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Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Idukki forest fires put wild animals on the run

News

  • With forest fires being the order of the day, wild animals are increasingly venturing out of the forests to safe areas.

Beyond News

  • A large number of elephants and wild gaurs have come down the hills of Vattavada and staying put at Kundala and Chenduvarai.
  • The animals also camped in the shola forests and grantis plantations.
  • Recently, wild animals were coming out of the forests at Munnar, Marayur, and Chinnar with a severe drought situation prevailing there, posing a threat to estate workers living in the tea plantations.
  • Herds of wild elephants from Vattavada were increasingly reaching the Kundala and Mattuoetty dam areas for water.
  • Though wild animals such as elephant and gaur migrate to escape fires, the damage to biodiversity will be huge considering the impact on reptiles, small animals, and creatures that may lead to loss of an ecosystem.
  • The Munnar and Anchunadu areas witnessed one of the huge forest fires in recent times. It is estimated that over 1,000 ha of forests, plantations, and grasslands had been destroyed in the calamity.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Pakistan to release 100 fishermen next week

News

  • Pakistan will release 100 jailed Indian fishermen, diplomatic sources on both sides have confirmed.

Beyond News

  • Pakistani officials have intimated India that the 100 fishermen will be released from prison on April 7 and taken to the Wagah border for repatriation to India the next day.
  • Pakistan’s move comes a few days after India made a special appeal in a Note Verbale sent to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi asking for the release of a total of 385 Indian fishermen and 10 civilian prisoners.
  • The sources said Pakistan planned to repatriate a total of 360 prisoners, including five civilians in this month, in weekly batches of 100. The last batch would be released by April 29.
  • This is one of the biggest such release of fishermen who inadvertently cross into Pakistan waters and are arrested. In September 2010, Pakistan released 442 Indian fishermen.
  • MEA officials confirmed that arrangements were on for the first batch of fishermen, many of whom are from Diu.
  • The Pakistan High Commission has conveyed that more than 50 Pakistani fishermen and civilians who have completed their prison terms and formalities are awaiting repatriation by India.

Indo-US military exercise concludes

News

  • The month-long military training exercise of United States military forces from the 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) with the Indian National Security Guard concluded.

Beyond News

  • The month-long exercise prepared US and Indian soldiers for a wide range of challenging scenarios and included emergency medical training as well as combat marksmanship, urban close-quarter combat and integrated full-mission training.
  • The exercise provided soldiers hands-on experience in real urban settings, such as hotels and transportation hubs, in preparation for the possibility of terror attacks on vulnerable soft targets.
  • These training events are part of US Indo-Pacific Command’s Theater Security Cooperation Programme, conducted by the US military with a select group of nations in the Indo-Pacific region to enhance coordination and capabilities.
  • The US military works alongside India to increase interoperability, build partner capacity, prevent conflict and promote regional strength and peace throughout the Indo-Pacific.
  • US has recognised India as a major defense partner. Military collaboration between the two countries is a result of growing high-level trust and consistent efforts by both sides to broaden the ways in which the US and India can work together.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Kerala forests home to new spider species

News

  • A group of jumping spiders that mostly occur in Eurasia and Africa, has been spotted for the first time in Ernakulam’s Illithodu forests by arachnologists.
  • The team also found that the spider belonging to the genus (a taxonomic classification above species) Habrocestum is a species new to science.

Findings

  • The team came across the different-looking spiders six of them, predominantly brownish-black in colour with white and creamy-yellow patches while conducting a routine survey for ground-dwelling spiders in the Illithodu reserve forests of the Malayatoor forest division, barely 60 km from here.
  • Back in their laboratory, they examined the physical features of males and females. They also compared these to similar-looking spider specimens collected earlier from the Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary.
  • A detailed examination of the spiders’ physical features revealed that they belong to the genus Habrocestumthat has been recorded mostly in Eurasia and Africa and never in India, till now.
  • Comparisons with studies of European Habrocestum spiders revealed that the spiders from Illithode are a new species altogether, for they had distinctly different reproductive organs.
  • The spider also has a single long spine on the underside of both its first legs, and this gave it its scientific name Habrocestumlongispinum (after Latin ‘longe’meaning long and ‘spinae’ for spine).
  • It measures just around 2 mm and seems to prefer dry habitats, dwelling in forest litter.
  • The study extends the range of these spiders to India. The discovery also lends support to the continental drift theory that suggests that the world’s continents were one large, contiguous landmass where these creatures thrived many millions of years ago.

Wildfire spreads to more areas of Pampadum Shola

News

  • Even as the authorities are trying hard to put out a wildfire that engulfed large areas of Munnar and Anchunadu forests, it spread to more areas of the biodiversity-rich Pampadum Shola National Park.

Beyond News

  • Wildfire of such magnitude had hitherto never been reported in the area and heavy damage has been suspected to the flora and fauna on the western side of the environmentally sensitive Western Ghats.
  • The fire in the Kurinji sanctuary has put the spotlight on the Nilgiri tahr as its breeding season had just come to an end. An official said the fire in the sanctuary was under control.
  • As per an unofficial estimate, over 1,000 ha of forestland, grasslands, and grantis and eucalyptus had been destroyed in the fire. A team of about 250 members, including local people and Forest Department staff, were trying hard to control the fire raging at various locations.
  • Department sources said the counter-measures had been found ineffective due to the topography of the area and the fire moving in various directions.

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