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IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

Climate change driving butterflies, moths higher up Himalayas: study

News

• Rising average temperatures in the Himalayan region have driven several dozen species of butterfly and moth to habitats higher up the mountains, a new study commissioned by the government has found.

Climate change

• The findings of the study will be used as a baseline indicator to track the impact of climate change on animal species over the coming decade.
• The Himalayas are home to more than 35 per cent of Lepidoptera the order of insects that includes butterflies and moths – species found in India.
• The survey, identified at least 49 species of moth and 17 species of butterfly that have shown considerable new upward altitude records, with a difference of more than 1,000 metres between their current and previously recorded mean habitat altitudes.
• Seven species in particular have started to inhabit altitudes more than 2,000 metres higher than the previous mean.
• The study found that eight moth species, including the mulberry silkworm moth and tiger moth, which would historically be found at 2,000 m, are now typically found at 3,500 m or higher altitudes.
• Butterflies are sensitive species that are extremely susceptible to changes in climate. They are, therefore, good indicators of long-term change in climatic conditions.
• Receding ice caps and glaciers leading to a scarcity of water in the Himalayas has been a major reason for the altitudinal shift of the Lepidoptera.
• The increase in average temperature has also resulted in an altitudinal shift in vegetation – trees, shrubs, and plants that once grew at lower altitudes in the Himalayas are now found only higher up in the mountains.
• Increasing human habitation too, has contributed to the shift.
• The study revealed an increase in the richness of Lepidoptera biodiversity from the Western to the Eastern Himalayas – it found 211 species of butterfly in the West, and 354 in the East.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

India and ADB Sign $300 Million Loan to Develop Rajasthan’s Secondary Towns

Source: PIB

News

• The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $300 million loan to finance inclusive and sustainable water supply and sanitation infrastructure and services in 14 secondary towns of the state of Rajasthan.

Aim: The project aims to provide better quality and more sustainable water supply and sanitation (WSS) services in the project towns that will improve quality of life in these towns, including for the poor and vulnerable after signing the loan agreement.

Develop Rajasthan’s Secondary Towns

• The investments in WSS with 10- year operation and maintenance contracts will ensure improved and sustainable service delivery in line with the state government’s urban sector development plan.
• The project will empower urban local bodies, and strengthen their institutional capacity; deepen sector reforms, and build resilience of communities to manage health pandemics.
• Through the project, water supply systems in at least eight project towns are expected to improve by 2027, benefiting more than 570,000 people. Citywide sanitation systems will benefit about 720,000 people in at least14 secondary towns. 
• The project will strengthen the institutional capacity of the local governments and the Rajasthan Urban Drinking Water, Sewerage, and Infrastructure Corporation Limited, a corporate entity established with ADB’s technical support.
• Enhanced support to women and vulnerable groups will be provided through skills training, paid internships, and community engagement and awareness activities.
• ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members 49 from the region.

AIIB, World Bank-funded project to invest $1.5 bn in India’s Covid fight

News

• A project financed by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and World Bank will pump in $1.5 billion over the next four years to help India’s healthcare system tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Covid fight

• The “India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Strengthening Project” will involve multiple components that aim to “support the acceleration and scale up of the GOI response” to the virus.
• The project will involve the construction, expansion, rehabilitation and/or operation of healthcare facilities in response to COVID-19 amongst other activities, such as, procurement of hospital equipment, personal protection equipment (PPE), testing of patients.
• The project has components dealing with emergency Covid-19 response, shoring up the healthcare system and strengthening pandemic research.

Property cards launched

News

• Prime Minister launched the Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology, or Svamitva, a new scheme to distribute property cards that will enable beneficiaries to take loans and resolve land disputes.

Property cards

• The scheme will pave the way for residents in villages to use property as a financial asset for taking loans, it is necessary for a developing country like India to have clear land ownership rights.
• The scheme will also make management easier for gram panchayats “in a systematic way”, like municipalities and municipal corporations.
• The first phase will cover 1 lakh beneficiaries, including residents of 346 villages in UP, 221 in Haryana, 100 in Maharashtra, 44 in Madhya Pradesh, 50 in Uttarakhand and two in Karnataka.
• The scheme envisages mapping all 6.62 lakh villages in the country, to be carried out by Survey of India with a very low estimated error margin of plus-minus five centimetres.
• The target is to complete the exercise in four years whereas this year, the government plans to complete about a lakh villages. The states will implementing the scheme using state laws under the Panchayati Raj or Revenue Act, and can decide on the type of card to be distributed.

Farmers’ suicides highest in Maharashtra despite loan waiver, reform measures

News

• Despite various farmer welfare schemes, including a loan waiver in 2017, Maharashtra recorded 3,927 farmers’ suicide in 2019, the highest in the country, which registered a total of 10,281 suicides in the farm sector last year, according to data released by NCRB.

Farmers’ suicide

• The NCRB data shows the number of farmers’ suicides in the state has remained higher than 3,500 in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. NCRB has not recorded the numbers for 2017 and 2018, and has provided no reason for not doing so.
• In 2016, 3,661 farm sector suicides were recorded by the bureau in Maharashtra out of a total number of 11,379 such suicides. The number for 2019, the next year for which data has been recorded, is an increase of 266.
• In 2014, more than 4,000 farmers took the extreme step. Severe drought and hailstorm leading to crop loss were attributed as the main reason behind farmers getting entrapped in a debt circle that year. In 2015, a total of 4,291 farmers’ suicides were reported in the state.

India generated over 18,000 tonnes COVID-19 waste since June; Maharashtra biggest contributor

News

• India generated 18,006 tonnes of COVID-19 biomedical waste in the last four months, with Maharashtra contributing the maximum (3,587 tonnes) to it, according to a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

COVID-19 waste

• Around 5,500 tonnes of COVID-19 waste was generated across the country in September – the maximum for a month so far.
• According to the data,all states and Union Territories have generated 18,006 tonnes of COVID-19-related biomedical waste which is being collected, treated and disposed of by 198 common biomedical waste treatment facilities (CBWTFs).
• COVID-19 biomedical waste could include PPE kits, masks, shoe covers, gloves, human tissues, items contaminated with blood, body fluids like dressings, plaster casts, cotton swabs, beddings contaminated with blood or body fluid, blood bags, needles, syringes etc.
• India generated 3,025 tonnes of COVID-19 waste in June, with Maharashtra alone accounting for 524 tonnes, followed by Gujarat (350 tonnes), Delhi (333 tonnes) and Tamil Nadu (312 tonnes)
• The CPCB had issued specific guidelines for handling, treatment and disposal of such waste at healthcare facilities, quarantine centres, homes, sample collection centers, laboratories, pollution control boards, urban local bodies and common biomedical waste treatment facilities (CBMWTFs).
• The apex pollution body had in May developed the “COVID19BWM” mobile application to monitor coronavirus-related biomedical waste and to compile the data through electronic manifest system.
• This application tracks COVID-19 waste at the time of generation, collection and disposal.
• The Supreme Court has made it mandatory for all urban local bodies and state pollution control boards to use the mobile application for tracking biomedical waste daily in a bid to ensure that the waste is collected, transported and sent to the registered CBMWTFs.

Indian bank extends $400 million credit for Greater Male Connectivity Project

News

• A team from the EXIM Bank of India signed a Line of Credit Agreement for USD 400 million to fund the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP).

Greater Male Connectivity Project

• This will be the single-largest infrastructure project in the Maldives and will link Male with Villingili, Gulhifalhu, and Thilafushi islands.
• The agreement was signed between Exim Bank and the Maldives Ministry of Finance. The Government of India has separately committed USD 100 million grant for the project.
• The project is a 6.7 km bridge and causeway network connecting Male, Villingili, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi.
• The project will be an economic engine and lifeline connecting Hulhumale, Hulhule and Male with the proposed Gulhifalhu Port and the Thilafushi Industrial Zone.
• The scheme is composed of three navigation bridges of 140 m main span across the deep channel between each island, 1.41 km of marine viaduct in deep water, 2.32 km marine viaduct in shallow water or on land, and 2.96 km of at-grade roads.
• To use renewable energy as a sustainable measure in infrastructure, solar power will be used for road lighting, navigation lighting, deck cell lighting, CCTV and lighting on sign gantry and architectural lighting. Solar panels will be installed on top of the lamp posts and along discrete lengths of the bridge parapets.

These several projects include:

• Development of an international port at Gulhifalhu
• Establishment of water supply and sewerage networks across 34 islands spanning 16 atolls
• Development of roads and storm water drainage along with reclamation works in Addu atoll in southern Maldives
• Establishment of a Cancer Hospital in Hulhumale
• Expansion of the Hanimaadhoo Airport in northern Maldives
• Construction of a Cricket Stadium in Hulhumale
• Expansion of facilities for the Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Raksha Mantri dedicates to The Nation 44 Bridges Built by BRO across seven States and UTs;

Source: PIB

• Heralding in a new era in the connectivity of roads and bridges in sensitive areas close to Western, Northern and North Eastern Borders, Raksha Mantri dedicated 44 major permanent bridges to the Nation.
• He also laid the Foundation Stone for Nechiphu Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh.

44 major permanent bridges

• These bridges are of strategic importance and provide connectivity to remote areas. The 44 bridges are spread over seven states / union territories.
• These bridges improved connectivity in the far flung areas of Western, Northern and North East sectors and fulfilled the aspirations of local people. They would also meet the transport and logistics requirements of the armed forces throughout the year.
• 44 bridges of various spans ranging from 30 mtrs to 484 mtrs are located in J&K (10), Ladakh (08), Himachal Pradesh (02), Punjab (04), Uttarakhand (08), Arunachal Pradesh (08) and Sikkim (04).
• They are of strategic importance and have been designed to facilitate movement of heavy civil & military traffic in border areas. These bridges will contribute towards the overall economic growth of remote border areas and will also assist in speedy deployment of Armed Forces in strategically important sectors.
• Over 60 Bailey Bridges have also been constructed by BRO to meet immediate requirements of armed forces and people living in remote areas.

Uttarakhand mulls plantation drive in other states to clear compensatory afforestation backlog

News

• To clear the backlog for compensatory afforestation over the next two years, the Uttarakhand Forest Department is mulling a plantation drive in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region and parts of Rajasthan.

Compensatory afforestation

• Compensatory afforestation is done against the transfer of forest land for non-forestry purposes like the development of dams, mining and the construction of industries or roads.
• In compensatory plantation, 1,100 plants are planted over an area of one hectare.
• As per a report steering committee, the state government has carried out afforestation on 24,908 hectare land, against the total target of 33,944 hectare, which translates into a backlog of 9,035 hectare.
• Against this backlog, the state CAMPA has set a target of afforestation on 3,500 hectare in the current financial year. However, Uttarakhand faces a shortage of suitable land for the remaining 5,535 hectare.

GRAP, Delhi-NCR’s action plan as air pollution increases

News

• Stricter measures to fight air pollution will come into force in Delhi and its neighbouring National Capital Region (NCR) towns, as part of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).
• The action plan has been in effect for three years in Delhi and NCR.
• Pollution control authorities will begin night patrolling to check for dust and industrial emissions, as well as the burning of waste. Mechanised sweeping and frequent sprinkling of water on roads (to make the dust settle) have been directed.
• These measures are part of GRAP, which was formulated in 2016 and notified in 2017. Experts have credited the actions under the plan for the improvement in Delhi’s air over the past few years.

GRAP

• Approved by the Supreme Court in 2016, the plan was formulated after several meetings that the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) held with state government representatives and experts.
• The result was a plan that institutionalised measures to be taken when air quality deteriorates.
• GRAP works only as an emergency measure. As such, the plan does not include action by various state governments to be taken throughout the year to tackle industrial, vehicular and combustion emissions.
• The plan is incremental in nature therefore, when the air quality moves from ‘Poor’ to ‘Very Poor’, the measures listed under both sections have to be followed.
• If air quality reaches the ‘Severe+’ stage, the response under GRAP includes extreme measures such as shutting down schools and implementing the odd-even road-space rationing scheme.
• GRAP has been successful in doing two things that had not been done before creating a step-by-step plan for the entire Delhi-NCR region, and getting on board several agencies: all pollution control boards, industrial area authorities, municipal corporations, regional officials of the India Meteorological Department, and others.
• The plan requires action and coordination among 13 different agencies in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan (NCR areas). At the head of the table is the EPCA, mandated by the Supreme Court.

Chandigarh records drastic decline in arrival of migrant waterfowl birds, others intact

News

• The migratory waterfowl bird count has drastically decreased in the Inter State Chandigarh Region (ISCR) over the years, raising concerns about habitat destruction, food availability for migratory waterfowl and change in weather.

Drastically decreased

• The waterfowl bird count for the domestic and migratory birds is conducted twice every year– once in February, by when most of migratory birds arrive in the region and in November, at the beginning of the arrival season.
• In 2017 winter, 4,000 water fowl visited Sukhna lake, but in the winters of 2018, merely 1,500 birds were counted.
• In November, 2019, the counts of the waterfowl birds was merely 620.
• Reasons are numerous and a major reason is the depth of the lake. Migratory waterfowl birds like to stay in shallow water for easy availability of food. The water level of Sukhna lake has increased resulting in less arrival of waterfowl birds.
• The migration of birds is divided in three parts– latitudinal, attitudinal and breeding. Passage migration means the small stay of birds at a place during their long journey.

Birds including hume’s warblers, lesser white throat, common chiffchaff etc arrive in the city during winters, while birds such as Indian pita, Indian golden oriole, jacobin cuckoos etc arrive during summers for breeding purpose.

More supercomputers, AI training mark beginning of phase II of National Supercomputing Mission

News

• The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) launched the second phase of the ambitious National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).

National Supercomputing Mission

• Launched in 2015 and jointly funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the seven-year mission aims at establishing supercomputer facilities across 70 national research and academic institutions and connecting them onto a National Knowledge Network (NKN).
• While procurement of a few systems was planned in the initial phase of the mission, going forward, all components and systems will be indigenously built.
• Soon, a fully indigenised system comprising the server board, network card and the system design done by C-DAC will be ready for operations.