Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

KANISHKBIOSCIENCE E -LEARNING PLATFORM - Help you think beyond the issue but relevant to the issue from UPSC prelims and Mains exam point of view. These linkages provided in this ‘hint’ format help you frame possible questions in your mind that might arise(or an examiner might imagine) from each current event. InstaLinks also connect every issue to their static or theoretical background. This helps you study a topic holistically and add new dimensions to every current event to help you think analytically.

U.S. formally exits Paris pact on curbing climate change:

 

Context:

The United States has formally left the Paris Agreement.

• Some 189 countries remain committed to the 2015 Paris accord.

What is the Paris Agreement?

It is a historic international accord that brings almost 200 countries together in setting a common target to reduce global greenhouse emissions in an effort to fight climate change.

The pact seeks to keep global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, and to try and limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

• To this end, each country has pledged to implement targeted action plans that will limit their greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Agreement asks rich and developed countries to provide financial and technological support to the developing world in its quest to fight and adapt to climate change.

How does a country leave the Agreement?

• Article 28 of the Paris Agreement allows countries to leave the Paris Agreement and lays down the process for leaving.
• A country can only give a notice for leaving at least three years after the Paris Agreement came into force.

Prelims Link:

1. What is Paris Agreement?
2. Which countries have not signed?
3. Targets.
4. Funding mechanism announced under the Paris Agreement.

Mains Link:

Discuss the significance of the Paris Climate deal.

Sources: the Hindu.

   Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Bio-decomposer technique:

Context:

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that the bio-decomposer technique of converting stubble into manure has shown success.

    This claim was based on the initial results from a farm where the bio-decomposing solution, developed under the guidance of the PUSA Institute, was being tried out by the Delhi government.

What next?

1    The government would now present this alternative in the Supreme Court owing to its effectiveness and cost.
2    This solution can also be tried by farmers in Punjab and Haryana.

How were these bio-decomposers formed?

Pusa Decomposer is a mix of seven fungi that produce enzymes to digest cellulose, lignin and pectin in paddy straw.

• The fungi thrive at 30-32 degree Celsius, which is the temperature prevailing when paddy is harvested and wheat is sown.

How these decomposers are used on fields?

• A liquid formulation is formed using decomposer capsules and fermenting it over 8-10 days and then spraying the mixture on fields with crop stubble to ensure speedy bio-decomposition of the stubble.
• The farmers can prepare 25 litre of liquid mixture with 4 capsules, jaggery and chickpea flour. The mixture is sufficient to cover 1 hectare of land.
• It takes around 20 days for the degradation process to be completed.

• Benefits of PUSA decomposers:

• Improves the fertility and productivity of the soil as the stubble works as manure and compost for the crops and lesser fertiliser consumption is required in the future.
• It is an efficient and effective, cheaper, doable and practical technique to stop stubble burning.
• It is an eco-friendly and environmentally useful technology.
  

  Prelims Link:

• How were PUSA Decomposers developed?
• What are they used for?
• Pollutants released when stubble is burnt.

Mains Link:

How stubble burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana affects the air quality of Delhi? Discuss.

Sources: the Hindu.

    Pollution and conservation related issues.

What is smog and how dangerous can it be?

Context:

Smog in Delhi due to high levels of pollution.

    This year, Delhi’s air pollution in October was higher in comparison to last year.

What is Smog?

Smog is a harmful mixture of fog, dust and air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, etc. which combine with sunlight to form a dense layer of ground-level ozone.

    Ozone present high in the atmosphere is good, but when nearer to the ground, it can cause irritating health effects.

(Note: The term ‘smog’ was first coined by Dr Henry Antoine des Voeux in his paper, Fog and Smoke, in July 1905, after a blanket of smoke and fog was noticed over London in the early 

1900s.)

 

  

 

 

How is Smog formed?

It consists of ozone, along with harmful substances like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and PM10s, which can find their way deep into our lungs.

Smog can be caused by:

1. Large amounts of coal-burning in an area
2. Slash-and-burning of crops (a major source in Delhi)
3. Smog-forming pollutants generate from automobile exhausts, power plants, fireworks, even paint, hairspray, charcoal starter fluid, and plastic popcorn packaging.

Role of local weather phenomenon:

The formation of smog is also closely linked with temperature, sunshine, and calm winds. On a warmer day, smog can form more quickly than otherwise.

 Types:

Sulfurous smog and photochemical smog are two distinct types of smog recognised so far.

Sulfurous smog, also known as London smog, develops due to high concentration of sulfur oxides in the air.

Photochemical smog is produced when sunlight reacts with oxides of nitrogen and at least one volatile organic compound (VOC) in the atmosphere.

Health impacts:

1. Inhaling smog over a long span of time can inflame your breathing passage, much like cigarette smoking.
2. Smog causes inflamed lungs, and inflamed lungs, in turn, secrete interleukin-6 which can cause blood clots in people, cardiac and respiratory disorders, leading to heart attacks or strokes.
3. Smog can dry out the protective membranes of your nose and throat.
4. It can jeopardize your body’s ability to resist infection, hence, increasing your susceptibility to illness.
5. It can greatly decrease the UV radiation, leading to low production of important elements like Vitamin D.

Sources: the Hindu.

 

Facts for Prelims

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Nurturing Neighborhoods Challenge:

• Launched by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.
• It is a challenge for cities to develop and implement initiatives to improve the quality of life of young children, caregivers and families.
• It will be open for the 100 Smart Cities, cities with population of more than 5 lakh and State/Union Territory capitals.

Luhri hydropower project:

• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved funding to the tune of ₹1,810.56 crore for the 210 megawatt (MW) Luhri hydropower project on the Satluj river in Himachal Pradesh.
• The project is located in Shimla and Kullu districts.

Important Butterfly Species:

Note: The following species and their sightings is based on an article given in today’s the Hindu News Paper. It is not necessary to mug up the names of all these species. Just have a brief overview.

Context:

Butterfly season usually begins with the onset of the South-West monsoon; and the buzz tends to continue post-monsoon, well into February. This year, especially, many rare species have been sighted across the country.

Key points:

• Striated Five-ring was sighted at Neyyar, Kerala in 2015-16 after 100 years.
• The Nilgiri Plain Ace was rediscovered by butterfly enthusiasts after 130 years.
• Marbled Map butterfly recorded for the first time in Visakhapatnam is protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act. This ‘rare’ species is confined to the hilly forests of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bhutan and Myanmar.
• Malabar Banded Peacock is endemic to South India.
• Tree nymph, a large white butterfly with black spots resembling white paper wafting through the air. It is also endemic to South India.
• Recently, Branded Royal, rarely seen in India, made news when it fluttered through the Nilgiris after a gap of over 130 years.
• The Blue Mormon, a black-coloured velvet-winged butterfly, a species endemic to the Western Ghats, showed up in Patna.
• The Spotted Angle butterfly has been sighted in the reserve forests of Chhattisgarh.
• The Liliac Silverline, a protected species whose only known breeding population is in Bengaluru, was sighted for the first time in the Aravalli range of Rajasthan.

(Source: https://epaper.thehindu.com/Home/MShareArticle?OrgId=GGA7UBB92.1&imageview=0.)

Data Maturity Assessment Framework (DMAF):

Launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

• It is a framework to evaluate the data ecosystems of cities.
• This will support cities in the creation of a ‘culture of data’ under the DataSmart Cities initiative of the Smart Cities Mission.

The core objective of this framework is to enable cities to assess their own data maturity with respect to a standardized framework covering aspects of enabling policies, governance structures, data management, capacity building, and stakeholder engagement at the city level.

Leishmania donovani:

CSIR-CDRI scientist won an award for his work on defining the survival tactics of Leishmania donovani.

Key points:

• Leishmania donovani is a protozoan parasite that infects macrophages and is a causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar).
• It infects the mononuclear phagocyte system including the spleen, liver and bone marrow.

 

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Articles Covered Previously

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Kerala, too, withdraws general consent to CBI:

Context:

Kerala has decided to withdraw the general consent accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to operate in Kerala.

• States such as West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra had also similarly withdrawn consent to the CBI to operate freely in their respective jurisdictions.
  

  (With input from news agency language)

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