Fourth United Nations Environment Assembly                                                                                      

UN meet dilutes Indian plan to phase out single-use plastics                                                              

Low conviction hinders fight against spurious drugs                                                                           

Quieter, greener homage to Belur saint                                                                                                  

Czech Republic wants to have strategic partnership with India                                                          

A gel to selectively remove oil or water                                                                                                   

Solar tsunami can trigger the sunspot cycle                                                                                          

Fourth United Nations Environment Assembly

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS  - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

     •   India pilots resolutions on Single-use Plastics and Sustainable Nitrogen management at Fourth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) which was held in Nairobi.

      •   UNEA adopted both the resolutions with consensus.

Theme : Innovative Solutions for environmental challenges and sustainable production and consumption.

Need of Resolution :

     •   The global nitrogen use efficiency is low, resulting in pollution by reactive nitrogen which threatens human health, eco system services, contributes to climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion.

     •   Only a small proportion of the plastics produced globally are recycled with most of it damaging the environment and aquatic bio-diversity.

     •   Both these are global challenges and the resolutions piloted by India at the UNEA are vital first steps towards addressing these issues and attracting focus of the global community.

Discussion on Climate Funds :

     •   The Indian delegation also participated in the panel discussion on “Need for additional commitments of public finance and the ways to maximize mobilization of climate finance”.

     •   It was highlighted that climate finance is an important lever for climate action related to both mitigation and adaption in the developing countries.

     •   The contributions to climate finance need to be in consonance with the basic principles of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC).

     •   Climate finance is more of an obligation of the developed countries, based on their historical emissions. The availability of sufficient, additional and predictable climate finance is a key for action.

     •   Importantly, the lack of pledged funds I n Green Climate Fund and the potential reliance on private sector has been highlighted by many developing countries.  India has been initiating domestic climate actions, both related to climate change mitigation and adaptation, primarily through its own financial resources.

     •   There is a sense of urgency for financial support to developing countries, which have not been so responsible for these global environmental concerns.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Source :- PIB

UN meet dilutes Indian plan to phase out single-use plastics

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

Context :

India’s efforts at piloting a resolution at the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly for a global phase-out of single use plastics by 2025 failed in the face of strong opposition from the United States.

Deadline Pushed Back :

     •   The final declaration on March 15 removed the firm timelines and edited out the “decisively” and only committed to a “reduction by 2030.”

     •   The final declaration on March 15 removed the firm timelines and edited out the “decisively” and only committed to a “reduction by 2030.”

     •   The UNEA, however, lauded India for playing a key role in advocating a time-bound ban on single use plastic.

     •   The UNEA, however, lauded India for playing a key role in advocating a time-bound ban on single use plastic.

Nitrogen Pollution :

    •   Along with plastic, India also piloted a resolution on curbing nitrogen pollution.

    •   The global nitrogen-use efficiency is low, resulting in pollution by reactive nitrogen which threatens human health, ecosystem services, contributes to climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion.

    •   Only a small proportion of the plastics produced globally are recycled, with most of it damaging the environment and aquatic bio-diversity.

                                                                                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

Low conviction hinders fight against spurious drugs

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context :

Spurious drugs can have harmful side-effects and can even kill.

Datas and Facts:

     •   According to figures provided by the Drug Controller, India has been able to decide only 35 cases of the 606 prosecutions launched against the manufacture, sale and distribution of spurious or adulterated drugs from 2015 to 2018.

     •   During this time, 328 persons were arrested. As many as 15,749 samples were declared not of standard quality and 593 samples were declared spurious or adulterated, while 2,33,906 samples were tested during the three-year period.

     •   Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had conducted a country-wide survey for the years 2014-16 to determine the extent of spurious/ not of standard quality of drugs in the country.

     •   A total of 47,012 drug samples were tested/analysed out of which 1,850 samples were declared as not of standard quality and 13 samples were declared spurious

Expert Committee - Recommendation :

     •   The 54th Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers noted that “considering the size of the country and the huge quantum of medicines being distributed and sold in the country, this sample size is not adequate to measure the actual problem of spurious and non-standard quality drugs in the country.”

     •   There is an urgent need for time-bound decisions on prosecutions launched against manufacture, sale and distribution of spurious and non-standard quality drugs.

     •   Special courts should be opened in all states/UT and these courts may also impressed upon the need for timely disposal of cases the government take adequate measures to considerably increase the number of samples of drugs to be tested so as to instil fear in those who indulge in sale/distribution of spurious/non-standard quality drugs.

                                                                                                                                          Source :- The Hindu

Quieter, greener homage to Belur saint

GS PAPER - 01 ART AND CULTURE - Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Context :

In a bid to conserve environment, the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission will break an age-old tradition this year, 2019 and do away with the practice of having a fireworks display as part of the birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna.

More about the Programme :

     •   The birth anniversary programme of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna is marked by a pre-dawn arati, Vedic chanting and a homa (invocation of gods with offerings before a fire).

     •   Traditionally, it culminates with a public event on a Sunday with a fireworks display in the evening on the adjacent banks of the Hooghly river.

     •   Spread over 40 acres on the west bank of the river, the Math complex, with its architecturally distinct temples and landscaped gardens, attracts devotees and tourists alike from all over the country and beyond, as well as the residents of Howrah, a congested industrial district across Kolkata.

     •   The nearly hour-long, fireworks show draws hundreds to the Math.

     •   Sources surmise that the tradition of the fireworks display may have been started by Swami Vivekananda, who founded the Order over a hundred years ago.

     •   For the first time this year (2019), the anniversary celebrations included folk theatre or jatra and a performance of chau — a masked dance form from West Bengal’s Purulia district.

                                                                                                                                                                                        Source :- The Hindu

Czech Republic wants to have strategic partnership with India

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

Czech Republic and India have strong bilateral and economic ties and both countries want to elevate it to the next level, Czech Ambassador in New Delhi Milan Hovorka has said.

More about the news :

     •   The envoy, who was in Chennai to open an honorary consulate of Czech Republic in the city

     •   Honorary Consul Ar. Rm. Arun said his priorities would be on strengthening business-to-business ties between Czech Republic and Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

     •   Czech investment in Tamilnadu which is focussed on engineering service industry.

     •   Identifying energy, health care and tourism as potential areas where opportunities could be explored.

                                                                                                                                             Source :- The Hindu

A gel to selectively remove oil or water

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievement of Indians in science & technology

Context :

A recent paper published in the journal Chemistry of Materials, “This is the first time that the liquid repellency property of the material is made switchable, from superhydrophobic to superoleophobic under water and back to superhydrophobic by treating the material at low pH and ethanol, respectively.”

Key Findings :

• A natural biopolymer, chitosan (a kind of polysaccharide obtained from a chitin shell such as the shrimp’s), which is water-soluble, has been chemically modified by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati to selectively remove either an oil or water phase from an oil-water mixture.

• This becomes possible by making the chitosan-based material, also biodegradeable, to exhibit either an extremely water-repelling property in air (like the lotus leaf) or an extremely oil-repelling property under water (like a fish scale).

• In a breakthrough, the researchers have also made it possible to switch the chitosan-based material’s property — from being extremely water-repelling to extremely oil-repelling and vice-versa — by treating it with certain chemicals. It is also possible to repeatedly switch from one property to another.

Chitosan :

The chitosan — which is converted into a stable gel — allows the researchers to selectively remove the oil or water phase from an oil-water mixture by making the material either superhydrophobic or superoleophobic, respectively.

For example, if the oil spill (in water) is less, the material can be made water-repelling to remove or collect the oil. In case the spill is huge and the water phase relatively less, the material can be made extremely oil-repelling to collect or remove water.

Property switch :

• By treating the material with acid (pH 1) for about 15 minutes, scientists were able to completely switch the property of the material — from being extremely water-repelling to becoming extremely oil-repelling under water.

• Similarly, by treating the biopolymer with ethanol for 10 minutes followed by air drying, the team was able to switch the property from being oil-repelling to becoming water-repelling.

• The scientists added, “The water contact angle of the superhydrophobic biopolymer is over 152º and the oil contact angle under water is nearly 159º.” The higher the contact angle the greater is the liquid repellency of the material.

Superior Performance :

• The scientists tested the ability of the biopolymer to separate oils — kerosene, motor oil, olive oil and even crude oil — of different densities from water.

• The scientists went on to add that “Under water, we were able to completely remove even crude oil from the water phase. The selective separation efficiency for both oil and water phases was above 95% immaterial of the viscosity of the oil.”

• The biopolymer’s superhydrophobic property remained intact under diverse chemical conditions such as extreme pH (pH 1 and pH 13), sea and river water for seven days, and high (100º C) and low (10º C) temperatures.

• The material was found to retain both hydrophobicity and oleophobicity even when the top surface of the biopolymeric material was physically abraded using sand paper.

• Despite the abraded surface being cleaved through manual peeling using an adhesive, the liquid repellence property remained intact.

• No change in this was seen after the mechanically damaged material was subjected to even a continuous stream of sand grains. Exposure to UV light for a month too did not destroy this repellence property.

                                                                                                                                           Source :- The Hindu

Solar tsunami can trigger the sunspot cycle

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of Space.

Context :

A group of solar physicists suggests that a “solar tsunami” is at work that triggers the new sunspot cycle, after the old one ends.

Solar Dynamo :

It is believed that the “solar dynamo” a naturally occurring generator which produces electric and magnetic fields in the sun is linked to the production of sunspots.

What kick-starts the 11-year sunspot cycle is not known.

The extreme temperature and pressure conditions that prevail some 20,000 km below the sun’s surface cause its material to form plasma consisting primarily of hydrogen and helium in a highly ionised state.

The plasma is confined with huge magnetic fields inside the sun

Celestial rubber BAnds :

These magnetic fields behave like rubber bands on a polished sphere.

They tend to slip towards the poles.

Holding these fields in their place requires that there is extra mass (plasma mass) pushing at the bands from higher latitudes. Thus, a magnetic dam is formed which is storing a big mass of plasma. At the end of a solar cycle, this magnetic dam can break, releasing huge amounts of plasma cascading like a tsunami towards the poles.

These tsunami waves travel at high speeds of about 1,000 km per hour carrying excess plasma to the mid-latitudes. There they give rise to magnetic flux eruptions. These are seen as the bright patches that signal the start of the next cycle of sunspots. The tsunami waves can traverse the required distance in a few weeks, unlike in earlier models.

Further, it is important to note that the solar cycle and sunspot activity are intimately connected with space weather.

                                                                                                                                         Source :- The Hindu

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