Daily Prelims Notes 30 July 2023

Daily Prelims Notes

30 July 2023

Table Of Contents

1. India has 3682 tigers, home to 75 percent of global numbers: Tiger census data
2. Pakistan: Gas crunch affects urea production, agriculture sector at risk
3. Tuberculosis: over 85% cure rate seen in modified BPaL regimen trial
4. Are human challenge studies effective?
5. Threat of dengue fever escalates globally
6. mRNA nanoparticles reprogramme bone marrow cells
7. Mapping India’s chip design ecosystem
8. Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT)
9. Indian Presidency’s Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap (GIR) and Gandhinagar Information Platform (GIP) for strengthening the G20 Global Land Initiative
10. Change of forest definition-Forest conservation (amendment) Bill (FCA) 2023
11. Plastic Pollution widespread in all water bodies of world
12. Mission Amrit Sarovar
13. ‘Catch the rain’ campaign
14. Govt to launch Project Dolphin and Project Lion on the lines of Project Tigers

1. India has 3682 tigers, home to 75 percent of global numbers: Tiger census data

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Context:

• Report: Status of Tigers 2022  was released on International Tigers Day (29 July).
• Apart from the All India Tiger Estimation 2022 report, a report on the reserves and management effectiveness and evaluation report were also released. Six tiger reserves in the country — Kali, Melghat, Pilibhit, Tadoba Andhari, Navegaon and Periyar — were given CAT awards.

Tiger population in India:

• Tiger census is held every four years in the country.
• The number of tigers in India has increased from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,682 in 2022, an annual rise of 6 per cent.
• According to data analysis done by the Wildlife Institute of India, the upper limit of the tiger population is estimated to be 3925 and the average number is 3682 tigers.
• Now India has become home to approximately 75 percent of the world’s tiger population.

State wise analysis:

• States where tiger population has increased:
  • With a 50 per cent increase in the last four years, Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number (785) of tigers in the country, followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444).

• States where tiger population has decreased:
  • States such as Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have recorded a dip in the number of majestic cats in the last few years.
  • Arunachal Pradesh lost around 70 percent of its tigers — from 29 in 2018 to just 9 in 2022. The number of tigers dropped from 28 to 20 in Odisha, from 5 to 1 in Jharkhand, from 19 to 17 in Chhattisgarh and from 26 to 21 in Telangana.
  • The count dipped from 6 in 2006 to nil in 2022 in Mizoram and from 10 in 2006 to just 2 in 2022 in northern West Bengal.
  • Nagaland also does not have any tigers now.

Status of tiger reserves:

• Approximately, 35 percent of the 53 tiger reserves in India urgently require enhanced protection measures, habitat restoration, ungulate augmentation, and subsequent tiger reintroduction.
• The number of tigers “within the tiger reserve” is highest in Corbett (260), followed by Bandipur (150), Nagarhole (141), Bandhavgarh (135), Dudhwa (135), Mudumalai(114), Kanha (105), Kaziranga (104), Sundarbans (100), Tadoba (97), Sathyamangalam (85), and Pench-MP (77).
• Eighteen tiger reserves have less than 10 big cats left.
  • These are Ranipur in Uttar Pradesh; Achanakmar, Indravati and Udanti Sitanadi in Chhattisgarh; Palamau in Jharkhand; Bor and Sahyadri in Maharashtra; Satkosia in Odisha; Mukundara and Ramgarh Vishdhari in Rajasthan; Kawal in Telangana; Kalakad Mundanthurai in Tamil Nadu; Nameri in Assam; Dampa in Mizoram; Pakke, Kamlang and Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh and Buxa in West Bengal.

Regional analysis of tiger population:

• Shivalik hills and Gangetic Plains landscape:
  • Experienced a significant surge: 804 unique tigers have been photographed in these regions, surpassing the estimated 646 population in 2018.
• Western Ghats:
  • Witnessed a decrease in tiger occupancy, except for a few areas like Kali (Anshi Dandeli), where the number of unique tigers remains stable.
  • Reason for decline: increasing human footprint and development.
• Northeastern hills and Brahmaputra Plains landscape:
  • While the number of distinctive tigers decreased to 194 from the estimated 219 in 2018, the report assured that the tiger population in the region is still “secure”.
• Central India:
  • Seen an increase in the tiger population, with 1,161 tigers photographed compared to the estimated 1,033 in 2018.
  • While this expansion of tiger habitats is positive, urgent attention and conservation efforts are required in areas including reserves like Kawal, Satkosia, and Sahyadri, to prevent the extinction of small populations and mitigate human-tiger interactions.
• Sundarbans:
  • 100 tigers were captured on camera in 2022 compared to 88 in 2018.
  • The population remains steady, but there is limited potential for range extension.
  • To preserve the ecological integrity of the Sundarbans, the cross-border collaboration and knowledge exchange between India and Bangladesh is needed.

Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS)

• CA|TS has been agreed upon as an accreditation tool by the global coalition of Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) and has been developed by tiger and protected area experts.
• Officially launched in 2013, it sets minimum standards for effective management of target species and encourages the assessment of these standards in relevant conservation areas.
• CA|TS is a set of criteria that allows tiger sites to check if their management will lead to successful tiger conservation.
• The Global Tiger Forum (GTF), an international NGO working on tiger conservation, and World Wildlife Fund India are the two implementing partners of the National Tiger Conservation Authority for CATS assessment in India.

The 14 tiger reserves which have been accredited are:

• Manas, Kaziranga and Orang in Assam,
• Satpura, Kanha and Panna in Madhya Pradesh,
• Pench in Maharashtra,
• Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar,
• Dudhwa in Uttar Pradesh,
• Sunderbans in West Bengal,
• Parambikulam in Kerala,
• Bandipur Tiger Reserve of Karnataka and
• Mudumalai and Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu
• Six newly added tiger reserves are:
  • Kali Tiger Reserve, Karnataka
  • Melghat Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra
  • Pilibhit tiger reserve, Uttar Pradesh
  • Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra
  • Navegaon tiger reserve, Maharashtra
  • Periyar tiger reserve, Kerala

2. Pakistan: Gas crunch affects urea production, agriculture sector at risk

Subject: Science and technology

Section: Msc

Context:

• Pakistan’s agriculture sector is on the verge of collapse as the nation battles to meet the demand for urea fertiliser, a crucial input for crop production, in the midst of a severe natural gas shortage.

Details:

• The fertiliser review committee (FRC), which keeps tabs on fertiliser availability and costs, issued a warning that the nation would run out of urea during both the current Kharif season and the impending Rabi season.
• The FRC blamed the low domestic production capacity for the urea shortfall, which is caused by the fertiliser industry’s lack access to natural gas. 70 to 80 percent of the cost of making urea is borne by natural gas.

Urea production:

• Ammonia, which is an input of urea, is produced from natural gas.
  • Ammonia (NH3) has been synthesized from natural gas. In this process, natural gas molecules are reduced to carbon and hydrogen.
  • The hydrogen is then purified and reacted with nitrogen to produce ammonia. This synthetic ammonia is used as fertilizer, either directly as ammonia or indirectly after synthesis as urea, ammonium nitrate, and monoammonium or diammonium phosphates.
• Ammonia is the second largest chemical product produced in the world, behind sulfuric acid. The demand for ammonia is driven by the demand for fertilizers. Of the world’s nitrogen demand, 85% is for fertilizer primarily derived from ammonia in the form of:
  • Urea
  • Ammonium nitrate
  • Phosphate
  • Sulfate
• In several transformation steps, natural gas, essentially methane, is upgraded by combination with nitrogen from the air to form nitrogen fertiliser.
• 80% of the gas is used as feedstock for fertiliser, while 20% is used for heating the process and producing electricity.

What is the Status of Fertilisers in India?

• India consumed about 500 LMT of fertiliser per year in the last 10 years.
• The Centre’s fertiliser subsidy bill is set to soar by 62% over the budgeted amount to Rs 1.3 lakh crore in FY21.
• Since non-urea (MoP, DAP, complex) varieties cost higher, many farmers prefer to use more urea than actually needed.
• The government has taken a number of measures to reduce urea consumption. It introduced neem-coated urea to reduce illegal diversion of urea for non-agricultural uses. It also stepped up the promotion of organic and zero-budget farming.
• Between 2018-19 and 2020-21, India’s fertiliser imports increased almost 8% to 20.33 million tonnes from 18.84 million tonnes.
• In FY21, more than a fourth of the urea requirement was imported.
• Need of Large Quantities of Fertilisers:
  • The agricultural output of India has increased every year, and the country’s need for fertilisers has also increased.
  • Despite imports, gaps remain between requirements and availability after indigenous production targets haven’t been met.

3. Tuberculosis: over 85% cure rate seen in modified BPaL regimen trial

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Health

Context:

• The interim results of a randomised phase-3/4 trial carried out in India to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of an all-oral, short-course treatment using just three drugs for people with pre-XDR TB or treatment intolerant/non-responsive MDR pulmonary TB appears promising.

Details:

• The three drugs are bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid (BPaL).
• The BPaL regimen has been approved by the WHO but yet to be implemented in India.
• A person with pre-XDR TB on BPaL regimen will consume over 500 tablets over 26 weeks compared with over 4,300 tablets over 18 months with conventional treatment for drug-resistant TB.
• The shorter duration of the BPaL regimen means that people undergoing the treatment cannot miss even one dose.
• Few adverse effects are seen in some patients which are- a drop in haemoglobin count and platelets, and neuropathy.
• Linezolid causes a drop in haemoglobin count and neuropathy.
• India is targeting to reduce TB incidence by 80% and TB deaths by 90% by 2025.

About BPaL:

• BPaL is a combination of three newer antibiotics: bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid.
• Three doses: While two components pretomanid and bedaquiline are novel drugs developed by TB Alliance and Johnson & Johnson. Linezolid is an old generic drug.
• The three drugs are approved in India.
• Mode of BPaL: It is an oral regimen.
• WHO: the WHO has approved regimens containing pretomanid for all forms of drug-resistant TB.

TB burden on India:

• India has the world’s highest TB burden: 2.6 million active cases and close to 450,000 deaths each year from the infectious bacterial disease.
• Mumbai is often called the capital of drug-resistant TB cases.
• It has the largest number of TB patients on the newer short which is injectionless BPaL in India.
• TB Alliance: It is the New York-based non-profit that discovers and offers drugs to fight tuberculosis (TB).
• XDR-TB: Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a rare type of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in which several of the most effective and core anti-TB drugs fail to work against microbial activity.

About Tuberculosis: https://optimizeias.com/the-road-to-ending-tuberculosis/

4. Are human challenge studies effective?

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Biotechnology

Context:

• On July 17, the ICMR Bioethics Unit posted the consensus policy statement for the ethical conduct of controlled human infection studies (CHIS), also known as human challenge studies, in India.

Why is India venturing into undertaking human challenge studies?

• Human challenge studies, in which human beings are exposed to diseases to learn more about it, have been carried out for hundreds of years.
• Human challenge studies are almost always conducted to understand the various facets of infectious microbes and the diseases or conditions caused by such pathogens.
• Example: The yellow fever study in the early 1900s established that mosquitoes transmitted the yellow fever virus.
• However, India has not undertaken such trials before and will be collaborating with scientists and institutions outside India who have been conducting such studies.
• The disease burden and mortality from infectious diseases is significantly high at around 30% in India.
• The inclusion of human challenge studies will:
  • Speed up the process of finding safe and effective interventions in the form of drugs and/or vaccines.
  • Help in providing better insight into multiple aspects of even well-studied pathogens, infection, transmission, disease pathogenesis and prevention.
• Many countries, including low-and middle-income countries such as Colombia, Kenya, Tanzania and Thailand, have carried out human challenge studies.

What is the fundamental difference between human clinical trials and human challenge studies?

What special safeguards are followed to reduce harm to participants?

• The infectious agents that are tested in human challenge studies are well-known and studied.
• To reduce harm to the participants, a weaker or less virulent form of the pathogen is used.
• The other important requirement is the availability of a ‘rescue remedy’ to prevent the disease from progressing to its severe form.

What makes human challenge studies ethically more challenging vis-à-vis traditional clinical trials?

• That participants in a human challenge trial are deliberately exposed to a disease-causing pathogen.
• As per the ICMR statement:
  • Only healthy individuals in the 18-45 years age bracket are to be enrolled.
  • Children and women who are pregnant, lactating or planning to conceive within the study period will not be enrolled.
  • Participants with pre-existing medical conditions are to be excluded.

Know more about CHIS: https://optimizeias.com/icmr-argues-for-controlled-human-infection-studies/

5. Threat of dengue fever escalates globally

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Health

Context:

• The recent surge in dengue cases globally, including in new regions has been alarming and poses significant global health challenges. The World Health Organisation (WHO) forecasts the possibility of record-level cases this year due to global warming favouring disease-transmitting mosquitoes.

Dengue fever:

• Dengue fever, caused by the dengue virus (DENV), is a highly prevalent infectious disease estimated to be infecting over 400 million people each year as per the WHO.
• DENV is an RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family with four serotypes (DENV-1 to 4).
• Infection with one serotype provides lifelong immunity to that type, but subsequent infections with different serotypes can lead to severe, life-threatening forms of the disease.
• There is no specific antiviral treatment for dengue, so prevention relies on controlling mosquito populations and raising public awareness.

Outbreaks in 2023:

• Several regions in America, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Egypt’s Qena province have reported cases of Dengue fever.
• Sudan in Africa, Middle-east countries and some countries in Asia including Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and India have also reported the increased number of dengue cases.
• In India, states like Kerala, Odisha, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Karnataka are reporting large numbers of dengue cases.
• Changing climatic conditions in Europe, such as increased heat waves, floods, and prolonged hot summers, have created favourable environments for dengue-causing mosquito species.
• The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has warned of an increase in DENV infections across the region.

Vaccine for Dengue fever:

• Recently, Takeda released the first vaccine for the disease, which has been approved in a few countries.
• The vaccine has modest efficacy in preventing severe disease but still has much ground to cover in terms of preventing infection, providing uniform protection against all serotypes, and ensuring long-term immunity.

For further details on Dengue virus: https://optimizeias.com/dengue/

6. mRNA nanoparticles reprogramme bone marrow cells

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Nano Technology

The challenge in bone marrow transplantation:

• Bone marrow transplantation can be used to treat blood cell malignancies and sometimes to cure certain non-malignant blood cell disorders, but finding or creating appropriate donor bone marrow cells and preparing the body to receive that donation remain challenging obstacles for the therapy.

New research findings:

• Now, Researchers have developed a strategy to deliver mRNA directly into bone marrow stem cells where it can edit genetic defects and help repopulate the bone marrow with healthy blood cells.
• The technique can also be used to deplete the bone marrow niche of hematopoietic stem cells in preparation for new stem cells.
• The researchers demonstrated the technique in the bone marrow of living mice and in human hematopoietic stem cells taken from four patients with sickle cell disorder.
• In the human samples, researchers were able to correct the sickle cell genetic defect, leading to a near absence of sickling cells.

Significance of the findings:

• The findings offer a potential route for gene editing of bone marrow cells without the need for the usual transplantation processes of finding a suitable bone marrow donor or re-engineering a patient’s own cells outside the body before re-transplantation, and without the need for toxic chemotherapy or radiation to prepare the bone marrow niche before transplantation.
• The new gene editing system consists of mRNA within a lipid nano capsule – similar to the technology used in mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines – that contains an antibody that targets the nano capsules specifically to hematopoietic stem cells.

7. Mapping India’s chip design ecosystem

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Awareness in IT and computers

Context:

• As part of the second phase of the design-linked incentive (DLI) scheme for the domestic semiconductor industry, the Indian government is considering a proposal to pick an equity stake in domestic chip design-making companies.

Domestic chip industry scenario:

• India has a highly-skilled talent pool of semiconductor design engineers, who make up about 20% of the world’s workforce.
• About 2,000 integrated circuits and chips are designed in India every year.
• Global players operating R&D in the country include Intel, Micron and Qualcomm among others.
• The cumulative annual revenue of domestic semiconductor design companies is meagre at ₹150 crore.

Design Linked Subsidy (DLI) scheme:

• The DLI for chip designing introduced in December 2021 endeavoured to indigenise innovations.
• DLIs form part of the broader catalyst SemiconIndia futureDESIGN initiative.
• It aspired to grow at least 20 companies in India scaling a turnover of more than ₹1,500 crore in the next five years.
• For product design, the scheme will reimburse up to 50% of the eligible expenditure to a ceiling of ₹15 crore per application.
• The deployment-based support, meaning using it in electronic products, extends the incentive by 4-6% of net sales turnover at an upper limit of ₹30 crore per application.

Challenges in the establishment of semiconductor manufacturing unit:

• Capital intensive sector
• Issue regarding the Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
• Upscaling of manufacturing capabilities and equipments
• High level research and development
• Returns from investments are not immediate
• As chipsets become smaller and functional requirements from them change, research and development become challenging.
• Supply chain disruptions.
• The lack of venture capitalists in the private sector focused on semiconductors in India.

For more details on Semiconductors: https://optimizeias.com/our-semicon-report-card/

8. Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT)

Subject: Environment

Section: International Conventions

It gathers countries and companies that are committed to action to achieve the Paris Agreement.

It was launched by the governments of Sweden and India at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019 and is supported by the World Economic Forum.

LeadIT members subscribe to the notion that energy-intensive industry can and must progress on low-carbon pathways, aiming to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.

9. Indian Presidency’s Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap (GIR) and Gandhinagar Information Platform (GIP) for strengthening the G20 Global Land Initiative

Subject: Environment

Section: International Conventions

The Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap (GIR) and the Gandhinagar Information Platform (GIP)

• The Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap (GIR) and the Gandhinagar Information Platform (GIP) are centred around the restoration of landscapes of forest fire impacted areas and mining affected areas, in order to reinforce the G20 Global Land Initiative (GLI) implementation.
• This does not preclude global action across other ecosystems based on the Kunming Montreal GBF and other relevant initiatives and frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs, the Paris Agreement, the UNCCD Strategic Framework, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, as well as national priorities

Objective and Ambition of the Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap

The roadmap seeks to enhance, on a voluntary basis, mutual collaboration among participating countries to accelerate ecological/ecosystem restoration of the identified landscapes. The initiative has 2 key objectives:

1. Enhance focus on ecological/ecosystem restoration of land by reinforcing the capacity of habitats to sustain the diversity of their species in particular the keystone/ indicator/ umbrella species, in accordance with the respective priorities as determined by scientific evidence
2. Accelerate action on the identified landscapes by operationalizing the Roadmap’s tangible pillars of work to help achieve the objectives under the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and other relevant frameworks and initiatives including the G20 voluntary target of restoration of 50% degraded land by 2040. Under this roadmap the participating countries on a voluntary basis shall share progress, knowledge, and best practices to enhance ecological/ecosystem restoration of landscapes through the Gandhinagar Information Platform.

 Ambition Participating countries, on a voluntary basis resolve to:

1. a) Bring all forest fire degraded lands under effective restoration by 2030 (over a 2011-2020 reference period as envisaged in CBD COP Decision 15/5) and enable their ecological/ecosystem restoration by 2040, on a voluntary basis.
2. b) [Bring all mining-impacted land areas under effective restoration by 2030 (over a 2011-2020 reference period as envisaged in CBD COP Decision 15/5) as per country’s plan and circumstances and enable their ecological/ecosystem restoration by 2040, on a voluntary basis.

Gandhinagar Information Platform – An enabler for implementation of the GIR Overall Objective of the Gandhinagar Information Platform The platform shall display progress on the voluntary ambitions of the GIR and act as an information sharing hub for policies, best practices and actions. The platform will also foster collaboration between the nodal institutions/experts/organization while showcasing traditional and indigenous knowledge on ecological/ecosystem restoration of the identified landscapes and adopting a solutions approach to enable affordable, replicable and flexible solutions for the improvement of global restoration efforts. Initiative scope and activities

 The GIP will enable the operationalization of the GIR in the following ways –

1. Engage stakeholders – The Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education (ICFRE) and Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), will coordinate with nodal institutions/experts/organizations for the collation of data, best practices and information received from participating countries as well as be responsible for the design, development and maintenance of the GIP.
2. Enable collaboration on a voluntary basis – The best practices, policies and success stories shared on the GIP shall enable cross-learning as well as for ecological/ecosystem restoration.
3. Innovation through traditions – Highlight traditional knowledge and role of other partners and stakeholders (e.g., Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and others as appropriate) for the ecological/ecosystem restoration.
4. Access to and sharing of information across a network of experts, researchers and civil society organizations invited by participating countries for capacity building activities

10. Change of forest definition-Forest conservation (amendment) Bill (FCA) 2023

Subject: Environment

Section: Biodiversity

Context: One of the important amendments in the FCA-2023 is altering the definition of ‘forest’ set by the Supreme Court of India in 1996. The amendment bill proposes that these have been notified as ‘forest’ according to the Indian Forest Act,1927 and plots or areas recorded as ‘forest’ in government records on or after October 25,1980.

What was the Supreme Court of India’s definition?

The Supreme Court of India called for dictionary meaning of forests in Godavarman judgement 1996, and any forest having area of 10 hectares or more  with average tree density of 200 trees per hectare were deemed as forests.

Possible fallout

A lot of forest area which earlier fell into Supreme Court definition will now be no longer considered as forests, which will make it easier for their diversion to mining activities etc as no gram sabha approval is  necessary, which was the case earlier. Ex Dongria Kondhs were able to stop mining by Vedanta group in Niyamgiri hills in 2013  because their land was forest under Supreme Court definition.

11. Plastic Pollution widespread in all water bodies of world

Subject: Environment

Section: Pollution

Coral reefs: In a recent study it has been found that Macroplastics ( over 5 cm) constituted 88 percent of debris found in reefs. Levels of macroplastics were highest in the deep reefs. In most surveyed areas, fishing vessels were identified as the main source of plastic, such as lines and discarded traps. These plastics occurred in all three big oceans Pacific, Indian and Atlantic and occupying remote, uninhabited reefs of Central Pacific.

Large lakes and Reservoirs:

• These have been found to be highly polluted by Microplastics(over 250 microns).
• The large lakes of Urbanised areas and already in anthropogenic influence are most vulnerable. The most polluted lakes have been found to have microplastics pollution level comparable to Subtropical Oceanic gyres,marine areas collecting high level of debris.
• These findings highlight the importance of including lakes and reservoirs when addressing plastic pollution.

What are macroplastics?

• Macroplastics are marine litter that is larger than approximately 0.5 centimetres. Macroplastics consist of a large variety of plastic, from small plastic fragments to large objects such as shipwrecks and trawl bags.
• Macroplastics are often recognisable objects, but some macroplastics are also unidentifiable plastic fragments. Ex rope fragments, polystyrene pieces, plastic bottles, fishing nets etc.

What are microplastics?

• Microplastics are plastic fragments smaller than 0.5 cm.
• Microplastics may have been produced industrially or originate from plastics that are broken down in nature due to wind,sun and waves.
• They are also called microbeads and are used in many health and beauty products. They pass unchanged through waterways into the ocean. Aquatic life and birds can mistake microplastics for food.

12. Mission Amrit Sarovar

Subject: Environment

Section: Environment legislation and schemes

• The Prime Minister launched a new Mission Amrit Sarovar on 24th April 2022.
• The objective of the mission is to conserve water for the future.
• The Mission is aimed at developing and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country as a part of the celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
• This Mission has been launched with a whole Government Approach in which 6 Ministries / Department namely;
  • Dept of Rural Development.
  • Department of land resources.
  • Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
  • Department of Water Resources.
  • Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
  • Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate changes.
• The Mission works through the States and Districts, by refocusing on various schemes such as Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, 15th Finance Commission Grants, and PM Krishi Sichayi Yojana sub-schemes such as Watershed Development Component, Har Khet Ko Pani besides States’ schemes.
• The Mission would encourage the mobilisation of citizen and non-govt resources for supplementing these efforts.
• The Mission Amrit Sarovar is to be completed by 15th August 2023.
• Around 50,000 such Amrit Sarovar may be constructed in the country.
• People’s participation in the Mission is the focal point.
• Local freedom fighters, their family members, Martyr’s family members, Padma Awardee and citizens of the local area wherein an Amrit Sarovar is to be constructed, will be engaged at all stages.

13. ‘Catch the rain’ campaign

Subject :Environment

Section :Environment legislation and schemes

Context: Recent PM spoke about the Catch the rain’ campaign

What is the ‘Catch the rain’ campaign?

• On World Water Day (March 22), Indian PM launched a campaign named ‘Catch the rain’, under the Centre’s flagship Jal Shakti Abhiyan.
• Under this campaign, drives to make check dams, water harvesting pits, rooftop RWHS (rain water harvesting system), etc will be made.
• Other measures to be taken up with the active participation of people include –

1. removal of encroachments and de-silting of tanks to increase their storage capacity
2. removal of obstructions in the channels which bring water to them from the catchment areas, etc
3. repairs to step-wells
4. using defunct bore-wells and unused wells to put water back to aquifers, etc

• To facilitate these activities, states have been requested to open “Rain Centers” in each district.
• This centre acts as a technical guidance centre to all in the district as to how to catch the rain, as it falls, where it falls.
• Under the initiative, all water bodies in the districts are to be enumerated (checked with revenue records) and encroachments to be removed.

14. Govt to launch Project Dolphin and Project Lion on the lines of Project Tigers

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Concept:

Project dolphin

• Project Dolphin will involve conservation of Dolphins and the aquatic habitat through use of modern technology especially in enumeration and anti-poaching activities.
• The project will engage the fishermen and other river/ ocean dependent population and will strive for improving the livelihood of the local communities.
• The conservation of Dolphin will also envisage activities which will also help in the mitigation of pollution in rivers and in the oceans.
• It will include oceanic as well as Gangetic river dolphins, which were declared a National Aquatic species in 2010.
• Dolphins are one of the oldest creatures in the world along with some species of turtles, crocodiles and sharks.
• Ganges river dolphins once lived in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. But the species is extinct from most of its early distribution ranges.
• The Ganges river dolphin can only live in freshwater and is essentially blind.
• They hunt by emitting ultrasonic sounds, which bounces off of fish and other prey, enabling them to “see” an image in their mind.
• IUCN status of Ganges River dolphin:Endagered

Project lion

• Project Lion will involve conservation of the Asiatic Lion and its landscape in a holistic manner.
• The Project Lion will entail habitat development, engage modern technologies in Lion management and address the issues of disease in Lion and its associated species through advanced world-class research and veterinary care.
• The project will also address Human-wildlife conflict and will be inclusive involving local communities living in the vicinity of Lion landscape and will also provide livelihood opportunities.
• Asiatic lions were once distributed upto the state of West Bengal in east and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, in central India.
• At present Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is the only abode of the Asiatic lion.
• The last surviving population of the Asiatic lions is a compact tract of dry deciduous forest and open grassy scrublands in southwestern part of Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
• Listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, in Appendix I of CITES and as Endangered on IUCN Red List.