Prelims Focus 14th May 2025

Mission D3

In News: Mission D-3 is a grassroots social reform movement launched in November 2024 by tribal youths in the Bhil and Bhilala-dominated districts of Jhabua and Alirajpur, western Madhya Pradesh. The initiative aims to eliminate three costly and socially detrimental practices from tribal weddings: dahej (dowry), daroo (liquor), and DJ music.

Objectives and Rationale

• Financial Relief: Poor tribal families were often forced to spend ₹1–5 lakh on dowry, liquor, and DJ music for weddings, leading many into debt traps with private moneylenders.
• Social Upliftment: The movement seeks to promote simple, debt-free marriages and prevent the cycle of post-wedding migration for loan repayment.
• Cultural Preservation: By replacing DJ music with traditional instruments like dhols and madals, the campaign revives indigenous cultural practices.

Implementation and Community Involvement

• Leadership: Mission D-3 was initiated by social activist Nitesh Alawa and quickly gained support from local leaders, police, and elected representatives.
• Community-Driven: The movement spread rapidly through awareness meetings, public participation, and endorsement by influential figures, including MLAs and ministers.
• Visible Change: Families across Jhabua and Alirajpur have started organizing marriages without dowry, liquor, or DJs, opting instead for traditional celebrations.

Social and Economic Impact

• Debt Prevention: The campaign has saved many families from falling into debt, reducing the need for migration to repay wedding loans.
• Empowerment: The initiative has empowered tribal communities to challenge entrenched customs and assert control over social practices.
• Role Model: Mission D-3 serves as a case study in ethical leadership, grassroots activism, and community-led social reform, relevant for governance and policy discussions.

Illegal sand mining in the Chambal area:

In News:  Despite the Chambal River’s status as one of India’s cleanest rivers and its critical role as a sanctuary for endangered species like the gharial, Gangetic dolphin, and Indian skimmer, rampant illegal sand mining has become widespread in the region, particularly across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. 

• Loss of Critical Habitat: The removal of sand from riverbanks destroys crucial nesting and basking sites for endangered species such as the gharial, turtles, and several bird species, leading to a decline in their populations.
• Disruption of River Ecology: Illegal sand mining alters the natural course and depth of the river, which can result in increased sedimentation, reduced water quality, and disruption of aquatic food chains.
• Threat to Human Livelihoods: Many local communities depend on the Chambal for fishing, agriculture, and tourism. The degradation of the river’s ecosystem directly impacts their livelihoods and food security.
• Weak Enforcement and Corruption: Despite legal protections and periodic crackdowns, enforcement remains weak due to corruption, lack of resources, and sometimes collusion between local authorities and sand mafias.
• Violence and Lawlessness: The lucrative nature of illegal sand mining has led to the rise of powerful sand mafias, who often resort to violence and intimidation against law enforcement officers, activists, and journalists.
• Undermining Conservation Efforts: Years of conservation work in the National Chambal Sanctuary are being undone, with flagship species like the gharial and river dolphins facing renewed threats to their survival.
• Interstate Coordination Issues: The Chambal flows through multiple states, making coordinated regulation and monitoring challenging. Differences in state policies and enforcement further complicate effective management.

Need for Sustainable Alternatives: There is an urgent need to promote sustainable alternatives to river sand, such as manufactured sand (M-sand), and to implement stricter regulations and community-based monitoring to protect the river’s ecological integrity.

Yala Glacier

In News: Glaciologists and local communities mourned the loss of Nepal’s Yala glacier, believed to be the primary Nepalese glacier to be declared “dead”.

• Location: It is situated in Langtang National Park, in Nepal’s Himalayan region.
• Altitude: It lies at an elevation of approximately 5,000 meters above sea level.
• Type: It is a small plateau glacier frequently used as an education site for glaciological research and mountain climbing.
• Size: It has shrunk by 66% and retreated 784 meters since the 1970s. It is predicted to vanish completely by 2040.
• Glaciers Lost Earlier
  • Lemthang Glacier, Bhutan: Vanished after a glacial lake outburst flood in 2017.
  • OK Glacier in Iceland (2019): First glacier in the world to be declared “dead.”
  • Pizol Glacier, Switzerland (2019):  The glacier had lost more than 80% of its volume since 2006.
  • Ayoloco Glacier, Mexico, 2021
  • Basòdino Glacier, Switzerland, 2021.

Most Favoured Nation

In News: The United States President signed an authority order to decrease the cost of pharmaceuticals describing the move as the “most desired country’s policy.

• Aim: The MFN precept was designed to prevent countries from giving different treatment to one member over the other.
• Each member treats all of the different contributors similarly as “most-favoured” trading companions. 
• If a country improves the benefits that it gives to 1 trading companion, it has to present the identical “exceptional” treatment to all the different World Trade Organization (WTO) members so that they all remain “most-favoured”.
• Principle: It seeks to replace the frictions and distortions of strength- based (bilateral) rules with the ensures of a regulations based framework in which trading rights do not rely on the individuals’ monetary or political clout.
• Countries outside the WTO: Countries including Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Belarus aren’t part of WTO & WTO members can impose anything trade measures they wish without flouting global trading guidelines.
• Exceptions: There can be exceptions to permit for preferential remedy of developing countries, nearby free trade areas and customs unions.

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