Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Just 20% water left in 91 major reservoirs

News

• Water storage in reservoirs of most States of west and south India has dipped to less than the average of last 10 years, the Central Water Commission (CWC) said, indicating a worsening water crisis.

Beyond News

• In the western region, which includes Gujarat and Maharashtra, there are 27 major reservoirs with total live storage capacity of 31.26 billion cubic metres (BCM).
• The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 3.53 BCM which is 11% of the total live storage capacity. The storage during the corresponding period last year was 15% and the average storage of the corresponding period in last 10 years was 19% of its live storage capacity.
• Thus, water storage during the current year is less than the storage of last year and is also less than the average storage of last 10 years during the corresponding period.
• In southern region, which includes Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, 31 reservoirs are under CWC monitoring with a total live storage capacity of 51.59 BCM.
• The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 5.91 BCM which is 11% of its total live storage capacity. The storage during the corresponding period of last year was 12% and average storage of last 10 years during the same period was 15% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

U.S. visa process needs social media profiles now

News

• In a significant move to increase surveillance of those seeking to enter the United States, Washington will require most individuals applying for visas to provide details of their social media handles going back five years.
• The rule is expected to affect close to 15 million people annually.

Beyond News

• Online visa forms that require social media account history became operational will cover all applicants except those applying for certain official and diplomatic visas.
• The rule to expand social media history data collection to all immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants was first published by the State Department in April 2018.
• It was an outcome of President Donald Trump’s desire to put in place a policy of “extreme vetting” of foreigners entering the country, a theme articulated during his campaign and via executive orders in 2017.
• Earlier, social media information was asked of only certain individuals whose applications required further review. Now the information is required as part of all immigrant (form DS-260) and non-immigrant (form DS-160) online visa applications.
• A high volume of Indian applications is likely to be impacted by the new proposal.

Travel portal ‘UdChalo’ to give a new lease of life to wounded soldiers

News

• In a bid to make wounded soldiers, who are now confined to wheelchairs, self-reliant, an initiative ‘UdChalo’ is all set to take off at the Army’s Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre (PRC) in Punjab’s Mohali.

Beyond News

• ‘UdChalo’ is a travel portal, that caters for the personal travel of the military and paramilitary forces personnel by aggregating defence fares and getting exclusive discounts.
• The PRC has joined hands with UdChalo with an aim to empower the disabled military veterans.
• PRC provides institutionalised care to soldiers, who are wounded in military or insurgency operations and can’t adequately provide for themselves the constant medical care associated with quadriplegia and paraplegia. Currently, PRC has 31 ex-servicemen from across the country.

As Nipah fears resurface, Kerala to strengthen preventive measures

News

• In the wake of a suspected case of Nipah virus infection at a private hospital in Kochi; Kerala, a high-level committee has decided to strengthen preventive measures, even as confirmation is awaited from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.

Beyond News

• The committee, met in Kochi after a private hospital reported that a college student from North Paravur studying in Thodupuzha was admitted with an infection that could not be identified by them.
• The samples of the patient have been sent to Pune and health authorities are awaiting the results.
• A team from Kozhikode was arriving to oversee and train the Health officials in matters of technical management in case the infection gets confirmed.
• A control room will be opened at the Collectorate for any information related to the Nipah virus. An isolation ward is being arranged at the Government Medical College, Ernakulam. Equipment and other facilities are being brought into the casualty ward.
• The infection is usually spread from animal to animal, but in rare cases it spreads from animal to humans too. Bats and pigs are found to be the usual carriers.
• The virus could spread through fruits bitten by carrier bats or when the excreta of such animals find their way into the foods consumed by humans. It can spread through close contact with infected persons, especially when precautions are not taken.
• In case of infection, it takes five to 14 days for the symptoms to manifest. Common symptoms are fever, headache, giddiness and loss of consciousness.

Indian Navy steps up anti-piracy patrol

News

• In an expansion of its Mission Based Deployments (MBD) in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the Navy deployed its P-8I long-range maritime surveillance aircraft for anti-piracy sorties from Salalah in Omanto patrol the Gulf of Aden.

Beyond News

• Long-range maritime reconnaissance Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft P-8I undertakes anti-piracy patrol sorties from Salalah in the Gulf of Aden and other piracy prone areas in keeping with MBD philosophy, to keep IOR safe and secure for all.
• The P-8I provided long-range Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).
• Since 2008, India has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the commercially crucial Gulf of Aden.
• This was the second time the P-8I operated from Salalah for anti-piracy this year.
• Besides escorting Indian flagged vessels, ships of other countries have also been provided protection, a defence source said.
• Till date the Indian Navy has escorted 3,440 ships, of which 3,027 were of foreign flag and 413 Indian flag.
• Navy ships also made 414 interventions at sea.
• The Navy has deployed 73 ships till date on anti-piracy patrols.
• Under the MBD concept, the Navy now maintains a ship at every choke point in the IOR at any point of time.
• As part of expanding engagement maritime engagement, India has stepped up cooperation with Indian Ocean littoral states and maritime neighbours. Under the ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, the Navy undertakes Joint Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) surveillance with Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius and Coordinated Patrols (CORPAT) with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.
• Search and rescue and capability-enhancement activities have also emerged as major areas.

Notices to Swiss bank account holders continue

News

• Amid a continuing crackdown on Swiss bank account holders with suspected illicit money, Switzerland has stepped up the process of sharing details on such individuals.
• Potluri Rajamohan Rao is the latest Indian national to get a notice in this regard.

Beyond News

• At least 14 Indians with accounts in Switzerland-based banks were issued notices by the Swiss authorities last month, in which they have been given one last chance to appeal against the sharing of their details with India.
• According to officials, more such notices are in the offing in the coming weeks, as India has sought details pertaining to a large number of Indian clients of Swiss banks, suspected to be involved in illicit financial activities.
• The latest such notice was issued to one Potluri Rajamohan Rao on May 28, asking him to file an appeal, if any, within ten days, in connection with the “administrative assistance” sought by the Indian authorities.
• In the preceding week, at least 11 such notices were issued on a single day, May 21, to various Indian clients of the Swiss banks, according to the Swiss government’s gazette notifications.
• Switzerland has been striving hard to re-establish its position as a global financial centre after clamping down on the secrecy walls of its banks.
• There has been a significant surge in the number of cases where it has initiated processes to share information on Indians with Swiss bank accounts.

Guests at Indian envoy’s Iftar event complain of harassment by Pakistan security agencies

News

• India “strongly protested”after guests at an Iftar event organised by its mission in Islamabad complained of harassment by Pakistani security agencies.

Beyond News

• The statement elaborated that guests for the occasion came from different parts of Pakistan and were harassed by the security agencies. In some cases, cars belonging to the guests were taken away by the security personnel.
• Stopping diplomats and officials of the High Commission of India in Pakistan from discharging their diplomatic functions by intimidation and coercion is entirely counter-productive for our bilateral relationship, the High Commission of India said.
• This is the second time in less than a week that such an incident was reported. On May 27, the Pakistan High Commission had organised an Iftar in Delhi. According to a report, Indian guests at the event had complained about harassment and videography by security personnel belonging to Indian agencies.
• Both these incidents have cast a shadow over the cordial exchanges between the Indian and Pakistani leaders since the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Following the Pulwama terror attack and Balakot strike, reports of harassment of guests at Indian and Pakistani missions have often been reported.
• On May 1 evening, the Indian High Commission (IHC) hosted an iftar party in Islamabad at the Serena Hotel. The IHC has been hosting a yearly iftar for many years now.
• Many important people were turned away from the hotel. Security officials did not allow former DG ISPR General Athar Abbas and his wife to attend the iftar.
• People who were going to Serena for other functions or private events were also affected.

Post backlash from T.N., mandatory Hindi goes out of draft education policy

News

• The clause recommending mandatory Hindi teaching in all schools was dropped from the draft National Education Policy, after the Union government faced an intense backlash from Tamil Nadu, as well as protests from some other States.

Beyond News

• The revised draft retains the recommendation to introduce a three-language formula from Class 1 onwards; it simply removes the clause stipulating the specific languages that students must choose.
• The revision was not done by the Central government. It was made by the committee that drafted the policy.
• Since the original draft was released, all Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu blasted the recommendations, and even the ruling AIADMK, allied to the NDA government in power at the Centre, refused to dilute the State’s two language formula. Protests were also seen over the weekend in West Bengal, Maharashtra and Kannada.
• The Centre went into damage control mode, with senior Cabinet Ministers tweeting reassurances that Hindi would not be imposed without further consultations. Finally, the revised draft was uploaded by the Human Resource Development Ministry on Monday morning.
• The controversial sentence appeared in Section 4.5.9, titled ‘Flexibility in the choice of languages’.
• It said: In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6, so long as the study of three languages by students in the Hindi-speaking states would continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern Indian languages from other parts of India, while the study of languages by students in the non-Hindi-speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and English.
• That has now been replaced by the following sentence: In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one or more of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6 or Grade 7, so long as they are able to still demonstrate proficiency in three languages (one language at the literature level) in their modular Board Examinations some time during secondary 

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Light pollution may harm amphibians: Study

News

• Artificial sources of light at night time may harm amphibian populations, a study has found.

Findings

• Researchers exposed wood frogs to a control and two anthropogenic light conditions: intensified daytime illuminance and artificial light at night (ALAN).
• The study found that both the intensified daytime illuminance treatments and the ALAN treatment decreased hatching success in tadpoles.
• Since amphibians are sensitive to environmental changes, they make great models for studying how pollution of any type can impact other species.
• Tadpoles that were reared in the ALAN treatment, on the other hand, were larger, less active, more sensitive to road salt pollution and had more parasites.
• Exposure to light at night has the potential to make amphibians more susceptible to the effects of additional stressors, like road salt and parasites.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-04

75% of militants killed in Kashmir Valley were locals

News

• Nearly 75% of the militants killed in the Kashmir Valley this year were locals. Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik said that though the priority was to kill Pakistan-trained terrorists, a large number of locals were killed as they had joined the ranks of terrorists.
• According to police data, of the 101 terrorists killed in the Valley so far, 76 were locals.

Beyond News

• This is the first time in more than two decades that the number of locals killed in police encounters is more than that of the foreign terrorists.
• Last year, of the 246 terrorists killed in police encounters, 60%, or 150, were locals.
• Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Musa was the chief of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH).
• After former Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in a police encounter on June 8, 2016, militancy-related incidents spiked in the Valley, and hundreds of youth joined terror groups in the past three years.
• A shutdown was imposed on south Kashmir and other parts last month after Musa was killed by security forces in an encounter. Musa, considered a “mini icon” in the Valley after Wani, was active in and around Pulwama.
• A senior police officer said there had been a sharp decline in militant recruitments this year.
• Till May 25 this year, 33 locals had joined various terror groups, while 200 were recruited in 2018.

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