Weekly Current Affairs (22nd to 28th February 2023) Part - 2 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

Singareni Thermal Power Plant

Context: Singareni Thermal Power Plant (STPP) in Telangana is set to become the first public sector coal-based power generating station in the South and first among the State PSUs in the country to have a flu gas desulphurization (FGD) plant.

• With 100% utilisation of the fly ash generated, the STPP has won the best fly ash utilisation award twice already

What are the Key Facts Related to FGD Plant?

About:

• The FGD plant would process the sulphur and other gases (nitrogen oxides) generated in firing the coal for power generation.
  • The FGD plant removes Sulphur Dioxide from the flue gas before it is released into the atmosphere and hence reduces its impact on the environment.

Types of FGD Systems:

• FGD systems are characterized as either “wet” or “dry” corresponding to the phase in which the flue gas reactions take place. Four types of FGD systems:
  • Wet FGD systems use a liquid absorbent.
  • Spray Dry Absorbers (SDA) are semi-dry systems in which a small amount of water is mixed with the sorbent.
  • Circulating Dry Scrubbers (CDS) are either dry or semi-dry systems.
  • Dry Sorbent Injection (DSI) injects dry sorbent directly into the furnace or into the ductwork following the furnace.

Ministry Guidelines:

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has set the deadline for installation of FGD plants for coal-based power plants as December-end of 2026 for non-retiring plants and as December-end of 2027 for retiring plants.
  • However, it is not made compulsory for the plants that are going to retire by December-end of 2027, provided they seek exemption from the Central Pollution Control Board and Central Electricity Authority.

Uses:

• The gypsum generated by the FGD plant would be used in fertiliser, cement, paper, textile and construction industries, and its sales are likely to contribute to the maintenance of the FGD plant.

What is the Status of the Thermal Power Sector in India?

About:

• The thermal power sector has been a major source of electricity generation in India, accounting for around 75% of the country's total installed power capacity.
• As of May 2022, India has a total Thermal installed capacity of 236.1 GW of which 58.6% of the thermal power is obtained from coal and the rest from Lignite, Diesel, and Gas.

Issues Associated with Thermal Power Plants:

• Environmental Impact: Thermal power plants emit a large amount of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and other pollutants into the air. This leads to air pollution, which has serious health implications for people living in the vicinity of the plants.
  • Thermal power plants also consume a lot of water, leading to water scarcity in some areas.
• Coal Supply: India's thermal power plants rely heavily on coal, which is mostly imported from other countries. This can lead to supply disruptions and price volatility.
  • In FY22, India’ s coal import of 208.93 million tonne (MT) was worth Rs 2,28,741.8 crore.
• Financial Health: Many of India's thermal power plants are owned by government entities and are facing financial losses due to rising coal prices, low demand, and other factors.
  • This has led to many plants being shut down or operating at low capacity.
• Ageing Infrastructure: Many of India's thermal power plants were built in the 1970s and 1980s and are in need of modernization.
  • Upgrading these plants to meet current environmental standards can be costly.
• Renewable Energy Competition: As renewable energy becomes cheaper, thermal power plants are facing increased competition.
  • This has led to a decrease in demand for thermal power and has made it harder for some plants to operate profitably.

Way Forward

• Implement Pollution Control Measures: As mentioned earlier, the installation of FGD plants is one of the key steps in controlling air pollution in thermal power plants.
  • The government should make it mandatory for all thermal power plants to install FGD plants and other pollution control measures to reduce emissions and protect the environment.
• Improve Coal Quality: The quality of coal used in thermal power plants in India is relatively low, leading to higher emissions and lower efficiency.
  • Therefore, the government should focus on improving the quality of coal supplied to thermal power plants by investing in technologies such as coal washing and beneficiation.
• Modernise Existing Plants: Many of India's thermal power plants are old and inefficient. The government should encourage plant owners to modernise their facilities by investing in new technologies, upgrading equipment, and adopting best practices to improve efficiency and reduce emissions.
• Increase Efficiency: Improving efficiency is a critical factor in reducing the cost of power generation and improving the competitiveness of the thermal power sector.
  • The government should incentivize thermal power plants to adopt energy-efficient practices and technologies such as supercritical and ultra-supercritical technologies.

Draft Policy for Displaced Communities from Coastal Erosion

Context: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) received the inputs from disaster management officials and researchers on the draft of India’s first national policy for the mitigation and rehabilitation of the people affected by river and Coastal Erosion.

• The Ministry of Home Affairs had directed NDMA to draft a policy based on the 15th Finance Commission’s report for 2021.
• Until now, most policies in the country only address displacement after sudden rapid-onset disasters such as floods and cyclones.

What are the Recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission Report?

• It had for the first time emphasised on rehabilitation and resettlement for people displaced by the river and coastal erosion, in view of the increasing threat due to climate change.
• It introduced mitigation measures to prevent erosion under the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF), with an allocation of Rs 1,500 crore for 2021-26.
• For the resettlement of displaced people affected by erosion, it allocates Rs 1,000 crore for the same period under the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).
• It emphasized that states must follow timelines for mitigation and rehabilitation projects without delays, projects under NDRF and NDMF should be sanctioned in such a manner that they can be completed within the award period of the Commission.

What are the Key Features of Draft Policy?

Fund Allocation:

• For both funds (NDRF and NDMF), state governments will have to avail resources on a cost-sharing basis, contributing 25% to the costs of mitigation and resettlement associated with coastal and river erosion.
• However, northeastern states have to only pool 10% of state funds.
• NDMA will coordinate the allocations and expenses under NDRF and NDMF at the national level for mitigation and rehabilitation.

Nodal Agency:

• District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) would be the nodal agency to implement the measures, aided by other district agencies and a specific panchayat-level committee.
• The DDMA will prepare mitigation and rehabilitation plans and submit them to the SDMAs, from where the proposed measures will be appraised by NDMA and finally submitted to the home ministry.
• A high-level committee of the ministry will then approve the disbursal of funds.

Detailed Hazard Assessments:

• Detailed hazard assessments carried out by central agencies such as the National Centre for Coast Research, Central Water Commission etc., and high-resolution LiDAR data available with National Remote Sensing Centre should be made available to the SDMAs.
• These should be made available in easy-to-access geographic information systems (GIS) formats by the NDMA.

Mapping Coastal and River Erosion:

• The policy insists on mapping coastal and river erosion impacts and coming up with a database of diverse challenges confronted by the affected and vulnerable habitations.

Impact and Vulnerability Assessments:

• The draft policy also recommends impact and vulnerability assessments of regions threatened by coastal and river erosion to be undertaken periodically, which will be spearheaded by SDMAs in coordination with the state departments and DDMAs.

What is NDMA?

• NDMA is India’s apex statutory body for disaster management.
• The NDMA was formally constituted on 27th September 2006, by the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The Prime Minister is its chairperson, and it has nine other members. One of the nine members is designated as Vice-Chairperson.
• The primary responsibility for the management of disaster rests with the State Government concerned. However, the National Policy on Disaster Management puts in place an enabling environment for all i.e., the Centre, state and district.

Caste Based Discrimination

Context: Recently, Seattle became the first U.S. city to ban caste-based discrimination. It included caste as a class to be protected against discrimination, alongside race, gender, and religion.

• It has been hailed by anti-caste movement activists as a historic win.

What is the Status of Social Discrimination in India?

About:

• Caste, through its rigid social control and networks facilitates economic mobility for some and erects barriers for others by mounting disadvantages on them.
• It also shapes the ownership pattern of land and capital and simultaneously regulates access to political, social, and economic capital too.
• According to the Census (2011), there are an estimated 20 crore Dalits in India.

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Data:

• In 2021, 50,900 cases of crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) were registered, an increase of 1.2% over 2020 (50,291 cases).
• The rate of crime was particularly high in Madhya Pradesh (63.6 per lakh in a SC population of 113.4 lakh) and Rajasthan (61.6 per lakh in a SC population of 112.2 lakh).

India Discrimination Report by Oxfam India:

• Decline in discrimination in Urban Areas: It has been the case due to education and supportive government policies.
• Difference in Earning: The average earning of self-employed workers in 2019-20 was Rs 15,878 for people from non-SCs/ST categories, while it is Rs 10,533 for those from SC or ST backgrounds.
  • Self-employed non-SC/ST workers earn a third more than their counterparts from SC or ST backgrounds.
• Rise in Discrimination in Rural areas: The SC and ST communities in rural India are facing an increase in discrimination in casual employment.

What are the Safeguards against Discrimination in India?

Constitutional Provisions:

• Equality Before Law:
  • Article 14 says that no person shall be denied treatment of equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.
  • The right is extended to all persons whether citizens or foreigners, statutory corporations, companies, registered societies or any other type of legal person.
• Prohibition of Discrimination:
  • Article 15 of the Constitution of India states that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
• Equality of Opportunity:
  • Article 16 of the Constitution of India states that there shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of employment under the State. No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth or any of them, be ineligible for any office under the State.
• Abolition of Untouchability:
  • Article 17 of the constitution abolishes Untouchability.
• Promotion of Educational and Socio-economic Interests:
  • Article 46 requires the State ‘to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.
• Claims of Schedule Castes:
  • Article 335 provides that the claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State.
• Reservation in Legislature:
  • Article 330 and Article 332 of the Constitution respectively provide for reservation of seats in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People and in the legislative assemblies of the States.
• Reservation in Local Bodies:
  • Under Part IX relating to the Panchayats and Part IXA of the Constitution relating to the Municipalities, reservation for SC and ST in local bodies has been envisaged and provided.

What are the Related Government Initiatives?

Land Reforms:

• Land reforms were brought for more equitable distribution of land and upliftment of the marginalised. The Land Reforms of the independent India had four components:
  • The Abolition of the Intermediaries
  • Tenancy Reforms
  • Fixing Ceilings on Landholdings
  • Consolidation of Landholdings.

Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950:

• It recognized Hindu Dalits, Dalits who had converted to Sikhism and Buddhism. as Scheduled Castes.
• The Supreme Court is hearing a bunch of petitions now seeking inclusion of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims as Scheduled Castes.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY):

• It aims to mobilise youth to take up skill training with the aim of increasing productivity and aligning the training and certification to the needs of the country.

SANKALP Scheme:

• Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood (SANKALP) is an outcome-oriented programme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) with a special focus on decentralised planning and quality improvement.

Stand Up India Scheme:

• It was launched in April 2016 to promote entrepreneurship at the grass-root level focusing on economic empowerment and job creation.
• To leverage the institutional credit structure to reach out to the underserved sector of people such as SCs, STs and Women Entrepreneurs.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana:

• It provides funding to the non-corporate small business sector through various last-mile financial institutions like Banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs).
• Loans have been given to disadvantaged sections of society such as women entrepreneurs, SC/ST/OBC borrowers, Minority community borrowers, etc. The focus has also been on new entrepreneurs.

Way Forward

• Effective Implementation of Laws and Policies to protect marginalized communities, such as Dalits and Adivasis, against discrimination.
• Education and Awareness-Raising among people, especially in rural areas,to highlight the harmful effects of caste discrimination and the violation of constitutional rights.
• Economic Empowerment of Marginalized Communities through schemes such as Stand-Up India, PMKVY, and Mudra Yojana, along with 2nd generation land reforms for more equitable distribution of land, and
• Collaboration and Dialogue among Civil Society organizations, government agencies, and marginalized communities to address caste discrimination.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Context: An old man from Germany, referred to as the Dusseldorf patient, has become at least the third person to have been “cured of HIV” with the virus not being detectable in his body even four years after stopping the medicine.

• This was achieved with a bone-marrow transplant from people carrying a specific HIV-resistant genetic mutation.

What are the Other Reported Recoveries from HIV?

• A Berlin patient became the first person to overcome HIV after receiving two stem cell transplants in 2007 and 2008 for his blood cancer.
• The doctors selected a donor with a genetic mutation called CCR5-delta 32 that makes carriers almost immune to HIV.
• In 2019, similar results were replicated in the London patient. Two more cases of successful treatment were reported in 2022.

What is CCR5-delta 32 Mutation?

• Cysteine-cysteine chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) is the main HIV co-receptor involved in the virus and cell-to-cell spread.
• The CCR5 receptors on CD4 cells are used as a doorway by HIV. The CCR5-delta 32 mutation prevents these receptors from forming on CD4 cells, which effectively removes the doorway.
• Only 1% of people worldwide have two copies of the mutation, and 20% carry one copy, mostly those of European descent. Those with the mutation are almost immune to HIV, although some cases have been reported.

What is HIV?

About:

• HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which is a virus that attacks the immune system in the human body.
• It primarily targets and damages CD4 immune cells, which are essential for the body's ability to fight infections and diseases.
• Over time, HIV weakens the immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to opportunistic infections and cancers.

Transmission:

• HIV is primarily spread through the exchange of certain bodily fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk.

Severity:

• If left untreated, the virus destroys a person’s immune system and they are said to be in the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome stage (AIDS) where they get several opportunistic infections that may result in death.

Cure:

• Although there are no cures for the infection at present, the disease can be managed using antiretroviral therapy.
• These medicines suppress the replication of the virus within the body, allowing the number of CD4 immune cells to bounce back.

What is Bone Marrow Transplant?

• A bone marrow transplant is a medical treatment that replaces one’s bone marrow with healthy cells.
  • The replacement cells can either come from the person’s own body or from a donor.
• A bone marrow transplant is also called a stem cell transplant or, more specifically, a hematopoietic stem cell transplant.
  • Transplantation can be used to treat certain types of cancer, such as leukemia, myeloma and lymphoma, and other blood and immune system diseases that affect the bone marrow.
• Bone marrow transplants may use cells from the same person (autologous transplant) or from a donor (allogeneic transplant).

Mission Shakti

Context: The Supreme Court has sought more information from the government about Mission Shakti, an umbrella scheme for the safety, security, and empowerment of women.

• This comes after concerns were raised about a possible shortage of protection officers to handle domestic violence cases.

What are the Raised Concerns Regarding Domestic Violence?

• According to a government document presented in court, 4.4 lakh cases of domestic assault are pending across 801 districts.
• While most of these districts have one-stop centres to assist victims under Mission Shakti, it remains unclear how many of them actually have protection officers to effectively support survivors.
  • Under Section 8 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, the appointment of protection officers is mandatory.
  • Protection officers, who should ideally be women, have a pivotal role under the law. They help victims file complaints, give Information to the police, provide immediate protection and support, inform victims about their legal rights and support them through court proceedings.

What is Mission Shakti?

• About: Mission Shakti’ is a scheme of Ministry of Women and Child Development aimed at strengthening interventions for women safety, security and empowerment.
  • It seeks to realise the Government’s commitment for “women-led development‟ by addressing issues affecting women on a life-cycle continuum basis and by making them equal partners in nation-building through convergence and citizen-ownership.
• Sub-Schemes: It has two sub-schemes - 'Sambal' and 'Samarthya'. While the "Sambal" sub-scheme is for safety and security of women, the "Samarthya" sub-scheme is for empowerment of women.
  • Sambhal: The components of 'Sambal' sub-scheme consist of erstwhile schemes of One Stop Centre (OSC), Women Helpline (WHL), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) with a new component of Nari Adalats - women's collectives to promote and facilitate alternative dispute resolution and gender justice in society and within families.
  • Samarthya: The components of 'Samarthya' sub-scheme consist of erstwhile schemes of Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh and Working Women Hostel have been included with modifications. In addition, the existing schemes of National Creche Scheme for children of working mothers and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana under umbrella ICDS have now been included in Samarthya. A new component of Gap Funding for Economic Empowerment has also been added in the Samarthya Scheme.