25 July 2023

• Environment: India generates approximately 1,33,760 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste per day; microplastic pollution is embedded in this management crisis.
• Health: The "Geneva Patient" became the sixth documented case of an HIV cure, this time through a stem cell transplant using donor cells with a rare CCR5 delta 32 mutation.
• Agriculture: The National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) was updated to cover new hazards, including landslides and urban flooding, with state-level implementation guidelines.
• Defence: Vietnam received INS Kirpan, a corvette transferred by India under the defence cooperation framework.
• Finance: SEBI announced T+0 settlement (same-day settlement) as an optional facility in Indian stock markets.

GS area: Environment

India generates approximately 1,33,760 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste per day. A significant portion is plastic waste that breaks down into microplastics over time, entering water bodies, soil, and food chains.

• What microplastics are: Plastic particles smaller than 5 millimetres in diameter. They arise from fragmentation of larger plastic items, industrial pellets (nurdles), or synthetic fibres in clothing.
• Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016 (amended 2022): Prohibit single-use plastics below specified thickness. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) provisions require producers, importers, and brand owners to collect and recycle plastic waste equivalent to their annual production.
• Single-use plastic ban (July 2022): India banned 19 categories of single-use plastic items, including straws, cutlery, and stirrers, with effect from 1 July 2022.
• Health pathways: Microplastics enter humans through contaminated seafood, drinking water, and inhaled air. Several studies have found microplastics in human blood, lungs, and placental tissue.
• Data gap: There is no comprehensive national survey of microplastic load in Indian river systems. The Ganga, given its industrial discharge and plastic use in the Gangetic Plain, is the primary concern.

Static linkage: Pollution, environment law, solid waste management.

GS area: Economy, Agriculture, Governance

The government launched WINDS (Weather Information Network Data Systems), a portal integrating weather station data to support the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

• PMFBY overview: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana provides financial support to farmers suffering crop loss due to natural calamities. Launched 2016. Premium is subsidised: farmers pay 2 per cent for kharif, 1.5 per cent for rabi, and 5 per cent for horticultural crops.
• WINDS: Aggregates data from automatic weather stations and rain gauges across the country. The data feeds into crop loss models and triggers automatic, faster claim settlement.
• AIDE app: Agricultural Insurance Data Exchange, a mobile application for frontline officials to capture crop damage data in the field.
• YES-TECH: Yield Estimation System based on Technology. Uses satellite imagery, weather data, and IoT sensors to estimate yield, reducing dependence on manual crop-cutting experiments.
• Coverage issue: Despite subsidised premiums, PMFBY enrolment has declined because farmers found claims poorly settled and the process opaque. The digital tools above aim to address this.

Static linkage: Agriculture, insurance, crop loss management.

GS area: Science and Technology, Health

A 53-year-old man living in Geneva, designated the "Geneva Patient," became the sixth known case of a person achieving long-term HIV remission or functional cure.

• Mechanism: The Geneva Patient received a stem cell transplant from a donor who carries the CCR5 delta 32 mutation, a rare genetic variant that prevents HIV from entering immune cells. The donor's immune cells essentially "replaced" the patient's HIV-susceptible cells.
• CCR5: The co-receptor on CD4+ T cells that most strains of HIV use to enter and infect the cell. Individuals with two copies of the CCR5 delta 32 mutation (homozygous) are highly resistant to HIV.
• Previous cases: The Berlin Patient (Timothy Ray Brown, 2011), the London Patient, the City of Hope Patient, the Dusseldorf Patient, and the New York Patient. Each received stem cell transplants for cancer treatment from CCR5 delta 32 donors.
• Why this is not a mass solution: Stem cell transplants are high-risk procedures primarily used to treat leukaemia and lymphoma. The procedure would be too dangerous and expensive as a routine HIV treatment. Gene-editing approaches (CRISPR-based CCR5 deletion) are being researched as a scalable alternative.

Static linkage: HIV/AIDS, biotechnology, health.

GS area: Defence, International Relations

India formally transferred INS Kirpan, a corvette of the Khukri class, to the Vietnam People's Navy.

• INS Kirpan: A missile corvette originally commissioned in 1991. Transferred under India's defence export and gifting framework to strengthen bilateral ties with Vietnam.
• Strategic significance: Vietnam is a South China Sea claimant with ongoing maritime disputes with China. India's transfer of a naval vessel to Vietnam signals support for freedom of navigation and rule-based maritime order in the Indo-Pacific.
• India's defence exports: India has been actively promoting defence exports as part of its Atmanirbhar Bharat defence initiative, with a target of 35,000 crore rupees in exports by 2025.
• India-Vietnam partnership: Vietnam was one of the first countries to which India gave a Line of Credit for defence equipment acquisition. The corvette transfer builds on a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Static linkage: India-Vietnam relations, India's defence exports, Indo-Pacific.

GS area: Economy, Financial Markets

SEBI announced that T+0 (same-day) settlement would be available as an optional, beta facility in Indian stock markets, allowing buyers and sellers to receive shares and money on the same trading day.

• Current standard: India moved to T+1 (settlement by the next working day) for all listed equities in 2023, having been on T+2 before. T+0 is a further acceleration.
• Benefits: Faster settlement reduces counterparty risk (the risk that one party fails to deliver before the other has received). It also frees up capital faster.
• Challenges: T+0 requires real-time pre-funding of trades, which is operationally demanding for foreign portfolio investors who operate across time zones.
• Ludwigia peruviana: An invasive aquatic plant from South America reported to be spreading rapidly in Tamil Nadu's water bodies. Listed among 22 priority invasive plants identified by Tamil Nadu state for management. Invasive species crowd out native vegetation and disrupt aquatic ecosystems.

Static linkage: Financial markets, SEBI, capital markets.

• National Disaster Management Plan update: The NDMP revision covers landslides, urban floods, and heatwaves as distinct hazard categories, incorporating the National Action Plan on Climate Change and state climate action plans.
• Ludwigia peruviana: An invasive floating aquatic plant, native to South America, spreading through Tamil Nadu's reservoirs and waterways. Tamil Nadu published a list of 22 priority invasive plant species for control. Invasive species management is part of India's National Biodiversity Strategy.
• Rabi crop sowing: The 2023 Rabi season began under conditions of above-normal southwest monsoon, giving favourable soil moisture for wheat and mustard sowing in November.
• Subramaniam Bharat: One of the last national poets writing in the classical Tamil tradition; celebrated during the Tamil cultural calendar. Not to be confused with Bharathidasan or Bharathi in MCQs.