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Nord Stream Pipeline Leakage: A climate Catastrophe
Context- Four leakages were reported at different points in the Nord Stream pipelines, linking Russia and Europe, since September 26. Two of the leaks were in Swedish waters while the other two were reported from Danish waters. The European Union said they suspected “sabotage” behind the leaks.
What is Nord Stream Pipeline?
- Nord Stream 1:
- Nord Stream 1 is the biggest pipeline transporting natural gas between Russia and Europe via Germany.It is a system of offshore natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
- Nord Stream 1 is a 1,224 km underwater gas pipeline that runs from Vyborg in northwest Russia to Lubmin in northeastern Germany via the Baltic Sea.
- Nord Stream 2:
- Russian threats to choke this gas supply to Europe present an economic threat to Germany.
- To expand options and double the supply from Russia, Germany decided to build Nord Stream 2.
- The construction of the $11 billion-worth Nord Stream 2 was completed in 2021 but never began commercial operations.
Why the Nord Stream pipeline is so important?- For Germany: Energy prices in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, are among the lowest in the continent because of the cheap gas supplies via Nord Stream 1. This also makes German manufactured goods more competitive in the international market.
- For European Union: In 2021, Russia supplied nearly 40 per cent of the EU’s natural gas needs through this pipeline. The flows through Nord Stream play a vital role in filling up the national storage tanks of EU. It is crucial to provide the required heating in the upcoming winter.
- For Russia: Russia is using the supplies via the crucial pipeline as a bargain to navigate its economy through sanctions from the western countries.
What is the current status of Nord Stream Pipeline?
- Nord stream pipeline is the largest single supply route for Russian gas to Europe. The Russian state owned gas company Gazprom has a majority ownership in the pipeline.
- While it was running at just 20% of its capacity since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began, the company, in early September fully cut gas flows from the pipeline on the pretext of maintenance.
- According to Bloomberg, while 40% of Europe’s pipeline gas came from Russia before Russia Ukraine the war, the number now stands at just 9%.
- Even though both pipelines were not running commercially, they had millions of cubic metres of gas stored in them.
The recent leakage in the pipeline
- Commercial Methane: Measuring satellite firm GHGSat says, that a conservative estimate based on available data suggested that the leaks together were releasing ‘more than500 metric tonnes of methane per hour’ when first breached, with the flow decreasing over time.
- Biggest methane leakage ever: According to UNEP The leakage from the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline system under the Baltic Sea have led to perhaps the single biggest release of methane ever recorded.
- Amount of leakage: The rate of leakage at one of the four points of rupture in the pipeline was 22,920 kg per hour. That is equal to burning about 286,000 kg of coal every hour, according to scientists.
What will be the Impact of methane leakage?- Possibility of more leakage: With the timeframe for repairs being uncertain, the pipelines were unlikely to provide any gas to Europe in the forthcoming winter months, even if the political will to resume supply was found.
- Commercial damage: European gas prices spiked after reports of the leaks emerged; European Benchmark prices rose 12% on Tuesday, while Dutch and British Prices continued to rise.
- Ozone formation: Methane is the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, exposure to which causes 1 million premature deaths every year.
- Green House gas: Methane is also a powerful greenhouse gas. Over a 20-year period, it is 80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide.
- Global warming: Methane has accounted for roughly 30 per cent of global warming since pre-industrial times and is proliferating faster than at any other time since record keeping began in the 1980s.
- Emission have already increased during the lockdown: According to data from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, even as carbon dioxide emissions decelerated during the pandemic-related lockdowns of 2020, atmospheric methane shot up.
Why is it important to reduce methane emission?
- Short lifespan: Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. But it takes only about a decade for methane to break down. So, reducing methane emissions now would have an impact in the near term and is critical for helping keep the world on a path to 1.5°C.
- Human caused methane emissions: Human-caused methane emissions could be reduced by as much as 45 per cent within the decade. This would avert nearly 0.3°C of global warming by 2045, helping to limit global temperature rise to 1.5˚C and putting the planet on track to achieve the Paris Agreement targets.
- Prevent premature deaths: Every year, the subsequent reduction in ground-level ozone would also prevent 260,000 premature deaths, 775,000 asthma-related hospital visits, 73 billion hours of lost labour from extreme heat and 25 million tonnes of crop losses.
- Reducing the Agriculture emission: Agriculture and allied activities remains the biggest contributor of methane emission. The UN’s Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture initiative is supporting the transformation of agricultural and food systems, focusing on how to maintain productivity amid a changing climate. Representatives are also working to mainstream agriculture into the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Conclusion
- Nord stream pipeline leakages will further exacerbate the ozone formation, Green House Gas emissions global warming and thereby climate change. In the spirit of Paris climate change agreement nations must act together to rein in the menace of GHG emissions.
Mains Questions
Q.Methane emission into atmosphere is done more by human activities than natural causes. In the spirit of Paris climate change agreement nations must act together to rein in the menace of GHG emissions. Explain
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[Sansad TV] Perspective: Food Loss & Waste
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Context
- The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW) is being observed for the third time on 29 September 2022 with the theme ‘Stop Food Loss and Waste! For People and Planet.’
- This day assumes huge importance due to the rising food insecurity across the globe.
- Food loss and waste (FLW) is an important topic due to its high socioeconomic costs and its relationship to waste management and climate change challenges.
Worldwide Food Loss and Waste (FLW)
- According to the United Nations Environment Programme, an estimated 14 percent of the world’s food is lost between harvest and retail.
- Moreover, an estimated 17 per cent is wasted in retail and at the consumption level.
- This food loss and waste accounts for 8-10 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.
- As the data suggests that approx 4 to 5 lakhs people die without food every year and this includes the dependent population of the country as well.
What is Food Loss and Waste?
- Food loss and waste is food that is not eaten.
- The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and consumption.
Why should we discuss this?
- Pre-consumption Losses: Nearly 40% of the food produced in India is wasted every year due to fragmented food systems and inefficient supply chains.
- Post-harvest damages: India does incur huge losses due to post-harvest damages. Economic cost of post-harvest loss is nearly 926.51 bn INR as per a 2014 study.
- Rotting in godowns: In the wake of the lockdown imposed last year, surplus stocks of grain — pegged at 65 lakh tonnes in the first four months of 2020 — continued to rot in godowns across India.
- Huge share of GDP: It is about 0.6% of India’s GDP and two and a half times the Budget estimate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
FLW in India: Causes
There are some reasons which cause huge food waste of food in the country:
- Food habits: First is that India is a nation where maximum foods are spicy and the reason for them to get rot very early.
- Cultural issues: The culture of our nation, let’s not take it otherwise but we can can’t deny that the wedding functions causes large amount of food waste.
- Household losses: The data on food wastage at the retail and household levels is at the nascent stage.
- Replacement of manures: Chemical fertilizers has replaced the organic one which is a big replacement of leftover wastes.
- Logistics: Uneven transportation and warehousing is another factor for FLW.
Why is it important to reduce food loss and waste?
- Prevalence of hunger: If more food is wasted, then the remaining food is available at higher prices. This excludes many people from accessing quality food owing to poor socio-economic conditions.
- Sustainability of food system: Food loss and waste undermine the sustainability of our food systems. When food is lost or wasted, all the resources that were used to produce this food – including water, land, energy, labour and capital – go to waste.
- Emissions by FLW: In addition, the disposal of food loss and waste in landfills, leads to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change.
- Food insecurity: Food loss and waste can also negatively impact food security and food availability, and contribute to increasing the cost of food.
Steps taken by India
- SDG commitment: Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 talks about halving food loss and waste by 2030. It also talks about halving the food loss in production and supply chains.
- Institutional research: India has been systematically estimating food loss since 1968 and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has also conducted several studies and quantified the loss at certain levels.
- NITI Aayog moves: Ashok Dalwai Committee has suggested various interventions that go beyond the supply chain in the report to double farmer’s income by 2025.
- SAMPADA Scheme: Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters was launched in 2016. One of the core components of the scheme involves developing an integrated cold chain and value addition infrastructure.
- National Food Security Act, 2013: It places an obligation on the government to deliver quality food at affordable prices to the poor. This places an indirect obligation on the government to reduce food wastage.
Way forward
- Inducing behavior change: Public needs to be sensitized as the food resources belong to the community irrespective of their individual financial capacity. Nobody has the right to waste limited food (or any other resources).
- Food Banking: There are examples of many NGO-run food banks where leftover food is collected and shared to the needy.
- Boosting local supply chains: This should be optimized to reduce post-harvest and transportation losses.
- Prevention: Last but not the least. Prevention of food losses is far better than mitigation.
Conclusion
- Our food systems cannot be resilient if they are not sustainable, hence the need to focus on the adoption of integrated approaches designed to reduce food loss and waste.
- Actions are required globally and locally to maximize the use of the food we produce.
- The introduction of technologies, innovative solutions, new ways of working, and good practices to manage food quality and reduce food loss and waste are key to implementing this transformative change.
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Report on Abuse of UAPA
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has released a report titled “UAPA: criminalizing dissent and state terror” on the alleged abuse of the legislation between 2009 and 2022, and demanded that the law be repealed.
What is Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA)?
- The UAPA is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
- Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India
- It is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA, which was allowed to lapse in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.
- It was originally passed in 1967 under the then Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
- Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory. Following the 2004 amendment, “terrorist act” was added to the list of offences.
What are Unlawful Activities and Associations?
- The UAPA lays down the definitions and rules for designating an organisation as an “unlawful association” if it is engaged in certain types of activities.
- Under Section 3 of the UAPA Act, the government has powers to declare an association “unlawful”.
- The government can then issue a notification designating such an organisation as a terrorist organisation, if it believes that the organisation is part of “terrorist activities.”
(1) Unlawful Activites
- Under section 2(o) of the UAPA, an unlawful activity in relation to an individual or association means – Any action taken by such an individual or association (whether by committing an act or by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise), –
- Works for the Cession of a part of the territory of India or the secession of a part of the territory of India from the Union
- Disclaims, questions, disrupts or is intended to Disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India; or
- which causes or is intended to cause Disaffection against India;
- Related and ancillary acts, including financing, support or promotion of any such activities are also “unlawful activity”.
(2) Unlawful Association
The UAPA also defines an “Unlawful Association” under section 2(p) as meaning any association,–
- which has for its object any unlawful activity, or which encourages or aids persons to undertake any unlawful activity, or of which the members undertake such activity or
- which encourages or aids persons to undertake any such activity, or of which the members undertake any such activity
Reported abuse of UAPA
- The PUCL report studied data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) from 2015 to 2020.
- It has found per-case conviction rate under the UAPA was 27.57% compared with 49.67% in Indian Penal Code (IPC) cases.
- The per-arrestee conviction rate was just 2.8% against 22.19% in IPC cases.
- This is far less to figure of the success of having UAPA.
Cases registered under UAPA
- During the check period, 5,924 cases were registered and 8,371 persons arrested.
- The National Investigation Agency, on its website, had listed 456 cases of which 78% involved UAPA charges.
Issues with UAPA
- Burden of proof: With such high barriers of proof, it is now impossible for an accused to obtain bail, and is in fact a convenient tool to put a person behind bars indefinitely.
- No interim bail: As a consequence of UAPA being applied, the accused cannot even get bail.
- Traitor branding: This is being abused by the government, police and prosecution liberally: now, all dissenters are routinely implicated under charges of sedition or criminal conspiracy and under the UAPA.
- Fake and framed cases: In multiple instances, evidence is untenable, sometimes even arguably planted, and generally weak overall.
Key recommendations of the report
- The report has sought:
- Repeal of the NIA Act and disbanding of the agency
- Release of all political prisoners (also who are on bail) and
- Action to provide reparations for those wrongfully accused and released by Courts
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How Tokenization will change your online purchase?
The RBI’s deadline for tokenization of cards used in online payments passed on 30 September.
What is Tokenization?
- Tokenisation refers to the replacement of credit and debit card details with an alternative code called a ‘token’.
- This token is unique for a combination of card, token requestor (the entity that accepts a request from the customer for tokenization of a card and passes it on to the card network to issue a token) and the device.
How does it work?
- Tokenizing credit and debit cards is a way to reduce the number of places where your card data can be found.
- For instance, payments on Uber showed a warning that your card data will be saved with payment gateways such as Visa and Mastercard.
- What it is saying is that a merchant like Uber will have to work with payment networks like Visa to convert the card details into a digital token, which is then used to validate transactions.
- As a result, the card details you enter on the Uber app, or any online platform, are not stored on the company’s cloud servers, and are hence more secure.
What is the digital token being used?
- The digital token is a randomized string, usually alphanumeric. So, a 16-digit card number gets converted to something like 8f9%yf57ljTa.
- It is generated by computer programmes, and the card network tags the token to your actual card details, and relays the token to the merchant.
- When payments are to be requested, the merchant sends this token to the card network, which matches it against the saved details and validates the transaction.
- A third party accessing the token won’t have use for it, since tokens will be unique across combinations of card, token requestor and merchants.
Who can offer tokenization services?
- Tokenisation can be performed only by the authorised card network and recovery of original Primary Account Number (PAN) should be feasible for the authorised card network only.
- Adequate safeguards have to be put in place to ensure that PAN cannot be found out from the token and vice versa, by anyone except the card network.
- RBI has emphasised that the integrity of the token generation process has to be ensured at all times.
Benefits of Tokenization
- Transaction safety: Tokenization reduces the chances of fraud arising from sharing card details.
- Easy payments: The token is used to perform contactless card transactions at point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and QR code payments.
- Data storage: Only card networks and card-issuing banks will have access to and can store any card data.
How were the transactions processed?
- There are many players involved in processing one card transaction today:
- Merchant
- Payment aggregator
- Issuing bank
- Card network
- When a transaction happens on a merchant platform, the data is sent to the payment aggregator (PA).
- The PA next sends the details to either the issuing bank or the card network.
- Then issuing bank sends an OTP and the transaction flows back.
How will tokenization prevent online fraud?
- Card details saved on an app are stored in cloud servers, which if hacked, can give the hacker access to information like card numbers, expiry dates, name of holder etc.
- Though most merchants put special mechanisms to store card details in an obfuscated manner, it’s much more difficult to hack a bank or a Visa than it is to hack websites and apps.
How does it differ from encryption?
- The primary difference is that the token cannot lead one to the card details.
- In encryption, a computer program obfuscates data using an encryption key, and this key can turn the data back to its original form.
- In tokenization, however, there is no way to know what data a token represents unless one has access to the databases of the actual issuer of that token.
- In many cases, laws don’t consider tokens as “sensitive data”, and hence, companies don’t have to ensure the same compliance to protect them.
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‘Professors of Practice’ for all colleges, universities
University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued new guidelines under which higher education institutes can create a new teaching position called Professor of Practice to hire experts from various sectors, in line with provisions that already exist in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
Professors of Practice
- If one is a distinguished professional in any field but do not have a formal academic qualification such as a PhD, he/she can still be eligible for appointment as faculty in any college or university in India.
- To be eligible for appointment, an individual will have to be a “distinguished expert” who has made remarkable contributions in their professions.
- The post is open to the institutions themselves to decide the sector from which they want to rope in professionals.
Streams opened for this post
- A professor of practice can be anyone with a background in a diverse range of areas from technology, science, social sciences, media, literature, armed forces, law, fine arts, etc.
- However, the position is not open for those in the teaching profession — either serving or retired.
Minimum qualifications
- No formal academic qualification is necessary in order to be considered for this position if a person has been an “exemplary” professional in their field of work.
- Currently, under the UGC’s minimum qualifications needs a PhD to be recruited as a professor or associate professor, and also needs to have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET).
Will the professor of practice be a full-time position?
- It can be either a full-time or a part-time engagement for at least four years.
- Initially, the hiring will be for one year.
- Based on performance, extensions may be given.
How will these appointments be made?
- Universities and colleges will carry out appointments on a nomination basis.
- In other words, vice-chancellors or directors have been authorized to invite nominations for filling up posts, which cannot exceed 10 percent of the sanctioned faculty strength of an institute.
- After nominations are invited, those interested can send their applications with detailed biodata and a brief write-up about the ways they can potentially contribute.
- The applications will be considered by a selection committee comprising two senior professors from the respective institute, and one “eminent external member”.
- Based on the recommendations of the committee, the academic council and the executive council of the institutes will take the final call on appointment.
What about remuneration?
- The remuneration will be decided at the level of the institutes and the experts being hired.
- In some cases, universities can even approach industries for financial support.
Why such move?
- India’s higher education institutes are understaffed, with thousands of vacancies across central and state universities.
- So the UGC is hoping that recruiting industry experts and professionals will help “augment faculty resources” in universities and colleges.
- The move is aimed at addressing concerns about the quality of graduates being produced by Indian colleges and universities.
- Around the world, the idea of a professor of practice aims essentially to facilitate and promote the integration of academic scholarship with practical expertise and experience.
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PUC Certificate must to buy fuel in New Delhi
Motorists will not be able to buy fuel in Delhi without a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate from October 25.
What is PUC Certificate?
- The PUC certificate is a document that any person driving a motor vehicle can be asked to produce by a police officer in uniform authorized by the state government.
- These issue certificates if a vehicle is found complying with the prescribed emission norms.
- Since the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 came into force, PUC certificate has been made mandatory.
- A PUC certificate contains information such as the vehicle’s license plate number, PUC test reading, date on which the PUC test was conducted and the expiry date.
Compliance rules
- According to Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, every motor vehicle is required to carry a valid PUC Certificate after the expiry of period of one year from the date of its first registration.
- This includes those conforming to BS-I/ BS-II/ BS-III/BS-IV /BS-VI as well as vehicles plying on CNG/LPG.
- However, the validity of four-wheeled BS-IV compliant vehicles is one year and for other vehicles it is three months.
How is a pollution control check carried out?
- The computerized model for pollution check was developed by the Society of Indian Automobile manufacturers.
- A gas analyzer is connected to a computer, to which a camera and a printer are attached.
- The gas analyzer records the emission value and sends it to the computer directly, while the camera captures the license plate of the vehicle.
- Subsequently, a certificate may be issued if the emission values are within the limits.
Why obtain PUC Certificate?
- Emissions from automobiles are major contributors to air pollution all over the world.
- The smoke emitted from vehicles contains the following pollutants:
- Hydrocarbons (HC)
- Carbon Monoxide (CO)
- Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx)
- Particulate Matter (PM)
- Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)
- Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
- Nitrous Oxide (N2O)
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MeFSAT Database for Medicinal Fungi
An analytical study of medicinal fungi using MeFSAT carried out by researchers from Chennai shows that some chemicals they secrete may find use as novel drugs.
What is MeFSAT?
- MeFSAT (Medicinal Fungi Secondary Metabolites and Therapeutics) is a database that compiles information on 184 medicinal fungi, including mushrooms.
- It is a manually curated database that compiles information on secondary metabolites and reported therapeutic uses of medicinal fungi from published research articles and specialized books on the subject.
Why in news?
- Chennai-based researchers analysed the structure of 1,830 secondary metabolites of medicinal fungi.
- Secondary metabolites are chemical compounds that fungi produce when they are stressed.
- They enhance the fungus’ ability to survive.
What are medicinal fungi?
- Medicinal fungi belongs to two taxonomic divisions namely, basidiomycota and ascomycota.
- Mushrooms belong to the basidiomycota division. An example is Agaricus bisporus, the button mushroom, which can be consumed.
- Fungi belonging to the ascomycota division are generally not mushrooms.
Examples of fungi-based medicines
- Cordycepin, a secondary metabolite produced by Cordyceps species of fungus, is known to have anti-tumor properties.
- Not only cordycepin, in general, but several secondary metabolites are also known to be beneficial for humans in terms of both therapy and health.
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30th September 2022 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions
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