Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Forest fires threatening Odisha’s flora and fauna

News

• Odisha had registered a sudden jump in forest fires across the State resulting in massive damage to flora and fauna.

Beyond News

• As many as 5,332 fire spots had been noticed since November 1 last, the beginning of forest fire season, in the State. The month of March had alone registered 4,495 fire spots.
• Southern Odisha looked red in the map provided by Forest Fire Geo Portal of Forest Survey. In Koraput, the southernmost forest circle in Odisha, 2,809 fire spots had been detected since November. It was followed by Bhawanipatna with 622 fire incidences and Berhampur (601). Rourkela and Sambalpur division had relatively lower incidences with 416 and 355 fire spots detected during the same period.
• The month of April started with 11 fires on Monday as detected by Moderate resolution Imaging spectro-radiometer (MODIS) with a resolution of 1 km.
• Though forest department claimed to have mapped the forest divisions prone to fire and maintained more than 6,000-km long fire line in different forests ahead of the fire season, forests continue to be gutted.
• Given the vastness of forest areas and gigantic task, number of fire watchers engaged in fire-fighting appears to be too little.
• Apart from causing a huge loss to the timber and other fruit and leaf bearing trees and creepers of the forest, fires also destroy wildlife and their habitat. Nests and eggs of ground dwelling birds are lost. Reptiles also lose their young ones due to forest fires.

22 kg of plastic found in dead whale’s belly

News

• An eight-metre sperm whale was found dead off Sardinia with 22 kg of plastic in its belly, prompting the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) to sound an alarm over the dangers of plastic waste in the Mediterranean Sea.

Beyond News

• The garbage recovered from the sperm whale’s stomach included a corrugated tube for electrical works, plastic plates, shopping bags, tangled fishing lines and a washing detergent package with its bar code still legible.
• The female whale beached off the northern coast of Sardinia last week, within the vast Pelagos marine sanctuary that was created as a haven for dolphins, whales and other sea life.
• WWF said plastic is one of the greatest threats to marine life and has killed at least five other whales over the last two years from Europe to Asia.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

SC questions Assam govt. over untraced foreign immigrants

News

• The Supreme Court questioned the Assam government’s efforts to trace over 70,000 illegal immigrants, who have already mixed with the local population in the State.

Beyond News

• A Ministry of Home Affairs affidavit shows that 91,609 persons were declared ‘illegal foreigners’ by the Foreigners Tribunals in Assam till March 2018. Of these, 72,486 are absconding.
• The Home Ministry explained that persons declared ‘illegal foreigners’ by the tribunals either abscond immediately or are already untraceable.
• Now, 829 persons declared ‘foreigners’ by the tribunals and 115 foreigners, who have completed their jail term, are lodged in the six jail-cum-detention centres in the State.
• The hearing saw the court criticise the policy of “pushing back” illegal foreigners to Bangladesh without enquiring about their country of origin.
• This was in the backdrop of the Home Ministry spelling out obstacles in the nationality verification process for illegal foreigners.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Groundwater system still exists on Mars

News

• Mars may still have an active groundwater system deep below the surface, and could be feeding surface streams in some areas on the Red Planet, a study has found.
• Last year, researchers detected the presence of a deep-water lake on Mars under its south polar ice caps.

Findings

• Researchers determined that groundwater likely exists in a broader geographical area than just the poles of Mars.
• They found that there is an active system, as deep as 750 metres, from which groundwater comes to the surface through cracks in the specific craters they analysed.
• Researchers studied the characteristics of Mars Recurrent Slope Linea, which are akin to dried, short streams of water that appear on some crater walls on Mars.
• Scientists previously thought these features were affiliated with surface water flow or close subsurface water flow.
• The scientists concluded that fractures within some of Mars’ craters, enabled water springs to rise up to the surface as a result of pressure deep below.
• These springs leaked onto the surface, generating the sharp and distinct linear features found on the walls of these craters.
• The study, suggests that groundwater might be deeper than previously thought in areas where such streams are observed on Mars.
• The findings suggest that the exposed part of these ground fractures associated with these springs as the primary location candidates to explore Mars’ habitability.

Corporation to tap solar energy

News

• By installing rooftop solar power plants in 662 buildings with a total capacity of 3,030 kilo watt (KW), the Greater Chennai Corporation plans to save ₹1 lakh per day on its power bill.

Beyond News

• Through funds from the Chennai Smart City Mission, the Corporation is implementing the solar energy project at a cost of ₹20 crore. The project will enable the civic body make huge savings in the power bills in the coming years.
• The solar project was proceeding fast, with many plants set to be commissioned by next month and linked to the power grid of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco).
• Apart from providing minimum power supply to the Corporation buildings, the rooftop plants provided with the net meter will help in evacuating surplus energy to the grid of the State’s electricity utility.
• All types of buildings, including unit offices, hospitals, schools, anganwadis and community halls, were being covered for installing the solar plants. The capacity of the solar power plants range from 1 KW to 100 KW.
• Though there are more than 2,000 buildings belonging to the civic body, 662 were identified in the first phase.

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