Daily Current Capsules 06th April 2022

Environment Conservation/GSIII

Awareness Mascot ‘Prakriti'& Green Initiatives for Effective Plastic Waste Management launched

  

What's the NEWS

• The Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, launched ‘Prakriti', a mascotto spread greater awareness among masses about small changes that can be sustainably adopt in our lifestyle for a better environment, and various green initiatives taken by Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to ensure effective Plastic Waste Management (PWM) in the country.

Following green initiatives for plastic waste management were launched:

• National Dashboard on Elimination of Single Use Plastic and Plastic Waste Management (MoEFCC) to bring all stakeholders including Central Ministries/ Departments, State/UT Governments at one place and track the progress made for elimination of single use plastic (SUP) and effective management of plastic waste.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Portal for Plastic Packaging (CPCB) for improving accountability, traceability, transparency and facilitating ease of reporting compliance to EPR Obligations by Producers, Importers and Brand-owners
• Mobile App for Single Use Plastics Grievance Redressal (CPCB) to empower citizens to check sale/usage/manufacturing of SUP in their area and tackle the plastic menace.
• Monitoring module for SUP (CPCB), for local bodies, SPCBs/PCCs and CPCB, to inventorize details of SUP production/ sale & usage in commercial establishments at district level, and on-ground enforcement of ban on SUP.
• Industrial production of Graphene from Waste Plastic (G B Pant NIHE & NRDC) to promote more industries to come forward to up cycle plastic waste.

 

Plastic Pollution

• Plastic has become one of the most pressing environmental issues that we are facing today.
• India is generating about 3.5 Million Tonnes of plastic waste annually and the per capita plastic waste generation has almost doubled over the last five years.
• Plastic Pollution adversely affects our ecosystems and is also linked to air pollution.
• To tackle the challenge of plastic pollution, the Prime Minister, announced India's pledge to phase out Single Use Plastics (SUPs) by 2022.

 

Centre - State Relations/GSII

Haryana Assembly Passes Resolution Opposing Punjab's Claim on Chandigarh

What's the NEWS

 

• Days after the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution seeking the transfer of Chandigarh to the state, the Haryana Assembly countered the claim by unanimously passing a resolution to retain its right over the Union Territory.
• The resolution was passed during a one-day special session of the Haryana Assembly.
• Punjab and Haryana share the Union Territory of Chandigarh as their common capital.
• The resolution stated that Punjab's move in the Assembly to stake claim to Chandigarh is in defiance to agreements under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.

 

Know! some recent developments

 

• Earlier in March 2022, Union Home Ministry announced to align service conditions of all employees of the Chandigarh administration with Central civil services.
• Also, the Central Government changed rules for appointments in Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).
• Earlier, the appointments were done only from the states of Punjab and Haryana but now the board can recruit from anywhere in India.
• Political parties in Punjab criticised this and termed it an attempt to ‘snatch' Chandigarh from Punjab.

 

Know! the genesis (Historical background)

 

• Before 1947, in undivided India, the capital city of Punjab province was Lahore.
• In 1947, during partition, the capital of Punjab was temporarily shifted to Shimla.
• In 1948, the Punjab Government acquired as many as 22 villages from Kharar, a town in Punjab to build a new capital city.
• The capital of Punjab was officially shifted from Shimla to Chandigarh on September 21, 1953.
• On November 1, 1966 a new state of Haryana was created, under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, as a result of dividing the former state of Punjab into two separate states-Punjabi-speaking Punjab and Hindi-speaking Haryana.
• This was implemented, based on the recommendations of Sardar Hukum Singh Parliamentary Committee.
• In April 1966, acting on the recommendation of the Hukam Singh Committee, the Indian government set up the Shah Commission under the chairmanship of Justice J. C. Shah, to divide and set up the boundaries of Punjab and Haryana.
• According to Shah Commission report, Tehsil Kharar (including Chandigarh) should also be a part of Haryana.
• However, both Punjab and Haryana claimed Chandigarh as their capital.
• The Central Government declared Chandigarh as a Union Territory, pending a resolution.
• Subsequently, Chandigarh became a joint capital of both Punjab and Haryana.
• It was decided that properties in Chandigarh were to be divided in a 60:40 ratio in favour of Punjab.
• As per the Rajiv-Longowal Accord, the Central Government agreed that Chandigarh would be transferred to Punjab on January 26, 1986 but the decision was later withdrawn.
• The Rajiv-Longowal Accord was an accord signed by then Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi and Akali leader of Punjab Harchand Singh Longowal in July 1985.

 

Science and Technology/GSIII
Genome edited crops

 

 

What's the NEWS

 

• The central government has paved the way for easy introduction of genome edited crops.
• The government has clearly distinguished such crops from genetically modified crops and has prescribed relatively easier norms for their introduction.
• The change in rules will allow genome-edited plants, or organisms without any "foreign" genes to be subjected to a different regulatory process than the one applied to those genetically engineered products with "foreign" genes.

 

Know! about genome editing

• Genome is the complete genetic information of an organism and genome editing is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted, modified or replaced in the genome of a living organism.
• Genome editing targets the insertions to site specific locations.

 

CRISPR or CRISPR-Cas9

 

• It is used as a tool to target specific stretches of genetic code and to edit DNA at precise locations.
• Using this tool, genome editing can be used to insert specific traits in the gene sequence.
• The agriculture scientists has used this genome editing tool to bring the desired changes in the genome by using site directed nuclease (SDN) or sequence specific nuclease (SSN).
• Nuclease is an enzyme which cleaves through nucleic acid.

 

Depending on the nature of the edit that is carried out, the process is divided into three categories - SDN 1, SDN 2 and SDN 3.

 

• SDN1 introduces changes in the host genome's DNA through small insertions/deletions without introduction of foreign genetic material.
• In the case of SDN 2, the edit involves using a small DNA template to generate specific changes. Both these processes do not involve alien genetic material and the end result is indistinguishable from conventionally bred crop varieties.
• On the other hand, SDN3 process involves larger DNA elements or full length genes of foreign origin which makes it similar to Genetically modified organisms (GMO) development.

 

Both SDN1 and SDN2, does not involve alien genetic material and the end result is indistinguishable from conventionally bred crop varieties.

Genome editing and Genetically modified organisms

 

• Genetically modified organisms(GMO) involve modification of the genetic material of the host by introduction of a foreign genetic material.
• In the case of agriculture, soil bacteria is the best mining source for such genes which are then inserted into the host genome using genetic engineering
• For example, in case of cotton, introduction of genes cry1Ac and cry2Ab mined from the soil bacterium Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) allow the native cotton plant to generate endotoxins to fight pink bollworm naturally.
• BT Cotton uses this advantage to help farmers naturally fight pink bollworm which is the most common pest for cotton farmers.
• The basic difference between genome editing and genetic modification in this context is that while the former does not involve the introduction of foreign genetic material, the latter does.
• In the case of agriculture, both the techniques aim to generate variants which are better yielding and more resistant to biotic and abiotic stress.
• The Environment Ministry has exempted genome edited crops through SDN 1 and SDN 2 process from stringent regulatory processes that are applied for GM crops.
• For SDN1 and SDN2 processes, the government will instead rely on reports of Institutional Biosafety Committee to exclude exogenous genetic material
  
• The institutional biosafety committees are expert committees to deal with research and release of GM material.
• Such committees would now be entrusted to certify that the genome edited crop is devoid of any foreign DNA.
• This will allow such genome-edited plants without the need for GMO regulation at the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).

 

Know! about Institutional Biosafety Committee

 

• In India, the manufacture, import, research and release of Genetically Engineered Organisms (GEOs), as well as products made by the use of such organisms are governed by 'The Rules for Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro-Organisms, Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, (commonly referred to as "Rules 1989")' notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986.
• According to these rules, the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBSC) shall be constituted by all institutions handling hazardous microorganisms and/or GE organisms. The Committee will be the nodal point for implementation of the biosafety guidelines and for the interactions within the institution.

 

 

Environment Conservation/GSIII
IPCC Working Group III contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)

 

 

What's the NEWS

 

• The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) delivered a dire assessment and warning in its latest report released on April 4.
• The report highlighted that it will not be possible to restrict global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, without deep reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases by 2030.

 

Highlights of the Report

 

• The third and final part of the report is focused on looking into the possibilities of reducing emissions.
• The report found that over the past decade, emissions have continued to rise.
• Average annual global greenhouse gas emissions in the decade of 2010-19 were at their highest levels in human history.
• The report highlighted that limiting global warming to around 1.5degrees Celsius requires global GHG emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by 43% by 2030.
• Current pledges made by countries who have signed the Paris Agreement are known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Upon adding up the NDCs announced by countries till October 2021, the IPCC finds that it is likely that warming will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius in this century, thereby failing the Paris Agreement's mandate.
• The report warns that if global GHG emissions don't peak by 2025 and reduce by 43% by 2030, the world will have to face warming of around 3degrees Celsius by 2100.
• Finance to reduce net GHG emissions and enhance resilience to climate impacts is a critical enabling factor for the low carbon transition.
• Abysmal climate finance flows from developed countries have affected energy transition in developing countries.

 

Positive Takeaways

 

• An increasing range of policies and laws have enhanced energy efficiency, reduced rates of deforestation and increased the deployment of renewable energy.
• Since 2010, there has been sustained decrease of up to 85% in the costs of solar and wind energy, and batteries.
• There are also large increases in the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs).

 

Suggestions

 

• The IPCC report said that global temperature will stabilize when CO2 emissions reach net zero by early 2050s for 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise goal and by early 2070s for 2degrees Celsius rise trajectories.
• The report has stressed that cities and urban areas can play an important role in emissions reductions
• These can be achieved through lower energy consumption (such as by creating compact, walkable cities), electrification of transport in combination with low emission energy sources.
• Having the right policies, infrastructure and technology in place to enable changes to our lifestyles and behavior can result in a 40%-70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
• Developing Countries, such as India, should set up institutions or commissions to oversee energy transition and mitigation and consider climate legislation to ensure it is implemented.

 

Know! about Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):

 

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
• It was created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• To provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies.
• Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC.

 

Know! about IPCC Assessment Reports:

 

• IPCC reports are a key input into international climate change negotiations.
• For the assessment reports, experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
• The IPCC does not conduct its own research.

 

IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

 

• The IPCC is now in its sixth assessment cycle, in which the IPCC is producing the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).
• The report is divided into three segments i.e. its three Working Groups and a Synthesis Report
• The first part report i.e. Working Group I contribution was released in August, 2021.
• The second part i.e. Working Group II contribution was released in March, 2022.
• Recently, report of the Working Group III was published.

 

Steps taken by India

• India was instrumental in ensuring the inclusion of "climate justice" and "sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption and production" in the preamble of the Paris Agreement.
• At COP26 in November 2021 at Glasgow, United Kingdom, as the implementation of the Paris Agreement began, India reaffirmed its commitment to climate actions, including the goal of net zero by 2070.
• India believes that utilization of resources must be based on ‘Mindful and Deliberate Utilization' and NOT ‘Mindless and Destructive Consumption'.
• Prime Minister, gave a clarion call of L.I.F.E. - Lifestyles for Environment at COP26 at Glasgow.
• India firmly believes that climate change is a global collective action problem that can be solved only through international cooperation and multilateralism.
• India has taken tremendous to address the threat of global climate change by taking several initiatives including, inter-alia, setting up of International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid' and Infrastructure for Resilient Island States, raising the domestic renewable energy target to 500 GW by 2030, putting in place an ambitious National Hydrogen Mission and continuing efforts to decouple its emissions from economic growth.

 

Location in NEWS
GYA - SASOMA VILLAGES

What's the NEWS

 

• In Ladakh, a community museum was inaugurated in Gya - Sasoma villages of Leh district in the direction of preserving and forwarding its rich cultural heritage to future generations.
• Gya is the first village and oldest inhabitation in Upper Ladakh.
• Gya is situated on the Leh-Manali National Highway.
• The Community Museum will be an anchorage point for the young generations of Ladakh to their identity and to the visitors to understand this region.
• Museum has a work-in-progress corner, with a hope to get more collections from people's contributions and further grow.

 

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL