Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Flying into trouble: Harrier birds decline as grasslands disappear.

News

Harrier birds, a migratory raptor species that regularly visits vast swathes of India, are declining. This may foretell lurking dangers to the country’s grasslands.

Beyond News:

• Every winter, several species of harrier birds travel thousands of kilometres to escape frigid Central Asia for the grasslands of the subcontinent.
  Researchers collated published data, unpublished accounts and their own field research on roosting harriers to analyse trends in their population since the mid-1980s.
• At least five species of harriers were recorded in India over the years; India has one of the largest
  roosting sites in the world for Pallid Harriers and Montagu’s Harriers. 
  In the mid-1990s, an estimated 1,000 birds roosted here. By 2016, the number was down to less than 100 birds. In Hessarghatta on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Western Marsh Harriers declined significantly, leaving the area nearly deserted.
  The importance of area protection can be seen in the number of birds.
  While there is a median count of 125 harriers in protected areas, it’s less than half that number  48  in unprotected areas. The study notes that the population of the species in Central Asia has not seen any drastic changes.

Core issues: 

• The gravest concern is the loss of grasslands, either to urbanisation or to agriculture. In February-March, peak season for the arrival of the birds, farmlands are burnt or over-grazed. Of the 15 roosting sites surveyed, eight no longer exist as grasslands, and only five are protected.
• Excessive use of pesticides in farms in and around the roosting sites could also be a reason for the lowered population counts. In crops such as cotton, the use of pesticides kills grasshoppers, the
  harriers’ primary prey, and could lead to mortality of the birds themselves as they are on the top of the food chain.
  Globally, of the 16 harrier species, only two are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, even though most of them are declining.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Army to resume M777 trials.

•  News: The Army will resume the trials of the U.S.-made M777 Ultra-Light Howitzer (ULH) in Pokhran firing range. The trials were suspended last September after barrel of a gun burst during firing.Beyond News

  Firing will resume this month and continue in August. Local ammunition will be used and tentatively 100-150 rounds will be fired.

• In November 2016, India signed a deal with the U.S. government under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme for 145 M777 guns at a cost of $737 million. Following this, two guns were delivered for calibration and making range tables with local ammunition when the barrel burst occurred. The trials have been suspended since.
• As the deal was through the FMS, the trials will be conducted by the U.S. government and India will be an observer. Following the trials, the Army will take formal custody of the guns.
• An Army team was in the U.S. in June to take stock of the investigation. A preliminary investigation after the incident had found faulty ammunition supplied by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)
  to be the cause of the accident.
• The M777 is a 155 mm, 39-calibre towed artillery gun made of titanium and aluminium alloys and weigh just four tonnes, making it transportable under slung by helicopters. Of the 145 guns, 25 will be imported while the remaining 120 will be assembled in the country in partnership with Mahindra group. Deliveries are slated to commence in March 2019.

SC asks Parliament to bring in special law against lynching.

News:

The Supreme Court condemned recent incidents of lynching and mob violence against Dalits and minority community members as “horrendous acts of mobocracy”, and asked Parliament to pass law establishing lynching as a separate offence with punishment.

• Beyond News:A three-judge Bench held that it was the obligation of the State to protect citizens and ensure that the “pluralistic social fabric” of the country holds against mob violence. 
• The court said the growing numbness of the ordinary Indian to the frequent incidents of lynchings happening right before his eyes in a society based on rule of law is shocking.
• The government should see the judgment as a “clarion call” in a time of exigency and work towards strengthening the social order.
  It was also the obligation of the Centre and the States to ensure that “nobody takes the law into his hands nor become a law into himself”, the court said.
• It directed several preventive, remedial and punitive measures to deal with lynching and mob violence.
• The court ordered the Centre and the States to implement the measures and file compliance reports within the next four weeks.
• In the last hearing of the case, the court had classified lynchings as sheer “mob violence”. It had said compensation for victims should not be determined solely on the basis of their religion, caste, etc, but on the basis of the extent of injury caused as “anyone can be a victim” of such a crime.
  Chief Justice Misra said the States could not give even the “remotest chance” to let lynchings happen.
  The lynchings were “targeted violence” against particular religion, caste, an thus, in violation of the constitutional guarantees under Article 15 of the Constitution. Article 15 protected from discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, sex, gender.
  Chief Justice Misra had even asked the Centre to frame a scheme under Article 256 to give directions to the States to prevent/control the instances and maintain law and order, but Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha disagreed, saying such a scheme was unnecessary.

Inspect all childcare homes run by Missionaries of Charity: Maneka tells States.

• News : Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has ordered all the States to get the childcare homes run by the Mother Teresa-founded Missionaries of Charity (MoC) inspected immediately following the surfacing of cases of alleged illegal adoptions carried out by them.Beyond News

  Minister also directed the States to ensure that all the childcare institutions (CCIs) are registered and linked to the country’s apex adoption body within a month.
  According to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the registration of CCIs and their linking with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is mandatory, but some orphanages had challenged the validity of the clause, an official in the Women and Child Development Ministry said.
  A shelter home run by the MoC in Ranchi was allegedly involved in “selling” three children and “giving away” another one.
  Approximately 2,300 CCIs have been linked to the CARA since December 2017, while about 4,000 more are still pending for linkage.
  Minister has expressed displeasure over the fact that the children in the 2,300 institutions linked to the CARA are yet to be brought under an adoption system.
  According to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), 2,32,937 children are currently under the care of the CCIs both registered and unregistered — in the country.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

BrahMos missile flight-tested successfully.

 News

India on Monday successfully flight-tested supersonic cruise missile BrahMos off the Odisha coast, proving it one of the best all-weather weapon systems.

Beyond News

•  The missile was fired from a test range at Chandipur on sea in Balasore district.
• The life extension test achieved all parameters, said the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• With this, India has achieved another milestone in the defence sector.
• BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India’s DRDO and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia of Russia.

Upgraded Vikas engine will soon boost ISRO’s rockets.

News

All three satellite launch vehicles of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are set to add muscle to their spacecraft lifting power in upcoming missions this year.

Beyond News

• The space agency has improved the thrust of the Vikas engine that powers all of them. The agency said the high-thrust engine qualified on Sunday after a ground test lasting 195 seconds (over three minutes).
• The main beneficiary of the high-thrust Vikas engine is said to be the heavy-lifting GSLV-Mark III launcher, which ISRO expects will now put 4,000-kg satellites to space. This would be the third Mk-III and the first working one to be designated MkIII Mission-1 or M1.
• The first MkIII of June 2017 started with a 3,200-kg satellite and the second one is being readied for lifting a 3,500-kg spacecraft.
• The Vikas engine will improve the payload capability of PSLV, GSLV and GSLVMk-III launch vehicles, ISRO said. The improvement effort, the second such since December 2001, was conducted at ISRO Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.
• The Vikas engine is used in the second stage of the light lifting PSLV; the second stage and the four add-on stages of the medium-lift GSLV; and the twin-engine core liquid stage of Mk-III. 
• ISRO will phase out Vikas by replacing it first in Mk-III with a cleaner and safer semi-cryogenic engine. The semi-cryo engine is ready for trial; its stage has just been approved.

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