Rapid Fire Current Affairs | 20 Apr 2023

Coalition to Combat Marine Litter in India's Coastal Cities

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-profit organization based in Delhi, has launched a coalition of coastal cities to combat marine litter pollution across India. The Coalition aims to address the serious trans-boundary issue of marine litter pollution, which is responsible for damaging marine ecosystems and harming marine life. About 80% of marine litter comes from land-based mismanagement of solid waste that reaches the ocean through various land-to-sea pathways. The coalition will focus on tackling plastic pollution, which accounts for 90% of all the waste that ends up in the marine ecosystem. India produces about 460 million Tonnes of plastic, of which nearly 8 million Tonnes (2.26%) is leaked into the marine ecosystem.

According to the CSE, South Asian seas are particularly affected, with Tonnes of plastic waste leaked into them every day, accounting for 5.6 million Tonnes of plastic waste per year. India’s 7,517 km coastline across nine states and 66 coastal districts is home to about 250 million people and rich biodiversity. The CSE emphasized the need to enforce policies like the single-use plastic ban and extended producer responsibility stringently to manage the plastic waste on land that contributes to marine litter pollution.

Read more: Marine Pollution

India's Milk Prices and Production

Milk prices have been increasing since 2021 and have seen several hikes across brands, with the average price for a litre of milk in India reaching ₹57 in April 2023, 12% higher than the previous year. Milk prices are the highest in Lucknow and Guwahati, while southern cities such as Bengaluru and Chennai have relatively lower milk prices. The high inflation in milk has been identified as one of the reasons driving retail inflation, with milk inflation continuing to trend higher. Milk production in India has been facing stagnation due to several factors, including a demand slump during the COVID-19 pandemic, outbreaks of lumpy skin disease affecting cattle and buffaloes resulting in lower milk yields, and high prices of fodder raising the cost of production.

India is the largest producer of milk in the world, its milk production has slowed down in recent years, with the growth rate peaking at 6.6% in FY18. The possibility of importing dairy products to address the current situation, with the government considering options including the import of butter and ghee if the situation remains unchanged.

Read more: National Milk Day

Maa Kamakhya Corridor

The Prime Minister of India expressed his optimism that the Maa Kamakhya corridor, just like the Kashi Vishwanath Dham (Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi) and Shree Mahakal Mahalok corridor (Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh), will become a significant landmark initiative. Kashi Vishwanath Dham and Shree Mahakal Mahalok, have enhanced the spiritual experience for many and helped boost the local economy through increased tourism.

The Maa Kamakhya corridor is a proposed infrastructure project that aims to renovate and develop the pilgrimage site of Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Assam, India. The Maa Kamakhya temple, dedicated to the goddess of desire also known as Kameshwari, is situated in the Nilachal mountain in Guwahati. Among the 51 Shaktipeeths present on earth, Maa Kamakhya Devalaya is considered the oldest and the most sacred. It is the center of the Tantric Shaktism cult, which has a significant following in India.

SATHI Portal

The Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA & FW) Minister of India has launched the SATHI (Seed Traceability, Authentication and Holistic Inventory) Portal and Mobile App to address the challenges in seed production, quality seed identification, and seed certification. The system has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in collaboration with MoA & FW with the theme of ‘Uttam Beej – Samriddh Kisan’.

The SATHI portal is a significant step to address the challenges in the agriculture sector and will prove to be a revolutionary step in agriculture when it is used at the grassroots level. This portal will ensure the quality assurance system, identify the source of seed in the seed production chain, and trace the seeds through a QR code. The system will have integrated seven verticals of the seed chain - Research Organization, Seed Certification, Seed Licensing, Seed Catalogue, Dealer to Farmer Sales, Farmer Registration, and Seed DBT. Only seeds with valid certification can be sold by valid licensed dealers to centrally registered farmers, who will receive subsidy through DBT directly into their pre-validated bank accounts.