Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Floods imperil Western Ghats ecology

News

• The intense rainfall that unleashed widespread devastation throughout Kerala earlier this month could have extracted a heavy toll on the rich biodiversity and ecology of the Western Ghats region, according to experts.

Beyond News

• The government has initiated steps for a rapid assessment of the biodiversity loss, prior to launching remedial measures for ecological restoration.
• The disaster is bound to have left a lasting impact on the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats.
• Everything from mammals to reptiles, amphibians, vegetation and microflora are likely to have been affected. It may take decades for the ecosystem to recover from the shock.
• Floods were likely to trigger a major shift in the diversity of flora, with invasive species taking over from endemic varieties. It could enhance the threat to Rare, Endangered and Threatened (RET) species, leaving them more vulnerable. The protracted spell of heavy rain is also feared to trigger virulent fungal infections in trees and plants.
• The impact of the floods on the riverine and aquatic systems is another area of concern for environmentalists and experts.

The department has joined hands with the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies to assess the impact of the rain and floods on the aquatic system.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

PM Modi arrives in Nepal to attend BIMSTEC Summit

News

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived to attend the 4th BIMSTEC Summit that will focus on enhancing regional connectivity and boosting trade.

Beyond News

• Prime Minister said that his participation in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in Kathmandu signals India’s highest priority to its neighbourhood and a strong commitment to continue deepening ties with the “extended neighbourhood” in South-East Asia.
• Prime Minister will interact with the leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand on the margins of the summit whose theme is ‘Towards a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Bay of Bengal region’
• The Summit’s theme,will enable the member-countries to shape a collective response to their common aspirations and challenges.
• The BIMSTEC is a regional grouping comprising Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. The grouping accounts for 22 % of the global population.

• Water discharge from China threatens to submerge Arunachal villages

  

  News

High discharge of water from China, the highest in 50 years, is threatening to submerge at least 12 villages flanking river Siang in Arunachal Pradesh.

• Beyond News
  • Deputy commissioner of Arunachal Pradesh’s East Siang district, had issued an advisory warning the people of the 12 villages to be on alert because of the sudden surge in the Siang’s water level. The villages are near district headquarters Pasighat, about 560 km northeast of Guwahati.
  • Deputy commissioner cited a report received by New Delhi from the Chinese government saying the Yarlung Zangbo (Tsangpo) was swelling with an observed discharge of 9,020 cumec due to heavy rainfall in Tibet.
  • But people in the 12 vulnerable villages in Mebo circle of East Siang district are worried. The Siang has already eroded 12 acres in Borguli village while at least 10 families of Seram village nearby have dismantled their houses and shifted to a safer location.
  • Hydrological experts said the “unusually high” discharge indicates sudden release of water from man-made barriers or a natural dam that was formed due to landslides caused by major earthquakes in the Tibetan region of China in November 2017.
  • Beijing later clarified that seepage through the blocked Tsangpo – upstream of Siang, which meets two other rivers to form the Brahmaputra in Assam downstream caused debris to flow down and result in turbidity of the Siang’s water.
  • A similar alert has been sounded in Assam’s Dibrugarh district downstream of Siang. Dibrugarh deputy commissioner asked officials to be prepared for a possible water surge.

Pentagon official cautions India over buying Russian arms

News

• A top Pentagon official cautioned India that there are no guarantees for a special waiver from U.S. sanctions if it buys new weapons platforms from Russia.

Beyond News

• Washington is alarmed at the prospect of India, an increasingly important US military ally and the world’s top defense importer, buying new systems from Russia, including its S-400 long-range, surface-to-air missile system.
• Under current US rules against Russia, developing countries could face sanctions if they transact with Russian defence or intelligence sectors.
• Pentagon’s Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, said the waiver authority had created the impression Washington would insulate India “from any fallout from this legislation no matter what they do.”
• The United States has in recent years pushed to forge closer diplomatic and military ties with India, a fellow democracy that it sees as key to countering China’s growing regional ambitions.
• India has increasingly turned to the United States and France for arms purchases, but is still reliant on Russian hardware and expertise to maintain its existing arsenal.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

NASA set to launch space laser to track Earth’s melting ice

News

• NASA is set to launch the most advanced laser instrument of its kind in to the space next month, to measure the changes in the heights of Earth’s polar ice in unprecedented detail.

Beyond News

• The Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) will measure the average annual elevation change of land ice covering Greenland and Antarctica to within the width of a pencil, capturing 60,000 measurements every second.
• ICESat-2 represents a major technological leap in our ability to measure changes in ice height. Its Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) measures height by timing how long it takes individual light photons to travel from the spacecraft to Earth and back.
• ATLAS will fire 10,000 times each second, sending hundreds of trillions of photons to the ground in six beams of green light. The roundtrip of individual laser photons from ICESat-2 to Earth’s surface and back is timed to the billionth of a second to precisely measure elevation.
• As it circles Earth from pole to pole, ICESat-2 will measure ice heights along the same path in the Polar Regions four times a year, providing seasonal and annual monitoring of ice elevation changes. Beyond the poles, ICESat-2 will measure the height of ocean and land surfaces, including forests.
• ATLAS is designed to measure both the tops of trees and the ground below, which combined with existing datasets on forest extent will help researchers estimate the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests. Researchers also will investigate the height data collected on ocean waves, reservoir levels, and urban areas.

Floating solar panels to be installed on dams

News

• The Marathwada Statutory Development Corporation has come up with a plan to install solar panels in the backwater of two dams to generate electricity.

Beyond News

• Jayakwadi dam in Aurangabad and Ujani dam in Solapur will be the sites of the solar power generation project.
• Jayakwadi dam, built on the Godavari river, is a key source of water to the arid region, while Ujani dam, built on the Bhima river, is the State’s largest dam in terms of water storage capacity.
• The corporation has held talks with private companies to find out if they are willing to invest in this project and operate such facilities.
• chairman of MSDC said such projects would reduce the government’s dependence on acquiring land, which is a long-drawn process, for setting up solar power plants.

Bees get hooked on harmful pesticide: study

News

• Bumblebees acquire a taste for food laced with a pesticide known to harm them, according to a study suggesting the chemicals pose an even greater threat to pollinators than previously thought.

Findings

• In experiments, researchers showed that bees initially put off by sugar water containing neonicotinoids the most widely-used class of insecticide worldwide soon started seeking them out to the exclusion of untainted food.
• Neonicotinoids, earlier research has shown, disrupt the ability of bees to reproduce and lower their resistance to disease. Neonicotinoids target nerve receptors in insects much in the way nicotine the addictive ingredient in tobacco does in humans and other mammals.
• Unlike contact pesticides, which remain on the plant surface, neonicotinoids are absorbed by seeds and transported to leaves, flowers, roots, and stems as the plant grows. Several countries have banned forms of the insecticide, mainly due to its impact on Nature’s little helpers.
• Widely used over the last two decades, neonicotinoids were designed to control sap-feeding insects such as aphids and root-feeding grubs.
• In recent years, fears have been growing over the declining health of bees globally, and the possible role of neonicotinoids. Pesticides have been blamed as a cause of colony collapse disorder, along with mites, viruses, and fungi, or some combination. The United Nations warned last year that 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators particularly bees and butterflies risk global extinction.

Cabinet clears ₹1,600-crore mission to map coasts

News

• India is set to get more disaster warning systems along its coasts. While it already has a tsunami warning system in place, the new systems will keep an eye out for “tsunamis and storm surges,” according to an official release.

Beyond News

• The system is part of a programme called O-SMART (Ocean Services, Technology, Observations, Resources Modelling and Science) that is being piloted by the Union earth sciences ministry. It was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, at an outlay of ₹1,623 crore.
• O-SMART will provide economic benefits to a number of user communities in the coastal and ocean sectors, namely, fisheries, offshore industry, coastal States, defence, shipping, ports, etc.
• Other key missions under O-SMART include, according to the press release, strengthening of Ocean Observations and Modelling, strengthening of Ocean Services for fishermen, setting up marine observatories for monitoring marine pollution, setting up Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant (OTEC) in Kavaratti, acquiring two coastal research vessels, continuation of ocean survey and exploration of minerals and living resources, technology development for Deep Ocean Mining and manned submersibles and the setting up six desalination plants in Lakshadweep.

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