Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

Editorials are covered separately. HINDU NOTES are available free date wise| CLICK HERE

Graffiti taking its toll on prehistoric rock paintings.

News

• Like many important monuments across India, the prehistoric rock paintings in Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally district are prey to confessions of undying love and names etched for posterity.

Beyond News

• Increasing defacement, including instances of scraped graffiti and smeared oil paints, are a cause for grave concern at the millennia-old rock paintings of Pandavulagutta, which trace the evolution of human knowledge.
• Pandavulagutta is home to painted rock shelters dating to 10000 BC-8000 BC, an 8th century inscription of the Rashtrakuta period, and painted frescoes from the 12th century Kakatiya empire.
• The pre-historic rock paintings resemble those at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh, with flora, fauna and human figures seen in red ochre.
• The Kakatiya artists, on the other hand, painted scenes from the Mahabharata and of the elephant-headed Ganesha.
• Paintings from three different time periods have coexisted admirably down the ages, but they have not been protected or preserved since their discovery in 1990. They have been damaged because they are easily accessible to the public.
• If something drastic is not done to stop it, the defacement will destroy the original paintings rendered with natural colours.
• For instance, figures of magnificent beauty in a mural frieze, set against a background of thick lime plaster that projects them as if in an open-air theatre, have been ruined by graffiti, with the frescoes scraped from the plaster and the storytelling disrupted.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Adivasis likely to adopt ‘self-rule’ declaration

News

• As June 2, the date on which Telangana Adivasis are slated to adopt ‘self-rule’ in their habitations, comes closer, curious developments have started taking shape with respect to the demand of the aboriginal people to remove Lambada tribe from the list of Scheduled Tribes.

Beyond News

• Six Adivasi organisations have issued guidelines through a hand bill for the ethnic villagers to follow in order to intensify the movement starting June 2, which also happens to be the State Formation Day.
• The ethnic tribes have been demanding expulsion of the Lambada tribe since the last quarter of 2017, alleging that the latter had gained entry into the list through a process which remained incomplete.
• Also, they are accused of usurping all government benefits meant for the aboriginal people. The movement saw a couple of violent incidents but peace had been restored.
• Contending that the 17,352 sq. km of Scheduled Area is governed by the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Area Act, 1996 under the Fifth Schedule of Indian Constitution, the Adivasi organisations will declare establishment Maa oollo, maa rajyam(my rule in my village) on that day.
• The PESA Act, according to the leader of the Adivasi party, has provision for grama sabhas to resolve issues which are to be conducted either by the government or elders in given villages.
• The organisations, Tudum Debba, Adivasi Teachers Federation, Adivasi Vidyarthi Sangham, Adivasi Mahila Sangham, Adivasi Rythu Sangham and Adivasi Yuvajana Sangham, have issued a set of six guidelines for the aboriginal people to follow in the villages.
• The grama sabhas in respective villages are expected to pass resolutions on these.
• The guildelines include a demand for formation of ‘my village my rule’ committees, seeking removal of Lambada employees from 29 government departments, not to allow any resource out of villages, rejection of government schemes and loans by ethnic people, not to permit government officials into villages and demand for scrapping holidays declared by the government.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

China launches relay satellite to explore far side of moon

News:

• China launched a relay satellite as part of a groundbreaking programme to be the first to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon later this year.

Beyond News

• The satellite, lofted into space aboard a Long March-4C rocket, will facilitate communication between controllers on Earth and the Chang’e 4 mission.
• China hopes to become the first country to soft-land a probe on the moon’s far side, also known as the dark side because it faces away from the earth and is comparatively unknown.
• The satellite, named Queqiao, or “Magpie Bridge,” after an ancient Chinese folk tale, was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
• The launch is a “key step,” but the satellite’s mission must still overcome challenges, including making multiple adjustments to its orbit, “braking” near the moon and using lunar gravity to its advantage.
• According to the administration and website, Queqiao was expected to arrive shortly at the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2, a gravitationally stable spot located 64,000 km beyond the far side of the moon.
• Without such a communications relay link, spacecraft on the far side would have to “send their signals through the moon’s rocky bulk”.
• China previously landed its Jade Rabbit rover on the moon and plans to land its Chang’e 5 probe there next year.
• China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, making it only the third country after Russia and the U.S. to do so and has put a pair of space stations into orbit.
• Upcoming missions include the launch of the 20-ton core module for the still orbiting Tiangong 2 station, along with components for a 60-ton station that is due to come online in 2022 and a Mars rover planned for mid 2020s.

Humans causing cancer in wild animals: study

News:

• Human activities are changing the environment in a way that causes cancer in wild animal populations, according to a study.

Beyond News:

• Some viruses can cause cancer in humans by changing the environment that they live in in their case, human cells  to make it more suitable for themselves.
• We are changing the environment to be more suitable for ourselves, while these changes are having a negative impact on many species on many different levels, including the probability of developing cancer.

Findings:

• In the study, the researchers point out many pathways and previous scientific studies that show where human activities are already taking a toll on animals.
• These include chemical and physical pollution in our oceans and waterways, release of radiation into the atmosphere from nuclear plants, and the accumulation of microplastics in both land- and water-based environments.
• In addition, exposure to pesticides and herbicides on farmlands, artificial light pollution, loss of genetic diversity and animals eating human food are known to cause health problems, researchers said.
• Cancer has been found in all species where scientists have looked for it and human activities are known to strongly influence cancer rate in humans.
• This human impact on wild environments might strongly influence the prevalence of cancer in wild populations with additional consequences on ecosystem functioning.

International Biodiversity Day 2018: tracking new species discovered in India

News

• From the Bhupathi frog to the Kalam plant, new species discovered in India during 2017-18.

Beyond News

• Every year May 22 is observed as The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase awareness on various biodiversity issues such as habitat destruction, marine pollution and climate change.
• It was first observed in 1993 by the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly.
• In 2000, May 22 was chosen as the The International Day for Biological Diversity to commemorate the Adoption of the Agreed Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• It is an international legal agreement ratified by 196 nations for “the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources”.
• The theme for 2018 is “Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity.”

New satellites to keep track of earth’s water

News

• The reason we know today just how much ice is melting in Greenland and Antarctica is because of a pair of satellites, launched in 2002 by NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).
• Now, they are set to be replaced by a more modern duo.

Beyond News

• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket hoisting into orbit the spacecraft known as GRACE-FO, a follow-on to the prior, 15-year mission known as the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE).
• Two satellites, each the size of a car, will circle the Earth at a distance of 220 km from each other. They will be flying about 490 km above the Earth for the next five years.
• The satellites will use a monthly reference point. When ice melts, the oceans’ mass rises. When it rains a lot in a certain region, the volume of the aquifers mounts. The satellites will pick this up, and the data will show that the mass in a certain area was higher than it was in the prior month, or year.
• That is how the GRACE-FO satellites will establish a map of the water on Earth, every 30 days, showing which areas have more and which have less, whether above or below ground. They will operate with a precision equivalent to a change of 0.4 inches (one cm) in water height across areas of about 340 km in diameter.
• The prior mission, GRACE, allowed scientists to gain an understanding of how much ice Greenland was losing. It was more than they thought, based on ground-observations.
• The satellites were also able to track just how much ice Antarctica was losing, and produced colourful maps that showed losses in red and gains in blue.
• Renewing the mission will allow scientists to continue to track trends in sea level rise, glacial and ice melt, and the drying up of certain aquifers.

Solar system’s first interstellar immigrant discovered

News

• Scientists have discovered the first known permanent immigrant to the solar system an asteroid, nestling in Jupiter’s orbit, that migrated from another star system.

Beyond News

• All the planets in the solar system travel around the Sun.
• But this asteroid, named (514107) 2015 BZ509, moves in the opposite direction, referred to as ‘retrograde’ orbit.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS.