Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Pakistan Supreme Court reimposes ban on Indian films, TV shows

News:

• Pakistan’s Supreme Court has reintroduced a ban on Indian films and television shows being broadcast on the country’s local channels.

Beyond News:

• The apex court was hearing a case filed by the United Producers Association pertaining to the broadcast of foreign content on Pakistani television channels.
• In 2016, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had imposed a ban on airing Indian content on local television and FM radio channels.

However, the Lahore High Court lifted ban in 2017, declaring it null and void as the Pakistan government had no objections regarding the same.

China will review new inputs on Azhar

News:

• China has assured India that it will, in future, consider any additional information that is provided on Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar to designate him as an international terrorist.

Beyond News:

• The assurance was given by Minister of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, Zhao Kezhi, to Home Minister Rajnath Singh at a high-level meeting held in New Delhi last week.
• On its part, India said its territory would not be used for any political activity against China, when Beijing raised the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh in 2016.
• The Doklam stand-off between the armies of the two countries at the China-Sikkim-Bhutan tri-junction last year, which lasted for over two months, was not raised by either side.
• China had blocked India’s proposal to designate Azhar as an international terrorist at a UN sanctions committee.
• China considers Arunachal Pradesh a disputed territory and has referred to Tibetan leader Dalai Lama as a “separatist.” China was categorical that no protests or demonstrations should be organised by the Tibetans here.
• Beijing also raised the unrest in Xinjiang province and sought India’s cooperation on the movement of Uighur militants.
• On October 22, India and China signed an agreement to “strengthen and consolidate discussions and cooperation in the areas of counter-terrorism, organised crime, drug control and other such relevant areas.”

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Blackbuck habitat faces threat

News

• Rising population of feral horses in the Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary in Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu is posing a threat to natural sustenance of blackbuck antelope species for which the very habitat was created in 1967, wildlife enthusiasts apprehend.

Beyond News

• The Forest Department is facing difficulty in relocating at least 200 feral horses a number arrived at by a conservative estimate of field staff which had proliferated in and around the sanctuary over the decades after the once-domesticated animals were abandoned by the owners in the surrounding villages.
• Maintenance of the horses that was a mode of transport decades back between Vedaranyam and Kodiakarai became a burden for owners after road link was created. The animals that were abandoned have strayed into the over 1,700 hectare sanctuary with vast swathes of grassland.
• The strong presence of feral horses has meant less feeding space for the nearly 700 blackbucks and about 800 spotted deer. There are at least 100 jackals that are at the end of food cycle in the sanctuary. The prey-base is a determinant for its population as well.
• The Forest Department has been trying hard to drive the feral horses away from the patches of grassland in the sanctuary towards the shoreline by deploying anti-poaching watchers. The public in the surroundings complain to the Forest Department when the feral horses enter villages in herds, but there is pretty little that could be done officially since they are not wild animals.
• The Forest Department is keen on getting rid of the feral horses for another crucial reason. The floral diversity in the sanctuary is under threat due to proliferation of prosopis juliflora the seeds of which the feral horses litter in their droppings.
• Every year, the department has been spending substantial amounts in clearing overgrowth of prosopis juliflora. The fear is that if the spread of the invasive weed becomes widespread, the situation will turn unmanageable.

Watch: New leaf-warbler bird species discovered in Indonesia

News

• Rote, a tiny, dry Indonesian island, has given a new songbird species to science. Measuring just about 10 cm in length and weighing about 8 grams, the yellow-orange colored bird was sighted by a joint research team.

Beyond News

• Using DNA studies and morphological analysis, they confirmed it was a new species and named it Phylloscopus rotiensisafter the Rote island, the only locality where it can be found.
• The bird is unique among the Asian warblers because it has an unusually long bill.
• The researchers propose that the new bird be given an IUCN categorisation of “Vulnerable.”
• Human population growth trends are expected to continue, bringing with them increased rates of road-building and land cover conversion and further decreasing the amount of habitat available to the Rote Leaf Warbler.

Pollution panel recommends construction ban

News:

• Warning of a dip in air quality an expert panel, constituted under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) for Delhi, has recommended a ban on construction activities, such as civil work and excavation, and shutting down of coal and biomass industries (except thermal and waste-to-energy plants).

Beyond News:

• It had also made an “appeal” to the people of NCR to minimise the use of private transport.
• The task force is headed by the Member Secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It consists of officials in the department incharge of monitoring air quality, members of the pollution control boards of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, as well as from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
• Their recommendations are forwarded to the Supreme Court-nominated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority
• Air quality in the national Capital has dipped to “very poor” levels, meaning it is hovering around 330 on the scale, with PM 2.5 being the dominant pollutant. The CPCB said that these levels could cause “respiratory illness on prolonged exposure”.

Computational studies help decode brain’s GPS

News:

• By studying the movement of virtual animals in computer simulation, a research team has unlocked the navigation behaviour in rats moving in two dimensions and bats (3D). They hope to use these clues in engineering autonomous vehicles and drones.

Findings:

• Previous studies have shown that certain regions (hippocampus and parahippocampus) in the rat brain contain special cells known as “spatial cells” that help to create a cognitive map for navigation.
• The inner GPS in the brain or the neurons help in coordinating the position, distance and direction of travel.
• Using mathematical models and computer simulations, the researchers looked at these various spatial cells when rats move along the maze. One of the cells known as ‘place cells’ gets activated when the rat is at a certain place in a room and another type of cells called ‘grid cells’ coordinate this system and help in positioning and pathfinding.
• One such spatial cell predicted from the computer model is a ‘plane cell’ that fires when the animal crosses a plane in 3D space. Another spatial cell predicted is a ‘stack cell’ that fires when the animal flies around multiple planes.
• As bats are the only flying mammals, Michael Yartsev, one of the authors of the paper, and his group at the University of California Berkeley, further examined bats and the spatial cells in their brain while flying in a 3D space. Using wireless technologies, his group was able to monitor bats’ brain activity when they fly around and was able to show the functioning of the place cells in real animals.
• The researchers hope that an understanding of the spatial navigation system in the brain can also help in engineering automobiles, drones, and underwater vehicles.

India home to two new gecko species

News

• The spot-necked day gecko and the Anaimudi day gecko, both very distinctly-patterned lizards found only in the higher reaches of the Agasthyamalai and Anamalai hill ranges in the Western Ghats, are the latest additions to India’s reptile fauna.

Beyond News

• Researchers were surveying reptiles in Kerala’s Shola National Parks in 2013 when they came across a predominantly greyish-brown-coloured gecko.
• The features they studied included the lengths of various body parts such as tail and fingers, lamellae (fine, plate-like structures on the base of gecko feet that help them scale vertical surfaces) and tubercles (tiny raised projections on their bodies).
• They compared these with the morphology of other similar-looking lizards to establish Cnemaspis anamudiensis or the Anaimudi day gecko, as a new species.
• Both these diurnal geckos are currently known only from single localities in high-elevation forests located at more than 1,200 metres above mean sea level in the Ghats. There is a possibility that these day geckos could be present in the surrounding hills but more detailed surveys would be required to confirm this.

Activists see red over roadwork in MM Hills wildlife sanctuary

News

• The Forest Department and wildlife activists have locked horns over the legality of roadwork inside Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka. This comes close on the heels of the ongoing protest against the highway project through Bandipur that is gaining traction.

Beyond News

• The genesis of the current issue pertains to the alleged illegal widening of 4.5 km stretch of road connecting Hanur to Ramapura via Ajjipura inside the sanctuary, within the Hanur buffer zone.
• When the Public Works Department (PWD) took up the work last year, activists pointed out that it was illegal to upgrade a road within a wildlife sanctuary without the permission of the State and the national boards for wildlife. Consequently, the work was stopped midway.
• But wildlife activists remain unconvinced and state that the sanctuary was already under undue stress due to anthropogenic pressures. This road upgrade will add further pressure on this limited wildlife space.
• It was pointed out that the stretch from Hanur to Ajjipura has dense vegetation on both sides and is home to endangered species like the Asiatic elephant, leopard, and tiger. The existing road already acts a barrier to the movement of animals.

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