Phytoremediation

• Phytoremediation refers to using “hyperaccumulator” plants to absorb the toxic materials present in the soil and accumulate in their living tissue.
• Hyper accumulator plants typically accumulate nickel and occur on soils that are rich in nickel, cobalt, and in some cases, manganese.
• Suitable plant species can be used to pick up the pollutants from the soil through their roots and transport them to their stem, leaves, and other parts.
• After this, these plants can be harvested and either disposed of or even used to extract these toxic metals from the plant.
• This process can remove metals like silver, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, mercury, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, lead, and zinc; metalloids such as arsenic and selenium; some radionuclides; and non-metallic components such as boron.
• But it cannot be used to remove organic pollutants from the ground due to metabolic breakdown.

Mozambique identified its first case of wild poliovirus Type 1 this week after a child contracted the disease.

Wild Polio Virus

• Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly disease that affects the nervous system.
• The virus lives in the faeces of an infected person.
• The virus multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.
• There are three variants of the poliovirus, numbered 1 to 3.
• For a country to be declared polio-free, the wild transmission of all three kinds has to be stopped.
• For eradication, cases of both wild and vaccine-derived polio infection have to be reduced to zero.
• As of today, wild poliovirus is endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Ecofascism

• In The Threat of Ecofascism (1995), environmental historian Michael E. Zimmerman defines ecofascism as a radical movement that calls for “ecologically vital private property to be protected from those who despoil it”, and depicts ecological despoliation as a threat to the racial integrity of people.
• It blames environmental degradation on immigration and overpopulation and wants to preserve natural resources in developed countries for the historically native population only.
• Ecofascists believe that humans have strained the natural resources on the planet, but some population groups, usually people of color, marginalized communities, and minorities, are less deserving to use of these resources.

Lookout Circular (LOC) or Lookout Notice

• A LOC is issued to make sure that an individual who is absconding or wanted by law enforcement agencies is not able to leave the country.
• It is mainly used at immigration checkpoints at international airports and seaports by the immigration branch.
• A LOC can be initiated by a large number of authorized officers, including an officer, not below the rank of deputy secretary, an officer not below the rank of joint secretary in the state government, a district magistrate or superintendent of police, designated officers of various law enforcing and security agencies, a commissioned officer of Interpol, an officer not below the rank of additional director in the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
• In 2018, the government also empowered the heads of public sector banks to directly request the authorities to issue a LOC against willful defaulters to prevent them from leaving the country.
• So now, an officer not below the rank of chairman/managing director/chief executive of any public sector bank can make a request.
• A LOC can be modified/deleted/withdrawn by the Bureau of Immigration only on the specific request of the authorized originator on whose request the LOC was issued.

Right of Stray Dogs

• A single-judge bench of the High Court had observed that animals have a right under the law to be treated with compassion, respect, and dignity and that their protection is the moral responsibility of each and every citizen, including the governmental and non-governmental organizations.
• The order by a single-judge Bench of Justice J R Midha read: Community dogs (stray/street dogs) have the right to food and citizens have the right to feed community dogs.
• But in exercising this right, care and caution should be taken to ensure that it does not impinge upon the rights of others or cause any harm, to other members of the society.
• It paves the way for community dogs to be fed either at private driveways/porches or spots designated in consultation with resident welfare associations in Delhi.
• It will be incumbent on the local police to ensure that no caregiver or community dog feeder is harassed.