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2023 02 28

Table of Contents:

GS Paper 1:

  1. Scientists unlock secrets of Earth’s wickedly hot innermost realm

GS Paper 2:

  1. Trends in maternal mortality 2000 to 2020
  2. Menstrual leave and its global standing
  3. IFR Review: States do dubious paperwork, cite baseless reasons for refusing forest rights to tribals

GS Paper 3:

  1. Unpacking the new set of e-waste rules

Content for Mains Enrichment (CME)

  1. Bendable Concrete
  2. Kerala to become the first State to use robotics tech extensively for manhole cleaning

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

  1. Arts and artists Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned in Mann ki Baat
  2. 14th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav
  3. Renaming of Cities
  4. Wheat Crisis
  5. Fab 4/Chip 4 chip alliance
  6. AFTER
  7. ‘Organ on a chip’
  8. Mad Cow Disease
  9. What is the ALMA telescope, that will soon get a ‘new brain’?
  10. FATF suspends Russia’s membership over Ukraine war

Scientists unlock secrets of Earth’s wickedly hot innermost realm

GS Paper 1

Syllabus: Geography – Physical Geography of the world.

Source: The Hindu

Context:  An intensive study of Earth’s deep interior, based on the behaviour of seismic waves from large earthquakes, confirmed the existence of a distinct structure inside our planet’s inner core – a hot innermost solid ball of iron and nickel about 800 miles (1,350 km) wide.

Layers of the Earth:

  • The planet’s internal structure comprises four layers: a rocky crust on the outside, then a rocky mantle, an outer core made of magma, and a solid inner core.
  • The inner core’s outer shell and its newly confirmed innermost sphere both are hot enough to be molten but are a solid iron-nickel alloy because the incredible pressure at the centre of the Earth renders it a solid state.
  • The inner core is slowly growing in size at the expense of the outer core by solidifying molten materials as Earth gradually cools.

Related News:

New studies reveal insights about Earth’s mysterious mantle

Source: DTE

Context: According to a new study, the mantle — a 2,900 km thick layer of solid rock sandwiched between the Earth’s upper crust and lower core — has been hiding two layers.

  • One is the “low viscosity” zone in the upper mantle.
  • The other layer is the low-velocity zone, which is also a part of the upper mantle.

Significance of this layer:

  • Affects how Earth transports heat and mixes materials between the crust, core, and mantle over time.
  • The mantle’s viscous properties govern convection — the transfer of heat between areas of different temperatures, enabling plate tectonics.
  • The viscosity of the rocks in the transition zone between the upper and the lower mantle determines whether a plate sinks below another one (subduction) through

Insta Links:

February 28, 2023 /28 Feb 2023, Core, Earths Layers, geography, GS1, Mantle, Today's Article

GS Paper 1/2

Syllabus: Issues related to women/ Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Source: WHO

Context: Every day in 2020, approximately 800 women died (a woman every two minutes) globally from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth

Background:

  • Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (target 3.1) is to reduce maternal mortality to less than 70 deaths per 100 000 live births by 2030.
  • The report has been published by the United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG) – comprising WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, the WB Group and the UNDESA/Population Division has collaborated on a new round of estimates (2000 to 2020).
  • The report presents global, regional and country-level estimates and trends for maternal mortality (between 2000-2020).

India

  • As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) report by the Registrar General of India (RGI), the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of India has reduced from 130 per 100,000 live births in 2014-16 to 113 per 100,000 live births in 2016-18.

Findings:

  • The global MMR in 2020 was estimated at 223 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births, down from 227 in 2015 and 339 in 2000 – a reduction of one-third (34.3%) over the full 20-year period.
  • Three countries had more than 10 000 maternal deaths in 2020:
    • India (24 000)
    • DR Congo (22 000)
    • Ethiopia (10 000)

Strategic framework for Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM):

Insta Links:

Maternal death rate declining: report

Mains Links:

In order to enhance the prospects of social development, sound and adequate healthcare policies are needed particularly in the fields of geriatric and maternal healthcare. Discuss. (UPSC 2020)

February 28, 2023 /28 Feb 2023, 28 Feb CA, GS 1/2, Maternal Mortality, MMEIG, MMR, SDG 3, Today's Article, Today’s article

Menstrual leave and its global standing

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Issues related to women

Source: The Hindu

Context: The Supreme Court refused to entertain a PIL about menstrual leave for workers and students across the country, calling it a policy matter.

About Menstrual leave/period leave:

  • Menstrual leave refers to all policies that allow employees or students to take time off when they are experiencing menstrual pain or discomfort. In the context of the workplace, it refers to policies that allow for both paid or unpaid leave, or time for rest.

Examples from India:

  • Zomato in 2020, announced a 10-day paid period of leave per year, and Swiggy and Byjus have also followed suit.
  • Among State governments, Bihar and Kerala are the only ones to introduce menstrual leave to women.
  • The Bihar government, then headed by Lalu Prasad Yadav, introduced its menstrual leave policy in 1992, allowing employees two days of paid menstrual leave every month.
  • Kerala announced that the State’s Higher Education department grants menstrual and maternity leaves for students in universities that function under the department.

Global Examples:

  • Spain became the first European country to grant paid menstrual leave to workers, among a host of other sexual health rights.
  • Japan introduced menstrual leave as part of labour law in 1947 after the idea became popular with labour unions in the 1920s. At present, under Article 68, employers cannot ask women who experience difficult periods to work during that time.
  • Indonesia introduced a policy in 1948, amended in 2003, saying that workers experiencing menstrual pain are not obliged to work on the first two days of their cycle.
  • In the Philippines, workers are permitted two days of menstrual leave a month.
  • Taiwan has an Act of Gender Equality in Employment in place. Under Article 14 of the Act, employees have the right to request a day off as period leave every month, at half their regular wage.
  • South Korea takes a slightly different route, allowing for monthly physiologic leave under Article 73 of their labour law, allowing all female workers to get a day off every month.
  • Among the African nations, Zambia introduced one day of leave a month without needing a reason or a medical certificate, calling it Mother’s Day.
  • Companies across nations, such as Nike and Coexist, have introduced menstrual leave as an internal policy.

Insta Links:

Kerala announces menstrual leave: Time to talk period

February 28, 2023 /28 Feb 2023, GS1, Indian Society, Menstrual leave, Today's Article, Women-related issues

IFR Review: States do dubious paperwork, cite baseless reasons for refusing forest rights to tribals

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation

Source: DTE

Context: Individual Forest Rights (IFR), without which forest dwellers stand to be evicted from their native habitations, have been awarded to very few applicants across the country.

Background:

  • The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 (FRA), recognizes the rights of the forest-dwelling communities to forest resources.
  • The Act encompasses –
    • Individual rights: Rights of Self-cultivation and Habitation
    • Community Rights: Grazing, Fishing and access to Water bodies in forests, access to biodiversity, etc.
  • It also provides rights to the allocation of forest land for developmental purposes to fulfil the basic infrastructural needs of the community.
  • In conjunction with the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Settlement Act 2013, FRA protects the tribal population from eviction without rehabilitation and settlement.
  • The Gram Sabha is a highly empowered body under the Act, enabling the tribal population to have a decisive say in the determination of local policies and schemes impacting them.

The procedure for granting the IFR:

  • Gram Sabha → sub-divisional-level committee (SDLC) → district-level committee (DLC)
  • The Forest Rights Committee (FRC) is elected from Gram Sabhas in order to assist a Gram Sabha in the process of vesting the rights/reviewing the decision of the above committees.
  • As per the FRA, IFR claims cannot be rejected because of a lack of documents.

Challenges:

  • High rate of IFR claim rejection. According to the MoTA, almost half the IFR applications that were previously rejected and sent for review were rejected once again.
  • In 2019, the SC directed the states to evict (1,191,273 tribals across 20 states) those FRA claimants whose IFR claims were rejected.

The SC (in 2019), while staying its eviction order asked states:

  • To supply information on the number of rejections,
  • Procedure followed,
  • Reasons for rejection and
  • If the tribals had been given the chance to produce evidence before the rejection of claims.

Best practice (MP Govt.’s Van Mitra Portal): To simplify the process, an online portal called MP Van Mitra would allow the claimants whose claims had been rejected to re-apply for review.

Inta Links:

ST commission holds its ground on the impact of new Forest (Conservation) Rules on Forest Rights Act

February 28, 2023 /28 Feb 2023, 28 Feb CA, GS 2, Individual Forest Rights, The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 (FRA), Today's Article, Today’s article

Unpacking the new set of e-waste rules

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation

Source: TH

Context: In a time of increased urbanisation, digitalisation and population growth, the problem of managing e-waste is an ongoing challenge.

Background:

  • The first set of e-waste Rules (2011) introduced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) – which made ‘producers’ responsible for the safe disposal of e-waste once the consumer discards them.
  • E-waste rules 2016 (amended in 2018) included provisions to promote ‘authorisation’ and ‘product stewardship’, stakeholders such as the ‘Producer Responsibility Organisations’ (PRO) were also introduced in these rules.
    • PROs acted as an intermediary between producers (bidding for contracts) and formal recyclers (arranging for ‘certified and authorised’ recycling).
  • The MoEFCC notified a new set of e-waste rules – E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022.

Key provisions of the E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022:

  • Unlike the earlier rules (seeking authorisation by stakeholders), the new rules provide for the ‘Registration of Stakeholders’ (manufacturer/producer/refurbisher/recycler).
  • A ‘digitalised systems approach’ may now standardise the e-waste value chain through a common digital ‘portal’.
  • The above provisions will reduce the frequency of ‘false trail’ – falsely revealing 100% collection on paper while collecting/weighing ‘scrap’ to meet targets.

Issues with the 2022 rules:

  • Weak monitoring system and a lack of transparency. For example, many recyclers undertake activities only up to the pre-processing/segregation stage and channelise e-waste to the informal sector, which is a pure violation of the law.
  • Two important stages of efficient e-waste recycling – component recovery and residual disposal – are briefly touched upon.
  • It does away with PRO and dismantlers and vests all the responsibility of recycling with authorised recyclers.
  • The informal sector, which plays a crucial role (95% of e-waste is channelised) in e-waste handling, draws no recognition in the new rules.

Way ahead:

  • Ensuring the requirement of the recovery tangent.
  • The activities of the recyclers must be recorded → tracing the quantity of e-waste that went for recycling.
  • A robust collection and recycling system on the ground.
  • Stakeholders must have the right information and intent to safely dispose of e-waste.
  • There is a need for increased consumer awareness, strengthening reverse logistics, building capacity, improving existing infrastructure, adopting green procurement practices, etc.

Best practice:

  • ‘Karo Sambhav’, a Delhi-based PRO, has integrated informal aggregators in its collection mechanism → e-waste entered a safe and structured system → informal sector has an advantage in terms of financial and legal security.
  • IIT Hyderabad launched M.Tech courses in e-Waste Resources.

Insta Links:

Government notified E-waste (management) rules 2022

Mains Link:

What are the impediments in disposing of the huge quantities of discarded solid wastes which are continuously being generated? How do we safely remove the toxic wastes that have been accumulating in our habitable environment? (UPSC 2018)

Prelims Links: (UPSC 2019)

In India, ‘extend producer responsibility’ was introduced as an important feature in which of the following?

      1. The Bio-medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 2. The Recycled Plastic (Manufacturing and Usage) Rules, 1999 3. The e-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 4. The Food Safety and Standard Regulations, 2011

Ans: 3

February 28, 2023 /28 Feb 2023, 28 Feb CA, E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022, GS 3, Today's Article, Today’s article

Content for Mains Enrichment (CME)

Bendable Concrete

Source: TH

Engineers are developing CO2-infused concrete that sequesters greenhouse gases and is stronger, and even bendable.

  • In the USA, states like New York and New Jersey are promoting policies for use of such concretes.

Issues with Concrete:

  • Cement production accounts for 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
  • Concrete is one of the most-used resources on Earth, with an estimated 26 billion tons produced annually worldwide. It has a high carbon footprint.

What is Bendable Concrete?

Unlike conventional concrete, bendable concrete can bend under pressure without rupturing.

  • Bendable concrete makes infrastructure safer, extends its service life and reduces maintenance costs and resource use.

Usage: This innovative example can be used in Environment/Disaster management paper as a way to sequester carbon as well as make buildings safer from the earthquake.

Kerala to become the first State to use robotics tech extensively for manhole cleaning

Source: HBL

Kerala became the first state in the country to use robotics technology for cleaning all its commissioned manholes by pressing into service the robotic scavenger Bandicoot in the temple town of Guruvayur.

About Bandicoot Robot

  • It is the world’s first robotic scavenger (indigenously made by Kerala-based Genrobotics)
  • It recently bagged the ‘Kerala Pride’ award

Under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (PEMSR), 2013, Manual scavenging is banned in India. National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) is an initiative by MoSJ&E and MoHUA.

Usage as an example: Utility of technology for cleaning, ending exploitation and stigma, ensuring a life with dignity (Article 21) and saving the lives of Safai Karmcharis.

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

Arts and artists Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned in Mann ki Baat

Source: Indian Express

Context: Recently Prime Minister in Mann Ki Baat – spoke of several musical instruments and folk artists who he hoped would “continue to inspire everyone at the grassroots towards making performing arts more popular”.
Musical Instruments Features Key proponents
Sursingar

 Stringed musical instrument -similar to the sarod, but which is older and produces deeper notes.

made of wood and has a gourd attached to a hollow wooden handle with a metal fingerboard. The strings usually four in number made of brass or bronze, are plucked with a metal pick.		 Joydeep Mukherjee
Mandolin

 Stringed instrument, usually with eight strings that are plucked with a pick. Uppalapu Nagamani, Sajjad Hussain
Dance Features Key Proponents
Karakattam

 Ancient folk dance of Tamil Nadu in which performers in colourful saris dance with a pot (karakam) on their head to invoke Mariamman, the goddess of the rain. V Durga Devi
Perini Natyam

 Dance dedicated to Lord Shiva was “quite popular during the Kakatiya dynasty”. Raj Kumar Nayak

14th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav

Source: PIB

Context: President of India addressed the 14th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav at Bikaner, Rajasthan

About the festival: 

  • It is an annual flagship festival of the Ministry of Culture
  • Organized in different states of India to promote National Unity and integrity through cultural exchange
  • Started in 2015 to exhibit the rich cultural heritage of the country
  • Participation: All the seven zonal Cultural Centres and academies under the Ministry of Culture

Renaming of Cities

Source: TOI, IE

Context: Supreme Court said that the attempts to erase the imprints of foreign invaders on cities and towns by rechristening them with their ancient identities were fraught with danger.

  • Recently, Maharashtra’s Aurangabad and Osmanabad cities have been renamed Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv respectively

Process of changing  the name of a city or place in a state:

  • State Assembly: A resolution is proposed by any Member of the Legislative Assembly as a request to change the name of a particular city or place in the state.
  • Discussion: In the discussion, the reasons for and possible consequences of altering the name are discussed
  • The passing of the resolution in the state assembly: Only a simple majority is required.
  • The resolution sent to central government: The resolution as a proposal is submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
  • Approvals: The Home Ministry seeks approval from the Ministry of Railways, Intelligence Bureau, Department of Posts, Survey of India, and Registrar General of India.
  • A ‘No Objection’ certificate is issued by the Ministry if the proposal is approved by the ministry and all the agencies.
  • After getting approval from the ministry, the State Government can issue an official notification in the Gazette.

There is no constitutional provision which talks about changing the name of a city or any area in a state.

Wheat Crisis

Source: TH, DTE, DTE 

Context: Agricultural scientists are recommending additional irrigation for Rabi crops due to unprecedented heat in February this year.

Impact of heat waves on wheat production:

  • When the temperature rises above the normal range for wheat, it can reduce photosynthesis, which is essential for plant growth and grain development.
    • Excessive heat can lead to crop damage.
  • Decrease in groundwater levels: To minimize the impact of heat waves, farmers have to irrigate the field several times. This may reduce the groundwater level in the area.
    • Strong winds can destroy wheat crops if the soil is wet.
  • Increased pest attacks: Pests like aphids and thrips thrive in warm and dry weather

Fab 4/Chip 4 chip alliance

Source: ET

Context: A semiconductor alliance comprising the world’s top producers of semiconductors— the US, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea has been convened recently.

Objective:

  • Serve as an early warning and mutual reminder system to ensure a stable supply chain for chip manufacturers
  • Prevent the occurrence of chip shortages and supply chain disruptions
  • To reduce the world’s dependence on China.

India has limited fabs, or semiconductor fabrication plants, which manufacture chips and mostly is dependent on imports.

AFTER

Context: AIIMS Delhi has created AIIMS Facial Toolbox for Emotions Recognition (AFTER)

Usages:

  • It will make it easier to treat patients with autism, schizophrenia and depression
  • Emotion Recognition Capability can be detected in people with neuropsychiatric conditions
  • Research in the Indian context: The interpretation of emotion is culturally dependent, so this culturally sensitive database shows promise for use in research settings and needs to be validated in the general population.

‘Organ on a chip’

Source: TH

Context: The recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act 2.0 has approved computer-based and experimental alternatives to animals to test new drugs.

  • Although using animals, as drug testbeds, will continue

What are Organ-on-a-Chips?

They are small devices containing human cells that are used to mimic the environment in human organs, including blood flow and breathing movements, serving as synthetic environments in which to test new drugs.

Benefits:

  • Boost the research and development of Organ chips
  • Reduce the cost of R&D of drugs
  • Animal models often poorly mimic human diseases, which has led scientists to develop alternative models
  • Reduce the chances of contamination and spread of disease from animals being experimented on.
  • Organ chips can be used to develop personalised therapies for individual patients
  • Minimize ethical dilemmas associated with the use of animals for testing (treatment of animal and their well-being)

In India: Researchers in India are also developing organ-on-a-chip models, including a skin-on-chip model, which is being tested for studying skin irritation and toxicity, and a retina-on-chip model.

Mad Cow Disease

Source: HT

Context: Brazil has halted its beef exports to China after a case of mad cow disease was confirmed in its northern state.

  • Brazil is the largest exporter of Beef in the world while the USA is the largest producer.

About the Disease: 

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) (or simply Mad Cow Disease) is a degenerative, transmissible, slowly progressive, and fatal infection that affects the central nervous system of adult cattle.

How is it caused?

It is caused by a protein called a ‘prion’ normally found on the cell surfaces of cattle. However, the normal prion protein changes into an abnormal prion protein and these proteins destroy the nervous system tissue- the brain and spinal cord.

What is the ALMA telescope, that will soon get a ‘new brain’?

Source: Indian Express

Context: The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) — a radio telescope comprising 66 antennas— is set to get software and hardware upgrades that will help it collect much more data and produce sharper images than ever before.

ALMA is operated under a partnership among the United States, 16 countries in Europe, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Chile

What is ALMA?

ALMA is a state-of-the-art telescope that studies celestial objects at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths — they can penetrate through dust clouds and help astronomers examine dim and distant galaxies and stars out there. It also has extraordinary sensitivity, which allows it to detect even extremely faint radio signals.

Why Chile:

  • The millimetre and submillimetre waves observed by it are very susceptible to atmospheric water vapour absorption on Earth.
  • The desert is the driest place in the world, meaning most of the nights here are clear of clouds and free of light-distorting moisture — making it a perfect location for examining the universe.

What are some of the notable discoveries made by ALMA?

  • One of the earliest findings came in 2013 when it discovered starburst galaxies earlier in the universe’s history than they were previously thought to have existed.
  • ALMA provided detailed images of the protoplanetary disc surrounding HL Tauri — a very young T Tauri star in the constellation Taurus, approximately 450 light years from Earth
  • In 2015, the telescope helped scientists observe a phenomenon known as the Einstein ring, which occurs when light from a galaxy or star passes by a massive object en route to the Earth, in extraordinary detail.

FATF suspends Russia’s membership over Ukraine war

Source: BS

Context: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) suspended Russia’s membership.

Reasons for suspension

  • Russia’s “Illegal, unprovoked and unjustified” full-scale military invasion of Ukraine
  • Arms trade between Russia and United Nations-sanctioned jurisdictions
  • Malicious cyber-activities emanating from Russia

Despite being suspended, Russia remains a FATF member and will only be barred from attending meetings and accessing documents.