Abundant caution (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3:Security 
Prelims level: 
Mains level: Security challenges and their management in border areas

Context: 

• After many rounds of military-level, foreign minister and NSA level talks, a movement towards de-escalation is said to be taking place in the military build-up at the Line of Actual Control. 
• Chinese soldiers are said to be stepping back in three of the contentious areas — Galwan, Hot Springs and Gogra. 
• This is a development in the right direction. 

Long way to go:

• However, the verification process by the Indian Army is still underway, and it should continue to be so. 
• After all, the incident at Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed, took place at a time when the two sides were supposed to be disengaging. 
• Moreover, there appears no de-escalation at the other “friction point”, Finger 4 at Pangong Lake. 
• In any case, disengagement does not mean a return to status quo ante yet. 
• At Sunday’s Special Representatives meeting, the two officials reiterated their commitment to the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas. 
• But the distinct difference in the tone and tenor of the readouts of this meeting put out by the MEA and the Chinese MEA draws attention to the hazards of jumping to conclusions. 
• According to the Chinese statement “the right and wrong of what recently happened at the Galwan Valley in the western sector of the China-India boundary is very clear. China will continue firmly safeguarding our territorial sovereignty as well as peace and tranquility in the border areas”. 

Key challenges:

• The challenges ahead for India remain enormous. 
• One is the sheer length of the LAC — 4,000 km of it, compared to the Line of Control which is 740 km. 
• Apart from the disputed portions that already exist and that both sides have discussed in several previous rounds of talks between the Special Representatives, 
• There is now an unpredictability as China disputes portions on which there was no ambiguityearlier. 
• India’s perception of the Galwan Valley was not disputed by the Chinese before this summer. 
• A give in one part of this long unmarked boundary may be accompanied by take somewhere else. 
• In the latest demonstration of this unpredictability, China has now opened a new front, staking claim to territory in eastern Bhutan, close to the border of Arunachal Pradesh. 
• This “eastern sector” had never been part of 24 rounds of boundary talks between Bhutan and China. 
• The claim, which first came to light when China tried to block UN funding to the Sakteng wildlife reserve in that area, was reiterated by Beijing on Sunday. 
• Even as the Indian Army is preoccupied in Ladakh, this places more pressure on it in the eastern sector, where China claims all of Arunachal Pradesh.

 Conclusion:

• Ensuring that China keeps its commitment to peace and tranquilityin the border areas should be our objective.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1). With reference to the Assam keelback, consider the following statements:

1. The species is endemic to Western Ghats and Northeast India. 
2. It is a species of snake in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: B

Mains Questions:

Q.1). How India’s regional influence in the Indian Ocean posed challenges to the Chinese plan? What is the relevance of US-India cooperation against China? Comment. 

No more Sattankulams(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2:Governance 
Prelims level: Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department
Mains level: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability

Context:  

• The dust is slowly settling on the controversy surrounding the alleged torture of a father-son duo in police custody in Sattankulam, Thoothukudi district. 
• The two men died in hospital. The case is being investigated by the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID). 
• The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the Director General of Police did not delay the decision to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). 
• This means that the state has nothing to hide from the families of the deceased or the general public.

The investigation:

• The Madras High Court has shown remarkable sensitivity as it should in such horrific incidents. 
• It was an innovative move by the court to ask revenue authorities to take control of the Sattankulam police station lest crucial evidence be destroyed or damaged. 
• Of course, some may believe that the High Court’s action was unwarranted and will demoralise the police force. 
• The revenue authorities have since withdrawn, and the investigation is wholly with the CB-CID. 

Police brutality is universal:

• Coming so soon after the George Floyd incident in the U.S., the Sattankulam episode should shock our conscience. 
• Police brutality is universal and internal cover-ups are common. 
• There is informal trade unionism and a code of silence among the police, as in other professions, that militates against objective inquiries into police conduct. 
• There is evidence of this in Sattankulam. 
• In a report, the Judicial Magistrate of Kovilpatti submitted to the court that the Sattankulam police did not cooperate during the inquiry. 
• The CCTV footage at the police station has been erased. 
• There is no assurance that evidence has not already been tamperedwith. 

Discomfort:

• There is obvious discomfort among some policemen over a CBI probe. This should not degenerateinto culpable obstruction of the investigation. 
• This is a danger that can be avertedif the police leadership demonstrates its resolve to punish even the slightest act of sabotage intended to help a few criminals masqueradingas the police. 
• The CBI will also not permit any police licentiousness. It is a welcome development that a few arrests have already been made in the case, including of the Inspector. 
• If necessary, a few more may be effected to ferretout the truth.
• If it’s ultimately proved that the two victims were in fact tortured to death, attention then shifts to unraveling the motive. 
• Any vendettawill have to be confirmed by the CBI when it takes over the investigation. 
• If no motive is established, the case against the policemen will weaken. 
• However, if there is clear evidence of the beatings of the victims, that evidence will speak for itself.

Furore:

• Post-mortem reports reveal the injuries inflicted and the weapons used. 
• Some unscrupulous policemen have the expertise to resort to bodily violence without leaving a trace of the methods/weapons used. 
• Doctors conducting the post-mortem are often intimidated(fear) into giving false reports. 
• The intensity of public furorein this incident is a guarantee against such unethical behaviour.

Reducing incidence of Police Violence:

• We will continue to witness random policemen misbehaviour. 
• These are men who are inclined to indulge in brutality at the drop of a hat. 
• The suggestion that every recruit should be subjected to a psychology test has little relevance as such a test may not always identify men with a disturbed mind. 
• Many recruits become perpetrators after a few years in the field. 
• Work pressure and unfair treatment by supervisors lead to gross misconduct and assaults on the unarmed and unprotected.
• Technology can help a little but its utility cannot be exaggerated. 
• Body cameras, such as the ones used in the U.S. and the U.K., on beat policeman can ensure police restraint. India could experiment with such devices.
• The police culture of each country is different. 
• A democratic government is no guarantee that the police will act in a civilised manner. 

Conclusion:

• India cannot afford any more Sattankulams. 
• We may not be able put a complete end to police violence, but we can reduce its incidence. 
• A lot will depend on the leadership, which has a sacred duty to fostera culture of obedience to the law. 
• The media has its work cut out to identify and isolate a leader who himself preaches unethical conduct.

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 Prelims Questions:

Q.1). With reference to the Chartered Accountants' Day, consider the following statements:

1. July 1 is celebrated as National Chartered Accountant Day in India.
2. The day is observed in order to celebrate the formation of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on July 1st, 1949.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C

Mains Questions:

Q.1) Highlights the reasons behind the need for anti-torture legislation.

Rolling back the induced livelihood shock(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2:Social Justice 
Prelims level: Periodic Labour Force Survey
Mains level: Issues relating to poverty and hunger

Context:  

• As the “unlocking” begins, it is becoming increasingly apparent how the Indian state had chosen its sides and revealed its elitist bias during one of the most stringently enforced lockdowns worldwide. 
• Several news reports and surveys on the plight of India’s less-privileged workforce during the lockdown have highlighted the massive scale of falling incomes and loss of means of livelihood. 
• Many have been pushed into various depths of poverty depending on how vulnerable their occupations were. 
• Most recent workforce survey data on India helps to estimate what the lockdown-induced livelihood shock might have meant economically for different categories of workers. 
• We suggest some potential policy measures to prevent the shocks from further snowballing into chronic poverty.

Pre-shock Conundrum:

• India’s poverty line has been a matter of contention for long for its unrealistically low thresholds leading to conservative poverty numbers. 
• Irregular updating of official poverty lines and unavailability of data on consumption expenditure from National Sample Surveys in recent years have added to the ambiguity around poverty estimation in India. 
• According to the household consumption expenditure reported in the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), about 42% or around 56 crore people were ‘officially’ poor before the lockdown was announced. 
• Highlighting how closely packed people are towards the lower half of the consumption expenditure distribution, another 20 crore people were within a narrow band 20% above the poverty line. 
• In most parts of the country, this amounts to a few hundred rupees over the poverty line threshold. 
• A modest dip in earnings — and hence a fall in consumption spending — would push a majority of them into the vortex of poverty and hunger. 

A poverty deepening: 

• Our estimates from the PLFS data extrapolated for the year 2020 suggest that about an additional 40 crore people were pushed below the poverty line due to the lockdown. 
• Around 12 crore of this lockdown-induced newly poor are in urban areas and another 28 crore people in rural areas. 
• Those who were already poor are going to suffer a further worsening in their quality of life, a phenomenon known as poverty deepening. 
• Before the lockdown, around 16% of the population had per capita consumption expenditure of about a third of the poverty line, managing their daily expenses with ₹30 per day or less. 
• After the lockdown this could swell to more than 62 crore (47%) people pushed to such extreme poverty. 
• A shock of such a scale to an overwhelming majority of Indians is unprecedentedin the nation’s living memory. 

Inadequate state response:

• At such a juncture, formal responses of the state have been mostly inadequate and poorly conceived. 
• The second economic stimulus package announced by the Finance Minister exposes the class nature of the current political dispensation more than ever. 
• A token increase of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) wage by ₹20 (₹182 to ₹202) seems like a joke in the light of the overall magnitude of the crisis. 
• Undoubtedly, a revamped, expanded NREGA needs to be made the fulcrum of the rural recharge. 
• The demand for work is anticipated to increase by 25% with reverse migration-fuelled increase in rural labour supply.
• The revamped scheme would require providing 90 million workers guaranteed employment of 20 days of work/month for at least the next six months. 
• This means an additional financial stimulus of ₹1.6-lakh crore. 

Universalisation of the PDS:

• Universalisation of the Public Distribution System has been widely talked about but needs better equity focus in implementation. 
• Recent experience of expanding food coupons to non-ration card holders in Delhi suggests that such measures are likely to exclude marginalised communities including Dalits and Muslims at the lowest strata of the work hierarchy.
• At the local level, this would mean identification of the most vulnerable and including them into the programme before expanding it to the relatively better-off. 
• The exclusion errors of IT-based attempts to coverage have huge social costs in the form of accentuatedhunger.

Stabilising urban economy:

• Massive reverse migration flows out of the urban informal sector will force grinding halts and hiccups for the economy limping back towards normalcy in the post-lockdown scenarios. 
• Given the magnitude of the destabilisation, an urban employment guarantee programme becomes a direnecessity to stabilise the urban economy. 
• A ‘direct’ employment programme implemented through municipal corporations could be introduced to guarantee 20 days of work.
• This can be used to develop key social infrastructure in urban areas including slum development, drinking water supply, toilet construction, parks and common areas, urban afforestation and social forestry. 
• Such facelift public works programmes can make a major difference in both the condition of public utilities and absorbing the spurt in demand for work in district towns and smaller cities. 
• The wages could be fixed with 30% premium over prevalent MNREGA benchmark average wage in the State. 

Indirect Branch:

• An ‘indirect’ branch of this programme can be used to encourage a revival of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the most prominent clusters. 
• This could include employer-contractor facilitated programmes to provide wage subsidy of an equivalent amount as in the direct programme to employers of urban SMEs.
• The neo-liberal growth that we have experienced since the 1990s has been largely through breaking the back of the labouring class. 
• The economy grew by paying less and less to workers and allowing surplus to accumulate in the hands of the owners of the means of production, with the expectation that this would be reinvested. 
• The state worked systematically to let this model flourish. 

Conclusion:

• If we do not alter the course of economic progress and reorient development programmes, the implications could be severe with increasing hunger-related deaths and destitution, leading to social unrest and crime.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1). With reference to the Advanced Virology Lab for testing COVID-19, consider the following statements:

1. It is an initiative of IIT Delhi. 
2. The Advanced Virology Lab is a Bio Safety Level- 3 facility.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: B

Mains Questions:

Q.1). What are the specific policy measures can reverse the lockdown-created trauma and stop it from snowballing into chronic poverty?

What about WHO? on failures of containment of COVID-19 (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2:Health 
Prelims level: WHO
Mains level: Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate

Context: 

• In a bid to cover up his own failures in COVID-19 containment and limit the number of deaths in the country, U.S. President has been accusing China of “secrecy, deception and cover-up” in the outbreak and the WHO of being “China-centric”. 
• Mr. Trump could not have known it, but there is now evidence that WHO had not been fully transparent during the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan. 

Lack of Transparency:

• If WHO gave an impression that on December 31 China had alerted it, the June 29 revised timeline of the world body clarifies the facts to a great degree. 
• WHO’s country office in China had apparently been alerted by a media statement by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission about cases of viral pneumonia. 
• It got the same news from another independent source too. 
• China confirmed to WHO of the cluster of cases of ‘viral pneumonia of unknown cause’ on January 3 only after the global body twice reached out to the Chinese authorities on January 1-2. 
• Following the confirmation, WHO on January 4 tweeted to say, “China has reported to the WHO a cluster of pneumonia cases, with no deaths, in Wuhan, Hubei Province.…” 
• Also, if the earlier timeline had mentioned that on December 31 a “novel coronavirus was eventually identified” as the cause of pneumonia cases, the revised information posted on the WHO website mentions that the cause of illness was not known till January 2.
• And China did not confirm novel coronavirus as the cause even on January 3 when it confirmed a cluster of pneumonia cases. 

Complicit with China:

• At least on three occasions, including on January 30 when the health emergency of international concern was declared, WHO had publicly praised China for its commitment to transparency. 
• WHO said China was “setting a new standard for outbreak response” and called the quick sharing of whole genome sequence data of the virus as “very impressive”
• But independent investigation revealed a different situation — China was not very forthcoming. 
• The world knew of human-to-human transmission in China only on January 20, and the global body was often kept in the dark. 
• Scientific evidence strongly suggests that the outbreak began at least by early November. 
• Apparently, WHO had to keep praising China so that it shared information. 
• Surely, powerful nations cannot be allowed to endanger lives around the world by shirking responsibility. 
• China has evidently refused to learn lessons from the disastrous handling of the 2002 SARS outbreak. 
• The current pandemic continues to infect millions, killing more than 5,30,000, and destroying livelihoods and the world economy. 

Conclusion:

• At least some of the impact could have been lessened by more proactive action on the part of China, and by less reverential attitude on the part of WHO.
• WHO seems to be at the mercy of powerful nations while obtaining relevant information.

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 Prelims Questions:

Q.1). With reference to the India – Bangladesh Joint Venture Company (JVC) for LPG business, consider the following statements:

1. India and Bangladesh recently signed an agreement for the formation of a 50:50 Joint Venture Company (JVC) for LPG business in Bangladesh.
2. The company plans to diversify into LPG export to the north eastern states of India from Bangladesh. 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C

Mains Questions:

Q.1). Describe the role, composition and functions of WHO. Examine the recent act of US withdrawal from the WHO.

(The Gist of PIB) Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings Initiative

Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings Initiative

• On World Environment Day, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under Ministry of Power, in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) MAITREE program, launched the “Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings” initiative.

About EESL:

• Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the administration of Ministry of Power, Government of India, is working towards mainstreaming energy efficiency and is implementing the world’s largest energy efficiency portfolio in the country.
• Driven by the mission of Enabling More – more transparency, more transformation, and more innovation.
• EESL aims to create market access for efficient and future-ready transformative solutions that create a win-win situation for every stakeholder.

MAITREE:

• The Market Integration and Transformation Program for Energy Efficiency (MAITREE), under which this initiative has been launched.
• It is a part of the US-India bilateral Partnership between the Ministry of Power and USAID.
• It is aimed at accelerating the adoption of cost-effective energy efficiency as a standard practice within buildings, and specifically focuses on cooling.

Key highlights:

• As part of this pilot, “Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings” Initiative, EESL has taken the leadership by being the first to implement this framework in its own offices.
• This initiative is addressing the challenges of retrofitting existing buildings and air conditioning systems so that they are both healthy and energy efficient.
• The EESL office pilot will address this problem by developing specifications for future use in other buildings throughout the country, as well as aid in evaluating the effectiveness and cost benefits of various technologies and their short and long-term impacts on air quality, comfort, and energy use.

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Courtesy: PIB

(The Gist of PIB) The Urban Learning Internship Program

 The Urban Learning Internship Program

• The Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have jointly launched an online portal called The Urban Learning Internship Program (TULIP).

About:

• TULIP is a program for providing fresh graduates experiential learning opportunities in the urban sector.
• TULIP has been conceived pursuant to the Budget 2020-21 announcement by the Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman under the theme ‘Aspirational India’.
• It is the result of the visionary leadership of our Prime Minister who firmly believes in the power of the youth and their ability to not only bring positive change in our country but in the world.

Smart Cities Mission – Snapshot of progress:

• The Smart Cities Mission has made significant progress over the last three years in laying the foundation for future of urban India.
• Now the projects worth over Rs. 1,65,000 crores have been tendered of which projects amounting to around Rs. 1,24,000 crores are in the implementation stage.
• Projects worth Rs. 26,700 crores are already completed and delivering benefits to the citizens.
• In order to boost walkability, non-motorized transport and public transport, our cities have completed 151 smart road projects worth Rs. 2,300 crores and 373 projects worth Rs.18,300 crores are near completion. 91 PPP projects worth Rs.3,700 crores have been completed and 203 projects worth Rs. 21,400 crores will be completed soon.
• 51 projects worth Rs. 800 crores in the domain of vibrant urban spaces have been completed. 67 projects worth Rs.2,300 crores related to smart water and 41 projects worth Rs. 200 crores under smart solar have been completed.

Significance:

• TULIP would help enhance the value-to-market of India’s graduates and help create a potential talent pool in diverse fields like urban planning, transport engineering, environment, municipal finance etc. thus not only catalyzing creation of prospective city managers but also talented private/ non-government sector professionals.
• TULIP would benefit ULBs and smart cities immensely.
• It will lead to infusion of fresh ideas and energy with engagement of youth in co-creation of solutions for solving India’s urban challenges.
• It will further Government’s endeavors to boost community partnership and government- academia-industry-civil society linkages.
• It would help fulfill twin goals of providing interns with hands-on learning experience as well as infusing fresh energy and ideas in the functioning of India’s ULBs and Smart Cities.

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(The Gist of PIB) Aerosol characterization and radiative forcing Western-Trans Himalayas

Aerosol characterization and radiative forcing Western-Trans Himalayas

• Researchers at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital have found that aerosol radiative forcing larger than the global averages, implying some amount of radiative effects, in spite of the clean atmosphere over the trans-Himalayas.

About:

• ARIES, Nainital is an autonomous research institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology.
• The Trans-Himalayas Mountain Region is located to the north of the Great Himalayas which consists of Karakoram, Ladakh, Zaskar and Kailash mountain ranges. It is also called the Tibet Himalayan Region because most of the part of these ranges lies in Tibet.

Key highlights of the study:

• The paper under publication in the journal Science of the Total Environment shows that monthly-mean atmospheric radiative forcing of aerosols leads to heating rates of 0.04 to 0.13 C per day.
• ​​​​​​​Further, the temperature over the Ladakh region is increasing 0.3 to 0.4 degrees Celsius per decades from the last 3 decades.

Significance:

• The atmospheric aerosols play a key role in the regional/global climate system through scattering and absorption of incoming solar radiation and by modifying the cloud structure.
• The transport of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols and dust from the polluted Indo-Gangetic Plain and desert areas over the Himalayas constitutes a major climatic issue due to severe impacts on atmospheric warming and glacier retreat.
• This heating over the Himalayas facilitates the “elevated-heat pump” that strengthens the temperature gradient between land and ocean and modifies the atmospheric circulation and the monsoon rainfall.
• A deep scientific study of aerosol generation, transport, and its properties have important implications in the mitigation of climate change.
• The study can help better understand the aerosol optical and microphysical properties and improve the modelling of aerosol effects in view of aerosol-climate implication via modifications in atmospheric warming and changes in the snow/glacier albedo over the trans-Himalayan region.

Background:

• Measurements of aerosol optical and microphysical properties started during the last decade at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) at the high altitude background sites of Hanle and Merak in the trans-Himalayas under the frameworks of Aerosol Radiative Forcing over India (ARFI) and Astronomical Site Survey program of Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore.
• The Indian Astronomical Observatory, located near Leh in Ladakh, has one of the world’s highest located sites for optical, infrared and gamma-ray telescopes.
• In addition to this, few in-situ measurements of carbonaceous aerosols and ionic species have also been performed at Himansh Observatory (Spiti Valley) in the western Himalayas.

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(The Gist of Science Reporter) Air Pollution and Public Health: Challenges and Interventions

 [JUNE-2020]

Air Pollution and Public Health: Challenges and Interventions

Challenges:

• Air Pollution: Know your Enemy — Insights from Around the Globe
• Air Pollution: A Burden on One’s Health
• Indoor Air Pollution: A Devil at Home?
• Air Pollution & Respiratory Diseases: Turning Acute to Chronic
• Alarming Rise of Cancer: Is Air Pollution a Contributor?
• Impact of Air Pollution on Reproductive Health
• Mitigation Strategies and Role of Public-Private Partnership
• Recommendations for Sustainable Solutions

Interventions:

• Appropriate policies should be adopted and programmes initiated to control air pollution resulting from emissions of oxides of carbon, sulphur & nitrogen; hydrocarbons and particulate matter, from stationary and mobile sources to achieve acceptable levels of ambient air quality.
• Efforts should be made to have continuous monitoring systems of primary and secondary pollutants and their sources to provide precise information about the level of air pollution in a region-specific manner, including hotspots, to get a clear idea about the intensity and magnitude of the problem.
• Member countries should share information about emissions of different categories of air pollutants from various sources.
• In order to precisely establish the cause-effect relationship, efforts should be made to continuously monitor and record seasonal fluctuations in air pollution levels and correlate with increased incidents of associated health issues.
• Governments, industries as well as research and healthcare institutions should encourage transdisciplinary, holistic research to study the effects of air pollution on human, animal and plant health.
• The understanding of the concept of ‘One Health’ should be promoted especially in the context of air pollution.
• Special emphasis should be given to conducting in depth analysis of the sources, types, causes and effects of indoor and ambient air pollution.
• Capacity building programs, workshops and training sessions should be conducted to sensitize people about the causes and harmful effects of indoor and ambient air pollution.
• Governments should encourage educational institutions to adopt pedagogical tools in the curriculum in the environment and climate change to increase awareness and sensitize students on the harmful effects of air pollution and their role in minimizing the effects.
• Local health workers and medical practitioners should be encouraged to be involved in epidemiological programs, to create a database of various health issues related to air pollution.
• Governments should encourage and fund start-ups and researchers engaged in designing environment friendly solutions in sectors such as transportation, household cooking, construction, etc. to minimize the emission of air pollutants.
• Appropriate emission control strategies should be adopted on national and international basis, which may include emission standards for various categories of polluters, within a legal framework, and other effective and efficient means of reducing the pollution levels.
• Internationally coordinated research and development programmes should be supported and undertaken aimed at better understanding of the effects of air pollution on humans and the environment, and improving technologies for fossil fuel combustion and control of pollutant emissions.
• Governments in NAM and other developing countries should encourage the use of biofuels and other sources of renewable energy. The focus should also be directed towards waste management and biotreatment of polluted environments.
• All major industrial and infrastructure projects should undergo a human health impact assessment as a part of the approval process.
• Industries should be mandated to adopt ‘Cleaner Technologies’ in their production processes to reduce air pollution at source. Industries should be encouraged with incentives to implement ‘Process Optimization’ and ‘Process Integration’ for mitigation of air pollution.

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Jal Jeevan Mission

Vision:

• Every rural household has drinking water supply in adequate quantities of prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis at affordable service delivery charges leading to improvement in living standards of rural communities.

Mission:

Jal Jeevan Mission is to assist, empower and facilitate:

• States/UTs in planning a participatory rural water supply strategy for ensuring potable drinking water security on a long-term basis to every rural household and public institution, viz. GP buildStates/UTsing, school, Anganwadi centre, health centre, wellness centres, etc.
• States/UTs for creation of water supply infrastructure so that every rural household has Functional Tap Connection (FTC) by 2024 and water in adequate quantities of prescribed quality is made available on a regular basis.
•  to plan for their drinking water security.
• GPs/rural communities to plan, implement, manage, own, operate and maintain their own in-village water supply systems.
• States/UTs to develop robust institutions having focus on service delivery and financial sustainability of the sector by promoting utility approach.
• Capacity building of the stakeholders and creating awareness in community on the significance of water for improvement in quality of life.
• In making provision and mobilisation of financial assistance to states/UTs for implementation of the mission.

Objectives:

The broad objectives of the Mission are:

• To provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household.
• To prioritize provision of FHTCs in quality affected areas, villages in drought prone and desert areas, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages, etc.
• To provide Functional Tap Connection to schools, Anganwadi centres, GP buildings, health centres, wellness centres and community buildings.
• To monitor functionality of tap connections.
• To promote and ensure voluntary ownership among local community by way of contribution in cash, kind and/or labour and voluntary labour (shramdaan).
• To assist in ensuring sustainability of water supply system, i.e. water source, water supply infrastructure, and funds for regular O&M.
• To empower and develop human resources in the sector such that the demands of construction, plumbing, electrical, water quality management, water treatment, catchment protection, O&M, etc. are taken care of in the short and long term.
• To bring awareness on various aspects and significance of safe drinking water and involvement of stakeholders in manners that make water everyone's business.

Components under JJM:

The following components are supported under JJM:

• Development of in-village piped water supply infrastructure to provide tap water connection to every rural household.
• Development of reliable drinking water sources and/ or augmentation of existing sources to provide long-term sustainability of water supply system.
• Wherever necessary, bulk water transfer, treatment plants and distribution network to cater to every rural household.
• Technological interventions for removal of contaminants where water quality is an issue.
• Retrofitting of completed and ongoing schemes to provide FHTCs at minimum service level of 55 lpcd.
• Greywater management.
• Support activities, i.e. IEC, HRD, training, development of utilities, water quality. laboratories, water quality testing & surveillance, R&D, knowledge centre, capacity building of communities, etc.
• Any other unforeseen challenges/ issues emerging due to natural disasters/ calamities which affect the goal of FHTC to every household by 2024, as per guidelines of the Ministry of Finance on Flexi Funds. Efforts should be made to source funds from different sources/programmes and convergence is the key.

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(The Gist of PIB) Saiyam

Saiyam

• A mobile application named Saiyam has been developed by the Pune Municipal Corporation under Smart Cities Mission (SCM).

Key highlights:

• The Mobile Application has GPS tracking so that whenever quarantined citizens leave their homes, City Administration gets alerted and the local ward or the local police station gets informed, who then visit the family. 
• All the Home Quarantined citizens are given the mandate to download the app and install it. 
• These identified citizens are advised to keep the GPS feature on the device always switched-on and the mobile device should be switched-on throughout the 24 hours, during the quarantine period. Citizens’ movements can be monitored centrally real-time from the monitoring cell and are marked as Red, Amber or Green. 
• Red signifies that the person has ventured out for a longer duration; Yellow signifies that the person has limited movements and Green signifies that the person is confined to house limits.

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(The Gist of PIB) Anthurium

Anthurium 

• D Vasini Bai, a women innovator from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has developed ten varieties of Anthurium, a flower with high market value, by cross-pollination.

Key highlights: 

• Anthurium (Anthurium spp.) is a vast group of beautiful blooming plants available in a wide range of colors.
• The plants of the varieties are having high demands due to its use as indoor decorative plants.
• The innovator has been propagating it through cuttings and seeds and supplying some plants and flowers throughout the country, but she was unable to meet the demand due to the time-consuming technique of the propagation method.
• The National Innovation Foundation-India has facilitated mass multiplication and large scale production of four highly demanded varieties through tissue culture technique at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bangalore, for the diffusion of the varieties in similar agroclimatic zones of the country.

Significance: 

• Anthurium is one of the best domestic flowering plants in the world.
• They are beautiful but also purify the surrounding air and remove harmful airborne chemicals like formaldehyde, ammonia, toluene, xylene, and allergens.
• Its importance of removing toxic substances from the air, NASA has placed it in the list of air purifier plants. Anthurium has larger economic importance because of its eye-catching and beautiful inflorescence and fetches a good market price.
   

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(The Gist of PIB) 28 Kassowal bridge

28 Kassowal bridge

• Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed and opened a new permanent bridge on the river Ravi connecting Kasowal enclave in Punjab to the rest of the country much ahead of its schedule.

Key highlights: 

• The 484-meter bridge was built by 141 Drain Maintenance Coy of 49 Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) of Project Chetak.
• The bridge costing Rs 17.89 crore excluding the approaches, consists of 16 cells of 30.25- meter length each.
• The enclave of around 35 square kilometers had hitherto been connected via pontoon bridge of limited load capacity.
• The pontoon bridge used to be dismantled every year prior to the Monsoon or else it would have got washed away in the strong currents of the river. This meant thousands of acres of fertile land across the river could not be tilled by farmers during the Monsoon.
• The local population and the Army (by virtue of the sensitivity of the enclave) required a Class 70 permanent bridge to give all-weather connectivity to the enclave. The Border Roads Organisation conceived and planned for a permanent bridge.

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(The Gist of PIB) NanoBlitz 3D

NanoBlitz 3D

• Scientists from the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India have jointly developed an advanced tool for mapping nano-mechanical properties of materials like multi-phase alloys, composites, and multi-layered coatings.

About:

• The tool called NanoBlitz 3D has also been found to yield excellent results on a wide range of material systems, including glass-fiber-reinforced polymer composites, dual-phase steels, softwood, and shale.
• An important aspect of this technique is its high-throughput, with just a few hours of testing required for generating more than 10,000 data points that can be processed using machine learning (ML) algorithms.

Key highlights: 

• It enables the performance of a large array, typically consisting of 1000s high-speed nano-indentation tests, wherein each indentation test takes less than one second to measure hardness and elastic modulus of a given material.
• In addition, it provides capabilities to carry out advanced data analysis, such as identifying and quantifying the mechanical properties of constituent phases, features, or components of multi-phase alloys, composites, multi-layered coatings and so on.
• The high-speed mapping capabilities of the tool can also be used to quickly establish structure-property linkages at a micrometer length scale or higher, which can help to understand multiscale mechanics and aid in the development of hierarchical materials.
• Expedites the development of high-performance novel materials under an Integrated Computational Material Engineering (ICME) approach.
   

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(The Gist of PIB) My Book My Friend campaign

MyBookMyFriendcampaign

• Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ extended greetings to everyone on the occasion of World Book Day and launched the #MyBookMyFriendcampaign on social media on the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day (23 April).

About: 

• The Union Minister said that this time World Book Day is being celebrated with the lockdown.
• He appealed to all the students that at the time of lockdown, they must read some books of interest in addition to course books. There will be an opportunity to learn something new.
• He urged all the students to read a book and share with him about the book which they are reading at the moment using #MyBookMyFriend on social media.
   

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(The Gist of Science Reporter) ICMR’s Efforts to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic

 [MAY-2020]

ICMR’s Efforts to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic

India Bagged 5th Position Globally to Isolate the COVID-19 Virus Strain:

• ICMR, the apex Health Research Body of India, successfully isolated the CovID-19 virus strain and became the fifth nation after Japan, Thailand, United States of America and China who have isolated the strain. The isolation of the strain was the first step to accelerate the development of vaccines, therapeutics and rapid diagnostic kits in India.

Scales up its Capacity to Flatten the Growth Curve of the Pandemic:

• ICMR has been working tirelessly to implement scientific interventions to battle COVID-19 and so expanded its capacity to diagnose and manage the outbreak. ICMR, which is also the testing agency for the infection, has extended its system of labs equipped to test COVID-19 from 51 to 65. The secondary test for reconfirmation of the infection which was earlier being conducted in ICMR-National Institute of Virology has additionally been extended to 31 labs.

Augmented Plan to Fast-track COVID-19 Testing Facilities:

• The council has released an augmented plan to fast-track CovID-19 testing laboratory scale-up including proactive search for potential laboratories that could be enabled for CovID-19 testing and inviting applications from all eligible private and Govt Medical Colleges to be a part of the battle against coronavirus pandemic. 
• The official statement says, “As per directives of Hon’ble Union Minister of Home Affairs and Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, under a core team of Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi; Director and Director General, ICMR, a total of 14 Centers of Excellence have been designated. These Centers have been delegated the responsibility of mentoring all the Govt and Private Medical Colleges in their catchment area and eventually create state-of-art molecular virology setups.”

Data Portal Streamlining Data Collection from all Laboratories on Real-time Basis:

• ICMR has prepared a portal that provides complete information regarding CovID-19 including testing Strategy, kits, surveillance and prophylaxis treatment, preparation for a worst-case scenario and disease prevention and management.

Sentinel Surveillance to Detect Community Transmission of the disease:

• ICMR has been the nodal agency for testing CovID-19 patients and closely monitoring the presence of community transmissions in India. The council has initiated from 15 February the sentinel surveillance for identifying community transmission of COVID-19. The surveillance sites have been scaled up from 16 sites till 29 February 2020 to 51 sites by 15 March 2020. As per the official statement: “In view of the evolving nature of COVID19 transmission, the surveillance is being expanded to include more areas especially areas where COVID19 cases have been reported.”

National Task Force for COVID-19:

• ICMR set up a national task force to research COVID-19. The national task force constitutes the research groups including Clinical Research Group, Research on diagnostics and biomarkers, epidemiology and surveillance, operations research, vaccines/Drug research and development, to identify the research priorities and initiate research studies. The Terms of Reference (ToR) are as follows:
• Identify research priorities
• Review evidence
• Align them in consonance with the current level of outbreak and response
• Identify protocol lead and create a protocol development team
  • Develop concept notes
  • Develop complete protocols
• Identify partners for implementation

TB Testing Machine to Detect COVID-19:

• To expand the testing facility for CovID-19, ICMR also approved the use of tuberculosis testing machines for conducting COVID-19 tests. The council validated TruenattM beta Cov test on truelabtM workstation and recommended it as a screening test for COVID-19. The ICMR has issued guidance on the use of Truenat TM beta CoV stating that throat/nasal swabs will be collected in the Viral Transport Medium (VTM) with virus lysis buffer provided along with the kit.

ICMR Database being Used in Aarogya Setu App:

• The Indian Govt brought out the COVID-19 tracker App namely Aarogya Setu which is an initiative to keep people informed and alert against the outbreak by developing a bridge to battle against the disease. Aarogya Setu App needs one’s mobile number, location data (via GPS and Bluetooth), and matches the travelling history with that of the COVID-19 positive patients, documented by ICMR database in the backend.

Role in Establishing Diagnosis of COVID-19:

• ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, serves as the resource centre for the Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL) network and is responsible for providing technical training for performing molecular and serological assays for virological diagnosis. In view of the COVID-19 outbreak in India, NIV served as the apex laboratory to optimise the conventional and real-time PCR assays targeting different genomic regions of COVID-19 and initiate testing of suspected cases.
   

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(The Gist of Science Reporter) ICT for Quality Education in India

 [MAY-2020]

 ICT for Quality Education in India

• Information which encompasses all communication technologies such as Internet, wireless networks, cell phones, satellite and Communication Technology (ICT), communications, digital television, etc. has fundamentally changed the way we live now. We find a world of difference in the practices and the procedures of fields such as medicine, travel, tourism, business, banking, engineering as they operate now in comparison to how they operated three decades ago.
• The impact of ICT on education however has been far less and slow. Though the lack of sufficient funding to purchase technologies has often been cited as a reason for this, the real and the most significant cause has been the lack of motivation among teachers to adopt ICT as teaching tools. But in recent times, factors have emerged that have strengthened and encouraged moves to adopt ICTs in classrooms and learning settings.

Scenario in India:

• India has the third largest system of education in the world, next only to USA and China, with about 1000 universities and around 40000 colleges. 
• To introduce ICT-enabled education in such a large system one needs to have high quality multimedia enriched content in different disciplines for various courses, capacity building of teachers and students in ICT skills and state-of-the-art infrastructure along with broadband connectivity for disseminating the content so that it reaches the doorsteps of the learners.
• During the last few years, the Govt of India under the “Digital India” initiative has taken several steps to integrate ICT with higher education. The result is that the face of higher education in India is changing very rapidly.

ICT in Learning: E-Learning and MOOCs

• E-learning or electronic learning basically means learning using ICT – the focus is still on learning, ICT is just the mechanism. E-content is the basic element of e-learning and is obtained from static content developed by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) after multimedia enrichment. 
• The static content contains text, value additions, quizzes, graphics, images, etc. This static content is multimedia enriched by adding audios, videos, animations, simulations, etc. wherever necessary. Multimedia enrichment helps communicate difficult concepts in simpler ways and thus offers unique advantages in the field of education. It enables learners to experience their subject in a profound way.

Quality of E-content

• The quality of e-content is very important in e-learning. A good quality e-content is one that has all the features that make self-learning exciting and interesting. It needs to be authentic; it should facilitate self-learning and self-assessment. 
• It must be highly interactive, multimedia enriched and the whole content should have been written and arranged in a very structured fashion according to the prescribed syllabus. Easy navigation, modular and reusable are other qualities of a good e-content.

What are MOOCs?

• MOOCs is also a form of e-learning but in a very structured manner. “MOOC” is an acronym for Massive Open Online Course. The word “MOOC” was coined in 2008 by Dave Cormier. 
• “MOOC” is an acronym where “M” stands for massive, because there can be unlimited or massive enrolments; “O” for open i.e. no qualifications are required for enrolment in a MOOC until and unless you want to obtain grades/credit. “O” for online, as this content is available online and can be accessed through the web; and “C” for courses having specific learning outcomes.

Structure of a MOOC:

• In a MOOC, e-content is arranged either in week-wise format or topic-wise format. For example, for a MOOC developed under ePGPathshala project of UGC, in one MOOC corresponding to a one semester paper there are 35-40 e-content modules having a total of 20 hours of video content and 20 hours of non-video content. 
• The various modules are arranged in a very systematic and logical manner and are covered in fifteen weeks. The first seven weeks are self-learning weeks; eighth week is a revision and assessment week; week nine to fourteen are again self-learning weeks and week fifteen is revision and assessment week.

MOOCs and SWAYAM Portal:

• All the MOOCs being developed under the aegis of the MHRD by various national coordinators are uploaded on the SWAYAM portal and can be accessed through www.swayam.gov.in. SWAYAM stands for “Study webs of active learning for young aspiring minds” and is a platform for hosting various MOOCs. 
• Technically, it has been developed as a Learning Management System having the functionality of uploading and hosting e-content in video and non-video format along with online self-graded quizzes, discussion forums, assignments, etc. for each MOOC.

ICT in Revision of Syllabi:

• The much required regular and more frequent revision of syllabi in view of fast growing knowledge is a very big challenge in the university system. The process is very cumbersome and time consuming as it has to go through various statutory bodies besides soliciting the opinion of various subject experts. ICT can be of great help in this regard.
• Through emails, discussion forums, video conferencing, etc. experts across the country can work in a collaborative manner towards regular upgradation and improvement in syllabi. They can also take inputs from industry, if need be, to make the course up-to-date and industry relevant so that the students are better employable.

ICT in Assessment:

• Due to the paucity of time and poor teacher-student ratio, frequent and uniform assessment of students is a big challenge.
• With the help of ICT, Online examination and assessments can be done more frequently and uniformly with immediate results. Analysis of testing and individualized feedback can be given, so that the weak concept can be studied again.

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(The Gist of Science Reporter) PM KISAN Mobile App

 [MAY-2020]

PM KISAN Mobile App

• PM-KISAN Mobile App was launched to widen the reach of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme which may help in doubling the farmers’ income. With this App, farmers can view the status of their application, update or carry out corrections of their Aadhaar cards. They can also check the history of credits to their respective bank accounts, know about the scheme and dial helpline numbers. 
• Around 14 crore beneficiaries are to be covered under the PM Kisan scheme. The PM-KISAN application is designed and developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India.
   

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(The Gist of Science Reporter) Simplify your Diabetes Care Plan with InPen

 [MAY-2020]

Simplify your Diabetes Care Plan with InPen

• INPEN consists of a reusable injector pen and an instinctive smartphone interface. InPen is an insulin injector pen which is easy-to-use and facilitates the user to calculate their insulin doses. When the pen is paired via Bluetooth with the mobile app, the InPen’s delivery system keeps a track of doses the patient has taken. InPen was designed for insulin dependent individuals and elderly people who undergo regular numerous subcutaneous injections.
• It also allows the user to correct the dosage of insulin without wasting it. It lasts for one year and it does not need any recharge. The app uses information transmitted by the pen to track insulin therapy, calculate dose and can also share therapy data with the patient’s doctor or family.

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(The Gist of PIB) Draft Electricity Act

Draft Electricity Act

• For supply of quality power at affordable prices the Ministry of Power has issued a draft proposal for amendment of Electricity Act, 2003 in the form of draft Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Key highlights about the proposed amendments: 

• Viability of Electricity Distribution Companies (Discoms) 
• Cost reflective Tariff: To eliminate the tendency of some Commissions to provide for regulatory assets, it is being provided that the Commissions shall determine tariffs that are reflective of cost so as to enable Discoms to recover their costs.
• Direct Benefit Transfer: It is proposed that tariff be determined by Commissions without taking into account the subsidy, which will be given directly by the government to the consumers.

Sanctity of Contracts

• Establishment of Electricity Contract Enforcement Authority: A Central Enforcement Authority headed by a retired Judge of the High Court is proposed to be set-up with powers of the Civil Court to enforce the performance of contracts related to purchasing or sale or transmission of power between a generating, distribution or transmission companies.
• Establishment of adequate Payment Security Mechanism for scheduling of electricity – It is proposed to empower Load Dispatch Centres to oversee the establishment of adequate payment security mechanisms before scheduling dispatch of electricity, as per contracts.

Strengthening the regulatory regime

• Strengthening of the Appellate Tribunal (APTEL): It is proposed to increase the strength of APTEL to seven apart from the Chairperson so that multiple benches can be set-up to facilitate quick disposal of cases. It is also proposed to further empower the APTEL to enforce its decisions.
• Doing away with multiple Selection Committees: It is proposed to have one Selection Committee for selection of Chairpersons and Members of the Central and State Commissions and uniform qualifications for appointments of Chairperson and Members of Central and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions.
• Penalties: In order to ensure compliance of the provisions of the Electricity Act and orders of the Commission, section 142 and section 146 of the Electricity Act are proposed to be amended to provide for higher penalties.

Renewable and Hydro Energy

• National Renewable Energy Policy: It is proposed to provide for a policy document for the development and promotion of the generation of electricity from renewable sources of energy.
• It is also proposed that a minimum percentage of purchase of electricity from hydro sources of energy is to be specified by the Commissions.
• Penalties: It is being further proposed to levy penalties for non-fulfillment of obligation to buy electricity from renewable and/or hydro sources of energy.

Miscellaneous

• Cross border trade in Electricity: Provisions have been added to facilitate and develop trade in electricity with other countries.
• Franchisees and Distribution sub licensees: Many States Distribution Companies have been assigning the task of distribution of electricity in a particular area or city to Franchisees / Sub-Distribution Licensees.

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