Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Tests show algal bloom caused discolouration of Periyar

News

• It was an algal bloom an excessive increase of algae that turned the waters of the Periyar downstream of the Pathalam regulator-cum-bridge green last week, reveal laboratory tests.

Findings

• Its tests reveal that the green colour was caused by the presence of Platymonas, a marine genus.
• This is a type of green algae that is usually seen in highly eutrophic (when a body of water becomes overly enriched with minerals and nutrients that induce excessive growth of plants and algae) lakes.
• This was a particularly heavy bloom, for algae dominated the samples by almost 90%.
• Algae thrive on the existing dissolved oxygen contents in the water. Dissolved oxygen levels thereby drop, affecting other aquatic organisms such as fish that then need to come to the water surface to gulp in air.
• Apart from affecting water quality this way, algal blooms can also release toxins and metabolites that could put aquatic organisms in danger if the bloom sustains for long.
• Such algal blooms are caused by several factors: the accumulation of nutrients (such as nitrates and phosphates) in the water that come through industrial effluents, water stagnation due to low water flow, and increases in the ambient water temperatures that happen during summers.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Indian peacekeepers garner praise for helping local communities

News

• Indian peacekeepers serving with the UN missions in Lebanon and South Sudan have earned appreciation for undertaking activities to benefit local communities, including raising awareness about breast cancer and teaching farmers methods of goat rearing.

Beyond News

• Indian peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) organised a training session with the aim of raising awareness about preventing breast cancer among the women of Shaba in south-eastern Lebanon earlier this week.
• The training session, conducted in coordination with local authorities and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), offered an opportunity for the local women to discuss issues about breast cancer with UNIFIL’s female peacekeepers with expertise on the subject.
• The peacekeepers also provided a reference handbook on ‘Goat farming and Management’, specifically tailored to the needs of local communities in South Sudan.
• Participants were trained on nutritional and health management, housing, effective first aid, vaccination and deworming, breed improvement and value addition of milk.
• In South Sudan’s Jonglei region, Indian peacekeepers are providing critical veterinary know-how that is helping the local community save cows and livelihoods.
• India is among the largest troop contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions deployed in about nine peacekeeping missions. The highest number of personnel is deployed with the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

Coming, a law to empower forest staff

News

• A proposed legislation accords significant powers to India’s forest officers including the power issue search warrants, enter and investigate lands within their jurisdictions, and to provide indemnity to forest officers using arms to prevent forest-related offences.

Beyond News

• The Indian Forest Act, 2019 is envisaged as an amendment to the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and is an attempt to address contemporary challenges to India’s 
• The draft law has been sent to key forest officers in the States for soliciting comments and objections until June 7, says an accompanying note by the Union Environment Ministry.
• The legislation also proposes a forest development cess of up to 10% of the assessed value of mining products removed from forests, and water used for irrigation or in industries.
• This amount would be deposited in a special fund and used “exclusively for reforestation; forest protection and other ancillary purposes connected with tree planting, forest development and conservation.”

In effect, the aim is to strengthen the forest bureaucracy in terms of deciding on how to decide on [title claims] over forest land, what parts to declare [off-limits] for conservation, checking encroachments, etc.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

8.96 lakh jobs created in January, 76.48 lakh in last 17 months: EPFO payroll data

News

• Net employment generation in the formal sector touched a 17-month high of 8.96 lakh, according to the latest EPFO payroll data.

Beyond News

• Around 76.48 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from September 2017 to January 2019, the data showed. This indicates that these many jobs were created in the formal sector over the past 17 months.
• The net EPFO enrolment stood at 8,96,516, which is the highest.
• The EPFO, however, revised slightly downwards its payroll data for December 2018 by 1.8% to 7.03 lakh, against the earlier estimate.
• It also revised the cumulative job addition data downwards by 6.6% to 67.52 lakh, from the earlier forecast of 72.32 lakh.
• During January 2019, the highest number of 2.44 lakh jobs were created in the 22-25 years age group, followed by 2.24 lakh in the 18-21 years age bracket.
• The data of the exited members is based on the claims submitted by the individuals and establishments and the exit data uploaded by employers, whereas the number of new subscribers is based on the Universal Account Number (UAN) generated in the system and those who have received non-zero subscription.
• This is age-band wise data of new members registered under the EPFO where the first non-zero contribution received during particular month. For each age-wise band, the estimates are net of the members newly enrolled, exited and rejoined during the month as per records of the EPFO.
• The estimates may include temporary employees whose contributions may not be continuous for the entire year. Members’ data are linked to unique Aadhaar Identity.
• The EPFO manages social security funds of workers in the organised/semi organised sector in India and has more than 6 crore active members (with at least one-month contribution during the year).

Scientists study biochemical blood parameters of Indian adolescents

News

• For the first time, the blood biochemical parameters of Indian adolescents have been measured on a large scale and a normative range has been arrived.
• Since biochemical parameters for Indian adolescents were not available, doctors had to rely on adult normative range. This is scientifically not correct as children are immunologically different and and their response to treatments can vary when compared to adults.

Findings

• Some of the blood biochemical parameters studied are lipid profile (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides), plasma glucose, insulin, HbA1c, urea, and creatinine.
• The study involved over 7,600 Indian adolescents (over 3,300 boys and about 4,300 girls) aged between 11–17 years from Delhi. Besides studying the blood biochemistry, the researchers from the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) looked at the variation in the parameters with respect to gender and age during adolescence.
• The normative range for fasting plasma glucose for Indian adolescents was found to be slightly lower than Nigerians and Croatians. Similarly, for plasma insulin, the range is less than Canadian adolescents.
• The mean plasma glucose and insulin levels were found to be lower than the values measured earlier by others in a smaller number (695) of Indian adolescents.
• Girls were found to be more insulin resistant than boys.
• The study found that boys have lower HbA1c, a marker for diabetes, than girls.

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