Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Floods result of rampant construction: SC

News

• Unbridled construction activities in eco-sensitive areas with natural water flow have a devastating effect and lead to natural calamities like those seen in the recent floods in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court warned.

Beyond News

• Expert opinions suggest that the devastated floods faced by Uttarakhand in recent years and Tamil Nadu this year are immediate result of uncontrolled construction activities on river shores and unscrupulous trespass into the natural path of backwaters, a Bench of Justices observed in a recent order.
• The observations are part of its direction to the authorities in Kerala to demolish certain apartment blocks situated in ecologically sensitive areas in Maradu panchayat within a month.
• In a detailed order published lately, the court declared the permission given by the panchayat authorities for their construction as illegal and void.
• It said the area in which the construction was carried out was part of tidal influenced water body and strictly restricted under the provisions of the Coastal Regulation Zone notifications.
• Uncontrolled construction activities in these areas would have devastating effects on the natural water flow that may ultimately result in severe natural calamities, the Bench said in the order.
• The Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) has been prepared to check these types of activities and construction activities of all types in the notified areas.
• Under Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, the authority is empowered to deal with the environmental issues relating to the notified Coastal Regulations Zones.
• Construction activities in the notified CRZ areas can be permitted only in consultation with and concurrence of the authority.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Ban on LTTE extended for another five years

News

• The Union government extended the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for violent and disruptive activities that are prejudicial to the integrity and sovereignty of the country.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) renewed its 2014 notification to declare the LTTE as an “unlawful association” for another five years.

Beyond News

• The MHA said the LTTE continues to adopt a strong anti-India posture as also continues to pose a grave threat to the security of Indian nationals, it is necessary to declare LTTE as an unlawful association with immediate effect.
• It noted that the diaspora continue to spread through articles in the Internet portals, anti-India feeling amongst the Sri Lankan Tamils by holding the Government of India responsible for the defeat of the LTTE and such propaganda through Internet, which remains continued, is likely to impact Very Very Important Persons (VVIP) security adversely in India.
• Even after its military defeat in May 2009 in Sri Lanka, the LTTE had not abandoned the concept of ‘Eelam’ (separate land for Tamils) and had been clandestinely working towards the cause by undertaking fund-raising and propaganda activities.
• The remnant LTTE leaders or cadres have also initiated efforts to regroup the scattered activists and resurrect the outfit locally and internationally.
• The LTTE’s objective for a separate homeland (Tamil Eelam) for all Tamils threatened the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and amounted to cession and secession of a part of the territory of India from the Union and thus fell within the ambit of unlawful activities, it said.
• The Centre also has information that the activities of pro-LTTE organisations and individuals have come to its notice that despite the ban, attempts have been made by these forces to extend their support to the LTTE and that the LTTE leaders, operatives and supporters have been inimically opposed to India’s policy on their organisation and action of the state machinery in curbing their activities.
• Cases were registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, against the LTTE, pro-LTTE elements and chauvinist groups since the May 2014 notification, besides cases under the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act 1908 and the Indian Penal Code, among others.

Drill for minerals on China border: Arunachal Pradesh to GSI

News

• Arunachal Pradesh has asked the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to explore the possibility of surveying and drilling for minerals along the India-China border.

Beyond News

• This follows reports of Beijing carrying out “massive” mining activities very close to the border in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
• Arunachal Pradesh shares 1,126 km of the 3,488 km India shares with China.
• The State government also sought the development of road for exploration and extraction of minerals along the international border.
• The GSI presented the status of mineral deposits in Arunachal Pradesh at the meeting. Data showed that the State has 35% of the total graphite reserves in India – the highest in the country.
• The GSI’s 2013 report, however, showed Arunachal Pradesh sits on 43% of the country’s graphite resources followed by Jammu & Kashmir (37%), Jharkhand (6%), Tamil Nadu (5%), and Odisha (3%), But in terms of resources, Tamil Nadu led with 37% followed by Jharkhand with 30% and Odisha with 29%.
• The only non-metal element that is a good conductor of electricity, graphite is known as a dry lubricant for its greasy feel. Graphite has many industrial uses, particularly for products that need very high heat.
• The State Mining Department and GSI also agreed to promote geo-tourism in Arunachal Pradesh, particularly in districts that have cave formations with lime deposits. Meghalaya is the only State in the Northeast where limestone-rich caves attract a large number of tourists annually.

Brain death certification to be mandatory

News

• Kerala is moving towards the mandatory certification of brain death at intensive care units in all medical facilities in the State, irrespective of whether organ donation takes place or not.

Beyond News

• The government, after legal consultations, will soon issue executive orders delinking brain death certification and organ donation, so that there is more clarity as to how clinicians should proceed with intensive care unit (ICU) care in the case of a patient who has been declared brain-dead, but whose family has refused consent for organ donation.
• Once brain death is diagnosed as per the existing legal and clinical requirements and the certification process is completed, ICU care will be continued only if organs are to be retrieved for possible donation.
• If organ donation is not a possibility, then all care will be stopped so that the much valuable ICU resources are not wasted and may be utilised for a salvageable person.
• The decisions were taken at a meeting of senior health administrators, transplant surgeons, neurologists, and critical care specialists on developing parameters for universal brain death certification.
• At present, there is lack of clarity on how clinicians should proceed if there is a brain-dead patient in the ICU and the family has refused consent for organ donation.
• In India, brain death has been defined only in connection with organ donation, in the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994.
• The Act does not specify whether ventilation and ICU care may be withdrawn if a patient is brain-dead but organ donation has not been proposed.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Odisha government to use drones to spot deer

News

• The Odisha government decided to use drones to locate about 4,000 spotted deer that lived in the Balukhand-Konark Wildlife Sanctuary, on the coast between Puri and Konark, before Cyclone Fani.

Beyond News

• Forest department staff had found only one carcass of a spotted deer so far, they are planning to use drones to track and monitor the health condition of the spotted deer in the sanctuary.
• Forest department had information about the deer visiting the waterbodies created in the sanctuary area. The forest department staff were engaged in clearing the uprooted trees to track the deer population.
• The department officials are hoping that the large number of cashew trees in the sanctuary might have protected the deer during the cyclone. The sanctuary, spread over 72 sq km, is now closed to visitors.
• A large number of trees had also been uprooted at Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar.

Two-thirds of world’s longest rivers severed by dams, reservoirs: Study

News

• Just over one-third of the world’s 246 longest rivers remain free-flowing, according to a study which found that dams and reservoirs are drastically reducing the diverse benefits offered by healthy rivers.

Findings

• A team of international researchers assessed the connectivity status of 12 million km of rivers worldwide.
• The study, provides the first-ever global assessment of the location and extent of the planet’s remaining free-flowing rivers.
• Researchers determined that only 21 of the world’s 91 rivers longer than 1,000 kilometres that originally flowed to the ocean still retain a direct connection from source to sea.
• The planet’s remaining free-flowing rivers are largely restricted to remote regions of the Arctic, the Amazon Basin, and the Congo Basin.
• The world’s rivers form an intricate network with vital links to land, groundwater, and the atmosphere.
• Free-flowing rivers are important for humans and the environment alike, yet economic development around the world is making them increasingly rare.
• Dams and reservoirs are the leading contributors to connectivity loss in global rivers.
• The study estimates there are around 60,000 large dams worldwide, and more than 3,700 hydropower dams are currently planned or under construction.

Radioactive carbon from nuclear bomb tests found in deep ocean trenches

News

• Scientists have found traces of radioactive carbon released into the atmosphere from 20th-century nuclear bomb tests in marine organisms that inhabit the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on Earth.

Findings

• Organisms at the ocean surface have incorporated this “bomb carbon” into the molecules that make up their bodies since the late 1950s.
• The study finds crustaceans in deep ocean trenches are feeding on organic matter from these organisms when it falls to the ocean floor.
• The results show human pollution can quickly enter the food web and make its way to the deep ocean, researchers said.
• Although the oceanic circulation takes hundreds of years to bring water containing bomb carbon to the deepest trench, the food chain achieves this much faster.
• The results also help scientists better understand how creatures have adapted to living in the nutrient-poor environment of the deep ocean, researchers said.
• The crustaceans they studied live for an unexpectedly long time by having extremely slow metabolisms, which they suspect may be an adaptation to living in this impoverished and harsh environment.

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