13-02-2024 CARE mains practice

Topic- Social Issues:

Introduction:

India is home to nearly 30 million orphaned and abandoned children. But Long-winding adoption procedures result in just a fraction of them finding a home. As an alternative to parental care, there is great merit in extending state support to foster care and foster parents.

Body :

• Importance of foster care
• Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Act
• Mission Vatsalya
• Challenges
• Remedial Measures

Conclusion :

Foster care offers a family-based support system for children who are not with their biological parents. Implementing community-centric family-based care, such as through schemes like Mission Vatsalya, can significantly improve the situation for these vulnerable children.  However, addressing the shortcomings in the implementation of the foster care program requires a collective effort from civil societies and the government.

 

UPSC Syllabus Social Issues:

Child labour deprives children of their right to go to school and reinforces intergenerational cycles of poverty. Comment. (UPSC Main 2021)

Introduction
India is home to nearly 30 million orphaned and abandoned children. But Long-winding adoption procedures result in just a fraction of them finding a home. As an alternative to parental care, there is great merit in extending state support to foster care and foster parents.

Body Status : 

Importance of foster care

• As an alternative to parental care, foster care has been implemented as a community-based solution.
• Foster care is different from adoption where the child severs all ties with his natural/biological parents.
• As it is universally acknowledged that a child needs a family for his/her growth and development, the foster care in a family is being widely recognized as a preferred alternative to institutionalization.
• Foster care has the added security of regular follow-ups on the well-being of the child, compared to legal adoption where there is little or no follow-up.

 

Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Act

• It streamlined adoption procedures for orphans, abandoned and surrendered children and the existing Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has been given the status of a statutory body to enable it to perform its function more effectively
• Child Welfare Committees must be set up in every district. Both must have at least one woman member each.

 

Mission Vatsalya

• Mission Vatsalya, launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, ensures children’s safety and security in India.
• Child Welfare and Protection Committee (CW&PC) at village level will identify the children who are eligible for support likely to be in difficult circumstances, orphans, street children etc.
• These children will be facilitated under the sponsorship component of Mission Vatsalya Scheme.
• Sponsorship facilities will be provided based on the recommendation of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and approval from the Sponsorship and Foster Care Approval Committee (SFCAC).
• ChildLine (1098), the 24-hour toll free helpline for children in distress, will be manned by the Home Affairs Ministry under Mission Vatsalya.

 

Challenges

• Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Act puts entire onus of children’s welfare on District Magistrates, ignoring the fact that the DMs are over-burdened authorities.
• Currently, foster homes in India can only accommodate around 500,000 children at a time, with an average duration of stay of two years per child.
• Under the guidelines released by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2016, children in the age group of 6-18 years, whose parents are unable to care for them due to reasons such as mental illness, poverty, or imprisonment, can be placed in foster care.
• However, the lack of awareness among village-level child protection committees, insufficient frontline workers dedicated to child protection, limited emphasis on identifying eligible foster parents, and the apathetic attitude of appropriate authorities have hindered the foster care process.
• Gaps in data collection, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on the status and progress of children in need is a challenge faced by agencies.
• There are socio-cultural barriers and stigma associated with children in need, especially those belonging to marginalized groups.

Conclusion

Foster care offers a family-based support system for children who are not with their biological parents. Implementing community-centric family-based care, such as through schemes like Mission Vatsalya, can significantly improve the situation for these vulnerable children.  However, addressing the shortcomings in the implementation of the foster care program requires a collective effort from civil societies and the government.

Topic- Important Geophysical Phenomena

Introduction
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) plays a significant role in regulating global climate patterns and has a profound impact on various climate systems. However, the system is getting eroded by the faster-than-expected melt-off of glaciers in Greenland and ice sheets in the Arctic Circle, which provides freshwater into the sea and causes obstruction in the sinking of warmer, saltier water from the south.

Body

• Concept
• Factors responsible for formation
• Significance
• Adverse Changes

Conclusion

AMOC, which encompasses the Gulf Stream’s parts and other powerful currents, is a major marine conveyor belt which contains carbon, nutrients and heat from the tropics towards the Arctic Circle, where it sinks and cools into the deep ocean. Further research and analysis are needed to fully comprehend the complexities of this circulation pattern and its future implications for our climate system.

 

UPSC Syllabus Important Geophysical Phenomena

Why was this question asked?

Define the concept of carrying capacity of an ecosystem as relevant to an environment. Explain how understanding this concept is vital while planning for the sustainable development of a region. (UPSC Mains 2019)

Introduction:

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) plays a significant role in regulating global climate patterns and has a profound impact on various climate systems. However, the system is getting eroded by the faster-than-expected melt-off of glaciers in Greenland and ice sheets in the Arctic Circle, which provides freshwater into the sea and causes obstruction in the sinking of warmer, saltier water from the south.

Body Status

Concept

• The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a crucial component of the Earth’s climate system.
• It is a large-scale ocean current that circulates warm surface waters from the tropics to the North Atlantic, where they cool and sink to the deep ocean, then flow southward.

Factors responsible for formation

• The AMOC is driven by a combination of factors, including differences in temperature and salinity in the Atlantic Ocean, Warm, salty surface waters from the Gulf Stream flow northward, carrying heat from the tropics towards higher latitudes.
• As these waters reach the North Atlantic, they cool down, become denser, and sink to the deep ocean.
• sinking process is known as deepwater formation and is a critical part of the AMOC. 

   

Significance

• The significance of the AMOC on climate systems is immense.
• Regulates regional and global climate patterns- The transport of warm surface waters towards the North Atlantic leads to a milder climate in Europe, particularly in countries like the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. This phenomenon, keeps these regions relatively warm compared to other regions at similar latitudes.
• Crucial role in the Earth’s heat distribution- By transporting warm surface waters towards the poles, it helps distribute heat from the tropics to higher latitudes. This process contributes to the overall balance of heat across the planet, influencing weather patterns and climate stability.
• Affects the global carbon cycle- The sinking of dense, cold waters in the North Atlantic leads to the transport of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the deep ocean. This process helps regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, which is crucial for mitigating climate change.

 

Adverse Shift

• The researchers found that AMOC is already moving towards an abrupt shift. This kind of change has not taken place in more than 10,000 years and would have dire implications for major parts of the world.
• The Atlantic Ocean’s circulation has been moving towards a tipping point which is “bad news for the climate system and humanity”, according to a new study.
• The scientists, who have carried out the research, said that they were shocked seeing the expected forecast speed of collapse once the tipping point is reached. However, they added that it was not yet possible to predict how soon the tipping point will be reached.
• By using past data and computer models, the researchers have developed an early warning indicator to understand the breakdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), which is a vast system of ocean currents and is an important component in global climate regulation.

Conclusion

AMOC, which encompasses the Gulf Stream’s parts and other powerful currents, is a major marine conveyor belt which contains carbon, nutrients and heat from the tropics towards the Arctic Circle, where it sinks and cools into the deep ocean. Further research and analysis are needed to fully comprehend the complexities of this circulation pattern and its future implications for our climate system.