Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Teenage marriages down by 51% in India since 2000: report

News

• The number of girls in India in the age group of 15-19 years who are currently married is down 51% since 2000 and 63% since 1990, and the country’s average performance across a set of indicators related to child health, education, labour, marriage and violence has improved, a new report has said.

Findings

• According to the Global Childhood Report released by UK-based NGO Save the Children, India, with its score on Childhood Index up 137 points, from 632 to 769, has also cut teen births by 63% since 2000 and 75% since 1990.
• The index score reflects the average level of performance across a set of eight indicators related to child health, education, labour, marriage, childbirth and violence.
• This reduction has resulted in over 2 million fewer teen births in India now compared to 2000 (3.5 million against 1.4 million), meaning progress in India alone accounts for nearly three-quarters of the global reduction in adolescent births during this period, the report said.
• However, even today child marriage prevalence is higher in rural areas as compared to urban areas as these figures are 14.1% and 6.9% for rural and urban areas respectively for age group 15-19 years, the report said.
• A comparison of End of Childhood Index scores, that evaluates 176 countries on children’s access to health care, education, nutrition and protection from ‘childhood enders’ like child labour and child marriage, finds the overall situation for children has improved in 173 countries since 2000, the report added.

Scientists give the thumbs-up for Anthropocene epoch

News

• A 34-member panel of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) voted 29-4 in favour of designating a new geological epoch the Anthropocene.

   Geological epoch

• In geochronology, an epochis a subdivision of the geologic timescale that is longer than an age but shorter than a period. The current epoch is the Holocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period. Rock layers deposited during an epoch are called a series.

Beyond News

• The vote signals the end of the Holocene Epoch, which began 11,700 years ago.
• The panel plans to submit a formal proposal for the new epoch by 2021 to the International Commission on Stratigraphy, which oversees the official geologic time chart.
• That nearly 90% voted in favour of a naming the new epoch to reflect how the Earth has been shaped by human activity, is not surprising, as an informal vote had already conducted three years ago in Cape Town at the 2016 International Geological Congress.
• The term ‘Anthropocene’ was coined in 2000 by Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer to denote the present geological time interval in which human activity has profoundly altered many conditions and processes on Earth.
• According to the AWG, the phenomena associated with the Anthropocene include an order-of-magnitude increase in erosion and sediment transport associated with urbanisation and agriculture, marked and abrupt anthropogenic perturbations of the cycles of elements such as carbon, environmental changes generated by these perturbations, including global warming, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification, rapid changes in the biosphere and finally proliferation and global dispersion of many new ‘minerals’ and ‘rocks’ including concrete, fly ash and plastics, and the myriad ‘technofossils’ produced from these and other materials.
• The focus is now on identifying a definitive geologic marker or golden spike (technically called Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point) to signal the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch. The golden spike must be present globally and should be a part of deposits for geological record.
• Many in the AWG believe that artificial radionuclides spread across the world by atomic bomb tests from the early 1950s would serve as the golden spike. The radionuclides are present almost everywhere from marine sediments to ice layers and even stalagmites and stalactites.
• Once a formal proposal is made by the AWG, it will be considered by several more groups of the International Commission on Stratigraphy.
• The final ratification will be made by the executive committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India issues updated travel advisory for Sri Lanka

News

• India issued an updated travel advisory for Sri Lanka,saying that the security situation was gradually returning to normal in the island nation but Indian nationals travelling there need to be careful and vigilant.

Beyond News

• Security situation in Sri Lanka is gradually returning to normal with the lifting of curfew and restrictions on social media and the opening of schools. Indian nationals travelling to Sri Lanka are advised to be careful and vigilant,an External Affairs Ministry release said .
• It said that Indian nationals requiring any assistance can get in touch round the clock with the High Commission in Colombo, the Assistant High Commission in Kandy and the Consulates in Jaffna and Hambantota.
• The government had last month issued an advisory calling upon Indian nationals intending not to undertake non-essential travel to Sri Lanka in view of the existing security situation following the terror attacks.

India has 20 health workers for 10,000 people, study finds

News

• India has 20.6 health workers per 10,000 people, a study based on National Sample Survey Organisation reveals.
• While it is less than the World health Organisation’s minimum threshold of 22.8, the numbers have increased from 19 health workers per 10000 people in 2012.

Findings

• This is welcome news as the numbers have increased since 2012. This shows that we are moving in the right direction and the size of the health workforce is steadily improving.
• Unfortunately, the distribution of health workers is uneven between urban and rural areas. Rural areas with nearly 71% of India’s population have only 36% of health workers.
• The uneven distribution of health workers is seen in private and public health sector too more than 80% of doctors and 70% of nurses and midwives are employed in the private sector, notes a study.
• The public sector can collaborate with the private sector to overcome the shortages in human resources for health. However, this will not influence the overall size of the health workforce in the country.
• The study notes that policy should focus on enhancing the quality of health workers and bringing professionally qualified persons into the health workforce.

India gave right of passage to Pakistan Minister’s plane

News

• India granted permission for Pakistan Foreign Minister’s aircraft to fly over the country for his visit to Male and Colombo, a gesture that would be reciprocated by Pakistan for Indian External Affairs Minister a fortnight later, despite a ban by Pakistan on the use of its airspace for flights approaching from its eastern side after traversing India.

Beyond News

• Both the Indian and the Pakistani officials have confirmed that Pakistan requested for a passage for flight to Male on May 2 and for his return flight from Colombo on May 4. Pakistan Foreign Minister, however, cancelled the trip following the bomb attacks in Sri Lanka.
• Two weeks later, Pakistan allowed Indian External Affairs Minister’s aircraft for the SCO meet in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek.
• The give-and-take unfolded in the middle of a heated election season, when Indian Prime Minister and leaders had repeatedly raked up the Balakot air strike.
• Pakistan closed its airspace after the IAF strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Male bonobo living with their mothers more likely to have offspring, finds study

News

• Bonobo mothers have been found to go that extra mile to help their sons procreate, according to a new study carried out by an international team of researchers.

Findings

• The study found that bonobo males who had their mothers living with them in their group were approximately three times more likely to have progeny than those whose mothers did not live with them.
• This appears to be the first study of mammals, other than humans, which investigates the effect of mothers’ presence on male fertility.
• The study investigated two closely related groups of mammals bonobos and chimpanzees in both of which species the males are philopatric, or, show affinity to a particular place and return to it, and females tend to disperse.
• They observed 39 paternities from four groups in bonobos and 263 paternities from seven groups in chimps. When the females were living in the same group as their sons, the bonobos were 3.14 times more likely to sire offspring than when the mothers did not live with them.
• In chimpanzees, on the other hand, the males whose mothers lived with them were 1.26 times less likely to sire offspring.
• They have observed that bonobo mothers actively encourage their sons to mate by taking them close to females who are mature and can have offspring; they stand in guard over the mating couple lest they be disturbed; they also interfere in mating attempts of other males, thereby decreasing their chances to mate and procreate!
• Studies on humans and orca revealed that such a behavioural pattern on the part of the mother actually increases her longevity and female post-reproductive lifespan. However, no such effect was observed in bonobos, who are not in captivity. This remains a subject for further study.

Ozone pollution likely to spike in Capital

News

• With rising temperatures, surface ozone pollution is expected to increase in Delhi in the next three days, according to a forecast by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).

Beyond News

• Surface ozone can lead to cough, shortness of breath, throat pain in short term and cause corrosion of linings of lungs and make lungs vulnerable to further infections in case of long-term exposure.
• The Air Quality Index (AQI) was in the ‘moderate’ category and is expected to slowly deteriorate to the higher end of moderate category in the next two days with ozone as a lead pollutant, according to SAFAR, a wing of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Maximum temperatures are likely to rise gradually by 2-3 degrees Celsius during the next three days which will increase the production of surface ozone. A significant increase in ozone pollution is predicted.
• Surface ozone is not a primary pollutant and it is produced due to chemical reactions of NOx (nitrogen oxides), CO (carbon monoxide) in the presence of sunlight. When temperature increases, the rate of production of ozone also increases. It can cause fatigue, breathlessness, and asthma.

84 cities submit plans for improving air quality

News

• Eighty-four out of the 102 cities that have been tasked with reducing toxic particulate matter levels by 20%-30% by 2024 have submitted proposals.

Beyond News

• One hundred and two cities, considered India’s most polluted, have been tasked with reducing PM (particulate matter) 10 and PM 2.5 levels by 2024, as part of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). This was made public in January this year.
• The States in which the cities are located are expected to produce plans that include increasing the number of monitoring stations, providing technology support, conducting source apportionment studies, and strengthening enforcement.
• For achieving the NCAP targets, cities would be expected to calculate the reduction in pollution, keeping 2017’s average annual PM levels as the base year.
• The NCAP requires cities to implement specific measures such as “ensuring roads are pothole-free to improve traffic flow and thereby reduce dust” (within 60 days) or “ensuring strict action against unauthorised brick kilns” (within 30 days).
• In April, the Ministry constituted a committee to implement the NCAP.

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