Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Odisha fishermen in a fix

News

• The traditional fishermen of Odisha are in a fix as they have lost their boats and nets in cyclone Fani and face the diminished scope of professional employment in other coastal States during the summer months.

Beyond News

• A large number of the cyclone-devastated fishermen may be forced to become menial migrant labourers during the next two months. The Phailin cyclone of 2013 that had its landfall near Gopalpur in Ganjam district had led to large scale migration of fishermen looking for work outside the State. But Phailin occurred in October, when the scope of employment in the marine fishery sector was high in other coastal States.
• During the summer months fishing activity is low in States of the eastern coast, which will reduce the employment scope for Odisha fishermen.
• It is expected that some of them may migrate to the western coast looking for fishing sector jobs in Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa. Others may be compelled to earn a living as menial workers in other sectors.
• According to initial government assessment, 6,389 traditional marine fishing boats, 7,240 nets, 2,524 fish ponds of area 587 hectare, three fishing harbours, six fish landing centres, and five fish farms have been damaged by Fani in Odisha.
• According to OTFWU, the number of damaged boats and nets will be higher as information is yet to reach it from several areas.
• The ban on mechanised fishing from April 15 to May 31 for the breeding season still continues in Ganjam coast. Due to this they are only able to fish with their traditional catamarans. The catch is not sufficient to get good income, although demand is high as fishing is almost nil in the Fani-devastated coastal districts.
• With fall in fish catch, women of the marine fisherman community have also lost their livelihood. They are no more able to process and trade marine products.
• As cashew jungles have been destroyed, these fisherwomen have also lost the income they were getting from cashew plucking.

In 2018, 207 Indians gave up citizenship

News

• More than 200 Indians surrendered their citizenship in 2018, according to the Union Home Ministry.

Beyond News

• Since 2010, 290 Indians have renounced their citizenship, and these included 207 in 2018 alone.
• The data, accessed under the Right to Information Act, showed that in 2010, only three Indians renounced citizenship. There was no surrender of citizenship from 2012 to 2015, the Ministry said.
• A senior official of the Ministry said “economic reasons” were mainly behind the migration of people to other countries for employment and education, and only recently had the Ministry started documenting the reasons.
• Total 290 are the persons who have renounced Indian citizenship as per Rule 23 of the Citizenship Rules, 2009, under Section 8 of the Citizenship Act, from January 1, 2010, to October 22, 2018.
• During 2016 and 2017, the number of people who had surrendered Indian citizenship was 19 and 60.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India delays levying retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods to June 16

News

• India delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to June 16, according to a government statement.

Beyond News

• The new duties were to come into force from May 16.
• Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi announced in June last year a plan to raise the import tax on U.S. products such as almonds, walnuts and apples.
• But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariffs.

To be a Sri Lankan is to be Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian: UN officials

News

• Two top UN officials have voiced alarm over the spate of communal violence in Sri Lanka since the Easter Sunday Bombings, saying the government should ensure that spread of prejudice and hate among groups is not tolerated, as they emphasised that “to be a Sri Lankan” is to be a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian.

Beyond News

• United Nations Special Adviser’s in a joint statement on attacks against religious minorities in Sri Lanka, said they are alarmed about the growing acts of violence on the basis of religion, including attacks against homes, places of worship and businesses in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka.
• The Special Advisers noted the recent spate of attacks against Muslim and Christian communities in Sri Lanka following the deadly terror attacks carried out on Easter Sunday against churches and hotels in various parts of the country in which nearly 260 people were killed and hundreds injured.
• The recent violence in Sri Lanka has highlighted a growing influence of nationalist and extremist views of identity in the Asia region, putting religious minorities at risk.
• The Sri Lankan government enforced a countrywide curfew and blocked social media platforms to stop people inciting violence as communal violence spread in the island nation in the worst unrest since Easter Sunday bombings. A Muslim man was reportedly slashed to death during the rioting between minority Muslim and majority Sinhalese communities in the country.
• Acknowledging the swift response of the Sri Lankan government, including by deploying the security forces to protect affected communities and addressing the spread of false information and incitement to violence, they encouraged the Government to make sure that these and other past similar attacks are fully investigated and those responsible for instigating or committing these violent acts are brought to justice and made accountable.

U.S. curbs: India to decide on Iran crude imports after polls

News

• India will take a call on the purchase of Iranian energy after the general elections, External Affairs Minister told her Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif.
• The discussions come in the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Gulf after the U.S. waivers for supply of Iranian energy ended on May 2, prompting Tehran to declare that it would no longer be bound by the 2015 nuclear deal.

Beyond News

• Tehran, indicated that it would leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that was agreed upon during the second tenure of U.S. President Barack Obama.
• Following meeting, Mr. Zarif had described the talks he held in India and Turkmenistan as “excellent”.
• Earlier, Mr Zarif had blamed the U.S. for the current tensions. in the Gulf.
• Indicating continued energy trade, Mr. Zarif had told that Tehran and New Delhi have devised plans to ensure supply. The two sides have designed a special financial system to augment trade and economic cooperation, the Minister said. However, India has not announced any such plans as yet.
• The visiting minister also informed India that as per the announcement of President Hassan Rouhani, Iran has given a 60-day timeline to the EU-3 and other parties to the nuclear deal for restoring oil and banking channels.
• As part of the JCPOA, Iran was required to sell its surplus enriched uranium abroad, rather than store it inside the country. Mr. Rouhani had declared on May 8 that Iran would not keep this part of the promise after U.S. withdrew from the deal.
• Indian External Affairs Minister conveyed India’s position on the critical nuclear deal that had restored banking and trade rights to Tehran after decades, and urged the stakeholders to resolve differences peacefully.
• India and Iran also “expressed satisfaction” at the operationalisation of the interim contract between India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) and Ports and Maritime Organisation (PMO).

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Shrinking Moon generating lunar quakes: study

News

• The Moon is shrinking as its interior cools getting over 50 metres skinnier through the last several hundred million years and causing quakes on the lunar surface, a study has found.
• Just as a grape wrinkles as it shrinks down to a raisin, the Moon gets wrinkles as it shrinks, researchers said.

Findings

• Unlike the flexible skin on a grape, the Moon’s surface crust is brittle, so it breaks as the Moon shrinks, forming “thrust faults” where one section of crust is pushed up over a neighbouring part.
• Analysis gives the first evidence that these faults are still active and likely producing moonquakes today as the Moon continues to gradually cool and shrink.
• Some of these quakes can be fairly strong, around five on the Richter scale.
• These fault scarps resemble small stair-step shaped cliffs when seen from the lunar surface, typically tens of metres high and extending for several kilometres.
• The study, analysed data from four seismometers placed on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts using an algorithm, or mathematical programme, developed to pinpoint quake locations detected by a sparse seismic network.
• The quakes ranged from about two to five on the Richter scale.
• Using the revised location estimates from the new algorithm, the team found that eight of the 28 shallow quakes were within 30 kilometres of faults visible in lunar images.
• This is close enough to tentatively attribute the quakes to the faults, since modelling by the team shows that this is the distance over which strong shaking is expected to occur, given the size of these fault scarps.
• Other evidence that these faults are active comes from highly detailed images of the Moon by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.
• The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has imaged over 3,500 of the fault scarps. Some of these images show landslides or boulders at the bottom of relatively bright patches on the slopes of fault scarps or nearby terrain.
• Weathering from solar and space radiation gradually darkens material on the lunar surface, so brighter areas indicate regions that are freshly exposed to space, as expected if a recent moonquake sent material sliding down a cliff.

Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is tiger kingdom of the State

News

• A monitoring programme of the Forest Department for 2017-18 has found that the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) , a biodiversity hotspot in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, holds the largest tiger population in the Kerala State.
• The study was organised in association with the Parambikulam and Periyar Tiger Conservation Foundations.

Findings

• Of the total 176 tigers in the State, 75 were identified from the WWS, which is part of a large forest complex holding the single largest population of tigers in India.
• Nine tigers had also been captured by camera stations set up at the North and South Wayanad forest divisions.
• The Periyar and Parambikulam tiger reserves followed suit, where 25 tigers each were captured in camera traps.
• The forest area in the State was divided into 10 landscapes and 1,640 camera traps were set up.
• It took nearly a year-and-a-half to complete the project. Close to 500 trained front line forest staff participated in the endeavour.
• The Nilambur North and South forest divisions were excluded from the study as camera traps could not be set up in the forests due to Maoist issues. These areas are expected to support a good tiger population.
• Demographic simulation suggests that cubs (below one year) may comprise roughly 25% of a healthy tiger population. However, cubs are not included in the data as they have to reach three years of age (mortality rate of cubs is high). Thus, the forests are home to about 250 individuals that may or may not be part of home ranges within the Kerala 
• As the WWS and the adjoining tiger reserves in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu constitute a major tiger habitat in the country, the sanctuary has the potential to get the status of a tiger reserve. Such an initiative needs the support of the public.
• Such a move would help get more funds to effectively implement projects to mitigate man-animal conflict in the area.

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