UPSC Key: National Legal Services Day, Leaders’ Summit of COP30, and Landfills

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is the role and function of the NALSA?

— Who is the chairperson of NALSA?

— What is the purpose of celebrating Legal Services Day?

— “Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living are truly possible only when Ease of Justice is also ensured.” Elaborate.

— What is the significance of legal aid?

— What is the significance of having legal documents and judgements in local languages?

— What are Lok Adalats?

— What steps need to be taken to ensure legal aid to every citizen?

— Is there any constitutional article for the same?

Key Takeaways:

— Underlining the significance of legal aid, he said the “language of justice should be that which can be understood by those receiving it”. This, he said, must be considered at the time of drafting laws.

— Pointing to the need for judgments and legal documents to be made available in local languages, he said that when people comprehend the law in their own language, it will lead to better compliance and reduce litigation.

— Referring to the crucial role that legal aid plays in ensuring such accessibility, he said  legal services authorities act as a bridge between the judiciary and the common citizen, from the national to the taluka level.

— Modi said lakhs of disputes are being resolved swiftly, amicably, and at low cost through Lok Adalats and pre-litigation settlements. He pointed out that nearly 8 lakh criminal cases were resolved in just three years under the Legal Aid Defence Counsel System initiated by the government. These efforts, he said, have ensured ease of justice for the poor, the oppressed, the deprived and the marginalised sections.

— Through the Jan Vishwas Act, over 3,400 legal provisions have been decriminalised, more than 1,500 obsolete laws repealed and long-standing laws replaced with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

— Speaking on the occasion, Chief Justice of India B R Gavai said the legal aid scheme “reminds us that justice is not a privilege of the few but a right of every citizen, and that our role, as judges, lawyers, and officers of the court, is to ensure that the light of justice reaches even the last person standing at the margins of society”.

Do You Know:

— National Legal Services Day is observed in India every year on November 9 to promote legal awareness and ensure access to justice for all citizens, particularly those from marginalised communities.

— The NALSA has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to provide free Legal Services to the weaker sections of the society. It organizes Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes. It also monitors and reviews various legal aid programs and  provides rules and principles for legal services under the Act.

— Lok Adalats are an alternative dispute redressal mechanism, where the aim is to settle or compromise cases amicably. While litigants get the benefit of swift justice and substantially reduced litigation costs, as per the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, the decision of the court is binding and it cannot be appealed against.

— When a matter is filed in a Lok Adalat, the court fee is not payable. If a matter pending in the court of law is referred to the Lok Adalat and is settled subsequently, the court fee originally paid in the court on the complaints/petition is also refunded to the parties.

— Article 39A of the Constitution of India: It provides that State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Knowledge Nugget: What is the importance of Nari Adalats under Mission Shakti for UPSC exam?

📍National Legal Services Day 2024

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(1) With reference to National Legal Services Authority, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2017)

1. Its objective is to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society on the basis of equal opportunity.

2. It issues guidelines for the State Legal Services Authorities to implement the legal programmes and schemes throughout the country.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Who are entitled to receive free legal aid? Assess the role of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) in rendering free legal aid in India. (UPSC CSE 2023)

POLITICS

Reach net-zero emissions sooner, aim for net-negative: India to developed nations

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

General Studies-III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

What’s the ongoing story: With current levels of global climate action unable to make any significant dent in rising temperatures, India has called on developed countries not just to achieve net-zero emissions status earlier than scheduled but to begin targeting net-negative emissions.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What do you understand about Net-zero emissions?

— Where is the COP30 Leader’s summit held?

— What is the Paris Agreement?

— What were the major outcomes of the COP29?

— What are the financial constraints raised by developing countries in meeting climate goals?

— As of now, the world is nowhere near achieving the temperature targets outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement. What are the reasons for this?

— With US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, there are serious doubts on the UN-mandated climate negotiation. Assess.

— What is Brazil’s new initiative Tropical Forests Forever Facility?

Key Takeaways:

— Speaking at the Leaders’ Summit in Belem, Brazil, a two-day meeting of heads of states or governments, ministers and country representatives ahead of the COP30 climate conference next week, India’s ambassador to Brazil Dinesh Bhatia said global ambition to fight climate change continued to remain inadequate, mainly because the developed countries had not been making proportionate contributions.

— Net-zero emissions is a situation in which a country’s total greenhouse gas emissions being released in the atmosphere are balanced with absorption or capture of these gases either in natural sinks like forests or through technological interventions like carbon capture and sequestration. A net-negative situation will arise when the absorptions or capture exceed emissions.

— The world as a whole has set 2050 as its target year to achieve net-zero status, while individual developed countries have set varying deadlines between 2040 and 2050.

— China, the world’s largest emitter, has announced that it aims to become net-zero by 2060, while India plans to achieve net-zero by 2070. No country has a declared plan to achieve a net-negative emission status as of now.

— As of now, the world is nowhere near achieving the temperature targets outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, or in preventing further global warming. According to one assessment, global annual emissions needed to be reduced by at least 43 per cent below 2019 levels by the year 2030 to keep alive any hopes for achieving the 1.5 degree Celsius target. However, at the current pace of climate action, it is estimated that even a 2 per cent reduction by 2030 would be difficult to achieve.

— Over the last couple of years, particularly in the wake of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement earlier this year, doubts have arisen about the UN-mandated climate negotiation process’s ability to deliver results that effectively tackle climate change.

Do You Know:

— The Paris Agreement is an international accord that was adopted by nearly every country in 2015 to address climate change and its adverse effects.

— Its primary goal is to substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a bid to limit global warming in this century to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels while pursuing the means to curb warming to 1.5 degrees.

— The agreement mentions the safer limit of 1.5 degrees based on a fact-finding report which found that breaching the threshold could lead to “some regions and vulnerable ecosystems” facing high risks, over an extended, decades-long period.

— The treaty also requires all Parties (countries which have joined the agreement) to state every five years what they are doing to tackle climate change — what is known as their nationally determined contribution (NDC).

— The UNFCCC laid down ambitious objectives for addressing climate change, but the framework itself was not sufficient and there was a need for establishing further processes to build the convention and strengthen its objectives.

— Over time, the Framework Convention paved the way for the development of institutions, processes and structures, aimed at enhancing global cooperation, such as the establishment of the Conference of the Parties (COP), which serves as the convention’s governing body.

— Each year, the COP brings together representatives of the Parties (countries that have ratified the UNFCCC) to assess progress, negotiate further agreements, and refine commitments.

— Conference of the Parties or COP is the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum that brings together almost every country on the planet to formulate and implement policy responses to climate change collectively. Currently, there are 198 parties (197 countries plus the European Union) to the UNFCCC.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍COP29: Why it matters and what is the history behind it

📍Knowledge nugget of the day: Paris Agreement

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(2) With reference to the Agreement at the UNFCCC Meeting in Paris in 2015, which of the following statements is/are correct? (UPSC CSE 2016)

1. The Agreement was signed by all the member countries of the UN and it will go into effect in 2017.

2. The Agreement aims to limit the greenhouse gas emissions so that the rise in average global temperature by the end of this century does not exceed 2°C or even 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

3. Developed countries acknowledged their historical responsibility in global warming and committed to donate $ 1000 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries to cope with climate change.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Describe the major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parses (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)? What are the commitments made by India in this conference? (UPSC CSE 2021)

 

NATION

Deadline coming, govt moves to clear 214 landfills by Oct next year

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

What’s the ongoing story: With less than a year left to the deadline of September 2026, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal on Saturday launched a programme to completely clear 214 legacy landfills, which have a total of 8.8 crore metric tonnes of garbage piled up, in 202 cities.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0?

— What are the problems associated with landfills?

— What are the waste management initiatives taken by the government to tackle it?

— What are the challenges with those initiatives?

— What is the purpose of introducing the Urban Invest Window?

— What is bioremediation?

— How can India harness waste-to-energy for sustainable growth?

Key Takeaways:

— The Dumpsite Remediation Accelerator Programme comes at a time when just one year is left in the five-year Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, which was launched in 2021 with the goal of clearing all legacy landfills in cities. As per the SBM-U website, as on Saturday, 49% of the area of legacy landfills was yet to be reclaimed and 41% of the waste was yet to be remediated.

— Launched at the National Urban Conclave here, the programme will focus on the 214 sites, which account for about 80% of the waste at the 1,428 legacy landfills that are yet to be remediated.

— Under the programme, the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said cities would be offered additional financial support for remediation and waste processing projects; corporate and public sector undertakings would be roped in for supporting the projects…

— The Minister also announced a new programme for enabling local bodies to raise private funds.  The Urban Invest Window, a project of HUDCO, will help cities identify projects, mobilise capital and implement the project, as per the Ministry. HUDCO will repurpose its regional offices for this, it said.

Do You Know:

— Launched in 2021, the SBM Urban 2.0 has the target of clearing around 2,400 legacy landfill sites in the country by 2025-2026.

— To get funding from SBM Urban 2.0, cities are supposed to submit action plans to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for bioremediation of their legacy landfills and then reuse of the land cleared.

— The process involves sifting of the waste into different categories, leading to the creation of refuse derived fuel (RDF) for waste-to-energy plants, recycling of construction and demolition waste and bio-soil that can be used for road construction.

— While waste remediation involves processes that clean up and rehabilitate contaminated land, waste-to-energy technologies convert non-recyclable waste materials into usable forms of energy, such as electricity or heat.

— Several waste-to-energy systems have been developed to cater to different kinds of waste. Waste-to-energy technologies align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).

— They also have the potential to reduce waste generation, minimise the adverse impacts of non-recyclable and toxic waste on the environment, and support the adoption of a circular economy.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Harnessing waste-to-energy for sustainable growth in India

📍How effective management of wastewater helps address India’s water crisis

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(3) In the context of which one of the following are the terms ‘pyrolysis and plasma gasification’ mentioned? (UPSC CSE 2016)

(a) Extraction of rare earth elements

(b) Natural gas extraction technologies

(c) Hydrogen fuel-based automobiles

(d) Waste-to-energy technologies

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

What are the impediments in disposing the huge quantities of discarded solid waste which are continuously being generated? How do we remove safely the toxic wastes that have been accumulating in our habitable environment? (UPSC CSE 2018)

MP: Row as mid-day meal served on sheets of paper

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

What’s the ongoing story: A video showing schoolchildren being served midday meals (MDM) on paper sheets at the Middle School in Madhya Pradesh’s Hullpur village, which emerged earlier this week, has led to red faces, administrative action, and a sharp attack from Congress’s Rahul Gandhi.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is a midday meal programme?

— What are the features of this programme?

— What is the significance of this programme?

— What are the associated issues and challenges?

— How is the plan for the meal decided?

— What are the recent controversies related to these schemes?

— As a future civil servant, how would you enhance the transparency and accountability of this programme?

Key Takeaways:

— After taking cognisance of the incident, the Block Education Officer of Vijaypur inspected the school on November 6 and submitted a report detailing the circumstances that led to the lapse. — The report stated that both the Primary and Middle Schools in Hullpur operate on the same campus, and the responsibility for preparing and serving midday meals lies with the Jai Santoshi Maa Self Help Group (SHG).

— The SHG employs five cooks – three for cooking and two for cleaning utensils. On the day of the incident, both cleaners were absent, resulting in unwashed utensils. In their absence, the school staff reportedly resorted to serving food on sheets of paper, a video of which went viral on November 4.

— In light of the incident, the education department has moved to strengthen its monitoring mechanism. Cluster Academic Coordinators have been instructed to conduct monthly inspections of the midday meal programme with greater rigour, and detailed guidelines have been reissued.

— To improve transparency and accountability, all district and block-level officers will now be required to inspect at least five schools randomly each month.

— A Google Form-based monitoring system has been introduced to record inspection findings in real-time. Sub-Divisional Magistrates will review these reports weekly at the block level, while the Chief Executive Officer of the Zila Panchayat will oversee reviews at the district level.

Do You Know:

— The current version of the programme, renamed PM Poshan Shakti Nirman or PM Poshan in 2021, traces its roots to 1995; it was launched as a centrally sponsored scheme on August 15 that year across 2,408 blocks for students up to Class 5. In 2007, the UPA government expanded it to Class 8.

— However, the first initiative to provide meals to children had been taken by the erstwhile Madras Municipal Corporation around 1920. In post-Independence India, Tamil Nadu was again the pioneer, with Chief Minister K Kamaraj rolling out a school feeding scheme in 1956.

— It is not just a scheme, but a legal entitlement of all school-going children in primary and upper primary classes, through the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, as well as the Supreme Court’s ruling in People’s Union of Civil Liberties vs Union of India and Others (2001).

— The menu varies from one state or Union Territory to another. But the authorities need to ensure that the nutritional component of the meal made up of rice, pulses, vegetables, oil and fat provide at least 450 calories and 12 gm protein to children in primary grades.

— For upper primary children, the requirements are 700 calories and 20 gm protein. The variations are in the cases of additional items such as milk, eggs, chikki, or fruits that the states provide as supplementary nutrition, the expenses for which are borne by the state government.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Midday meal and supplements

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(4) The Mid-Day Meal scheme comes under the purview of which ministry? (AFCAT 2022)

(a) Ministry of Education

(b) Ministry of Women and Child Development

(c) Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

(d) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Study calls for tailored treatments for regional HIV variations

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation; Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources

What’s the ongoing story: The most promising antibody-based treatments for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) do not work equally well in patients from all regions with the geographical origin of the virus affecting their effectiveness, a new Indian research has found.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is HIV?

— What are the causes of HIV?

— Is there a vaccine for HIV?

— How are vaccines developed?

— What is antiretroviral therapy (ART)?

Key Takeaways:

— The research, published in the Journal of Virology, has significant implications for the ongoing development of a vaccine for HIV, suggesting that future HIV vaccines need to be optimised for different regions.

— In the absence of a vaccine, injectable antibodies are currently being tested as a way to prevent HIV infection. A vaccine usually triggers the body’s own immune mechanism to produce antibodies against a specific disease. Antibodies are proteins made by the immune system that are able to recognise and neutralise foreign disease-causing organisms like viruses or bacteria.

— Since a vaccine against HIV is still not available, scientists have been testing the efficacy of injecting specific antibodies, identified and isolated in the laboratories, that have been found to prevent infection by HIV

— There are several variants, or clades, of HIV in circulation. The most widely-circulating variant, called HIV-1 Clade C, accounts for nearly half of all infections across the world. This is also the most common variant circulating in Africa and India.

— HIV mutates very quickly after infecting a person, sometimes creating millions of slightly different versions of itself. Most antibodies are unable to fight against, or neutralise, all of them.

— However, scientists have been able to identify and isolate some rare antibodies that can neutralise a large number of these slightly different variants. For this reason, these antibodies are called broadly-neutralising antibodies, or bnAbs.

— However, the new Indian study has shown that the effectiveness of these bnAbs was affected by the geographical origin of the virus.

— It is found that HIV-1 clade C strains circulating in India differ from those primarily found in Africa in terms of their genomic composition and neutralization susceptibility to clinically-relevant bnAbs.

— This study also identified pre-treatment drug resistance in up to 11 per cent of participants and according to the authors this finding highlighted a growing concern in HIV management.

— He also observed that this study highlights that monoclonal antibodies are a high-value area for development and investment.

Do You Know:

— Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome is a pandemic disease caused due to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes damage to the immune system that is responsible for helping the body fight infections.

— If HIV goes untreated, it can kill CD4 cells, a kind of immune cells. The more the number of CD4 cells HIV kills, the more you are at risk of contracting various kinds of infections and the infections becoming incurable.

— Every vaccine undergoes “extensive and rigorous” testing and screenings and evaluations to determine the antigen that should be used to invoke an immune response. This does not involve testing on humans but on animals. If the vaccine triggers an immune response, it is then tested in human clinical trials in three phases, explains WHO.

— In the first phase, a select number of volunteers are administered the vaccine to test if it generates an immune response and to determine the right dosage.

— In the second phase, it is then given to several hundred volunteers. This phase involves multiple trials to evaluate the effect of different formulations of the vaccine on various age groups.

— Included in this is another group that is not given the vaccine to compare the results and understand if the changes in the vaccinated group have happened by chance or because of the vaccine.

— Finally, in the third phase, the vaccine is given to an even larger group of volunteers and compared to a similar group of people who are not vaccinated. This phase is usually conducted across multiple countries and sites within a country.

— Once the results of these clinical trials are obtained, officials in each country closely review the data and then decide if the vaccine can be authorised for use.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍World AIDS Day: Essential things you need to know

📍How are vaccines developed, packaged and shipped? Find out here

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(5) Which of the following diseases can be transmitted from one person to another through tattooing? (UPSC CSE 2013)

1. Chikungunya

2. Hepatitis B

3. HIV-AIDS

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

ALSO IN NEWS
EPFO’s reforms push: Members tap outreach initiatives to resolve long-pending niggles	From a spelling error to pension-related impediments and the struggles faced by a bereaved dependent — these figured among issues that forced members to frequent the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) offices in a desperate bid to seek redressal. A couple of outreach programmes launched by the EPFO are now helping members to get their long-pending issues resolved.
Parliament Winter Session to be held from December 1-19: Kiren Rijiju	Parliament’s Winter Session will be held from December 1 to December 19, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. Reacting to the schedule of the Winter Session, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “It will be just 15 working days. What is the message being conveyed? Clearly the government has no business to transact, no Bills to get passed, and no debates to be allowed.”
Pakistan brings 27th Amendment amid concerns over expanded powers for Army Chief Asim Munir	Pakistan on Saturday brought in a Constitutional amendment to create a new post of chief of defence forces to ensure greater coordination and unified command among the three services. The 27th Constitutional Amendment bill presented in parliament proposes changes to Article 243 of the Constitution, which deals with the armed forces among other issues. Under the amendment bill, the President will appoint the Army Chief and the Chief of Defence Force on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Chief of Army Staff, who will also be the Chief of Defence Forces, will appoint the head of the National Strategic Command in consultation with the Prime Minister. The head of the National Strategic Command will be from the Pakistan Army, it adds. The government will be able to promote individuals from the armed forces to the ranks of Field Marshal, Marshal of the Air Force and Admiral of the Fleet. The rank and privileges of Field Marshal will be for life, meaning that Field Marshals will remain Field Marshals for life. The bill says that the post of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee will expire on November 27, 2025.

 

PRELIMS ANSWER KEY

1. (c)  2. (b)  3. (d)   4. (a)  5. (b)

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.

🚨 Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for October 2025. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com🚨