The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

The NPT was signed in 1968, but it came into force in 1970 after the required number of countries signed and ratified it. It has been signed by 187 countries so far. It has eleven articles. It divides the countries into two categories - nuclear weapon states (NWS), having nuclear weapons (US, UK, China, France, and Russia) and non-nuclear weapon states (NNWS). According to the provisions of the treaty, the NNWS shall not acquire and develop nuclear weapons. The NWS shall not transfer the nuclear technology to the NNWS. However, the NNWS may get the nuclear material and technology for peaceful purposes under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

There is no ban on the vertical proliferation of nuclear weapons by the NWS. Vertical proliferation means the upgradation of nuclear weapons by the NWS. On the other hand, horizontal proliferation means the development of such weapons by the NNWS. Thus, the NPT allows vertical proliferation but bans horizontal proliferation of nuclear weapons and it is considered discriminatory by many countries including India.

Article 6 of the treaty commits the NWS they start and complete negotiations in good faith on nuclear disarmament in exchange for the promise by the NNWS not to acquire weapons. The negotiations so far have not succeeded in achieving the goal of universal disarmament. India, Pakistan, and Israel have not signed the treaty and in 2003 North Korea withdrew from the treaty. Thus, non-proliferation, disarma¬ment, and peaceful use of nuclear energy are considered the three pillars of NPT. The US, Russia, UK, China, and France all may continue to develop their nuclear weapons and thereby undermine the treaty by not living up to their obligations under Article 6. The NPT is valid for a period of 25 years and after that, it shall be reviewed every 5 years. It was reviewed in 1995, 2000, and 2010 and was extended indefinitely in 1995.

The third review conference was held in New York on 3-28 May 2010. The 2010 review conference expressed the re-commitment of nations to the basic principle of NPT. The conference called upon all Middle Eastern states to participate in the proposed weapons of mass destruction-free zone in the Middle East. The Conference decided to put in place specific action plans for the non-proliferation, disarmament, and peaceful use of nuclear energy. There are fears that the NPT regime will fall apart due to combined vertical proliferation in nuclear weapon states and the proliferation of weapons to new states, most recently North Korea.

India, Pakistan, and Israel have not signed the NPT so far. However, North Korea withdrew from the treaty in 2003. India declined to sign this treaty as she considered it as discriminatory.

Saudi Arabia to Send First Woman Astronaut into International Space Station

A Saudi Arabian woman Rayyanah Barnawi will become the first woman astronaut from the country to go on a space mission. In the second quarter of 2023, Barnawi and Saudi male astronaut, Ali Alqarni, will join the crew of the AX-2 space mission. Together, they'll be the second and third Saudi Arabians to fly to space. Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut, will also be on board for her fourth flight to the ISS. Meanwhile, John Shoffner, a Tennessee businessman, will be the pilot.

Rayyana Barnawi will join fellow Saudi astronaut Ali Al-Qarni on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Barnawi and Al-Qarni will fly to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of a mission this spring by the private space company Axiom Space Agency and Axiom. Rayyanah Barnawi is a 33-year-old research laboratory specialist who will be responsible for conducting mission experiments aboard the ISS. Barnawi has nine years of experience in cancer stem research and holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences (ReGD) from New Zealand's Otago University as well as a Master's in Biomedical Sciences from Riyadh's Alfaisal University.

UNESCO Declares Visva-Bharati as the World's First Living Heritage University

Visva-Bharati University, founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1921, may soon get 'heritage' status from UNESCO. Located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, the century-old institution could become the world's first living heritage university. University's vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty said all formalities have been completed, and only the formal meeting remains to be held which will take place either in April or May 2023. Normally, a heritage tag is given to a dead monument. For the first time in the world, a living university that is functioning is going to get the heritage tag from UNESCO.

The university spread across 1,130 acres, was named after Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who was also its founder. When the Visva-Bharati Society was registered as an organisation in 1922, the university began to be known by the same name. Tagore had donated some of his property, including land and a bungalow, to the society.

• Before Independence (in 1947), Visva-Bharati was a college. It was given the status of a Central University in 1951, and Tagore's son Rathindranath was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor (VC). The second VC was Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's grandfather, Kshitimohan Sen.
• According to reports, the Union culture ministry had appealed for a UNESCO heritage site status for Santiniketan 11 years ago, to secure recognition for Tagore's cultural ark in the time leading up to his 150th birth anniversary.
• The Nobel Laureate had settled in Shantiniketan in 1901, because of the ill health of his wife, Mrinalini Devi. It was after this that he founded this institution. Tagore believed in open-air education, a system he introduced to the university and it is still in place.

National Programme for Dairy Development

Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) has been implementing the “National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD)” scheme across the country since February 2014. The scheme has been restructured/ realigned in July 2021 for implementation from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with the following two components:

• Component 'A' of NPDD focuses on creating/strengthening infrastructure for quality milk testing equipment as well as primary chilling facilities for State Cooperative Dairy Federations/ District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union/SHGs/Milk Producer Companies/Farmer Producer Organizations.
• Component 'B' of the NPDD scheme "Dairying through Cooperatives” aims to increase the sale of milk and dairy products by increasing farmer's access to organized markets, upgrading dairy processing facilities and marketing infrastructure, and enhancing the capacity of producer-owned institutions.

As per the 20th Livestock Census (2019), there are 80.83 million farmers household engaged in dairy farming activities (having either cattle or buffalo) and dairy farming contributes for a portion of their daily income.

Climate change impact assessment

Climate change is a cross-cutting issue spanning various Ministries/ Departments and institutions under them. Studies on adverse impacts of climate change is mainly sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Sectoral aspects of climate change are also studied by different Ministries/Departments concerning sectors like agriculture, water resources, human health, power, renewable energy, transport, urban, etc. Further, a large number of universities and government research institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Central and State Universities and their departments also carry out climate change related research.

The Government of India through its various organizations such as Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Geological Survey of India, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), G. B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Central Water Commission, and National Institute of Hydrology has been carrying out regular scientific studies to monitor the changes in Himalayan glaciers. One such study conducted by MoEFCC and ISRO, monitored 2,018 glaciers between years 2000 to 2011, which showed that 87% of the glaciers showed no change, 12% retreated and 1% glaciers have advanced.

Climate change and its impact on glaciers remains a global challenge which requires global efforts and actions. Government of India is committed to protect the glaciers and has made efforts to reduce the impact through several adaptation and mitigation measures. This includes a number of programmes under National Action Plan on Climate Change. Various R&D projects are being supported for studying Himalayan Glaciers under the National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. Several areas in the Himalayan States have also been declared as National Parks or Protected Areas, such as, Gangotri National Park, Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, and Great Himalayan National Park.

There is no established study for India providing a quantified attribution of climate change leading to increased outbreak of floods. While many studies monitor disasters such as floods, drought and heat, the science of attribution of these changes particularly to climate change is far more complex and currently an evolving subject. Most studies so far have relied on mathematical modelling of climate change impacts but these are not empirically verified.

The occurrence of floods can be attributed to various factors, including wide variations in rainfall both in time and space with frequent departures from the normal pattern, inadequate carrying capacities of rivers, river bank erosion and silting of river beds, landslides, poor natural drainage in flood prone areas, snowmelt and glacial lake out-bursts.

President of India to Confer National Geoscience Awards - 2022

The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu conferred the prestigious National Geoscience Awards - 2022 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre, New Delhi on 24th July 2023 in the presence of the Minister of Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi and the Minister of State for Mines, Coal & Railways Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve. The Ministry of Mines confers National Geoscience Awards every year in three categories:

• National Geoscience Award for Life Time Achievement,
• National Young Geoscientist Award
• National Geoscience Award in various fields of geosciences.

Instituted in 1966, the National Geoscience Awards (NGA) is a symbol of recognition and appreciation for exceptional individuals and organizations that have demonstrated excellence, dedication and innovation in the realm of Geosciences. The awards are presented in the field of Mineral Discovery and Exploration, Basic Geosciences, Applied Geosciences and Mining, Mineral Beneficiation and Sustainable Mineral Development.

This year for NGA 2022, 168 nominations were received under different award categories and examined through a three-stage screening process. Nominees for 10 National Geoscience Awards under different categories, which include one National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement, eight National Geoscience Awards under different fields and one National Young Geoscientist Awards have been selected. These 10 NGA awards will be presented to 22 Geoscientists by the President of India.

The National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement will be conferred upon Dr. Om Narain Bhargava, well known for his pioneering work in the Himalayas spanning over the last four decades. The National Young Geoscientist Award will be presented to Dr. Amiya Kumar Samal, Assistant Professor of Banaras Hindu University who has made a significant contribution in understanding the variation of Sub-Continental Lithospheric Mantle (SCLM) below different Archean cratons of the Indian shield.

e-Waste Management in India

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) estimates the e-waste generation at the national level based on the countrywide sales data provided by producers, and the average life of notified electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), as mandated under the E-waste Management Rules, 2016. As per the information available with CPCB, e-waste generated in the country from twenty-one (21) types of EEE notified under the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 in the financial year (FY) 2020-21 and 2021-22 was estimated as 13,46,496.31 Tonnes and 16,01,155.36 tonnes respectively, which is not substantial as compared to other major economies of the world.

Ministry has comprehensively revised the previous set of Rules and notified the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022 in November 2022 and the same is enforce since 1st April, 2023. These new rules intend to manage e-waste in an environmentally sound manner and put in place an improved Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regime for e-waste recycling wherein all the manufacturers, producers, refurbishers, and recyclers are required to register on the portal developed by CPCB. The new provisions would facilitate and channelize the informal sector to the formal sector for doing business and ensure the recycling of E-waste in an environmentally sound manner. Provisions for environmental compensation and verification & audit have also been introduced. These rules also promote Circular Economy through the EPR regime and scientific recycling/disposal of e-waste.

An Action Plan for enforcement of E-Waste (Management) Rules, across the country is in place and is being implemented by all the States/UTs and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committees (PCCs). An e-waste Management review portal has also been developed for uploading the status and progress of the e-waste action plan. The quantity of e-waste collected and processed during FY 2021-22 is 5,27,131.57 Tonnes.