Indian Antarctic Bill 2022 listed for passing in Lok Sabha

Tags: National News

The Indian Antarctic Bill, 2022 has been listed for consideration and passed by the Lok Sabha.

About Indian Antarctic Bill 2022

• The Indian Antarctic Bill, 2022 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on April 1, 2022.

• The bill seeks to give effect to the Antarctic Treaty, the Convention on the Protection of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

• It also seeks to protect the Antarctic environment and regulate activities in the region.

Need for legislation

• India has been a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty since 1983 and it obliged India to specify a set of laws to govern the parts of the continent where India had research stations.

• The treaty made it mandatory for 54 signatory countries to specify laws governing the areas on which their stations are located.

• The exploitation of marine living resources and human presence in Antarctica also requires such legislation to protect the Antarctic environment and ocean.

About Antarctica

• It is the southernmost continent and the fifth largest continent on Earth.

• Antarctica is uninhabited except for about 40 permanent stations set up by many countries including India for scientific research.

• India has two research centres on the Antarctic continent - 'Maitri' and 'Bharati'.

• India has completed 40 scientific expeditions here under the Antarctic program so far.