Govt. making rules for us without us: transgenders                                                

FSSAI implements ban on colistin use                                                                      

Iran unveils ‘improved’ radar air defence system                                                     

More than half of forest wildlife declined since 1970: WWF                                    

Microplastics in snow raise pollution worries                                                           

Govt. making rules for us without us: transgenders

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections

Context :

• The Lok Sabha recently passed the Transgender Persons (Protection Of Rights) Bill.

Issue :

• The transgender community took a closer look at the Bill that was supposed to protect their rights, and found that barely any of their demands had been included.

• Their main concern is that the government makes rules without consulting them and it does not make any difference to their lives.

• The legislation has been criticised by the transgender community for replacing district screening committees with bureaucratic impediments.

• They have also highlighted that the provisions against discrimination have no enforceability.

• The Bill has also attracted disapproval for only providing separate definitions for intersex persons but no provisions for transgenders.

• The transgender community seek a Bill that would have separate provisions for transgender, transsexual and intersex persons.

                                                                                                                     Source :- The Hindu

FSSAI implements ban on colistin use

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a draft regulation to prevent the use of antibiotic colistin in food.

Background :

• The Union government's July notification prohibited the manufacturing, sale and distribution and colistin's formulations for food-producing animals, poultry, aqua-farming and animal feed supplements with immediate effect.

Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations 2019 :

• According to the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations 2019, colistin will be added to the list of antibiotics and veterinary drugs that are prohibited for use in processing of meat and meat products, poultry and eggs, sea foods including shrimps, prawns or fish and fishery products.

• Also, colistin and its tolerance limits will be removed from the list of antibiotics and veterinary drugs for foods.          

                                                                                                                      Source :- Down To Earth

Modi announces new post of Chief of Defence Staff

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

Context :

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address announced the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) :

• The CDS is a high military office that oversees and coordinates the working of the three Services.

• CDS offers seamless tri-service views and single-point advice to the Executive (in India’s case, to the Prime Minister) on long-term defence planning and management, including manpower, equipment and strategy, and above all, “joints manship” in operations.

• The officer concerned will be in a position to advise on matters related to all the three services — Army, Navy and Air Force — thus making India’s armed forces integrated.

• The Chief of Defence Staff will be a ‘first among equals’, a fourth four-star officer who will be senior to the three other service chiefs.

Current Practice :

• India has had a feeble equivalent known as the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC).

  • but this is a toothless office, given the manner in which it is structured.

• The senior most among the three Service Chiefs is appointed to head the CoSC, an office that lapses with the incumbent’s retirement.

Background :

• The recommendation for creating the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was first made after the 1999 Kargil War.

• A high-level committee that was set up to examine the gaps in the country’s security system in the wake of the Kargil War had recommended that the three services should have a Chief of Defence Staff.

• The committee had said this person, a five-star military officer, should be the single-point military adviser to the Defence Minister.

• Besides the high-level committee on Kargil War, a group of ministers that was formed in 2001 to explore necessary reforms required to improve India’s national security had also favoured creating the post of Chief of Defence Staff.

• Moving in a similar direction, in 2012, the Naresh Chandra Task Force recommended that post of a permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) should be created.

• The CoSC comprises chiefs of the Indian Army, Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force. The senior-most among them would act as the chairman.

• One of the reasons why a decision on creating the post of Chief of Defence Staff could not be taken in the past 20 years was that a political consensus could not be created on it.

• In 2016, the government informed Parliament that this consultation process could not be completed because all political parties had not responded.

Need of CDS :

• The case for a CDS has been built around the argument that it is necessary to have a professional body of the highest standing to facilitate ‘jointmanship’ and render single-point military advice to the government on matters of national security.

• CDS would play a role in fostering inter-services jointness in terms of budgeting, equipment purchases, training, joint doctrines and planning of military operations-an imperative of modern warfare

• It is believed that this step will make our national security more effective and more economical.

• In most democracies, the CDS is seen as being above inter-Service rivalries and the immediate operational preoccupations of the individual military chiefs. The role of the CDS becomes critical in times of conflict.

• Most countries with advanced militaries have such a post, albeit with varying degrees of power and authority. The United States Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), for example, is extremely powerful, with a legislated mandate and sharply delineated powers.

                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu ; Indian Express

Iran unveils ‘improved’ radar air defence system

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interests, Indian diaspora.

Context :

• Iran has unveiled an improved radar air defence missile system called Falaq.

Radar Air defence missile system - Falaq :

• The Falaq is said to be an upgraded version of the current Gamma system which military experts said was of Russian origin.

• The missile can detect enemy missiles and drones from more than 400 kms away.

• The system also has high capabilities and can detect all types of cruise and ballistic missiles and drones.

More in the news:

• The announcement comes at a time of rising tension between Iran and the United States.

• Earlier,Iran had shot down a US military surveillance drone in the Gulf with a surface-to-air missile.Iran had said that the drone was over its territory but US had said that it was in international air space.

                                                                                                              Source :- Economic Times

More than half of forest wildlife declined since 1970: WWF

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• There has been a 53 per cent decline in the number of forest wildlife populations since 1970, according to the first-ever global assessment of forest biodiversity by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Global assessment of forest Biodiversity :

• The new findings were based on the Forest Specialist Index, developed following the Living Planet Index methodology — an index that tracks wildlife that lives only in forests.

• In total, data was available for 268 species (455 populations) of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Key findings :

• Of the 455 monitored populations of forest specialists, more than half declined at an annual rate of 1.7 per cent, on average between 1970 and 2014.

• While the decline was consistent in these years among mammals, reptiles and amphibians (particularly from the tropical forests), it was less among birds (especially from temperate forests). 

Responsible for the decline in wildlife populations:

• The report found that just the changes in tree cover — deforestation or reforestation — were not responsible for the decline in wildlife populations.

• The major threats are :

  • Habitat loss and habitat degradation/change

  • Exploitation

  • Climate change

• Loss of habitat due to logging, agricultural expansion, mining, hunting, conflicts and spread of diseases accounted for almost 60 per cent of threats.

• Nearly 20 per cent of threats were due to overexploitation. Of the 112 forest-dwelling primate populations, 40 were threatened by overexploitation (hunting).

• Climate change, on the other hand, threatened to 43 per cent of amphibian populations, 37 per cent of reptile populations, 21 per cent of bird populations but only 3 per cent of mammal populations.

• More than 60 per cent of threatened forest specialist populations faced more than one threat.

Concern :

• Wildlife is an essential component of natural and healthy forests. They play a major role in forest regeneration and carbon storage by engaging in pollination and seed dispersal. Thus, loss of fauna can have severe implications for forest health, the climate and humans who depend on forests for their livelihoods.

Way Forward :

• Protecting wildlife and reversing the decline of nature requires urgent global action.

• The need is to preserve harmonious land use in our region, including forest management and protect the most valuable surviving ecosystems.

• We need global leaders to immediately kickstart action to protect and restore nature and keep our forests standing.

                                                                                                               Source :- Down To Earth

Microplastics in snow raise pollution worries

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• The new study, conducted by scientists at Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute and Switzerland’s Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, found that microplastic particles can be transported tremendous distances through the atmosphere.

Key Findings :

• The study shows that minute microplastic particles have been detected in the Arctic and the Alps, carried by the wind and later washed out in the snow.

• It has called for urgent research to assess the health risks of inhalation.

• Infrared imaging technique were used to analyse samples collected between 2015 and 2017 from floating ice in the Fram Strait off Greenland.

• They then compared these with samples taken from from remote Swiss Alps and Bremen in northwest Germany.

• Concentrations of the microparticles in the Arctic were significantly lower than in the European sites, but still substantial.

• The team’s hypothesis for airborne transportation builds on past research conducted on pollen, where experts confirmed that pollen from near the equator ends up in the Arctic.

• Similarly, dust from the Sahara desert can cover thousands of kilometres and end up in northeast Europe.

Issue :

• Every year, several million tonnes of plastic litter course through rivers and out to the oceans, where they are gradually broken down into smaller fragments through the motion of waves and the ultraviolet light of the sun.

• These particles, defined as shreds less than five millimeters in length, are later washed out of the air by precipitation, particularly snow.

• The durable properties of plastics make them persistent and slow to degrade in the environment.

• It enters the food chains of even birds, animals and fishes. This results in significant global impacts on wildlife, from marine environment pollution.

• Majority of the microplastic in the snow comes from the air. This raises concerns as to how much plastic is being inhaled, stressing the need for urgent research into the effects on human and animal health.

• Little work had been done to determine the effects of exposure to these particles.

                                                                                                             Source :- The Hindu

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