TOPIC: GS 3 Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.
The Ganga’s message
What is the news?
- The Ganga might have stood witness to many stages of India’s civilization, as Mahatma Gandhi once noted
- In recent decades it has become a conduit for sewage, solid waste, industrial effluents and other pollutants.
Rising Pollution in River Ganga
- The new study by an NGO has found evidence of a modern-day scourge, microplastics, in the river, with the highest concentrations in Varanasi and Kanpur, followed by Haridwar.
Sources and Composition of Pollution
- The data show is the alarming presence of plastic flaments, fibres, fragments, and in two places, microbeads
- Their composition pointing to both industrial and secondary broken-down plastics from articles of everyday use.
- These range from tyres, clothing, food packaging, bags, cosmetics with microbeads, garland covers and other municipal waste.
- The funding of signifcant levels of microscopic particles invisible to the naked eye at below 300 micrometers to 5 millimeters in the country’s holiest river
- It calls into question the progress of two high priority, well-funded missions of the government, Swachh Bharat, to deal with solid waste, and Namami Gange, to rid the river of its pollution.
- Government ’s support for the river clean-up, originally scheduled to be implemented by December 2020, has not saved it from serious deficits
- Official data indicate that 97 Ganga towns may be discharging about 750 million litres of untreated sewage a day into the river.
Microplastics as Concern
- Microplastics, recorded in recent times in the remotest of places Mount Everest, Arctic snow, Icelandic glaciers, the French Pyrenees, and the depths of the Mariana Trench, among others
- It pose a hazard as plastics production outpaces the ability of governments to collect and manage waste.
- Successive governments issued waste management rules, but dropped the ball on implementation.
- Although the Centre recently issued a draft to tighten the Plastic Waste Management Rules, cities have failed to implement existing rules
- The Solid Waste Management rules, on ending single use plastics, waste segregation, recycling labels on packaging, extended producer responsibility for manufacturers and recovery of materials.
- Moreover, growing plastic waste will far exceed the capacity of governments to manage it, given that recycling has its limits.
Way Forward
- Swachh Bharat, therefore, must mean not merely keeping waste out of sight, achieved through costly dumping contracts, but sharply reduced generation, full segregation and recycling.
- Plastic waste around the world is threatening the food web and the crisis demands a new global treaty modelled on the Montreal Protocol and the Paris Agreement.
- India needs to demonstrate that it is serious about a clean-up at home.
PRELIMS PUNCHERS
- Privilege Motion
All Members of Parliament (MPs) enjoy rights and immunities, individually and collectively, so that they can discharge their duties and functions effectively. Any instance when these rights and immunities are disregarded by any member of Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha is an offence, called ‘breach of privilege’, which is punishable under the Laws of Parliament.
Any member from either house can move a notice in the form of a motion against the member who he/she thinks is guilty of the breach of privilege. Both Houses of the Parliament reserve the right to punish any action of contempt. The rules governing the privilege are mentioned in the Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book and Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook.
- The Paris Agreement
It is an international treaty on climate change, adopted in 2015. It covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Agreement was negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference near Paris, France. No mechanism forces a country to set specific emissions targets, but each target should go beyond previous targets. In contrast to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the distinction between developed and developing countries is blurred, so that the latter also have to submit plans for emission reductions.
The Paris Agreement was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 (Earth Day) at a ceremony in New York. After the European Union ratified the agreement, sufficient countries had ratified the Agreement responsible for enough of the world’s greenhouse gases for the Agreement . As of July 2021, 191 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are parties to the agreement. Of the six UNFCCC member states which have not ratified the agreement, the only major emitters are Iran, Turkey, and Iraq .The United States withdrew from the Agreement in 2020, but rejoined in 2021.
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- Life cycle of stars
A star’s life cycle is determined by its mass larger its mass, the shorter its life cycle. Star’s mass determined by the amount of matter available in its nebula. Hydrogen gas in the nebula is pulled together by gravity. spins faster, heats up and becomes as a protostar.
Reaches a temperature of 15,000,000 degrees nuclear fusion in the cloud’s core. Glow brightly, contracts a little, and becomes stable. Stars to remain in this stage, shining for millions to billions of years- present stage of Sun. Hydrogen supply runs out; star do not generate heat by nuclear fusion becomes unstable and contracts.Outer shell of the star with hydrogen expands- cools and glows red: red giant phase. Core of the red giant helium fuses into carbon. All stars evolve the same way up to the red giant phase. Amount of mass a star determines the following life cycle paths.
Sources : https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/the-citys-glostar-connection/article35501938.ece
- GAVI
It is officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. It is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries.
GAVI facilitates vaccinations in developing countries by working with donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialized and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists. GAVI has observer status at the World Health Assembly. It contrasts with the approach typified by the Alma Ata Declaration, which focuses on the effects of political, social, and cultural systems on health
PRELIMS QUESTIONS
- Consider the following with regard Privilege Motion
- All Members of Parliament (MPs) enjoy rights and immunities, individually and collectively, to discharge their duties and functions
- Only loksabha reserve the right to punish any action of contempt
Select the correct statement using code given below.
(a). 1only      (b) 2 only
(c).Both      (d). None of above
Answer: A
All Members of Parliament (MPs) enjoy rights and immunities, individually and collectively, so that they can discharge their duties and functions effectively. Any instance when these rights and immunities are disregarded by any member of Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha is an offence, called ‘breach of privilege’, which is punishable under the Laws of Parliament.
Any member from either house can move a notice in the form of a motion against the member who he/she thinks is guilty of the breach of privilege. Both Houses of the Parliament reserve the right to punish any action of contempt. The rules governing the privilege are mentioned in the Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book and Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook.
- Consider the following with regard GAVI
- It is a intergovernmental organisation with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries.
b.Alma Ata Declaration is GAVI’s declaration
Select the correct statement using code given below.
(a). 1only      (b) 2 only
(c).Both      (d). None of above
Answer: D
It is officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. It is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries.
GAVI facilitates vaccinations in developing countries by working with donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialized and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists. GAVI has observer status at the World Health Assembly. It contrasts with the approach typified by the Alma Ata Declaration, which focuses on the effects of political, social, and cultural systems on health