Daily Prelims Notes 21 July 2022
- July 21, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Daily Prelims Notes
21 July 2022
Table Of Contents
- Stay away from Congo’s ‘carbon bomb’ auction, Greenpeace urges Big Oil
- Biomedical wastes
- Don’t apply ESG blindlyon developing countries
- Cryptocurrency vs CBDC
- Central bank’s currency-market intervention strategy
- Investments via P notes falling
- FRESH
- Delhi to get 1000 sandalwood trees
- What is India’s law on abortion, and why has a pregnant unmarried petitioner gone to Supreme Court in appeal?
- Vaccines to prevent antimicrobial resistance: Accelerate trials for priority candidates, says WHO
- The sweltering heat wave across Europe
- WHO reports 14000 cases of monkey pox across the globe?
- HC asks state govt to make Bihar Vidyapeeth campus a museum
- Western Europe bakes; United Kingdom, France, Italy and Iberian Peninsula on edge
- ‘Rights of Nature’ Is a Faux Rights Revolution Entangled in Anthropocentrism
1. Stay away from Congo’s ‘carbon bomb’ auction, Greenpeace urges Big Oil
Subject : Environment
Section :Pollution
Context:
- Greenpeace has urged major oil and gas companies to not participate in a huge auction of oil blocks in Democratic Republic of Congo at the end of July.
- It has called it a carbon bomb.
What are carbon bombs?
- It is “an oil or gas project that will result in at least a billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over its lifetime.”
- Whenever coal, oil, or gas is extracted it results in pollution and environmental degradation. Further, carbon emissions take place in particularly large amounts when fuel is burned.
- In total, around 195 such projects have been identified world over, including in the US, Russia, West Asia, Australia and India. According to the report, they will collectively overshoot the limit of emissions that had been agreed to in the Paris Agreement of 2015.
Why carbon bomb?
- The gas fields are also located in the Congo Basin forest. The Cuvette Centrale region in Congo Basin is world’s largest natural tropical peatlands. It stores three years equivalent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The oil blocks also overlap carbon-rich peatlands in the west African country — an area activists describe as a “carbon bomb”. If these peatlands are disturbed, large quantities of carbon dioxide could be released.
What are peatland?
- Peatlands are a type of wetland which occur in almost every country and are known to cover at least three per cent of global land surface.
- The term ‘peatland’ refers to the peat soil and the wetland habitats growing on the surface according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
- Peatlands are wetlands that contain mixture of decomposed organic material, partially submerged in layer of water, lacking oxygen.
- Their high carbon content makes them uniquely vulnerable to incineration if they are drained.
Subject : Environment
Section :Pollution
Context: Biomedical waste is a universal problem
Concept:
To protect human health and the environment, the Ministry of Environment and Forests had notified the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986) and later notified Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016.
What are Biomedical waste?
- Bio Medical Waste Management Rules, (BMWM), 2016 defines Bio Medical Waste as any Waste generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human being and animals, in research activities or in production or testing of Biological.
- Bio Medical Waste is categorized into four categories Yellow, Red, Blue and White and needs special consideration during its handling, storage, transportation treatment and disposal specific to its color code.
- BMWM Rules 2016 specify the statutory responsibility of waste management of Waste generator, Occupier of Health care establishment, Common Facility operator, SPCB and stake holder departments responsible for BMW management at both Central and state government, in accordance with the provisions of BMW Rules and Guidelines issued by CPCB & SPCB.
Categories of Biomedical wastes | |||
Category | Type of waste | Type of bag | Type of disposal |
YELLOW | Human tissues, organs, body parts and fetus below the viability period (as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971, amended from time to time). Soiled Waste: Items contaminated with blood, body fluids like dressings, plaster casts, cotton swabs and bags containing residual or discarded blood and blood components. | Yellow coloured non-chlorinated plastic bags | incineration/plasma pyrolysis/deep-buria |
RED | Contaminated Waste (Recyclable) Wastes generated from disposable items such as tubing, bottles, intravenous tubes and sets, catheters, urine bags, syringes (without needles and fixed needle syringes ) and vaccutainers with their needles cut) and gloves. | Red coloured non-chlorinated plastic bags or containers | auto claving /microwaving/chemical disinfection |
WHITE | Waste sharps including Metals: Needles, syringes with fixed needles, needles from needle tip cutter or burner, scalpels, blades, or any other contaminated sharp object that may cause puncture and cuts. This includes both used, discarded and contaminated metal sharps | Puncture proof, Leak proof, tamper proof container | sterilization and shredding, disinfection followed by burial in concrete pit/recycling through foundry/encapsulation |
BLUE | Glassware: Broken or discarded and contaminated glass including medicine vials and ampoules except those contaminated with cytotoxic wastes Cardboard boxes with blue colored marking Disinfection (by soaking the washed glass waste after cleaning with detergent and Sodium Hypochlorite treatment) or through autoclaving or microwaving or hydroclaving and then sent for recycling. Metallic Body Implants | Cardboard boxes with blue colored marking | washing, disinfection |
3. Don’t apply ESG blindlyon developing countries
Subject :Economy
Section: Banking
Context:Chief Economic Adviser V. AnanthaNageswaran has asked global investors not to apply standards related to sustainability and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) norms indiscriminately for developing countries,
Concept :
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is a criterion used by investors for screening companies. Investors increasingly prefer a company which is environment-oriented and has high corporate governance standards. The ESG criteria are a set of standards for a company’s operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments.
Subject :Economy
Section: Banking
Context:
Phased implementation of CBDC for wholesale, retail segments in the works, says RBI ED Choudhary
Cryptocurrency vs CBDC:
Basis | Cryptocurrency | Central Bank Digital Currency |
Meaning | Digital token issued by a private institution or firm. | Central bank digital currencies are digital tokens, similar to cryptocurrency but issued by a central bank. |
Legality | Not a fiat currency as not backed by the government. | A central bank digital currency is the digital form of a country’s fiat currency. |
Technology | Based on cryptography and blockchain technology i.e a public ledger needs every user consent for transaction. | Central bank digital currencies are designed to be similar to cryptocurrencies, but they may not require blockchain technology or consensus mechanisms. |
Intrinsic value | No intrinsic value but used for transaction due to acceptability, scarcity and anonymity. | They are pegged to the value of that country’s fiat currency. |
Regulation | Cryptocurrencies are unregulated and decentralized thus, involving anonymous transactions. | As a centralized form of currency, they may not anonymize transactions as some cryptocurrencies do. |
Effect on monetary policy | Complicates monetary policy transmission for being a parallel unregulated currency | CBDCs promote financial inclusion and simplify the implementation of monetary and fiscal policy. |
Value | Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, with their value constantly fluctuating. | CBDCs, backed by a government and controlled by a central bank, would provide households, consumers, and businesses with a stable means of exchanging digital currency. |
Acceptability | Their value is dictated by investor sentiments, usage, and user interest. | Legal backing |
Spending | Double spending as software on a computer can be used repeatedly. | Fiat currency has the property that once spent, it cannot be spent again except through forgery, because it is no more with the spender. |
RBI amendment Act:
Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, which would enable it to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), thus enhancing the scope of the definition of ‘bank note’ to include currency in digital form.
Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934:
- It was enacted on 6 March, 1934 to constitute the Reserve Bank of India.
- This law commenced from April 1, 1935.
- It provides a framework for the supervision of banks and other related matters.
- Important Provisions:
- Section 3 of the RBI act provides for the establishment of Reserve Bank of India for taking over the management of the currency from the Central Government and for carrying on the business of banking in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
- Section 4 of the RBI Act defines the capital of RBI which is Rs. five crore.
- Section 7 of the RBI Act empowers the central government to issue directions in public interest from time to time to the bank in consultation with the RBI Governor. This section also provides power of superintendence and direction of the affairs and business of RBI to the Central Board of Directors.
- Section 17 deals with the functioning of RBI.
- The RBI can accept deposits from the central and state governments without interest.
- It can purchase and discount bills of exchange from commercial banks.
- It can purchase foreign exchange from banks and sell it to them.
- It can provide loans to banks and state financial corporations.
- It can provide advances to the central government and state governments.
- It can buy or sell government securities.
- It can deal in derivative, repo and reverse repo.
- Section 18 describes emergency loans to banks.
- Section 21 assigns RBI the duty of being banker to the central government and managing public debt.
- Section 22 -grants power to RBI to issue the currency
- Section 24 has provision that highest denomination note could be Rs10,000
- Section 28 empowers the RBI to form laws concerning the exchange of damaged and imperfect notes
- Section 31 provides that in India RBI and central government only can issue and accept promissory notes that are due on request
- Section 42(1) provides that every scheduled bank need to hold an average daily balance with the RBI
5. Central bank’s currency-market intervention strategy
Subject :Economy
Section:Banking
Context:
RBI prepared to spend $100 billion more defending rupee as the rupee has lost over 7% of its value in 2022 and weakened past the psychological level of 80 per US dollar.
Details:
- The RBI’s currency reserves have fallen by more than $60 billion from its peak of $642.450 billion in early September.
- Causes:
- Valuation changes- due to depreciation of Euro and other foreign currency held as forex assets
- Dollar selling intervention of RBI to balance exchange rate depreciation.
- The RBI’s reserves of $580 billion remain the fifth largest in the world, giving the central bank confidence in its ability to prevent any sharp depreciation of the currency.
Central bank’s currency-market intervention strategy:
- The aim of the RBI’s policy is to allow the rupee to find its natural value in the market but without undue volatility or causing unnecessary panic among investors.
- The central bank ensures that there is no drastic drop in the rupee’s value.
- The RBI intervenes in the currency market to support the rupee as a weak domestic unit can increase a country’s import bill.
- There are a variety of methods by which RBI intervenes:
- It can intervene directly in the currency market by buying and selling dollars.
- If the RBI wishes to increase the rupee value, then it can sell dollars and when it needs to bring down rupee value, it can buy dollars.
- The central bank can also influence the value of the rupee by way of monetary policy.
- RBI can adjust the repo rate (the rate at which RBI lends to banks) and the liquidity ratio (the portion of money banks are required to invest in government bonds) to control rupee
- Indirect method-RBI can direct select state-owned banks sell dollars in the spot market.
- To sterilise the spot market dollar sales, banks converted them into forwards contracts through buy-sell swaps.
- This helps on two counts.
- It can intervene directly in the currency market by buying and selling dollars.
- First, it protects the forex reserves.
- Second, the forward deal neutralizes the impact of spot interventions on liquidity.
6. Investments via P notes falling
Subject :Economy
Section: External Sector
Context:Investment in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes (P-notes) declined to Rs 80,092 crore till June-end, making it the lowest level in 20 months
Concept :
What are P-Notes?
- P-notes are issued by registered foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to overseas investors who wish to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly.
- They, however, need to go through a due diligence process.
Why there were concerns?
SEBI was concerned about P-notes because it is not possible to know who owns the underlying securities and hedge funds acting through P-notes might therefore cause volatility in the Indian markets
Why it’s not a big concern?
- Participatory Notes (P-Notes), which are seen as hot money instruments, are not an issue because the inflow via this route is miniscule to the level of the net overall foreign portfolio investments into the Indian markets this fiscal.
- FPIs’ total Assets Under Management in India currently exceed $55 billion and P-Notes account for less than 2 per cent. Nearly a third of the FPI flows into India originate from three jurisdictions — Luxembourg, Singapore and Mauritius
- SEBI has already put in place a strong regulatory framework with stringent KYC norms for the FPIs
KYC norms ‘in place’ for FPIs
- About 10,000 FPIs are registered with SEBI.
- There are proper regulations and KYC norms are in place.
- It may be recalled that SEBI had in September 2019 notified new FPI regulations to ease the regime for investments by FPIs. The new rules replaced the SEBI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations, 2014
Subject :Government Scheme
FRESH is an acronym for Focusing Resources on Effective School Health, an inter-agency framework developed by UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank, launched at the Dakar Education Forum, 2000, which incorporates the experience and expertise of these and other agencies and organizations. It is a worldwide program for improving the health of school children and youth
Although aimed at improving learning opportunities for children and youths by first improving their health, FRESH is more than simply the provision of school health services. FRESH is a combination of activities in four core areas:
- School health policies
- Water, sanitation and the environment
- Skills based health education
- School-based health and nutrition services
There are three supporting strategies:
- Effective partnerships between the education and health sectors
- Community partnership
- Student participation
8. Delhi to get 1000 sandalwood trees
Subject: Environment
Section: Biodiversity
Context:Following directions of Delhi Lieutenant Governor, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) plans to plant around 1,000 red and white sandalwood (chandan) trees across New Delhi and Lutyens’ areas.
Content:
- The sandalwood trees will be planted in secured areas and parks such as Nehru Park, Lodhi Garden, Sanjay Jheel, and Talkatora Stadium, among other campuses and institutions.
- The trees will be planted in an adjacent pattern.
- The NDMC also plans to geo-tag the trees with QR codes and install information boards along the trees through which the public can scan and read about their benefits.
- The cost of one sandalwood sapling is around Rs 350 and the estimated cost of 1,000 trees is Rs 3.5 lakh.
Challenges
- Sandalwood trees are not native to Delhi. They are grown in parasitic environments and ridge areas.
- Unfit for dry conditions as they are grown in tropical regions like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, etc.
- Less chance for trees to survive.
- Terminal infection and soil erosion.
- Huge Cost for the project.
Chandan Trees and their Uses:
- Although Sandalwood has many species but only two of them i.e., White Sandalwood and Red Sandalwood are most widely cultivated.
- Globally, India & Australia are the largest growers of sandalwood, while the biggest markets lie in the United States, China, Japan & the Indian domestic market.
- Sandalwood is used for making oil, soap and face packs, and for aromatherapy, and it has been largely known for its fragrance for decades.
Red Sandalwood/Pterocarpussantalinus | White Sandalwood/ Santalum album |
|
|
Subject :Polity
Section: Judiciary
Context:
- A 25-year-old pregnant woman moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday (July 19) seeking an abortion after the Delhi High Court declined her plea last week. The woman has also challenged Rule 3B of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules, 2003, which allows only some categories of women to seek termination of pregnancy between 20 and 24 weeks.
What is India’s law on abortion?
- Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860,criminalises voluntarily “causing miscarriage” even when the miscarriage is with the pregnant woman’s consent, except when the miscarriage is caused to save the woman’s life. This means that the woman herself, or anyone else including a medical practitioner, could be prosecuted for an abortion.
Key Provisions of the MTP Amendment Act, 2021:
- 1st category – In 2021, Parliament amended the 1971 MTP law and allowed for a termination under the opinion of one doctor for pregnancies up to 20 weeks.
- 2nd category – For pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks, the amended law requires the opinion of two doctors.
- 3rd category – Opinion of the State-level medical board is essential for a pregnancy to be terminated after 24 weeks in case of substantial foetal abnormalities.
- For the second category, the Rules specified seven categories of women who would be eligible for seeking termination. Section 3B of Rules prescribed under the MTP Act reads: “The following categories of women shall be considered eligible for termination of pregnancy under clause (b) of subsection (2) Section 3 of the Act, for a period of up to twenty-four weeks, namely:
- survivors of sexual assault or rape or incest;minors;
- change of marital status during the ongoing pregnancy (widowhood and divorce);
- women with physical disabilities [major disability as per criteria laid down under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016
- mentally ill women including mental retardation;
- the foetal malformation that has substantial risk of being incompatible with life or if the child is born it may suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities to be seriously handicapped; and
- women with pregnancy in humanitarian settings or disaster or emergency situations as may be declared by the Government.
Subject :Science and technology
Section: Biotechnology
Context:
Context: The World Health Organization (WHO) has, for the first time, identified 61 vaccines in various stages of clinical development that will protect against infection caused by pathogens that have become resistant to antimicrobials
What are antimicrobials?
Antimicrobials – including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics – are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and plants
What is antimicrobial resistance?
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death
Why is antimicrobial resistance a global concern?
- The emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens that have acquired new resistance mechanisms, leading to antimicrobial resistance, continues to threaten our ability to treat common infections.
- Especially alarming is the rapid global spread of multi- and pan-resistant bacteria (also known as “superbugs”) that cause infections that are not treatable with existing antimicrobial medicines such as antibiotics
The Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS)
- WHO launched the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) in 2015 to continue filling knowledge gaps and to inform strategies at all levels.
- GLASS provides a standardized approach to the collection, analysis, interpretation and sharing of data by countries, territories and areas, and monitors the status of existing and new national surveillance systems, with emphasis on representativeness and quality of data collection.
India’s National Action Plan (NAP) for AMR was released in April 2017 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Priority | Main objective |
Strategic priority 1 | Improve awareness and understanding of AMR through effective communication, education, and training |
Strategic priority 2 | Strengthen knowledge and evidence through surveillance |
Strategic priority 3 | Reduce the incidence of infection through effective infection, prevention, and control |
Strategic priority 4 | Optimize the use of antimicrobial agents in all sectors |
Strategic priority 5 | Promote investments for AMR activities, research, and innovations |
Strategic priority 6 | Strengthen India’s leadership on AMR by means of collaborations on AMR at international, national, and sub-national levels |
11. The sweltering heat wave across Europe
Subject :Geography
Section: Climatology
Context:
Context: Large swathes of Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. are sweltering under extreme heat wave conditions.
What is behind the extreme heat waves?
- The heat waves are a result of climate change caused by human activity.
- Global temperatures have already risen by more than 1°C , and studies in the U.K. had shown that a one degree rise in temperature raises the probability of the country witnessing 40°C by ten times.
- The rising global temperature, which this year led to deviations above the normal by as much as 15 degrees in Antarctica, and by more than 3 degrees in the North Pole, have also, induced changes in old wind patterns.
- These changes turned Western Europe into what has been described as a “heat dome” a low pressure area that began to attract hot air from northern Africa.
- In the case of the U.S., the record temperatures are being linked to changes in the jet stream — a narrow band of westerly air currents that circulate several kilometers above the earth’s surface.
- While a conventionally strong jet stream would bring cooler air from the northern Atlantic, in recent years the jet stream has weakened and split into two, leading to intense and more frequent heat waves over parts of the American continent
Concept:
What is Heat Dome?
- A heat dome occurs when the atmosphere traps hot ocean airlike a lid or cap.
- Heat dome happens when strong, high-pressure atmospheric conditions combine with influences from La Niña, creating vast areas of sweltering heat that gets trapped under the high-pressure “dome.”
- Imagine a swimming pool when the heater is turned on — temperatures rise quickly in the areas surrounding the heater jets, while the rest of the pool takes longer to warm up
- If one thinks of the Pacific as a very large pool, the western Pacific’s temperatures have risen over the past few decades as compared to the eastern Pacific, creating a strong temperature gradient, or pressure differences that drive wind, across the entire ocean in winter.
- In a process known as convection, the gradient causes more warm air, heated by the ocean surface, to rise over the western Pacific, and decreases convection over the central and eastern Pacific.
- As prevailing winds move the hot air east, the northern shifts of the jet stream trap the air and move it toward land, where it sinks, resulting in heat waves.
12. WHO reports 14000 cases of monkey pox across the globe?
Subject :Science and technology
Section: Disease
Context:
Context: The World Health Organization has confirmed 14,000 cases of monkey pox worldwide,
With five deaths reported in Africa
Monkeypox Virus:
- Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of central and west Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions
- Monkeypox virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding
- Monkeypox is caused by monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae
- An antiviral agent developed for the treatment of smallpox has also been licensed for the treatment of monkeypox
Concept:
Public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC):
- It is defined as an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response
- It designates a public health crisis of potentially global reach and implies a situation that is “serious, sudden, unusual, or unexpected”, which may necessitate immediate international action.
- It can be seen as an “alarm system”, a “call to action” and “last resort” measure
- It was declared by World Health Organization
- Under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), states have a legal duty to respond promptly to a PHEIC
- The declaration is publicized by an IHR Emergency Committee (EC) of international experts,which was developed following the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.
13. HC asks state govt to make Bihar Vidyapeeth campus a museum
Subject: History
Section: Art and Culture
Context:
- Bihar Vidyapeeth, the educational institution which was set up by Mahatma Gandhi in 1921
- Dr Rajendra Prasad was the principal of the Vidyapeeth.
- Gujarat Vidyapith is a deemed university in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It was founded in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi.
- Kashi Vidyapith also founded during 1920 by Babu Shiv Prasad Gupta and Bhagwan Das.
- Inspired by Gandhi’s call for self-reliance and swaraj (self-rule) during Non-Cooperation Movement all the above institution established.
Study gains new insights into a fundamental question in geology
- Indian tectonic plate dragged a considerable amount of Kerguelen plume material for more than 2,000 km underneath the Indian lithosphere, it finds
- A recent study by a team of scientists at Goa-based National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) has brought new insights into the critical processes involved in the movement of the earth’s tectonic plates.
National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR)
- It was established as an autonomous Research and Development Institution of the Ministry of Earth Sciences on the 25th May 1998.
- NCPOR is India’s premier R&D institution responsible for the country’s research activities in the Polar and Southern Ocean realms.
- Its responsibilities include:
- Management and upkeep of the Indian Antarctic Research Bases “Maitri” and “Bharati and the Indian Arctic base “Himadri”.
- Management of the Ministry’s research vessel ORV Sagar Kanya as well as the other research vessels chartered by the Ministry.
International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)
- It is an international marine research collaboration that explores Earth’s history and dynamics using ocean-going research platforms to recover data recorded in seafloor sediments and rocks and to monitor sub seafloor environments.
- NCPOR is the nodal agency for all the IODP related activities in India.
14. Western Europe bakes; United Kingdom, France, Italy and Iberian Peninsula on edge
Subject :Geography
Section: Climatology
Context:
- Experts blame wind and atmospheric circulation and Arctic ice melt for the heatwave
- It is a part of the global warming process. The worst was the 2003 heatwave when 40,000 people died
- Heatwaves also happen due to large-scale atmospheric circulation related to Rossby waves.
- Temp at North pole and antartica have been deviated from normal by 15 degree that has changed the wind direction.
- These changes turned western Europe into “Heat Dome” a low pressure area that is attracting hot air from northern Africa.
Rossby Waves
- The meandering jet streams are called Rossby Waves.
- Rossby waves are natural phenomenon in the atmosphere and oceans due to rotation of earth.
- In planetary atmospheres, they are due to the variation in the Coriolis effect (When temperature contrast is low, speed of jet stream is low, and Coriolis force is weak leading to meandering) with latitude.
- Rossby waves are formed when polar air moves toward the Equator while tropical air is moving poleward.
- The existence of these waves explains the low-pressure cells (cyclones) and high-pressure cells (anticyclones).
15. ‘Rights of Nature’ Is a Faux Rights Revolution Entangled in Anthropocentrism
Subject: Environment
Section: Art and Culture
Context:
- In three recent cases, the Madras and the Uttarakhand high courts invoked parens patriae to confer rights on natural elements like rivers and glaciers.
What is Parenspatrie?
- Parens patriae conceives of nature as a perpetual minor, thus cementing the authority of the same state whose failure to implement existing laws properly led to the environmental crisis.
- On April 19, 2022, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court, in A. Periyakaruppan v. the Principal Secretary, invoked the jurisdiction of parens patriae and declared ‘Mother Nature’ to be a living being with all the rights, duties and liabilities corresponding to a living person, to preserve and conserve them.
- Parens patriae is Latin for “parent of the nation”. In law, it refers to the state’s power to intervene against a bad parent, guardian or caretaker and assume responsibility for any child or individual in need of protection.
- The two judgments of the Uttarakhand high court declaring the rivers Ganga and Yamuna and Himalayan glaciers as legal persons also summarise the jurisprudence on the rights of rivers in India.
- However, citing administrative and implementation challenges, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of both judgments.
- New Zealand achieved the representation of the legal personality of the river Whanganui through the Office of the Whanganui River (TePouTupua), which includes representatives of the Crown as well as Indigenous communities.