UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 24-10-2024

Right to live in a pollution-free environment

The Supreme Court recently said cases of stubble-burning and “pick-and-choose” policy adopted by the Punjab and Haryana governments violated citizens’ right to live in a pollution-free environment.

• Constitutional provision – Under Article 21 right to live in a pollution free environment is a fundamental right.
• Right against climate change - The right to a healthy environment includes the right to be safe from the effects of climate change.
• Article 47 – It puts a duty on the state to raise the standard of living and to improve public health.
• Swaran Singh Committee – The committee recommended the creation of a separate chapter on Fundamental Duties which included Art 48A and 51A (g).
• Article 48A – It puts a duty on the State to protect and improve the environment and further to safeguard the forests and wildlife.
• To enable this duty, wildlife and forests have been inserted in the concurrent list so that both the Central Government and State Government can fulfil their duty of protecting wildlife.
• Article 51A (g) – It puts a fundamental duty on the citizens to protect and preserve the environment.
• Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 - Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 outlines the penalties for violating the provisions of the Act.
  • Penalties - 5 years of imprisonment and ₹1 lakh as fine.
• Indian Penal Code - Section 277 of the IPC punishes anyone who pollutes a public reservoir with water, while Section 278 punishes anyone who pollutes the atmosphere.
• Polluter pays principle – It states that the undertakings have to pay financial costs for preventing or remedying the damages caused to the environment by the pollution created by those undertakings.
  • In India, the polluter pays was first recognized in M.C. Mehta vs Union of India, 1986 which is also known as the oleum gas leak case.
• Recent Verdict – The court noted that Punjab had identified 1,084 instances of stubble burning, but recovered compensation only from 473 persons.
• Similarly, Haryana had recorded 490 occasions of stubble burning, but only 32 First Information Reports (FIRs) had been registered.
• The court said the authorities had failed in not only effectively implementing existing laws, but allowed blatant violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21.
• The “pick-and-choose” policy adopted by the Punjab and Haryana governments to penalise a few while letting many violators go “scot-free” after paying a nominal fine violated citizens’ right.
• SC pointed out that a proper machinery for collection of fines under Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 had not been formulated.
• The court further directed the Union government to consider Punjab’s request for more funds to fight stubble-burning.

Reference

The Hindu |Right to live in a pollution-free environment

Escherichia coli (E.coli)

1 person has died and 10 have been hospitalized in the US due to an E.coli infection after eating McDonald’s burgers.

• E. coli, or Escherichia coli, is a rod-shaped, gram-negative bacterium typically resides in the intestines of humans and most mammals.
• While most strains are harmless and play a beneficial role in gut health, some can cause serious foodborne illnesses.
• Types of E. coli
  • Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC)
  • Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC)
  • Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC)
  • Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC)
  • Diffusely adherent Escherichia coli (DAEC)
  • Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC)
• Causes - It spreads through contaminated food and water.
• Transmission - Most diarrheagenic E. coli strains spread through fecal-oral transmission.
• Some forms, like Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), can also transmit through undercooked meat and unpasteurized beverages.
• E. coli can be contagious (spread from person to person).
• Symptoms
  • Fever of more than 102 degree F, persistent diarrhoea, bloody diarrhoea, and vomiting.
  • The main problem, however, is dehydration due to the inability of the patient to retain water and fluids.
  • In very few cases, people may get acute kidney injury.
• EHEC – It produces a poison called Shiga toxin.
• EHEC strains cause bloody diarrhea and can sometimes damage the kidneys and progress to the potentially fatal hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
• EHEC has caused many large food-borne outbreaks worldwide, O157:H7 is the best known strain.
• This group is also known as STEC (Shigatoxin producing E. coli) and is the only group that is passed in animal feces.
• Treatment - E.coli is a bacterial infection for which antibiotics are prescribed.
• Indiscriminate use of antibiotics leads to antimicrobial resistance and further difficulty in treating common infections.
• For example, E.coli’s susceptibility to even strong antibiotics, such as carbapenem, has been on the decline, reducing from 81.4% in 2017 to 62.7% in 2023 to one type of medicine in this category.
• Severity - E. coli sometimes causes life-threatening complications
• Prevalence in India - E.coli is common in India.
• According to the National Centre for Disease Control, more than 500 outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases were reported across India in 2023.
• According to the latest report of ICMR’s Antimicrobial Surveillance Network, E.coli is the most common bacteria isolated from patient samples.
• The pathogen was found in 23.19% of all types of patient samples from tertiary care hospitals across India.

Reference

The Indian express | what is E.coli?

Animals living in underground near hydrothermal vents

Recently, animals found living underground near deep-sea hydrothermal vents using the remotely operated underwater vehicle SuBastian.

• Hydrothermal vents – These are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges.
• They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspots.
• Seawater circulates deep in the ocean’s crust and becomes superheated by hot magma.
• As pressure builds and the seawater warms, it begins to dissolve minerals and rise toward the surface of the crust.
• The hot, mineral-rich waters then exit the oceanic crust and mix with the cool seawater above.
• As the vent minerals cool and solidify into mineral deposits, they form different types of hydrothermal vent structures.
• The ability of vent organisms to survive and thrive in such extreme pressures and temperatures and in the presence of toxic mineral plumes is fascinating.
• The conversion of mineral-rich hydrothermal fluid into energy is a key aspect of these unique ecosystems.
• Through the process of chemosynthesis, bacteria provide energy and nutrients to vent species without the need for sunlight.

The deepest vent located so far is in the Cayman Trough, which is the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea. The trough is located along the boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate.

• Recent Exploration – It was conducted at the East Pacific Rise, a volcanically active ridge on the floor of the southeastern Pacific, running approximately parallel to South America’s west coast.
• Earth’s rigid outer part is divided into colossal plates that move gradually over time in a process called plate tectonics.
• The East Pacific Rise is located where two such plates are gradually spreading apart.

East Pacific Rise (EPR) is a mid-ocean rise at a divergent tectonic plate boundary, located along the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

• This area contains many hydrothermal vents, fissures in the seafloor situated where seawater and magma beneath the Earth’s crust come together.
• Magma refers to molten rock that is underground, while lava refers to molten rock that reaches the surface, including the seafloor.
• New seafloor forms in places where magma is forced upward toward the surface at a mid-ocean ridge and cools to form volcanic rock.
• The hydrothermal vents spew into the cold sea the super-heated and chemical-rich water that nourishes microorganisms.
• The warm venting fluids are rich in energy for example, sulfide that can be used by microbes, which form the basis of the food-chain.
• Founded species - Life flourishes around the vents including giant tubeworms reaching lengths of 10 feet, mussels, crabs, shrimp, fish and other organisms.
• The giant tubeworms do not eat as other animals do. Instead, bacteria residing in their body in a sack-like organ turn sulfur from the water into energy for the animal.
• Larvae from these animals may invade these sub seafloor habitats.
• They were living inside cavities within the Earth’s crust at an ocean-floor site where the Pacific is 1.56 miles (2,515 meters) deep.
• All the species were previously known to have lived near such vents, but never underground.
• It is the first time that animal life has been discovered in the ocean crust.

References

1. The Print | Animals found in underground near hydrothermal vents
2. National Geographic | Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents

Asiatic Golden Cat

Presence of ‘Asiatic golden cat’ reconfirmed in Assam’s Manas National park recently.

• Asiatic golden cat is a medium-sized wild cat native to Asia.
• Scientific Name - Catopuma temminckii.
• Appearance - The Asian golden cat is polymorphic in color. It showcases a variety of coat colors, including golden, red brown, dark brown, and grey.
• Habitats - It thrives in dry deciduous forests, subtropical evergreen forests, tropical rainforests, and even temperate and sub-alpine forests.
• It can be found at elevations ranging from sea level to 3,738 meters.
• Distribution – It is found across Northeast India, Southeast Asia, and southern China.
• It is also found in protected areas such as
  • Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (Sikkim),
  • Buxa Tiger Reserve (West Bengal),
  • Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary (Meghalaya),
  • Dampha Tiger Reserve (Mizoram),
  • Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Kamlang Tiger Reserve,
  • Debang valley,
  • Pakke Tiger Reserve,
  • Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary,
  • Singchung-BugunVCR and
  • Talle-Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (Arunachal Pradesh), and
  • Intanki National Park (Nagaland).
• Behavior- Asian golden cats are solitary and territorial. Once considered nocturnal, a radio-tracking study showed them to be diurnal and crepuscular.
• Diet – Asian golden cats are carnivores, often eating small prey like Indochinese ground squirrels, small snakes, and other reptiles, muntjacs, rodents, birds, and young hares.
• Mating - Asian golden cats are polygynous (mating with multiple females) with no breeding season.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN - Near Threatened.
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 - Scheduled-I.
  • CITES - Appendix I.
• Threats - Habitat destruction, deforestation, decreasing numbers of ungulate prey, illegal wildlife trade, hunting by tribal people for meat and skin to use in tribal rituals.

References

1. Northeast News | Asiatic golden cat
2. Animalia | Asiatic Golden Cat

Anguiculus dicaprioi

A team of scientists named a new species of snake, Anguiculus dicaprioi recently.

• It is a colubrid snake, refers to any member of the family Colubridae, which is the largest family of snakes.
  • This family comprises 304 genera and approximately 1,938 species. They account for almost two-thirds of all living snakes in the world.
• The new species was discovered in Western Himalayas by the team of researchers from India, Germany and United Kingdom in 2020.
• Nomenclature - Anguiculus is Latin for small snake. The proposed nomen highlights the small size (SVL) of members of the new genus in relation to members of the family Colubridae.
• It has been named after Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio for his efforts to create awareness about biodiversity loss.
• Suggested common English name is ‘Himalayan snake’.
• Appearance - The species is small, growing up to 22 inches, with distinct features such as a steeply domed snout and a faint grey collar around its neck.
• The snake resembled Liopeltis rappi, a species known to be found in the eastern Himalayas.
• Habitat - They live at heights of around 6,000 feet above sea level.
• Distribution - The snake is found in Chamba, Kullu and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Nainital in Uttarakhand and Chitwan National Park in Nepal.

References

1. Down to Earth | Anguiculus dicaprioi
2. Times of India | Anguiculus dicaprioi
3. Hindustan Times | Anguiculus dicaprioi