Topic of the day – A) A fresh warning: what GEO-6 means for India
“India must recognise the human cost of poorly enforced environment laws”
The sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook from the UN Environment Programme has come as another stark warning: the world is unsustainably extracting resources and producing unmanageable quantities of waste. The linear model of economic growth depends on the extraction of ever-higher quantities of materials, leading to chemicals flowing into air, water and land. This causes ill-health and premature mortality, and affects the quality of life, particularly for those unable to insulate themselves from these effects. The UN report, GEO-6, on the theme “Healthy Planet, Healthy People,” has some sharp pointers for India. It notes that East and South Asia have the highest number of deaths due to air pollution; by one estimate, it killed about 1.24 million in India in 2017. As India’s population grows, it must worry that agricultural yields are coming under stress due to increase in average temperature and erratic monsoons. The implications of these forecasts for food security and health are all too evident, more so for the 148 million people living in severe weather ‘hotspots’. Evidently, the task before India is to recognise the human cost of poorly enforced environment laws and demonstrate the political will necessary to end business-as-usual policies. That would mean curbing the use of fossil fuels and toxic chemicals across the spectrum of economic activity. There are some targeted interventions that only require the resolve to reduce air and water pollution, and which in turn promise early population-level benefits. Aggressive monitoring of air quality in cities through scaled-up facilities would bring about a consensus on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, and provide the impetus to shift to cleaner sources of energy. It is significant that GEO-6 estimates that the top 10% of populations globally, in terms of wealth, are responsible for 45% of GHG emissions, and the bottom 50% for only 13%. Pollution impacts are, however, borne more by the poorer citizens. Combating air pollution would, therefore, require all older coal-based power plants in India to conform to emission norms at the earliest, or to be shut down in favour of renewable energy sources. Transport emissions are a growing source of urban pollution, and a quick transition to green mobility is needed. In the case of water, the imperative is to stop the contamination of surface supplies by chemicals, sewage and municipal waste. As the leading extractor of groundwater, India needs to make water part of a circular economy in which it is treated as a resource that is recovered, treated and reused. But water protection gets low priority, and State governments show no urgency in augmenting rainwater harvesting. New storage areas act as a supply source when monsoons fail, and help manage floods when there is excess rainfall.
B) Softer, slower: on Brexit vote
“Parliamentary votes give the British PM hope that a hard Brexit can be avoided”
With the overwhelming vote on Thursday to seek a delay to the exit from the EU, Britain’s Parliament might have actually given Prime Minister Theresa May another chance to push her existing deal for Brexit. A day earlier, a majority of the MPs decided to rule out, under all circumstances, Britain’s crashing out of the EU without an agreement. With the catastrophic consequences of a hard Brexit option thus foreclosed, from Britain’s perspective at least, there is good reason to think that the worst is over for the U.K., although there is no clue yet to the direction of the exit. Both these proposals had been rejected as part of earlier amendments to the draft withdrawal bill, and the votes this week reflect a significant shift in Parliament’s stance. Yet, a delay to the March 29 deadline to leave the EU can only bring a temporary respite from uncertainty. For one thing, Ms. May’s controversial withdrawal agreement was on Tuesday emphatically rejected by the House of Commons for the second time in as many months. But a silver lining for her, despite the setback, was the smaller margin of defeat this time. Some die-hard Brexiters who voted down her deal in January have since grown increasingly concerned about the prospect of a delayed Brexit or no Brexit at all, and chose to endorse it this week. The shift has encouraged Ms. May to seek a third vote on her deal next week. The calculation in Downing Street is that with the hardliners’ preferred option of a ‘no deal’ Brexit virtually eliminated and a looming indefinite delay, more Tories will rally behind her proposals. The group to especially watch is Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up Ms. May’s minority government. Should Ms. May’s gambit next week succeed, the government intends to seek from Brussels an extension, until June, to complete the exit formalities. Conversely, another failure would risk a delay in the U.K.’s ultimate withdrawal by months. The U.K. would then have to hold polls in May to elect new Members of the European Parliament. For EU leaders, the duration of the extension is less of a concern than the potential for a concrete outcome, given the differences within and between the main U.K. parties. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, is on record that he would recommend a longer extension, to the other 27 heads of EU governments when they meet next week. Developments this week have dealt a huge blow to hardline eurosceptics in the U.K., whose narrow nationalist delusions have made them impervious to the economic cost of disengagement from the world’s largest single market. The harm they have already inflicted on the polity and society must be contained. It would be unwise of them to impede the efforts to avoid a hard Brexit.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) unsustainably
Meaning : not able to be maintained at the current rate or level.
Synonyms : unfeasible
Antonyms : suitable
Example : “macroeconomic instability led to an unsustainable boom”
2) extracting
Meaning : remove or take out, especially by effort or force(v).
Synonyms : exact
Antonyms : disperse
Example : “the fossils are extracted from the chalk”
3) insulate
Meaning : protect (something) by interposing material that prevents the loss of heat or the intrusion of sound.
Synonyms : isolate
Antonyms : mingle
Example : “insulate and draught-proof your home”
4) estimate
Meaning : roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or extent of.
Synonyms : estimation
Antonyms : ignorance
Example : “the aim is to estimate the effects of macroeconomic policy on the economy”
5) implications
Meaning : the conclusion that can be drawn from something although it is not explicitly stated(n).
Synonyms : conclusion
Antonyms : proof
Example : “the implication is that no one person at the bank is responsible”
6) evident
Meaning : clearly seen or understood; obvious.
Synonyms : indisputable
Antonyms : concealed
Example : “she ate the biscuits with evident enjoyment”
7) recognise
Meaning : identify (someone or something) from having encountered them before; know again.
Synonyms : discern
Antonyms : ignore
Example : “I recognized her when her wig fell off”
8) enforced
Meaning : caused by necessity or force; compulsory.
Synonyms : imposed
Example : “a period of enforced idleness”
9) curbing
Meaning : restrain or keep in check.
Synonyms : contain
Antonyms : advance
Example : “she promised she would curb her temper”
10) resolve
Meaning : settle or find a solution to (a problem or contentious matter)(v).
Synonyms : courage
Antonyms : fear
Example : “the firm aims to resolve problems within 30 days”
11) impetus
Meaning : the force or energy with which a body moves.
Synonyms : impulse
Antonyms : hindrance
Example : “hit the booster coil before the flywheel loses all its impetus”
12) impacts
Meaning : the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another.
Synonyms : bang
Antonyms : failure
Example : “there was the sound of a third impact”
13) Combating
Meaning : take action to reduce or prevent (something bad or undesirable).
Synonyms : cope
Antonyms : yield
Example : “an effort to combat drug trafficking”
14) augmenting
Meaning : make (something) greater by adding to it; increase.
Synonyms : develop
Antonyms : abridge
Example : “he augmented his summer income by painting houses”
15) seek
Meaning : attempt to find (something).
Synonyms : pursue
Antonyms : ignore
Example : “they came here to seek shelter from biting winter winds”
16) perspective
Meaning : the art of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other.
Synonyms : angle
Example : “the theory and practice of perspective”
17) respite
Meaning : a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant.
Synonyms : recess
Antonyms : continuation
Example : “the refugee encampments will provide some respite from the suffering”
18) controversial
Meaning : giving rise or likely to give rise to controversy or public disagreement.
Synonyms : dubious
Antonyms : certain
Example : “years of wrangling over a controversial bypass”
19) emphatically
Meaning : in a forceful way.
Synonyms : assuredly
Antonyms : doubtfully
Example : “she closed the door behind her emphatically”
20) despite
Meaning : contemptuous treatment or behaviour; outrage.
Synonyms : against
Example : “the despite done by him to the holy relics”
21) concern
Meaning : relate to; be about.
Synonyms : matter
Antonyms : pastime
Example : “the story concerns a friend of mine”
22) endorse
Meaning : declare one’s public approval or support of.
Synonyms : advocate
Antonyms : attack
Example : “the report was endorsed by the college”
23) gambit
Meaning : an act or remark that is calculated to gain an advantage, especially at the outset of a situation.
Synonyms : artifice
Antonyms : frankness
Example : “his resignation was a tactical gambit”
24) intends
Meaning : have (a course of action) as one’s purpose or intention; plan.
Synonyms : designate
Antonyms : disbelieve
Example : “the company intends to cut 400 jobs”
25) impervious
Meaning : not allowing fluid to pass through.
Synonyms : impassable
Antonyms :
Example : “an impervious layer of basaltic clay”
