Current Affairs 12 May 2025

Content:

1. The women who remain largely invisible
2. How is Kerala handling its waste problem?
3. Are artificial intelligence models susceptible to producing harmful content?
4. Total Fertility Rate in India remains at 2.0; Bihar records highest count, Bengal lowest
5. World’s longest banana infructescence found in the forests of Andamans
6. Asteroid YR4 might miss earth; will it miss the moon, too?

The women who remain largely invisible

Role of Women in Environmental and Development Resistance

• Women in South Asia are central to grassroots environmental movements against mining, dams, and nuclear projects.
• Examples include:
  • Sijimali (Odisha): Protests against forest-displacing mining.
  • Dewas (Jharkhand): Adivasi women resisting coal operations.
  • Tamil Nadu: Fisherwomen protesting Kudankulam Nuclear Plant.
• These struggles reflect community-led development and deep ecological knowledge rooted in lived experiences.

Relevance : GS 1(Society) ,GS 2(Social Justice)

Systematic Exclusion in Decision-Making

• Women are excluded from formal consultations, despite being most affected by displacement and environmental degradation.
• FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent) processes often ignore women’s participation.
• Women’s inputs are dismissed as emotional rather than recognised for socio-environmental insight.

Legal Protections vs. Reality

• Legal frameworks exist but are poorly implemented:
  • India: Forest Rights Act (2006), PESA (1996) — recognise women in Gram Sabhas.
  • Nepal: Joint Land Ownership Policy.
  • Bangladesh: Khas land distribution prioritises women.

• Barriers:
  • Land titles usually in men’s names.
  • Gram Sabhas are male-dominated.
  • Displaced women often not recorded as household heads = exclusion from compensation.
  • No national-level gender-sensitive land policy in India.
  • Customary laws override statutory provisions, especially in tribal areas.

Climate Change Deepens Gender Inequality

• Environmental stress (heat, water scarcity, pollution) worsens:
  • Women walk farther for water, care for ill, work longer for less.
• Climate frameworks fail to incorporate women’s ecological knowledge or participation.
• Consultations often occur in unsafe, inaccessible, male-dominated spaces.

FPIC and the Myth of Inclusion

• FPIC is promoted internationally but lacks gender integration.
• Questions raised:
  • Can consent be valid without women’s voices?
  • Is it “informed” if women don’t understand long-term consequences?

Need for Structural Reforms

• Inclusive consultation practices: timing, women-only spaces, translation/legal aid.
• Recognise women as independent landowners.
• Empower women beyond symbolic participation:
  • In negotiation rooms, policy forums, compensation boards.
• Amplify women’s leadership in movements — not just as supporters but decision-makers.

Conclusion: From Invisibility to Leadership

• Women’s stories are of resilience and vision, not just victimhood.
• Policies and institutions must shift from token inclusion to transformative leadership.
• For true climate justice and inclusive development, women must lead — not merely be consulted.

How is Kerala handling its waste problem?

Why was the Vruthi Campaign Launched?

• Shift in consumption patterns: Post-liberalisation, Kerala saw a rise in inorganic and non-biodegradable waste due to market-driven products.
• Urbanisation pressures: Agriculture’s share in GDP fell below 10%, altering traditional waste disposal practices.
• Public health risks: Issues like dog bites, zoonotic diseases, and worker fatalities (e.g., canal drowning) made waste management urgent.
• Gap between private hygiene and public cleanliness: Despite individual hygiene awareness, public spaces remained dirty.

Relevance: GS 2(Governance) ,GS 3(Environment and Ecology)

What is the ‘Vruthi’ Campaign?

• Meaning: ‘Vruthi’ denotes purity of body and mind.
• Launched: October 2, 2024.
• Scale: Mobilised ~25,000 people across government and civil society.
• Successes: Household waste collection coverage rose from 40% to 75% in a year.
• Core approach: Behavioural change, decentralisation, inclusivity.

Campaign Features and Strategies

• Local engagement: Haritha Karmasena, schools, artists, voluntary groups involved.
• Decentralised focus: Promotes localised, adaptable technologies like Black Soldier Fly composting, windrow composting.
• Technology-neutral: Solutions customised by locality; no one-size-fits-all model.
• Community-driven: Residents’ collectives, RWAs, schools, enterprises brought into waste governance.

Differences from Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

Decentralised vs. Centralised Waste Management

• Not binary: Kerala explores a mixed approach, choosing what suits local needs.
• Successes:
  • Centralised: Guruvayur Municipality.
  • Decentralised: Local composting models.
• Failures:
  • Centralised: Brahmapuram fire in Kochi due to mismanagement.
• Challenges: Local self-governments lack technical capacity despite funding increases.

Current Challenges

• Sustainability of efforts: Momentum largely state-driven — may falter if government focus wanes.
• Capacity gaps: Local bodies need professionalisation and technical support.
• Linear waste pattern: Shift needed towards circular economy.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): Requires stronger enforcement to reduce burden on public systems.

Path Ahead

• Embed behavioural change: “My waste, my responsibility” must reach every household and institution.
• Strengthen local institutions: Schools, RWAs, businesses, and worker collectives should be key partners.
• Model for India: Kerala’s decentralised, participatory urban sanitation can inspire other states.

Are artificial intelligence models susceptible to producing harmful content?

General Findings

• Yes, AI models are susceptible to producing harmful content.
• Enkrypt AI’s red teaming of Mistral’s Pixtral models highlights critical security vulnerabilities.
• Pixtral models were found to be more easily manipulated than competitors like GPT-4o and Claude 3.7 Sonnet.

Relevance : GS 3(Technology)

Types of Harmful Content Identified

• Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM)
• Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) threats
• Grooming-related outputs and instructions for creating harmful agents

Key Statistics

• 68% of harmful prompts successfully bypassed safeguards in Pixtral models.
• 60x more vulnerable to CSEM content than GPT-4o or Claude 3.7.
• 18–40x more prone to CBRN-related content generation than top competitors.

Red Teaming Methodology

• Used adversarial datasets and “jailbreak” prompts to bypass safety mechanisms.
• Employed multimodal manipulation (text + images) to test robustness.
• Outputs were human-reviewed to ensure ethical oversight and accuracy.

Detailed Threat Examples

• Provided synthesis methods for nerve agents like VX.
• Offered information on chemical dispersal methods and radiological weapons infrastructure.

Model Versions Tested

• Pixtral-Large 25.02 (via AWS Bedrock)
• Pixtral-12B (via Mistral platform directly)

Company Responses and Industry Context

• Mistral has not yet released a public response to the findings.
• Enkrypt AI is in private communication with Mistral regarding vulnerabilities.
• Echoes past red teaming efforts by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

Broader Role of Red Teaming in AI

• Analogous topenetrationtesting in cybersecurity.
• Crucial for uncovering hidden flaws before public deployment.

GPT-4.5 Case Study

• Red teaming used 100+ curated CTF challenges (cybersecurity tests).
• Performance:
  • High School-level: 53% success
  • Collegiate-level: 16% success
  • Professional-level: 2% success
• Demonstrates limited but non-zero potential for exploitation.

Implications and Recommendations

• The AI safety landscape is evolving — from afterthought to proactive design priority.
• Enkrypt AI stresses the need for:
  • Security-first development
  • Continuous red teaming
  • Greater transparency and accountability
• Emphasis on industry-wide collaboration to ensure societal benefit without unacceptable risk.

Total Fertility Rate in India remains at 2.0; Bihar records highest count, Bengal lowest

Key Findings on TFR

• National TFR remains stable at 2.0 in 2021, same as in 2020.
• Replacement level fertility (TFR of 2.1) has been achieved nationally.
• Bihar has the highest TFR at 3.0.
• West Bengal and Delhi report the lowest TFR, both at 1.4.

Relevance : GS 1(Society) , GS 2(Governance)

Demographic Shifts

• Share of population aged 0–14 years dropped from 41.2% (1971) to 24.8% (2021).
• Working-age population (15–59 years) rose from 53.4% to 66.2% over the same period.
• Elderly population (60+):
  • Increased from 6% to 9%.
  • 65+ age group rose from 5.3% to 5.9%.

Elderly Population (60+ Age Group)

• Highest % of elderly:
  • Kerala – 14.4%
  • Tamil Nadu – 12.9%
  • Himachal Pradesh – 12.3%

• Lowest % of elderly:
  • Bihar – 6.9%
  • Assam – 7%
  • Delhi – 7.1%

Fertility Rates by State

• Below Replacement Level TFR (≤2.1):
  • Delhi, West Bengal – 1.4
  • Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, J&K, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab – 1.5
  • Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka – 1.6
  • Odisha, Uttarakhand – 1.8
  • Gujarat, Haryana – 2.0
  • Assam – 2.1
• States above replacement level: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (implied though not directly mentioned)

Marriage Trends

• Mean age at effective female marriage increased from 19.3 (1990) to 22.5 (2021).

Policy Context

• Despite Budget 2024’s announcement of a high-power committee on population growth, SRS data indicates demographic stabilisation, not rapid growth.
• Full clarity requires the 2021 Census, still pending since last held in 2011.

Survey Details

• Conducted across 8,842 sample units.
• Covered a population of around 84 lakh.
• Largest demographic survey in India aside from the Census.

World’s longest banana infructescence found in the forests of Andamans

Scientific Discovery

• A 4.2-metre-long infructescence (fruit bunch) was recorded — longest ever among all banana species globally.
• Found in a wild banana species, Musa indandamanensis, endemic to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI).
• Discovery published in the international journal Botany Letters in early 2024.

Relevance : GS 1(Geography) ,GS 3(Environment)

Botanical Significance

• Musa indandamanensis was first reported in 2012 from Little Andaman near Krishna Nala Reserve Forest.
• First formally documented in a scientific journal in 2014.
• Earlier specimens had infructescence lengths of ~3 metres; now exceeds 4 metres.

Comparative Data

• Cultivated banana species usually have infructescences of only ~1 metre.
• The tree height remains consistent (~11 metres), but:
  • Girth in Campbell Bay specimens: ~110 cm
  • Earlier Little Andaman specimens: <100 cm

Geographic Context

• Recent specimen recorded in Campbell Bay, Nicobar group.
• Reflects intraspecies variation in girth and infructescence length within ANI ecosystems.

Ex-situ Conservation Efforts

• Species is listed as ‘Critically Endangered’.
• Saplings of Musa indandamanensis introduced in:
  • Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah
  • Botanical Garden, ANI Regional Centre
  • Central Regional Centre, Prayagraj

Specimen Display

• A 4.2-metre specimen is on display at the Indian Museum, Kolkata (BSI Industrial Section).
• Another large specimen exhibited in the Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre Museum.

Scientific and Agricultural Relevance

• Musa indandamanensis is a valuable genetic resource.
• Potential for developing high-yielding, disease-resistant banana varieties through plant breeding.

Asteroid YR4 might miss earth; will it miss the moon, too?

Discovery and Classification

• Asteroid 2024 YR4 was discovered in December 2024 using the ATLAS telescope in Chile.
• Classified as a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) — orbits within 1.3 AU of the Sun.
• Initially feared as a threat to Earth; prompted NASA’s highest-ever asteroid alert in February 2025.

Relevance : GS 3(Science ,Technology)

Impact Risk Analysis

• Early estimate: 3.1% chance of Earth impact in 2032.
• Latest data: Negligible chance of Earth impact, but 3.8% chance of hitting the Moon on 22 December 2032.
• Size: Estimated 65 meters wide — not large enough to be a “potentially hazardous object” (which requires >140 m width).

Trajectory Tracking and Modelling

• Asteroid orbits determined using:
  • Ground-based visible light telescopes.
  • Infrared observations from James Webb Space Telescope.
• Orbital models are refined with more data to improve impact predictions.
• NASA uses the Torino Scale for threat assessment — YR4 was at Level 3, now downgraded.

Potential Moon Impact

• If YR4 hits the Moon:
  • Expected crater size: 500 to 2,000 metres.
  • Explosion would release energy 340 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.
  • Moon’s orbit will remain unaffected.

Visibility and Scientific Value

• Impact flash may or may not be visible from Earth — depends on Moon’s brightness and impact location.
• Could yield valuable data on lunar regolith and surface composition.
• Spacecraft like Chandrayaan-2 could capture the event.

Broader Implications

• Asteroids remain an ongoing threat — e.g., the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor caused serious damage.
• Larger impacts could induce climate change by injecting dust into Earth’s atmosphere.
• However, asteroid impacts are preventable with early detection and tracking — offering hope for planetary defense.