TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (14th JUNE 2023)

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1. GLOBAL SLAVERY INDEX 2023

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Global Slavery Index 2023 have been recently released. According to it, on any given day in 2021, as many as 50 million people were living in “modern slavery”. Among these 50 million, 28 million suffer from forced labour and 22 million from forced marriages. Of these 50 million, 12 million are children. To be sure, the phrase “modern slavery” has a specific definition.

EXPLANATION:

What is modern slavery?

• According to the index, “modern slavery” refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, or abuses of power.
• Modern slavery is an umbrella term and includes a whole variety of abuses such as forced labour, forced marriage, debt bondage, sexual exploitation, human trafficking, slavery-like practices, forced or servile marriage, and the sale and exploitation of children.
• The schematic alongside provides a broad framework of what all modern slavery covers.
• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations also resolve to end modern slavery. Target 8.7 of the SDGs states: “Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.”

What is the Global Slavery Index?

• The index presents a global picture of modern slavery. It is constructed by Walk Free, a human rights organisation and is based on data provided by the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, which, in turn, is produced by International Labour Organization (ILO), Walk Free, and International Organization for Migration (IOM).
• This is the fifth edition of the Global Slavery Index and is based on the 2022 estimates.
• However, the initial estimates are regional and to arrive at country-wise estimates, the index uses several representative surveys.

What are the country-wise findings?

There are three sets of key findings.

• The first looks at the prevalence of modern slavery. The prevalence refers to the incidence of modern slavery per 1000 population. On this count, the following 10 countries are the worst offenders: North Korea, Eritrea, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Afghanistan, Kuwait.
• These countries share some political, social, and economic characteristics, including limited protections for civil liberties and human rights,” states the index.
• Following are the countries with the lowest prevalence: Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland, Japan, Finland.
• However, apart from prevalence, the index also calculates the countries hosting the maximum number of people living in modern slavery. Here the list is as follows: India, China, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey, Bangladesh, United States.
• Collectively, these countries account for nearly two in every three people living in modern slavery and over half the world’s population. Notably, six are G20 nations: India, China, Russia, Indonesia, Türkiye, and the US,” points out the index.

2. LEPTOSPIROSIS

TAG: GS 2: HEALTH ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: Leptospirosis is a disease that surges in the monsoon month. The disease is an occupational hazard for people working in agricultural settings. Its severity ranges from a mild flu-like illness to being life-threatening

EXPLANATION:

• Leptospirosis has emerged as an important infectious disease in the world today.
• It is a potentially fatal zoonotic bacterial disease that tends to have large outbreaks after heavy rainfall or flooding.
• The disease is more prevalent in warm, humid countries and in both urban and rural areas.
• However, the numbers at the global and regional levels aren’t exact because of misdiagnosis (its symptoms mimic those of dengue, malaria, and hepatitis), limited access to reliable diagnostics, lack of awareness among treating physicians, and lack of environmental surveillance.

What causes the disease?

• The disease is caused by a bacterium called Leptospira interrogans, or leptospira. It is a contagious disease in animals but is occasionally transmitted to humans in certain environmental conditions.
• The carriers of the disease can be either wild or domestic animals, including rodents, cattle, pigs, and dogs.
• The cycle of disease transmission begins with the shedding of leptospira, usually in the urine of infected animals.
• According to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, infected animals can continue to excrete the bacteria into their surroundings for a few months, but sometimes up to several years.

Which people are at risk?

• Humans become part of the cycle when they come in direct contact with this urine or indirectly, through soil and water that contain leptospira bacteria. A person is more likely to contract leptospirosis if they have cuts or abrasions on their skin.
• The disease is also considered an occupational hazard for people working in agricultural settings, with animals, or in sanitary services that bring them into contact with contaminated water.
• Recreational activities in contaminated lakes and rivers are also reported to increase the risk of leptospirosis.

What are the symptoms of leptospirosis?

• The severity of a leptospirosis infection ranges from a mild flu-like illness to being life-threatening.
• The infection can affect many organs, reflecting the systemic nature of the disease. This is also why the signs and symptoms of leptospirosis are often mistaken for other diseases.
• In milder cases, patients could experience a sudden onset of fever, chills, and headache – or no symptoms at all. But in severe cases, the disease can be characterised by the dysfunction of multiple organs, including the liver, kidneys, lungs, and the brain.
• Animals exhibit a variety of clinical symptoms and indications. In cattle and pigs, the disease can potentially cause reproductive failure, stillbirths, and weak calves or piglets. Dogs experience a range of symptoms, including fever, jaundice, vomiting, diarrhoea, renal failure, and even death.

What are the misconceptions about leptospirosis?

• Preventing leptospirosis requires appropriate and adequate health education, community health empowerment, and preventive habits.
• The disease has been called “ili jwara” in Kannada and “eli pani” in Malayalam, both meaning “rat fever. This usage has fed the common belief that rats are the sole cause of the disease, which is not true.
• Leptospirosis has a spectrum of reservoir hosts, including pigs, cattle, water buffaloes, goats, dogs, horses, and sheep. Further, seasonal patterns such as the onset of the monsoon can also potentially facilitate the disease’s incidence and transmission.
• The incidence of the disease is also linked to extreme weather events like floods and hurricanes, when people are exposed to contaminated water.
• Similarly, poor waste management, a high density of stray animals, faulty drainage systems, and unhygienic sanitation facilities are major drivers of the disease in urban areas. In rural parts, these are contaminated paddy fields, dirty livestock shelters, and poor water-quality and sanitation.

How can we prevent leptospirosis?

• Leptospirosis control can benefit from a ‘One Health’ approach. ‘One Health’ is an interdisciplinary approach that recognises the interconnections between the health of humans, animals, plants, and their shared environment.
• Preventing animals from getting infected is also important to reduce the risk of leptospirosis spreading and to limit farmers’ economic losses (when the disease causes reproductive failures in pigs and cattle). This in turn requires sanitary animal-keeping conditions, which is also desirable to improve the animals’ health and to prevent the spread of many diseases.
• Given the spike in leptospirosis during the monsoons, it is best to take precautions, including washing one’s arms and legs with an antiseptic liquid after handling animal waste and after working in water.

3. NUTRIENT-BASED SUBSIDY (NBS)

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: CACP recommends Centre to bring urea under NBS regime to check overuse. Disproportionate use of urea in agriculture over the years has been one of the primary reasons for worsening plant nutrient imbalance

EXPLANATION:

• The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has recommended the Centre to bring urea under the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) regime to address the problem of imbalanced use of nutrients.
• According to CACP report, fertiliser response and efficiency has continuously declined over decades mainly due to imbalanced use of nutrients, deficiency of micro and secondary nutrients and depletion of soil organic carbon, while fertiliser subsidy has been rising.

Issue:

• Urea does not come under NBS, which includes non-urea fertilisers like phosphorous and potassium.
• Keeping urea out of NBS essentially means that the government has retained direct control over MRP of urea and its subsidy.
• The MRPs of other fertilisers have been under indirect control by virtue of NBS policy.
• Manufacturers of these fertilisers have the freedom to fix MRP within “reasonable limits”, and a fixed per-tonne subsidy linked to their nutrient content is given.
• This has caused their MRPs to increase over the years, whereas urea’s price has remained unchanged. This has led to tilting of the usage of fertilisers in favour of urea because farmers have overused it, owing to its low pricing, thus resulting in deteriorating soil health.
• India is one of the largest producers and consumers of fertilisers in the world, and fertiliser consumption has increased significantly over the years.

Nutrient-Based Subsidy(NBS) Scheme:

• NBS scheme, which governs the subsidy on P&K fertilizers, has been instrumental in ensuring the availability of essential nutrients to farmers at subsidized prices since 1 April, 2010.
• It aims at ensuring Nation’s food security, improving agricultural productivity and ensuring the balanced application of fertilizers.
• NBS is applicable for Di Ammonium Phosphate (DAP, 18-46-0), Muriate of Potash (MOP), Mono Ammonium Phosphate (MAP, 11-52-0), Triple Super Phosphate (TSP, 0-46-0), Single Super Phosphate (SSP, 0-16-0-11), Ammonium Sulphate (AS – (Caprolactum grade by GSFC and FACT)  and 16 grades of complex fertilizers which. Primary nutrients, namely Nitrogen ‘N’, Phosphate ‘P’ and Potash ‘K’ and nutrient Sulphur ‘S’ contained in the fertilizers.
• The government has now approved the revision in NBS rates to provide 25 grades of P&K fertilizers to farmers during the rabi and kharif seasons.
• This decision by the Cabinet brings two significant benefits. Firstly, it ensures the availability of diammonium phosphate DAP and other P&K fertilizers to farmers at subsidized, affordable, and reasonable prices during the Kharif season.
• This will enable farmers to access essential fertilizers necessary for their agricultural activities. Secondly, the decision rationalizes the subsidy on P&K fertilizers, ensuring effective and efficient utilization of government resources.

4. CHILD TRAFFICKING

TAG: GS 1: SOCIETY

THE CONTEXT: The United Nations World Day Against Child Labour 2023 emphasises how social injustices, such as poverty and lack of education, create precarious conditions for children.

EXPLANATION:

• Child labour a form of modern slavery includes any work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that harms their physical or mental development, per the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition.
• The practice includes, and is not limited to, trafficking, sexual exploitation, debt bondage, and exploitation in armed conflicts. 12% of those in forced labour are possibly children, ILO noted.
• Child trafficking manifests in the form of domestic labour, forced child labour across industries, and illegal activities such as begging, organ trade and commercial sex purposes.
• Eight children were trafficked every day in India in 2021 for labour, begging and sexual exploitation per data from the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
• One such practice happens in the name of ‘khadama’, where girls go to Gulf countries to work as housemaids.
• This data only includes confirmed cases of trafficking, which does not account for “missing children.” One child goes missing every eight minutes in India with millions ending up in domestic slavery, sex work and forced labour.
• Global prevalence of child trafficking

1. Domestic work (21%)
2. Begging (10%)
3. Hospitality sector (7%)
4. Street and small-scale retail (6%)
5. Illicit activities (6%)
6. Agriculture (5%)
7. More than 40% of children trafficked were recruited by a family member or relative.

Status of India:

• The 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report released by the U.S. Department of State categorises India as Tier 2 in terms of progress. It implies that India “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.”
• Countries in tier 2 are those where a) the estimated number of victims is very significant or is significantly increasing and the country is not taking proportional concrete actions; b) the country has failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat rising cases.
• India doesn’t have a composite anti-trafficking law that addresses prevention, protection, rehabilitation and compensation of survivors. There are, however, separate regulations that address different crimes related to trafficking.

Laws governing anti-trafficking crimes

• The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (PITA) is targeted at stopping immoral trafficking and sex work. It went through two amendments, in 1978 and 1986. Experts have criticised PITA for falsely presuming that all trafficking is done for sex work only, and say that it criminalises sex workers without providing sufficient legal recourse or scope for rehabilitation.
• The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, prohibits and penalises the act of child marriage. In August 2021, the NGO Save the Children warned of a rise in child marriage and sexual abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, prevents children from partaking in certain employments and regulates the conditions of work for children in other fields. In 2016, an amendment completely banned the employment of children below 14 years; adolescents aged 14-18 years are allowed to work in family-related businesses but not in fields that have “hazardous” working conditions.
• The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, prohibits systems of labour where people, including children, work under conditions of servitude to pay off debt, and also provides a framework for rehabilitating released labourers.
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015, which governs laws relating to children alleged and found to be in conflict with law.
• The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, makes commercial dealing in human organs a punishable offence.
• Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, which seeks to prevent commercial sexual exploitation of children.
• India set up Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) in 2007. AHTUs are tasked with “addressing the existing gaps in the law enforcement response,” “ensuring a victim-centric approach which ensures the ‘best interest of the victim/ survivor’ and prevents ‘secondary victimization/ re-victimisation of the victim,” and developing databases on traffickers.
• The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, revised Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with buying and selling of any person as a slave, to include the concept of human trafficking. Two sections — 370 and 370A — form the framework “to provide a comprehensive definition of human trafficking and also provide for strict punishment,” the Ministry of Home Affairs noted.

What is the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill? 

• MWCD published the Draft Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill in June 2021, with 11 chapters detailing measures to prevent, protect and rehabilitate victims.
• There are specified penalties for offences divided into “trafficking” and “aggravated trafficking”.
• The Bill built upon its 2018 iteration: it widened the scope of “victims” to include transgender persons and others, introduced mechanisms for the prevention and rehabilitation of victims (such as providing shelter and food) and extended the framework to include cross-border trafficking cases.
• The Bill proposes district- and State-level “anti-trafficking units” with designated police officers and a National Anti-Trafficking Bureau which looks after investigations involving two or more States. Investigations are required to be completed within 90 days of the offender’s arrest, and there are appointed sessions courts for speedy trials measures which could potentially address low conviction rates. The Bill, expected to be tabled in the parliament’s 2022 monsoon session, was not brought up.

5. WORLD’S FIRST CARBON-NEUTRAL AIRLINE

TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: World’s first carbon-neutral airline is facing law suit. In this regard, lets look into the issue and the mechanisms involved.

EXPLANATION:

Issue:

• Delta Air Lines in 2020 marketed itself as the “world’s first carbon-neutral airline”, investing $1 billion to work on reducing fuel usage and investing in carbon removal techniques. Recently it is facing lawsuit the first of its kind against a U.S. airline’s climate claims  arguing Delta Air Line’s assertions were bogus, misleading and false.
• The ‘green airline’ tag is a contested commodity, as flyers and companies alike are realising that flying is a significant contributor to carbon pollution (accounting for more than 2% of all greenhouse-gas emissions).
• Aviation emissions could grow by 300-700% by 2050, per estimates.

What does the lawsuit say?

• Delta relied on “carbon offsetting”, shorthand for a slew of ways companies can reduce or remove carbon emissions from the environment. Activities like planting trees, shifting to cleaner fuel, funding carbon capture techniques in theory balance out a company’s carbon emissions.
• A 2021 Guardian investigation found the carbon offset systems of most airlines are “flawed” and deceptive.
• In 2021, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is home to 300 airlines across 120 countries, pledged to achieve net zero by 2050, in a move that was criticised as “greenwashing”.

What are carbon credits?

• Carbon offsets work like a game of Monopoly, except instead of money, companies deal in carbon emissions. A company gets “carbon credits” for investment in offset projects, tokens which represent an amount of carbon dioxide which would have been funnelled out of the atmosphere due to these initiatives.
• Each credit is equal to a metric ton of CO2, which would have caused global warming. These credits allow companies to continue emitting carbon in one place (say, aeroplane travel), with the promise their offsets are reducing emissions elsewhere (in distant rainforests).
• The voluntary carbon-offset market is expected to grow from $2 billion in 2020 to around $250 billion by 2050,
• The United Nations in 2008 formalised this idea by setting up the Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), believing that the incentives from offsetting will help nations achieve climate goals.
• There are also blind spots built into the offset system. The voluntary carbon offset market is self-regulated: there are middlemen in the form of organisations like REDD+ that connect credit buyers and sellers. There are “certification” standards set by companies like Verra which allow companies to create and register their carbon-offsetting projects (the Gold Standard is considered among the most rigorous credit programs).
• Offset programs work only when they remove or reduce carbon emissions that wouldn’t have been eliminated otherwise, what is called “additionality”. Proving additionality is a structural challenge, for it is hard to track the genuine progress of activities on the ground.