THE SOCIAL ISSUES AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

1. “THE GLOBAL ESTIMATES OF MODERN SLAVERY” REPORT

THE CONTEXT: The 2021 Global Estimates for Modern Slavery, which was recently released by the International Labour Organization (ILO), revealed a spike in the instances of forced labour.
THE EXPLANATION:
Highlights of the report:
• In 2021, 50 million people were living in modern slavery, of which 28 million were in forced labour and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage.
• The number of people in modern slavery has increased exponentially in the past five years.
• Compared to the 2016 global estimates, 10 million more people have been trapped by modern slavery.
• Women and children are disproportionately vulnerable to modern slavery.
• Modern slavery occurs in almost all countries across the world, regardless of differences in ethnicity, culture and religion.
• Forced Labour: 52 per cent of all forced labour are found in upper-middle or high-income countries. 86 per cent of forced labour are found in private sector. Forced labour in sectors other than commercial sexual exploitation accounts for 63 per cent of all forced labour.
• Forced marriage: An addition of 6.6 million people are victims of forced marriage in 2021 when compared to 2016 global estimates. More than 85 per cent of forced marriage is caused by family pressure. Its prevalence is highest in Arab states.
• Migrant workers are more than three times likely to be in forced labour than non-migrant adult workers. This is because of poorly governed migration or unethical recruitment practices.
• Recommendations: Improving and enforcing laws and labour inspections, ending state-imposed forced labour, social protection, and promoting fair and ethical recruitment and targeted support for women, girl and vulnerable communities.

VALUE ADDITION:
About ILO:
International Labour Organization (ILO) is the only tripartite U.N. agency, since 1919. It brings together governments, employers and workers of 187 member States, to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men. HQ: Geneva.
India has ratified six out of the eight-core/fundamental ILO conventions. These conventions are:
1. Forced Labour Convention (No. 29)
2. Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (No.105)
3. Equal Remuneration Convention (No.100)
4. Discrimination (Employment Occupation) Convention (No.111)
5. Minimum Age Convention (No.138)
6. Worst forms of Child Labour Convention (No.182)

India has not ratified the two core/fundamental conventions, namely Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) and Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

2. THE SCO SUMMIT 2022

THE CONTEXT: The 2022 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit will be organized in Uzbekistan from September 15 to 16, 2022.
THE EXPLANATION:
• The 2022 SCO Summit would be held in Samarkand – a city in Uzbekistan on the ancient trade route of Silk Road that connects China with the Mediterranean.
• The SCO summit in Uzbekistan would focus on reviewing the grouping’s activities over the past two decades and identifying areas having potential for multilateral cooperation.
• The discussions would also focus on the geopolitical crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the situation in the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
• This is the first in-person summit since 2019 SCO summit held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
• This summit would witness the first in-person meeting between Prime Minister and Chinese President Xi Jinping after their meeting at Brasilia on the side-lines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in 2019.
• The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of the State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) would witness the attendance of leaders of SCO member states, observer states, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), President of Turkmenistan and others.
• During the summit, Iran is expected to be formally admitted into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
• After the Samarkand summit, India would take up the SCO presidency.
• India will hold the presidency of SCO until September 2023. It would host the SCO summit next year.

About Shanghai Cooperation Organization
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic and security grouping founded on June 15, 2001. It is headquartered in Beijing. Its members include China, Russia, India and Pakistan as well as 4 Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. It is the world’s largest regional grouping, covering about 60 per cent of the area of Eurasia, 40 per cent of the global population and more than 30 per cent of global GDP.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

3. THE NATIONAL LIST OF ESSENTIAL MEDICINES

THE CONTEXT: Recently the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released the revised National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2022.
THE EXPLANATION:
• The revised National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2022 has deleted 26 drugs, which include common gastrointestinal medicines ranitidine and sucralfate.
• 384 drugs are currently part of the National List of Essential Medicines 2022, with the addition of 34 drugs.
• The medicines have been categorized into 27 therapeutic categories.
• Drugs in the list are deleted from the list if medicines with better efficacy or favourable safety profile and better cost-effectiveness are available as their alternative.
• If a specific disease is no longer a national burden, medicine for that disease would be deleted from this list.
• If anti-microbial drugs become ineffective due to high resistance, they are also deleted from the list.
• Concerns regarding safety profiles of the drugs and those that are banned in India are also deleted.
• Four drugs that are still under patent have been included in the list. These are bedaquiline and delamanid used in the treatment of multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis, dolutegravir used for treating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and daclatasvir used in treating viral infections such as Hepatitis C.
• Several anti-cancer drugs have been included in the list to make them affordable and reduce out-of-pocket expenditure in cancer treatment.
• Cardiovascular medicines dabigatran and tenecteplase are also included in this list.
• The diabetes section has been expended by including teneligliptin and insulin glargine.

National List of Essential Medicines
The National List of Essential Medicines was compiled for the first time in 1996. It was revised thrice since in 2003, 2011 and 2015. The drugs in the NLEM are included in the Schedule category and their price is regulated by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority.

THE ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

4. THE CLIMATE TIPPING POINT

THE CONTEXT: A new research has revealed that an increase of 1.5 from pre-industrial levels would trigger multiple climate tipping points. Presently, some parts of West Antarctic ice sheets, an important marker, have already passed tipping point.
THE EXPLANATION:
• Climate tipping points (CTPs) are indicators of a large climate system, which when triggered beyond a threshold, perpetuate warming on its own.
• Some CTPs triggers include substantial sea level rise caused by melting ice sheets, shrinking of Amazon Rainforest or corals and warming caused by carbon released from the melting permafrost.
• A new study analysed 9 previously-identified tipping elements and their corresponding timescale and impacts of tipping.
• The researchers increased the list of potential tipping points from 9 to include other possible tipping points.
• They revealed that human emissions have already pushed the tipping point to dangerous levels, some of which are irreversible.
• Thus, the goal set by the UN’s Paris Agreement to limit warming at 1.5 to 2°C will not be able to avoid the adverse consequences of the climate change as several of the climate tipping points have already been triggered.
• Tipping points can be triggered even at 1.5°C, which is not a safe level of warming but better than the 2°C mark.
• Even a few tenths of a degree of excessive temperature could trigger new tipping points.
• If it goes beyond 1.8°C, ocean convection in the Labrador and Irminger Seas in the North Atlantic would collapse and Europe and North America would witness extreme weather conditions. There will also be a shift of subtropical monsoon patterns to new positions, especially in West Africa.
• In the scenario of 4°C rise, the wider Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation would collapse and severely disrupt the monsoon systems across the world.
• This would cause major changes in the Atlantic, with significant decline in sea ice and abrupt shifts in the boreal forest position worsening the rising temperature and causing significant changes in weather patterns.

VALUE ADDITION:
What is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)?
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a large system of ocean currents that carry warm water from the tropics northwards into the North Atlantic.

How does the AMOC work?
• The AMOC is a large system of ocean currents, like a conveyor belt, driven by differences in temperature and salt content – the water’s density.
• As warm water flows northwards it cools and some evaporation occurs, which increases the amount of salt.
• Low temperature and a high salt content make the water denser, and this dense water sinks deep into the ocean.
• The cold, dense water slowly spreads southwards, several kilometres below the surface.
• Eventually, it gets pulled back to the surface and warms in a process called “upwelling” and the circulation is complete.

THE PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

5. SEPTEMBER 14: THE HINDI DIWAS

THE CONTEXT: Recently, Hindi Diwas is observed every year on September 14 to commemorate the adoption of Hindi as the official language of India.
THE EXPLANATION:
• On September 14, 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi as the official language along with English.
• Article 343 of the Indian Constitution recognizes Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language.
• On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, the importance of Hindi is promoted and various cultural festivals are organized to celebrate and honour Hindi literature.
• India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decided to create the Hindi Diwas on September 14, which coincides with the birth anniversary of Beohar Rajendra Simha, who played a major role in making Hindi India’s official language.
• Hindi Diwas was celebrated for the first time in 1953.
• Mahatma Gandhi was the first to advocate for making Hindi the national language of India in Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in 1918.
• As of 2022, Hindi is the third most spoken language in the world, with about 602.2 million people speaking the language.
• On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, Home Minister inaugurated second All India Rajbhasha Sammelan.
• While the National Hindi Diwas is celebrated on September 14, the World Hindi Day (Vishwa Hindi Diwas) is celebrated on January 10 every year to promote the use of Hindi language across the world.
• Currently, Hindi is spoken in countries such as Fiji, New Zealand, Singapore, Mauritius etc.
Akhil Bharatiya Rajbhasha Sammelan
The Akhil Bharatiya Rajbhasha Sammelan (All India Official Language Conference) was held for the first time in 2021. The two-day conference will be organized by State Language Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Discussions will be held on the importance of Hindi during this conference.

6. THE NAGA MIRCHA FESTIVAL

THE CONTEXT: Recently the inaugural edition of the Naga Mircha festival was organized in Seiyhama village of Kohima district in Nagaland.
THE EXPLANATION:
• The first-ever Naga Mircha (King Chilli) Festival 2022 was organized in the village hall of Seiyhama village in Kohima district.
•  The event was sponsored by the Nagaland Horticulture Department.
•  In 2021, the Seiyhama village reported a total income of Rs.27 lakh through the cultivation of Naga Mircha and this year’s estimation of income from this activity is Rs.1 crore.
•  It is one of the major provider for self-employment opportunities in the village.
• Of the 361 households in the Seiyhama village, 200 cultivate Naga Mircha, providing them with a sustainable income source.
• Each of these households are expected to earn a minimum income of Rs.60,000 to Rs.70,000 and large-scale cultivators are expected to earn nearly Rs.4 to 5 lakh this year.
•  Income from the Naga Mircha cultivation has supported education of children.
•  During the inaugural Naga Mircha Festival, Chief Minister’s Micro Finance Initiative was promoted.
• Chief Minister’s Micro Finance Initiative was launched by the Nagaland government to ease credit access required for undertaking economic activities in the agriculture and allied sectors, including MSMEs.

About Naga Mircha
Naga Mircha is popularly known as Raja Mircha (King Chilli). It is one of top five hottest chillies on the Scoville Heat Units (SHUs) list. It received GI tag to Nagaland in 2008. It is also known as Bhoot Jolokia and Ghost pepper. It belongs to genus Capsicum of family Solanaceae. It is 60 to 85 mm long and has wrinkled skin. The spiciness of this species is 1,041,427 SHU.