Legal Current Affairs for 22 December 2025

As per SC, the definition offers Landscape Level conservation, treating Aravalli as a continuous geological ridge, not just isolated hills.
Key Committee Recommendations
Operational Definitions: The committee defined both the Aravalli Hills and Range.
Aravalli Hills: Any landform in Aravalli districts with an elevation of 100 metres or more from the local relief.
Aravalli Range: Two or more Aravalli Hills located within the proximity of 500m from each other.
Core/inviolate Zones Safeguards: Mining is absolutely prohibited in protected areas, eco-sensitive zones, tiger reserves, wetlands, and CAMPA plantation sites.
Other Key directions by SC
Management Plan for Sustainable Mining (MPSM): By Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) for entire Aravalli.
Freeze on New Mining Leases: Until preparation of new MPSM on lines of the one prepared by ICFRE for Saranda Forest, Jharkhand.
About Aravalli
One of the World’s oldest mountain ranges (Pre-Cambrian), predating the Himalayas.
Stretches over 800km from Gujarat to Delhi (through Rajasthan and Haryana).
Highest Peak: Guru Shikhar (Mount Abu).

Child Marriage: Refers to marrying a child before attaining adulthood.
In India, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 prohibits marriages before 18 years of age for females and 21 years for males.
Globally, Convention on the Rights of the Child defines child as any human below the age of 18 and refers to marriages within this age group as child marriage.
Trends: Dropped from 47.4% (2005-06) to 26.8% (2015-16) to 23.3% (2019-21) as per National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
Among the states, West Bengal, Bihar and Tripura top in Child Marriage cases.
Key Reasons for Child Marriage
Poverty: Patriarchal Indian society considers girls as an economic burden.
Patriarchy: Girl’s right to education is considered secondary to her labour in household.
Socio-cultural and religious practices: Some religious communities believe marrying girls before attaining puberty as auspicious.
Key Measures taken
Legal: Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 provides for appointment of Child Marriage Prohibition Officer by States.
Schemes: ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), etc.
Grassroot Initiatives: Surajpur (Chhattisgarh) Model where 75 Panchayats were declared ‘Child Marriage-Free’.
Global Commitments: India is a signatory to United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC); India Committed to achieve SDG 5, for eliminating child, early, and forced marriage, by 2030, etc.

About GIB
Habitat: Ground-dwelling bird of grasslands and semi-arid regions.
Distribution: Endemic to Indian Subcontinent, mainly Rajasthan and Gujarat, with small populations in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.
Characteristics: Feeds on grass seeds, insects like grasshoppers and beetles, and sometimes small rodents and reptiles.
Threats: Habitat loss due to infrastructure development like electricity lines.
Protection Status:
IUCN: Critically Endangered
Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972: Schedule I
CITES: Appendix I
One of the species for recovery programme under Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats

They are stocked like standard retail stores but used only for storage and not open to public.
They are a critical working infrastructure for Quick commerce firm.
They offer automated order details using a dispatch software that swiftly redirects it to warehouse staff and delivery personnel offering quick and efficient delivery.

Ministry: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Establishment: Under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
Mandate: Lays down science-based standards and regulate food manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import ensuring safety.
Key Initiative: Eat Right India
Governing Structure: Includes Food Authority with Chairperson and 22 members (one-third being women).

The system is a complex mosaic of fragmented agricultural landscapes divided in three structures:
Wetlands used for paddy activities and fish catching
Garden lands used for food crops plantation
Water areas used as inland fishing and shells.
It is the only system in India that favours rice cultivation below sea level in the land created by draining delta swamps in brackish waters.
It comes under Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) of FAO.

A superkilonova is a rare kind of cosmic explosion where a star’s death appears to involve two explosive processes in sequence, a supernova followed shortly by a kilonova from the same source.
The supernova core may produce two neutron stars that merge and cause kilonova.
Supernova: A massive star ends its life in a powerful explosion called supernova.
Kilonova: A kilonova is a powerful explosion that occurs when two neutron stars collide.

It is one of the five great ocean basins on Earth.
It is also known as the Antarctic Ocean.
It lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the coast of Antarctica and encompasses 360 degrees of longitude
It includes Amundsen Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, part of the Drake Passage, Ross Sea, a small part of the Scotia Sea, Weddell Sea, and other tributary water bodies
It plays an important role in the circulation of water around the globe.

What It Is: A new cyber scam that allows hackers to take over a WhatsApp account without needing a password or SIM card.
How It Works: The attack exploits WhatsApp’s device-linking feature by tricking users into approving a fake but authentic-looking pairing code.
Victims receive deceptive messages like “Hi, check this photo,” which initiates the account compromise.
Account Hijacking: Once linked, the attacker’s device gains full access as a hidden trusted device.