UPSC Daily Current Affairs- September 01, 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

Despite all the public talk of the importance of conserving our national heritage, the budget of the ASI, the primary institutional guardian of monuments, in 2021-22 has been reduced by more than Rs 200 cr.

How do you define heritage?

• Heritage is the full range of our inherited traditions, monuments, objects, and culture. Most important, it is the range of contemporary activities, meanings, and behaviours that we draw from them.

Threats to Indian Heritage

• Theft: The incidents of thefts have been observed usually from unprotected monuments, ancient temples. The thefts cases have also been seen in the protected monuments and museums as well. It is due to negligence of security guards in museums, monuments etc.
• Smuggling: illicit traffic and smuggling in antiquities. Illicit traffic is motivated often by profit and sometimes by the demand for luxuries.
• Tourism: Unregulated tourism, tourist activities run by touts, private agents have affected the art heritage places. The Culture Ministry of India has reported that up to 24 Indian monuments have been declared “untraceable” or “missing” by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• Issues with security of museums: Most of the museums are poorly guarded due to shortage of manpower leading to theft of artifacts, fire accidents etc.
• Duplication: Fakes paintings and art forms leading to threat to livelihoods of artists.
• Poor Maintenance: The state of the wall paintings in Ajanta caves is continuously getting worse, which can be attributed to humidity as well as to a lack of care.
• Encroachment on monuments: Another miss from the ministry has been encroachments of monuments. Over 278 centrally protected monuments have been encroached upon or have illegal occupants, as per government data.

Why should we protect our heritage?

• Evolution of human consciousness is a continuous process: History here serves as a laboratory and the past serves as a demarcation to understand the regional laws and social structures. This understanding helps in our progress towards an ideal society.
• Pride of country: The art heritage is the identity and pride of our country. It is duty of every citizen to protect, preserve and perpetuate the cultural richness.
• Tourism potential: for art monuments and museums is very high. Tourism generates revenue for the state as well as private artists due to the money-multiplier quality.
• Infrastructure development: takes place in and around the areas. Eg. Hampi despite being a small town has excellent infrastructure.
• Jobs: It creates jobs for a lot of people from art industry and tourism industry as well
• Sense of belonging: It creates a feeling of oneness and a sense of attachment by enhancing a sense of belonging to a culture or a region.
• Strengthen conviction: Every historical site has an important story to tell and these stories have inspired many people to strengthen their convictions and commitment to fight injustice and oppression.
• Soft power: Art and culture is also a part of soft power in world politics.

About Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

• The ASI is an attached office of the Ministry of Culture.
• It was founded in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham who also became its first Director-General.
• Under the provisions of the AMASR Act of 1958, the ASI administers more than 3650 ancient monuments, archaeological sites and remains of national importance.
• These can include everything from temples, mosques, churches, tombs, and cemeteries to palaces, forts, step-wells, and rock-cut caves.

Initiatives by ASI

• Museums: ASI’s museums are customarily located right next to the sites that their inventories are associated with “so that they may be studied amid their natural surroundings and not lose focus by being transported”. A dedicated Museums Branch maintains a total of 44 museums spread across the country.
• Publications by ASI: Epigraphia Indica, Ancient India, Indian Archaeology: A Review (Annually).
• Library: Central Archaeological Library in the National Archives building in Janpath, New Delhi.

Issues and Challenges ahead of ASI

• To restore or not: Issue is that technically speaking- ruins are seldom “restored” in original state. This is because in absence of documentation- archaeologists are left to conjecture what buildings may have looked like when they were originally built.
• Personnel Management Issues: Higher Authorities of ASI are traditionally from IAS Cadre. In-house specialist must be promoted for better coordination b/w technical and managerial aspects of restoration
• Issues explored in CAG Report: 92 monuments are untraceable with no database on artifacts. Poor Documentation of Protected Monuments/Artifacts. Paucity of funds (Eg- Red fort gardens lie unkempt).

Conclusion

• It is the duty of every citizen to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture. Preservation and conservation of India’s rich cultural heritage and promotion of all forms of art and culture, both tangible and intangible, is essential and assumes a lot of importance.

Context

India’s old age poverty will be big by 2050. Only 2% informal workers have invested in NPS.

What is the real definition of poverty?

• Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is more, much more than just not having enough money.

Why is age a cause of poverty?

• The “oldest-old”, aged 80 years or over, are less able to work than younger older persons; are more likely to have spent their savings; and are most in need of age-appropriate health and long-term personal care services.

How age induces poverty in India?

• India has no legal provisions for income security of the elderly, making the impacts of ageing far harsher for those who are already economically vulnerable.
• Deteriorating brain and muscle capacity are largely non-negotiable facts of life, limiting one’s ability to get a job or remain employed.

Reasons for old age poverty

• Dependency: A large section of the senior population in India is still dependent on the joint family set up for their senior care and post-retirement needs, with financial planning for retirement taking a back seat.
• High population: An increase in the number of seniors in India will reduce the percentage of India’s human resource capital and its ability to drive economic growth.
• Low insurance penetration: This highlights the inadequacy and underscores the critical need to streamline retirement planning schemes and strengthen the pension programs in the country. There is a lacks of social security framework.

How to assure wellness and dignity to elders?

• Income security in the form of monthly pensions either state-assured or employment-linked has been one of the most prevalent modes of assuring continued wellness and dignity against the life-shock of ageing.

Addressing the roadblock

• Universal pension program: Income security in later years stems from multiple sources such as pensions, insurances (medical and life), Investments. This provides an opportunity for India to create a universal pension program for its 1.3 billion people.
• Financial incentives: There is a pressing need to promote and facilitate fiscal planning in the early years and supplement it with senior-friendly tax structures and integrated insurance products. Such measures can help provide multiple income options to seniors to help them embrace a lifestyle of their choice.
• Regulatory mechanism: A regulatory mechanism will set a viable base rate for the interest accrued on senior citizen deposits and ensure market dips don’t affect retirement income and senior-specific saving plans.

Case study

• Rwanda has achieved roughly 2 million voluntary micro-pension enrolments (30 per cent of its adult population) within three years by making digital account activation easy and simple for informal workers.

Government intervention to improve elderly wellness

• A strong and sustained political commitment,
• A statutory pension sector regulator,
• A well-designed and low-cost NPS product architecture,
• Credible and well-regulated NPS intermediaries,
• Securities market capable of delivering high returns,
• Near-universal banking and mobile penetration,
• The India Stack infrastructure with Aadhaar for easy eKYC, and UPI for secure digital payments.

Conclusion

• The government, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) and the NPS industry now need to urgently put their heads together and address the obvious supply and demand side barriers. Every day is precious. After all, pension exclusion is akin to climate change. It needs immediate attention. By 2050, India’s problem of old age poverty will have become way too large, too late, too expensive and entirely irreversible.

GS-II

Context

• The country’s move is a departure from the norm and is been seen as an attempt to appease China.
• This raises concerns about China’s growing influence in the country and the region at large.

Where is the Solomon Islands located?

• The Solomon Islands is a sovereign country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu.
• Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal.
• It is part of the ethnically Melanesian group of islands in the Pacific and lies between Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
• The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea).
• It excludes outlying islands, such as the Santa Cruz Islands and Rennell and Bellona.

Quick Recap of its past

• The islands, which were initially controlled by the British Empire during the colonial era, went through the hands of Germany and Japan.
• It then went back to the UK after the Americans took over the islands from the Japanese during World War II.
• The islands became independent in 1978 to become a constitutional monarchy under the British Crown, with a parliamentary system of government.
• Nevertheless, its inability to manage domestic ethnic conflicts led to close security relations with Australia, which is the traditional first responder to any crisis in the South Pacific.

How did China enter the picture?

• Earlier this year, the Solomon Islands established a security agreement with China, saying it needed Beijing’s assistance with its domestic security situation.
• But the announcement had rattled the west, esp. the US, Australia and others in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The concerns were that the agreement could potentially lead to a Chinese military base on the island nation and a gain in power-projection capabilities.
• At that time, following intense scrutiny, the Solomon Islands had denied that the agreement would allow China to establish a naval base.
• The Island insisted that the agreement was only to assist the Solomon Islands with what he called “hard internal threats”.

What is the Solomon Islands’ stance?

• The government has asked all partner countries with plans to conduct naval visits or patrols to put them on hold until a revised national mechanism is in place.
• The revised national mechanism applied to all foreign vessels seeking access to the country’s ports.
• The nation wanted to build up its own naval capacity.
• It has some unfortunate experiences of foreign naval vessels entering its waters without any diplomatic clearance.

What is behind China’s growing influence in the region?

• There is no dispute that China has been rapidly increasing its presence and influence in the region for over three decades, particularly in the South Pacific.
• Certainly Beijing views the Pacific Island region as an important component of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• Specifically, it sees the region as a critical air freight hub in its so-called Air Silk Road, which connects Asia with Central and South America.

Concerns of the West

• The United States and its regional allies, such as Australia and New Zealand, are concerned that the China-Solomon Islands security pact allows Chinese naval vessels to replenish there.
• That could open the door to a Chinese naval base, which would significantly extend China’s military reach in the South Pacific.”
• It is likely that this security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands has been driven by, what the CFR calls, Beijing’s “sense of vulnerability” in the region.

What is the rationale for the Solomon Islands increasing proximity to China?

• The Solomon Islands had cultivated strong ties with Taiwan, which ended with the emergence of the current government in Honiara.
• In 2019, the regime change switched Taiwan for China.
• This was supposedly after Beijing offered half a billion US dollars in financial aid, roughly five times what Taiwan spent on the islands in the past two decades.
• It has been alleged by the pro-Taiwan Opposition that the incumbent government has been bribed by China.

Why is China interested in the Solomon Islands?

• Isolating Taiwan: The Solomon Islands was one among the six Pacific island states which had official bilateral relations with Taiwan.
• Supporter in UN: The small Pacific island states act as potential vote banks for mobilising support for the great powers in international fora like the United Nations.
• Larger EEZ: These states have disproportionately large maritime Exclusive Economic Zones when compared to their small sizes.
• Natural resources: Solomon Islands, in particular, have significant reserves of timber and mineral resources, along with fisheries.
• Countering US: But more importantly, they are strategically located for China to insert itself between America’s military bases in the Pacific islands and Australia.

What does this mean for the established geopolitical configuration in the region?

• Diminishing western influence: The Pacific islands, in the post-World War II scenario, were exclusively under the spheres of influence of the Western powers, in particular, the US, UK, France and Australia and New Zealand.
• Inserting into western hegemony: All of them have territorial possessions in the region, with the three nuclear powers among them having used the region as a nuclear weapons testing ground.
• Shifting of dependencies: The smaller island nations of the region are heavily dependent on them, especially Australia as it is a resident power.

Damage control by West

• Australia has reacted with boosted finances, and by extending its current security mission till 2023 when the islands will host the Pacific Games.
• The US has responded by considering reopening its embassy in Honiara after a long 29-year gap.
• New Zealand has shed its typical restraint about China and has criticised it for attempting to militarise the Pacific islands.

While granting bail to a man arrested on June 1 for possessing 29 kg of bhang and 400 g of ganja, Karnataka High Court recently observed that nowhere in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act is bhang referred to as a prohibited drink or prohibited drug.

What is Bhang?

• Bhang is the edible preparation made from the leaves of the cannabis plant, often incorporated into drinks such as thandai and lassi, along with various foods.
• Bhang has been consumed in the Indian subcontinent for centuries, and is frequently consumed during the festivals of Holi and Mahashivratri.
• Its widespread use caught the attention of Europeans, with Garcia da Orta, a Portuguese physician who arrived in Goa in the 16th century, noting that, “Bhang is so generally used and by such a number of people that there is no mystery about it”.

Bhang and the law

• Enacted in 1985, the NDPS Act is the main legislation that deals with drugs and their trafficking.
• Various provisions of the Act punish production, manufacture, sale, possession, consumption, purchase, transport, and use of banned drugs, except for medical and scientific purposes.
• The NDPS Act defines cannabis (hemp) as a narcotic drug based on the parts of the plant that come under its purview. The Act lists these parts as:
  • Charas: “The separated resin, in whatever form, whether crude or purified, obtained from the cannabis plant and also includes concentrated preparation and resin known as hashish oil or liquid hashish.”
  • Ganja: “The flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant (excluding the seeds and leaves when not accompanied by the tops), by whatever name they be known or designated.”
  • “Any mixture, with or without any neutral material, of any of the above forms of cannabis or any drink prepared therefrom.”
• The Act, in its definition, excludes seeds and leaves “when not accompanied by the tops”.
• Bhang, which is made with the leaves of the plant, is not mentioned in the NDPS Act.

Cannabis and criminal liability

• Section 20 of the NDPS Act lays out the punishment for the production, manufacture, sale, purchase, import and inter-state export of cannabis, as defined in the Act.
• The prescribed punishment is based on the amount of drugs seized.
• Contravention that involves a small quantity (100 g of charas/hashish or 1 kg of ganja), will result in rigorous imprisonment for a term that may extend to one year and/or a fine which may extend to Rs 10,000.
• For a commercial quantity (1 kg charas/ hashish or 20 kg ganja), rigorous imprisonment of not less than 10 years, which may extend to 20 years, including a fine that is not less than Rs 1,00,000 but may extend to Rs 2,00,000.
• Where the contravention involves quantity less than commercial, but greater than small quantity, rigorous imprisonment up to 10 years is prescribed, along with a fine which may extend to Rs 1,00,000.

Context

Several petitions have been listed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the practice of polygamy and Nikah Halala allowed by Muslim Personal Law.

• A five-judge Constitution Bench has issued notices to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Commission of Women (NCW) and the National Commission of Minorities.

What are the Arguments of the Petitioners?

• The petitioners have demanded a ban on Polygamy and Nikah-Halala saying it renders Muslim wives extremely insecure, vulnerable and infringes their fundamental rights.
• They prayed that Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act be declared unconstitutional and violative of Articles 14 (right to equality), 15 (discrimination on ground of religion) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution, insofar as it seeks to recognize and validate the practice of polygamy and nikah-halala.
• The Constitution does not touch upon the personal laws and therefore the SC cannot examine the question of constitutional validity of the practices.
• They contend that even the apex court and various High Courts have on earlier occasions refused to interfere with practices sanctioned by personal law, an argument they advanced even in the triple talaq challenge matter too which the SC has already rejected.

What do we Know about Muslim Personal Law?

• According to Sharia or the Muslim personal law, men are allowed to practice polygamy that is, they can have more than one wife at the same time, up to a total of four.
• 'Nikah halala' is a process in which a Muslim woman has to marry another person and get divorced from him before being allowed to marry her divorcee husband again.

In what ways was Muslim Law Applied in India?

• The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act was passed in 1937 with the aim to formulate an Islamic law code for Indian Muslims.
• The British who were at this point in time governing India, were trying to ensure that Indians were ruled according to their own cultural norms.
• When it came to distinguishing between laws made for the Hindus and those for the Muslims, they laid out the statement that “clear proof of usage will outweigh the written text of the law” in the case of Hindus. For the Muslims on the other hand, the writings in the Quran would be of foremost importance.
• Since 1937 therefore, the Shariat Application Act mandates aspects of Muslim social life such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and family relations. The Act lays out that in matters of personal dispute the state shall not interfere.

What are the Personal Laws of Other Religions?

• The Hindu Succession Act of 1956 which lays out guidelines for property inheritance among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.
• The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act of 1936 lays out rules to be followed by the Parsis according to their religious traditions.
• The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 had codified laws related to marriage among Hindus.

Is the Shariat Application Act in India Unchangeable?

• The applicability of the Shariat Act has been controversial over the years. There have been previous instances when the issue of protection of women’s rights as part of the broader fundamental rights came into conflict with religious rights.
• The most well-known among these is the Shah Bano case.
• In 1985, 62-year-old Shah Bano, filed a lawsuit seeking alimony from her former husband.
• The Supreme Court, in this case, had held up her right to alimony, but the judgment was vehemently opposed by the Islamic community who considered it to be going against the written rules in the Quran. The case triggered a controversy regarding the extent to which courts can interfere with personal/religious laws.
• The Shariat Application Act in India protects the application of Islamic laws in personal legal relationships, but the Act does not define the laws.
• Personal law does not fall within the definition of ‘laws’ under Article 13 of the Constitution. The validity of a personal law cannot be challenged on the basis of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

Context

Recently, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which is located in one of the hottest and driest regions on earth, has been leading the effort to seed clouds and increase precipitation, which remains at less than 100 millimetres a year on average.

• UAE combined shooting water-attracting salt flares with releasing salt nanoparticles, a newer technology, into the clouds to stimulate and accelerate the condensation process and hopefully produce droplets big enough to then fall as rain.

What is Cloud Seeding?

About:

• Cloud seeding is the process of spreading either dry ice or more commonly, silver iodide aerosols, into the upper part of clouds to try to stimulate the precipitation process and form rain.
• Cloud seeding uses planes to spray clouds with chemicals to condense smaller particles into larger rain droplets.
• Cloud seeding increases rainfall rates by approximately 10% to 30% per year and cloud seeding operations cost much less than the desalination process.

Cloud Seeding Methods:

• Hygroscopic Cloud Seeding:
  • Disperses salts through flares or explosives in the lower portions of clouds. The salt grows in size as water joins with them.
• Static Cloud Seeding:
  • It involves spreading a chemical like silver iodide into clouds. The silver iodide provides a crystal around which moisture can condense.
  • The moisture is already present in the clouds, but silver iodide essentially makes rain clouds more effective at dispensing their water.
• Dynamic Cloud Seeding:
  • It aims to boost vertical air currents, which encourages more water to pass through the clouds, translating into more rain.
  • The process is considered more complex than static cloud seeding because it depends on a sequence of events working properly.

Applications of Cloud Seeding:

• Agriculture:
  • It creates rain, providing relief to drought-stricken areas.
    (i) E.g.: ‘Project Varshadhari’ in Karnataka in 2017.
• Power Generation:
  • Cloud seeding experiments have shown to augment production of hydroelectricity during the last 40 years in Tasmania, Australia.
• Water Pollution Control:
• Cloud seeding can help to maintain minimum summer flows of the rivers and dilute the impact of treated wastewater discharges from municipalities and industries.
• Fog Dispersal, Hail Suppression, and Cyclone Modification:
  • During the winter the cloud seeding programme is used to increase the mountain snowpack so that additional runoff is received during the spring melt season.
  • “Project Sky Water” of the U.S.A. in 1962 for weather modification through cloud seeding aimed at fog dispersal, hail suppression, and cyclone modification.
• Tackle Air Pollution:
  • Cloud seeding can potentially be used to settle down toxic air pollutants through the rain.
  • E.g.: Recently, the Central Pollution Control Board along with other researchers mulled the use of cloud seeding to tackle Delhi’s air pollution.
• Tourism:
  • Cloud seeding can transform typically dry areas much more hospitable to enhance tourism.

What are the Challenges involved in Cloud Seeding?

• Potential Side-effects:
  • The chemicals used in cloud seeding might be potentially harmful to plants, animals, and people, or the environment.
• Abnormal Weather Patterns:
  • It might ultimately change climatic patterns on the planet. Places that normally receive moisture might start experiencing drought due to the artificial process of adding chemicals to the atmosphere to stimulate rain.
• Costly:
  • It involves processes such as delivering chemicals to the sky and releasing them into the air by flare shots or airplanes, which involves huge costs and logistic preparation.
• Pollution:
  • As artificial rain falls, seeding agents like silver iodide, dry ice or salt will also fall. Residual silver discovered in places near cloud-seeding projects is considered toxic. As for dry ice, it can also be a source of greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, as it is basically carbon dioxide.

Context

The Prime Minister will unveil the new Ensign (flag) of the Indian Navy in Kochi to mark the launch of India's first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.

What is Ensign?

• About:
  • An Ensign is a national flag which is displayed on ships and aircraft, often with the special insignia of a branch or unit of the armed forces.
• Present Ensign of Indian Navy:
  
  • The present ensign carries the Saint George’s Cross with the Tricolour in the canton (top left corner of flag).

What was the Need for Changing Ensign?

• Long Pending Demand:
  • There had been a long pending demand for a change in the naval ensign.
  • The original suggestion for change came from Vice Admiral VEC Barboza who retired from the Navy as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.
• To Replace the Colonial Past:
  • The present ensign is essentially a successor to the pre-Independence ensign of the Indian Navy which had the red George’s Cross on a white background with the Union Jack of the United Kingdom on the top left corner.
  • After Independence, on August 15, 1947, the Indian defence forces continued with the British colonial flags and badges and it was only on Jan 26, 1950 that a changeover to Indianised pattern was made.
  • The Navy crest and flag were changed but the only difference made to the flag was that the Union Jack was replaced with the Tricolour, and George’s Cross was retained.

How Many Times Has the Naval Ensign Changed?

• The change in naval ensign was made in 2001 when the George’s Cross was replaced with the naval crest in the middle of the white flag while the Tricolour retained its place on the top left corner.
• Further, in 2004, the ensign was again changed back to the Red George’s Cross as there were complaints that the new flag was indistinguishable because the blue of the Navy crest merged with the skies and the sea.
  • A change was made in the flag and the red George’s Cross now had the state emblem derived from the Lion Capital of Ashoka in the middle.
• In 2014, yet another change was made when the words ‘Satyamev Jayate’ were included on the flag below the Ashoka emblem in the Devanagri script.

Context

Recently, Delhi-based non-profit, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) launched ‘Save the Whale Shark Campaign’ along Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep in Mangaluru.

• August 30, 2022 is International Whale Shark Day, this year’s theme is “The Future of Sharks: Guardians of Our Seas.”

What is the Save the Whale Campaign?

• The campaign will run along coastal Karnataka, Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands in collaboration with the Forest and Fisheries Departments of Karnataka, Kerala and the Lakshadweep administration.
  • Further, the campaign aims to reduce accidental entanglements in fishing nets with fishermen releasing whale shark.
  • A mobile application has been developed to record whale shark spotting and rescues for further conservation action.

What are the Key Points related to Whale Shark?

About:

• The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is the largest fish on Earth and a keystone species in marine ecosystems.
  • It can grow to a length of approximately 18 metres and weigh as much as 21 tonnes.
• They are ovoviviparous – meaning they give birth to live young rather than lay eggs – and can reach sexual maturity at around 10 years old.

Habitat:

• Whale sharks are tropical ocean dwellers that feed on fish, squid and other small creatures.
• India:
  • The whale shark is distributed all along the Indian coast.
  • However, the largest whale shark aggregation is along the Gujarat coast.
  • Beyond Gujrat:
    (i) WTI, with the support of IUCN had conducted a survey along the west coast (excluding Gujarat) during 2012-13 and found that the highest number of Whale Shark sightings (after Gujarat coast) were near the waters of Lakshadweep.
    (ii) Also, the Whale shark landings and stranding are largely reported from Kerala.

Status:

• The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List: Endangered.
• IUCN Green Status Assessment: Largely Depleted.

Threat:

• Accidental entanglement:
  • The main threat to these plankton feeders is accidental entanglement in fishing nets.
  • Most fishers know that their nets can entrap a whale shark.
  • Despite that they trawl the ocean floor to intend to catch grouper, mackerel, shrimp and lobster.
    (i) There is always a possibility that they accidentally catch a whale shark too.

Rising Plastic Level:

• The rising level of plastic debris in oceans is a large-scale environmental problem with widespread impact.
  • Owing to their feeding strategies, this filter-feeding megafauna is particularly susceptible.

Protection:

• To curb such mortality is to ensure the release of the entangled whale sharks from the fishing net without any delay.
  • For this, the primary target group, which is the fishers needs to be sensitised.

Initiatives:

• WTI has been running a project in Gujarat for the last 20 years which has resulted in fisher folk releasing 852 whale sharks in the Arabian Sea.
• Goal:
  • The main goal of this project is to reduce and eradicate whale shark death in the incidental catch in fishing nets by the voluntary release of the whale shark.
  • This initiative targets the marine fishers along these two states and the island of Lakshadweep.