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  • Mapping: Caspian Sea

    The Caspian is actually a lake, the largest in the world and it is experiencing a devastating decline in its water level that is about to accelerate.

    Note the countries bordering the Caspian Sea: Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Or else remember the acronym ‘TARIK(h)’ (Hindi word for date).

    You can frame a mnemonic statement of your choice. Do similarly for major lakes and inland seas. But dont let it move over TARIK pe TARIK!

    Caspian Sea

    • The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
    • As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia.
    • An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal that equilibrates through evaporation
    • Its level is the product of how much water is flowing in from rivers, mostly the mighty Volga to the north, how much it rains and how much evaporates away.
    • At the end of the century, the Volga and other northern rivers will still be there.
    • However, a projected temperature rise of about 3℃ to 4℃ in the region will drive evaporation through the roof.

    Now try this PYQ:

    Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/ dried up in the recent past due to human activities?

    1. Aral Sea
    2. Black Sea
    3. Lake Baikal

    Select the correct option using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 2 only

    (d) 1 and 3 only

    Why in news?

    • By the end of the century, the Caspian Sea will be nine metres to 18 metres lower. That’s a depth considerably taller than most houses.
    • The Caspian’s surface is already dropping by 7 cm every year, a trend likely to increase.
    • It means the lake will lose at least 25 per cent of its former size, uncovering 93,000 sq km of dry land.
    • If that new land were a country, it would be the size of Portugal.

    Past strides in its level

    • The Caspian Sea has a history of violent rises and falls.
    • In Derbent, on the Caucasus coast of Russia, submerged ancient city walls testify to how low the sea was in medieval times.
    • Around 10,000 years ago, the Caspian was about 100 metres lower.
    • A few thousand years before that it was about 50 metres higher than today and even over spilt into the Black Sea.

  • World to breach 1.5°C threshold by 2027-2042

    The planet will breach the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels between 2027 and 2042 according to new research.

    Ever wondered why is there so much of hue to halt the temperature rise at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and why not 2°C? Read this newscard to get aware….

    What does that mean?

    • The world will heat up more than it can take much earlier than anticipated.
    • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had estimated that breach to occur between now and 2052.
    • But researchers have now claimed to have introduced a more precise way to project the Earth’s temperature based on historical climate data.

    The fuss over 1.5°C threshold

    • For decades, researchers argued the global temperature rise must be kept below 2C by the end of this century to avoid the worst impacts.
    • The idea of two degrees as the safe threshold for warming evolved over a number of years from the first recorded mention by economist William Nordhaus in 1975.
    • By the mid-1990s, European ministers were signing up to the two-degree limit, and by 2010 Cancun COP it was official UN policy.
    • However, small island states and low-lying countries were very unhappy with this perspective, because they believed it meant their territories would be inundated with sea-level rise.
    • They commissioned research which showed that preventing temperatures from rising beyond 1.5C would give them a fighting chance.

    Why 1.5°C is preferred over 2°C?

    • Global warming is already impacting people and ecosystems. The risks at 1.5°C and 2°C are progressively higher.
    • There will be worse heatwaves, drought and flooding at 2°C compared to 1.5°C. It is characterized as “substantial differences in extremes”.
    • Sea levels are expected to rise 10cm higher this century under 2°C of warming than 1.5°C.
    • The collapse of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica could lead to rises of several metres.
    • The quantity and quality of staple crops suffer under 2°C warming compared to 1.5C, as do livestock. That is bad for the availability of food in many parts of the world.

    New model shows the breach in threshold

    • The study according to which prediction model deployed reduced uncertainties by half compared to the approach used by the IPCC.
    • The IPCC uses the General Circulation Models (GCM) to express wide ranges in overall temperature projections.
    • This makes it difficult to circle outcomes in different climate mitigation scenarios.

    What is the General Circulation Model (GCM)?

    • GCM represents physical processes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and land surface.
    • It is the most advanced tool currently available for simulating the response of the global climate system to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.
    • GCMs depict the climate using a three-dimensional grid over the globe, typically having a horizontal resolution of between 250 and 600 km.
    • Many physical processes, such as those related to clouds, also occur at smaller scales and cannot be properly modelled.

    Why GCM is tricky?

    • Climate models are mathematical simulations of different factors that interact to affect Earth’s climate, such as the atmosphere, ocean, ice, land surface and the sun.
    • The data is tricky, and predictions can more often than not be inaccurate.
    • For example, an IPCC model would predict a temperature increase of a massive range — between 1.9oC and 4.5oC — if carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is doubled.

    Back2Basics: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

    • The IPCC is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations that is dedicated to providing the world with an objective, scientific information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of the risk of human-induced climate change.
    • It was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
    • Its membership is open to all members of the WMO and UN.
    • The IPCC produces reports that contribute to the work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the main international treaty on climate change.
    • The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report was a critical scientific input into the UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement in 2015.

  • Scheduled Castes Post-matric Scholarship Plan

    The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved changes to the post-matric scholarship scheme for students from the Scheduled Castes (SCs), including a new funding pattern of 60-40 for the Centre and States.

    Note:

    Equality enshrined in the Constitution is not mathematical equality and does not mean all citizens will be treated alike without any distinction.

    To this effect, the Constitution underlines two distinct aspects which together form the essence of equality law:

    1) Non-discrimination among equals, and

    2) Affirmative action to equalize the unequal

    About the Scholarship

    • It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and implemented through State Government and UT administration.
    • Under the scheme, the government provides financial assistance to students from SCs for higher education at post-matriculation and post-senior-secondary stages, which means Class XI onwards.
    • It can be availed by those, whose household incomes are less than Rs 2.5 lakh annually.

    What are the new changes?

    • States would carry out verification of the students’ eligibility and caste status and collect their Aadhaar and bank account details.
    • Transfer of financial assistance to the students under the scheme shall be on DBT [direct benefit transfer] mode, and preferably using the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System.
    • Starting from 2021-22, the Central share [60%] in the scheme would be released on DBT mode directly into the bank accounts of the students as per a fixed time schedule.

    Why such changes now?

    • The changes were aimed at enabling four crore students to access higher education over the next five years.
    • Switching from the existing “committed liability” formula, the new funding pattern would increase the Centre’s involvement in the scheme.

    Benefits of the scheme

    • The changes approved by the Cabinet were aimed at enrolling the poorest students, ensuring timely payments, and maintaining accountability.
    • An estimated 1.36 crore students who would otherwise drop out after Class 10 would be brought into the higher education system under the scheme in five years.

  • No need for a Two-Child Policy

    The latest data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) proves that the country’s population is stabilizing and fears over a “population explosion” and calls for a “two-child policy” is misguided.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Economic growth in country X will necessarily have to occur if

    (a) There is technical progress in the world economy

    (b) There is population growth in X

    (c) There is capital formation in X

    (d) The volume of trade grows in the world economy

    Two-Child Policy

    • The two-child policy is a state-imposed limit of two children allowed per family or the payment of government subsidies only to the first two children.
    • A two-child policy has previously been used in several countries including Iran, Singapore, and Vietnam.
    • In British Hong Kong in the 1970s, citizens were also highly encouraged to have two children as a limit (although it was not mandated by law), and it was used as part of the region’s family planning strategies.
    • Since 2016, it has been re-implemented in China replacing the country’s previous one-child policy.

    Present status in India

    • There is no national policy mandating two children per family.
    • A parliamentarian had tabled a Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2019 on the matter, proposing incentives for smaller families.
    • PM in 2019 had appealed to the country that population control was a form of patriotism.
    • Months later, the NITI Aayog called various stakeholders for a national-level consultation on the issue, which was subsequently cancelled following media glare on it.
    • In 2020, the PM spoke about a likely decision on revising the age of marriage for women, which many stakeholders view as an indirect attempt at controlling the population size.

    Why doesn’t India need it?

    • The survey provides evidence of uptake in the use of modern contraceptives in rural and urban areas.
    • It gives an improvement in family planning demands being met and a decline in the average number of children borne by a woman.
    • The report stated that most States have attained replacement level fertility, i.e., the average number of children born per woman at whom a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next.

  • Why the universe has less ‘antimatter’ than matter?

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in DownToEarth.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz, gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. With reference to them, which one of the following statements is not correct?

    (a) Gravity is the strongest of the four

    (b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge

    (c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity

    (d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.

    What is Antimatter?

    • Antimatter is the opposite of normal matter. More specifically, the sub-atomic particles of antimatter have properties opposite those of normal matter.
    • The electrical charge of those particles is reversed.
    • Antimatter was created along with matter after the Big Bang, but antimatter is rare in today’s universe.
    • To better understand antimatter, one needs to know more about the matter.
    • The matter is made up of atoms, which are the basic units of chemical elements such as hydrogen, helium or oxygen.

    Their existence

    • The existence of antimatter was predicted by physicist Paul Dirac’s equation describing the motion of electrons in 1928.
    • At first, it was not clear if this was just a mathematical quirk or a description of a real particle.
    • But in 1932 Carl Anderson discovered an antimatter partner to the electron — the positron — while studying cosmic rays that rain down on Earth from space.
    • Over the next few decades’ physicists found that all matter particles have antimatter partners.
    • Scientists believe that in the very hot and dense state shortly after the Big Bang, there must have been processes that gave preference to matter over antimatter.
    • This created a small surplus of matter, and as the universe cooled, all the antimatter was destroyed, or annihilated, by an equal amount of matter, leaving a tiny surplus of matter.
    • And it is this surplus that makes up everything we see in the universe today.

    Studying the difference between matter and antimatter

    • A Quark is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter.
    • Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei.
    • The behaviour of quarks, which are the fundamental building blocks of matter along with leptons, can shed light on the difference between matter and antimatter.
    • Since they are unstable, they will “decay” — fall apart — into other more stable particles at some point during their oscillation.

  • Firefly Bird Diverters’ to save the Great Indian Bustard (GIB)

    The Environment Ministry along with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India has come up with a unique initiative a “firefly bird diverter” for overhead power lines in areas where Great Indian Bustard (GIB) populations are found in the wild.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?

    (a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda, Asiatic Wild Ass

    (b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetah, Blue Bull, Great Indian Bustard.

    (c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey, Saras (Crane)

    (d) Lion Tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur, Cheetah

    Great Indian Bustard

    • The GIB is one of the heaviest flying birds and can weigh up to 15 kg which grows up to one metre in height.
    • In July 2011, the bird was categorised as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
    • It is considered the flagship grassland species, representing the health of the grassland ecology.
    • For long, conservationists have been demanding to secure this population, warning that the bird might get extinct in the coming decades.
    • It would become the first mega species to disappear from India after Cheetah in recent times.
    • Till the 1980s, about 1,500-2,000 Great Indian Bustards were spread throughout the western half of India, spanning eleven states.
    • However, with rampant hunting and declining grasslands, their population dwindled.

    Bird Diverters

    • The diverters are called fireflies because they look like fireflies from a distance, shining on power lines in the night.
    • GIBs are one of the heaviest flying birds in India. Therefore, when they encounter these wires, they are unable to change the direction of their flight.
    • Death is most cases is due to impact with the wires and not due to electrocution.
    • The diverter will not only save GIB but other species of large birds, including migratory birds.

    Why such a move?

    • GIB is one of the most critically threatened species in India, with less than 150 birds left in the wild.
    • A report has pointed out that power lines, especially high-voltage transmission lines with multiple overhead wires, are the most important current threat for GIBs in the Thar region.
    • They are causing unsustainably high mortality in about 15% of their population.

  • Bihar to change Kosi’s course to save the ancient site

    The Bihar government will try to divert the course of the mighty Kosi River in Bhagalpur district to save an archaeological site discovered recently.

    Tap to read more about the Himalayan Drainage System:

    Drainage System | Part 3

    Kosi River: The Sorrow of Bihar

    • The Kosi is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, Nepal and India.
    • The river crosses into northern Bihar, India where it branches into distributaries before joining the Ganges near Kursela in Katihar district.
    • Its unstable nature has been attributed course changes and the heavy silt it carries during the monsoon season, and flooding in India has extreme effects.
    • It is also known as the “Sorrow of Bihar” as the annual floods affect about 21,000 km2 of fertile agricultural lands thereby disturbing the rural economy.

    Why change its course?

    • Several priceless artefacts have been found at the Guwaradih village in Naugachhia sub-division of Bhagalpur district during the excavation of a mound.
    • These items could be 2,500-years-old and could be of interest for historians if conserved.
    • The historical sites are facing threats from the Kosi floods.
    • The Kosi currently flows around 300-400 metres from the site, while its old course is about two kilometres from the village.

    Threats posed by the move

    • Environmentalists have warned that changing the Kosi’s course could be disastrous for Bihar as seen in 2008.
    • At that time, the river had breached its mud embankments at Kushaha in Nepal.
    • The Kosi frequently changes its course naturally. If its course is artificially changed, it will cause floods and erosion in new areas, leading to massive displacement of people.
    • It then caused extensive damage to life and property downstream in five densely populated districts of northeast Bihar.
    • Some 500 people were killed and four million rendered homeless.

  • [pib] Rights to the Electricity Consumers

    The Ministry of Power has for the first time laid down Rights to the Electricity Consumers through “Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020”.

    Q.What are the new Rights to the Electricity Consumers as envisaged under Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020?

    Rights to the Electricity Consumers: A highlight

    Following key areas are covered in the Electricity (Rights of consumers) Rules:

    • Rights of consumers and Obligations of Distribution licensees
    • Release of new connection and modification in an existing connection
    • Metering arrangement
    • Billing and Payment
    • Disconnection and Reconnection
    • Reliability of supply
    • Consumer as Prosumer
    • Standards of Performance of licensee
    • Compensation Mechanism
    • Call Centre for Consumer Services
    • Grievance redressal mechanism

    (1) Rights and Obligations

    • It is the duty of every distribution licensee to supply electricity on request made by an owner or occupier of any premises in line with the provisions of the Act.
    • It is the right of the consumer to have minimum standards of service for the supply of electricity from the distribution licensee.

    (2) Release of new connection and modification in an existing connection

    • Transparent, simple, and time-bound processes,
    • The applicant has an option for online application,
    • The maximum time period of 7 days in metro cities and 15 days in other municipal areas and 30 days in rural areas identified to provide new connections and modify existing connections.

    (3) Metering

    • No connection shall be given without a meter;
    • Meter shall be the smart pre-payment meter or pre-payment meter;
    • Provision of Testing of meters;
    • Provisions for replacement of defective or burnt or stolen meters specified.

    (4) Billing and payment

    • Transparency in applicable consumer tariff and bills;
    • A consumer shall have the option to pay bills online or offline;
    • Provision for advance payment of bills.

    (5) Reliability of supply

    • The distribution licensee shall supply 24×7 powers to all consumers. However, the Commission may specify lower hours of supply for some categories of consumers like agriculture;
    • The distribution licensee shall put in place a mechanism, preferably with automated tools to the extent possible, for monitoring and restoring outages.

    (6) Consumer as prosumer

    • The prosumers will maintain consumer status and have the same rights as the general consumer.
    • They will also have the right to set up RE generation units including rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems – either by themselves or through a service provider.
    • Net metering for loads up to ten kW and for gross metering for loads above ten kW.

    (7) Standards of Performance

    • The Commission shall notify the standards of performance for the distribution licensees;
    • Compensation amount to be paid to the consumers by the distribution licensees for violation of standards of performance.

    (8) Compensation mechanism

    • Automatic compensation shall be paid to consumers for which parameters on standards of performance can be monitored remotely;
    • The standards of performance for which the compensation is required to be paid by the distribution licensee.

    (9) Call Centre for Consumer Services

    • Distribution licensee shall establish a centralized 24×7 toll-free call center;
    • Licensees shall endeavor to provide all services through a common Customer Relation Manager (CRM) System to get a unified view.

    (10) Grievance redressal mechanism

    • Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) to include consumer and prosumer representatives;
    • The consumer grievance redressal has been made easy by making it multi-layered and the number of consumer’s representatives has been increased from one to four.
    • The licensee shall specify the time within which various types of grievances by the different levels of the forums are to be resolved. Maximum timeline of 45 days specified for grievance redressal.

  • [pib] Leopard Population in India

    The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released the Status of Leopards Report.

    Confused over Leopard and Cheetah?

    The most common difference between these two animals is the patterns on their coat. At first glance, it may look like they both have spots, but in actual fact, a leopard has rosettes which are rose-like markings, and cheetahs have a solid round or oval spot shape.

    Indian Leopards

    • The Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) is a leopard subspecies widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent.
    • It is one of the big cats occurring on the Indian subcontinent, apart from the Asiatic lion, Bengal tiger, snow leopard and clouded leopard.
    • It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because populations have declined following habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching for the illegal trade of skins and body parts.

    Leopards in India

    • India now has 12,852 leopards as compared to the previous estimate of 7910 conducted 2014.
    • More than 60% increase in population has been recorded.
    • The States of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra recorded the highest leopard estimates at 3,421, 1,783 and 1,690 respectively.
    • India’s world record tiger survey also estimated the population of leopards and the tiger range was found a home to 12,852 (12,172-13,535) leopards.

    Significance

    • The increase in Tiger, Lion & Leopards numbers over the last few years is a testimony to the conservation efforts and of the fledgeling wildlife & biodiversity of the country.

  • Policy implementation in India : Issues

    Policy implementation matters as much as the policy itself. The article highlights the importance of monitoring system to track the implementation of the policies.

    Implementing policy

    • It is taken for granted that a government policy or social-development program, is meant to be perfectly executed.
    • Implementation is the key and ends up with sub-par results and uncompleted projects.
    • India has had mixed experiences post-Independence, the consolidated development chart will appear rather skewed.
    • Millions continue to live in abject poverty, deprived of basic amenities.

    Dealing with implementation deficit

    • India needs to work on the implementation and reforms processes in a wider manner, with the primary aim of attaining fast-paced development and effective delivery of the intended public benefits.
    • The first requirement would be a capable implementing machine — or what has been called the “perfect administration”, driven by passionate team leaders.
    • The guiding urge should be to complete the task before schedule.
    • Other critical determinants include:
    • Unambiguous demarcation of responsibilities.
    • Frequent brainstorming sessions to anticipate and take formal note of likely challenges and agreeing upon solutions.
    • Ensuring and authorizing a largely freehand with matching resources, and the ability to make on-the-spot decisions.
    • The evergreen strategy to make the implementation of a near-perfect process is to build in a vigilant monitoring and evaluation mechanism.
    • A dynamic monitoring mechanism makes use of technology, which today is being built into various flagship programs initiated by the present government.

    Achieving implementation

    • In the interest of achieving wholesome implementation, it would be desirable to set up an autonomous “Monitoring Trust”.
    • The trust will act as an integral part of all important public policies and programs.
    • The proposed Trust can comprise core technical, administrative, and legal members, along with stakeholders and social activists.
    • Engaging stakeholders and implementers, through various methodologies, is fast emerging as an effective strategy.
    • Sharing information and progress through dashboards and other technology tools, inviting suggestions through IT portals like MyGov democratize and enrich both policy formulation and execution.
    • The institutions and methodologies developed in Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana present an exemplary fusion between human ingenuity and the miracles of customized technology.

    Conclusion

    The political leadership both at the national and the state level is the most crucial force behind the success of the implementation machinery. An endeavor’s effective implementation alone can provide the converge with good governance, bold innovation, rewarding delivery, and the transformation of marginalized human lives.