Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Ahead of 2+2 dialogue, Indo-US homeland security officials discuss draft plan on six areas

News

• Ahead of the maiden 2+2 dialogue between India and the United States, top homeland security officials of the two countries have worked on a draft plan related to six areas, including anti-terror cooperation in intelligence sharing, terror financing and cyber security.

Beyond News

• During the Indo-U.S. Homeland Security Dialogue, held recently, senior officers deliberated on a draft work plan relating to the activities of the six sub-groups, an official privy to the development said.
• The six sub-groups formed under the Indo-U.S. homeland security dialogue cover the areas of (i) Illicit finance, Illegal smuggling of cash, financial fraud and counterfeiting, (ii) cyber information, (iii) megacity policing and sharing of information among federal state and local partners, (iv) global supply chain, transportation, port, border and maritime security, (v) capacity building and (vi) technology upgradation.
• Cooperation in matters related to counter terror initiatives and intelligence sharing were given stress during the recent meeting, the official said.
• The first edition of the much-awaited 2+2 dialogue on strategic affairs between the U.S. and India will take place in New Delhi during which a range of bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interests will be discussed.
• Under the new framework finalised last year, External Affairs Minister and Defence Minister will hold talks with Secretary of State Mike R Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis from the U.S.
• India will push for a waiver from the U.S. for the missile deal with Russia, as the air defence system was critical for its security preparedness. India is expected to convey to the U.S. that it is going ahead with the Rs 40,000 crore deal with Russia to procure a batch of S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems, notwithstanding the American sanctions on military transactions with Moscow, according to official sources.

Panel urges plan to save Himalayan springs

News

• A NITI Aayog constituted group of experts has urged the government to set up a dedicated mission to salvage and revive spring water systems in the country’s Himalayan States given their vital importance as a source of water for both drinking and irrigation for the region’s inhabitants.

Beyond News

• Spanning States across the country’s north and northeast and home to about 50 million people, the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) has been heavily reliant on these natural groundwater sources, that are under increasing threat from the urbanisation caused by a constant push for development and climate change.
• The extent of the crisis plaguing the mountainous region was recently evident when more than half a dozen districts of Himachal Pradesh and the State capital Shimla faced a severe drinking water crisis this May after major water sources either went fully or partially dry. While poor water management was said to be the key cause, according to State authorities, they also attributed reduced snowmelt and depressed flow from springs as contributors to the crisis.
• Also, with almost 64% of the cultivable area in the Himalayas fed by natural springs, they are often the only source of irrigation in the region.
• The report noted that there were also multiple sources of pollution in springs and these were due to both geogenic, or ‘natural’ causes and anthropogenic, or man-made, ones.
• Meghalaya with 3,810 villages with springs had the highest number of these water sources in the Eastern Himalayan States, Sikkim had the greatest density with 94% of its villages having a spring. In the Western Himalayas, Jammu & Kashmir had both the highest number of villages with springs at 3,313 and the greatest density of 50.6%.
• The group recommends a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach of managing springs that will involve building upon the existing body of work on spring water management. The programme could be designed on the concept of an action-research programme as part of a hydrogeology-based, community-support system on spring water management.
• With over 60,000 villages in the IHR, “growing” urbanisation – due to 500 townships and 10 cities – was increasing demographic pressure on the region’s water resources.
• The task force moots an 8-year programme to overhaul spring water management. This includes: preparing a digital atlas of the country’s springsheds, training ‘para-hydrogeologists’ who could lead grassroots conservation and introduction of a ‘Spring Health Card.’

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

The impact of the river linking project

News:

• India’s massive civil engineering project, the National River Linking Project (NRLP), will not only reduce inflow of the northern rivers, but also significantly reduce the sediments deposited by the rivers in deltas, a study shows.

Findings

• Fertile deltas will be under threat, with coastal erosion expected to threaten the land and livelihoods of local economies that support 160 million people.
• Four researchers sought to fill critical knowledge gaps in the understanding of the impact of the project: reduction in river discharge due to extensive canal works, and silt trapping in newer reservoirs and barrages.
• The NRLP, which comprises 29 canals totalling 9,600 km, will involve the movement of 245 trillion litres of water, the study shows.
• Researchers supplemented data from the National Water Development Agency, which is implementing the project, with over 500 documents culled from various sources. On implementation, water discharge in 23 out of 29 rivers will reduce considerably, they say. The Ganga will see a 24% decrease in flow. Its tributaries Gandak (-68%) and Ghaghara (-55%) will be the worst affected. While the Brahmaputra will see only a 6% loss, its tributaries will see massive flow reductions: Manas (-73%), Sankosh (-72%) and Raidhak (-53%). Changes in water flow and trapping of silt in reservoirs will see a dip in the sediment deposited by rivers.
• In the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta, projected aggradation (the amount of silt deposited by rivers in its delta) will decrease by 30% to 2.5 mm per year on average. This will aggravate loss of land in a delta where sea level rise is estimated to be 5.6 mm on average annually.
• The story for other deltas is similarly worrying. Already, reduced inflows due to natural and man-made processes has led to shoreline losses in the Krishna, Godavari and Mahanadi rivers. The NRLP will compound the problem. Though the Cauvery will see increases in flow (33%, with its tributary Penna seeing a staggering 450% increase), there will be almost no impact in its sediment discharge.
• Researchers set up a simulation with thousands of randomly generated planets, and tracked the evolution of their climates over billions of years.
• These lucky planets sit in the right location around their stars. They happened to have the right amount of carbon, and they do not have too many minerals and elements from the crust dissolved in the oceans that would pull carbon out of the atmosphere, researchers said.
• They have enough water from the start, and they cycle carbon between the atmosphere and ocean only, which in the right concentrations is sufficient to keep things stable.

NGT forms panel on potable groundwater

News

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a monitoring committee to finalize an action plan to enhance availability of potable groundwater.

Beyond News

• A Bench constituted the committee to “monitor the situation for six months with a view to enhance the availability of groundwater by adopting suitable measures, check contamination and take a final call on the plans for proper utilization of treated effluents”.
• The monitoring committee will be headed by former Delhi High Court Judge S.P. Garg. It will also have representatives from the Central Pollution Control Board, Central Ground Water Authority and jurisdictional SDM, the Bench said.
• The committee has been asked to “take stock of all actions taken so far” and prepare a time-bound action plan to deal with the matter.

Water worlds could be habitable

News

• The conditions for life surviving on planets entirely covered in water are more fluid than previously thought, opening up the possibility that water worlds could be habitable, scientists say.

Findings

• Scientists have assumed that planets covered in a deep ocean would not support the cycling of minerals and gases that keeps the climate stable on Earth, and thus would not be friendly to life.
• The study, found that ocean planets could stay in the “sweet spot” for habitability much longer than previously assumed.
• As telescopes get better, scientists are finding more and more planets orbiting stars in other solar systems.
• Such discoveries are resulting in new research into how life could potentially survive on other planets, some of which are very different from Earth some may be covered entirely in water hundreds of miles deep.
• Since life needs an extended period to evolve, and because the light and heat on planets can change as their stars age, scientists usually look for planets that have both some water and some way to keep their climates stable over time.

PoP idols not welcome

News:

• As the Bangaluru city gets ready to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi on September 13, environment-conscious citizens, residents’ associations and civic activists have taken that initiative to ensure that more and more people shift from Plaster of Paris (PoP) idols to eco-friendly options.

Beyond News:

• Last year, of the 3.48 lakh idols immersed in lakes and mobile tanks in Bengaluru, less than 5% were made of PoP, according to data from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB). But there is further scope to reduce the number of PoP idols.
• Members of the HSR Citizens Forum, for instance, plan to conduct clay idol workshops for residents, neighbourhood schools and corporate houses.
• Last year, the forum had helped residents make 800 Ganesha idols.
• Various communities in Whitefield have been attending workshops on how to make idols of clay for the past two months. Whitefield Rising, a voluntary group of residents, has tied up with Green Utsav, which organises zero-waste events, to conduct a series of sessions for residents.
• Though there is a ban on the manufacture and sale of PoP idols, they continue to be sold in various markets on J.C. Road, in Malleswaram and Banashankari, to name a few places.
• Last week, the BBMP and KSPCB, during a joint raid on three shops near Lalbagh, had seized over 800 PoP idols. Officials said that many of the PoP idols were being sourced from neighbouring States.
• In manufacturing units on Mysuru Road and in Pottery Town, no PoP idols were found.
• For its part, the KSPCB is tying up with environment groups and NGOs to sell clay idols.

The bedaquiline boost

News:

• The “treatment landscape” for patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is set to be “dramatically transformed” following a recent communication by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Beyond News:

• Based on assessment of new evidence, the WHO made an important change in the regimen to treat patients with MDR-TB, which is resistant to at least two of the first-line drugs. All injectables are to be replaced with a fully oral regimen to treat MDR-TB patients, and the powerful alternative drug, bedaquiline, has been included in the fully oral regimen.
• Injectables to treat MDR-TB can cause serious adverse effects leading to many patients discontinuing treatment midway; the treatment success rate for MDR-TB was only 54% for patients starting treatment in 2014. Replacing injectables with bedaquiline will, therefore, lead to major improvement in treatment outcomes and in the quality of life of patients.
• While the new guidelines for MDR-TB treatment will be released later this year, the “rapid communication” issued by the WHO is to inform member-states to take “immediate steps” to ensure that MDR-TB patients receive treatment in accordance with the latest evidence on drug effectiveness and safety.
• The WHO’s interim guidelines recommended that the drug be given to MDR-TB patients only as a last resort as large-scale clinical trials (Phase III) using bedaquiline have not been carried out. In Phase IIb trials, the drug was found to have cardio-toxicity, and there were also more deaths during the trial.
• As per WHO Global TB Report 2017, India had an estimated 84,000 new MDR/rifampicin-resistant-TB cases in 2016 among those notified. Based on the first-ever drug susceptibility testing on nearly 5,000 TB patients (new and previously treated) carried out in India in 2014-2016, 6.19% were found to be multidrug-resistant.
• India has been getting bedaquiline drug courses (11,000 so far) for free under the conditional access programme of USAID, which will end next year. With the drug becoming cheaper, and its effectiveness and safety now proven, India should waste little time to make the switch to treat all MDR-TB patients with bedaquiline.

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