Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 February 2022

::NATIONAL::

The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) has notified guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic packaging.

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With an aim to eliminate single-use plastics and promote alternatives, The ministry has also laid down roles and responsibilities of producers, importers, brands generating plastic packaging waste, central and state pollution control boards, recyclers and waste processors in minimising plastic waste.
The guidelines not only provide a framework to strengthen the circular economy of plastic packaging waste, but also promote development of new alternatives to plastics.
According to the new rules, plastics have been classified into four categories —

category one will include rigid plastic packaging;
category two will include flexible plastic packaging of single layer or multilayer (more than one layer with different types of plastic), plastic sheets and covers made of plastic sheet, carry bags, plastic sachet or pouches.
Category three will include multi-layered plastic packaging (at least one layer of plastic and at least one layer of material other than plastic)
while plastic sheet or like used for packaging as well as carry bags made of compostable plastics will fall under category four.

Specifications for reuse, recycling, use of recycled plastic content, and end-of-life disposal of non-recyclable plastic packaging also featured in the EPR.
The rules cast EPR on producers, importers, and brand-owners. “Extended Producer Responsibility shall be applicable to both pre-consumer and post-consumer plastic packaging waste.
Circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible.

The Ministry of Education has approved the scheme of RashtriyaUchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) for continuation till 2026.

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Launched in 2013, RUSA is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), for funding the state government universities and colleges to achieve the aims of equity, access and excellence
It seeks to provide strategic funding to eligible state higher educational institutions.
Under the new phase, RUSA aims to reach out to unserved, underserved areas; remote and rural areas; LWE (left-wing extremism) areas; aspirational districts, tier-2 cities, etc.
The new Phase is designed to implement some of the recommendations of National EducationPolicy 2020.
It will support state governments for gender inclusion, equity initiatives, ICT, enhancing employability through vocationalisation and skill upgradation.

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) inked a trade pact, Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
CEPA is expected to increase bilateral trade from the current level of $60 billion to $100 billion in the next five years.

Significance Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement:

It reduces tariffs for 80% of goods and zero duty access to 90% of India’s exports to UAE.
To generate employment about 10 lakh jobs across multiple labour-intensive sectors.
Automatic registration and market authorization for Indian medicines in case of their regulatory approval in developed countries like US, UK etc.
To help Indian exporters gain access to West Asian countries, Africa etc. through UAE.

India UAE relations:

UAE is India’s third largest trading partner(2019-20) after China and US and third largest export destination.
The maritime cooperation to maintain peace and security in the region through regular military exercises like Desert Eagle.
UAE has the highest number of Indian diaspora (3.5 million) and its contributing high remittances to India ($17.06 billion in 2019).

According to a report, NASA stated that the Tonga volcano eruption in the Pacific in January that blasted into the atmosphere was the tallest ash plume ever observed by satellites.
The plums from the recently volcanic eruption inTonga has reached to mesosphere.

Tonga Volcano:

It lies along Pacific Ring of fire’, and is just over 60 kilometres from island nation of Tonga.
The Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ or Pacific rim, or the Circum-Pacific Belt, is an area along the Pacific Ocean that is characterised by active volcanoes and frequent.
Along the Ring of Fire, tectonic plates move towards each other creating subduction zones. Along this subduction, rocks melt, become magma and move to Earth’s surface and cause volcanic activity.
In case ofTonga, Pacific Plate was pushed down below the Indo-AustralianPlate and Tonga plate.

Effects from Volcano eruption:

Volcanic ash/dust/aerosols released into the atmosphere during an eruption shade sunlight and cause temporary cooling.
It release large amounts of greenhouse gases such as water vapor and carbon dioxide increasing the warming effect.
May cause significant alternation in local weather condition like intense thunderstorm etc.
The eruption also triggered a devastating tsunami that swept overTonga.

A water taxi service was launched in Mumbai to provide smooth connectivity and boost tourism in India’s financial capital.

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The service will connect the twin cities of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai for the first time.
It will commence from the Domestic Cruise Terminal (DCT) and will also connect nearby locations at Nerul, Belapur, Elephanta island and JNPT.
The water taxi will ply between Domestic Cruise Terminal in South Mumbai and the newly inaugurated Belapur Jetty in Navi Mumbai.

Benefits:

Recently, immunosensor for the rapid, sensitive detection of the Non-Structural 1 (NS1) secretory protein, a potential diagnostic biomarker for Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) was developed.

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Biomarker (short for biological marker) is an objective measure that captures what is happening in a cell or an organism at a given moment.
JEV belongs to the family Flaviviridae. It is the leading cause of mosquito-borne encephalitis and is often misdiagnosed as Dengue.
There is no cure available for JEV. Thus, early detection is essential to mitigate a breakout.