Hope for Kerala in Bandipur deadlock

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context:

★The difference of opinion between the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways over the proposal to construct elevated roads through sections of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve has given a sliver of hope to the Kerala government to tackle the night traffic ban on National Highway 766.

★The contention between the two Central Ministries on the issue, in which Kerala and Karnataka have stakes, had led the Supreme Court to ask the Centre to arrive at a consensus within six weeks.

 

Issue:

★The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has not concurred with the project for an elevated 5 km road over Bandipur while the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is willing to construct five elevated sections, of which four will be in Bandipur and one in Wayanad.

★Now, the five-member panel appointed by the Supreme Court will have to intervene to secure a joint statement of the two Ministries before the apex court, T.M. Rasheed, convener, Nilgiri-Wayanad National Railway Action Committee, which has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court in this regard.

★The nine-year-old ban on traffic through Bandipur between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. is getting more complicated with an increase in vehicles plying via the highway connecting Kozhikode to Mysuru during daytime.

         

Bandipur National Park:  ★Located in Karnataka. ★Together with the adjoining Nagarhole National Park, Mudumalai National Park and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, it is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve making it the largest protected area in southern India and largest habitat of wild elephants in south Asia. ★The park is flanked by the Kabini river in the north and the Moyar river in the south. The Nugu river runs through the park. ★The highest point in the park is on a hill called Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta

                                                                                                               Source:- The Hindu

ISRO tastes first success of 2019

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Achievement of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Context:

★ PSLV-C44 successfully launched Microsat-R and Kalamsat-V2

 

PSLV C44:

★The PSLV C44 is the first launch for the country's space agency in 2019.

★The PSLV C44 is the 46th flight of PSLV and 1st Flight of PSLV - DL with two straps on variant.

★The PSLV-C44 placed the 740-kg primary satellite Microsat-R in a 274-km polar sun synchronous orbit

Microsat - R:

★Microsat-R is an small Indian earth observation satellite built for the Indian military Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

★The satellite has a launch mass of 740 kg.

★Earth Observing Satellite.

 

KalamSat:

★Kalamsat is a communication satellite with a life span of two months

★The nanosatellite is a 10cm cube weighing 1.2 kg

★The satellite cost was about Rs 12 lakh

★Kalamsat will be the first to use the rocket's fourth stage as an orbital platform. The fourth stage will be moved to higher circular orbit so as to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments

★It is named after former Indian president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and was built by an Indian high school student team, led by Rifath Sharook, an 18-year-old from the Tamil Nadu town of Pallapatti

★It is the world's lightest and first ever 3D-printed satellite

                                                                                                                  Source:- The Hindu

 18 Indian institutions to study nitrogen pollution

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context:

★Nitrogen pollution is an emerging environmental problem linked with air pollution, biodiversity loss, pollution of rivers and seas and ozone depletion.

★The British government has announced a research project to study nitrogen pollution in India and South Asia.

 

More about the news:

★The new partnership programme, South Asian Nitrogen Hub, will be led by the UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and will include 50 organisations from UK and South Asia.

★The SANH will study the impacts of the different forms of pollution to form a “coherent picture” of the nitrogen cycle.

★In particular, it will look at nitrogen in agriculture in eight countries — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives.

★India is the only country in South Asia that has completed its nitrogen assessment over a year ago and is already co-leading the South Asian nitrogen assessment for the UN Environment,” N Raghuram, who chairs the International Nitrogen Initiative, said.

 

Nitrogen emission in India:

★NOx emissions grew at 52% from 1991 to 2001 and 69% from 2001 to 2011

★Agriculture remained the largest contributor to nitrogen emissions.

★Non-agricultural emissions of nitrogen oxides and nitrous oxide are growing rapidly, with sewage and fossil-fuel burning for power, transport and industry.

 

Causes for Nitrogen Pollution:

★Emissions from chemical fertilisers, livestock manure, and burning of fossil fuels.

★Gases such as ammonia and nitrogen dioxide contribute to poor air quality and can aggravate respiratory and heart conditions, while nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that depletes the ozone layer.

★Nitrate from chemical fertilisers, manure and industry pollutes rivers and seas, posing a health risk for humans, fish, coral and plant life. 

                                                                                                            Source:- Down To Earth

NGT seeks report on solid waste management

GS PAPER - 03  ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

 

Context:

★Concerned over the lack of action pertaining to the compliance of solid waste management across the country, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has summoned the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories from March 1 onwards.

 

More about the news:

★A Bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel has directed the Chief Secretaries to be present before the tribunal with status reports of action taken and the subsequent measures to be adopted.

★According to the World Bank, India’s daily waste generations will reach 3,77,000 tonnes by 2025. Unless the problem is tackled, its impact on health and lives of citizens can be devastating. - the bench said,

★The bench further said, It is high time stern measures are taken not only by those in charge of administering law themselves but also by educating and involving public at large.

★States have also been asked to display their progress reports on the websites of pollution control boards.

 

Special Task force:

★ All States and union territories have been directed to constitute special task forces in every district

★ Information Education and Communication (IEC) programmes have been suggested for public awareness.

                                                                                                                 Source:- The Hindu

SC refuses to stay amendments to SC/ST Act

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context:

★The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018, that nullified a judgment that diluted the stringent provisions of the law to protect Dalits.

★A bench headed by Justice A K Sikri said the pending review petition filed by the Centre against the apex court's March 20, 2018 verdict and the pleas challenging the new amendments made in the SC/ST verdict will be taken up together.

 

Background:

★In March 2018, Supreme Court diluted the stringent provisions of SC/ST Act (Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v. State of Maharashtra).

 

SC Guidelines:

★The Supreme Court issued a slew of guidelines to protect people against arbitrary arrests under the Act, directing that public servants could be arrested only with the written permission of their appointing authority, while in the case of private employees, the Senior Superintendent of Police concerned should allow it.

★A preliminary inquiry should be conducted before the FIR was registered to check if the case fell within the ambit of the Act, and whether it was frivolous or motivated, the court ruled.

 

Backslash across the country:

★The ruling was greeted by a storm of protest from Dalit groups, which said the order diluted the law.

★However, the court refused to stay its ruling, leading to the demand from Dalit groups that the government introduce an ordinance or an Amendment Bill to restore the provisions.

 

Government amended the 1989 Act back to its original form:

★The government brought in the amendments, arguing that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes still faced social stigma, poverty and humiliation.

★The 2018 Act nullified a March 20 judgment of the court, which allowed anticipatory bail to those booked for committing atrocities against members of these communities.

★In August, several petitions were filed against the amendments.

★The lead petitioner, advocate Prithvi Raj Chauhan, even called the amendments a “blunder” and a violation of the fundamental right to equality and personal liberty. But the court refused to stay them.

                                                                                                                            Source:- The Hindu

India, South Africa to revise 22-year-old Strategic Partnership

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context:

★South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is Republic Day chief guest.

★India and South Africa will update their Strategic Partnership by agreeing on a comprehensive “roadmap” on the way ahead.

 

Highlights of the visit:

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context:

★A recent study has found that unplanned developmental activities and haphazard land use are reducing evergreen forest cover and perennial streams in the central region of the Western Ghats.

 

More about the study:

★Indian researchers have mapped how large-scale activities have eroded the ecosystem in central Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot known for its rich ecology, natural forest systems and perennial rivers.

★The study focussed on the Kali river, which originates in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka and joins the Arabian Sea at Karwar.

 

Water Scarcity:

★An analysis showed that although the Kali river has sufficient water supply and perennial streams in the Ghats and the coastal area, regions that lie in plain lands with higher degree of agriculture and cultivation have intermittent and seasonal flow that has led to water scarcity for four to nine months in a year.

★Perennial streams were found in regions that have greater than 70% of forest cover, showing the link between ecology and hydrology with land use.

★The study said that management practices adopted by engineers were contributing to erosion of water retention capability in the river catchment with severe water scarcity.

 

Reducing Evergreen Forest cover:

★The researchers found that between 1973 and 2016, forest cover around the river reduced from 85% to 55%.

★Evergreen forests have also shrunk from 62% to 38.5%

 

Causes for Reducing forest cover:

★Substantial change in the land use pattern.

 

Developmental projects such as

☆Dams built on the Kali,

☆the Kaiga nuclear power plant and

☆The Dandeli paper mill.

☆The paper mill has in fact led to large-scale conversion of forests to crops.

☆Large water reservoirs have been constructed at the expense of forest cover.

 

Way forward:

★The government agencies should establish better management and conservation strategies to maintain forest cover for food and water security.

                                                                                            Source:- Business Standard

 India tests new anti-radiation missile to take out enemy radars

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Context:

★India has tested a new indigenous air-launched missile called NGARM, which is designed to destroy a variety of surveillance and radar targets on the ground after being fired from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter.

 

NGARM:

★This new-generation anti-radiation missile (NGARM), with a strike range of around 100-km

★This is is the first indigenous air-to-ground missile to be developed by the DRDO.

★The NGARM can be launched from Sukhois from different altitudes and velocities

                                                                                                     Source:- Times of India

 9th National Voters’ Day

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY

Context:

★The country will celebrate the 9th National Voters’ Day (NVD) on 25th January 2019 at more than six lakh locations covering around ten lakh Polling Stations across the country.

★My Vote Matters, a Quarterly Magazine will be launched on the occasion

 Theme: - ‘No Voter to be Left Behind’

 

National Voters’ Day (NVD):

★The National Voters’ Day (NVD) is Celebrated all over the country on January 25 every year since 2011 to mark the Foundation day of Election Commission of India, which was established on 25th January 1950.

★The main purpose of the NVD celebration is to encourage, facilitate and maximize the enrollment, especially for the new voters.

★Dedicated to the voters of the country, the Day is utilized to spread awareness among voters for promoting informed participation in the electoral process.

                                                                                                                     Source;- PIB

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