Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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World Heritage sites threatened by climate change: study

News

• Dozens of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Mediterranean such as Venice, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Medieval City of Rhodes are under severe threat of coastal erosion and flooding due to rising sea levels within the next 100 years, a study has warned.

Findings

• The study, presents a risk index that ranks the sites according to the threat they face from today until the end of the century.
• The sites featuring highest on this index in current conditions include Venice and its Lagoon, Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia, according to researchers.
• All these sites are located along the northern Adriatic Sea in Italy where extreme sea levels are the highest because high storm surges coincide with high regional sea-level rises.
• The study combines model simulations with world heritage site data to assess the risk of both coastal flooding and erosion due to sea level rise at 49 UNESCO coastal Heritage sites by the end of the century.
• It found that of the sites, 37 are at risk from a 100-year flood event (a flooding event which has a one % chance of happening in any given year) and 42 from coastal erosion today.
• By the next century flood risk may increase by 50% and erosion risk by 13% across the region, and all but two of the sites (Medina of Tunis and Xanthos-Letoon) will be at risk from either of these hazards. The Mediterranean region has a high concentration of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, many of which are in coastal locations as human activity has historically concentrated around these areas,.
• Rising sea levels pose a threat to these sites as the steep landscape and small tidal range in the area has meant settlements are often located close to the waterfront.
• The researchers said that more information on the risk at a local level is needed and the approaches to adaption and protection vary across the region due to large social and economic differences between Mediterranean countries.
• The researchers have identified areas with urgent need for adaptation planning and suggest the iconic nature of such sites can be used to promote awareness of the need to take action to mitigate climate change.

Puerto Rico’s insects affected by climate change

News

• After bees and birds, insects and other arthropods have also suffered massive losses, a study showed, citing the impact of climate change.

Findings

• Measuring the population of arthropods, which includes insects, caterpillars, and spiders, is not simple but one method is to place sticky traps on the ground and in the forest canopy.
• They found that the dry weight biomass of arthropods captured in sweep samples had declined by four to eight times, and by 30 to 60 times in sticky traps.
• This decline was accompanied by parallel reductions in insectivorous lizards, frogs, and birds, according to observations by the researchers.
• According to the model used by the researchers, the blame lies principally with global warming. They reach this conclusion by noting Puerto Rico’s rising temperature over about 40 years.
• The mean maximum temperatures, recorded by a forest weather station, increased 2°C between 1978 and 2015.
• But the effect of climate change is not uniform.

A study concluded that, except in tropical regions, an increase in temperature was going to stimulate the population of harmful insects.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India, China set to resume drill

News

• India and China will resume the annual joint Army exercise ‘Hand-in-Hand’in China’s Chengdu region, an Army official said. The drill was cancelled last year due to tense relations in the aftermath of the Doklam standoff.

Beyond News

• The Exercise Planning Conference is scheduled to be held from November 1-3 at Chengdu in China to work out the modalities of the exercise.
• Following the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April, the two countries have initiated several measures to normalise relations.
• About 175 personnel from each side will take part. The Indian side would be represented by troops from the 11 Sikh Light regiment under the Northern Command.
• The scope of the exercise is to understand transnational terrorism and evolve joint drills for the conduct of counter terrorism operations, in addition to Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations.
• The exercise will be held in three phases familiarisation, basic training and the joint exercise.
• Separately, the Army has for the first time organised a forward area tour to Leh on October 16 and 17 for interested foreign service attaches posted in India.

Punjab govt. approves new sand, gravel mining policy

News

• The Punjab government approved policy changes to enable the government to grant contracts by auction of mining blocks in strategically established clusters through progressive bidding instead of the earlier process of auction by individual mines.
• The move is aimed at increasing the royalty receipt of the State exchequer, provide adequate supply at fair price to the consumer, and curb illegal mining.

Beyond News

• An official statement said it was also decided that the department of Mining would launch an online Punjab Sand Portal for sale of sand to all consumers, small or medium.
• All transactions-payments will be captured through online real-time monitoring system. The sale of sand would be controlled by electronic documentation linked to central documentation, with modern facility, and the daily progress report would be uploaded on the portal.
• Notably, during 2017-18, four e-auctions of minor mineral mines were held. Due to speculative bidding in these auctions, it resulted in a significant number of mines being auctioned at very high prices.
• The Cabinet also approved a policy to allow promoters to surrender the licences in case they are unable to develop colonies or complete development works in colonies.
• The policy was necessitated in view of the difficulties faced by such promoters,these promoters will now be able surrender the licences issued to them under the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995, subject to certain conditions.
• The Cabinet also gave its nod for an ordinance to amend Schedule 1-A of Indian Stamp Act, 1899, to enable increase in the stamp duty rates. It also decided to amend the industrial and business development policy of 2017 to give investment incentive by way of net SGST on intra-State sale.

Trump administration to propose major changes in H-1B visas

News

• The Trump administration has said it is coming out with new proposals to not only revise the definition of specialty occupations under H-1B visas, but also the definition of employment under this foreign work visa category which is popular among Indian companies.

Beyond News

• Such a move, which is part of the Unified Fall Agenda of the Trump administration will have a detrimental impact on the functioning of Indian IT companies in the U.S. and also small and medium-sized contractual companies in the IT sector, which are mostly owned by Indian Americans.
• It will “propose to revise the definition of specialty occupation” to increase focus on obtaining the best and the brightest foreign nationals via the H-1B programme.
• It will also “revise the definition” of employment and employer-employee relationship to “better protect” U.S. workers and wages. In addition, DHS will propose additional requirements designed to ensure employers pay appropriate wages to H-1B visa holders, the administration said.
• The DHS reiterated that it is proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 spouses of H-1B non-immigrants as a class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation.
• The DHS said it is also finalising its interim regulation governing petitions filed on behalf of alien workers subject to the annual numerical limitations applicable to the H-1B non-immigrant classification.
• This rule precludes an individual from filing duplicate petitions on behalf of the same alien temporary worker. This rule also makes accommodations for petitioners to create a more efficient filing process for H-1B petitions subject to the annual numerical limitation.
• Observing that the demand for H-1B visas has often exceeded the numerical limitation, DHS said it is proposing to establish an electronic registration programme for such applications. This will allow USCIS to more efficiently manage the intake and lottery process for these H-1B petitions, it said.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

China tests world’s largest unmanned drone

News

• China has successfully tested the world’s largest unmanned transport drone which can carry a payload of 1.5 tonnes, official media reported.
• A commercial drone Feihong-98 (FH-98) developed and modified by the China Academy of Aerospace Electronics Technology made a test flight in the Baotou site in north China .

A.P. hamlets shine in rural survey

News

• Kuligod in Karnataka’s Belagavi district is the country’s best developed village, but more than a third of the gram panchayats ranked in the top 10 are in Andhra Pradesh, according to the findings of an ongoing Rural Development Ministry survey.

Beyond News

• With multiple panchayats assigned the same score and thus tied at the same ranking there are 97 panchayats in the top 10 ranks. Of these, 37 panchayats are in Andhra Pradesh while 24 are in Tamil Nadu.
• Villages from other States are represented only in single digits. Of the States going to the polls next month, Telengana and Madhya Pradesh have five and four panchayats in the top 10 ranks respectively.
• The Rural Development Ministry has done a gap analysis of more than 3.5 lakh villages, in more than 1.6 lakh panchayats under the Mission Antyodaya convergence scheme.
• A team of officials surveyed and scored village level facilities and amenities using parameters related to infrastructure, economic development and livelihood, irrigation facilities, health, nutrition and sanitation, women’s empowerment, and financial inclusion.
• At the national level, the data shows progress in some areas and also spotlights discrepancies in respect of targets met under some other government schemes.
• Similarly with regard to sanitation, the survey shows only 58% of villages slightly more than 2 lakh of the 3.5 lakh surveyed villages are open defecation free (ODF). However, according to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan-Gramin, 5.13 lakh of India’s 6 lakh villages are already ODF.
• The survey also shows only 21% of villages having a community waste disposal system.
• About a quarter of all villages have more than 75% of households using clean energy, such as LPG or biogas.
• The survey indicates moderate progress in the rural housing scheme: less than 10% of the villages have more than 80% of their houses with kachha walls and roofs, indicating temporary structures. More than 73% of the villages are connected with an all-weather road.
• Financial inclusion still has some way to go, with less than 15% of villages having banks, while just more than 10% have ATMs. While more than 26% of villages have post office facilities, only 8% have a soil testing centre and almost 12% have a government seed centre.
• The gap analysis allows citizens and policymakers to track development in each individual village, apart from the nationwide trends.

Rampant deforestation triggers man-made landslides, says expert

News

• Blaming the increase on the landslide incidents on human interference, overexploitation of natural resources and rampant deforestation, Head of the Department of Resilient Infrastructure division of National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) has said that landslides can be prevented completely if certain techniques are used and the law of nature is respected.

Beyond News

• The landslides had become a common phenomenon in the Himalayan States and other hilly regions of late and rampant construction activities such as laying roads along the hills lopes were triggering the phenomenon.
• The man-made landslides are occurring more than the ones triggered by natural causes. Not much expertise is available to prevent such incidents and the available technologies are also not being used.
• Landslides are 100 % preventable if the procedures prescribed are duly followed. Landslides are caused by rain and lack of drainage. Rain enters the exposed cut slopes and gets into the body of the hills and comes down with a chunk of hills as there is no drainage
• To solve it, credible procedures have been prescribed to channelise drainage in the hilly areas.
• The contractors are often in a hurry to complete projects, neglecting in hiring specialised agencies owing to expenditure.

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