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01 May 2023

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DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

. No. Topic Name Prelims/Mains
1.  Manual Scavenging Prelims & Mains
2.  Waste Management in India Prelims & Mains
3.  Operation Kaveri Prelims & Mains
4.  Artificial Intelligence Prelims & Mains

1 – Manual Scavenging: GS II – Social Issues:

Context:

  • Up to eight people may have perished in Gujarat between March 22 and April 26, 2023, while cleaning sewage systems. The continuous death of manual scavengers raises concerns despite the fact that this method has been made illegal countrywide.

What is manual scavenging?

  • Manual scavenging is defined as “the removal of human excrement from public streets and dry latrines, cleaning septic tanks, gutters, and sewers”.

The High Frequency of Manual Scavenging: What Causes It?

  • The state governments’ persistent refusal to accept that the practise continues under their control has been the subject of several independent research.
  • Outsourcing-related issues: Local governments routinely hire private corporations to do tasks like sewer cleaning. But many of these shady business owners neglect to maintain complete records of their sanitation staff.
  • In case after case involving asphyxiated workers, these contractors have denied any involvement with the deceased employees.

Social Issue:

  • Caste, class, and financial disparities serve as the practice’s driving force.
  • It has to do with the Indian caste system, where those from the ‘lower castes’ are expected to perform these tasks.
  • In India, the employment of people as manual scavengers was forbidden in 1993 by the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, yet the shame and discrimination associated with it remain exist.
  • Because of this, it can be difficult for released manual scavengers to find alternative work.

What steps have been taken to address the danger posed by hand scavenging?

  • The Employment Prohibition and Rehabilitation (Amendment) (Manual Scavengers) Bill of 2020:
  • It advises establishing measures for “on-site” safety, totally automating sewage cleaning, and paying human scavengers in the event of sewer fatalities.
  • There will be changes made to the 2013 Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act.
  • The cabinet still hasn’t granted its approval.
  • The 2013 Manual Scavenger Employment Prohibition and Rehabilitation Act
  • The 2013 Act, which repeals the 1993 Act, outlaws not only the physical cleaning of unclean latrines, pits, and open drains but also the usage of dry latrines.
  • The 2013 Act Regarding the Construction and Upkeep of Unsanitary Latrines
  • Building or maintaining unclean restrooms, hiring a person to clean them physically, or performing risky septic tank and sewer cleaning are all prohibited.
  • It also establishes a constitutional duty to provide communities that depend on manual scavenging with alternative employment options and other types of help as atonement for previous injustice and indignity.

Take Action to Stop Atrocities:

  • In 1989, when the Prevention of Atrocities Act was put into effect to safeguard sanitation workers, more than 90% of people employed as manual scavengers belonged to the Scheduled Caste. This was a pivotal moment in the freeing of manual labourers from rigidly prescribed traditional jobs.

Safaimitra Suraksha’s Obstacle:

  • The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs made it official on November 19, 2020—World Toilet Day.
  • All states were given this “challenge” by the federal government to automate sewage cleaning by April 2021; in the event that someone had to enter a sewer line due to an unanticipated emergency, the proper safety gear, such as oxygen tanks, had to be made available.

Using the “Swachhta Abhiyan App”

  • It has been intended to identify and geotag the data of insanitary latrines and manual scavengers in order to replace unhygienic latrines with hygienic ones and to rehabilitate all of them so they can live with dignity.
  • The Supreme Court ordered the government to identify every individual who passed away while working on sewage systems since 1993 and to compensate their families with Rs. 10 lakh in 2014.

How to Proceed:

  • The 15th Finance Commission made a strong argument for combating manual scavenging by naming the Swachh Bharat Mission as a top priority area and providing cash for smart cities and urban development.
  • Social Sentiment: Recognising the social stigma attached to manual scavenging is the first step, followed by understanding how and why it is still deeply rooted in the caste system.
  • Interest from the State and Society: The state and society need to take a serious interest in this issue in order to properly analyse and finally eradicate this practise.

Source The Hindu

2 – Waste Management in India: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions:

Context:

  • In April, stray dogs attacked a 65-year-old woman from Srinagar outside her home. Furthermore, there is a garbage collection point in front of her house, where a pile of food and poultry waste is reportedly used to feed the neighborhood’s stray dogs.

The causes of the generation of solid waste

  • Both urban and rural parts of India generate solid waste.

In particular, these are impacted by:

  • Geographically developed areas like Delhi and Bengaluru produce more solid garbage than less industrialised areas like Shimla or Kashmir.
  • Sociocultural practises like littering waterways and taking part in rituals generate a lot of solid waste.
  • Solid waste is produced, especially when packaged food items are used more frequently.
  • It is evident that rural communities are more likely to produce small amounts of degradable trash, whereas urban populations are more likely to produce large amounts of non-degradable waste, especially in locations where packaged food consumption is more prevalent.

The current circumstance:

The Quantity:

  • The majority of landfills in megacities have outgrown their carrying capacity and 20-meter height restriction. It is estimated that these landfills in India cover more than 10,000 hectares of metropolitan space.
  • Between 200 and 600 grammes of waste are generated daily per person in Indian cities.
  • Only about 75–80% of the municipal waste is collected, and only 22-28% of it is processed and treated.

The world’s largest producer of waste is India, and by 2050, that quantity will have doubled:

  • Countless tonnes of trash are also dumped into Indian rivers via drains and other bodies of water.
  • 90% of the plastic pollution in the ocean comes from the Ganga, one of the top 10 most polluted rivers in the world.
  • India faces a challenge that initially appears insurmountable for processing and getting rid of the legacy waste due to the concurrent and continuous accumulation of new everyday trash.
  • The federal, state, county, and municipal governments have struggled for many years to contain or resolve the severity of this problem.
  • For a country the size of India, there are around 92 big WTE plants. Only a small percentage of these are actually in use, and those that are run at less than ideal efficiency.
  • State governments have so far made investments in such plants totaling an estimated Rs 10,000 crore.
  • It is now vital to be clear about what has to be done, what has been done incorrectly or not at all, and what has not been done in order to ensure the execution of a national mission.

The outcome:

  • The rise in airless open trash dumps, which warm the atmosphere by absorbing solar heat and contributing to global warming, is to blame for methane emissions.
  • The garbage slowly decomposes over a period of 25 to 30 years, releasing leachate, a black liquid that contaminates the soil and groundwater.
  • The smelly waste that is decaying in airless mounds and the smoke from the fires that frequently start in them are further detrimental effects of dumping trash outside.
  • Leachate can seep into the earth and contaminate nearby groundwater because older landfills lack bottom and side liners.
  • The situation has gotten worse as a result of more public dumping occurring at the dumpsites as a result of their accessibility and openness.

The following are a few of the biggest issues with solid waste management:

  • lack of source-level waste separation.
  • Waste management at ULB is underfunded.
  • inadequate institutional setup and a lack of technical competence.
  • Lack of desire on the part of ULBs to put in place appropriate mechanisms for collection, segregation, transportation, and treatment/disposal.
  • Residents’ disregard for rubbish management is a result of their ignorance.
  • Lack of community participation in maintaining hygienic conditions and managing garbage.
  • a lack of sewage management planning.

Risks associated with:

  • Disease Transmission: Animals, mosquitoes, rats, and flies are drawn to solid waste that is decomposing. In addition to leptospirosis, typhoid, dengue, yellow fever, microfilariae, gastro-enteritis, dysentery, and other illnesses, they have a substantial effect on the spread of faecal-oral infections.

Indian judicial system

2016 regulations for solid waste management:

  • Urban agglomerations, census towns, notified industrial townships, and other places outside of municipal limits are now subject to these regulations, which supersede the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000.
  • They place a focus on manufacturer responsibility for packaging and sanitary waste disposal, waste separation at the source, and user fees for collection, processing, and disposal from the bulk generator.
  • Additionally, it has been recommended that biodegradable waste be handled, treated, and disposed of as much as possible on the property through composting or bio-methanation, with any leftover waste being given to the waste collection service or organisation as directed by the local authority.
  • The rules promote the use of compost, the creation of electricity from trash, and alterations to the parameters governing landfill placement and capacity.
  • The government has also created a Central Monitoring Committee that will be led by the Secretary of the MoEF&CC and will monitor how the rules are generally being implemented.
  • The Rules for the Safe Treatment of Legacy Waste necessitate bio-remediation and bio-mining in all open dumpsites and active dumpsites in India.
  • Article 51 A (g) of the Indian Constitution further mandates that every Indian citizen protect and improve the environment, including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife, as well as show compassion for all living things.

What are the current solutions to the issues they have with trash disposal?

  • facilities for waste-to-energy (WtE) that burn mixed waste.
  • WtE plants in India burn mixed waste. Dioxins and furans are released when waste is burned at temperatures below 850 degrees Celsius when there are chlorinated hydrocarbons present, such as PVC.
  • Dioxins and furans, which are known to cause cancer, can have negative effects on the immune, endocrine, nervous, and reproductive systems.
  • Poor compliance: These WtE do not adhere to the rules set forth by the National Green Tribunal.
  • Environmentally unsustainable: Even under the best of conditions, incineration releases a large amount of lead compounds, mercury vapour, and flue gases. Additionally, a residual amount of around 30% is always present in the form of fly ash and slag, both of which are known to be significant sources of air and water pollution.
  • WtE plants in India are also inefficient in generating energy. In comparison to Western countries, India’s municipal waste contains a much higher proportion of biodegradable (wet) waste, between 60 and 70% of the total. As a result, our trash has a low calorific value and a high moisture content.

Source The Hindu

3 – Operation Kaveri: GS II – International Relations:

Context:

  • India brought back 754 individuals on Friday as part of its effort to save stranded Indians from the unrest-ridden Sudan.
  • 392 passengers were transported to New Delhi on an Indian Air Force C-17 heavy-lift aircraft, while an additional 362 Indians were taken to Bengaluru.
  • Government records show that 1,360 Indians have now travelled back to their native nations.

What is Operation Kaveri?

  • Operation Kaveri was an effort by India to evacuate its citizens who were trapped in Sudan during violent fighting between the army and a competing paramilitary force there.
  • The Indian Navy’s stealth offshore patrol ship INS Sumedha and two C-130J special operations aircraft from the Indian Air Force are both on standby at Jeddah for the mission.
  • Over 2,800 Indian nationals as well as a 1,200-person permanent Indian community can be found in Sudan.

Source The Hindu

4 – Artificial Intelligence: GS III – Science and Technology:

Context:

  • Sitting on the front yard of my cottage in the forest sanctuary of Binsar in the Kumaon highlands, I am attempting to sort through the arguments on whether or not the research of Artificial General Intelligence should be suspended.

Data relating to artificial intelligence:

  • It describes how machines perform tasks that in the past required human intelligence.
  • It includes, among other things, advancements in neural networks, artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, big data, and self-learning algorithms.
  • Although the idea has its origins in Greek mythology, stored programme computers weren’t invented until the modern era.
  • There are millions of algorithms and programmes all around us that understand human directions and do tasks similar to those performed by humans. Facebook’s list of suggested friends for users and the pop-up pages that display while browsing the internet notifying users of upcoming bargains for their preferred apparel and shoe companies are both the result of artificial intelligence.
  • A sophisticated Technology: AI requires sophisticated tasks, such as feeding it a specific set of data and teaching it to react to different events. Simple self-learning patterns must be created in order for the computer to answer questions that have never been asked in the same manner as a person.

AI Is a Different Technology:

  • Robotic automation that is powered by hardware is different from AI. Instead of automating manual tasks, AI successfully completes regular, large volume automated tasks.
  • It’s common to mix up AI and machine learning. The broader field of artificial intelligence (AI), which includes innovations like natural language processing, inference algorithms, neutron networks, etc., includes more than just machine learning.
  • Evolution
  • The Dartmouth Conference, when the term “artificial intelligence” was first created in 1956, was organised by American computer scientist John McCarthy. After that, the notion that machines might analyse societal issues using competitiveness and knowledge data caught on all across the world.
  • The study used to be funded in part by the government, and there were several targeted programmes.
  • Every aspect of science raises ethical questions, but this is particularly true when one takes into account the idea of allowing machines to understand and behave like people. Between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, funding from the government for AI research came to an end.
  • In the 21st century, AI had a renaissance as a result of parallel advancements in computer power, enormous volumes of data, and theoretical knowledge.
  • AI methods are currently a key element of the technology industry, helping to solve many challenging problems in computer science. From Apple Siri to self-driving cars, AI is advancing swiftly.

India and AI:

  • According to a Canadian company’s Global AI Report 2019, India was placed ninth in terms of the number of AI specialists employed in the sector. The US, China, and the UK were at the top of the list.
  • The top-ranked nations in this survey have several academic institutions that provide courses on AI. They therefore have a far greater number of people who are qualified to carry out research in the field.
  • India, on the other hand, doesn’t now offer any official opportunities for data science education, but it is slowly working to encourage its application in educational settings.
  • As of the current academic year, the CBSE has added AI as an elective subject for its ninth grade classes.
  • The first academic institution in India to launch a complete Bachelor of Technology (B Tech) curriculum in AI is IIT Hyderabad. Additionally, it is probably the third university in the world to offer a complete B Tech programme in AI, following Carnegie Mellon University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • IIIT Hyderabad is another educational facility that has produced well-known executive programmes in blockchain, distributed ledger, and AI technology.
  • The Indian military is currently testing out products and technology that will enable AI-based defence measures.
  • Businesses and academic organisations are now collaborating on AI in India. IBM’s Blue project is one such illustration.
  • Numerous startups flourishing in industries like image analytics, data analytics, predictive intelligence, etc. are based in the country.
  • AI is expected to boost India’s GDP by $957 billion by the year 2035, translating into an increase in annual growth of 1.3%.

Benefits:

  • India still employs conventional policing techniques. The adoption of AI-based technologies has opened up new possibilities for predictive policing in India. Through the use of artificial intelligence, a significant amount of CCTV footage that is available nationwide can be analysed to identify suspects.
  • The government is digitising all of the records, especially the criminal records, and compiling them into a single database called CCTNS that can be accessed by anybody. This database includes an individual’s photo, biometrics, and criminal history.
  • It can be used in agriculture for a number of things, such as figuring out how much water a crop needs.
  • for solving complex issues, such as efficiently utilising the available resources.
  • Data analysis is made easier by AI technology, which improves the performance of systems like mobile phones, weather forecasts, video and image analysis, and auto power management.

Source The Hindu

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