Iran in the SCO

The case for Iran''s full membership of the SCO has been made for several years. Prior to Iran’s joining, the SCO consisted of eight member countries: China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and the four Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Iran as the newest member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at the virtual summit

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

• Prior to Iran’s joining, the SCO consisted of eight member countries: China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and the four Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
• The grouping came into existence in Shanghai in 2001 with six members, ( No India and Pakistan)
• Its primary objective was to enhance regional cooperation for efforts to curb terrorism, separatism, and extremism in the Central Asian region.
• Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia enjoy Observer status in the SCO, while six other countries — Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka — have Dialogue Partner status.

Iran and the SCO

• The case for Iran’s full membership of the SCO has been made for several years.
• In 2016, the year after Iran signed the nuclear deal (called JCPOA) with Western powers led by the United States.
• However, the US under President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018, and the agreement became ineffective. A year later, the US ended all waivers, curbing Iran’s oil exports.

New study on Delhi’s wastepickers, sweepers, security guards establishes link between air pollution & lung disease

• Pollution has been known to damage the lungs and a new study done on outdoor workers in Delhi who have daily exposure to unclean air showed the extent of the hazard.
• 75 per cent wastepickers, 86 per cent safai karamcharis (municipal sweepers) and 86 per cent security guards studied in Delhi had abnormal pulmonary function, according to the report
• According to the findings of the study. Women participants of all study groups had lower lung function than the males.
• This indicates a correlation between exposure to poor quality air and impaired pulmonary functions.
• Moreover, some of them reported burning wood or waste in the open during winter to keep warm. The smoke from such burning activity can be dangerous for the body.
• The authors consulted health and air pollution experts as well as the participants of the study to propose a raft of recommendations. These included providing these workers with personal protective equipment and teaching how to use them; providing washing facility near work sites and warm kits during winters.
• Air pollution is now the third highest cause of death among all health risks ranking just above smoking in India. This is a combined effect of outdoor particulate matter (PM 2.5), ozone and household air pollution.
  • While exposure to outdoor particulate matter (PM) accounted for a loss of nearly one year and six months in life expectancy, exposure to household air pollution accounted for a loss of nearly one year and two months. Household air pollution contributes about a quarter of the outdoor air pollution in the country.
  • Due to this combined exposure, South Asians, including Indians are dying early. Their life expectancy has reduced by over 2.6 years. This is much higher than the global tally of reduced life expectancy by an average of 20 months.
• Air pollution can harm acutely as well as chronically, potentially affecting every organ in the body.
  • Ultra-fine particles pass through lungs are taken up by cells and carried via the bloodstream to expose virtually all cells in the body. Air pollution may be damaging every organ and virtually every cell in the human body.
  • The research shows each and every body part, from heart and lung disease to diabetes and dementia, and from liver problems, brain, intelligence, abdominal organs, reproduction, and bladder cancer to brittle bones and damages skin.
  • Fertility, foetuses and children are also affected by toxic air.
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are responsible for the 49% of overall deaths due to air pollution, followed by lung cancer deaths (33%), diabetes and ischaemic heart disease (22% each) and stroke at (15%).

Evidence of Health Risk

• This year has seen mounting evidence on the impact of air pollution on public health.
  • According to the State of Global Air 2019 estimates, over 1.2 million Indians died early due to exposure to unsafe air in 2017.
  • Type 2 diabetes: this study has, for the first time, accounted for risks from type 2 diabetes linked to air pollution. This has serious implications for India where type 2 diabetes has taken an epidemic form.
  • Epidemiological studies in Asia, Europe and North America, supported by toxicology research, have provided strong evidence that exposure to ambient and household PM2.5 contributes to type 2 diabetes incidence and mortality.
  • Globally for type 2 diabetes deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), after high blood sugar and excess body weight.
  • Exposure to PM 2.5 pollution has contributed to 276,000 deaths and 15.2 million DALYs from type 2 diabetes in 2017 worldwide.
  • Approximately 80% of Indians breathe air that is worse than the levels recommended by National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the entire population of the country lives in areas with PM2.5 concentrations above the WHO Air Quality Guideline of 10 µg/m3.
  • Premature death: India records the highest premature deaths of children under five years due to toxic air. Over 1 lakh children under the age of five fell victim to air pollution. In 2016, for almost every ten deaths in children under the age of five, one was due to air pollution.

Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY)

• It quantifies the burden of disease from mortality and morbidity.
• DALYs for a disease or health condition are calculated as the sum of the Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to premature mortality in the population and the Years Lost due to Disability (YLD) for people living with the health condition or its consequences.

One Health: FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH launch research agenda for antimicrobial resistance

• The ‘Quadripartite’ — comprising the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) — released the One Health Priority Research Agenda on Antimicrobial Resistance.
• On similar lines, WHO also launched a global research agenda for AMR in human health on June 2023. The agenda prioritises 40 research topics for evidence generation to inform policy and interventions by 2030. It also aims to guide a variety of stakeholders in generating new evidence to address antimicrobial resistance, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
• It defined ‘One Health’ as an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems.
• The concept acknowledges the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the larger environment, including ecosystems, are inextricably linked and interdependent. At this One Health interface, addressing global health issues necessitates a multisectoral, multidisciplinary response to AMR.

Using a mixed-methods approach, global experts identified five key pillars as well as three cross-cutting themes, namely gender, vulnerable populations, and sustainability, as follows:

Transmission

• This pillar focuses on the environment, plant, animal, and human sectors where AMR transmission, circulation and spread occur. This includes what drives this transmission across these areas, where these interactions occur, and the impact on different sectors.

Integrated surveillance

• This pillar aims to identify cross-cutting priority research questions in order to improve common technical understanding and information exchange among One Health stakeholders. The surveillance aims for harmonisation, effectiveness, and implementation of integrated surveillance with a focus on LMICs.

Interventions

• This pillar focuses on programmes, practises, tools, and activities aimed at preventing, containing, or reducing the incidence, prevalence, and spread of AMR. This also calls for the best use of existing vaccines, as well as other One Health-related measures to reduce AMR.

Behavioural insights and change

• The priority research areas under this pillar are concerned with comprehending behaviour across various groups and actors involved in the development and spread of AMR at the One Health interface. It focuses on research addressing human behaviour that affects AMR, including ways to combat it.

Economics and policy

• From a One Health standpoint, this pillar addressed investment and action in AMR prevention and control. This pillar also takes into account the cost-effectiveness of an AMR investment case, financial sustainability, and long-term financial impact.
• This research agenda aims to direct future research in One Health AMR with a focus on low-resource settings. The agenda also emphasises the importance of developing research capacity in LMICs, which will be critical for addressing research gaps and developing evidence.
• The agenda at the regional and national levels requires tailoring and the development of specific research questions.

Soil microbiomes should be included in One Health goals: Study

• One Health approach recommends global strategies to identify and manage the spread of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
• Soil microbiomes play a crucial role in maintaining healthy water and environmental stability. They underpin global food security that eventually affects the overall sustainability of terrestrial life in multiple ways
• These microbiomes provide a habitat for microorganisms that benefit the environment by delivering important ecosystem and host functions. But they also work as a reservoir of human pathogens that induce antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and are sources of organic and inorganic pollutants.
• Soil microbiomes impact human and animal immune systems by interacting with them through food chains. They also directly influence the quality of the environment through air and water.
• Soil, for instance, is a direct source of plant microbiomes, including beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms. Grazing herbivores are exposed to soil microbiomes via direct ingestion or the consumption of plant microbiomes, which provides a microbial source for the gut microbiome that can impact overall health and immune-system priming.
• Organic waste like plant litter and debris such as gravel, sand and others deliver microorganisms back to the soil, thereby closing the microbial loop, the researchers noted. However, any disruption in this can lead to diseases in the host.
• Soil microbiomes also hold reservoirs for crucial microbial hazards of human, plant and animal pathogens. Soil-borne pathogens such as Yersinia pestis, Clostridium botulinum and Bacillus anthracis are present in soil across the globe. They cause hundreds of millions of infections each year via direct or indirect interactions with human, animal and plant food cycles.
• Previous evidence showed that soil microbiomes have assisted in transferring Salmonella enterica serotype type, responsible for typhoid, from soil to plants and eventually to consumable fruits and seeds. Moreover, it found that soil microbiomes are responsible for the development and spread of AMR — one of the biggest threats to global public health.

Microplastics in 90% frogs studied in Bangladesh delta, can threaten biodiversity: Study

• 90 per cent of the frogs sampled from the Bengal delta in Bangladesh had microplastics, report noted.
• Frogs play a vital role in the food web and help in keeping aquatic ecosystems healthy. They also control insects that cause various diseases in humans like mosquitoes of malaria and dengue.
• Toxic chemicals in microplastics cause severe damage and even mortality, according to the authors of the report.
• Personal care products, cosmetics, textile fibres and air blasting media are the primary sources of microplastics in aquatic environments. The secondary sources are tiny plastics that originate over time from larger plastics by chemical and photochemical reactions.
• Another study reported microplastics in the European Common Frog (Rana temporaria) collected from a high-mountain ecosystem (the Cottian Alps in northwest Italy).
• Microplastics were also found in tadpoles of pond-breeding amphibians from Poland and Central Europe and in Yangtze River Delta, China.
• Compared to these studies, microplastics abundance in the frogs of Bengal delta was very high.

Microplastics

Plastic pollution that ends up in the ocean deteriorates and breaks down and ends up as Microplastics. Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5mm in diameter.

• Classification:
  • Primary Microplastics: They are tiny particles designed for commercial use and microfibers shed from clothing and other textiles.
    • E.g. microbeads found in personal care products, plastic pellets and plastic fibres.
  • Secondary Microplastics: They are formed from the breakdown of larger plastics such as water bottles.

Menace of Microplastics

• Marine Debris: According to the IUCN, at least 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans every year and make up about 80% of all marine debris from surface waters to deep-sea sediments.
  • As per UNEP, in the last four decades, concentrations of these particles appear to have increased significantly in the surface waters of the ocean.
• Impact on Marine Life: The most visible and disturbing impacts include suffocation and entanglement of hundreds of marine species.
  • Marine organisms such as fish, crabs and prawns consume these microplastics misidentifying them as food.
• Impact on Humans: Humans consume these marine animals as seafood which leads to several health complications.
  • A study conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature revealed that an average person consumed 5 grams of plastic.
• WHO’s Stand on Microplastics: The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that the level of microplastics in drinking-water is not yet dangerous for humans but called for more research into potential future risk.
  • Microplastics larger than 150 micrometres are not likely to be absorbed by the human body but the chance of absorbing very small microplastic particles, including nano-sized plastics, are higher.

Initiatives Taken

• Global Initiatives:
  • Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML): The GMPL was launched at the Earth Summit in 2012 in response to a request set out in the Manila Declaration.
    • Under the Manila Declaration, 65 signatories reaffirmed their commitment to develop policies to reduce and control wastewater, marine litter and pollution from fertilizers.
  • G7 Summit: At the 2015 G7 summit in Bavaria, Germany, the risks of microplastics were acknowledged in the Leaders’ Declaration.
  • GloLitter Partnerships Project: Launched by the IMO and FAO, it aims to prevent and reduce marine plastic litter from shipping and fisheries.
    • 30 countries including India have joined this global initiative to tackle marine litter.
  • London Convention, 1972: The 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping Wastes and Other Matter was signed to control all sources of marine pollution and prevent pollution of the sea through regulation of dumping into the sea of waste materials.
    • The 1996 Protocol to the London Convention (the London Protocol) and the 1978 Protocol to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) are other similar initiatives.
  • World Environment Day, 2018: It was hosted in India, the world leaders vowed to “Beat Plastic Pollution” & eliminate its use completely.
  • Plastic Pacts: The Plastics Pacts are business-led initiatives to transform the plastics packaging value chain for all formats and products.
    • They bring together everyone from across the plastics value chain to implement practical solutions.
    • The first Plastics Pact was launched in the U.K. in 2018.
• India-Specific Initiatives:
  • Elimination of Single Use Plastic: In 2019, the Prime Minister of India pledged to eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022, with an immediate ban in urban Delhi.
  • Important Rules: Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 state that every local body has to be responsible for setting up infrastructure for segregation, collection, processing, and disposal of plastic waste.
    • Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2018 introduced the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
  • Un-Plastic Collective: Un-Plastic Collective (UPC) is a voluntary initiative launched by the UNEP-India, Confederation of Indian Industry and WWF-India.
    • The Collective seeks to minimise externalities of plastics on the ecological and social health of our planet.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

• EPR is a policy approach under which producers are given a significant responsibility – financial and/or physical – for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products.
• Assigning such responsibility could in principle provide incentives to prevent wastes at the source, promote product design for the environment and support the achievement of public recycling and materials management goals.

We can maximise use of Chabahar Port after Iran''s SCO membership: PM Modi

Chabahar Port

• It is a seaport in the Sistan-Balochistan province of Iran, on the Gulf of Oman, at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.
• Chabahar is a deep-water port with direct access to the Indian Ocean that is outside the Hormuz Strait.
• It is Iran’s only seaport and consists of two separate ports called Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari.
• It''s geographic proximity to countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, as well as its status as a key transit center on the burgeoning International North-South Transport Corridor, gives it the potential to develop into one of the most important commercial hubs in the region.
• Chabahar Project:
  • In May 2016, India signed a tripartite agreement with Iran and Afghanistan to develop the Shahid Beheshti Terminal at Chabahar.
  • It is India''s first foreign port project.
  • The deal agreement aims to establish an International Transport and Transit Corridor in Chabahar.
  • The construction of the Chabahar Port and the construction of a rail line from Chabahar Port to Zahedan are the major highlights of this project.
  • The idea was that the port would enable India to bypass Pakistan and access Afghanistan, and ultimately Central Asia.
  • Moreover, the port could serve as a hub for transit trade between India, Iran, and Afghanistan and provide an alternative route to the traditional Silk Road that passes through China.

International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC):

• INSTC is a multi-modal transportation route linking the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Iran and onward to northern Europe via St. Petersburg in Russia.
• The corridor includes seaports on the Persian Gulf and in the Caspian region, as well as road and rail routes.
• Aim: The main purpose of the corridor was to reduce carriage costs and transit time between India and Russia. The transit time is expected to reduce to almost half, once the corridor becomes fully functional.

India: Happy To Share India''s AI-Based Language Platform With SCO

Bhashini Platform

• Digital India BHASHINI, is India''s Artificial Intelligence (AI)-led language translation platform.
• It seeks to enable easy access to the internet and digital services in Indian languages, including voice-based access, and help the creation of content in Indian languages.
• It aims to make Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (NLP) resources available in the public domain to be used by -- Indian MSMEs, startups and individual innovators.
• This will help developers to offer all Indians easy access to the internet and digital services in their native languages.
• This online platform also has a separate ‘Bhasadaan’ section which allows individuals to contribute to multiple crowdsourcing initiatives, and it is also accessible via respective Android and iOS apps.
• It is aimed to build and develop an ecosystem where various stakeholders like institutions, industry players, research groups, academia and individuals can unite to maintain an ‘ever-evolving repository of data, training and benchmark datasets, open models, tools and technologies.
• The contribution can be done in four ways -- Suno India, Likho India, Bolo India and Dekho India -- where users have to type what they hear or have to validate texts transcribed by others.

Uttar Pradesh: Chambal river to have dolphin sanctuary soon

• A proposal in this regard was recently sent to the state government by the deputy conservator of forest (wildlife) of the National Chambal Sanctuary project.

National Chambal Sanctuary

• National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400 sq. km tri-state protected riverine sanctuary along 425 km length of the Chambal River and ravines.
• Location: It lies at the tri-junction of three states Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• The main focus of the sanctuary is to protect the critically endangered Gharial, Red-crowned roof turtle & endangered Ganges dolphin.
• Chambal supports the largest population of Gharials in the wild.
• It is listed as an important bird area (IBA).
• Topography: The topography is full of ravines, hills & sandy beaches.
• Vegetation: It is part of the Kathiar-Gir dry deciduous forest ecoregion.
• Other Fauna:
  • Other animals which are also in the Threatened category like mugger crocodile, smooth-coated otters, Striped Hyena & Indian wolfs are also found here.
  • Chambal River support 8 out of 26 rare species of turtle family like Indian narrow-headed soft-shell turtle, three- striped roof turtle & crowned river turtle.
  • Mammals are also seen, which include Sambhar deer, Neel Gai (blue bull), Indian gazelle, Rhesus Monkey, Hanuman Langur, Indian grey & small Asian mongoose, Bengal Fox etc.

Chambal River

• It is one of the tributaries of the Yamuna River and the most pollution-free river in India.
• It originates at the Singar Chouri peak on the northern slopes of the Vindhya mountains.
• On its south, east and west, the basin is bounded by the Vindhyan mountain ranges and on the northwest by the Aravallis.
• The Hadauti plateau in Rajasthan occurs in the upper catchment of the Chambal River to the southeast of the Mewar Plains.
• Tributaries: Banas, Kali Sindh, Sipra, Parbati, etc.
• Major Dams on the River: Gandhi Sagar Dam, Rana Pratap Sagar Dam, Jawahar Sagar Dam.

ADB Provides $200 Mn Extra Funding For India''s Ongoing Urban Development Project

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

• It is a multilateral development bank established on 19th December 1966.
• Its primary mission is to "foster economic growth and cooperation" among countries in the Asia-Pacific Region.
• Functions:
  • ADB assists members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development.
  • It also provides financing to certain private sector projects as well as public-private partnerships.
  • The ADB regularly facilitates policy dialogues and provides advisory services.
  • They also useco-financing operations that tap official, commercial, and export credit sources while providing assistance.
• Headquarters: Manila, Philippines.
• Members: From 31 members at its establishment in 1966, ADB has grown to encompass 68 members—of which 49 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside.
• Control:
  • ADB is run by a board of governors, which represents the member countries of the ADB.
  • The ADB was modelled closely on the World Bank and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion to members'' capital subscriptions.
  • As of 2022, ADB''s five largest shareholders are Japan and the United States (each with 15.6% of total shares), the People''s Republic of China (6.4%), India (6.3%), and Australia (5.8%).
• Source of Funding: It relies on member contributions, retained earnings from lending, and the repayment of loans for the funding of the organization.

Water levels at less than half in 75% of reservoirs: CWC data

• Till July 4, around 33% of 717 districts for which data are available received deficient rains, while for another 10%, it was even worse, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD).
• As on June 30, water levels in the reservoirs of 10 states are lower than the normal levels based on their 30-year average.
• The deficiency ranges from 11% to 80% in Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Tripura and Nagaland.
• However, the water level was better than the last 10-year average.

Central Water Commission

• It is a premier Technical Organization of India in the field of Water Resources.
• It is presently functioning as an attached office of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India.
• Functions
  • The Commission is entrusted with the general responsibilities of initiating, coordinating and furthering in consultation of the State Governments concerned, schemes for control, conservation and utilization of water resources throughout the country, for purpose of Flood Control, Irrigation, Navigation, Drinking Water Supply and Water Power Development.
  • It also undertakes the investigations, construction and execution of any such schemes as required.
• It is headed by a Chairman, with the status of Ex-Officio Secretary to the Government of India.
• The work of the Commission is divided among 3 wings namely, Designs and Research (D&R) Wing, River Management (RM) Wing and Water Planning and Projects (WP&P) Wing.
• Each wing is placed under the charge of a full-time Member with the status of Ex-Officio Additional Secretary to the Government of India.

Scotland''s iconic Orkney Islands considering quitting Britain to become part of Norway

Orkney Islands

• It is an archipelago consisting of 70 individual islands, of which only 20 are inhabited.
• The Orkney Islands can be found roughly 10 miles off the north coast of Scotland.
• The islands have been inhabited since prehistoric times and are home to numerous archaeological sites, including Neolithic stone circles, chambered tombs (such as Maeshowe).
• The four monuments that make up the Heart of Neolithic Orkney are unquestionably among the most important Neolithic sites in Western Europe.
• These are the Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness, Maeshowe and Skara Brae.
• Heart of Neolithic Orkney is designated as UNESCO world Heritage site.

Archipelago

• An archipelago is a term used to describe a group or chain of islands that are closely scattered in a body of water, such as a sea, ocean, lake, or river.
• These islands are typically formed through geological processes such as volcanic activity, tectonic movements, or the accumulation of sediment.

India initiates safeguard probe on met coke imports

Metallurgical coke

• It is a carbonaceous material produced by heating bituminous coal in the absence of air.
• It is produced by heating coal in coke ovens at high temperatures (around 1,000 to 1,200 degrees Celsius).
• It is used as a fuel and reducing agent in the production of iron and steel.
• Properties
  • It has an open, porous structure and may appear glassy in some varieties.
  • It has also a low volatile content or rather low waste product content due to the heat treatment process received.
  • It has a high carbon content, low ash content, and high strength.
  • Its porous structure allows for good gas flow and provides structural support in the blast furnace.
• However, the “ash” constituents, that were part of the original bituminous coal feedstock, remain intact in the finished product.
• Met Coke is available in a wide range of sizes; from fine powder (30 mm) to basketball-sized lumps (20 cm).