SATAT Scheme

• SATAT – Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation.
• SATAT scheme was launched on 2018.
• The scheme envisages to target production of 15 MMT (million tons) of Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) by 2023 from 5000 Plants.
• Under the scheme, entrepreneurs shall set up CBG plants, produce & supply CBG to OMCs for sale as automotive & industrial fuels.
• In order to facilitate financing and access to funds to the entrepreneurs, CBG plants have been included under priority sector lending by Reserve Bank of India.
• The initiative aims to produce compressed biogas (CBG) from Waste and Bio-mass sources like:
  • Agricultural residue,
  • Cattle dung,
  • Sugarcane press mud,
  • Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and
  • Sewage treatment plant waste.
• The initiative offers an efficient solution for treatment and disposal of municipal solid waste management and help in tackling problem urban air pollution due to farm stubble-burning.
• It will also help to bring down nation's dependency on natural gas and crude oil imports and act as a buffer against crude oil and gas price fluctuations.

EG.5 or Eris

Recently the World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified the EG.5 as a "variant of interest".

• EG.5 or Eris is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 was first reported on February 2023 and designated as a variant under monitoring (VUM) on July 2023 by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
• In August 2023, the WHO designated EG.5 and its sub-lineages as a variant of interest (VOI).
• Variants are broadly categorised by WHO into 3 categories:

1. “variants of interest”
2. “variants of concern”
3. “variants of high consequence”

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified the EG.5 as a "variant of interest".

• EG.5 is a descendent lineage of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.9.2.
• It carries an additional mutation in the spike protein which the SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter and infect the human cells compared to the parent subvariant.
• Within the EG.5 lineage, the subvariant EG.5.1 has an additional spike mutation and represents 88 % of the available sequences for EG.5 and its descendent lineages.
• The largest portion of EG.5 sequences are from China (30.6%, 2,247 sequences).
• In India, only one case of EG.5 has been reported so far from Pune in May this year.
• Globally, there has been a steady increase in the proportion of EG.5.

Maui Island

The rapidly spreading wildfires that swept through Maui in recent days had devastating consequences for both people and property.

• Maui is located in Hawaii which belongs to United States of America.
• The recent Wildfire in Maui, Hawaii leaves destruction and death, with at least 53 people dead and over 1,000 structures destroyed.

Takakia

Takakia is being threatened by climate change.

• Takakia is a rare genus of moss and Oldest surviving plant species.
• Takakia looks like a later of moss or green algae on the rocks where it grows.
• But closer inspection would reveal slender turf around 1centimetre in length with an arrangement of short, finger-like leaves.
• Takakia is a genus that only has two species and both of them are found together only in one place which is the Tibetan Plateau.
• It combines features found in mosses, liverworts and green algae.

Cluster Munitions or Cluster Bombs

• Cluster munitions or cluster bombs are weapons that release multiple explosive sub munitions, also called bomblets, into the air.
• These sub munitions explode as soon as they hit the ground, killing and maiming people in the area.
• Many bomblets do not blow up instantly and remain dormant for years (also known as the dud rate).
• These inactive bomblets act as precarious landmines, posing a grave threat to the civilian population, including women and children, for a long time.
• They were used in the Second World War.
• Since then, cluster bombs have been used on multiple occasions including by the U.S. in the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
• The international campaign against cluster bombs led by the civil society organisations such as Human Rights Watch also gathered momentum.
• This resulted in an international treaty called the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) was enacted on 2008.

Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM)

• The convention envisages banning the possession, transfer, supply and use of cluster bombs.
• The treaty is not universal but 112 countries have acceded to the including many North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members such as Canada, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.
• Other important countries such as the U.S., Russia, China, Israel, and India have not signed the CCM. Ukraine is not a member of the convention.
• Since these countries are not signatories to the CCM, they are not bound by international law banning cluster bombs.
• Countries are also legally bound to develop a victim assistance programme to provide support the cluster bomb victims.