Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Yamuna — up-close and personal

News

• Yamuna once the lifeline of Delhi, along whose banks the Mughals built the Red Fort and the city of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) is one of the “most polluted rivers in the world” and is getting more polluted, say experts.

Beyond News

• Despite different plans to clean the river, found that deadlines for multiple works to curb pollution have not been met. Also, enforcement of many rules for the same remains only on paper.
• A report, which is yet to be made public, submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by a Monitoring Committee (MC) appointed by it, states that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has not met multiple deadlines.
• In the ‘Second Interim Report’, the MC said the DJB did not stick to the deadline of plugging of 11 drains which flow into the Yamuna, said sources. It also asked the DJB to provide fresh deadlines for at least three of the 11 drains.
• Water sample collected from Palla was almost transparent, it was black where Najafgarh drain joins the river, next to the city’s iconic Signature Bridge.
• Except for Palla, at the other three locations, puja items and other wastes were being dumped into the river, despite a ban by the NGT.
• Though only 2% of the 1,400-km-long Yamuna flows between Wazirabad and Okhla, it constitutes 76% of the pollution load of the river, stated the MC. The Supreme Court and the NGT have also pulled up different authorities responsible for cleaning the river, for their laxity.
• The experts and the MC stated that two of the major causes of pollution are less water in the river in Delhi and 22 drains dumping sewage and industrial effluents into it. To solve the first issue, the water flow has to be increased. The second one can be addressed by treating the sewage generated in the city.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India unemployment data not factored into World Bank growth estimates, says economist

News

• The new macroeconomic data released by the government, which showed joblessness for 2017/18 at 6.1%, a 45-year high was not factored into the World Bank Group’s June 2019 Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report.

Beyond News

• India’s growth forecasts are projected to be 7.5% per annum in 2019, 2020 and 2021 not having been downgraded from their January estimates. A growth rate of 7.2% is estimated for 2018.
• In its 2014-2019 term, the government had faced criticism over its handling of data. For instance the unemployment data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), leaked in January, was officially released last week, post-elections.
• In January, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation published revised GDP growth numbers for 2017, showing an increase of 1.1%, with growth pegged at 8.2%.
• In March, 108 economists and social scientists from around the world, wrote an open letter “Economic Statistics in Shambles” to highlight the data credibility problem.

10% drop in H-1B visa approvals in 2018: U.S.

News

• There was a sharp 10% decline in the approval of H-1B visas by the U.S. in the fiscal year 2018, which experts attributed to the “aggressive” policies of the Trump administration to clamp down on the use of the work visa programme, popular among highly skilled Indian IT professionals.

Beyond News

• The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
• The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 3,35,000 H-1B visas, both new and renewable, in the fiscal year 2018. This was 10% less than the 373,400 visas approved in the previous fiscal year of 2017, according to the USCIS’ annual statistical report.
• The approval rate of H-1B declined from 93% in 2017 to 85% in 2018.
• For the first six months of this fiscal year, the “overall H-1B approval rate for new and continuing visas continued to plummet to 79% by the end of March, down from 85% last year”.
• “Buy American and Hire American” executive order seeks to create higher wages and employment rates for U.S. workers.

China warns tourists, firms on U.S. travel

News

• China warned its companies operating in the United States that they could face harassment from U.S. law enforcement agencies, as it also rebuffed U.S. criticism of a trade white paper as “singing the same old tune”.

Beyond News

• Relations between the world’s two largest economies have nosedived in recent months due to a bitter trade war, U.S. sanctions against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies and U.S. support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan.
• Tensions rose sharply after Washington slapped additional tariffs of up to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to retaliate.
• After having warned Chinese students and academics about risks involved in studying in the U.S., the government widened its warning to include Chinese companies and tourists.
• The Trump administration said that China was pursuing a “blame game” in recent public statements and a weekend white paper that misrepresented the trade negotiations.
• China issued a government policy paper on the U.S.-China trade dispute in which it asserted that the United States bore responsibility for setbacks in the talks, citing three instances in which Washington had backtracked on commitments made during the negotiations.
• Acrimonious rhetoric between Beijing and Washington has steadily increased since talks broke down over U.S. accusations that Beijing had backtracked on commitments to codify in law changes to its intellectual property and technology transfer practices to address U.S. demands.

Nipah virus: Roosting sites of bats under surveillance

News

• With Pteropus bats being suspected as the reservoirs of the deadly Nipah virus, surveillance has been stepped up in the roosting sites of these mammals.

Beyond News

• The Forest Department has begun an exercise to identify the roosting sites of the bats in Ernakulam, Thrissur and Idukki districts in Kerala.
• A team of the Forest Department, which is located in Wayanad and specialised in capturing birds, has been put on alert. The team, which uses ‘mist nets’ for capturing birds, will be pressed into action, if required, for collecting samples for analysis.
• A decision on capturing the mammals will be taken only after clearance from the State-level high-power committee.
• Incidentally, a presentation authored by National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, noted that investigations carried out in India during the last 10 years indicated that Nipah virus was detected only in Pteropus bats. During the 2018 outbreak, the NIV team had captured 52 Pteropus bats from Perambra town, in Kozhikode.
• A four-member team from of the chief disease investigation office of the department will reach Kochi.
• The department, in cooperation with the KVASU and the Forest Department, had stepped up the surveillance.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Vanishing act: Tree cover the size of Bengaluru lost in 18 years

News

• The Karnataka State has lost nearly 800 sq km (nearly the size of Bengaluru city) of tree cover since the turn of the millennium, shows data from Global Forest Watch, which uses satellite imagery to estimate loss of tree cover.

Beyond News

• Using tree cover in the year 2000 as base, the project, which is run by the non-profit World Resources Institute, tabulates changes in areas where trees greater than 5 m in height are found.
• Considering only areas where tree canopy cover is 30% of the total area (which could be forests or private plantations), the State has lost 798.41 sq km of tree cover between 2001 and 2018, shows the report.
• The tree cover data is generated by University of Maryland’s GLAD laboratory in partnership with Google.
• Furthermore, the project tabulates the estimated above-ground biomass losses and associate carbon dioxide emissions that could have been absorbed by the flora removed. In all, 18.38 million tonnes of biomass is estimated to have been lost, which, if left as is, could have absorbed 33.67 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
• The project notes that at the heart of the tree cover losses are the districts of the Western Ghats, considered to the source of water and carbon sink in the State.
• The seven districts of the ghats have lost 785.80 sq km of tree cover, while the rest of the State has lost 12.61 sq km. The loss may be from removal, mortality or owing to a variety of factors including harvesting (as done cyclically in forest plantations), fire, disease, or storm damage.
• A look at data from the Ministry of Environment and forests (MoEF) shows that individuals, companies, State, and Central government agencies have submitted proposals for the diversion of 535.04 sq km of forest land since 2000. Of this, nearly 138 sq km of forest land has been diverted for non-forest purposes.
• In the past five years, the State has seen 679 proposals for diversion of nearly 81.75 sq km of land, of which 18 sq km of land for 155 projects has been diverted. MoEF data shows that more than a third of the applications received are for mining and quarrying, where 138 companies have sought diversion of nearly 27 sq km of forest land across the State, particularly in Ballari district.
• Road and railway infrastructure is slated to come on 13 sq km of forest land, while, renewable energy sources of wind and hydel have sought 8 sq km of forests.
• Mini-hydel power plants, roads, transmission lines, and river diversion or irrigation projects are the prime drivers of forest diversion in the Western Ghats, the data shows.
• Currently, the MoEF data shows rejection rates of projects to be less than 10%.

Indian Navy steams ahead with its go ‘green’ plans in eco-friendly push

News

• The Navy is pressing ahead with its eco-friendly programme, the Indian Navy Environment Conservation Roadmap (INECR) that comprises specific action plans covering the gamut of operations, maintenance, administration, infrastructure and community living.

Beyond News

• The roadmap envisions ‘reduction in energy consumption’ and ‘diversification of energy supply’ as the key result areas.
• Under the INECR, numerous policies aimed at reduction of energy consumption and environment sustenance have been formulated and disseminated to all ships, as well as shore establishments, it added.
• As a progressive step, Indian Navy has pledged 1.5% of its ‘Works’ budget towards renewable energy generation.
• Solar photovoltaic (PV) projects has been one of the focus areas of the Navy since the inception of the INECR and 24 MW of Solar Photo Voltaic (PV) projects consisting of both rooftop and land-based solar panels are under execution at various shore establishments of the Navy under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).
• Pilot projects utilizing wind or a mix of both solar and wind (hybrid) are also being taken up progressively which would not only reduce the carbon footprint but also help achieve self-sustenance in energy security, the Navy said.
• To promote use of biodiesel, plans were afoot to replace High Speed Diesel (HSD) (annual usage of 6,300 kL) with B5 blend of HSD. This would result in a direct savings of 5% of HSD, which translates to approximately 315 kL annual savings of HSD.
• The project to blend HSD is set to start at Visakhapatnam in the coming months.
• Afforestation drives at Naval stations, under which more than 18,000 plants have been planted over the past one year, would mitigate an estimated 365 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
• Other measures being propagated include promoting renewable energy usage on all bases and ships, segregated waste collection and improved waste management techniques.
• An estimated savings of 140 LPG cylinders per year is accrued through implementation of biogas plants using bio-degradable waste and organic waste converters across naval units.

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