise export target by 2030.
Key Pillars & Indicators: Structured around four pillars, further disaggregated into 13 sub-pillars and 70 indicators.
Pillars and Weightage: Export Infrastructure (20%), Business Ecosystem (40%), Policy & Governance (20%) and Export Performance (20%)
Sub-indicators: Trade & Logistics Infrastructure, Human Capital, etc.

Meaning: This cold phase of ENSO occurs when trade winds strengthen, pushing warm water further west toward Asia and allowing cold water to rise in the eastern Pacific.
Impact on India:
Monsoon: Generally beneficial, bringing normal to above-normal rainfall, which supports agriculture.
Winter: Triggers colder-than-normal winters and frequent cold waves in northern India.
Extreme Events: Increased risk of floods and severe cyclonic activity in the Bay of Bengal.

Meaning: This warm phase of ENSO occurs when trade winds weaken, allowing warm water to move toward South America.
Impact on India:
Monsoon: Typically weakens the southwest monsoon, often leading to below-normal rainfall or droughts.
Agriculture: Suppresses yields for summer crops like rice, sugarcane, and oilseeds, which can increase food prices.
Heat: Associated with harsher summers and increased heat stress.

Ministry: Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD)
Launched: NRLM is a restructured version of restructuring Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY). NRLM was renamed as DAY-NRLM in 2016.
Aim: Poverty alleviation & Rural livelihoods mission
Coverage:
Target: 7 crore rural poor households.
Beneficiaries: Women-centric Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federated institutions.
Key Objective: Facilitation of access to rights, entitlements, public services, finance, and skill development.

It is a zoonotic virus.
It can be transmitted to humans from animals such as bats or pigs, or contaminated foods and can also be transmitted directly from human-to-human.
Signs and symptoms: Human infections range from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory infection (mild, severe), and fatal encephalitis.
Natural host: fruit bats
Treatment: There are currently no drugs or vaccines specific for Nipah virus infection

Native Range: South Asia (mainly India, Bangladesh, Pakistan; extends to Nepal, Myanmar)
Characteristic: Skims water surface with specialized beak (lower mandible longer) to catch fish/aquatic prey.
Habitat: Found primarily on larger, sandy, lowland rivers, around lakes and adjacent marshes, estuaries and coasts.
Consrvation Status: IUCN Status (Endangered)

Launched in 1977 by NASA to fly by Jupiter and Saturn.
Instruments: Imaging Science System (ISS), Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS), etc.
Key Achievements:
First spacecraft to cross the heliosphere, the boundary where the influences from outside our solar system are stronger than those from our Sun.
First human-made object to venture into interstellar space.

About: The White Revolution refers to India’s dramatic increase in milk production and is synonymous with Operation Flood, the world’s largest dairy development programme.
It was launched on 13th January 1970 by the NDDB under the leadership of Dr. Verghese Kurien, known as the Father of the White Revolution.
Implementation and Objectives: Implemented in three phases (1970–1980, 1981–1985, and 1985–1996), its objectives were achieving national milk self-sufficiency and establishing a national milk grid linking rural producers to over 700 urban centers.
The program also aimed to eliminate middlemen for fair farmer profits and modernize infrastructure by promoting cooperative societies based on the successful Anand model of Amul.
Socio-Economic Impact: This initiative transformed India from a milk-deficient, import-dependent nation into the global leader in milk production, surpassing the United States in 1998. It significantly enhanced rural livelihoods, empowered millions of small and marginal farmers (many of them women), and created a sustainable cooperative ecosystem.

Governor’s Rule was first imposed in the CADC in July 2025 due to prolonged political instability.
CADC: It was constituted in 1972 under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution to protect the political and cultural interests of the Chakma people in Mizoram.
It exercises legislative, executive, and judicial powers over designated subjects within its jurisdiction.
The Chakma People: They are the second-largest Scheduled Tribe in Mizoram after the Mizo, speaking Chakma (Changma Bhajchare).
They are a Buddhist community traditionally practising Jhum cultivation and are settled across the Chittagong Hill Tracts and parts of northeast India (primarily Mizoram, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh).

Solar & Astronomical Basis: Unlike most Hindu festivals, it follows the solar calendar, falling consistently around 14th January, marking the Sun’s northward journey (Uttarayan) into Capricorn (Makara).
It represents the shift from winter to warmer months, symbolizing the end of inactivity.
Agrarian & Seasonal Significance: It is primarily a harvest festival, signaling the end of winter and the start of a new agricultural cycle, fostering gratitude for nature’s abundance.
Regional Diversity: Celebrated under various names and customs:
Pongal in Tamil Nadu (a four-day festival with kolam decorations).
Lohri in Punjab (bonfires and community singing).
Magh Bihu in Assam (feasts, meji bonfires, and community meals).
Khichdi in Bihar (traditional rice and lentil dish).
Kite-flying in Gujarat and Rajasthan (e.g., Ahmedabad’s International Kite Festival).