Current Affair 1:

Smart Cities Mission

 

Smart Cities Mission was launched by the Hon’ Prime Minister on 25 June, 2015.

The main objective of the Mission is

1. to promote cities that provide core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and give a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’.
2. The Mission aims to drive economic growth and improve quality of life through comprehensive work on social, economic, physical and institutional pillars of the city.
3. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development by creation of replicable models which act as lighthouses to other aspiring cities.

100 cities have been selected to be developed as Smart Cities through a two-stage competition.

Funding:

The Mission is operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Central Government will give financial support to the extent of Rs. 48,000 crores over 5 years i.e., on an average Rs.100 crore per city per year.  An equal amount on a matching basis is to be provided by the State/ULB.  Additional resources are to be raised through convergence, from ULBs’ own funds, grants under Finance Commission, innovative finance mechanisms such as Municipal Bonds, other government programs and borrowings.

Emphasis has been given on the participation of private sector through Public Private Partnerships (PPP).

There is no standard definition or template of a smart city.  In the context of our country, the six fundamental principles on which the concept of Smart Cities is based are:

Implementation:

The implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose. The SPV. will plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects. Each Smart City will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees of Central Government, State Government and ULB on its Board.

Strategy

Area-based development will transform existing areas (retrofit and redevelop), including slums, into better planned ones, thereby improving liveability of the whole City. New areas (greenfield) will be developed around cities in order to accommodate the expanding population in urban areas.

Retrofitting will introduce planning in an existing built-up area to achieve Smart City objectives, along with other objectives, to make the existing area more efficient and liveable.

Redevelopment will affect a replacement of the existing built-up environment and enable co-creation of a new layout with enhanced infrastructure using mixed land use and increased density.

Greenfield development will introduce most of the Smart Solutions in a previously vacant area (more than 250 acres) using innovative planning, plan financing and plan implementation tools (e.g., land pooling/ land reconstitution) with provision for affordable housing, especially for the poor. Greenfield developments are required around cities in order to address the needs of the expanding population. One well known example is the GIFT City in Gujarat.

Current Affair 2:

Fundamental Duties Statutes

 

Basics.

It was by the 42nd amendment in 1976 that the 'Fundamental Duties' part was incorporated in our Constitution. The concept of fundamental duties was taken from the 1936 USSR Constitution, following the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee.

The new Part IV-A consisted of a single Article i.e., 51-A and laid down ten fundamental duties for citizens. Later, by the 86th Constitutional amendment of 2002, an eleventh duty was added.

Now,

As already mentioned, the constitution itself does not prescribe a legal sanction against the breach or the non-performance of a Fundamental Duty in Part IV-A of the constitution. It doesn't even ask the state to make laws in conformity of the fundamental duties.

Under the Constitution, neither is there a provision that enforces fundamental duties nor is there any specific prohibition to their enforcement. Nevertheless, the legislature has incorporated some fundamental duties in certain statutes. These statutes lay down frameworks for enforcement of duties and set sanctions in the event of a failure to adhere with the prescription of the law.

A table of some fundamental duties which are backed by statutory frameworks is given here under:

 

 

Current Affair 3:

Protecting Peatlands

 

While peatlands cover only three per cent of the global land surface, they store nearly 550 billion tonnes of carbon – as much carbon as is contained in all terrestrial biomass and twice as much as in all the world’s forests. By conserving and restoring peatlands globally, we can reduce emissions and revive an essential natural carbon sink.

But the world's peatlands are under increased threat from drainage for agriculture, forestry, resource extraction and infrastructure development.

Urgent action must be taken to keep the carbon locked in peatlands where it is – wet, and in the ground. Drained peatlands must also be rewet to halt the ongoing, significant emissions.

About the Global Peatlands Initiative:

The Global Peatlands Initiative is an effort by leading experts and institutions formed by 13 founding members at the UNFCCC COP in Marrakech, Morocco in 2016 to save peatlands as the world’s largest terrestrial organic carbon stock and to prevent it being emitted into the atmosphere.

INDIA IS NOT A FOUNDING MEMBER.

WHAT IS PEAT AND WHERE IS IT FOUND?

Peat is partially decayed plant material that accumulates under water-logged conditions over long time periods. Natural areas covered by peat are called peatlands.

Peat is found around the world – in permafrost regions towards the poles and at high altitudes, in coastal areas, beneath tropical rainforest and in boreal forests.

Peatlands store large amounts of carbon. Although they cover less than three per cent of global land surface, estimates suggest that peatlands contain twice as much as in the world’s forests.

Some more images:

One more thing, if see definition of wetlands under Wetlands Conservation Management Rules 2017: It includes peatlands.

Current Affair 4:

Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

 

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent, bio accumulative pollutants found in water resources at concentrations harmful to human health. PFAS have been referred to as “forever chemicals” because of their resistance to most biological and chemical degradation mechanisms.

How do PFAS get from everyday products into water, soil and eventually humans?

There are two main exposure pathways for PFAS to get into humans — drinking water and food consumption.

PFAS can get into soil through land application of biosolids, that is, sludge from wastewater treatment, and can they leach out from landfills. If contaminated biosolids are applied to farm fields as fertilizer, PFAS can get into water and into crops and vegetables.

For example, livestock can consume PFAS through the crops they eat and water they drink. There have been cases reported in Michigan, Maine and New Mexico of elevated levels of PFAS in beef and in dairy cows. How big the potential risk is to humans is still largely unknown.

The problem is that these chemicals are everywhere, and there is no natural process in water or soil that breaks them down. Many consumer products are loaded with PFAS, including makeup, dental floss, guitar strings and ski wax.

How are remediation projects removing PFAS contamination now?

Methods exist for filtering them out of water. The chemicals will stick to activated carbon, for example. But these methods are expensive for large-scale projects, and you still have to get rid of the chemicals.

For example, near a former military base near Sacramento, California, there is a huge activated carbon tank that takes in about 1,500 gallons of contaminated groundwater per minute, filters it and then pumps it underground. That remediation project has cost over $3 million, but it prevents PFAS from moving into drinking water the community uses.

What are the most promising methods scientists have found for breaking down PFAS?

The most common method of destroying PFAS is incineration, but most PFAS are remarkably resistant to being burned. That’s why they’re in firefighting foams.

PFAS have multiple fluorine atoms attached to a carbon atom, and the bond between carbon and fluorine is one of the strongest. Normally to burn something, you have to break the bond, but fluorine resists breaking off from carbon.

Most PFAS will break down completely at incineration temperatures around 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,730 degrees Fahrenheit), but it’s energy intensive and suitable incinerators are scarce.

There are several other experimental techniques that are promising but haven’t been scaled up to treat large amounts of the chemicals.

 

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