Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Papua New Guinea quake leaves 67 dead as aftershocks rock homes: Red Cross

News

At least 67 people were killed by a major earthquake that devastated Papua New Guinea’s remote highlands last week,with thousands homeless and without food and clean water.

Why its important?

This makes Earth quake & Papua New Guinea relevant for examination.

Beyond News

The recovery effort has been slow as aid workers grapple with blocked roads and power outages to reach cut-off villages after the 7.5-magnitude quake struck on February 26 in the Pacific nation’s mountainous interior.

Terrified locals in the Southern Highlands, Western, Enga and Hela provinces have also had to deal with strong aftershocks, including two 6.0-magnitude tremors.

Compounding the fallout was an announcement today that the impoverished country’s biggest-ever development the PNG LNG project operated by US energy giant ExxonMobil will be offline for up to eight weeks as the quake-hit facilities undergo repairs.

The Australian and New Zealand defence forces have began delivering aid, while the China Red Cross and Beijing have pledged financial assistance.

NASA observes dramatic rise in sea levels

News

A NASA study says that,the sea level may rise twice as high by 2100 as previously estimated because of climate change.

Beyond News

According to findings, rise in sea level may increase by up to 65 centimetres in the next 80 years, which will do to cause significant problems for coastal cities.

This is is believed to be a conservative estimate by scientists.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Cars of President, V-P to have number plates

News

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has informed the Delhi High Court that it has written to the authorities concerned to get these high security vehicles registered.

Beyond News:

Parting with the practice of displaying just the State Emblem of India, the vehicles of constitutional authorities and dignitaries, such as the President, the Vice-President, Governors and Lieutenant-Governors, will soon have to display their registration numbers.

Security issue

The Ministry’s response came in the backdrop of a petition, filed by NGO Nyayabhoomi, which claimed that the practice of displaying the state emblem, instead of the registration numbers, make the cars conspicuous, and the dignitaries may become easy targets for terrorists or anyone with malicious intent.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Roadkills of wild animals in the Ghats

News

The roads that Valparai’s tourists love driving through to spot wildlife also see numerous animal deaths. Road surveys show that almost 3,000 animals died on approximately 1,500 km of roads in Tamil Nadu’s Valparai plateau in 2011-12 alone.

Beyond News

Along with people, animals including endangered Asian elephants and lion-tailed macaques – also live on this high-elevation plateau.

However, fragmentation of habitats ensures that wildlife have to cross roads when they move about. A study recorded 73 reptile deaths on the Valparai roads in 2001; mammal and insect deaths are also frequent here.

Scientists of the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) walked along eleven road sections passing through various habitats in the Valparai plateau. They noted roadkills of all animal taxa across seasons (surveying totally1473.4 kms, including a State Highway) in 2011-12.

Findings

The results show that 2,969 animals died on Valparai’s roads during this time, which translates approximately to an average of 21 animals per 10 km of road.

Almost 50% of these kills comprised amphibians — toads, frogs and caecilians (limbless, snake-like amphibians). Rodents and shrews comprised a majority of the 148 mammal kills.

The Indian crested porcupine, the brown palm civet (a fruit-eater endemic to the Western Ghats), larger mammals like sambar deer and endemic lion-tailed macaques also figured in the list of mammal roadkills.

findings could help identify specific management measures for different habitats to prevent or reduce roadkills in Valparai and similar places.

Roads through forest patches need urgent attention because forest-dependant and endemic species died most here. Drains along roadsides with underpasses at regular intervals can also provide safe passages for small-sized taxa like amphibians.

Iraq pips Saudi Arabia to become India’s top crude oil supplier

News

Iraq has overtaken Saudi Arabia by a wide margin to become India’s top crude oil supplier, meeting more than a fifth of the country’s oil needs in the current financial year.

Beyond News

Saudi Arabia traditionally was India’s top oil source but in the April-January period of 2017-18, Iraq dethroned it, supplying 38.9 million tonnes (MT) of oil.

Despite India cutting imports over delays in award of contract for a gas field development, Iran continued to be the third largest supplier selling 18.4 MT during April-January.

This is the second year in a row that Iran has occupied the third position.

India’s dependence on West Asia for its crude oil needed has increased from 58 per cent in 2014-15 to 63.7 per cent in the April-January period of this fiscal.

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