[Mission 2023] INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY 10 December 2022

GS Paper 1

Syllabus: Geographical phenomenon and their environmental impacts

Source: IE 

Direction: The article mainly highlights how local winds like sea breezes could influence the pollution level of a place.

 Context: Over the last month, air quality in India’s financial hub, Mumbai, has been noticeably worse than in prior years, giving Mumbaikars a taste of what people in Delhi have become used to at this time of year.

 Background: Since December 5, the AQI in Mumbai has consistently been in the “very poor” range (AQI > 300), according to the SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research) network.

 Why is this unusual?

• This is not the first time Mumbai’s air has been so toxic, but it has never lasted more than 1-2 days.
• Though Mumbai generates pollutants in equivalent amounts as compared to Delhi, it has an important location advantage.
  • Mumbai’s relatively clean air is the result of strong sea breezes that sweep air pollutants away from the land.

Reasons for this unusual pattern:

• Change in flow patterns: In Mumbai, winds move from land to sea for a few days and then from sea to land and this cyclic pattern usually repeats every 3-4 days.
  • When the wind is not moving away from the land, air pollutants accumulate over the city. But then the wind direction changes, and it all gets cleaned.
  • This cycle is delayed this year. Instead of repeating every 3-4 days, it is happening after a week, even 10 days.
  • Even when the wind direction turns favourable, the lack of adequate speed means that the air is not entirely cleaned.

Probable causes:

• Though the meteorological reasons behind this change needed to be probed, this can be attributed to some unusual global events like the third consecutive year of La Niña.
  • La Nina is an abnormal cooling of the Pacific Ocean that impacts weather events across the world.
• More construction activities: Large infrastructure projects, like the Mumbai Metro or the Coastal Road Project, could be generating significantly higher amounts of pollutants.
  • This could be possible, as Mumbai is currently witnessing a rise in PM10 (particulate matter of the size of 10 micrometres or smaller) levels as well.

Insta Links:

Land and Sea Breezes

Mains Links:

Q. Explain local winds and how they impact the weather condition of a region? (250 words)

Prelims Links:

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment

Source: TH

 Direction: The article covers Singapore Declaration, which highlights certain reforms to ensure labour protection, and measures to be taken by governments. Do look out for the previous articles on labour published recently- New labour codes give a free hand to employers: Unions and The lingering crisis of labour post-pandemic

Context: The 17th Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of the ILO set 10-point priorities of national action for the members to deal with the issue of dwindling wages, inflation and unemployment.

Background: The tripartite (governments, employers and workers) declaration – the “Singapore Declaration”, adopted by the delegates agreed to address labour market challenges and find solutions to crises like the pandemic, natural disasters and economic uncertainty.

Highlights of the Singapore Declaration:

• The governments must strengthen governance frameworks and ensure –
  • Labour protection through the promotion of freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
  • Rights of migrant workers, including improved accommodation, protection of wages and extension of social protection, etc.
• It called for closing gender gaps through measures that –
  • Increase women’s labour force participation,
  • Promote equal pay for equal work and responsibilities, and
  • Promote women’s leadership.
• Governments and social partners should urgently take effective measures to address allegations of serious violations of these rights.

Measures suggested in the declaration: Governments must –

• Develop inclusive labour market programmes and policies.
• Implement collective and determined efforts to accelerate a smooth transition from the informal to formal economy.
• Facilitate the transition to peace, security and decent work in situations of crisis.
• Recognise the impact of climate change and develop national plans that help build environmentally sustainable economies and societies.
• Frame policies to regulate labour migration to coordinate labour mobility and social protection and harness opportunities arising from labour migration.

Way ahead in the declaration:

• Strengthening the foundation for social and employment protection, especially for workers in the informal economy.
• The capacities and skills of the employer, worker representatives and governments must be strengthened.
• Recognising that strong and representative organisations of workers and employers are key to achieving social justice and decent work.

Conclusion: Social dialogue is key to building trust and resilient labour market institutions are essential to sustained recovery and inclusive and sustainable growth.

Insta Links:

New labour codes give a free hand to employers: Unions

Mains Links:

Q. What are the issues with current labour laws in the country? Examine the need for carrying out labour reforms to progress the performance of India’s manufacturing sector. (250 words)

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Issues related to health

Source: DTE

 Direction: The article discusses pharma/drug pollution, its causes, effect and the way ahead to reduce it.

 Context: According to a paper published in the journal The Lancet, pharmaceutical pollution is an overlooked but urgent issue that needs coordinated action from across the pharmaceutical, healthcare and environmental sectors.

About drug or pharmaceutical pollution:

• It is mainly a form of water pollution, caused by pharmaceutical drugs and their molecules which reach the aquatic environment (groundwater, rivers, lakes, and oceans) through wastewater.
• It is now detected in waters throughout the world and its causes include –
  • Effluents from pharmaceutical manufacturing,
  • Ageing infrastructure (such as water treatment plants which cannot filter our too small molecules),
  • Sewage overflows (drugs in urine and excreta) and
  • Agricultural runoff (antibiotic use in livestock).

 Effects:

• On human health: For example, Endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs) (e.g. endosulfan) directly influence sex hormones.
• On aquatic life: A suspected contributor in fish kills, amphibian die-offs, etc.

Key highlights of The Lancet study:

• Almost 43% of the world’s rivers are contaminated with active pharmaceutical ingredients in concentrations that can have disastrous ramifications on health.
• Medicines are a vital part of the human healthcare system, so there is a need to find ways to use them without poisoning the environment.

Way ahead:

• Returning unused drugs to pharmacies rather than disposing of them down the sink or toilet.
• The domestic pharmaceutical industry needs to take the lead in limiting antibiotic pollution.
• Upgrading existing water treatment plants to use advanced oxidation processes that can remove small molecules.

Conclusion: Societal-wide action on reducing pharmaceutical pollution from human healthcare is the need of the hour.

Insta Links:

India: Pharmacy of World

Mains Links:

Q. How does the pharma industry pollute the environment and what are the effects of this pollution? Examine. (200 Words)

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: Conservation, environmental pollution, and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Source: Indian Express

 Context: Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are meeting in Montreal, Canada for a new global agreement on halting environmental loss.

Many of the 24 conservation targets under discussion at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) aim to avoid past mistakes and improve on the world’s last set of conservation goals — the Aichi Biodiversity Targets that expired in 2020.

What were the Aichi Targets?

The Aichi Targets, adopted during the 2010 CBD summit in Nagoya, included goals such as reducing deforestation by at least half during the coming decade and curbing pollution so that it no longer harmed ecosystems.

To what extent were the Aichi Targets met?

Aichi was deemed a failure by the United Nations and the CBD secretariat called on parties to come up with another guiding document to direct conservation efforts through 2030 and beyond.

Why did the Aichi Targets fail?

• Policy lacuna:
  • Siloed approach of conservation: Integrating protected areas across landscapes and seascapes and in development sectors has been lacking.
  • 15% of parties to the Aichi targets have still not created a national biodiversity strategy and action plan
• Implementation lacuna:
  • Lack of financing for conservation
  • Poor data collection
  • Lack of standard uniform accounting tool for biodiversity services estimation: UN’s SEEA (System of environmental-economic accounting) has not been uniformly adopted by countries.
  • Low awareness regarding government programs: especially among tribal communities due to issues such as language and accessibility barriers.
  • Poor capacity building esp. at the local level: In India, Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) (under Biological Diversity Act, 2002) are often ill-equipped to make informed decisions regarding biodiversity-related issues.
• Other reasons:
  • Land degradation: Only 25% of land on earth is currently, free of the impacts of human activities and even this is projected to decline to less than 10% by 2050.
  • Inability to control Plastic pollution
  • Inability to form a common consensus on reducing climate change
  • Resource overuse and deforestation: It is estimated that around 50% of the world’s mature forests have been cleared by humans.
  • Over-population

India’s progress:

India amended its National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) to cover all 20 Aichi targets into 12 National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs). As per India’s 6th National Report, India is on track to achieve 9 out of its 12 NBTs.

Insta Link:

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Mains Link:

Q. How does biodiversity vary in India? How is the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 helpful in the conservation of flora and fauna? (UPSC – 2018)

Prelims Link: