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Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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148 species spotted in Thiruvananthapuram’s bird race.

News

  • The sighting of Siberian Stonechat and Painted Stork at Punchakkari during the Thiruvananthapuram (kerala) Bird Race 2018 points to rising temperature in the region and a drastic shift from a wetland to a dryland habitat.

Beyond News

  • The unexpected change in the weather patterns and increasing temperature were reflected in the findings of the bird race that spotted 148 species of birds in seven sites.
  • Punchakkari-Vellayani wetlands, Akkulam-Veli wetlands, Aruvikkara reservoir, museum and zoo premises, Kesavadasapuram paddy fields, Kannammoola thodu, Kallar-Ponmudi forests, Bonacaud forests and Arippa forests were the seven sites.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India succeeds in evolving global climate roadmap

News

  • Clearing the smoke of uncertainty over the issue of a cleaner environment, India this year succeeded in its multilateral diplomacy to evolve a roadmap for the international community to decisively address climate change.

Beyond News

  • Also, India’s success in renewable energy auctions, in reducing emissions besides its largest commitment to eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022, has enabled it to win accolades globally.
  • Even the Indian private sector is not lagging behind in joining the ranks of leading global companies that have committed to set a scientific target to be carbon negative.
  • Experts believe it’s a win-win situation for India as its success in the just concluded diplomatic intrigues in the coalfields of Katowice in Poland lies in promoting a more fine-tuned form of responsibility not just among countries, but within them as well.
  • Eventually, the 24th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP24, produced a deal that paves the way for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement, which is supposed to replace the existing Kyoto Protocol in 2020.
  • Voicing its reservations at the COP24 talks, which saw a holdback due to certain objections of the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Brazil and Turkey, India went vocal over the lack of equity in the rules relating to the global stocktaking in the rulebook that implements the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.
  • In the same breath, India signaled that it is ready to update its nationally determined contributions or NDCs if other countries also do so.
  • Also playing a crucial role to mitigate climate change and other environmental challenges, India in June announced it would strengthen its support with a 25 per cent increase over its contribution to the $15 million Global Environment Facility’s new investment cycle.
  • India has committed that by 2030, as much as 40 per cent of its installed energy capacity will be based on non-fossil fuels.
  • India has also won global accolades for opting for green technologies.
  • India is on track to meet a majority of its Paris goals and become a global climate leader by meeting its targets a decade earlier, US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
  • According to IEEFA, India’s NDCs included three key targets: To achieve 40 per cent of electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030, to reduce the emissions intensity of its gross domestic product by 33-35 per cent from the 2005 level by 2030 and to create an additional 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon sinks reservoirs that accumulate and store carbon dioxide through the planting of additional forest and tree cover.
  • Even the World Bank praised India’s success in renewable energy auctions that delivered record-setting low prices for solar power.

With a resolve to drought-proof the State

News

  • Having achieved double-digit growth in the agriculture and allied sectors, the State government is according top priority to the interlinking of rivers with a view to making the State drought proof.

Beyond News

  • For this reason, priority has been accorded to the completion of Polavaram project, considered the lifeline for the overall development of the Andhra Pradesh State.
  • As per the White Paper on ‘Water resources’ released recently, the government took up the Pattiseema Life Irrigation Scheme for early realisation of the Polavaram project benefits.
  • The Pattiseema scheme was also significant as it was part of the first major river linkage programme in the country itself.
  • The Pattiseema scheme was the only alternative for the Krishna delta farmers.
  • During the last four crop seasons, 263 tmcft of Godavari water was transferred to the Krishna river basin.
  • The scheme not only facilitated cultivation of crops in the Krishna delta but also facilitated diversion of Krishna water for irrigation and drinking purposes to the drought-prone and rainfall-deficit Rayalaseema district from the Srisailam reservoir.
  • While the LI scheme costed ₹1,667 crore, the value of crop raised in the four crop seasons was estimated to be ₹44,000 crore.
  • This year has also been crucial for the Polavaram project, with several important and hi-tech components such as the diaphragm wall and jet grouting being completed without a hitch.

Trade wars cost U.S., China billions of dollars in 2018

News

  • The S.-China trade war resulted in billions of dollars of losses for both sides in 2018, hitting industries including autos, technology and above all, agriculture.

Beyond News

  • Broad pain from trade tariffs outlined by several economists shows that, while specialised industries, including U.S. soya bean crushing, benefited from the dispute, it had an overall detrimental impact on the two largest economies.
  • The losses may give U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping motivation to resolve their trade differences before a March 2 deadline, although talks between the economic superpowers could still devolve.
  • The U.S. and Chinese economies each lose about $2.9 billion annually due to Beijing’s tariffs on soya beans, corn, wheat and sorghum alone, said Purdue University agricultural economist Wally Tyner.
  • Disrupted agricultural trade hurt both sides particularly hard because China is the world’s biggest soya bean importer and last year relied on the U.S. for $12 billion worth of the oilseed.
  • Total U.S. agricultural export shipments to China for the first 10 months of 2018 fell by 42% from a year earlier to about $8.3 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  • To compensate suffering farmers, the U.S. government has allocated about $11 billion to direct payments and buying agricultural goods for government food programmes.
  • China’s tariffs improved margins for the U.S. soya crushers such as Archer Daniels Midland Co. by leaving plentiful supplies of cheap soya beans in the domestic market.
  • China also suffered as products such as phone batteries were hit by U.S. tariffs, and customers began looking to buy from other countries. A study commissioned by the Consumer Technology Association showed the U.S. tariffs on imported Chinese products cost the technology industry an additional $1 billion per month.
  • The conflict also squeezed U.S. retail, manufacturing and construction companies that had to pay more for metal and other goods.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

On the tracks of the Earth’s mantle helium

News

  • Helium the second most abundant element in the universe – is hard to come by on Earth in its gaseous state, because it is so light that it can escape easily.
  • But one of the places where it is found is in volcanic lava plumes, such as seen in Iceland and Hawaii, originating from the Earth’s mantle.
  • This is ancient helium from when the Earth was formed. It is believed to be trapped in compounds deep within the earth. However, the nature of these compounds have so far remained a mystery.

Findings

  • Now a group of researchers has come up with a striking possibility that the mantle helium must exist as the compound FeO2He which is stable and solid under the pressure and temperature conditions prevailing at those depths.
  • The team used a crystal search algorithm CALYPSO which they had developed, to look at possible compounds containing helium.
  • If the energy of the suggested compound containing helium was lower than that of free helium, then the compound state would be considered favoured and the algorithm would give a positive answer.
  • In this manner, looking at many hypothetical magnesium and iron based compounds, the team came up with just one possibility – FeO2He.
  • Their calculations showed that this compound is stable at temperatures between 3000 K and 5000 K and at pressures between 135 and 300 GPa. These conditions correspond to those found in the core–mantle boundary.
  • If this result is proved right by experiment, it will solve the longstanding problem of where ancient helium is stored within the Earth.

Space probe nears dark side of moon

News

  • A Chinese space probe is moving into position to land on the dark side of the moon for the first time, a mission seen as an important step as the country looks to push forward its space programme.

Beyond News

  • The probe, the Chang’e-4, entered a planned orbit “to prepare for the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon”, the China National Space Administration. It didn’t say when the landing would occur.
  • The moon is tidally locked to Earth, rotating at the same rate that it orbits our planet, so the far side or the “dark side” is never visible from Earth. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side of the moon, but none has landed on it.
  • China launched the Chang’e-4 probe earlier this month, carried by a Long March-3B rocket. It includes a lander and a rover to explore the surface of the moon.
  • The tasks of the Chang’e-4 include astronomical observation, surveying the moon’s terrain, landform and mineral composition, and measuring the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the moon.
  • China aims to catch up with Russia and the U.S. to become a major space power by 2030. It is planning to launch construction of its own manned space station next year.
  • China has insisted that its ambitions are purely peaceful, the U.S. Defense Department has accused it of pursuing activities aimed at preventing other nations from using space-based assets during a crisis.

NASA spaceship zooms toward farthest world ever photographed

News

  • A NASA spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometres) away.

Beyond News

  • The US space agency will ring in the New Year with a live online broadcast to mark historic flyby of the mysterious object in a dark and frigid region of space known as the Kuiper Belt.
  • Real-time video of the actual flyby is impossible, since it takes more six hours for a signal sent from Earth to reach the spaceship, named New Horizons, and another six hours for the response to arrive.
  • It was discovered in 2014 with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, and is believed to be 12-20 miles (20-30 kilometers) in size.
  • Scientists decided to study it with New Horizons after the spaceship, which launched in 2006, completed its main mission of flying by Pluto in 2015, returning the most detailed images ever taken of the dwarf planet.
  • Seven instruments on board will record high-resolution images and gather data about its size and composition.

Indian Navy and NDRF start operation to rescue trapped miners in Meghalaya

News

  • A joint operation by the Indian Navy and the NDRF to rescue the 15 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in Meghalaya’s Jaintia Hills since December 13, began.

Beyond News

  • The Indian Navy will enter the main shaft to survey the bottom of the mine using UWROV or Under Water Remotely Operated Vehicle.
  • The Navy requested the District Administration to assist in dewatering so that water level comes down to 30 meters or within safe diving limit then they will again commence diving.
  • These safety measures are being undertaken to rule out decompression sickness.
  • Besides the NDRF, who are providing logistic and human resource support to the Navy, the Odisha Fire Service is also present to commence pumping with at least three machines in the nearby shafts.

Pak. beefing up border armoury

News

  • Pakistan has drawn up an ambitious plan to procure close to 600 battle tanks, including T-90 tanks from Russia, primarily to bolster its military might along the border with India.
  • Most of these tanks will be able to hit targets at a range of three to four km, sources said.

Beyond News

  • The Pakistan Army is also procuring 245 150mm SP Mike-10 guns from Italy of which it has already received 120 guns, they said.
  • Pakistan was eyeing to buy from Russia a batch of T-90 battle tanks the mainstays of the armoured regiments of the Indian Army and that the move reflected Islamabad’s intent to forge a deeper defence engagement with Moscow.
  • Russia has been India’s largest and most trusted defence supplier post- Independence. The sources said as part of the mega plan to significantly revamp its armoured fleet by 2025, Pakistan has decided to procure at least 360 battle tanks globally besides producing 220 tanks indigenously with help from its close ally China.
  • Pakistan Army’s move to enhance its armoured corps comes at a time when the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed growing hostilities in the last one year. The Indian Army has been strongly retaliating to every unprovoked firing.

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