Daily Current Affairs 18 March 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which seeks to amend the MTP Act, 1971, was passed by a voice vote after a debate that lasted two-and-a-half hours. Though Opposition members had moved amendments, they were defeated
The Lok Sabha extends the upper limit for permitting abortions from 20 weeks to 24 under special circumstances.
The “special categories of women” include rape survivors, victims of incest, the differently-abled and minors, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said moving the Bill

About the Bill

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan on March 2, 2020. The Bill amends the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 which provides for the termination of certain pregnancies by registered medical practitioners. The Bill adds the definition of termination of pregnancy to mean a procedure undertaken to terminate a pregnancy by using medical or surgical methods.
Termination of pregnancy: Under the Act, a pregnancy may be terminated within 12 weeks, if a registered medical practitioner thinks that: (i) continuation of the pregnancy may risk the life of the mother, or cause grave injury to her health, or (ii) there is a substantial risk that the child is born, would suffer physical or mental abnormalities. For termination of pregnancy between 12 to 20 weeks, two medical practitioners are required to give their opinion.
The Bill amends this provision to state that a pregnancy may be terminated within 20 weeks, with the opinion of a registered medical practitioner. Approval of two registered medical practitioners will be required for termination of pregnancies between 20 to 24 weeks. The termination of pregnancies up to 24 weeks will only apply to specific categories of women, as may be prescribed by the central government. Further, the central government will notify the norms for the medical practitioner whose opinion is required for termination of the pregnancy.
Under the Act, if any pregnancy occurs as a result of the failure of any device or method used by a married woman or her husband to limit the number of children, such unwanted pregnancy may constitute a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman. The Bill amends this provision to replace ‘married woman or her husband’ with ‘woman or her partner’.
Constitution of a Medical Board: The Bill states that the upper limit of termination of pregnancy will not apply in cases where such termination is necessary due to the diagnosis of substantial fetal abnormalities. These abnormalities will be diagnosed by a Medical Board. Under the Bill, every state government is required to constitute a Medical Board. These Medical Boards will consist of the following members: (i) a gynecologist, (ii) a pediatrician, (iii) a radiologist or sonologist, and (iv) any other number of members, as may be notified by the state government. Note that, the central government will notify the powers and functions of these Medical Boards.
Protection of privacy of a woman: The Bill states that no registered medical practitioner will be allowed to reveal the name and other particulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated, except to a person authorized by any law. Anyone who contravenes this provision will be punishable with imprisonment of up to one year, or with a fine, or both.

Oppositions Criticisms

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar of the Trinamool called the Bill a step in the right direction and offered several suggestions. She said that an anomalous fetus could be identified by an ultrasound scan within 16 to 18 weeks instead of waiting for 24weeks.
Ritesh Pandey of the BSP and Amol R. Kolhe said abortion should be considered a fundamental right of a woman.
Opposing the Bill, Dean Kuriakose of the Congress said unrestricted abortions should not be encouraged as “abortions are a crime against humanity”.
P. Raveendranath Kumar of the AIADMK urged the Minister to increase the number of medical college seats given the low number of gynecologists. Unsafe abortions were a major reason for the mortality of pregnant women, he added

Source: The Hindu and PRS

2) ISRO’s Assistance in finding Rich Fishing Areas

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Hyderabad has reported that Oceansat Satellite data from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) are used to prepare the Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) advisories on the potential rich fishing areas and provide to the seafaring fishermen in all states.
ISRO has developed the methodology for the generation of fishery advisories and transfer to INCOIS since 2002 as an operational service for providing PFZ advisories. This service utilizes data on chlorophyll concentration (Chl) obtained from ISRO’s Oceansat-2 satellite and the sea surface temperature from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA / USA satellites).
INCOIS has reported that a study conducted by National Council for Applied Economic Research revealed that the emission of carbon in the environment is reduced due to the savings in diesel consumption and reported a carbon credit equivalent to an annuity of Rs. 36,200 crore. Another study conducted the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in Maharashtra during 2013-14, under National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), reported that a fishing village of 32 fishing boats in Maharashtra could save 70,000 liters of diesel in a month as the PFZ advisories helped them in avoiding the unwanted search for fish shoals.

Source: PIB

3) Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR)

The Centre has urged the courts to give the telecom majors, including Vodafone and Bharti Airtel, a 20-year window for the payment of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues worth several lakhs of crores of rupees.

Background:

The issue has been covered in the 25th October 2019 Comprehensive News Analysis. Click here to read.

Details:

In an application mentioned for an urgent hearing in the Supreme Court, the government said it has, after “detailed and long-drawn deliberations”, devised a “formula” to soften the blow of the October 24, 2019 judgment directing the companies to pay the AGR in three months.
The application said, “All the licensees impacted by the judgment be allowed to pay the unpaid or remaining amount of past DoT assessed/calculated dues in annual installments over 20 years (or less if they so opt)”.
The application said the formula was crafted taking into consideration the “larger interest, economic consequences on the nation and to ensure that the Supreme Court order is complied with in letter and spirit.”

Significance:

The application said vital issues related to the financial health and viability of the telecom sector and the need for maintaining competition and level playing field in the interest of consumers were considered.
It said the closure of one or more Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) would adversely impact the digital connectivity of the country driving e-governance projects in commerce, banking, and health.
It was also considered that it would dent the spread of digitization in rural India.

Source: The Hindu

4) Impact of Climate Change on Farmers

The country has initiated action to address the problems likely to arise due to climate change. These efforts have provided valuable inputs in terms of the regional and national level impacts of climate variability and climate change on crops, horticulture, livestock, and fishery. Through its programs and schemes, focus on climate-resilient agriculture, appropriate adaptation strategies have been devised for ensuring food security, enhanced livelihood opportunities, and economic stability.
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), one of the Missions under National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC), includes programmatic interventions like Soil Health Card (SHC), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), Rainfed Area Development (RAD), National Bamboo Mission (NBM) and Sub-mission on Agro-Forestry (SMAF). These and other programs including Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) are ensuring judicious use of natural resources. Assistance is provided under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) for inter alia stress-tolerant/climate-resilient varieties of food grains.

Under NMSA following ten deliverables are monitored:

The area under organic farming, ii) Production of Bio-fertilizers,
Precision Irrigation,
SRI/ Direct Seeded Rice from Transplantation,
Crop diversification,
Additional Area under plantation in Arable land,
Climate Resilient Varieties (CRV) Identified/ Released,

Identification of genotypes of crops with enhanced CO2 fixation potential and less water consumption & Nutrients,
Climate Resilient genotypes with greater adaptation to drought, flood, salinity, and high temperature,

Coverage of milch animals under ration balancing program and
Establishment of bypass protein feed making unit.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed 45 models for climate-resilient Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) which are replicated in Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) for demonstration and extended through the Rainfed Area Development (RAD) program. Climate-resilient villages have been developed, one in each of 151 districts under the project National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). This follows a multi-pronged strategy encompassing strategic research on adaptation, mitigation and demonstration of technologies on farmers’ fields to create awareness, aiming mainly to evolve crop varieties tolerant to climatic stresses like floods, droughts, frost, inundation due to cyclones and heatwaves. An atlas on the vulnerability of Indian agriculture to climate change has been prepared by the Central Research Institute of Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad. District Agriculture Contingency Plans for 648 districts have been prepared for managing weather aberrations for sustainable agriculture.
Due to preparedness and introduction of climate-resilient varieties, total food grain has increased from 208.60 Million Tonnes in 2005-06 to 284.95 Million Tonnes in 2018-19 (4th Adv. Est.) and horticulture production from 116.9 Million Tonnes in 2004- 05 to 313.85 Million Tonnes in 2018-19 (3rd Adv. Est.).

Source: PIB

5) State Election Commission

The Andhra Pradesh government has filed petitions in the Supreme Court and the High Court over the issue of the State Election Commission (SEC) postponing the local body elections citing the COVID-19 threat.

What is the issue?

The government, in its petition before the apex court, accused the SEC of not taking it into confidence while taking the major decision of deferring the polls and called the move anti-constitutional.
The government also found fault with the SEC for not consulting the High Court on whose instructions the elections were scheduled.

About the State Election Commission:

The Constitution of India vests in the State Election Commission, consisting of a State Election Commissioner, the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of all elections to the Panchayats and the Municipalities (Articles 243K, 243ZA).
The State Election Commissioner is appointed by the Governor.
As per article 243(C3) the Governor, when so requested by the State Election Commission, make available to the State Election Commission such staff as may be necessary for the discharge of the functions conferred on the SEC by clause (1).

What was the need for State Election Commissions?

Under the Constitution, the establishment of local self-government institutions is the responsibility of the states (entry 5, List II, Seventh Schedule).
However, experience showed that not all state governments were serious about empowering Panchayati Raj institutions as elections were not being conducted regularly.
The Constitution was amended in 1992 to define the term (five years) for these institutions. Simultaneously, another provision was made for setting up a constitutional authority, the SEC, on the lines of the EC to conduct regular panchayat elections.

The ECI and SECs have a similar mandate; do they also have similar powers?

The provisions of Article 243K of the Constitution, which provides for setting up of SECs, are almost identical to those of Article 324 related to the EC. In other words, the SECs enjoy the same status as the EC.
In 2006, the Supreme Court emphasized the two constitutional authorities enjoy the same powers. In Kishan Singh Tomar vs Municipal Corporation of the City of Ahmedabad, the Supreme Court directed that state governments should abide by orders of the SECs during the conduct of the panchayat and municipal elections, just like they follow the instructions of the EC during Assembly and Parliament polls.

How far can courts intervene?

Courts cannot interfere in the conduct of polls to local bodies and self-government institutions once the electoral process has been set in motion.
Article 243-O of the Constitution bars interference in poll matters set in motion by the SECs; Article 329 bars interference in such matters set in motion by the EC.
Only after the polls are over can the SECs’ decisions or conduct be questioned through an election petition.
These powers enjoyed by the SECs are the same as those by the EC.

In practice, are the SECs as independent as the EC?

Although state election commissioners are appointed by the state governors and can only be removed by impeachment, in the last two decades many have struggled to assert their independence.
One of the most widely remembered cases of confrontation happened in Maharashtra in 2008. Then state election commissioner Nand Lal was arrested and sent to jail for two days in March 2008 after the Assembly found him guilty of breach of privilege in an alleged conflict over his jurisdiction and powers. Lal had asserted that as the state election commissioner he had the power to hold elections to the offices of mayor, deputy mayor, sarpanch and deputy sarpanch. After a Congress MLA moved a privilege motion objecting to the notification, the privileges committee of the Assembly asked him to appear and explain. Lal did not, which led to the committee concluding that he was creating hurdles in “constitutional and legislative functions”, a breach of privilege. He was sent for two days of civil imprisonment.

Source: The Hindu

6) What are starred questions?

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently said his right as an MP to ask a supplementary question in Lok Sabha was taken away as Speaker Om Birla did not allow him to ask one.

Rahul Gandhi was asking the government to name wilful bank loan defaulters but was not allowed another supplementary question amid uproar in the lower house.

The right of MPs to question:

Members of Parliament have a right to ask questions which is one of the devices available to them to seek information on matters of public importance.
The Question Hour is one such mechanism in which the members ask questions on varied aspects of administration and governmental activity.

What is Question hour?

The first hour of every parliamentary sitting is termed as Question hour.
It is mentioned in the Rules of Procedure of the House.
During this time, the members ask questions and the ministers usually give answers.
How many starred questions can be asked?
The number of starred questions was fixed at 20 per Question Hour from the fourth session of the fifth Lok Sabha in 1972.

Type of Questions:

Members have a right to ask questions to elicit information on matters of public importance within the special cognizance of the Ministers concerned. The questions are of three types:
Starred Questions: A Starred Question is one to which a member desires an oral answer from the Minister in the House and is required to be distinguished by him/her with an asterisk. Answer to such a question may be followed by supplementary questions by members.
Unstarred Questions: An Unstarred Question is one to which written answer is desired by the member and is deemed to be laid on the Table of the House by Minister. Thus it is not called for oral answer in the House and no supplementary question can be asked thereon.
Short Notice Questions: A member may give notice of question on a matter of public importance and of urgent character for an oral answer at a notice less than 10 days prescribed as the minimum period of notice for asking a question in the ordinary course. Such a question is known as ‘Short Notice Question’.

Questions to Private Members:

A Question may also be addressed to a Private Member (Under Rule 40 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha), provided that the subject matter of the question relates to some Bill, Resolution or other matter connected with the business of the House for which that Member is responsible. The procedure regarding such questions is the same as that followed in the case of questions addressed to a Minister with such variations as the Speaker may consider necessary.

Source: The Hindu

7) Agreement between India and Brunei for Exchange of Information notified

The Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of Brunei Darussalam for the exchange of information and assistance in collection with respect of taxes (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement), was signed in New Delhi, India on 28th of February, 2019. The Agreement has been notified in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) on the 9th of March 2020.
The Agreement enables the exchange of information, including banking and ownership information, between the two countries for tax purposes. It is based on international standards of tax transparency and exchange of information and enables sharing of information on request as well as automatic exchange of information. The Agreement also provides for representatives of one country to undertake tax examinations in the other country. Moreover, it provides for assistance in the collection of tax claims.
The Agreement will enhance mutual co-operation between India and Brunei Darussalam by providing an effective framework for the exchange of information in tax matters which will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance.

Source: PIB

8) ICMR to test for Community Transmission of COVID-19

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has announced that it would start testing influenza patients without any travel history or contact with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for signs of community transmission.

Four Stages of Transmission of COVID-19

Stage 1-Imported Transmission

It is reported among the travelers entering the country via the borders and airports.
These can be controlled through thermal screening and quarantine.
To prevent imported transmissions, India has suspended visas to foreign nationals and the facility of visa-free travel to Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card-holders.

Stage 2-Local Transmission

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines it as the transmission through direct contact with an infected person within the country.

Stage 3-Community Transmission

It signifies that a virus is circulating in the community and can affect people with no history of travel to affected areas or of contact with an infected person.
India’s current emphasis on social distancing and discouragement of public gatherings is aimed at checking community transmission.
Once community transmission begins, it is more difficult to trace contacts. As one unknown source of infection can infect many people unknowingly.
Among the countries where community transmission seems to have begun are China, Italy, and South Korea.

Stage 4- Epidemic

An epidemic is a large outbreak, one that spreads among a population or region.
It is less severe than pandemic due to a limited area of spread.

Level of Transmission in India

So far, most of the cases in India have had a history of travel abroad or have contracted the disease from somebody around them.
However, some of the cases in the country had neither any history of foreign travel nor had they come directly in contact with an infected person.
Currently, India is at Stage 2 of Local Transmission and precautions are being taken to prevent it from entering Stage 3 of Community Transmission.

India’s Current Strategy to tackle COVID-19

Social Distancing and Cluster Containment:

The cluster containment strategy intends to contain the disease within a defined geographic area by early detection, breaking the chain of transmission and thus preventing its spread to new areas.
It includes geographic quarantine, social distancing measures, enhanced active surveillance, testing all suspected cases, isolation of cases, home quarantine of contacts, social mobilization to follow preventive public health measures.

Possible Involvement of the Private Sector:

The government is working with private hospitals to develop standard operating procedures for the treatment and isolation of patients.
The involvement of the private sector may face some issues like the possibility of profiteering, affordability issues, crowding of people at a large number of places, etc.

Global Scenario

Italy followed a model of lockdown whereas South Korea has observed a model of free testing.
India has been following the Italian model of lockdown.
China has adopted a graded approach, and the number of new cases is gradually declining.
It has locked down Hubei, the epicenter. Elsewhere, it enforced social distancing measures.

Indian Council of Medical Research

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination, and promotion of biomedical research.
Its mandate is to conduct, coordinate and implement medical research for the benefit of the Society; translating medical innovations into products/processes and introducing them into the public health system.
It is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

Source: Indian Express

9) Maharashtra: Top Performer in Organ Donation

Recently, Maharashtra surpassed Tamil Nadu and Telangana and became the top performer in the field of organ donation.
Sensitization drives and the meticulous efforts of Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation – State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO-SOTTO) along with four Zonal Transplant Coordination Centres (ZTCCs) are important contributing factors behind this achievement.

ROTTO-SOTTO

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has established National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) at National level, State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) in States and Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) at the regional level.
National Network division of NOTTO functions as an apex center for coordinating all activities and networking for procurement and distribution of organs and tissues and maintaining a registry of organs and tissue donation and transplantation in the country.

Organ Donation

Organ donation means giving part of the body (organ) to a person with end-stage organ disease who needs a transplant.
The organs that can be donated for transplantation include kidney, liver, heart, lungs, and small bowel and tissues such as corneas, heart valves, skin, and bone.

Tissue means a group of cells performing a particular function in the human body such as bone, skin, the cornea of the eye, heart valve, blood vessels, nerves, and tendon, etc.

There are two types of organ donation:

Living Donor Organ Donation: A person during his life can donate one kidney, a portion of the pancreas and a part of the liver.
Deceased Donor Organ Donation: A person can donate multiple organs and tissues after (brain-stem/cardiac) death.

Legal Framework:

Organ Transplantation and Donation is permitted by law and covered under the "Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994", which has allowed organ donation by living & Brain-stem Dead donors.
In 2011, amendment of the Act also brought in a donation of human tissues, thereby calling the Amended Act “Transplantation of Human Organs & Tissues Act 2011”.

The Government of India has also started a National Organ and Transplant Program (NOTP), under which patients below the poverty line are supported for the cost of transplant as well as the cost of immunosuppression after transplant for one year.

Source: Indian Express

10) Appropriation Bill

The Lok Sabha has passed the Appropriation Bill 2020-21 that empowers the government to draw over ₹110 lakh crore from the Consolidated Fund of India for its working, as well as for the implementation of its programs and schemes.
Now, only the Finance Bill that pertains to the government’s taxation proposal awaiting passage.
The Appropriation Bill was passed by a voice vote.
Following this, Speaker Om Birla applied “guillotine” — the Parliamentary tool to club all other pending subjects for discussion.

What is Appropriation Bill?

Appropriation Bill is a money bill that allows the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its expenses during a financial year.
As per article 114 of the Constitution, the government can withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund only after receiving approval from Parliament.
To put it simply, the Finance Bill contains provisions on financing the expenditure of the government, and the Appropriation Bill specifies the quantum and purpose for withdrawing money.

Procedure followed:

The government introduces the Appropriation Bill in the lower house of Parliament after discussions on Budget proposals and Voting on Demand for Grants.
The Appropriation Bill is first passed by the Lok Sabha and then sent to the Rajya Sabha.
The Rajya Sabha has the power to recommend any amendments in this Bill. However, it is the prerogative of the Lok Sabha to either accept or reject the recommendations made by the upper house of Parliament.
The unique feature of the Appropriation Bill is its automatic repeal clause, whereby the Act gets repealed by itself after it meets its statutory purpose.

What happens when the bill is defeated?

Since India subscribes to the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, the defeat of an Appropriation Bill (and also the Finance Bill) in a parliamentary vote would necessitate resignation of a government or a general election. This has never happened in India till date, though.

Scope of discussion:

The scope of discussion is limited to matters of public importance or administrative policy implied in the grants covered by the Bill and which have not already been raised during the discussion on demands for grants.
The Speaker may require members desiring to take part in the discussion to give advance intimation of the specific points they intend to raise and may withhold permission for raising such points as in his opinion appear to be a repetition of the matters discussed on a demand for a grant.

Amendments:

No amendment can be proposed to an Appropriation Bill which will have the effect of varying the amount or altering the destination of any grant so made or of varying the amount of any expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India, and the decision of the Speaker as to whether such an amendment is admissible is final. An amendment to an Appropriation Bill for the omission of a demand voted by the House is out of order.
In other respects, the procedure in respect of an Appropriation Bill is the same as in respect of other Money Bills.

Source: The Hindu

11) Use of Waterways for Reducing Transportation Cost

Recently, the Minister of State for Shipping has informed in the Rajya Sabha that significant savings in the cost of transportation are expected by using the Inland Water Transport (IWT) mode.
IWT mode is widely recognized as an environment-friendly and cost-effective mode of transport.
It aims to create for the shippers and logistic players, an alternative to the two dominant modes of transport viz. road and rail.

Key Points

As per RITES Report of 2014 on Integrated National Waterways Transportation Grid, the cost comparison on the modes of surface transport is given below:

India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc.
About 55 million tonnes of cargo is being moved annually by IWT, a fuel-efficient and environment-friendly mode.
As per the National Waterways Act 2016, 111 waterways have been declared as National Waterways (NWs).

National Waterway-1 (Prayagraj-Haldia) with length 1620 km is the longest National waterway in India.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is implementing the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) at an estimated cost of ₹5369.18 crores for capacity augmentation of navigation on the Haldia-Varanasi stretch of Ganga (part of NW-1) with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank.

Integrated National Waterways Transportation Grid

It plans to link many of the national waterways to each other and also to roads, railways and major ports.

Setting up of a large number of ports/terminals, riverside jetties, godowns, boat-building workshops, repairing yards and ancillary industries will spur investment opportunities.

The capital cost is estimated at ₹22,763 crores to be used in phase-I (2015-18) and phase- II (2018-23).

Inland Waterways Authority of India

It came into existence on 27th October 1986 for the development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation.
It primarily undertakes projects for the development and maintenance of IWT infrastructure on national waterways through grants received from the Ministry of Shipping.
It is headquartered at Noida with regional offices at Patna (Bihar), Kolkata (West Bengal), Guwahati (Assam) and Kochi (Kerala) and sub-offices at other places throughout India.

Source: PIB

12) Uranium Contamination in Ground Water

A report on Uranium Contamination in groundwater in Parliament.

What is the acceptable limit?

The Indian Standard IS 10500: 2012 for Drinking Water specification has specified the maximum acceptable limits for radioactive residues as alpha and beta emitters, values in excess of which render the water not suitable.
These requirements take into account all radioactive elements including uranium. No individual radioactive elements have been specifically identified.
As per the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS), the maximum permissible limit of Uranium is 0.03 mg/l (as per WHO provisional guidelines) in all drinking water standards after following due process.

Affected states:

A report brought out by Duke University, the USA in association with Central Ground Water Board and State Ground Water departments states that Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Jammu & Kashmir have localized occurrence of Uranium concentration.

Main factors responsible for uranium contamination:

Amount of uranium contained in an aquifer’s rocks.
Water-rock interactions that cause the uranium to be extracted from those rocks.
Oxidation conditions that enhance the extracted uranium’s solubility in water.
The interaction of the extracted uranium with other chemicals in the groundwater, such as bicarbonate, which can further enhance its solubility.
Human factors such as groundwater table decline and nitrate pollution may be exacerbating the problem.

What needs to be done?

Revision of the current water quality monitoring program in India.
Evaluation of human health risks in areas of high uranium prevalence.
Development of adequate remediation technologies.
Implementation of preventive management practices to address this problem.
Including a uranium standard in the Bureau of Indian Standards’ Drinking Water Specification based on uranium’s kidney-harming effects.
Establishing monitoring systems to identify at-risk areas, and exploring new ways to prevent or treat uranium contamination.

What is Uranium?

Uranium is weakly radioactive and remains so because of its long physical half-life (4.468 billion years for uranium-238).
The biological half-life (the average time it takes for the human body to eliminate half the amount in the body) for uranium is about 15 days.
It is a naturally occurring element found in low levels within all rock, soil, and water.
This is the highest-numbered element to be found naturally in significant quantities on earth.
It is considered to be more plentiful than antimony, beryllium, cadmium, gold, mercury, silver, or tungsten.
It is about as abundant as tin, arsenic or molybdenum.

Source: PIB