Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Egypt’s fertile Nile Delta threatened by climate change

News

• Lush green fields blanket northern Egypt’s Nile Delta, but the country’s agricultural heartland and its vital freshwater resources are under threat from a warming climate.

Beyond News

• The fertile arc-shaped basin is home to nearly half the country’s population, and the river that feeds it provides Egypt with 90% of its water needs.
• But climbing temperatures and drought are drying up the mighty Nile a problem compounded by rising seas and soil salinization.
• Combined, they could jeopardise crops in the Arab world’s most populous country, where the food needs of its 98 million residents are only expected to increase.
• By 2050, the region could lose up to 15% of its key agricultural land due to salinization, according to a 2016 study published by Egyptian economists.

In Kafr al-Dawar in the delta’s north, Egypt’s irrigation ministry and the United Nations are working on eco-friendly techniques like solar-powered watering that experts say emit less greenhouse gases and could help improve crop yields.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Centre approves Shahpurkandi Dam project on river Ravi in Punjab

News

• The Union Cabinet gave its nod to the implementation of Shahpurkandi Dam project in Punjab on the river Ravi in an attempt to minimise wastage of water of the river, which currently flows downstream to Pakistan.
• And, utilise the water in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

Beyond News

• An official statement said for implementing the project, central assistance of ₹485.38 crore for the irrigation part would be given over five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
• On completion, the project has an irrigation potential of 5,000 hectares in Punjab and 32,173 hectares in Jammu and Kashmir. Punjab would also be able to generate 206 MW of hydro-power.
• The project would be implemented by the Punjab government and would be completed by June 2022.
• It may be noted that the Indus Waters Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 for sharing of Indus waters. According to the treaty, India got the full rights for utilization of waters of the three eastern Rivers namely Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.
• A bilateral agreement was signed between Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir in January, 1979. As per the agreement, construction of Ranjit Sagar Dam (Thein Dam) and Shahpurkandi Dam was to be taken up by the Punjab government and the dam was commissioned in August 2000.

Life between two states is no celebration for over 5,000 residents

News

• Being citizens of two States would normally have voters enjoy double the government provided benefits but, the 4,311 voters of Parandoli and Anthapur gram panchayats, which are administered by both Telangana and Maharashtra governments, now find themselves neither here nor there.

Beyond News

• As both the States are involved in a territorial dispute over an 80 sq km stretch of land located on the inter State border falling in Kerameri mandal of Asifabad (ST) Assembly constituency of district in Telangana and district in the neighbouring State, they get to administer the dozen villages under the two gram panchayats which have a population of 5,769, most of whom are Marathi speaking SCs.
• The major demand of the villagers, who get to vote in elections on either side of the border by virtue of holding electors photo identity card from respective States, is rights on forest lands being tilled by them.
• Incidentally, Maharashtra Forest department lays no claim to the forests in the area.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

 ‘Sun in a box’ system to store renewable energy

News

• Scientists have designed a system that could store renewable energy,such as solar and wind power, and deliver it back into an electric grid on demand.

Beyond News

• The system, may be designed to power a small city not just when the sun is up or the wind is high, but around the clock.
• The new design stores heat generated by excess electricity from solar or wind power in large tanks of white-hot molten silicon, and then converts the light from the glowing metal back into electricity when it’s needed.
• The researchers estimate that such a system would be vastly more affordable than lithium-ion batteries, which have been proposed as a viable, though expensive, method to store renewable energy.
• The new storage system stems from a project in which the researchers looked for ways to increase the efficiency of a form of renewable energy known as concentrated solar power.
• Concentrated solar plants store solar heat in large tanks filled with molten salt, which is heated to high temperatures of about 538 degrees Celsius.
• When electricity is needed, the hot salt is pumped through a heat exchanger, which transfers the salt’s heat into steam. A turbine then turns that steam into electricity.
• When electricity from the town’s solar cells comes into the system, this energy is converted to heat in the heating elements.

384 tigers killed in last 10 years

News

• As many as 384 tigers have been killed by poachers in India in the last 10 years.

Beyond News

• Between 2008 and 2018 (till November), 961 persons have been arrested for allegedly poaching tigers.
• For conservation of the country’s national animal, the government had launched ‘Project Tiger’ in 1973.
• As per a 2014 assessment, India has the highest number of tigers in the world at 2,226, according to the website of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Storm water drain work to begin soon

News

• Chennai Corporation will kick-start work on stormwater drains in the neighbourhoods along the East Coast Road in the southern zones of the city.
• The work will cover 52.5 km of stormwater drains at an estimated cost of ₹270 crore. The project was delayed for many years owing to paucity of funds.

Beyond News

• During the north east monsoon in 2015, the Chennai Corporation collected data on water stagnation in many locations. The civic body has developed new drains in 33 such locations.
• Chennai Corporation has desilted 1498 km of drains at an estimated cost of ₹21 crore. Of the 210 waterbodies identified for restoration, 30 waterbodies have been restored using CSR funding.
• As many as 50 ponds are being restored using smart city funds. Ten ponds have been restored using capital fund of the Chennai Corporation.

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