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  • Nikaalo Prelims Spotlight || Fundamental Rights DPSPs, and Fundamental Duties

    Dear Aspirants,

    This Spotlight is a part of our Mission Nikaalo Prelims-2023.

    You can check the broad timetable of Nikaalo Prelims here

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    YouTube LIVE with Parth sir – 1 PM  – Prelims Spotlight Session

    Evening 04 PM  – Daily Mini Tests

    Telegram LIVE with Sukanya ma’am – 06 PM  – Current Affairs Session

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    1st Mar 2023

    Fundamental Rights

    Fundamental rights Constitutional rights Legal rights
    Included in part 3 (magna carta of India) of constitution Not in part 3 Not in constitution
    Can directly move supreme court for enforcement under article 32 no no
    Parliament can abridge these rights only in very special circumstances Can be abridged by constitutional amendment By simple legal amendment
    6 Rights included in part 3 No taxation with authority (278),Right to property (Art 300A), freedom to trade (art 301) Right to employment under MGNREGA

    Amendability of Fundamental rights

    Article 13 Laws inconsistent with part 3 (FRs) null and void
    Shankari Prasad Case Amendment under article 368 not law, can be amended
    Golaknath case Law, can not be amended
    Kesavananda Bharati (24/04/73) Not law, can be amended but basic structure can’t be amended
    Minerva mills case Basic structure can’t be amended to implement DPSP

    Special cases

    Fundamental rights not available to foreigners Article 15, 16, 19, 29, 30
    Available against private citizens Article 17
    Suspended automatically during an emergency on grounds of war or external aggression Article 19
    Can’t be suspended even during emergency Article 20,21
    Against exploitation Article 23, 24
    Most fundamental of FRs/ Right to constitutional remedies Article 32

    Procedure Established by Law v/s Due Process

    Procedure Established Due Process
    British, Japanese American constitution
    Arbitrary Administrative actions Arbitrary administrative as well as legislative
    A. K. Gopalan case Maneka Gandhi
    Action according to procedure established by law Law must also be just fair and reasonable

    Titbits:

    1. FRs are not absolute. Parliament can impose reasonable restrictions.
    2. Right to property (art 31) has been deleted from part 3 by 44th amendment and is now a constitutional right under art 300A
    3. Article 31B put acts include under 9th schedule (added by 1st CAA) outside judicial review
    4. But Matters added to 9th schedule after 24th April 1973 (Kesavananda Bharati Case) are not immune to judicial review (I.R. Coelho case)

    DPSPs

      DPSP FRs
    Taken from Ireland America
    Part of constitution Part 4 Part 3
    Legal validity Non-justiciable Justiciable
    Aim Social and Economic Democracy (welfare state) Political democracy

     

    (limit state power)

      Fundamental to governance of country (instrument of instructions under GOI act 1935)  

    Titbits:

    1. DPSPs can be classified into socialist, Gandhian and liberal – intellectual categories
    2. 42nd, 44th, 86th and 97th amendment added new DPSPs

    Fundamental duties: Learn by heart

    Titbits:

    1. Right and duties are correlative yet the original constitution didn’t have FDs
    2. Part 4A, article 51A of the constitution by 42nd amendment
    3. 11th duty added by 86th amendment in 2002 (education of kids)
    4. Taken from USSR constitution based on Swaran Singh Committee report
    5. Applicable only to citizens not to foreigners
    6. Non-justiciable.
  • RBI’s new pilot project on Coin Vending Machines

    coin

    The RBI in collaboration with banks is set to launch a pilot project to assess the functioning of a QR-code-based coin vending machine.

    Coin Vending Machines

    • The vending machines would dispense coins with the requisite amount being debited from the customer’s account using United Payments Interface (UPI) instead of physical tendering of banknotes.
    • Customers would be endowed the option of withdrawing coins in required quantities and denominations.
    • The central idea here is to ease the accessibility to coins.
    • With particular focus on ease and accessibility, the machines are intended to be installed at public places such as railway stations, shopping malls and marketplaces.

    Why such a move?

    • Prevent hoarding of coins: The situation with respect to coins is peculiar with the supply being very high. It is taking up a lot of storage space and is not getting properly distributed despite high demands.
    • Eliminate the physical tendering of banknotes: It was observed that the currency being fed into the machines (for coin exchange) were often found to be fake and could not be checked right at that point of time.

    Do you know?

    For perspective, coins in India are issued in denominations of 50 paise, one rupee, two rupees, five rupees, ten rupees and twenty rupees (not considering special edition coins of various denomination).

    Coins of up to 50 paise are called ‘small coins’ while those of one rupee and above are called ‘rupee coins’.

     

    How coins are significant in our economy?

    • As per the latest RBI bulletin, the total value of circulation of rupee coins stood at ₹28,857 crore as of December 30 last year. The figure is an increase of 7.2% from the year-ago period.
    • Circulation of small coins remained unchanged at ₹743 crore.
    • The figures above could be compared to the volume of digital payments until December 2022 which stood at approximately ₹9,557.4 crore, as per the Digidhan Dashboard.
    • The number is inclusive of mobile banking, internet banking, IMPS, BHIM-UPI and NEFT, among others.
    • Hence the reliance on UPI for dispensing coins is particularly noteworthy.

    Is it going against the digital push?

    • RBI is in the midst of a pilot for the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
    • But this proposal should not be viewed as a “zero-sum game of digital versus cash.”
    • The two can easily supplement each other by re-circulating existing coins in the economy.

     

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  • Proton Beam Therapy out of reach for many

    proton

    There is currently a demand-supply gap of proton beam therapy machines in India, leaving many cancer patients in a difficult situation.

    What is Proton Beam Therapy?

    • Proton beam therapy is a type of radiation therapy — a treatment that uses high-energy beams to treat tumors.
    • Radiation therapy using X-rays has long been used to treat cancers and noncancerous (benign) tumors.
    • It uses protons rather than x-rays to treat cancer. At high energy, protons can destroy cancer cells.
    • It can also be combined with x-ray radiation therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, and/or immunotherapy.
    • Like x-ray radiation, proton therapy is a type of external-beam radiation therapy.

    How it works?

    proton

    • Fundamentally, all tissue cells are made up of molecules with atoms as their building blocks.
    • In the center of every atom is the nucleus. Orbiting the nucleus of the atom are negatively charged electrons.
    • When energized protons pass near orbiting electrons, the positive charge of the protons attracts the negatively charged electrons, pulling them out of their orbits. This is called ionization.
    • It changes the characteristics of the atom and consequentially the character of the molecule within which the atom resides.
    • Because of ionization, the radiation damages molecules within the cells, especially the DNA.
    • Damaging the DNA destroys specific cell functions, particularly the ability to divide or proliferate.
    • While both normal and cancerous cells go through this repair process, a cancer cell’s ability to repair molecular injury is frequently inferior.
    • As a result, cancer cells sustain more permanent damage and subsequent cell death than occurs in the normal cell population.

    Why in news?

    • There is currently a significant demand-supply gap of proton beam therapy machines in India, with only a few machines available in the country.
    • This has resulted in long wait times for patients who need the treatment, and many patients are forced to travel abroad to access the treatment, which can be prohibitively expensive.

    Various challenges

    • Huge demand: The demand for PBT machines is also increasing, as more and more patients are being diagnosed with cancer and are seeking the latest and most effective treatments available.
    • High cost: One of the major challenges in setting up PBT machines is the high cost involved, as the machines are complex and require a significant investment.
    • Shortage of personnel: In addition, there is a shortage of trained personnel who can operate and maintain the machines, which further limits their availability.

    Way Forward

    • The government and private sector need to invest more in setting up and maintaining the machines. This could include-
    1. Offering tax incentives and subsidies to private healthcare providers who invest in PBT machines
    2. Providing training and education to personnel who can operate and maintain the machines
    3. Setting up more public hospitals that offer proton beam therapy, which would help to make the treatment more accessible and affordable to patients who need it

     

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  • ISRO successful in key test for Chandrayaan-3 Mission

    chandrayaan

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully conducted a crucial test for its upcoming Chandrayaan-3 mission.

    What was the test?

    • The test involved the high-thrust cryogenic engine, which will be used to power the rocket that carries the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.
    • The engine was tested for its endurance and performance under various conditions.

    About Chandrayaan-3 Mission

    • The Chandrayaan-3 mission is the third lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation.
    • The mission follows the successful Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2 missions, which were launched in 2008 and 2019 respectively.
    • The Chandrayaan-3 mission is designed to further explore the Moon’s South Pole region and conduct various scientific experiments, including studying the lunar surface, mineralogy, and the presence of water.

    Significance of the recent test

    • With the successful test of the high-thrust cryogenic engine, ISRO is now one step closer to launching the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
    • The mission is expected to be a significant step forward in India’s space exploration efforts and will further our understanding of the Moon and its potential for future exploration and exploitation.

    Chandrayaan-2: A quick recap

    • Chandrayaan-2 consisted of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover, all equipped with scientific instruments to study the moon.
    • The Orbiter would watch the moon from a 100-km orbit, while the Lander and Rover modules were to be separated to make a soft landing on the moon’s surface.
    • ISRO had named the Lander module as Vikram, after Vikram Sarabhai, the pioneer of India’s space programme, and the Rover module as Pragyaan, which crash-landed.

    Inception of Chandrayaan 3

    • The subsequent failure of the Vikram lander led to the pursuit of another mission to demonstrate the landing capabilities needed for the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission proposed in partnership with Japan for 2024.

    Its design

    • The lander for Chandrayaan-3 will have only four throttle-able engines.
    • Unlike Vikram on Chandrayaan-2 which had five 800N engines with a fifth one being centrally mounted with a fixed thrust.
    • Additionally, the Chandrayaan-3 lander will be equipped with a Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV).

    Back2Basics: Chandrayaan-1 Mission

    • The Chandrayaan-1 mission was launched in October 2008 was ISRO’s first exploratory mission to the moon, in fact to any heavenly body in space.
    • The mission was designed to just orbit around the moon and make observations with the help of the instruments onboard.
    • The closest that the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft came to the moon was in an orbit 100 km from its surface.

     

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  • Windsor Framework: The deal between UK and EU

    windsor

    The ‘Windsor Framework’ will replace the Northern Ireland Protocol, which had proved to be among the thorniest of Brexit fall-outs, creating problems both economic and political.

    You must know!

    England is a country in its own right and forms part of Great Britain, along with Scotland and Wales. Great Britain is a geographical term that refers to the island that contains England, Scotland, and Wales.

    On the other hand, the United Kingdom (UK) is a sovereign state that includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

    Hence, England is a part of Great Britain, and Great Britain is a part of the UK.

    What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?

    • After the UK left the European Union, Northern Ireland remained its only constituent that shared a land border with an EU-member, the Republic of Ireland.
    • Since the EU and the UK have different product standards, border checks would be necessary before goods could move from Northern Ireland to Ireland.
    • However, the two Irelands have had a long history of conflict, with a hard-fought peace secured only in 1998 under the Belfast Agreement, also called the Good Friday agreement.
    • Fiddling with this border was thus considered too dangerous, and it was decided the checks would be conducted between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
    • This was called the Northern Ireland Protocol.

    Why was it contentious?

    • Under the protocol, Northern Ireland remained in the EU single market, and trade-and-customs inspections of goods coming from Great Britain took place at its ports along the Irish Sea.
    • The checks made trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland cumbersome, with food products, especially, losing out on shelf life while they waited for clearance.
    • Some taxation and spending policies of the UK government could not be implemented in Northern Ireland because of EU rules.
    • The sale of medicines, too, was caught between different British and EU rules.

    What does the Windsor Framework proposes?

    • The Windsor Framework Deal proposes two crucial aspects. The first aspect is the introduction of a green lane and red lane system for goods.
    1. The green lane system will be for goods that will stay in Northern Ireland.
    2. The red lane system will be for goods that will go to the EU.
    • The second aspect is the ‘Stormont Brake’.
    1. It allows Northern Ireland lawmakers and London to veto any EU regulation.
    2. The veto is applicable if they believe that the regulation affects the region adversely.

     

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  • [pib] Exercise Cobra Warrior

    IAF contingent comprising to participate in Exercise Cobra Warrior at the Waddington Air Force Base of the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom.

    Exercise Cobra Warrior

    • Cobra Warrior is a multinational military exercise that takes place annually in the United Kingdom.
    • It is designed to improve the readiness and interoperability of the Royal Air Force and allied air forces for joint combat operations.
    • The exercise brings together military units from different countries, including NATO allies and partner nations, to practice and enhance their air combat capabilities.
    • During the exercise, the participating air forces conduct a series of realistic training scenarios that simulate air-to-air combat, air-to-ground attacks, and other mission types.
    • The aim is to provide pilots and ground crews with realistic training experiences to help prepare them for real-world combat situations.

     

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  • Tobacco consumption: Higher Prices Could Be The Effective way

    Tobacco

    Central Idea

    • The share of smokers is declining in India, but smokeless tobacco consumption continues unabated. Smokeless tobacco use is widespread and is a significant public health challenge. The use of smokeless tobacco in India is deeply ingrained in cultural and traditional practices, making it difficult to address through public health interventions.

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    DATA: Tobacco consumption in India

    • High Consumption in north eastern states: In the north-eastern States of India, consumption of tobacco among men in both smokable and chewable forms was higher than the rest of India in 2019-21.
    • Consumption in southern states is relatively low: In the southern States, the share was relatively low with regard to both forms of tobacco consumption. However, among those who smoked, the share of those who consumed more than five sticks a day was much higher in many southern States. So, while smokers were fewer in the south, those who smoked did so heavily.
    • Smokable forms: If only the smokable forms were considered, the share was higher in the northern States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, J&K U.T. and the eastern State of West Bengal.
    • Chewable forms: If only the chewable forms were considered, the share was higher in the east Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha and in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
    • Share of cigarette/bidi smokers is coming down: Overall, in India, the share of cigarette/bidi smokers is coming down. Compared to 2005-06, the share of smokers came down by over 10% points in 2019-21.

    Why is this trend?

    • Increase in prices of smokable forms: According to health economists the reduction in cigarette smoking may be attributed to the increase in the prices of the commodity over time.
    • Price of chewable form have not increased: On the other hand, the prices of bidis and other chewable forms have not increased much, and so consumption too has not reduced much.

    tobacco

    Why price and taxation of tobacco matters?

    • Effective way to reduce consumption: Research from many countries around the world including India shows that a price increase induces people to quit or reduce tobacco use as well as discourages non-users from getting into the habit of tobacco use.
    • For example: a study conducted in India found that a 10% increase in the price of tobacco products led to a 6.4% reduction in tobacco consumption among adults.
    • Higher prices can also discourage young people from taking up smoking: According to the World Health Organization, increasing tobacco prices by 10% can reduce tobacco use among young people by about 4%. This is particularly important as most tobacco users start smoking during adolescence.

    Tobacco consumption: Negative health effects

    • Cancer: Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable cancer. It can cause cancer of the lungs, mouth, throat, larynx, pancreas, bladder, kidney, and cervix.
    • Respiratory diseases: It may cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It can also worsen asthma symptoms.
    • Cardiovascular diseases: Consumption increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases. It damages blood vessels and increases the risk of blood clots.
    • Reproductive health: Tobacco use can lead to infertility, premature birth, and low birth weight in babies.

    Tobacco consumption: Social-Economic Impact

    1. On an individual level:
    • Tobacco consumption can lead to decreased productivity and increased healthcare costs.
    • Smoking-related illnesses can result in absenteeism from work, decreased work performance, and increased medical expenses.
    • In addition, tobacco consumption can lead to decreased life expectancy, which reduces the overall productive years of an individual.
    1. On a societal level:
    • Tobacco consumption can lead to decreased economic development due to the increased burden of healthcare costs and decreased productivity.
    • According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco-related illnesses cost India about $22.4 billion in healthcare costs and lost productivity annually

    tobacco

    Conclusion

    • Tobacco consumption in India has significant socioeconomic and health impacts, particularly on the poor and marginalized sections of the population. Worryingly, after GST implementation, cigarette prices have not increased much. Increasing the price of tobacco products through taxation is a key strategy for reducing tobacco consumption and its associated health and economic costs.

    Mains Question

    Q. Tobacco consumption in India has significant socioeconomic and health impacts? Discuss. Do you think increase in price of tobacco commodities reduces its consumption?

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  • Current Account Deficit (CAD): Desirable and Undesirable Components

    CAD

    Central Idea

    • As per the RBI’s quarterly statistics, the current account deficit (CAD) widened to 4.4 per cent of GDP in the second quarter of 2022-23, down from 2.2 per cent in the preceding quarter. This marks a reversal from an unusual surplus of 0.9 per cent of GDP in 2020-21. In the third quarter of this financial year, while the merchandise trade deficit has widened, the CAD may witness a fall.

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    What is Current Account Deficit (CAD)?

    • Current Account Deficit (CAD) = Trade Deficit + Net Income + Net Transfers
    • A current account is a key component of balance of payments, which is the account of transactions or exchanges made between entities in a country and the rest of the world.
    • This includes a nation’s net trade in products and services, its net earnings on cross border investments including interest and dividends, and its net transfer payments such as remittances and foreign aid.
    • A CAD arises when the value of goods and services imported exceeds the value of exports, while the trade balance refers to the net balance of export and import of goods or merchandise trade.

    Components of Current Account

    1. Trade Deficit
    • Trade Deficit = Imports – Exports
    • A Country is said to have a trade deficit when it imports more goods and services than it exports.
    • Trade deficit is an economic measure of a negative balance of trade in which a country’s imports exceeds its exports.
    • A trade deficit represents an outflow of domestic currency to foreign markets.
    1. Net Income
    • Net Income = Income Earned by MNCs from their investments in India.
    • When foreign investment income exceeds the savings of the country’s residents, then the country has net income deficit.
    • Net income is measured by Payments made to foreigners in the form of dividends of domestic stocks, Interest payments on bonds and Wages paid to foreigners working in the country.
    1. Net Transfers
    • In Net Transfers, foreign residents send back money to their home countries. It also includes government grants to foreigners. It also Includes Remittances, Gifts, Donation etc.

    CAD

    India’s CADs have both desirable and undesirable components

    • Desirable:
    • A desirable deficit is a natural reflection of rising investment, portfolio choices and the demographics of the country.
    • If CADs can be financed by stable capital inflows, such as FDI inflows, they are desirable as they are less prone to capital flight.
    • Stable capital flows are desirable as they allow debtor countries, such as India, to utilize and allocate them into sectors that may yield long-term productive gains and foster higher economic growth.
    • Undesirable:
    • Large and persistent CADs can be undesirable if they reflect bigger problems such as poor export competitiveness and are financed by unstable financing.
    • If deficits are financed by volatile capital flows such as portfolio flows, there may be a cause of concern. Portfolio flows are capricious and more susceptible to reversals in case of any global financial shock.

    The countercyclical nature of India’s CAD: A matter of concern

    • Dominance of external shocks: Research suggests that the country’s CAD rises when output falls rather than when demand rises, indicating the dominance of external shocks.
    • For instance: If oil prices rise, and as oil is an input in the production process, it raises the cost of production and leads to a fall in economic growth. In this case, CADs rise with falling growth due to both the inelasticity of oil import demand as well as its major share in India’s total imports.

    Remarks to be Noted

    • Remittances and services exports have provided a counter-balance to rising merchandise trade deficits.
    • India’s services exports grew at 23.5 per cent in 2021-22.
    • While capital flows are pro-cyclical and react negatively to contractionary monetary policy by the Fed, remittances have exhibited remarkable stability.

    Challenges and a Way ahead

    • The composition of financing is crucial. While FDI inflows were enough to finance the deficit in 2021-22, these inflows have been weak in the current fiscal year.
    • Over the medium term, policymakers need to arrest the negative spillovers from the slowdown in global trade on merchandise exports.
    • Further rate hikes by the US Fed may lead to capital outflows leading to additional exchange rate market pressures. This could be challenging in the current situation as a weaker currency, coupled with a sticky import basket will lead to imported inflation.
    • Policy measures thus must facilitate exports by focusing on structural reforms to improve trade competitiveness, alongside which the government must sign free trade agreements.

    CAD

    Conclusion

    • India is currently facing the twin-deficit problem of high fiscal and CADs. While aggressive fiscal consolidation may be undesirable in the face of rising fears about a global slowdown, a comfortable external environment can be maintained by ensuring stable financing, along with using exchange rates as a shock absorber to weather the adverse global economic situation.

    Mains Question

    Q. Explain the concept of Current account deficit? India’s CAD have both desirable and undesirable components. Discuss.

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  • e-Waste Rules 2022

    e-waste

    Central Idea

    • The burgeoning problem of managing e-waste is a cross cutting and persisting challenge in an era of rapid urbanisation, digitalisation and population growth. In November 2022, the Ministry of Environment and Forests notified a new set of e-waste rules, which will come into force from April 1, 2023. These rules address some of the critical issues but are silent on others.

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    What is e-Waste?

    • e-waste refers to electronic waste, which includes any discarded electronic or electrical device, such as computers, mobile phones, televisions, and refrigerators.
    • These devices contain hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that can pose significant environmental and health risks if not disposed of properly.

    e-Waste

    Key components of e-waste Rules in India

    • Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): The first set of e-waste Rules was notified in 2011 and came into effect in 2012. An important component of the Rules (2011) was the introduction of EPR. Under EPR compliance, producers are responsible for the safe disposal of electronic and electric products once the consumer discards them.
    • Authorization and product stewardship: E-waste rules 2016, which were amended in 2018, were comprehensive and included provisions to promote authorisation and product stewardship. Other categories of stakeholders such Producer Responsibility Organisations (PRO) were also introduced in these rules.
    • A digitalized systems approach, introduced in the new rules (2022): Standardizing the e-waste value chain through a common digital portal may ensure transparency and is crucial to reduce the frequency of paper trading or false trail i.e., a practice of falsely revealing 100% collection on paper while collecting and/or weighing scrap to meet targets

    e-Waste

    e-waste recycling: Analysis

    • Two important stages of efficient e-waste recycling:
    • 1. Component recovery (adequate and efficient recoveries of rare earth metals in order to reduce dependence on virgin resources) and
    • 2. Residual disposal (safe disposal of the leftover residual during e-waste recycling).
    • Concern: The rules briefly touch upon the two aspects, but do not clearly state the requirement for ensuring the recovery tangent.
    • The new notification does away with PRO and dismantlers: All the responsibility of recycling vests on authorised recyclers; they will have to collect a quantity of waste, recycle them and generate digital certificates through the portal.
    • Concern: Fresh challenges might emerge as companies are no longer required to engage with PROs and dismantlers, who partially ensured double verification in terms of quantity and quality of recycling.
    • Lack of recognition to informal sector: The new rules for e-waste management in India do not recognize the crucial role played by the informal sector, which handles 95% of e-waste in the country. This lack of recognition may be due to the sector’s “illegality
    • Concern: This move could further push e-waste handling into the shadows and make it more difficult to monitor and regulate. This could lead to environmental pollution, health hazards for workers, and inefficient e-waste management.

    Impact on Health

    • Incineration and leaching: Open incineration and acid leeching often used by informal workers are directly impacting the environment and posing serious health risks, especially to child and maternal health, fertility, lungs, kidney and overall well-being.
    • Occupational health hazards: In India, many of these unskilled workers who come from vulnerable and marginalised are oblivious to the fact that that what they know as ‘black plastics’ have far reached occupational health hazards especially when incinerated to extract copper and other precious metals for their market value.
    • Exposures to children: This ‘tsunami of e-waste rolling out of the world’, as described in an international forum on chemical treaties, poses several health hazards for women in this sector as they are left exposed to residual toxics elements mostly in their own households and often the presence of children.
    • Constant contact with organic pollutants: According to a recent WHO report, a staggering 18 million children, some as young as five, often work alongside their families at e-waste dumpsites every year in low- and middle-income countries. Heavy metals such as lead, as well as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), like dioxins, and flame retardants (PBDEs) released into the environment, have also added to air, soil, and water pollution

    e-Waste

    Way ahead

    • In order to ensure maximum efficiency, the activities of the recyclers must be recorded in the system.
    • The authorities should periodically trace the quantity of e-waste that went for recycling vis-à-vis the recovery towards the end.
    • Recognising the potential of informal sector in e- waste handling.
    • For instance, ‘Karo Sambhav’, a Delhi-based PRO, has integrated informal aggregators in its collection mechanism. Through this initiative, e-waste is entered in a safe and structured system and the informal sector also has an advantage in terms of financial and legal security.
    • In order to ensure the efficient implementation of the law, stakeholders must have the right information and intent to safely dispose of e-waste.
    • There is need of strengthening reverse logistics, building capacity of stakeholders, improving existing infrastructure, enhancing product designing, rationalising input control and adopting green procurement practices.
    • Provide doorstep collection to consumers.

    Conclusion

    • e-waste recycling and management have become a major environmental challenge in the modern world, as the volume of e-waste generated continues to grow rapidly. Simultaneous efforts needed to increase awareness and improve infrastructure for effective e-waste management. Moreover, robust collection and recycling system and required to meet legislative requirements.

    Mains Question

    Q. What is e- waste? Discuss the set of e-waste rules in India and suggest what needs to be done for effective e- waste management?

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