Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Protecting nature the best way to keep planet cool: report

News

• The best way to cap global warming is to empower indigenous forest peoples, reduce food waste and slash meat consumption, an alliance of 38 NGOs said.

Findings

• Restoring natural forest ecosystems, securing the land rights of local communities and revamping the global food system could cut greenhouse emissions 40 percent by mid-century and help humanity avoid climate catastrophe, they argued in a 50-page report based on recent science.
• Approximately half of the reduced emissions would come from boosting the capacity of forests and wetlands to absorb CO2, and the other half from curtailing carbon-intensive forms of agriculture.
• On current trends, Earth is on track to warm up an unlivable three or four degrees Celsius (5.4 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels, far about the 1.5C climate-safe threshold endorsed last week by the UN in a major climate change assessment.
• In the wake of the UN report, two starkly different visions are emerging on how to beat back the existential threat of global warming.
• One calls for geoengineering and the aggressive use of technology to draw excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, especially by burning biofuels and capturing the emitted CO2, a process known by its acronym, BECCS.
• The other, favoured in the new “Missing Pathways to 1.5C” report, is based primarily on Earth’s natural capacity to absorb CO2.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

No time bar for crimes under POCSO Act

News

• Survivors of child sexual abuse can file a police complaint after they become adults. The government clarified that there is no time bar on reporting such crimes.

Beyond News

• The Law Ministry concurred with the opinion of the Ministry of Women and Child Development that unlike the Code of Criminal Proceedings (CrPC), the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012, does not lay down a time limit for reporting crimes covered under it.
• The Ministry of Law, after examining the provisions of POCSO Act vis-à-vis provisions of CrPC, has advised that there appears no period of limitation mentioned in Section 19 in regard to reporting of the offences under the POCSO Act, 2012.
• Section 19 of the POCSO Act, which deals with sexual crimes against children, lays down the procedure for reporting a crime but doesn’t specify a time limit or statute of limitation for reporting it.
• Whereas the CrPC lays down different time-limits for crimes which carry a punishment of up to three years, there is no time bar for crimes that would attract a jail term of more than three years.
• This is an important step for survivors of child abuse, who may try to file a complaint as adults but are turned away at police stations.

3-member panel to mediate after A.P., TS squabble on Krishna water

News

• The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) authorised its three-member committee to make allocations for Andhra Pradeshand Telangana after the two failed to see eye to eye over sharing of water at a meeting held in Hyderabad.

Beyond News

• The two States traded charges on drawing far more than the quota from the Srisailam reservoir leading to a collapse of the negotiation process.
• According to an agreement reached between the two States at the time of bifurcation, both should draw equal amount for power generation.
• Andhra engineers brought to the notice of the Board that in the 2018-19 water year, Telangana had already drawn 135 tmcft for power generation, but Andhra Pradesh drew only 85 tmcft for the purpose.
• They pointed out that the water level in the reservoir would drop and it would become a problem for the release of drinking water to Rayalaseema which recorded a rainfall deficit of over 40% this season.
• When the TS officials said their State needed power, the Andhra Pradesh engineers told the Board that precedence should be given to drinking water and irrigation.
• The Board also decided that all other pending matters like the fixing of telemeters would be taken up only after the committee allocated water.
• Both States had separate issues that they wanted to be discussed in the Board meeting, but the discussions did not happen when they failed to reach an agreement on water.

Pampa, Sannidhanam special security zones

News

• The Kerala State police have declared Pampa and Sannidhanam as special security zones to stymie any attempt to turn the religiously sensitive localities into hotspots for political protests when the Sabarimala temple opens for monthly puja .

Beyond News

• The ancient forest shrine is opening its doors for thousands of devotees for the first time since the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the right of women of all ages to worship at the temple in September.
• The police said they anticipated trouble from forces opposing the government’s decision not to appeal the verdict. Hence, it has invoked Section 83 of the Kerala Police Act to prevent any flare-ups in the pilgrim locality.
• As part of the stringent security arrangements, the police would allow no vehicle beyond Nilackal. The 150-acre parking lot at the base camp could accommodate nearly 15,00 cars at a time. The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation would continuously ferry pilgrims from Nilackal to Pampa and back.
• Officers in riot gear were on the standby to deploy rapidly in the event of any attempt to block pilgrims. The police would use women commandos and officers at Pampa and Nilackal.
• The Indian Air Force (IAF) and Navy would fly their M-17 V-5 gunships on low-level aerial reconnaissance and surveillance sorties over Sabarimala . The helicopters would have commandos on board, and military air traffic controllers at the Centralised Police Control Room at Nilackal would coordinate the air operations.
• The police would operate at least four drones, which would relay surveillance video in real time to control room officials.
• The law enforcement has integrated its surveillance camera system with a database of images of suspects, including criminals, extremists and troublemakers.

An artificial intelligence (AI) powered facial recognition technology will help control room officers spot wanted persons and track their movements in the area. State Police Chief Loknath Behera is supervising the security.

U.P. Cabinet okays ‘Prayagraj’

News

• The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet adopted the proposal to rename the historical city of Allahabad as Prayagraj.

Beyond News

• The State government said it was only restoring an old name to the city.
• Keeping in view the feelings and emotions of the people, Allahabad had been renamed Prayagraj by our government. Five hundred years ago, the name of the place was Prayagraj as it was at the Triveni Sangam [a confluence of three rivers].
• The proposal would now go to the Centre before the city is officially renamed, though an Uttar Pradesh Minister seemed to suggest the change had already come into effect.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Google to charge for apps on Android phones in Europe

News

• Google plans to start charging smartphone makers to pre-install apps such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps on Android handsets sold in Europe, a response to a record $5 billion antitrust fine imposed by the European Union.

Beyond News

• The U.S. tech company’s announcement is a change from its previous business model of letting manufacturers install Google’s suite of popular mobile apps for free on phones running its Android operating system.
• Device makers will also now be able to install rival modified, or “forked,” versions of Android, the most widely used mobile operating system.
• Google is introducing the changes at the end of October to meet a deadline set out in the European Commission’s decision, which it is appealing in a process that could take years.
• EU regulators decided it was unfair for Google to force smartphone makers that used Android to also install its apps. The company argued that giving away its open-source operating system resulted in cheaper phones and more competition with chief rival Apple.
• Google said in a blog post that it had to start charging to make up for lost revenue as a result of the EU enforcement measures.
• The European Economic Area includes the European Union’s member countries, which now number 28, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Using wastewater to irritage

News

• Researchers discovered that wastewater collected from canals used for urban agriculture in Burkina Faso was rich in virulent human pathogens which cause gastroenteritis and diarrhea – a major cause of death in low and middle-income countries.

Findings

• They studied wastewater samples from three canals in the capital Ouagadougou – a city of 2.2 million inhabitants.
• After identifying a wide range of antibiotic resistance genes in the water, they concluded that using wastewater for urban agriculture in the city posed a high risk of spreading bacteria and antimicrobial resistance among humans and animals.
• The study found evidence in the canal water samples of pathogens commonly responsible for waterborne diseases which could lead to people directly or indirectly exposed to these wastewaters suffering from acute diarrhea, chronic gastritis, and gastroenteritis.
• In low and middle-income countries 842,000 people die annually from diarrhoea, according to the World Health Organisation, because of inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Using tech to make train journeys safer

News

• Indian trains will soon have voice recorders or black boxes in a bid to facilitate investigators trying to identify the cause of accidents and assess crew performance.

Beyond News

• Keeping in mind the safety of passengers, the Indian Railways has decided to install the Loco Cab Voice Recording (LCVR) devices in the locomotives.
• The system is in developmental stage.
• The video/voice recording system in locomotives would provide invaluable data to investigators to help them understand the sequence of events leading to an accident and to identify operational issues and human factors, including crew performance.
• The black box is currently used in aircraft. The black box is made of two separate pieces of equipment the flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder and is usually kept in the tail of the aircraft where they are more likely to survive a crash
• The Railways had last month rolled out smart coaches equipped with sensors that can detect defects in bearings, wheels and railway track.
• The black box introduced in the smart coach had a multi-dimensional communication interface to provide information on passengers and coach condition in real time.
• These sensors would give constant inputs to those in control rooms to avoid accidents, carry out maintenance and would help improve the efficiency of railway operations.
• At least six cameras have been installed in each smart coach to provide live recording. The footage taken from the cameras could be accessed from the control room (connected through Internet) and would aid law enforcement agencies when they probe crimes or accidents.

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