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Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Great Indian hornbills can adapt to modified habitat

Great indian horn bill image

News

  • Amid a changing environment, with natural homes of birds getting depleted as natural forests make way for plantations and other such modified terrain, comes the good news of how the great Indian hornbill (Buceros bicornis) adapts to such change.
  • A group of researchers observed eight hornbill nests, three located in contiguous forests and five located in modified habitats such as coffee plantations.

Findings

  • They found that the birds followed similar nesting behaviour but adapted to the changed environment.
  • The team chose to study the great Indian hornbills nesting in the Anamalai hills.
  • For comparison, the researchers located the study in the modified habitat in the Valparai plateau and the contiguous forests in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve and the Vazhachal Reserve forests. The modified habitat included tea, coffee and cardamom plantations and tribal settlements.
  • Hornbills are secondary cavity nesters and choose cavities formed in large trees for nesting. Also they are monogamous, and the female, after copulation, seals herself in the hole until the initial breeding period of two-four months is over.
  • During this time, the female and the young ones are fed by the male bird, with fruit such as figs and animal matter.
  • So, in principle, along with other threats such as hunting, modified land use, ensuing forest fragmentation, felling of large trees with the potential for nesting, the loss of fruit bearing trees could also affect hornbill nesting habits.
  • Considering that hornbills use same nest over years, protection of these known nest trees and retention of large trees that can be potential nests is absolutely essential.
  • In addition, it would be necessary to have a diversity of native tree species, particularly figs, laurels and other food plants, the study concludes.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Trump declares emergency to build border wall

News

  • President Donald Trump formally declared a national emergency at the border to access billions of dollars to build a border wall that Congress refused to give him, transforming a highly charged policy dispute into a fundamental confrontation over separation of powers.

Beyond News

  • President was signing the declaration to protect the country from the flow of drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants coming across the southwestern border from Mexico, which he characterised as a profound threat to national security.
  • The declaration will enable President to divert $3.6 billion budgeted for military construction projects to the border wall, White House officials said.
  • President will also use more traditional presidential budgetary discretion to tap $2.5 billion from counternarcotics programmes and $600 million from a Treasury Department asset forfeiture fund.
  • Combined with the $1.375 billion authorised for fencing in a spending package passed by Congress, President would then have about $8 billion in all to advance construction of new barriers and repairs or replacement of existing barriers along the border this year, significantly more than the $5.7 billion that Congress refused to give him.

U.S. and Canada raise WTO counter notification on India’s MSP

News

  • The United States and Canada have submitted a counter-notification to the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Agriculture on India’s minimum support prices (MSP, also referred to as market price support) for certain agricultural commodities.
  • The complaint which Canada has also joined says India “substantially underreported” its market price support for chickpeas, lentils, pigeon peas, black matpe and mung beans.

Beyond News

  • The U.S. and Canadian complaint has raised concerns about the market price support notification India submitted to the WTO.
  • According to the complaint, India left out from its notification information on the total value of production of each of the five kind of pulses and there were issues around the production quantities of the pulses used to calculate market price support as well as the exchange rate used .
  • This is the third U.S. counter-notification with regard to India. Last November the U.S. submitted a counter-notification on India’s market support price for cotton, and one on Indian rice and wheat earlier. Australia had submitted a counter notification on Indian sugarcane.
  • India will have to fight the claims made by the US and Canada and if it is not successful, will have to discontinue its programs or pay a penalty. India has raised issues with the way MSP is calculated, including, as Business Line recently reported, by arguing that the rules allow for use of the U.S. dollar in calculations (rather than the Indian Rupee, which Canada and the U.S. argue should be used).
  • India has also maintained that only “eligible production”- what is procured by government entities , rather than “total production” should be considered in calculating support prices.

U.S. asks Pakistan to freeze funds of designated terror groups, supports actions against JeM

News

  • The U.S. asked Pakistan to freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets of the UNSC-designated terrorist networks and their leaders.

Beyond News

  • It also said it fully supports actions to prevent the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed from conducting future attacks .
  • Pakistan-based JeM has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday that left at least 40 CRPF soldiers dead and five others critically wounded.
  • Pakistan outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2002. However, the group still operates in Pakistan. The US designated JeM as a foreign terrorist organization in December 2001, and fully support actions to prevent them from conducting future attacks.
  • In addition, the UNSC designated JeM on its 1267 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qa’ida Sanctions List in 2001.
  • Trump administration has asked Pakistan to deny safe haven and end support to terrorist organizations.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

NGT pulls up TN govt; blames it squarely for not preventing pollution of rivers

News

  • The Principal bench of the National Green Tribunal has come down heavily on the Tamil Nadu government, even considering the imposition of ₹100 crore towards damages for the repeated failure of the State in its duties in preventing pollution of the Adyar and Cooum rivers and the Buckingham Canal.
  • It also directed the Chief Secretary to be present before it to inform the tribunal of the progress of work to clean the rivers.

Beyond News

  • The Bench went on to observe that having regard to track record of repeated failures in the past, stand now taken by the State of Tamil Nadu that it will implement eco-restoration plan within eight years and the major activities will be completed in three years should not be taken at its face value.
  • The action of the State authorities is not consistent with the constitutional obligations under Articles 21, 48A and 51A of the Constitution to prevent pollution of water and air.
  • The Tribunal may, therefore, require the State of Tamil Nadu to deposit a suitable amount towards interim compensation for damage caused to the environment and also take a performance guarantee to ensure that present action plan is implemented within timelines given by the State.
  • The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board will be the nodal agency to coordinate and comply with the orders of the Tribunal. The Committee may give its report within three months.

Wayanad sanctuary yields a new spider

News

  • A new species of spider has been discovered from the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, a major biodiversity hotspot in the Kerala State.
  • The new species, Cocalus lacinia, spotted in the Kurichiad forest range of the sanctuary, is taxonomically related to an Australian species, described by arachnologist Fred Wanless in 1981.

Findings

  • A biodiversity investigation team, spotted the new species.
  • The head of the 8-mm-long male spider is brownish yellow and there are black lines along the sides of the hairy head region. Its eyebrows and forehead are white. The oval shaped abdomen is yellow and covered with black and white scales. The head of the 13-mm-long female is brownish and hairy.
  • There is a V-shaped black mark on the upper surface of the head and red lines along the sides.
  • This discovery of a new species of spider from India and the presence of its close relative from Australia supports the theory that millions of years ago the biosphere was united and the present continents were formed by splitting a single big continent named Pangea.
  • Investigations are on with the help of genetic samples from the Australian species and Indian species to get more evidence for the theory of supercontinents. It may give more information on plate tectonics and the evolution of modern spiders.

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