Daily Prelims Notes 16 May 2024

Daily Prelims Notes

16 May 2024

1. Over 300 people become Indian citizens under the CAA

Sub: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Tag: Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) 2019.

Context:

• The Union Government granted citizenship certificates to more than 300 people who applied under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019.

Details:

• The country of origin of the applicants was not disclosed by the government but a government source said that most applicants were Pakistani Hindus.
• Most Pakistani Hindus who entered India legally are living in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Delhi.
• The citizenship portal requires applicants to declare the country of origin, and also submit at least one document tracing their roots to Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan.
• One of the documents required to apply under the CAA is an eligibility certificate issued by a “locally reputed community institution”.
• It was not known how many people from West Bengal, including Matuas and Namasudras, and those excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, had applied under the CAA.
• Since the intended beneficiaries in West Bengal entered India without any documents, they are unable to apply under CAA.

Citizenship Amendment Act 2019:

• The citizenship laws in India derived their origins from the constitution under Articles 5-11 and the Citizenship Act of 1955. This Act provided provisions for citizenship by birth, descent, registration and naturalisation.
• Eligibility: It amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for Indian citizenship.
  • Pakistani Hindus were anyway eligible for citizenship under Section 5 and Section 6 (1) of the Citizenship Act, of 1955. The CAA only helped fast-track the application process.
• Who are illegal migrants?: An illegal immigrant enters India without valid travel documents or stays beyond the permitted time, potentially facing prosecution, deportation, or imprisonment.
• Those from these communities who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, would not be treated as illegal immigrants, providing a path to naturalisation.
• However, it exempts the Muslim community.
• Relaxation:
  • The amendment relaxed the residency requirement from 11 years to 5 years for these communities to acquire Indian citizenship by naturalization.
  • It exempts members of these communities from prosecution under the Foreigners Act of 1946 and the Passport Act of 1920.
  • Applicants are exempt from being considered “illegal immigrants”.
• Exception:
  • The amendments for illegal migrants will not apply to certain tribal (under Sixth Schedule) areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura, as well as states regulated by the “Inner Line” permit under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations 1873.
• Consequences of acquiring citizenship: It states that acquiring citizenship will result in (i) such persons being deemed to be citizens of India from the date of their entry into India, and (ii) all legal proceedings against them in respect of their illegal migration or citizenship being closed.
• Grounds for cancelling OCI registration: The 1955 Act allows the central government to cancel OCI registrations on various grounds, with the amendment adding a new ground for cancellation if the OCI violates a government-notified law.

Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024:

• Notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The application process for citizenship under CAA has been made under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Applicants need to prove their country of origin, religion, date of entry into India, and knowledge of an Indian language to qualify for Indian citizenship.
• Proof of Country of Origin: Relaxed requirements allow various documents, including birth or educational certificates, identity documents, licenses, land records, or any document proving previous citizenship of the mentioned countries.
• Date of Entry into India: Applicants can provide 20 different documents as proof of entry into India, including visas, residential permits, census slips, driving licenses, Aadhaar cards, ration cards, government or court letters, birth certificates, and more.
• Authority to accord citizenship:
  • The Rules grant the final authority to accord citizenship to an empowered committee headed by the Director, Census Operations, while the scrutiny of applications filed online on the portal indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in was done by a district-level committee (DLC) headed by the Department of Post officials.
  • On successful verification of documents, the DLCs administered the oath of allegiance to the applicants.
• Digital certificate: Approved applicants will receive a digital citizenship certificate.

Source: TH

2. Delhi’s mounting waste crisis

Sub: Environment

Sec: Pollution

Tag: Solid Waste Management (SWM)

Supreme Court observation:

• Recent criticism of solid waste management (SWM) in New Delhi by the Supreme Court, highlighted that over 3,800 tonnes of untreated solid waste in the national capital, posing threats to public health and the environment.

Delhi’s solid waste management (SWM) Status:

• The city’s population is expected to rise to 2.85 crore by 2031, so waste generation could go up to 17,000 TPD.
• Waste composition: 50-55% biodegradable wet waste, 35% non-biodegradable wet waste, and 10% inert waste.
• Three municipal corporations, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the Delhi Cantonment Board, and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation, collect about 90% of the waste.

Processing Capacity:

• New Delhi has waste-processing facilities at Okhla, Bhalswa, Narela, Bawana, Tehkhand, SMA Industrial Area, Nilothi, and Ghazipur.
• Design capacity: Approximately 9,200 TPD.
• Actual disposal: 3,800 TPD of unprocessed waste in landfills.
• Challenges: Landfill issues, methane gas generation, leachates, legacy wastes and landfill fires.

MCD’s Challenges:

• Lack of waste segregation at source.
• Need for large land parcels for waste processing plants.
• Public awareness and improper disposal habits.
• Irregular waste collection services.
• Illegal dumping and lack of coordination among stakeholders.

Efforts Needed for Waste Separation:

• Scaling up processing capacity to manage increasing waste.
• Waste management plan for expected population growth.
• Biodegradable wet waste: composting or biogas generation.
• Non-biodegradable dry waste: recycling or RDF for waste-to-energy projects.
  • The non-recyclable dry waste fraction is called refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and consists of plastics, paper, and textile waste.
  • This material has good calorific value and can be used to generate power in waste-to-energy projects.
• Focus on scientific waste management and environmental mitigation.

Decentralization Possibilities:

• Challenges with land availability.
• Need for partnerships with neighbouring states.
• Examples of decentralised waste management in other cities (Micro-Composting Centres in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and dry Waste Collection Centres in Bengaluru).
• Integration of decentralised options with large processing facilities for comprehensive waste management.

Recommendations:

• Ensure existing processing facilities operate at full capacity.
• Construct new facilities to prevent untreated waste.
• Learn from best practices domestically and internationally for efficient SWM processing.

Waste Management Policy in India:

• Until 2000, we didn’t even have any law concentrating on how to deal with MSW.
• Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000:
  • The 2000 rules were applicable to “every municipal authority responsible for the collection, segregation, storage, transportation, processing, and disposal of municipal solid wastes”.

Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016:

• The Government has revamped the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules 2000 and notified the new Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
• They are a set of comprehensive guidelines established by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• Key features:
  • Households must separate waste into three categories: Organic/Biodegradable waste, Dry waste, and Domestic Hazardous waste.
  • The informal sector, including waste pickers and rag pickers, is now included in the waste management process. This helps streamline operations and provides better income opportunities for these workers.
  • Manufacturers that use non-biodegradable packaging must have a system in place to collect that waste.
  • Local governments can charge a fee to bulk waste generators for collecting and processing their waste. People who burn garbage or throw it in public places can be fined.
  • Non-recyclable waste with a high calorific value cannot be put in landfills. Instead, it should be used for generating energy or co-processing in cement or thermal power plants.
  • The Rules for the first time prescribe the duty of MSW generators.
  • A Central Monitoring Committee is to be constituted to monitor the implementation. Criteria for landfilling and waste-to-energy plants are also provided.
  • The Central Pollution Control Board will have to coordinate with the State Pollution Control Board, review environmental standards, monitor implementation, publish guidelines and prepare an annual report on implementation.

Techniques of Solid Waste Management:

Legacy waste:

• Legacy wastes are the wastes that have been collected and kept for years at some barren land or a place dedicated to Landfill (an area to dump solid waste).
• This waste can be roughly grouped into four categories:
  • Contained and/or stored waste(contained or stored waste are wastes in tanks, canisters, and stainless steel bins).
  • Buried waste.
  • Contaminated soil and groundwater
  • Contaminated building materials and structures.

Source: TH

3. Spices Board discussing the setting of ETO Limits with CODEX

Sub: Science and tech 

Sec: Health

Tag: ETO Limits with CODEX

Context:

• India has taken up with the CODEX committee the need for setting up limits for ETO usage as different countries have different limits.
• CODEX has not prescribed a limit so far.
• Also, there is no standard for ETO testing. India has also given a proposal for that.

About ETO (ethylene oxide):

• ETO is a chemical used as a sterilising agent in spices.
• EtO is prohibited from being used even as a fumigant in India.
• EtO is employed across various industries, including in the spice industry to reduce microbial contamination and extend shelf life.
• EtO is banned for use as a pesticide in India.
• However, improper usage can lead to residues that form toxic and potentially carcinogenic compounds, such as ethylene glycol — recently linked to fatal contaminations in cough syrups.
• Long-term exposure to EtO is also associated with an increased risk of cancers like lymphoma and leukaemia.

About CODEX:

• The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is an inter-governmental food standards body established jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in May 1963.
• Objective: Protecting consumer’s health and ensuring fair practices in food trade.
• The Agreement on Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) recognizes Codex standards, guidelines, and recommendations as reference standards.
• Members:
  • Currently, the CAC has 189 Codex Members made up of 188 Member Countries and the EU.
• India became a member in 1964.

CODEX Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs:

• CODEX committee (CCSCH) was formed in 2013 with the support of more than a hundred countries with India as the host country and the Spices Board as the Secretariat for organizing the committee sessions.
• Objectives:
  • To consult with other International Organisations for the standards development process in the spice market.
  • To develop and expand worldwide standards.
  • Since its inception, the CODEX Committee has been on a positive path in developing harmonized global standards for worldly herbs and spices.

About Codex Standards:

• Voluntary in nature, Codex standards can be general or specific and are recognized by WTO Agreements as reference standards.
• General Standards, Guidelines, and Codes of Practice: These core Codex texts, typically deal with hygienic practice, labelling, contaminants, additives, inspection & certification, nutrition, and residues of veterinary drugs and pesticides and apply horizontally to products and product categories.
• Commodity standards: These refer to a specific product although increasingly Codex now develops standards for food groups.
• Regional standards: Standards developed by the respective Regional Coordinating Committees, applicable to the respective regions.

About Spices Board India:

• It is the statutory organization constituted on 26th February 1987, under the Spices Board Act 1986.
• It was formed with the merger of the erstwhile Cardamom Board and Spices Export Promotion Council.
• The Board functions as an international link between the Indian exporters and the importers abroad and it has been involved in various activities which touch upon every segment of the spices sector.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.
• HQ: Kochi, Kerala, regional laboratories in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Tuticorin, Kandla and Guntur.
• Main functions:
  • The Spices Board is responsible for the overall development of cardamom (small and large) in terms of improving production, productivity and quality.
  • The Board is also implementing post-harvest improvement programmes to improve the quality of the 52 scheduled spices for export.
  • The various development programmes and post-harvest quality improvement programmes of the Board are included under the head ‘Export Oriented Production’.
  • Promotion of organic production, processing and certification of spices
  • Development of spices in the North East
  • Provision of quality evaluation services

Source: THBL

4. Paris Summit on clean cooking in Africa ends with $2.2 billion in global pledges

Sub: Environment

Sec: Int conventions

Tag: clean cooking

About Paris Summit on clean cooking:

• Inaugural Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa held in Paris on May 14, 2024.
• Aimed to address the health and climate impacts of traditional cooking methods in Africa.
• Gathered over 1,000 delegates from nearly 60 countries.
• Financial commitments:
  • Governments and the private sector pledged over $2.2 billion to support clean cooking initiatives in Africa.
  • Norway allocated $50 million, the EU committed $431 million, and the African Development Bank pledged $2 billion over the next decade.
  • African Development Bank will allocate 20% of its financing for energy to clean cooking.
• Governments aim to promote effective policies to ensure the widespread adoption of clean cooking methods.
• The estimated cost to achieve universal access in Africa is $4 billion annually.

Current Situation:

• Over a billion people in Africa rely on charcoal and wood for cooking.
• Traditional methods pose serious health and environmental risks.
• Clean cooking has almost been achieved in China, India and Latin America, but remains a universal failure in Africa.
  • In Benin, Ethiopia, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, more than 80 per cent of the population still depends on biomass to cook their meals.
  • In Nigeria, Kenya or Ghana, it’s 70 per cent.
• Countries like Uganda and Mozambique are implementing electric cooking devices as examples to follow.

Health and Environmental Impact:

• Household air pollution causes 3.2 million deaths annually, with Africa disproportionately affected.
• Over 600,000 people, mainly women and children, die prematurely each year in Africa due to respiratory diseases from cooking practices.
• Economic Cost:
  • Global health costs are estimated at $1.4 trillion annually, with over half in Africa.
  • Access to clean cooking is essential for human dignity, fairness, and equity, particularly for women.

Clean fuels and technologies:

• Clean fuels and technologies are those that attain the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) levels recommended in the WHO global air quality guidelines (2021).
• Fuel and technology combinations will be classified as clean if they achieve: 
  • either the annual average air quality guideline level (AQG, 5 µg/m3) or the Interim Target- 1 level (IT1, 35 µg/m3) for PM2.5; and
  • either the 24-hour average air quality guideline level (AQG, 4 mg/m3) or the Interim Target-1 level (IT-1, 7 mg/m3) for CO
• Examples include biogas, LPG, electricity, ethanol, natural gas, and solar power.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG):

• Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, n-butane and isobutane. It can sometimes contain some propylene, butylene, and isobutene.
• LPG is used as a fuel gas in heating appliances, cooking equipment, and vehicles.
• It is increasingly used as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant, replacing chlorofluorocarbons to reduce damage to the ozone layer.
• When specifically used as a vehicle fuel, it is referred to as autogas or gas.

Biogas:

• Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, wastewater, and food waste. 
• Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion with anaerobic organisms or methanogens inside an anaerobic digester, biodigester or bioreactor.
• The gas composition is primarily methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), moisture and siloxanes.
• The methane can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen. This energy release allows biogas to be used as fuel; it can be used in fuel cells and for heating purposes, such as in cooking.
• It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat.

Source: DTE

5. Why have Bikaner and Barmer in Rajasthan reported land sinking in the last month?

Sub: Geography

Sec: Indian Physical geography

Context:

• Two incidents of land subsidence occurred in Rajasthan within a month.
• In Sahajrasar village, Bikaner district, 1.5 bigha of land collapsed forming a 70-feet deep pit, narrowly missing a passing train.
• In Nagana village, Barmer district, two parallel cracks appeared over a 1.5 km area.

Barmer Incident:

• Cracks appeared near the wells of a crude oil company.
• GSI officer suggests water dissolution of soil causing underground space, leading to cracks.
• Residents allege groundwater overexploitation by the oil company, which GSI is investigating further.

Geological Concerns and reason behind the land subsidence:

• Both incidents in desert districts raised concerns among geologists and the public.
• Preliminary reports suggest water as a common factor.
• Excessive groundwater exploitation and reduced rainfall are cited as primary causes.
  • Analysis of groundwater, rainfall and other relevant data along with geological field observations showed that the area has been experiencing a high degree of groundwater depletion over the years.
  • It may lead to drying up the water-bearing aquifer rocks/sediments at the contact zone of the sub-surface hard rocks and aeolian deposits which may induce compaction of dried-up pore spaces/voids, consequently reducing of volume of sub-surface strata and resultant loose sand bearing land subsidence.
• Residents dispute claims of groundwater exploitation, citing minimal borewells and reliance on external sources for agriculture.
• The historical context suggests the sinking land in Sahajrasar has precedence dating back decades.

Land subsidence:

• According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), subsidence is the “sinking of the ground because of underground material movement”.
• Major causes for land subsidence:
  • Natural factors: Land subsidence happens due to gradual or sudden natural compaction or collapse of soils due to reasons like –
    • Tectonic activities (e.g. earthquake and faulting).
    • Volcanic activities.
    • Landslide
    • Formation of sinkholes.
    • Thawing of permafrost.
  • Anthropogenic causes:
    • Compaction of aquifer systems due to extensive groundwater withdrawals: When water is extracted from aquifers, the clay between pockets of water collapse gradually, leading to land subsidence.
    • Development of underground infrastructure such as metro, tunnels, etc.
    • Excessive underground mining of minerals, oil, and gas.
    • High load of constructions such as high-rise buildings

Solutions To Reduce Land Subsidence:

• Slope stabilization: Using methods like terracing or erecting retaining walls, slopes can be stabilized to prevent landslides and erosion.
• Planting vegetation: Vegetation planting on slopes can aid in soil stabilization and erosion prevention. Slope stabilization is particularly effective with trees and other deep-rooted plants.
• Control of drainage: In hilly areas, it is crucial to effectively manage and maintain drainage systems since poor drainage can cause the land to sag. Installing culverts or other drainage systems may be necessary to direct water away from slopes and stop erosion.
• Strengthening foundations: Buildings in mountainous communities may occasionally need to have their foundations reinforced to stop them from sliding or collapsing. This can entail adding strength to the foundations or underpinning them.
• Planning and zoning: With careful planning and zoning, structures can be kept out of locations that are vulnerable to landslides or erosion. To do this, certain regions could need to be declared no-build zones or high-risk areas might need to use special construction methods.

Source: DTE

6. GPT-4o, OpenAI’s newest AI model that makes ChatGPT smarter and free for all

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: Awareness in IT and computer

Tag: OpenAI, ChatGPT

Context:

• OpenAI introduced its latest large language model (LLM) called GPT-4o on Monday (May 13), billing it as their fastest and most powerful AI model so far.

What is OpenAI?

• OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence (AI) research organization founded in December 2015, researching artificial intelligence with the goal of developing safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence, which it defines as highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work.
• Its release of ChatGPT has been credited with starting the AI boom.

What is GPT 4O and what are its features?

• GPT-4o is being seen as a revolutionary AI model, which has been developed to enhance human-computer interactions. 
• It lets users input any combination of text, audio, and image and receive responses in the same formats.
• This makes GPT-4o a multimodal AI model – a significant leap from previous models.
• GPT-4o seems like ChatGPT transformed into a digital personal assistant that can assist users with a variety of tasks
• It can respond to audio inputs in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which is similar to human response time(opens in a new window) in a conversation.
• It matches GPT-4 Turbo performance on text in English and code, with significant improvement on text in non-English languages, while also being much faster and 50% cheaper in the API.
• GPT-4o is especially better at vision and audio understanding compared to existing models.
• GPT-4o comes with an integration that allows it to process and understand inputs more holistically.
• GPT-4o can understand tone, background noises, and emotional context in audio inputs at once. These abilities were a big challenge for earlier models.

What is the technology behind GPT-4o?

• LLMs are the backbone of AI chatbots. 
• Large amounts of data are fed into these models to make them capable of learning things themselves.

Importance of GPT 4o:

• GPT-4o could be beneficial for Microsoft, which has invested billions into OpenAI, as it can now embed the model in its existing services.
• Similar to GPT-4o, Google’s Gemini is also expected to be multimodal.
• Thus, GPT-4o will be made available to the public in stages.

What are GPT-4o’s limitations and safety concerns?

• GPT-4o is still in the early stages of exploring the potential of unified multimodal interaction, meaning certain features like audio outputs are initially accessible in a limited form only, with preset voices.

Terms in news:

Gemini:

• Gemini is a family of multimodal large language models developed by Google DeepMind, serving as the successor to LaMDA and PaLM 2.
• Comprising Gemini Ultra, Gemini Pro, and Gemini Nano, it was announced on December 6, 2023, positioned as a competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4. 

7. Three Indian literary works included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Regional Register: What is their significance?

Sub: History

Sec: Art and Culture

Tag: UNESCO’s Memory of the World Regional Register

Context:

• Three Indian literary works, Ramcharitmanas, Panchatantra, and Sahṛdayaloka-Locana, were added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register.

More on news:

• The tenth meeting of the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP) was held earlier this week in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

What is UNESCO MOWCAP?

• The Memory of the World Programme is an international programme aimed at safeguarding, preserving and facilitating access to and the use of documentary heritage. 
• UNESCO launched the Program in 1992. 
• The Programme includes the inscription of significant documentary heritage on national, regional and international registers.

What is the significance of the works?

Ramcharitmanas:

• Ramcharitmanas is an epic poem in the Awadhi language, composed by the 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Tulsidas (c. 1511–1623). 
• It has many inspirations, the primary being the Ramayana of Valmiki.
• This work is also called, in popular parlance, Tulsi Ramayana, Tulsikrit Ramayana, Tulsidas Ramayana or simply Manas. 
• The word Ramcharitmanas literally means “Lake of the deeds of Rama”.
• Tulsidas began writing the Ramcharitmanas in Ayodhya in Vikram Samvat 1631 (1574 CE).
• Another version was written in Arabic in the 18th century, highlighting the appeal of the text for West Asia and other parts of the world as well, according to Gaur.
• The Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas are read in not only India but also in other Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.

Panchatantra:

• The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.
• The surviving work is dated to about 200 BCE, but the fables are likely much more ancient.
• Vishnu Sharma was an Indian scholar and author who wrote the Panchatantra, a collection of fables
• It is likely a Hindu text, and based on older oral traditions with animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine.
• The Panchatantra fables were zeroed in owing to their universal moral values.

Sahṛdayaloka-Locana:

• The Sahṛdayāloka-Locana by Acharya Anandvardhana is a critical work that explores aesthetics and literary theory, shaping Indian literary discourse.
• The 15th-century Sahṛdayaloka-Locana, by Kashmiri scholars Acharya Anandvardhan and Abhinavagupta, was chosen because of its aesthetics.

What is the MoW register?

• UNESCO’s MOW programme is an international cooperation strategy aimed at safeguarding, protecting, and facilitating access to and the use of documentary heritage, especially heritage that is rare and endangered.
• UNESCO launched the initiative in 1992 “to guard against collective amnesia”.
• It aimed at  the preservation of invaluable archive holdings and library collections all over the world and ensuring their wide dissemination.
• The programme recognises documentary heritage of international, regional and national significance, maintains registers of it, and awards a logo to identified collections.
• It facilitates preservation and access without discrimination.
• It campaigns to raise awareness of the documentary heritage to alert governments, the general public, businesses and commerce to preservation needs and to raise funds.

What are the other items on the list?

• There are 494 inscriptions on the International MoW Register, as of May 2023, according to the UNESCO website.
• It was established in 1998, the MOWCAP Regional Register has inscribed 65 items from Asia-Pacific countries.
• Along with the three Indian items on the list, the Member States inscribed 20 items during the 2024 cycle, at the tenth General Meeting in Ulaanbaatar.
• These included three each from China and Indonesia, and two each from Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan.
• Documents recording significant innovations in business and industrial technology were recognised, such as tea-drinking business entrepreneurship in China.
• Globally applied sugar research and regional cement production in Indonesia.
• Regional literary traditions were celebrated through the recognition of the Philippines’ Indigenous Hinilawod chants, the East Asian legend of the Nine Tripods found on the bronze bas-reliefs in Viet Nam’s Nine Dynastic Urns.

8. General, central obesities linked to higher risk of colorectal cancer

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: Health

Tag: Obesity

Context:

• In India, a 2022 study in The Lancet estimated the percentage of obese women and men to be 9.8% and 5.4% respectively.

More on news:

• Along with higher risk of heart disease and diabetes, obesity has been linked to a higher susceptibility to colorectal cancer (CRC), among others.

What is colorectal cancer (CRC)?

• CRC refers to cancers of the colon or the rectum. 
• Colon cancer is sometimes called colorectal cancer.
• This term combines colon cancer and rectal cancer, which begins in the rectum
• The CRC incidence is relatively low in India.
• Percentage of people who are alive five years after a CRC diagnosis is reportedly under 40% i.e. one of the lowest in the world.
• CRC patients in India are generally young and present more frequently with advanced stages of the disease.

What is Obesity?

• Obesity is a complex, chronic disease with several causes that lead to excessive body fat and sometimes, poor health.
• Obesity is generally defined with the body mass index (BMI), a number that accounts for the height and the weight of the individual.
• The BMI measures average body weight against average body height.

What are the three types of obesity?

• Healthcare providers classify obesity into class types based on how severe it is.
• They use BMI to do it.
  • They include:
  • Class I obesity: BMI 30 to <35 kg/m².
  • Class II obesity: BMI 35 to <40 kg/m².
  • Class III obesity: BMI 40+ kg/m².

Which groups are at risk of colorectal cancer?

• Scientists began by analyzing the BMI, weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference, and the waist-to-hip ratio of more than 3 lakh people to group them into four body shapes based on their observable characteristics: PC1, PC2, PC3, and PC4.
• PC1 individuals were “generally obese”, while PC2 included tall individuals with a low waist-to-hip ratio.
• PC3 included tall individuals with central obesity, with excess fat deposited around the abdomen. 
• PC4 had those who had an athletic body shape.
• PC1 and PC3 individuals were strongly correlated with higher CRC risk while PC2 and PC4 were not associated with CRC risk.
• These associations were also linked to the site at which CRC occurred and the sex of the individual.

How genes are responsible for obesity?

• Using a technique called genome-wide association study (GWAS), the researchers looked for small variations in the DNA.
• GWAS is used to find correlations between gene variations and traits in large groups of people.
• Variation in a gene called AKT was implicated in the higher CRC risk for PC1 individuals.
• AKT regulates cell survival, insulin signaling, and the formation of blood vessels and tumors in humans.
• Variation of the RAF1 gene was found to be implicated in PC3 individuals’ CRC risk.
• RAF1 mediates, among other processes, the transformation of normal cells into cancerous cells.
• Genetic variations associated with risk for PC1 individuals were most highly expressed in the brain and in the pituitary gland.
  • The pituitary gland is located as the base of the brain and produces hormones important for regulating growth, blood pressure, and functions of the sex organs, the thyroid glands, and the kidneys.
• Variations associated with risk in PC3 individuals were found enriched in adipose tissue, nerve, cervix uteri, uterus, blood vessel, breast, fallopian tube, and ovary.
• Genetic variations found in the GWAS analysis of PC1 and PC3 were “positively associated” with CRC risk.

Terms in news:

Genome-wide association study (abbreviated GWAS):

• A genome-wide association study (abbreviated GWAS) is a research approach used to identify genomic variants that are statistically associated with a risk for a disease or a particular trait. The method involves surveying the genomes of many people, looking for genomic variants that occur more frequently in those with a specific disease or trait compared to those without the disease or trait.

Mendelian randomisation test:

• Mendelian randomization can be used to look at whether levels of a substance found naturally in a person’s body is linked to disease. Measuring the levels themselves can be a problem because the levels can change in response to other factors that could be related to the disease, such as diet, smoking, or alcohol use.

Modern Genetics:

• Modern genetics is founded on the classical study of seven genes by Gregor Mendel, even though until relatively recently little was known about their function.
• Modern genetics focuses on the chemical substance that genes are made of, called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, and the ways in which it affects the chemical reactions that constitute the living processes within the cell.

9. Why Supreme Court ruled that a lawyer cannot be sued for providing faulty ‘service’

Sub: Polity

Sec: Legislation in news

Tag: Consumer Protection Act 2019

Context:

• A lawyer’s services must be treated differently from any other business or trade, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

About the recent case:

• Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal held that the success of “professionals” often depends on factors outside their control and clients cannot take legal action against their lawyers by claiming they did not provide proper “service” as per the Consumer Protection Act.
• The judgment stems from an appeal against the 2007 National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission’s (NCDRC) decision.
• It was held that lawyers’ services fall under the definition provided for the term under Section 2(o) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (CPA).
• If there is any deficiency in service, the NCDRC held that a complaint could be filed under the CPA.

What arguments were made by lawyer groups against being liable under CPA?

• The majority of their arguments hinged on the idea that the legal profession must be differentiated from other businesses or trades and that even among other professions, lawyers occupy a unique space.
• The petitioners argued that, unlike other professionals, lawyers cannot act as a “mouthpiece” for their client even after payment of fees as lawyers have duties to the court and their opponent as per the Bar Council of India Rules, 1961.
• The petitioners also argued that there are existing remedies for professional misconduct in the Advocates Act, 1961, and the Bar Councils (both at the state and national level) are given disciplinary powers by the Advocates Act in such cases.
• Regarding the conduct of advocates, the petitioners argued that the Advocates Act would be applied as opposed to the CPA.

Supreme Court views:

• The court drew the distinction between the terms ‘business’ or ‘trade’ and profession.
• ‘Business’ or ‘trade’ have a commercial aspect and cannot be used interchangeably with the term ‘profession’ which normally would involve some branch of learning or science. 
• Success in the latter field would depend on “factors beyond a man’s control” and cannot be treated equally with a businessman or a service provider who falls under the CPA.
• The court also stated that the SC’s decision in Indian Medical Association v V.P. Shantha (1995) — where the court held that services by medical practitioners would fall under the CPA — should be revisited by a larger SC bench.
• The Bench considered whether advocates enter a “contract of personal service” with their clients, exempting them from falling under the CPA.
• The term ‘service’ is defined very broadly under the CPA but excludes free services and contracts of personal service.

How can lawyers be sued in India?

• Lawyers cannot be dragged to consumer courts over alleged deficiencies in service. 
• They can still be sued in ordinary courts for negligence and other malpractice.

About Consumer Protection Act 2019:

• The Consumer Protection Act 2019 seeks to revamp the process of administration and settlement of consumer disputes, with strict penalties, including jail term for adulteration and misleading ads by firms.
• It defined 6 rights of the consumers which include:
  • Right to be protected against the marketing of goods, products or services which can be hazardous to life and property
  • Right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods, products and services
  • Right to be assured of access to goods, products and services at competitive prices.
  • Right to be heard at appropriate forums
  • Right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices that are involved in exploitation of customers
  • Right to consumer awareness
• It proposes to set up the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers. 

About Bar Council of India:

• Bar Council of India is a statutory body established under section 4 of the Advocates Act 1961.
• It regulates the legal practice and legal education in India.
• Its members are elected from amongst the lawyers in India and represent the Indian bar.

About Advocates Act 1961:

• The act was enacted to amend and consolidate the law relating to legal practitioners and consolidate the law relating to legal practitioners and to provide for the constitution of Bar Council and All India Bar.