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Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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India’s population grew at 1.2 % average annual rate between 2010 and 2019: UN report

News

  • India’s population grew at an average annual rate of 1.2 per cent between 2010 and 2019 to 1.36 billion, more than double the annual growth rate of China, according to a report by the United Nations Population Fund.

Findings

  • India’s population in 2019 stood at 1.36 billion, growing from 942.2 million in 1994 and 541.5 million in 1969.
  • India’s population grew at average annual rate of 1.2 per cent between 2010 and 2019, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency said in the State of World Population 2019 report.
  • In comparison, China’s population stood at 1.42 billion in 2019, growing from 1.23 billion in 1994 and 803.6 million in 1969.
  • China’s population grew at an average annual rate of 0.5 per cent between 2010 and 2019.
  • According to the report, in India, total fertility rate per woman was 5.6 in 1969, dropping to 3.7 in 1994 and 2.3 in 2019.
  • India recorded an improvement in life expectancy at birth. The life expectancy at birth in 1969 was 47 years, growing to 60 years in 1994 and 69 years in 2019.
  • 27 % of the country’s population was in the age bracket of 0-14 years and 10-24 years each, while 67 % of the country’s population was in the 15-64 age bracket.
  • Six per cent of the country’s population was of the age 65 and above.
  • Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the country dropped from 488 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1994 to 174 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2015.
  • The report includes, for the first time, data on women’s ability to make decisions over three key areas: sexual intercourse with their partner, contraception use and health care.
  • According to the analysis, the absence of reproductive and sexual rights has a major and negative repercussions on women’s education, income and safety, leaving them “unable to shape their own futures”.
  • Early marriage continues to present a major cultural obstacle to female empowerment and better reproductive rights, the UNFPA report said.
  • Looking ahead to future challenges, the UN agency highlights the threat to women’s and girls’ reproductive rights posed by emergencies caused by conflict or climate disasters.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Report reveals risk to cloud platform

News

  • Cybercriminals attempted attacks on a Mumbai cloud server honeypot more than 6,78,000 times in a month, which was second to Ohio in the U.S. that recorded more than 9,50,000 login attempts, among a total of 10 honeypots placed globally, global cybersecurity major Sophos said.

Beyond News

  • The honeypots were set up in 10 of the most popular Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres in the world, including California, Frankfurt, Ireland, London, Ohio, Paris, Sao Paulo, Singapore and Sydney over a 30-day-period from mid-January to mid-February.
  • A honeypot is a system intended to mimic likely targets of cyberattackers for security researchers to monitor cybercriminal behaviour.
  • According to the report, ‘Exposed: Cyberattacks on Cloud Honeypots’, over five million attacks were attempted on the global network of honeypots, thus, demonstrating how cybercriminals are automatically scanning for weak open cloud buckets.
  • Cloud servers were subjected to 13 attempted attacks per minute, per honeypot, on an average.
  • With businesses across the globe increasingly adopting cloud technology, the report revealed the extent to which businesses migrating to hybrid and all-cloud platforms are at risk.

India stares at pile of solar e-waste

News

  • By 2050, India will likely stare at a pile of a new category of electronic waste, namely solar e-waste, says a study.
  • Currently, India’s e-waste rules have no laws mandating solar cell manufacturers to recycle or dispose waste from this sector.

Findings

  • India’s PV (photovoltaic) waste volume is estimated to grow to 200,000 tonnes by 2030 and around 1.8 million tonnes by 2050.
  • India is among the leading markets for solar cells in the world, buoyed by the government’s commitment to install 100 GW of solar power by 2022. So far, India has installed solar cells for about 28 GW and this is largely from imported solar PV cells.
  • Solar cell modules are made by processing sand to make silicon, casting silicon ingots, using wafers to create cells and then assembling them to make modules.
  • India’s domestic manufacturers are largely involved in assembling cells and modules.
  • These modules are 80% glass and aluminium, and non-hazardous. Other materials used, including polymers, metals, metallic compounds and alloys, and are classified as potentially hazardous, says the study.
  • Despite the e-waste regulation being in place for over seven years, only less than 4% of estimated e-waste is recycled in the organised sector as per the latest estimates from the Central Pollution Control Board, say the the report.

Kerala’s bad times with weather continues

News

  • Kerala’s bad times with weather continues. Less than eight months after the disastrous floods, the State is reeling under a severe heat wave.

Beyond News

  • Since summer began, four people have died and nearly 1,000 have suffered sunburn and sunstroke.
  • Wildfires, often caused by humans, have destroyed large tracts of forests.
  • The Kerala Disaster Management Authority has warned people, including politicians on election campaign, against venturing out in the sun.
  • The temperature rose to 41 degrees Celsius in some parts of Kerala against an average high of 36 degrees. The India Met Department has called for vigil as all districts except Wayanad are projected to see a rise in temperature by two or three degrees.
  • Summer showers have mostly stayed away. The vanishing of ponds, streams and rivulets and the emergence of concrete jungles are being blamed for the unwelcome change in temperature.

Work to restore capacity of Cholavaram reservoir begins

News

  • Cholavaram reservoir, one of the water bodies that supplies drinking water to Chennai, will have more capacity to store water this year. After several months of planning, work started recently to desilt the lake.

Beyond News

  • Nearly 1,200 lorry loads of silt had already been removed from Cholavaram reservoir. The desilting exercise would help enhance the lake’s storage by about 250 million cubic feet (mcft). Nearly 38 lakh cubic metres of silt is expected to be removed from the lake to restore it to its original capacity. The Rs. 5.42 crore project also includes improvement works.
  • The WRD aims to restore original capacity of all four reservoirs serving the city by removal of silt deposited in them. It also expects to net a revenue of Rs. 700 crore from the sale of silt.
  • While the improvement works are expected to be completed in a year, the desilting exercise may take up to five years. Once the work is completed, the reservoirs would have 2,000 mcft of additional capacity.
  • The reservoirs are now able to store only 80% of their capacity of 11,257 mcft. This work would help avoid flooding and provide drinking water to the city for a more months.

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