Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Quad countries discuss ocean security

News

• The Quad grouping is one of the many avenues for interaction among India, Australia, Japan and the US and should not be seen in an exclusive context, a senior Japanese diplomat said .

Beyond News

• Senior Japanese diplomat was speaking at the launch of a report on the policy recommendations on Indian Ocean security by four think tanks from the Quad countries at the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF).
• The other think tanks which include Australia National University, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Japan and Sasakawa Peace Foundation, USA, along with VIF formed the Quadripartite Commission on Indian Ocean Regional Security, which put out a series of 20 policy recommendations for stability in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• The report calls for maintaining the momentum of high-level consultations among the Quad countries with the aim of “free and open Info-Pacific region” and progressively move it to a political level.
• Australia, Japan, India and the US should work with countries in the IOR to help maintain independent security and economic policies by supporting high-quality alternatives to unilateral Chinese investments and political alignment with Chinese regional objectives, one of the recommendations.
• Another recommendation is that the four countries should work to oppose “the establishment of permanent Chinese military bases” in the IOR. This should include demonstrating to China that its security needs can be met “through cooperation and consultation with other nations” and without the recourse to a “disruptive unilateral military presence.”
• Calling the four countries to enhance sea land defence capabilities, the report stresses that naval fleets should evolve increasingly long range operations.
• In 2017, on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila, the Quad countries held discussions on reviving the decade-old grouping which is seen by China as an attempt to contain it.

India, Pakistan armies exchange sweets on LoC in Poonch on Id

News

• The armies of India and Pakistan exchanged sweets on the occasion of the Id-ul-Azha along Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Beyond News

• Indian and Pakistan army exchanged sweets on the occasion of Eid-al-Adha at Chakan Da Bagh Crossing point along the LoC in Poonch.
• Sweet exchange was proposed by Pakistan Army on hotline.
• Compliments were exchanged in an atmosphere of bonhomie and festivity.
• The sweets exchange is a gesture appreciated by both countries and is expected to go a long way in promoting peace, harmony and compassion in the true spirit of the festival.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

NASA tracks the rain behind Kerala floods

News

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released a video created using satellite data that provide an estimate of the intense rainfall over India in the past week and show the spread of the resulting severe flooding in Kerala and parts of Karnataka.

Beyond News

• Rainfall accumulations from August 13 to 20 show two bands of heavy rain across India, NASA said in a statement.
• The first band appears much broader and extends across the northern part of the peninsula with weekly rainfall totals ranging from over 5 inches towards the western half of the peninsula to as much as 14 inches over parts of the eastern half towards the Bay of Bengal. The first band is associated with the general monsoon circulation.
• The second band appears more concentrated and intense and is closely aligned with the southwest coast of India and the Western Ghats where onshore flow was enhanced by an area of low pressure embedded within the general monsoon. Weekly rainfall totals in this band are generally over 10 inches with embedded areas exceeding 16 inches. The maximum estimated value from the data in this band is 18.5 inches, NASA said.
• Another contributing factor to the heavy rain along the southwest coast of India is the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats, with many peaks over 2,000 metres, are well positioned to enhance rainfall along the west coast of India as they intercept the moisture laden air being drawn in off the warm waters of the northern Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea as part of the southwest monsoon circulation.
• The Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM is used to estimate precipitation from a combination of passive microwave sensors, including microwave sensor and infrared data.
• The data are generated every half an hour, thereby allowing scientists to track rainfall across the globe almost in real time. GPM is the Global Precipitation Measurement mission core satellite. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Agency, JAXA.

Govt. will meet Kerala’s needs through domestic efforts: MEA

News

• India has said a polite ‘no’ to offers of foreign assistance to the Kerala flood victims. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said India will rely on domestic resources for the State’s ongoing flood relief efforts.

Beyond News

• In line with the existing policy, the Government is committed to meeting the requirements for relief and rehabilitation through domestic efforts.
• It was the first time, since the floods struck Kerala, that the MEA clearly indicated India’s preference for domestic resources over foreign assistance.
• The spokesperson, however, indicated that certain foreign entities other than governments were welcome to contribute to disaster relief, and said that, Contributions to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund from NRIs, PIOs and international entities such as foundations would, however, be welcome.
• The formal declaration of India’s official position on foreign aid for flood relief in Kerala came hours after the ambassador of Thailand revealed that India was not accepting foreign offers for help.
• The message from the Thai ambassador and the statement from the MEA spokesperson settled the debate over the reported offer from the government of UAE to help flood relief with ₹700 crore.
• The total volume of financial support from the entire Gulf region (including UAE) is calculated to be far greater than the ₹600 crore that the government of India has declared for Kerala so far.
• However, the official position is in accordance with the existing standpoint regarding foreign assistance which stems from the fact that India is “capable” of dealing with natural calamities.
• It is understood that ‘as of now’ India will continue to deal with natural calamities in the way it has dealt with such episodes in the last 15 years when a convention to avoid foreign aid was adopted in the backdrop of the Gujarat earthquake of 2001 and the tsunami of 2004.
• However, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi has stated that his country is providing support to Kerala through institutions.

State Disaster Response Force on the anvil

News

• The Telangana State government is actively examining a proposal for setting up a dedicated State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) of its own for tackling the challenges posed by natural as well as man-made calamities.

Beyond News

• The Revenue (Disaster Management) Department had prepared a detailed action plan for the constitution of SDRF and the proposal had been sent to the Finance and other departments concerned for their consent.
• To be planned with 523 strong team, the SDRF will have well-trained and equipped personnel drawn from the police and fire departments for its operations. The teams will also consist of doctors, paramedics and experts in engineering to reduce vulnerability to the natural/man-made calamities.
• Senior officials said the constitution of SDRF was necessitated as the government had to requisition the services of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) which is headquartered at Mangalagiri in Guntur district
• The full-fledged operation of SDRF, according to officials, is expected to require around ₹700 crore investment that would include recurring and non-recurring costs incurred on various counts. The major expenditure from the proposed corpus is expected to be on account of procurement of sophisticated equipment along with vehicles and positioning the latest technologies that can be used during the calamities.
• Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Department had evolved a detailed State disaster management plan encompassing various factors like preparedness and capacity building, hazard vulnerability, risk analysis, rehabilitation and reconstruction, and mainstreaming disaster risk reduction. The plan would comprise standard operating procedures as prescribed by the National Disaster Management Authority as also district-specific risks for all the 30 districts, except Hyderabad.
• The plan would cover calamities due to extreme weather conditions, heat wave, floods/urban flooding, industrial & chemical hazards, epidemics and even stampedes.
• The overall effort has been to ensure effective coordination between the different departments of the government, private sector and Central government departments like railways in the times of calamities.

Kerala flood lesson for Assam: experts

News

• ‘Flood-experienced’Assam can learn a lesson from the Kerala deluge to avoid large-scale disaster, say water resources and ecology experts in the Northeast.
• The experts have found a similar pattern to recurrent floods in Assam up to four times a year between April and October and Kerala’s worst flood in 100 years that has claimed 357 lives so far.

Beyond News

• The most worrying similarity is a network of dams in the “control of other States” surrounding Kerala and Assam.
• Similar was the case in Assam’s Lakhimpur district last year because of the Ranganadi dam in Arunachal Pradesh while the Kurichu dam in Bhutan has often caused flooding in western Assam.
• A majority of 39 dams that affected Kerala are on inter-State rivers and under the control of neighbouring States such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The decision of how much water and when to be released is not within the purview of Kerala, which is suffering from downstream impact of those dams and the situation is similar for Assam.
• Arunachal Pradesh too is wary of the impact of big dams.
• The second lesson that Assam needs to learn from Kerala is the effect of rampant deforestation, mining, and quarrying.
• Kerala is by far one of the more developed States in terms of literacy and development planning, but it has suddenly been exposed like Tamil Nadu was during the devastating 2015 floods in 2015.
• Kerala is reaping the consequences of neglecting, like other Western Ghats States, the recommendations of the Gadgil and Kasturirangan panels against hydro-power projects in ecologically sensitive zones.
• Experts said micro-climate controlled by land use was the primary reason behind the catastrophe in Kerala though climate changewas the overriding factor.
• Rainfall in Kerala has been increasing after a dip in 2013, but the annual rainfall in many parts of the northeast is much higher than the southern coastal State. The densely populated floodplains of Assam thus have to worry because of changes in land use that have impacted the micro-climate adversely.

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