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Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 3rd Dec 2020
Today's Must Read Articles :La Niña influence : Winter to be colder than normal
HEADLINES:
La Niña influence: Indian winter to be colder than normal
WHY IN NEWS:
The phenomenon could create erratic winter conditions impacting agricultural practises during the Rabi season
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 1 : Geography : La-Nina
ISSUE:
KEY POINTS
- IMD, however, has not made any prediction about the prevalence of cold wave or cold day conditions in any part of the country so far.
- While the minimum temperatures in north, northwest, central and some areas in eastern India may be lower than the average.
- The maximum temperatures in some of the same regions such as north, northwest, eastern and some parts of central India may be higher than the average.
IMPACT
- This means that the gap between day and night temperatures will be wider.
- It might also affect the productivity of cash crops such as coffee, which grows mainly in south India.
- Coffee growth is extremely sensitive to variations in temperatures.
INFLUENCE OF LA NIÑA
- One reason for this could be the prevailing La Niña conditions in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean.
- La Niña is the cooling phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation cycle in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, as opposed to the warming El Niño phase.
- It usually brings in colder than normal winters in India.
- La Niña influences the Indian subcontinent by piping in cold air from Siberia and South China,
- This interacts with the tropical heating to produce a north-south low-pressure system.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The cold air associated with this north-south trough tends to extend much farther south into India.
- This is remarkably different than the more northwest-southeast blast of cold air associated with an El Niño.
- The pressure pattern going north-south means lesser impact of western disturbances.
- The cold temperature can go down as far as Tamil Nadu, but may not affect the North East that much.
SOURCES: DownToEarth | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 3rd Dec 2020
Apex Committee for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (AIPA)
HEADLINES:
Centre constitutes committee for implementation of 2015 Paris Agreement
WHY IN NEWS:
The committee will also act as a national authority for the regulation of carbon markets in India
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Climate Change
ISSUE:
APEX COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT (AIPA)
AIM
FOCUS
- This will ensures that India is on track towards meeting its climate change obligations under the Paris Agreement.
- NDCs are the accounts of the voluntary efforts to be made by countries that are a part of the Paris Agreement.
- NDC’s are formulated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impacts of anthropogenic climate change.
QUANTITATIVE GOALS OF NDC
The three quantitative goals in the Indian NDCs are:
- A 33-35 per cent reduction in the gross domestic product emissions intensity by 2030 from 2005 levels
- A 40 per cent share of non-fossil fuel based electricity by 2030
- Creating a carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide through afforestation programmes
MEMBERS
- The committee will have the secretary, Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) as the chairperson.
- Now, the AIPA, with its 17 members, has the responsibility of formulating policies and programmes for implementing them.
SIGNIFICANCE
- AIPA will define the responsibilities of the government ministries in country’s climate change mitigation and adaptation goals.
- The AIPA will also act as a national authority for the regulation of carbon markets in India .
CONCERNS
- One of these issues was of carbon credits from Kyoto Protocol not being carried forward to the Paris Agreement.
- This will create mistrust in the multilateral UNFCCC process and the carbon market mechanisms that will be part of the Paris Agreement.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The NDCs are to be implemented in the post-2020 period.
- India had submitted its NDCs in 2015.
- The AIPA also has the responsibility of regularly communicating and reporting the NDCs to the UNFCCC.
SOURCES: DownToEarth | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 3rd Dec 2020
UK government gives nod to Pfizer
HEADLINES:
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine becomes first to get emergency authorisation
WHY IN NEWS:
UK government gives nod on basis of interim results, vaccine to be made available by next week
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3:Health:Diseases
ISSUE:
- The UK government statement said the vaccine would be available for use in the next seven days.
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) — the country’s drug regulator — followed months of rigorous trials.
PFIZER VACCINE
- Pfizer is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, which, once released into the body, would instruct the immune system to produce antibodies against spike proteins.
- A vaccine of this type has never been used before.
- So when the virus attacks in real, the antibodies would produce an immune response against them.
- The vaccine needs to be stored at minus 70 degree Celsius.
- Two shots would have to be administered for the complete dose.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Pfizer-BioNTech’s combined manufacturing network has the potential to supply globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020.
- Now that the vaccine is authorised in the UK, the companies will take immediate action to begin the delivery of vaccine doses.
- The first doses are expected to arrive in the UK in the coming days, with complete delivery fulfilment expected in 2021.
- The country had entered into agreement with the pharmaceutical firms to get 40 million doses in 2020 and 2021.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 3rd Dec 2020
Brazil : Lost rainforest
HEADLINES:
Brazil lost rainforest the size of Jamaica in 2019-2020: Institute
WHY IN NEWS:
Brazil lost Amazonian rainforest equal to the size of Jamaica between August 1, 2019 and July 31, 2020.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Deforestation
ISSUE:
KEY POINTS
- Nearly 11,088 square kilometres (sq km) of rainforest were deforested in this period, an increase of 9.5 per cent.
- Some 10,129 sq km were recorded as being deforested in the same 12 months last year (2018-2019).
- Prior to his taking over, deforestation was below 10,000 sq km for a decade.
BRAZIL’S POLICY
- The explosive rate of forest loss greatly exceeded Brazil’s own target established in its 2010 National Policy on Climate Change.
- The policy allowed a maximum of 3,900 sq km of deforestation was projected for 2020.
- The spike in deforestation meant that Brazil was the only country in the world reporting a major increase in greenhouse gas emissions in a year.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- In today’s vast levels of deforestation, we see the fruition of Bolsonaro’s disastrous agenda.
- Every square mile of forest loss pushes the Amazon and the global climate closer to an irreversible tipping point
SOURCES: DownToEarth | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 3rd Dec 2020
New wastewater recycling system
HEADLINES:
ISc researchers devise new wastewater recycling system
WHY IN NEWS:
The new wastewater treatment and recycling system has saved 180,000 litres in a Karnataka village in a year
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Water management
ISSUE:
NEW WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND RECYCLING SYSTEM
DEVELOPED BY
- A decentralised wastewater treatment and recycling system developed by the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST), Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
- It has already helped with 180,000 litres water in a year in Berambadi, a village in Karnataka.
- The Indian researchers collaborated with counterparts in the UK.
The performance of every treatment stage was quantified in terms of :
- Removal efficiencies (RE) of turbidity
- Total Suspended Solids (TSS)
- Nitrate
- Total phosphorus
- Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD)
- Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
- Faecal coliforms (FC).
Overall, the system showed high REs — more than 90 per cent for most of the parameters.
WORKING
- The treatment system first passes the greywater from the hand wash sinks through strainers that screen out large food particles from water.
- Then, the water goes through three anaerobic sand bio-filters — tanks filled with locally available coarse gravel, medium gravel and sand.
- The greywater from the kitchen sinks is first passed through a grease trap to strip off the top layer of oil and grease from water.
- After this, water flows through an anaerobic sludge bioreactor followed by a stratified biofiltration chamber.
- Finally, the filtered water from both hand wash sinks and kitchen sinks is passed through aeration and ozonation tanks.
- The treated water stored in an overhead tank is then readily available for reuse by the students and staff of the school .
- This can be used for domestic non-potable purposes such as toilet flushing and gardening.
- It also enhances the Dissolved Oxygen concentration of the water.
BACKGROUND
- The research team operated the greywater treatment system for a year .
- They monitored different physicochemical and biological characteristics at the entry and exit.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- India will need 1.5 trillion cubic metres water by 2030.
- The system treated 667 litres of greywater daily, saving around 180,000 litres of water annually.
- For the first time that decentralised wastewater treatment systems has been economically put into practice in a rural setting.
SOURCES: DownToEarth | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 3rd Dec 2020
Installation cameras at NIA, CBI offices: SC
HEADLINES:
Install cameras at NIA, CBI offices: SC
WHY IN NEWS:
‘Needed to protect right to dignity, life’
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : Fundamental Rights
ISSUE:
RIGHT TO DIGNITY
- Offices like National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which have the power to carry out “interrogations”.
‘POWER OF ARREST’
- Large posters informing people about the CCTV coverage should be prominently placed at the offices of these central agencies and police stations.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The court ordered that the Principal Secretary/Cabinet Secretary/Home Secretary of each State/ Union Territory should give it a firm action plan.
- It should also include exact timelines for compliance within the next six weeks.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 3rd Dec 2020
Global alert on vaccine frauds
HEADLINES:
Global alert on vaccine frauds
WHY IN NEWS:
Interpol calls for safety of supply chain and identifying sale of fake products
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : 3 : Interpol : Smuggling
ISSUE:
HEALTH THREAT
- Interpol has issued a global alert to law enforcement agencies of its 194 member countries.
- Interpol asked countries to prepare for the targeting of COVID-19 vaccines, both physically and online, by organised crime networks.
- With the pandemic having already triggered unprecedented opportunistic and predatory criminal behaviour.
SOURCES : INTERPOL
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The notice includes examples of crimes in which individuals were found to be advertising, selling and administering fake vaccines.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 3rd Dec 2020
‘Biden sets new demands for return to Iran nuclear deal’
HEADLINES:
‘Biden sets new demands for return to Iran nuclear deal’
WHY IN NEWS:
He wants to extend the duration of ‘restrictions on country’
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : IR
ISSUE:
- Biden administration would seek to extend the duration of “restrictions on Iran’s production of fissile material that could be used to make a (nuclear) bomb”.
- This will be through in a new round of negotiations.
- The talks would have to include its Arab neighbours like Saudi Arabia.
ARMS RACE
- “In consultation with our allies and partners, we’re going to engage in negotiations and follow-on agreements to tighten and lengthen Iran’s nuclear constraints” -Biden
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The 2015 nuclear deal — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA — gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 3rd Dec 2020
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