Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Lane downgraded to tropical storm as downpours flood Hawaii’s Big Island

News

• Hurricane Lane crept closer toward the heart of the Hawaiian islands as it weakened into a tropical storm while still drenching the Big Island with torrential rains and severe, widespread flooding, weather and civil defense officials said.

Beyond News

• Lane, with maximum sustained winds diminishing to near 70 mph (110 kph), was forecast to make its nearest approach to land just west of the island chain over the weekend, bringing tropical storm-force conditions to Maui and the state’s most populous island, Oahu.
• Farther north, a tropical storm watch was posted for the island of Kauai.
• The biggest immediate danger was posed by flooding and mudslides that could grow worse the longer the storm lingers close to the U.S. Pacific island chain, soaking the landscape.
• Lane was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, then to a Category 1, the lowest ranking on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, as it churned through the Pacific south of Oahu, the National Weather Service said. It was downgraded again to a tropical storm shortly local time as its maximum sustained wind speeds fell below 74 mph.
• More than 2 feet (60 cm) of rain had fallen in a 36-hour period by on the Big Island’s windward side, where the Weather Service reported “catastrophic flooding” and wind gusts peaking at 67 mph (108 kph). Eaton said some parts of the island had received nearly 3 feet of rain.
• Flash flooding and mudslides on the Big Island have also forced a number of road closures and Governor David Ige urged residents to avoid any unnecessary travel.

ASI plan for making Charminar encroachments-free

News

• The Archaeological Survey of India put up a strong case for clearing encroachments in and around Charminar for guaranteed protection of the 425-year-old heritage monument.

Beyond News

• ASI Superintending Archaeologist of Hyderabad Circle said the monument faces grave threat due to encroachments and ill-designed and executed civic engineering work near the site.
• Part of the temple abutting the site has now encroached into the minaret. They are unable to carry out any conservation work in a vast space in that area.
• The recent pedestrianisation project by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was carried out without consulting them. The pipelines have a number of joints due to curvature leaving scope for leakages.
• Part of the problem is there are no revenue maps to clearly define the boundaries of monuments. This problem is hampering ASI’s work in almost all of the 3,668 monuments under its protection. They have British-era notifications, or as in Hyderabad, Nizam-era notifications, which name a monument but don’t give a demarcation of the area in terms of extent and directions.

The ASI official listed out the difficulties faced by the organisation for carrying out repair and conservation work on Charminar.

Air pollution cuts Indian lifespan by 1.5 years

News

• Ambient air pollution shortens an average Indian’s life by over 1.5 years, say scientists who suggest that better air quality could lead to a significant extension of human lifespan around the world.

Findings

• Researchers said that if PM2.5 concentrations worldwide were limited to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) air quality guideline concentration of 10 microgrammes per square cubic metre, the global life expectancy would be on average 0.59 year longer.
• The benefit of reaching the stringent target would be especially large in countries with the highest current levels of pollution, with approximately 0.8-1.4 years of additional survival in countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China.
• This is the first time data on air pollution and lifespan has been studied together in order to examine the global variations to find out how they affect the overall life expectancy.
• The researchers looked at outdoor air pollution from particulate matter (PM) smaller than 2.5 microns. These fine particles can enter deep into the lungs, and breathing PM2.5 is associated with increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, respiratory diseases and cancer.
• 5 pollution comes from power plants, cars and trucks, fires, agriculture and industrial emissions.
• They found that the life expectancy impact of ambient PM2.5 is especially large in polluted countries such as Bangladesh (1.87 years), Egypt (1.85 years), Pakistan (1.56 years), Saudi Arabia (1.48 years), Nigeria (1.28 years), and China (1.25 years).
• India had a life expectancy impact of 1.53 years, according to the study.
• The team used data from the Global Burden of Disease Study to measure PM2.5 air pollution exposure and its consequences in 185 countries.
• They then quantified the national impact on life expectancy for each individual country as well as on a global scale.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

NITI Aayog to focus on health, education sectors

News

• NITI Aayog has identified three major sectors, health, education and children’s health as priority sectors for intervention, said NITI Aayog Vice-Chairperson.

Beyond News

• As per the Odisha Facts released on the occasion, anaemia among women and children is highest in ST and Christian population in the State.
• More than 50% of women across all caste and social groups, except for in Muslims, suffer from anaemia, in Odisha.
• Stating that the goal of ‘Universalisation of Education’ has been achieved, he said:It is time to assess the States on the quality parameter. NITI Aayog is preparing a mechanism to rank States on the basis of education quality achieved.
• Similarly, the Centre is planning to set up 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres across India as the existing primary health centres were not functioning properly.
• The new health centres would have tele-medicine facilities apart from other modern equipment, he added.
• The three-day-long Odisha Vikash Conclave-2018 got under way with hundreds of civil society members sharing best practices in the sector.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

 ‘Re-seeding’ Kerala and Kodagu

News

• For many who are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, it is going to be a start from scratch. A not-for-profit headquartered in Bengaluru is now offering to help farmers with the first steps.

Beyond News

• Annadana Soil and Seed Savers Network, which, among other things, conserves heritage seeds, plans to donate indigenous vegetable seeds to “bring back the diversity that has been lost in the devastating floods in Kerala and Kodagu”.
• These species, were taken from the same places that they will be going back to and include ginger, turmeric, chilli, brinjal, tomato, gourds, and radish.
• Annadana has been conserving heritage seeds for 17 years. Each year, around 20,000 to 30,000 seeds are given to farmers.
• They participate in seed exchange and sharing sessions and we have varieties collected during our visits to Kerala. They plan to give these indigenous seeds to Kerala and connect them back with them. After these floods, there is a need to revive the diversity that has been lost.
• With the full impact of the devastation yet to be known, making it difficult to know the number of farmers affected and the number of seeds required, the NGO intends to distribute the free seeds to farmers in Kerala and Kodagu through networks of farmers. It also plans to offer technical expertise as well in helping farmers regenerate their soil through its ‘empowered farmers’ who double as master trainers.

ISRO telemedicine nodes for soldiers in high-altitude areas

News

• In a major effort to improve emergency medical support to soldiers posted in high-altitude areas, especially Siachen, the Integrated Defence Staff of the Defence Ministry and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed a memorandum of understanding to set up telemedicine nodes in critical places across the country.

Beyond News

• ISRO will establish 53 more nodes in the first phase over and above the existing 20, in various establishments of the Army, Navy and Air Force across the country.
• As part of this, in addition to a functioning node on the Siachen glacier, four more nodes are being established to enable medical consultation between soldiers deployed on the glacier and medical echelons in the rear.
• During winter months, many of the remote posts are cut off for several months because of adverse terrain and extreme weather, making emergency evacuation near impossible. Communication through satellite-enabled telemedicine nodes will be a paradigm shift in the delivery of lifesaving health care till the weather clears up and movement is possible.
• This joint initiative by ISRO and the Armed ForcesMedical Services will transform the reach of telemedicine to soldiers, airmen and sailors in remote and isolated posts, the official added.

Kolkata best megacity, Delhi worst in commute pollution: CSE

News

• An analysis of 14 cities in India, including six mega cities and eight metropolises, on how they fare when it comes to pollution and energy consumption from urban commuting, places Kolkata as the top-performing megacity.
• Bhopal leads the list on the lowest overall emissions. Delhi and Hyderabad are the two cities that fare at the bottom of the table in terms of pollution and energy use.

Findings

• Air pollutionwas a national crisis and road transport was the sector showing the highest increase in emission of greenhouse gases.
• Motorisation in India is explosive. Initially, it took 60 years (1951-2008) for India to cross the mark of 105 million registered vehicles. Thereafter, the same number of vehicles was added in a mere six years (2009-15).
• In the study, with an aggregate of toxic emissions from urban commuting practices, such as particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, the cities were ranked based on calculations of heat trapping (CO2).
• The study took two approaches to rank the cities, one based on overall emission and energy consumption and the other on per person trip emissions and energy consumption.
• Six megacities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad) and eight metropolitan cities (Bhopal, Lucknow, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi and Vijayawada) were evaluated.
• In terms of overall emissions and energy consumption, Bhopal was followed by Vijayawada, Chandigarh and Jaipur. Kolkata, which comes in at the sixth place on overall emissions, won among the six megacities. In fact, smaller cities such as Ahmedabad and Pune ranked below Kolkata for overall emissions.
• Delhi ranked at the bottom of the table for overall emission. Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai fared a little better than Delhi.
• According to the report, though metropolitan cities scored better than megacities due to lower population, lower travel volume and lower vehicle numbers, they were at risk due to a much higher share of personal vehicle trips.

Disaster management authority expanded

News

• Aiming at consolidating efforts by government agencies in the face of natural disasters, the State government has recently expanded the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority.

Beyond News

• The hitherto nine-member panel has been increased by two to include the Secretaries of the School and Higher Education Departments, according to a notification issued by the State government.
• The Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority with the Chief Minister as its Chairperson also has Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management, Chief Secretary, Secretaries of Revenue and Disaster Management, Finance, Home, Higher Education, School Education, Commissioner of Revenue Administration as members.
• Two from the academics Director, Centre for Disaster Management and Mitigation of Anna University and the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering in the Indian Institute of Technology Madras are also members on the panel.
• The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) was constituted about a decade ago to take policy decisions and lay down guidelines for disaster management in the State. A State Executive Committee would also assist the SDMA and monitor disaster management activities on a regular basis.
• The SDMA approves the State Disaster Management Plan and District Disaster Management Plans in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the National Disaster Management Authority.

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