EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
29th July 2021
INTERNATIONAL TIGER DAY
Recently, at the virtual meeting celebrating International Tiger Day (29th July), Prime Minister of India reiterated India’s commitment to ensuring safe habitats for its tigers and nurturing tiger-friendly eco systems.
- 14 Tiger Reserves in India received the accreditation of the Global Conservation Assured|Tiger Standards (CAITS).
Key Points
- Conservation Status of Tiger:
- Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)Red List:
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): Appendix I.
- Significance of Tiger Conservation:
- Tiger conservation is a symbol of conservation of forests.
- The tiger is a unique animal which plays a pivotal role in the health and diversity of an ecosystem.
- It is a top predator which is at the apex of the food chain and keeps the population of wild ungulates (primarily large mammals) in check.
- Thus, Tiger helps in maintaining the balance between prey herbivores and the vegetation upon which they feed.
- Therefore, Tiger Conservation is not just about saving a beautiful animal.
- It is about making sure that we live a little longer as the forests are known to provide ecological services like clean air, water, pollination, temperature regulation etc.
- Further, the significance of Tiger conservation can be reflected by the Status of Leopards, Co-predators and Megaherbivores-2018’ report.
- According to the report, the overall leopard population in the tiger range landscape of India in 2018 was estimated at 12,852.
- This is a significant increase from the 2014 figure that was 7,910 in forested habitats of 18 tiger bearing states of the country.
- The report is a testimony to the fact that conservation of tigers leads to the conservation of the entire ecosystem
Tiger Conservation Projects in India:
- Project Tiger 1973: Project Tiger is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched in 1973. It provides havens for tigers in the country’s national parks.
- National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA): It is a statutory body under the MoEFCC and was established in 2005 following the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force.
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- India’s Tiger Conservation Status:
- India is home to over 70% of the tiger population globally.
- India is home to 51 tiger reserves spread across 18 states and the last tiger census of 2018 showed a rise in the tiger population.
- India achieved the target of doubling the tiger population four years ahead of schedule (2022)of the Petersburg Declaration on tiger conservation.
India’s strategy of tiger conservation attaches topmost importance toinvolving local communities.
Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS):
- CA|TShas been agreed upon as an accreditation tool by the global coalition of Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) and has been developed by tiger and protected area experts.
- There are currently 13 tiger range countries -India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
- CA|TS is a set of criteria which allows tiger sites to check if their management will lead to successful tiger conservation.
- It was officially launched in 2013.
- The Global Tiger Forum (GTF),an international NGO working on tiger conservation, and World Wildlife Fund India are the two implementing partners of the National Tiger Conservation Authority for CATS assessment in India.
- 14 Tiger Reserves which have been accredited are:
- Manas, Kaziranga and Orang Tiger Reserve in Assam,
- Satpura, Kanha and Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh,
- Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra,
- Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar,
- Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh,
- Sunderbans Tiger Reserve in West Bengal,
- Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala,
- Bandipur Tiger Reserve of Karnataka
- Mudumalai and Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu.
LANDMARK DECISION TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT OF INDIA IN MEDICAL EDUCATION
27% reservation for OBCs and 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in All India Quota (AIQ) Scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical / dental courses (MBBS / MD / MS / Diploma / BDS / MDS) from current academic year 2021-22 onwards
Under the visionary guidance of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken a historic and a landmark decision for providing 27% reservation for OBCs and 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in the All India Quota (AIQ) Scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical / dental courses (MBBS / MD / MS / Diploma / BDS / MDS) from the current academic year 2021-22 onwards. Prime Minister in a meeting held on 26th July (Monday), 2021 had directed the concerned Union Ministries to facilitate an effective solution to this long pending issue.
This decision would benefit every year nearly 1500 OBC students in MBBS and 2500 OBC students in post graduation and also around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1000 EWS students in post graduation. The All India Quota (AIQ) Scheme was introduced in 1986 under the directions of the Honble Supreme Court to provide for domicile-free merit based opportunities to students from any State to aspire to study in a good medical college located in another State. All India Quota consists of 15% of total available UG seats and 50% of total available PG seats in government medical colleges.
Initially, there was no reservation in AIQ Scheme up to 2007. In 2007, the Hon’ble Supreme Court introduced reservation of 15% for SCs and 7.5% for STs in the AIQ Scheme. When the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act became effective in 2007 providing for uniform 27% reservation to OBCs, the same was implemented in all the Central Educational Institutions viz. Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Harding Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University etc. However, this was not extended to the AIQ seats of State medical and dental colleges.
The present Government is committed to providing due reservation both to the backward category as well as the EWS category. The Union Government has now taken a historic decision to provide for 27% reservation for OBCs and 10% reservation for EWS in the AIQ Scheme. The OBC students from across the country shall now be able to take benefit of this reservation in AIQ Scheme to compete for seats in any State. Being a Central Scheme, the Central List of OBCs shall be used for this reservation. Around 1500 OBC students in MBBS and 2500 in post graduation will be benefitted through this reservation.
In order to provide benefit to students belonging to EWS category in admission to higher educational Institutions, a Constitutional amendment was made in 2019 which enabled the provision of 10% reservation for EWS category. Accordingly, seats in medical / dental colleges were increased over two years in 2019-20 and 2020-21 to accommodate this additional 10% EWS reservation so that the total number of seats available for unreserved category do not reduce. In the AIQ seats, however, this benefit had not been extended so far.
Therefore, along with the 27% reservation for OBCs, 10% reservation for EWS is also being extended in AIQ seats for all the undergraduate / postgraduate medical/dental courses from the current academic year 2021-22. This will benefit every year around more than 550 EWS students for MBBS and around 1000 EWS students for PG medical courses.
The above decision is the reflection of the Government’s commitment to provide due reservation for backward and EWS category students. This decision is also in sync with the significant reforms carried out in the field of medical education since 2014. During the last six years, MBBS Seats in the country have increased by 56% from 54,348 seats in 2014 to 84,649 seats in 2020 and the number of PG seats have increased by 80% from 30,191seats in 2014 to 54,275 seats in 2020. During the same period, 179 new medical colleges have been established and now the country has 558 (Govt: 289, Pvt: 269) medical colleges.
WATER LEVEL AND QUALITY OF RIVERS
According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mumbai residents need not buy reverse osmosis (RO) water purifiers as samples of tap water collected from the Mumbai are compliant with the Indian standards for drinking water.
However, other metro cities of Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai failed in almost 10 out of 11 quality parameters tested by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Similar is the condition in the majority of other state capitals.
Nature of Water Crisis
- According to NITI Aayog's Composite Water Management Index 2018, 21 major cities (Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and others) are racing to reach zero groundwater levels by 2020, affecting access for 100 million people.
- India ranks 120 among 122 countries on the Water Quality Index released by WaterAid.
- The national capital region of India is facing a double whammy, not only it harbours poor standards of air (air emergency) but poor water quality also.
Input:
- According to the data released by the World Resources Institute, India is ranked 13th among the 17 most water-stressed countries of the world.
- According to the Ministry of Urban Development, 80% of India's surface water is polluted.
- This signifies India is going through Water emergency.
Causes of Poor Drinking Water Quality
- In the name of water purification, most of the times water is chlorinated.
- Chlorination only kills bacteria & other microorganisms but dissolved salts, alkalinity, toxic metals in water can't be eliminated by chlorination.
- The pipes which carry the water, are old and leaking. This leakages in pipes lead to contamination of water.
- Moreover, the water supply line & sewerage line running side by side.
- In metropolitan cities, the demand for water is higher than the supply. Therefore, this deficit in the water supply is compensated by the mixing of surface water & groundwater.
- However, groundwater is severely contaminated by carcinogenic pollutants like Arsenic.
- Water is a state subject. This lead to the problem of coordination between Union, State and Local government.
- Rapid urbanization has led the unequal distribution of water, contamination/ depletion of local water bodies due to pollution.
- Sometimes the places from where water samples are collected, may not reflect the true state of water quality.
- Effects of Poor Drinking Water
- Harmful health impacts: Nearly 70% of the diseases in India are waterborne. Therefore, poor water quality is a great health hazard.
Economic cost: Poor drinking water will lead to a reduction in tourist inflow.
Domino effect: Result of poor drinking water is the prime reason for the sale of plastic bottled drinking water. However, this bottled water gives rise to plastic pollution.
Wasting resources: RO is expensive and for 1 litre of RO or bottled water, many litres of water wasted.
Also, the RO water is deprived of essential minerals and salts.
Social effect: With the given condition of the water crisis, it is less likely to fulfil the target of providing everyone with safe drinking water (Sustainable Development Goal number 6).
Road Ahead:
- Data based support system: Water quality should be tested frequently and the findings should be made public.
- This will increase involvement, sensitization & awareness of citizens, service providers and the government.
- Mandatory compliance: Compliance to Bureau of Indian Standards for water quality should be made mandatory for local bodies.
- This can make municipalities and other local bodies accountable.
- Pricing for water: Water can be priced for well-off sections of society so that proper maintenance cost should be recovered.
- Better management: Long-distance pipelines of water should be discouraged and water treatment should be made more localized.
- Also, efforts should be made to find out the sites of continuation in the supply line.
- Technological solution: Up-gradation of the water treatment plant to remove toxic inorganic pollutants and dissolved solids.
- Rainwater harvesting: The reason why Mumbai's water is relatively safer because it is sourced from rainwater (the purest source of water).
- Therefore, rainwater harvesting should be encouraged to the maximum extent possible.
Next step for Jal Jeevan mission: The government's effort to provide piped water to all rural households by 2024 under the Jal Jeevan mission, is a step in the right direction. However, providing quality piped water will be a big challenge.
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