Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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5% of TANTEA land in the Nilgiris to be transferred to forest dept.

 News

• A total of 276 hectares of land belonging to the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (TANTEA) in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks are to be handed over to the forest department in a bid to reduce human-animal interactions in the landscape.

Beyond News

• The lands which are to be handed over to the forest department constitute only around 5% of the lands which are under the control of TANTEA. These lands are primarily located around the government tea estates, where tea cannot be grown due to the landscape as well as due to the presence of animals.
• The handing over of the land to the forest department will not have any impact on the jobs available to the more that 4,000 people who work in the government plantations in the Nilgiris.
• More than 5,000 hectares of land in the Nilgiris were under the control of TANTEA, of which only 276 hectares in the Gudalur and Pandalur regions, in Cherambadi, Cherangode and Nelliyalam would be handed over to the department.
• Once the land is brought under the control of the department, afforestation and restoration would be undertaken in these lands to provide a buffer between the estates and the surrounding forests.
• The department hopes that such a buffer would provide a contiguous “corridor” between different forest patches to exist whereby wildlife, especially elephants, can cross between the small oases of forests dispersed in the Gudalur and Pandalur landscapes, which are surrounded by massive tea plantations and agricultural lands.
• These measures can help to minimise human-animal interactions in the region. In 2018, a total of eight persons were killed in confrontations with elephants in the Gudalur and Pandalur regions, of which many incidents occurred close to tea and coffee estates.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Trump offers to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir

News

• S. President Donald Trump offered to mediate the decades-long Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, signaling a shift in long-standing policy that the issue must be solved bilaterally.

Beyond News

• India maintains that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral one and no third party has any role.
• India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by Pakistan-based terrorists, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.
• Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM)killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
• Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan.
• The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21in an aerial combat and captured an Indian pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1.

Human Rights Bill cleared

News

• The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was cleared by a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha.

Beyond News

• The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019 amends the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 to include the provision that apart from a former CJI, a former judge of the Supreme Court can be the Chairperson of the NHRC.
• Under the Act, only a person who had been the CJI could be made the NHRC chairperson.

Over ₹5,800 crore sanctioned for cleaning 34 polluted rivers: Environment Ministry

News

• Over ₹5,800 crore has been sanctioned for pollution abatement at 34 river stretches in 16 States across the country, excluding River Ganga, the Environment Ministry said.

Beyond News

• Out of the total of ₹5,870 crore sanctioned under the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), the Centre has released its share of ₹2,522 crore to States, Minister of State for Environment recently told the Lok Sabha.
• Project proposals are received from States from time to time to take up pollution abatement works in towns along various rivers and are considered for financial assistance under the NRCP.
• NRCP has covered polluted stretches of 34 rivers in 77 towns spread over 16 States at a sanctioned cost of ₹5870.55 crore.
• In the last one year, ₹143 crore has been released to nine States for pollution abatement in rivers under NRCP.
• The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in association with the State Pollution Control Boards, monitors the water quality of rivers on a regular basis.
• 351 stretches of polluted rivers have been identified by the apex pollution body.
• The Environment Ministry is currently implementing a Centrally-Sponsored Scheme named National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems(NPCA) under which 180 wetlands, including lakes, have been prioritised for conservation and management.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Chandrayaan-2 goes up successfully, places satellite in orbit

News

• India successfully launched its second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 on board its powerful rocket GSLV-MkIII-M1 from the spaceport in Sriharikota to land a rover on the celestial body and explore its unchartered south pole.

Beyond News

• India’s second lunar journey and its first-ever mission to be spearheaded by two women got a boost after the ambitious Chandrayaan-2 mission, headed to the moon’s South Pole, achieved an orbit 6,000 km more than what was targeted
• The GSLV-Mark III vehicle has successfully injected Chandrayaan-2 in the defined orbit. In fact, the orbit is 6,000 km more than what was intended.
• The satellite will have more life, more fuel and more time to play with the manoeuvres. It is the beginning of a historical journey of India towards Moon and to land at a place near the South Pole to carry out scientific experiments to explore unexplored areas.
• The successful placing of the satellite in the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) was only the first step in a very complex operation. With ISRO tweaking the duration of the Earth-bound Phase and the Lunar-bound phase, it aimed to soft-land the Lander and the Rover on the lunar surface on September 7, a day later than what was initially planned.

After Chandrayaan-2, ISRO plans mission for the Sun in 2020

News

• After Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned to launch its solar mission, Aditya-L1, during the first half of 2020.

Beyond News

• Aditya-L1 is meant to observe the Sun’s corona, the outer layers of the star that span thousands of kilometres.
• How the corona gets heated to such high temperatures is still an unanswered question in solar physics.
• Aditya-L1, with additional experiments, can provide observations of the Sun’s photosphere, chromosphere and corona.
• In addition, particle payloads will study the particle flux emanating from the Sun, according to the ISRO.
• These payloads have to be placed outside the interference of the Earth’s magnetic field and cannot be useful in the low-earth orbit.

Medak farmers being asked to go for alternative crops

News

• In view of the prolonged dry spell and severely deficit rainfall the officials are interacting with farmers and creating awareness among them to go for alternative crops. Once famous as ‘Metuku seema’ the Medak district in Telangana is reeling under serious water distress.

Beyond News

• The district has 2.2 lakh acres of cultivable land of which only 40 % has been brought under cultivation so far this kharif. The crops sown are cotton, maize, pulses, sugarcane and millets.
• Farmers have taken up cotton in about 3,000 acres based on the available water, but the officials are not sure how long the existing water sources will last and the crop would have to depend on rainfall as the yield from the borewells is falling by the day.
• The entire district has registered deficit rainfall from minus 6 % in Alladurg mandal to minus 81 % in Chilipched mandal. The actual rainfall was 192 mm as against the normal rainfall of 276.1 mm.
• At many places, farmers raised paddy nurseries with the available water with the expectation of rainfall. However, due to deficit rainfall they are unable to take up transplantation as it would result in them incurring huge loss.
• Teams of agriculture officials have been going around villages and explaining to the farmers the need for taking up alternative crops. The farmers are being suggested to go for crops like millets, maize, sunflower, castor and vegetables.

Navy to commission fifth Dornier aircraft squadron

News

• The Navy is set to commission its fifth Dornier Aircraft Squadron Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 313 in Chennai.

Beyond News

• The squadron would operate the indigenous Hindustan Aeronautics Limited-built maritime surveillance version multi-role Dornier 228 short-range reconnaissance aircraft from Chennai air terminus.
• The aircraft is fitted with state-of-the-art sensors and equipment that would enhance domain awareness of the Navy and would be a force multiplier during search and rescue operations.
• This would further strengthen the Navy’s efforts in maintaining constant surveillance and safe-guarding maritime interests in the eastern seaboard of the country.

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