Legal Current Affairs for 4 December 2025

International Law: 1951 Refugee Convention: Defines the term ‘refugee’ and outline their rights and the international standards of treatment for their protection.
India is not a signatory to this Convention or its 1967 Protocol.
Customary Law: India accepts the principle of Non-Refoulement (no forced return to persecution) as a norm of customary international law.
Domestic Laws: Refugees are governed by the Foreigners Act, 1946, Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, Passports Act, 1967, and the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Ad-hoc mechanism: Refugee status is granted via “strategic ambiguity” using executive/administrative channels rather than legislative ones. Management is divided:
Union Ministry of Home Affairs: Directly manages Sri Lankan Tamils and Tibetan refugees.
UNHCR: Manages other groups (Rohingya, Afghans, Myanmarese, African nationals).
India granted refugee status to: Tibetan Refugees, Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees, Chakma and Hajong Refugees, etc.

It effectively prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin weapons.
Biological weapons disseminate disease-causing organisms or toxins to harm or kill humans, animals or plants.
It was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Parties: 189 State Parties including India.
Genesis: It opened for signature in 1972 and entered into force in 1975, and is a legally binding international treaty.
Administration: Administered by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), headquartered in Geneva.

About: Alaknanda is located about 12 billion light-years away and shows a textbook spiral structure. It formed when the universe was only about 10% of its current age, roughly 1.5 billion years old.
It has two clear spiral arms and a bright central bulge, strikingly similar to the Milky Way.
Named after the Himalayan river Alaknanda, considered the sister river of Mandakini, which is also the Hindi name for the Milky Way.
The name reflects its resemblance to a distant sister of the Milky Way.
Significance: Early galaxies were expected to be chaotic, clumpy, hot, and unstable, but Alaknanda stands out as a mature and well-ordered spiral system.
Its structure adds to growing evidence that the early universe was far more evolved than previously believed.
The galaxy’s unexpected maturity suggests that complex galactic structures began forming much earlier than current models predict.

About: The IMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, established to regulate global shipping. It functions as the global standard-setting authority for the shipping industry, creating a fair, effective, and universally adopted regulatory framework.
Genesis and Membership: Established in 1948 as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (name changed to IMO in 1982), it currently has 176 Member States and. 3 Associate Members. India has been a member since 1959.
Primary Mandate: Its core responsibility is to improve the safety and security of international shipping and prevent marine and atmospheric pollution from ships.
A critical feature is that the IMO itself does not enforce its policies; implementation is the responsibility of its member states.

The SIR, under Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RPA), is an intensive revision of electoral rolls prompted by “felt necessities” to maintain accuracy.
It ensures the purity of rolls, essential for free and fair elections. SIR does not determine citizenship, only verifies voter registration eligibility.
Controversy: Opposition parties in several states allege SIR of electoral rolls is a covert citizenship test.