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Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Antarctic ice loss has tripled: study

News

  • Antarctica has lost a staggering three trillion tonnes of ice since 1992, according to a landmark study published that suggests the frozen continent could redraw the earth’s coastlines if global warming continues unchecked.

Findings

  • Two-fifths of that ice loss occurred in the last five years, a three-fold increase in the pace at which Antarctica is shedding its kilometres-thick casing.
  • The findings also highlight the existential threat facing low-lying coastal cities and communities home to hundreds of millions of people.
  • Covering twice the area of the continental U.S., Antarctica is blanketed by enough ice pack to lift global oceans by nearly 60 metres (210 feet).
  • More than 90% of that frozen water sits atop East Antarctica, which has remained mostly stable even as climate change has driven up earth’s average surface temperature by a full degree Celsius.
  • West Antarctica, however, has proven far more vulnerable to global warming. Already floating, ice shelves breaking off into icebergs do not add to sea level.
  • But massive glaciers on West Antarctica slowly gliding seaward hold enough water to push oceans up by 3.5 metres (11 feet).
  • Nearly all of the mass shed over the last quarter century has come from West Antarctica.
  • Oceans are currently rising by 3.4 millimetres (0.13 inches) per year. Since 1993, the global ocean watermark has gone up by 84.8 mm (3.3 inches).

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Maharashtra to give pension to those jailed during Emergency

News:

  • The Maharashtra State government announced a special ₹10,000 pension for those who went to jail during Emergency.

Beyond News:

  • Relief and Rehabilitation minister said ₹5,000 will be paid to those who were behind bars for less than a month, and ₹10,000 per month who were in jail for more than a month.
  • An additional ₹2,000 would be given to wives of prisoners in the first category and ₹5,000 in the second category.
  • The decision was taken by the cabinet earlier this month and cleared by the three-member ministerial group empowered to take decisions in the absence of Chief Minister.

India asks Maldives to release former President Gayoom, other political prisoners

News:

  • India called for the immediate release of the former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and other political prisoners.

Beyond News:

  • India’s statement comes after a court in Male sentenced Mr. Gayoom to 19 months in prison in a case that allegedly involved a plot to oust the current President Abdullah Yameen, who is expected to hold elections in September.
  • A criminal court in Maldives ruled that Mr. Gayoom, who ruled the country for decades, obstructed the legal process in a case that concerned an alleged attempt to topple the government.
  • Gayoom and Supreme Court Chief Justice Ali Hameed were arrested in February for allegedly clearing the way for an impeachment motion against Mr. Yameen.
  • In February, Mr. Yameen imposed emergency rule in the archipelago nation following months of political instability and violence. Though the emergency rule was subsequently withdrawn, most of the political prisoners are yet to be released.
  • India believes that a democratic, stable and prosperous Maldives is in the interests of all its neighbours and friends in the Indian Ocean,the MEA statement said.

Unique ID cards soon for disabled persons

News

  • Persons with disability in Telangana will soon receive a unique identification number valid country-wide, as the State is porting data for inclusion in a national database.

Beyond News

  • The certificate issued to people with disabilities in Telangana has an identification number. This number is now being ported in a way that can help availing centre’s unique ID,Principal Secretary for Women and Child Welfare Department said.
  • The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment launched the programme to create a national database of persons with disabilities.
  • The database aims to make benefits transfer to persons with disability efficient.
  • Under the programme, many states are generating the unique IDs.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Centre pulls up Haryana for polluting the Yamuna

News

  • Declaring that the government would be extremely strict with those who pollute the Ganga or Yamuna, Union Water Resources Minister said that he had directed that a notice be issued to Haryana on its role in polluting the Yamuna.

Beyond News

  • While cleaning the Ganga was a key priority of the government, the issue couldn’t be addressed unless pollution in the Yamuna was addressed too, Minister said, adding that 14 projects had been planned for this.
  • These included 10 in Delhi, two in Uttar Pradesh, and two in Haryana at Sonipat and Panipat. In addition, 20 new towns on Yamuna and its tributaries (Hindon and Kali) had been identified for pollution abatement.
  • Union Water Resources Minister said that six sewerage-management projects in Delhi had already been awarded and two are under tender process.
  • Haryana and Delhi have long argued over the relative role of each State in polluting the Yamuna.

Particles from early solar system found

Solar particles discovered

News

  • Scientists have discovered that interplanetary dust particles in comets contain leftovers from the early solar system, which may provide a deeper understanding of how the planets were formed.

Beyond News

  • Researchers showed that the initial solids from which the solar system was formed consisted almost entirely of amorphous silicate, carbon and ices.
  • This dust was mostly destroyed and reworked by processes that led to the formation of planets. Surviving samples of pre-solar dust are most likely to be preserved in comets – small, cold bodies that formed in the outer solar nebula.
  • In a relatively obscure class of interplanetary dust particles believed to originate from comets, there are tiny glassy grains called GEMS (glass embedded with metal and sulphides) typically only tens to hundreds of nanometres in diameter, less than 1/100th the thickness of human hair.
  • The types of carbon that rims the subgrains and that forms the matrix in these particles decomposes with even weak heating, suggesting that the GEMS could not have formed in the hot inner solar nebula, and instead formed in a cold, radiation-rich environment, such as the outer solar nebula or pre-solar molecular cloud.
  • The team further plans to search the interiors of additional comet dust particles, especially those that were well-protected during their passage through the Earth’s atmosphere.
  • This will help in increasing the understanding of the distribution of carbon within GEMS and the size distributions of GEMS subgrains.

Lone Indian wild dog struggles to survive

wild dog

News

  • In a rare phenomenon of its kind, a solitary dhole or Indian wild dog (Cuon alpinus), has made the Tipeshwar Wildife Sanctuary in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, about 30 km from here, its home for the last two years.

Beyond News

  • This predator, an endangered species as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature, has caught the attention of wildlife enthusiasts who are debating its chances of survival on its own besides the relevance of dholes to the Tipeshwar ecosystem.
  • The loner wild dog seems to have been expelled from its pack which itself quit the sanctuary area as the population of tigers in it increased over the last few years, according to wildlife enthusiasts.
  • Though the movement of the dhole is not being monitored, wildlife aficionados are concerned about the perceptible imbalance in the ecosystem within the sanctuary.
  • The sanctuary, located on the inter State border with Maharashtra will soon have its tigers migrating to Kawal Tiger Reserve in erstwhile undivided Adilabad district. The tigers can even migrate to Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra but the Telangana border is closer increasing the probability of their sauntering into it.
  • Like CLAW(Conservation Lenses and Wildlife), the Hyderabad-based NGO Vata Foundation too is involved in conservation efforts at Tipeshwar.
  • Honorary wildlife warden of Yavatmal district, a Tipeshwar expert, ruled out introduction of female or male dholes as company to the solitary animal in question and thereby to raise a pack.

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