9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – June 4th, 2022

Current Affairs Compilations for UPSC IAS Prelims 2022

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 1

• Urban agriculture can help make cities sustainable and liveable

GS Paper 2

• Gradual engagement – India should maintain with Afghanistan a policy of engagement rooted in realism
• The dangerous intellectual fad of ‘civilisationism’
• Lessons from the Ukraine crisis price shock
• New India needs free and quality higher education
• Control and delete

GS Paper 3

• ‘Plants adapt by their fragrances — these enrich the environment and our lives
• Veiled threats to privacy

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

• Explained: How NAS survey assesses what school students have learnt; what it has found
• Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment launched the Scheme “SHRESHTA”
• US and India working to build on gains from trade forum
• Saving a Giant Softshell Turtle
• Release of Banda Singh Bahadur Martyrdom Monument Poster
• Keep eco-sensitive zone of 1 km around forests: Supreme Court
• NCC’S PUNEET SAGAR CAMPAIGN TO CULMINATE ON JUNE 5, 2022
• New opportunities for e-waste recyclers
• Extreme weather events in India may be transporting more plastic litter into oceans, warn experts

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 1

Urban agriculture can help make cities sustainable and liveable

News: Recently, the Union finance minister wished to make India cities “centres of sustainable living with opportunities for all”.

The FM argued for a paradigm shift in urban planning with announcement to set up a high-level committee to steer the required changes in urban policy, planning, capacity building and urban governance

What are the problems being faced by India, especially urban areas?

Overall

The soaring temperatures have adversely affected health, caused a dip in agricultural production, and also dried up rivers.

The impacts of climate change are being felt across the country, especially in climate-vulnerable zones and cities.

India is estimated to host 50 per cent of its population in cities by 2050. The cities are facing heat waves due to the urban heat island effect, and ill-conceived urbanisation.

The urban planning in India is out of step with growth. It is ill-equipped to deal with the existing gaps including the upcoming climate change.

Importance of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA)

The Food and Agricultural Organisation’s (FAO) recognises urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) as a significant contributor to food security; livelihood generation, especially for women; poverty alleviation; and urban resilience and sustainability.

Urban areas house at least 55% of the world’s population and consume 80% of the food produced globally. The urban population is expected to double by 2050. Thus, UPA is a key to achieving sustainable food systems.

Good Cases of the UPA vis-à-vis ULP in the Ghaziabad district:

There are few areas which reflect the planned expansion of cities into surrounding rural areas,

(1) The Ghaziabad city’s masterplan area -the total agricultural green space has far exceeded the area designated in the masterplan. The plan included UPA as the most significant type of GI for either urban development or formal green spaces (park, city forest, green buffer etc.), (

2) In the Loni masterplan area – total agricultural land-use surpassed the area earmarked in the masterplan.

(3) In the Modinagar masterplan area, a “model” peri-urban village is found to have 50% of its area covered under UPA, showing little change over years.

What are the challenges?

The existing pattern of urbanisation/industrialisation that prevails in the peri-urban villages or peri-urban areas are of great concern. The pattern is making these areas to become polluted and unhealthy in the coming future.

The challenges are very pro in the endogenous or “subaltern” urbanisation. Expanding cities and “census towns” forms a major substrate of the current process of “urbanisation” and urban growth in India.

The urban land-use planning (ULP) in Indian cities doesn’t focus on agriculture. Agriculture is seen as a predominantly rural practice and source of livelihood.

Way Forward

The role of green infrastructure (GI) is important for combating pollution, climate mitigation and adaptation. It also entails health and recreational benefits.

There is a need to focus on urban land-use planning (ULP), especially urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) which is one of the essential elements of sustainable urbanisation.

India’s Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) guidelines mention Green Cities under the urban planning approach. The Green Cities have advantage of preventing the damage to productivity of agricultural land.

There is a need for a paradigm shift in urban planning. The ULP must prioritise estimation of waste management capacity, build infrastructure for it and regulate industrial installations to this capacity.

This requires adequate political will for aspects like financial inputs to fund-starved urban administrations and enforcement of regulations for curbing violations of environmental norms.

The incorporation of UPA into ULP will enable support in achieving urban food security and even a circular bioeconomy. This can lead to developing healthy and sustainable cities for all.

GS Paper 2

Gradual engagement – India should maintain with Afghanistan a policy of engagement rooted in realism

News: India has sent a multi-member team of senior diplomats to Afghanistan for the first time since the Indian Embassy in Kabul was evacuated in August 2021 following the arrival of the Taliban in the Afghan capital.

The MEA has said that the visit is only to help coordinate India’s humanitarian assistance for the Afghanistan people.

During discussions with the Indian delegation, the Taliban urged India to reopen its embassy in Kabul.

What is the significance of the visit?

Gradual engagement: The visit acquires significance as India has refused to recognise the Taliban administration in Afghanistan and has urged the international community to go slow in recognising the Taliban.

The visit also shows a marked difference from the policy New Delhi took in the 1990s when the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan. Back then, India had taken a policy of disengagement with Kabul and supported anti-Taliban militias.

But this time, many neighboring countries including India have adopted a constructive line towards the Taliban regime, despite their differences with the group’s extremism.

Developments in India-Taliban relations

India closed its embassy in Kabul in August 2021, days before the Taliban takeover, but has maintained a line of communication with them.

In September, India’s Ambassador to Qatar, met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, a senior Taliban official, at the Indian Embassy in Doha.

In October, Indian officials met the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, in Moscow at a regional conference on Afghanistan. Here, India also joined nine other countries to recognise the “new reality” in Afghanistan.

Later, New Delhi sent humanitarian assistance, including wheat, COVID-19 vaccines and winter clothes, to Afghanistan when the country was facing a near-total economic collapse.

What are India’s concerns?

India has three main concerns when it comes to the Taliban’s return to Afghanistan.

One, India has made investments worth billions of dollars in the past 20 years. It would want to protect these investments and retain the Afghan people’s goodwill.

Two, when the Taliban were in power in the 1990s, Afghanistan became a safe haven for anti-India terrorist groups. India also saw a sharp rise in violence in Kashmir during the Mujahideen-Taliban reigns of Afghanistan. New Delhi would not like history to repeat itself and would want commitments from the Taliban that they would not offer support for anti-India groups.

Three, the Taliban remaining a Pakistani satellite forever is not in India’s strategic interest.

Way forward

New Delhi cannot pursue any of its objectives if it does not engage with the Taliban.

But, at the same time, India should not hurry in to offer diplomatic recognition to the Taliban’s predominantly Pashtun, men-only regime, which has imposed harsh restrictions on women at home.

India should work with other regional and global players to push the Taliban to adopt a more inclusive regime, while at the same time maintaining a policy of gradual bilateral engagement rooted in realism.

The dangerous intellectual fad of ‘civilisationism’

News: At present, the big nations are using civilisational rhetoric to rebrand the nations.

The leadership from India, China, Russia, Turkey, and Iran have made statements that their countries are civilisations and not nation-states.

In fact, the Russian President has stated that “Russia is not just a country, it’s really a separate civilisation”. It means the Russian world is not limited to the geographical borders of Russia and it refutes the claim of Ukraine being a real state.

About the Civilisationism

The civilisation-state is being presented as a balancing idea to the nation-state. It is expected that civilisationism to transcend nationalism.

What do these aspirational civilisation-states have in common?

The aspirational civilisation-states are those which are trying to find a middle ground on the Russo-Ukraine war. They are relatively large countries that are often described as middle powers, regional powers, or even would-be superpowers.

The territories of these countries were once home to ancient civilisations and great empires and kingdoms in the pre-colonial era. This is evident from the classical texts that have survived the onslaught of the Western conquest.

In terms of social practices, these countries have continuities with the pre-colonial as evident in the Americas as in countries of the Old World.

Issues in claiming of civilization identity

Smaller entities have also made claims of civilizational entities. For instance, the Naga leader asserted that Nagas peoples are not Indian. They have their own culture and civilization developed centuries ago, which has stood the test of time.

The civilizations are being utilised in the service of nationalism. The civilisational idea is being used as a higher order principle for judging the nation-state as a political form.

How civilisationism, like nationalism has its good and bad versions?

In a 1945 book, Hans Kohn, made a controversial distinction between Western and Eastern nationalisms. He argued only Western nationalism was connected to the Enlightenment’s legacy of the free individual. But the nationalisms of Central and Eastern Europe and Asia were not.

There are arguments that the European Union (EU) may be reconfigured as a civilisation-state. The people living in the EU have a specific value system which forms the foundation of Europe’s civilisational identity.

Now, the national-populist politicians have given different European civilisational rhetoric on the basis of the European Union (EU). The people live in the EU by a specific value system which forms the foundation of Europe’s civilisational identity. These leaders try to define their country’s borders in civilisational and effectively racial terms instead of on the lines of international law.

– For example, the Europeans maintain a studied silence on race.

The Way Forward

In Kalki or the Future of Civilisation, Radhakrishnan wrote, “Before we can build a stable civilisation worthy of humanity as a whole it is necessary that each historical civilisation should become conscious of its limitations and its unworthiness to become the ideal civilisation of the world”.

When one compares the arrogant civilization talk of today against the state of our planet, Radhakrishnan’s appeal to humility becomes compelling. In 1929, when that book came out, Radhakrishnan had reasons to be optimistic about the future of the planet:

Today the earth is facing climate crisis, the ongoing death due the pandemic, and surge in the global and intra-country inequality.

Therefore, the civilisationism idea should be adopted and promoted in real sense and the world embraces a new, just, and peaceful form of planetary politics.

Lessons from the Ukraine crisis price shock

News: The Russia-Ukraine conflict will cause major, long-term shifts in the global energy and commodity trade.

What are the driving factors behind the shift?

At Present

(1) The European nations & Other nations (due to western sanctions on Russia) are diversifying their energy supplies. This has been causing market distortions and high prices.

(2) The disruptions have triggered inflation. For example, it has led to increase in the prices of Crude oil, LNG, fertiliser and food. In addition, markets for several other commodities such as nickel have been disrupted.

(3) It could lead to widespread financial distress. For example, In India, the commodity price shock could derail the economy as it recovers from the effects of Covid-19. Sri Lanka and Pakistan are already facing economic turmoil due to high inflation, shortages of necessities and a default on foreign debt. As a result, these countries are also facing political turmoil.

Other reasons

Even before the Ukraine conflict, the oil and gas production were facing insufficient investment. For example, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, announced they would no longer invest in traditional fuels — oil, gas, coal.

What are the upcoming  challenges?

There are uncertainties on multiple factors — the duration of the Ukraine conflict, the terms on which it is settled, if it is, and the response of the US and its allies, especially on the sanctions.

What does the future hold?

First, the European Union’s ties with Russia will continue to be strained. In the immediate term, the EU is trying to source its raw materials viz. oil, natural gas, fertiliser, agricultural goods and metals, from non-Russian sources. This will cause distortions and price spikes for those commodities in the global market.

Second, the sanctions on Russia are unlikely to achieve the desired political outcome. For example, The US Sanctions on Iran and Venezuela have failed to achieve the desired political outcome. Further, the restrictions are likely to remain for a long while.

Third, the emerging world will remain unwilling and unable to align with the West on the current sanctions. They are facing high prices of energy and other commodity inflation. Russia, which used to be their main supplier, is too big to be replaced as a supplier for these countries.

Further, attempts to buy from other countries will only distort the global markets further. It can lead to public anger and political unrest, as was seen in Tunisia and other Arab countries from 2010 on.

Way Forward

Immediate-Term: the country should collaborate with other similar economies to ensure that Russia doesn’t get locked out of global commodity markets.

Long term: The country must work on insulating its supply chains from global political crises.

New India needs free and quality higher education

News: New York University’s NYU Grossman School of Medicine has become the first major American medical school to announce that it will pay the tuition fees for all its students admitted in its MD programme, regardless of their financial needs, from the 2021–22 academic year.

The Nordic Model

The Nordic countries — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden – provide free higher education to their people.

In fact, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Germany also do not charge tuition fees from international students. Many of them have consistently resisted attempts to impose fees.

Importance of Free Education as learned from the Nordic Model

It ensures that students receive high quality education in the streams that they desire. This does not compel them pursue streams to earn highly so as to repay their student debt.

It ensures equal opportunities to all the sections of the society in the education system. For example, it promotes gender equality and assists students from lower socioeconomic categories to gain access to higher education.

The Nordic countries figure in the top of the world happiness index. For example, as per the World Happiness Index 2022, Finland ranked at No.1, Denmark at No. 2, Iceland at No.4.

What are the issues in Indian higher education?

There is an increasing demand for quality education and research in leading universities in India.

In India, the burden of tuition fees in professional courses is becoming unbearable. This has reduced professional education to a commodity rather than the noble service that it ought to be. The meritorious students are deterred from pursuing their degrees from world-class universities.

Educational loans have led to mounting debt. It will cripple the economy of development and public welfare.

What are the implications of a commercialized education system?

If students pay for education, they would be forced to earn from the degrees they acquire.

High fees make a profession become a privilege to earn rather than a privilege to serve and excel. For example, as per the NYU, “overwhelming student debt” is reshaping the medical profession which is bad for the health-care system. The debts prompt graduates to pursue high-paying specialties rather than careers in family medicine, paediatrics, and obstetrics and gynaecology.

Way Forward

A university system should foster an environment of learning in which world-quality education can be provided without taxing learners with the burden of tuition fees.

Education is a noble service and an investment to charter a bright future for humanity.

The NYU initiative and the Nordic Model should inspire many other leading universities to consider and value the student’s intellectual acumen rather than financial investment.

There is a need for reviving philanthropy and community support for higher education in India. For example, Corporates, generous alumni, and people at large can provide strong philanthropic support for higher education and make quality education tuition-free.

The government should declare such philanthropic donations to the cause of higher education and research tax-free.

The great management guru, Philip B. Crosby during the quality revolution in the late 1970s, advocated that “Quality is Free!”

Control and delete

News: Recently, the Government has planned to set up a panel that can overturn content moderation decisions made by social media platforms. The idea has been proposed as an amendment to the IT Rules 2021.

The IT Rules, 2021 will be amended to constitute one or more appellate committees which will have the final word on any content moderation issue facing a social media platform.

If a social media user feels aggrieved on an order of the platform’s grievance officer, he/she can appeal.

The government’s objectives

At present, the internet access continues to rapidly expand in India. The social media platforms are acting as influencing machines. They are filled with influencers of all hues and shades.

Therefore, the government is committed to ensure an open, safe, and trusted and accountable Internet for its users.

Problems in the government’s decision

The mechanism will allow the Government to tighten its grip on messaging on social media intermediaries.

There would be concern over fairness in the decisions of a government-appointed committee. For example, the aggrieved user can be a government entity or a ruling party member. The Government can try to suppress the dissent on the social media platform.

This will add another layer of complexity to the problematic IT rules.  It would be another lever of Government control. The IT rules have already given a leverage to the Government over digital channels in the name of “soft-touch oversight mechanism”.

This can have troubling implications for freedom of expression and right to information.

Way Forward

Social media platforms should be regulated. But a government committee is not the right answer. The regulation should come from the social media industry itself.

GS Paper 3

‘Plants adapt by their fragrances — these enrich the environment and our lives

Context: Plants express their needs through the release of aromatic chemicals. They emit fragrances for both attraction and protection.

What is the significance of various fragrances emitted by the plants?

For protection, a certain fragrance is released when a leaf is crushed or when someone walks on grass. This is sharp and green, called ‘green leaf volatiles’, a general class of molecules which allows plants to put out a message that they are being injured.

– When a caterpillar chews on leaves, many plants sense that and respond by emitting green leaf volatiles which attract predators that can consume the caterpillar.

– The same fragrance informs other plants of danger — the plants can’t move away but they can move some of their nutrients inwards, further down from where they could be chewed up, saving their sugars from herbivores.

Nature’s fragrances are very important to humans too: They give humans a strong connection with their environment, bringing joy to lives and provide an important and rejuvenating break.

– Under the practice of ‘forest bathing’ which originated in Japan — this means stepping away from our work and screens, going outside to a place with trees and plants and taking time to absorb the freshness, colours, textures and fragrances of that experience.

Fragrance deeply also enriches our memories. So many of our feelings get intertwined with fragrances.

Business of synthetic fragrances

Today, the business of synthetic fragrances amounts to millions.

In the past 200 years, scientists discovered how to extract individual scented molecules from plants and use them to create perfume.

It began with linalool, a significant part of lavender, initially extracted to create scent — what followed was synthesizing these molecules from something completely unrelated, like turpentine.

Quite frequently, the smells of nature in commercial products — flowery fragrances, for instance — have nothing to do with the environment. These are scientifically produced, they’re more uniform, less expensive and often less reliant on using fertilizers or fossil fuels.

Way forward

This world of fragrances faces threats today.

Plants are very responsive to environmental conditions. With climate change, extreme weather events like heatwaves, wildfires and droughts as well as habitat conversion, many plant fragrances which evolved over millennia could change.

Once, plants would blossom on seasonal cues, like the coming of rains at a certain time — today, with these patterns changing, the world of fragrances which enriches our lives could change too.

The world needs to act to preserve and protect the environment.

Veiled threats to privacy

Context: Cert-In recently issued a new directive making it mandatory for VPN service providers to keep user data for at least five years and share records with authorities when required.

This new regulation threatens free speech and privacy.

What is a VPN?

• Read here

What are the different use cases of VPNs?

By surfing through a VPN, users can mask a large proportion of personal data, obfuscate location, and conceal surfing patterns. This makes them useful to people with many different use-cases. For instance: They can be used by the following –

– Human rights activists who don’t wish to be tracked by hostile regimes

– Corporates seeking end-to-end encryption for communications. Also, in the WFH era, corporates routinely give a geographically widespread set of employees secure log-ins tied to a single VPN-based location

– People who wish to access geo-blocked websites, and content. VPNs allow users to communicate privately, and to access websites that autocrats block. For instance: Russia, Iran and China block and ban VPNs, and hand out jail-time and fines for anybody caught using them.

– People who wish to access online banking services only available to residents of a given country

– Those who simply wish to protect their data

– People who want to access Netflix or Amazon Prime content from, let’s say, Mexico, while sitting in Delhi.

VPN providers offer combinations of privacy, and data security. Most keep no logs of users, and maintain as little user-data as possible.

How does a VPN provide privacy and data security?

Somebody who’s not using a VPN has an IP address, which translates to their location. This is visible to every website that the user visits. The internet service provider (ISP) can also track the surfing patterns of the user, enumerating every website that is visited.

That is, if user X visits websites A, B, and C, the service provider knows all about it. Websites A, B, C also know where X is coming from, using which ISP, etc. If the ISP has instructions to block any given websites, it can prevent the user from going to those sites.

User X also leaks other data and metadata to any website visited.

When user X uses a VPN however, several types of masking happen.

– As far as the ISP is concerned, the VPN is the only site that X is visiting. The VPN re-routes and redirects the user to wherever, without informing the ISP.

– Second, the IP address changes to that of the VPN, as far as any other website is concerned. If it’s a good VPN, one also ceases to leak data in the same way.

How have VPN providers responded?

New directives by the govt not only run counter to the entire use case for VPNs, it is also technically impossible for many of them to comply with.

VPN servers are not only not configured to keep logs; they are often designed to actively delete logs.

Some VPN providers have already started walking out of India, which is no surprise.

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

Explained: How NAS survey assesses what school students have learnt; what it has found

Source: This post is based on the article “Explained: How NAS survey assesses what school students have learnt; what it has found” published in The Indian Express on 4th June 22.

News: A nationwide survey carried out by the Union Ministry of Education has found that between 2017 and 2021, the literacy and numeracy skills of school students in India worsened considerably across subjects and grades.

The outcomes of the National Achievement Survey (NAS), are supposed to guide interventions by authorities across the country to bridge the learning gaps among students enrolled in Classes 3, 5, 8 and 10.

What is the NAS and its objective?

Objective: to provide a snapshot of learning outcomes in key subjects — essentially “what students know and can do” — at the end of Classes 3, 5, 8 and 10. These classes are generally seen to mark important stages in the development of a child’s cognitive abilities.

The first edition of NAS was carried out in 2001.

In the beginning, the survey was supposed to be an independent project of the NCERT, but it was soon brought under the ambit of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which has now been subsumed into the overarching Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

• Read here

What is the current structure of the survey?

In 2017-18, the NAS was redesigned.

– For the first time, students of all four grades were covered on the same day.

– Also, instead of states, districts were made units of reporting, leading to a much bigger sample size.

What exactly does the NAS assess?

Until 2015-16, the survey assessed the competency of students based on the core curriculum followed by states and UTs.

In 2017-18, the focus moved to mapping the progress of learning outcomes as listed under the Right to Education Rules as amended in 2017.

Questions asked by the NAS are framed to assess whether students can read, and carry out simple mathematical operations that are required in daily life.

– The levels of difficulty and complexity of the questions vary from one grade to another.

In the higher classes, the survey also assesses the knowledge acquired by students in areas related to the Constitution of India.

Language, mathematics and environmental science are assessed in Classes 3 and 5; language, maths, science and social science in Class 8; and maths, social science, science and English are assessed for students in Class 10.

Coverage: The survey covers schools run by the central and state/UT governments, government-aided schools, and private unaided schools.

What are the findings of the latest NAS survey?

• Read here

What are the implications of the findings?

The NAS findings highlight the need for urgent interventions to improve foundational learning levels.

Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment launched the Scheme “SHRESHTA”

Source: The post is based on the article “Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment launched the Scheme “SHRESHTA” published in PIB on 3rd June 2022.

What is the News?

The Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the “SHRESHTA”- Scheme.

What is SHRESHTA Scheme?

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Full-Form: Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas (SHRESHTA) 

Objective: To provide high-quality education for meritorious but poor Scheduled Castes(SC) students in CBSE-affiliated reputed residential schools across the country. 

Eligibility: The students belonging to Scheduled Castes studying in class 8th and 10th in the current academic year are eligible for availing of the benefits of the scheme.

– However, students belonging to marginalized income groups within the SC community are eligible only if their parental annual income is up to Rs.2.5 Lakh. 

Selection Process: Students are selected through a transparent mechanism through a National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS). The test is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission in classes 9th and 11th.

– Successful candidates, after following the e-counseling process, are given admission to the school of their choice anywhere in the country for their academic persuasion.

Significance of the Scheme: The Scheme will be beneficial for SC students who could not reach for higher quality education. It will also bring a drastic change for the betterment of their life.

US and India working to build on gains from trade forum

Source: The post is based on the article “US and India working to build on gains from trade forum” published in The Hindu on 4th June 2022.

What is the News?

Officials from US and India are looking at what can be achieved at this year’s U.S. India Trade Policy Forum(TPF) session, likely to be held in November,2022. 

What is the U.S. India Trade Policy Forum(TPF)?

Established in: 2005 and reconstituted in 2014.

Aim: To help smooth out differences in trade and economic policy and identify areas for trade and investment expansion.

Chaired by: The forum is co-chaired by the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry and the U.S. Trade Representative.

What are the priority areas for India and the US in trade?

US Side: The United States wants greater access to the Indian market for medical devices as well as digital trade.

The U.S. wants to export ethanol and an associated animal feed ingredient called DDGS (Distillers’ Dried Grains with Solubles) to India. However, India has some sensitivity given that it has domestic ethanol producers.

Indian Side: India is keen on finalizing a Social Services Totalisation agreement – i.e., an agreement that will permit Indians temporarily working in the U.S. to reclaim what they pay into the U.S. system.

India also wants the resumption of Indian wild caught shrimp exports to the U.S. The U.S. law prohibits the import of wild caught shrimp and its derivative products if protected sea turtle species are harmed in the process. One way around this is to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) while fishing for shrimp; India views this as a technical barrier to trade.

India also wants to be reinstated as a beneficiary of the U.S.’s preferential market access program – the Generalized System of Preferences(GSP). 

Saving a Giant Softshell Turtle

Source: The post is based on the article “Saving a Giant Softshell Turtle” published in Livemint on 4th June 2022.

What is the News?

This article talks about the Cantor’s Giant Softshell Turtle.

What is Cantor’s Giant Softshell Turtle?

Source: Livemint

Cantor’s giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii) also known commonly as the Asian giant softshell turtle and the frog-faced softshell turtle is a species of freshwater turtle in the family Trionychidae.

Origin of Name: The turtle gets its name from Theodore Cantor, a Danish zoologist who worked for the British East India Company in the mid-19th century, collecting and describing many reptiles.

Geographical Habitat: Its extent ranges from Malaysia to India. Its presence in India has been recorded only a dozen times in 20 years, with sightings being reported anecdotally from Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.

IUCN Status: Critically Endangered

Characteristics: The turtle can grow up to a meter in length and weigh 100 kg. 

It is one of the few freshwater species which is at home in saline waters too.

The turtle inhabits inland rivers and is thought to keep to deep depths. It spends most of its time in the water.

The turtle spends 95% of its life buried and motionless, with only its eyes and mouth protruding from the sand.

The turtle nests between December-February.

Diet: It is an ambush predator and primarily carnivorous, feeding on crustaceans, mollusks, and fish (although some aquatic plants may also be eaten).

It is also known to scavenge dead fish, becoming a natural agent in cleaning up rivers.

Release of Banda Singh Bahadur Martyrdom Monument Poster

Source: The post is based on the article “Release of Banda Singh Bahadur Martyrdom Monument Poster ahead of his 306th Martyrdom Day organized by National Monuments Authority” published in PIB on 3rd June 2022.

What is the News?

Minister of State for Culture in an event organized by the National Monuments Authority (NMA) released ‘Banda Singh Bahadur Martyrdom Monument Poster’ ahead of his 306th Martyrdom Day on 9th June.

Who was Baba Banda Singh Bahadur?

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur was born in the Rajput family (1670, Rajouri).​​ His original name was Baba Madhav Das, and he was a Bairagi Sadhu. 

Guru Gobind Singh Ji sent Banda Singh to Punjab in 1708. He was advised to put an end to the cruelty of Punjab rulers, punish the guilty and cruel misrulers and fight for human rights, empower and strengthen the poor, the low and slave-like people who could not even imagine freedom.

He established his authority and Khalsa rule in Punjab and abolished the zamindari system. Under his leadership, Sirhind was conquered by the Sikhs from mughals.

He was the first Sikh military leader to wage an offensive war against the Mughal rulers of India, thereby temporarily extending Sikh territory. 

Martyrdom

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and his son Ajai Singh were martyred on 9 June 1716 along with his other 18 companions near a gate en-route to the tomb of the so-called Sufi saint Qutub-ud-din Bakhtiar kaki at Mehrauli. 

His glorious martyrdom validates Bhagat Kabir’s rendition in Guru Granth Sahib. 

Memorial

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur War Memorial is at Chappar Chiri, Mohali which is a tribute to the brave Sikh warrior under whose command the Battle of Chappar Chiri was fought between the Sikhs and the forces of the Mughal Empire led by Wazir Khan in May 1710. 

With a decisive victory in this war, Sikh rule was established from Lahore to Delhi

Keep eco-sensitive zone of 1 km around forests: Supreme Court

Source: The post is based on the article “Keep eco-sensitive zone of 1 km around forests: Supreme Court” published in The Hindu on 4th June 2022.

What is the News?

The Supreme Court has directed that every protected forest, national park, and wildlife sanctuary across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of a minimum of one km starting from their demarcated boundaries.

What are Eco-Sensitive Zones(ESZ)?

Click Here to read about it

What is the purpose of declaring ESZ?

The purpose of declaring ESZs around national parks, forests, and sanctuaries is to create some kind of “shock absorber” for the protected areas.

These zones would act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to those involving lesser protection.

What are the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court related to ESZ?

Mandatory ESZ around Protected Areas

Every protected forest, national park, and wildlife sanctuary across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone(ESZ) of a minimum of one km starting from their demarcated boundaries.

In case any national park or protected forest already has a buffer zone extending beyond one km, that would prevail. 

In case the question of the extent of the buffer zone is waiting for a statutory decision, then the court’s direction to maintain the one-km safety zone would be applicable until a final decision arrives under the law.

Mining should not be permitted around Protected Areas

Mining within the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries shall not be permitted.

No permanent structure will be allowed within the ESZ.

The Principal Chief Conservator for each State and the Union Territory has been directed to make a list of subsisting structures within the ESZs and submit reports to the Supreme Court within three months.

NCC’S PUNEET SAGAR CAMPAIGN TO CULMINATE ON JUNE 5, 2022

Source: The post is based on the article “NCC’S PUNEET SAGAR CAMPAIGN TO CULMINATE ON JUNE 5, 2022” published in PIB on 3rd June 2022.

What is the News?

The National Cadet Corps(NCC) has launched the ‘Puneet Sagar Abhiyan’.

What is Puneet Sagar Abhiyan?

Launched by: National Cadet Corps(NCC) 

Objective: To clean Sea Shores/Beaches and other water bodies including rivers & lakes of plastic & other waste and increase awareness amongst the local population about the importance of keeping the beaches and river fronts clean.

Significance: The campaign will help in educating locals and sensitize them about ‘Swachh Bharat’.

New opportunities for e-waste recyclers

Source: The post is based on the article “New opportunities for e-waste recyclers” published in The Hindu on 4th June 2022.

What is the News?

The Environment Ministry has recently released the Draft Notification for Electronic Waste (E-Waste) Management for public feedback.

What is the key provision of the Draft Rules?

The rules lay out a system for companies to secure Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) certificates.

These certificates certify the quantity of e-waste collected and recycled in a particular year by a company. An organization may sell surplus quantities to another company to help it meet its obligations.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is the chief entity that will coordinate the trade of EPR certificates and monitor if companies are meeting their targets.

How will the CPCB verify that the e-waste has been collected and recycled?

The verification would be done via “software matching”.

A recycling company would be paying a certain amount of Goods and Services Tax(GST) annually based on the quantity of precious metal they had extracted and sold. This would correlate to the amount of e-waste processed. 

This could be further matched with the certificates bought by a producer company to meet targets.

What are the issues highlighted by the experts with these draft rules?

Verifying the actual quantity of e-waste recycled is next to impossible because of the unavailability of data, such as – how many electronic goods were sold in a particular year and how much e-waste is generated, and how much recycled—is available in the public domain.

For instance, CPCB said that in 2019-20, 1 million tons of e-waste was generated, 22% of which was collected, dismantled, or recycled.

On the other hand, Global e-Waste Monitor reports that nearly 3 million tons of electronic waste was generated in India, which is thrice the Government of India’s estimates.

Extreme weather events in India may be transporting more plastic litter into oceans, warn experts

Source: The post is based on the article “Extreme weather events in India may be transporting more plastic litter into oceans, warn experts” published in Down To Earth on 3rd June 2022.

What is the News?

According to a study, extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall and cyclones may be transporting a significant amount of plastic litter into the sea.

Plastic Production in India

Plastic production in India began in the late 1950s. Its consumption increased 20 times to 18.45 metric tonnes in 2018 from 0.9 metric tonnes in 1990.

The link between Plastic Litter in Sea and Extreme Weather Events

Extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall and cyclones may be transporting a significant amount of plastic litter into the sea.

For instance, around 0.1 million tonnes of debris, including plastics, were deposited along Chennai’s coast in the aftermath of the 2015 Chennai floods.

The microplastic content on Chennai’s beaches increased three times due to increased river runoff.

What are the suggestions given by the report?

Firstly, understand the source and distribution of plastics to implement mitigation policies.

Secondly, Ban Plastics: Currently, 18 Indian states and union territories in India have completely banned plastic carry-bags and products while five other states have partially prohibited them.

– However, major plastic polluters such as Gujarat, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh have still not issued a notification to ban single-use plastics.

Thirdly, implement policies to tackle the plastic problem, as climate change is expected to increase extreme weather events.