KALI BEIN RIVER

Punjab Chief Minister has been admitted to the hospital, days after he had drunk a glass of water directly from the River Kali Bein.

About the River

• Kali Bein is one of the most important rivers (more as a rivulet) of Punjab.
• The total length of the river is around 165 kilometres. It emerges in Hoshiarpur and flows through four districts of Punjab and meets at the confluence of rivers Beas and Sutlej at Harike Pattan.
• Along its banks are around 80 villages and half a dozen small and big towns. Wastewater from villages as well as industrial waste flows into the rivulet via a drain, turning its water black, hence the name Kali Bein (black rivulet).
• However, some say Kali Bein means black stream and it got its name due to the black minerals in its water.

Kali Bein’s Cultural significance for Punjab

• It is said that Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, performed his morning ablutions in the Kali Bein River.
• He would sit under a “ber” tree, which he himself planted for meditation.
• When Guru Nanak Dev was staying at the Sultanpur Lodhi with his sister Bebe Nanki, he would bathe in the Kali Bein river.
• It is said that it is the river where Guru Nanak gained enlightenment and disappeared into the waters one day while taking a dip and appeared 3 days later.
• He then proclaimed the “Mool Mantra” which is the opening section of Guru Granth Sahib.

Cleaning Of Kali Bein river

• The water of Kali Bein was polluted due to sewage and industrial waste flowing into it. Grass and dense weeds floating all around.
• In the year environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seehewal started cleaning the river with the help of volunteers. He is also referred to as ‘eco baba” for his efforts.
• Weeds were removed and the water was treated the cleaning of the Kali Bein river become one of the first instances of a people’s movement in India, where the water body was revived with the help of citizens and by spreading awareness among the people regarding river conservation.
• The project became an inspiration for the country and it was recognized by APJ Abdul Kalam who visited the site in 2006. It became an example of using religious devotion for an environmental cause.
• The Kali Bein project was cited as a model when the National Mission for Clean Ganga was launched in 2015. And studies were conducted on it for its emulation in UP, Bihar, Delhi, etc.

Present Status of Kali Bein River

• With little vigilance by the government, the movement lost its momentum, and villagers back to their old habits of discharging wastewater into the river and non-functioning treatment plants of wastewater in several villages and towns.
• As a result, the water became polluted and impacted the aquatic ecosystem visible in the form of dying fish and growing weeds. There is a lack of oxygen in the river, with high levels of toxins.

The Kali Bein is an example of neglect by the government and the people. Cleaning the river should include behaviour change as an important component so that it becomes an imperative duty of the citizens and the government bodies to conserve it and keep it clean.

WINDFALL TAX

The Indian government has cut the recently imposed cesses and levies on diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and removed the cess on exports of petrol due to softening in crude oil prices, amid fears of a global recession.

About windfall tax

A Windfall tax is imposed by a government against certain industries when they experience above-average profits due to economic conditions.

India imposed windfall taxes on 1 July, following the super normal profits of energy companies.

Reduction in taxes

• Additional excise duties equal to 6 rupees per liter on exports of petrol have been removed.
• Duties on the diesel exports have been cut to 11 rupees per liter from 13 rupees per liter earlier.
• The cess by way of special additional excise duty (or windfall tax) on domestic crude being sold to domestic refineries at international parity prices has been cut to Rupee 17,000 per tonne from rupee 23,250 per tonne.
• The export duty on Aviation Turbine Fuel has been lowered by rupee 2 to rupee 4 per liter.

Aim:

It mainly aimed at increasing local supplies and boosting its revenues.

Significance

• The development comes in the wake of softening international oil prices which are expected to benefit the energy firms.
• The move will offer relief for top fuel exporters like Reliance Industries and the state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corporation

Why did the Government Increase the Duties Earlier?

• The government on 1st July 2022 imposed special additional excise duty on export of the petrol and diesel to address the problem of fuel shortage in the country.
• Starting June 2022, fuel pumps across the country have been reporting huge fuel shortages, leading to their closure.
• The situation of fuel shortage lead the government to increase the duties.
• The move assured of enough fuel available in the country and asked oil marketing companies to ensure that their fuel pumps must remain open.

Aneurysm

Actor Emilia Clarke, who appeared in the Game of Thrones, has revealed her struggle with a brain aneurysm that caused the loss of "quite a bit" of the organ.

What s is an Aneurysm??

• It is the swelling of the arteries and veins in any part of the body and is caused by the weakening of the walls. It occurs most commonly in the aorta, back of the knees, brain, or intestines.
• An aneurysm often looks like a berry hanging on a stem.
• If the aneurysm gets ruptured, it can even cause internal bleeding and even stroke.
• Blood vessels of the brain and the heart are the most common locations to get seriously affected.
• The swelling can be of two types.
• Either the complete blood vessel is swollen or a specific side of the blood vessel can bulge out from the sides.

Symptom

A sudden and severe headache is the key symptom of a ruptured aneurysm. This headache is often described as the "worst headache" someone can ever experience.

In addition to a severe headache, common signs and symptoms of a ruptured aneurysm are as follow:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Stiff neck
• Blurred or double vision
• Sensitivity to light
• Seizure
• A drooping eyelid
• Loss of consciousness

Causes

• Potential risk factors for aneurysm include smoking, age, high cholesterol, obesity, hypertension, and tissue disorders.
• Pregnancy can also increase the risk of aneurysms of the spleen.

Treatment

• A device called a Flow Diversion Stent is a new innovative intervention for the treatment of an aneurysm for the initial stages when it has not ruptured.
• A cylindrical, metallic mesh stent is placed inside the sac of the parent blood vessel to divert the blood flow from the aneurysm.
• The diversion is mainly aimed at mainly preventing the rupture.
• Flow diversion can be used to treat large or giant wide-necked brain aneurysms.

Risk reduction

In most cases being congenital, it is not always possible to prevent the aneurysm, but certain lifestyle changes can help to reduce the risk.

These include quitting smoking and maintaining healthy blood pressure by sticking to a balanced diet even maintaining healthy body weight, and avoiding a high cholesterol diet will help in preventing it.

Shrinkflation

Companies employ ‘shrinkflation’ as Inflation that continues to impact the buying power of consumers.

About Shrinkflation:

• It refers to the tampering with a product while maintaining retail price
• It is when a product downsizes its quantity while keeping the price the same.
• For example, reducing the scoops of ice cream in a container or reducing the number of chips in a packet would count as shrinkflation.

Cause:

• It occurs when materials or ingredients used to make products become more expensive and when there is intense competition in the market.
• As a result, instead of raising prices, they might just give you less of the product so as to maintain their profit margins.

Impacts:

• It deceives consumers into believing that the brands they buy are not affected by inflation, since container and vessel sizes are reduced by very small amounts, saving manufacturers more money in the long run.
• It can lead to customer frustration and deterioration of consumer sentiment towards a producer’s brand.

Measures:

We need a mix of macroeconomic policies to manage demand and supply, as well as address structural rigidities in the economy.

• In India, the Right to Information has been recognised as a consumer right under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. This means that the consumer has the right to know the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard, and price of goods.
• Therefore, the Central Consumer Protection Authority needs to bring some guidelines to inform consumers when the weight of a product is reduced, instead of letting consumers be fooled by companies