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  • Sarna Religion of the Tribals

    sarna

    West Bengal Assembly has tabled a motion to recognize Sarna Religion of the tribals and have a Sarna Code.

    Sarna Religion

    • The followers of Sarna faith believe pray to nature.
    • The holy grail of the faith is “Jal (water), Jungle (forest), Zameen (land)” and its followers pray to the trees and hills while believing in protecting the forest areas.
    • Jharkhand has 32 tribal groups of which eight are from Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.
    • While many follow Hindu religion, some have converted to Christianity — this has become one of the planks of demanding a separate code “to save religious identity”— as various tribal organisations put it.

    Demand for Sarna Code

    • Tribal groups in the region have long demanded the Sarna code, a separate religious classification in the census, recognising their status as independent religious communities.
    • It is believed that 50 lakhs tribal in the entire country put their religion as ‘Sarna’ in the 2011 census, although it was not a code.
    • The resolution will seek a special column for followers of the Sarna religion in the Census, 2021.
    • At present, they are not classified as a separate entity.

    Politics around the tribe

    • Many of the tribals who follow this faith have later converted to Christianity—the state has more than 4% Christians most of whom are tribals.
    • Some who still follow the Sarna faith believe the converted tribals are taking the benefits of reservation as a minority, as well as the benefits, are given to Schedule Tribes.
    • They also believe that benefits should be given specifically to them and not to those who have converted.

    What sense does a separate code make?

    • The protection of their language and history is an important aspect of tribals.
    • Between 1871 and 1951, the tribals had a different code. However, it was changed around 1961-62.
    • Experts argue that when today the entire world is focusing on reducing pollution and protecting the environment, it is prudent that Sarna becomes a religious code as the soul of this religion is to protect nature and the environment.

     

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  • Urban space for women: India can show the path

    Urban

    Context

    • More than half of the population worldwide lives in cities, making urban centres critical to socioeconomic growth and development. However, rampant urbanisation has led to unequal distribution of resources and a lopsided development approach that ignores the specific needs of women. Despite projections of two-thirds of the population living in cities by 2050, urban development remains exclusive of women’s perspectives and needs.

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    Gender inequality in cities

    • Primary reason: One of the primary reasons behind gender inequality in cities is that modern cities are planned mainly by men and for men, thus sidelining the needs of women.
    • Designed assuming that the role of women is confined to household: The cities have been traditionally designed on the premise that a woman’s role is primarily confined to the household, barring their need to access the immediate neighbourhood.
    • Patriarchal approach has taken away the Fundamental rights: This patriarchal approach, while shaping the power dynamics between men and women, has also taken away the fundamental right of women to live and thrive in a safe and inclusive outdoor environment.

    Urban

    Role of women and the challenges they face in urban spaces

    • Women one of the most vulnerable groups in society: Women, one of the most vulnerable groups in society, face violence in physical and cyber mode, making it difficult for them to access opportunities that come with urbanisation.
    • For instance: Due to poorly lit streets and a lack of women-friendly mobility systems, women cannot actively participate in the workforce. Only 27 percent of women participate in the workforce in India as compared to 79 percent of men.
    • Male dominated nature of job opportunities available in the cities: Most of them are male-dominated, such as the platform economy jobs of delivery agents and those at vast construction sites, leaving less space for women to intervene.
    • Women professionals are burdened with dual work responsibilities: Moreover, with an increase in the number of households in cities, women are devoting most of their time to home and caring work, thus, leaving less time for them to do a job. In this scenario, women professionals are burdened with dual work roles, impacting their physical and mental well-being.
    • Discouraged drop outs: Furthermore, the social tendency to discourage urban women from working after marriage has generated a trend of ‘discouraged drop-outs’, leaving them out of the workforce.
    • Role in urban planning and governance is abysmally low: Women’s participation in urban planning and governance has been abysmally low. Women hold only 10 percent of the highest ranks globally in architecture and urban planning offices. With women left out of city planning institutions, city planners ignore the needs of women and the challenges they face.

    Urban

    Do you know: The concept of a 15-minute city?

    • The concept of a 15-minute city, i.e., where everything needed will be available within a walkable distance of 15 minutes, is attracting the interest of planners even in India.
    • However, for stray examples such as Magarpatta, a city in Pune, the concept has failed to move beyond rhetoric.

    Focus areas of development

    • City society intervention is a prerequisite: The intervention of civil society and policymakers on specific parameters can help build gender-responsive cities that accommodate the concerns of all citizens.
    • Building safer cities: Better street lighting, women-friendly transport systems, and behavioural change programmes that help people understand that the onus of safety is not on women but on society as a whole will surely improve women’s access to safer cities.
    • For instance: Building technology systems such as the Safetipin app helps women map safe areas and take necessary actions in emergencies by collating a list of important contacts, GPS tracking and so on, thus, trying to make streets safer.
    • Changing the attitude and mindset of society at large: Counselling sessions for men, sensitising them about how women feel if a certain social behaviour is practised, can trigger an eventual change in their mindset towards women’s needs.
    • Building gender-inclusive jobs: Data suggests that 10 percent increase in women’s workforce participation rate can add US$ 770 million, approximately 18 percent, to India’s GDP. Teaching men to shoulder family responsibilities, making workspaces women-friendly, promoting women to leadership positions, and diversifying the availability of jobs can go a long way in improving the situation.
    • Role of women in urban governance: Having women at the top can have a domino effect in society, making other women aspirational of the positions they can reach and the impact they can create.
    • For example: Cities like Athena, Bogota, Nairobi, Dakar, and San Francisco that have had female leadership have witnessed greater socio-economic and sustainable development.
    • Developing gender-sensitive infrastructure: Globally, one in three women do not have access to safe toilets. Building toilets for women and places to breastfeed and baby changing stations improves the turnout of women on the streets. Improving access to clean water will also improve overall health for women as globally.

    Urban

    Way ahead

    • Need a paradigm shift in approaches to policymaking: Including more women in decision-making roles to identify shared concerns and build integrated solutions will need a paradigm shift in approaches to policymaking. This calls for a policy focus on optimum resource allocation and equitable distribution, ensuring easy, safe, and affordable access to all.
    • Feminist approach in policymaking: Policymakers need to adopt a feminist approach to urban development.
    • Feminist urbanism: Feminist urbanism seeks to understand and integrate the concerns of women and other gender and sexual minorities across caste, class, age differences, disabilities, etc.
    • Developing cities on the lines of feminist urbanism: Creating a city on the lines of feminist urbanism refers to constructing compact and mixed-use neighbourhoods, inclusive streets focusing on pedestrian needs and building other critical urban infrastructure.

    Conclusion

    • Building global partnerships to aid gender mainstreaming in urban spaces can prove fruitful. India has a chance to further this cause as it assumes the G20 presidency. The Urban 20 grouping can bring urban policymakers from the -20 nations to deliberate on women’s rights and evolve gender-inclusive development processes to help cities attain the 2030 agenda for sustainable development holistically.

  • In news: Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

    The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has decided to form a special committee to trace and certify 24 protected monuments that have gone “missing”.

    Why in news?

    • PMO has in a report last month said there was an urgent need to “rationalise” the list of monuments of national importance.

    Sites in news

    • Barakhamba Cemetery temple ruins, Mirzapur (UP) dating to 1000 AD
    • Kos Minars – one at Faridabad’s Mujesar and
    • Inchla Wali Gumti at Mubarakpur Kotla in the capital

    Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) 

    • Founded by Alexander Cunningham, who is also revered as the “Father of Indian Archaeology”
    • He was the protege of James Prinsep.
    • It was Lord Canning who helped pass a statute for ASI’s establishment in 1861.
    • Post-Independence, it is a Statutory body that now works under Ancient monuments and archaeological sites and remains act (AMASR Act), 1958.
    • It works as an attached Office of the Ministry of Culture.
    • ASI has 3678 protected monuments and Archaeology sites of National Importance + 29 cultural under the World Heritage List by UNESCO.

    Initiatives by ASI

    1. Museums
    • ASI’s museums are customarily located right next to the sites that their inventories are associated with “so that they may be studied amid their natural surroundings and not lose focus by being transported”.
    • A dedicated Museums Branch maintains a total of 44 museums spread across the country.
    1. Publications by ASI
    • Epigraphia Indica
    • Ancient India
    • Indian Archaeology: A Review (Annually)
    1. Library
    • Central Archaeological Library in the National Archives building in Janpath, New Delhi

     

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  • What are Shaligram Stones?

    shaligram

    Two sacred Shaligram stones arrived in Ayodhya for crafting the idols of Lord Ram and Janaki at the Ram Temple.

    What is a Shaligram Stones?

    • Shaligram stones are fossils of ammonite, which is a type of mollusk that lived between 400 million and 65 million years ago.
    • They are found in the Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas.
    • They date specifically from the Early Oxfordian to the Late Tithonian Age near the end of the Jurassic Period some 165-140 million years ago.
    • Mostly found in riverbeds or banks of the Kali Gandaki, a tributary of the Gandaki River in Nepal, this stone is revered as a representation of Lord Vishnu.
    • The stone is considered to have divine powers and is seen as a symbol of good luck and prosperity.

    Mythological significance

    • Historically, the use of shaligrama shilas in worship can be traced to the time of Adi Shankara through the latter’s works.
    • Specifically it finds mention in the Taittiriya Upanishad.
    • The statue of Vishnu in the Padmanabhaswamy Temple of Thiruvananthapuram and Badrinath Temple of Garhwal region, and that of Krishna in Krishna Matha of Udupi and Radha Raman Temple of Vrindavana are also believed to be made from shaligrama shilas.

     

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  • Artform in news: Shumang Leela

    shumang leela

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

    Shumang Leela

    • Shumang Leela is a unique traditional form of theatre in Manipur.
    • The tradition is believed to be descended from Lai Haraoba, a ritual of the Meitei community of Manipur.

    Types of this dance

    Shumang Leela is of two types:

    1. Nupa Shumang Leela: It performed only by men. Here the roles of women are all played by men, called Nupi Shabis.
    2. Nupi Shumang Leela: It performed only by women and the roles of men are played by women.

    Performance details

    • The plays serve as a medium to spread awareness among people of social, political and economic issues. Shumang Leelas may also discuss moral values, unity and integrity.
    • This theatre form has for long been trying to strengthen the bond of brotherhood and friendship among various communities in the State.

    Significance of the art

    • In a society marked by heteronormativity, the gender-bending nature of Shumang Leela makes it a unique art form that is fraught with complexity.
    • The men who take up female roles or vice versa are highly appreciated and laughed at.
    • The traditional theatre form has preserved its original form, and its aim to inform and entertain has remained unchanged.

     

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  • Census: A prerequisite for economic development

    Census

    Context

    • India aspires to be a $10 trillion economy by 2035. To achieve this, conducting population Census, due in 2021 but postponed indefinitely because of Covid, is necessary. Such data is essential for planning at the village or block level to usher in economic and social development, ensure better governance, and increase the transparency of public schemes and programmes.

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    What is a census?

    • It is nothing but a process of collecting, compiling, analysing, evaluating, publishing and disseminating statistical data regarding the population.
    • It covers demographic, social and economic data and is provided as of a particular date.

    Census

    What is the purpose?

    • To collect the information for planning and formulation policies for Central and the State Governments.
    • The census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation.
    • It helps the government decide how to distribute funds and assistance to states and localities.
    • The census data is widely used by National and International Agencies, scholars, business people, industrialists, and many more.

    Why conducting a Census has become a prerequisite for economic development?

    • Lack of complete civil registration system: Since many states (and districts) lack a complete civil registration system with a full count of birth and death data, demographers face enormous challenges in providing population counts at the district level. In several instances, estimates tend to be far off the mark, especially for newly formed districts and states.
    • Changing pattern of migration: migration data collected in the Census has great implications for economic activities and social harmony. As India progresses economically, the pattern of migration has been changing in unprecedented ways. The migration pattern in India in the present decade is very different from what the data in Census 2001 and 2011 suggest. Hence, in the absence of updated data, it is difficult to draw conclusions about migration in India.
    • Other surveys does not provide comprehensive data: The Census counts everyone across regions, classes, creeds, religions, languages, castes, marital status, differently-abled populations, occupation patterns etc. Most national-level surveys such as NFHS and NSSO do not have representative data at the population subgroup level, unlike the former. The existence of numerous faiths and languages as well as the expansion or extinction of such communities will be known only via population Census.

    Census

    In the absence of it how demographers collect data?

    • Estimates using past census information: In the absence of updated data, demographers estimate the annual population count at the district level using past Census information for the intercensal or postcensal period. Say, to estimate the population of a district in India in the year 2015, they use the district-level population growth rate between the 2001 and 2011 Census.
    • Such estimates are fair for maximum of 10 years: Such demographic exercises give reasonably fair estimates when the year of population estimation is within the range of a maximum of 10 years. Beyond this period, estimations can be erroneous, particularly at the district level due to dynamic patterns of population components, among them fertility, mortality and migration.
    • Assumptions based model in faster demographic transition: Many districts of India are experiencing a faster demographic transition with varying fertility and mortality rates. So, using the growth rate of 2001-2011 for the period after 2021 becomes more of an assumption-based model than a model that reflects empirical reality. Covid-19 further makes the situation complex as it impacts the fertility and mortality situation in the country.

    Demand for caste census in India

    • India’s population has since increased three-fold to 1.21 billion in 2011.
    • Experts believe the economic status of the dominant OBC castes have improved in the past 80 years and certain castes have not benefited as much.
    • So, the new caste census is required to measure the economic and social well-being of all castes.

    Census

    History and a Way ahead

    • India has a long history of conducting Census without interruption from 1881 with the rare exception of Assam in 1981 and Jammu Kashmir in 1991 due to socio-political unrest and secessionist movements.
    • Conducting it regular at the national and sub-national levels has been a matter of pride for India.
    • It has to be continued until India achieves a fool-proof civil registration system and a dynamic National Population Register.

    Conclusion

    • Conducting the population Census is a mammoth task, of course. Full involvement of the government system is necessary to organise it. But the it is necessary since it forms the basis of all the plans and programmes that the government wants to implement. Postponing the it has immediate and long-term negative consequences for India. The government and other stakeholders should take urgent steps to conduct the Census as early as possible.

    Mains question

    Q. What is census? Why conducting a Census has become a prerequisite for economic development and also discuss the impact of delayed census.

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  • How do ruminants contribute to Methane Pollution?

    methane

    Bill Gates has invested in a climate technology start-up that aims to curtail the methane emissions of cow burps.

    What is the news?

    • The startup Rumin8 is developing a variety of dietary supplements to feed to cows in a bid to reduce the amount of methane they emit into the atmosphere.
    • The supplement includes red seaweed, which is believed to drastically cut methane output in cows.

    What is Methane?

    • Methane is a greenhouse gas, which is also a component of natural gas.
    • There are various sources of methane including human and natural sources.
    • The anthropogenic sources are responsible for 60 per cent of global methane emissions.
    • It includes landfills, oil and natural gas systems, agricultural activities, coal mining, wastewater treatment, and certain industrial processes.
    • The oil and gas sectors are among the largest contributors to human sources of methane.
    • These emissions come primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, decomposition in landfills and the agriculture sector.

    How do cows and other animals produce methane?

    • Ruminant animals such as cows, sheep, goats, and buffaloes release this methane mainly through burping.
    • They have a special type of digestive system that allows them to break down and digest food that non-ruminant species would be unable to digest.
    • Stomachs of ruminant animals have four compartments, one of which, the rumen, helps them to store partially digested food and let it ferment.
    • This partially digested and fermented food is regurgitated by the animals who chew through it again and finish the digestive process.
    • However, as grass and other vegetation ferments in the rumen, it generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

    How much do these ruminants contribute to emissions?

    • Given the very large numbers of cattle and sheep on farms in dairy-producing countries, these emissions add up to a significant volume.
    • It is estimated that the ruminant digestive system is responsible for 27 per cent of all methane emissions from human activity.

    Why is methane such a big problem?

    • Methane is one of the main drivers of climate change, responsible for 30 per cent of the warming since preindustrial times, second only to carbon dioxide.
    • Over a 20-year period, methane is 80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide, according to a report by the UNEP.
    • It’s also the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a colourless and highly irritating gas that forms just above the Earth’s surface.
    • According to a 2022 report, exposure to ground-level ozone could be contributing to 1 million premature deaths every year.
    • Several studies have shown that in recent years, the amount of methane in the atmosphere has dramatically shot up.

    Mitigating methane emissions

    • Scientists have been working on to make these animals more sustainable and less gassy.
    • A 2021 study, published in the journal PLUS ONE, found that adding seaweed to cow feed can reduce methane formation in their guts by more than 80 per cent.
    • Apart from this, researchers are also trying to find gene-modifying techniques to curtail methane emissions in these animals.
    • Last year, scientists in New Zealand announced they had started the world’s first genetic programme to address the challenge of climate change by breeding sheep that emit lower amounts of methane.

    Global collaboration against methane pollution

    Ans. Global Methane Initiative (GMI)

    • GMI is a voluntary Government and an informal international partnership having members from 45 countries including the United States and Canada.
    • India last year co-chaired along with Canada the GMI leadership meet held virtually.
    • The forum has been created to achieve global reduction in anthropogenic methane emission through partnership among developed and developing countries having economies in transition.
    • The forum was created in 2004 and India is one of the members since its inception and has taken up Vice-Chairmanship for the first time in the Steering Leadership along with USA.

    Back2Basics: CO2 Equivalents

    • Each greenhouse gas (GHG) has a different global warming potential (GWP) and persists for a different length of time in the atmosphere.
    • The three main greenhouse gases (along with water vapour) and their 100-year global warming potential (GWP) compared to carbon dioxide are:

    1 x – carbon dioxide (CO2)

    25 x – methane (CH4) – I.e. Releasing 1 kg of CH4into the atmosphere is about equivalent to releasing 25 kg of CO2

    298 x – nitrous oxide (N2O)

    • Water vapour is not considered to be a cause of man-made global warming because it does not persist in the atmosphere for more than a few days.
    • There are other greenhouse gases which have far greater global warming potential (GWP) but are much less prevalent. These are sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).
    • There are a wide variety of uses for SF6, HFCs, and PFCs but they have been most commonly used as refrigerants and for fire suppression.
    • Many of these compounds also have a depleting effect on ozone in the upper atmosphere.

     

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  • Choudhary Rehmat Ali: Man behind the name ‘Pakistan’

    pakistan

    In this article, we take you to the history of Pakistan (which is on the brink of its demise) and the facts behind its naming.

    Jinnah and Pakistan

    • Muhammad Ali Jinnah is remembered as the founder of Pakistan, its “Qaid e Azam”, or the “Great Leader.”
    • He led a movement that transformed a weak idea of a sovereign Islamic state in British India’s north western provinces into reality.
    • But he was not the first to come up with the idea of Pakistan, nor was he its original champion.

    Rehmat Ali: Coining the term ‘Pakistan’

    • Choudhary Rehmat Ali can be credited with coining the “term” Pakistan, styling himself as the “Founder of the Pakistan National Movement”.
    • On January 28, 1933, he released a pamphlet titled “Now or Never: Are we to live or perish forever”.
    • In it he made a vehement “appeal on behalf of the thirty million Muslims of PAKISTAN, who live in the five Northern Units of India… for the recognition of their national status.
    • He highlighted the distinctiveness with the other inhabitants of India citing religious, social and historical grounds.
    • According to many historians, this can be seen as the genesis of the very idea of Pakistan; an idea which would become mainstream by the 1940s.

    Ali’s appeal

    • Rehmat Ali’s appeal was as much a critique of Nationalism wave.
    • He distributed pro-Pakistan pamphlets in the Third Round Table Conference (1932).
    • Fearing that the Muslim minority will be subsumed by the Hindu population under the proposed constitution, he advocated for a separate, sovereign entity.
    • For him, British India was not the home of one single nation but rather the designation of a State created by the British for the first time in history.

    His idea of Pakistan

    • This nation that Rehmat Ali called his own was Pakistan, including “five Northern Provinces of India” – Punjab (P), North- West Frontier Province or the Afghan Province (A), Kashmir (K), Sindh(S) and Balochistan (tan).
    • He would call its Pakistan.
    • He argued that this region, with its “distinct marks of nationality,” would be “reduced to a minority of one in ten,” in a united Indian federation.

    Exposition of the “Two Nation Theory”

    • Rehmat Ali was not a politician. In 1947, Ali’s dream became a reality.
    • Nor did he stay in the subcontinent for much of the 1930s and 1940s when the struggle for Pakistan was taking shape.
    • His contribution to Pakistan are solely limited to his writings and ideas.
    • Unlike Iqbal, more popularly known as the philosopher behind Pakistan’s creation, Ali’s work remained restricted to a far smaller audience.
    • But it was important, arguably essential, for Pakistan’s creation.
    • In his work, we see the most radical exposition of the “Two Nation Theory”, later made famous by Jinnah and the Muslim League.

    How Jinnah overtook Rehmat Ali?

    • Things began to change from 1937 onwards, after Jinnah fell out with the Congress.
    • With the leader’s rhetoric turning increasingly separationist, Rahmat Ali’s articulation of Pakistan found its way into mainstream discourse.
    • In 1940, at the Muslim League’s Lahore session, the famous Lahore Resolution was passed.
    • It advocated that the geographical contiguous units in the Muslim-majority areas in India’s “North-Western and Eastern Zones of India, be grouped to constitute Independent States.
    • While this resolution did not mention “Pakistan,” Jinnah’s ideas echoed Rahmat Ali’s.
    • Somewhere between 1940 and 1943, the term “Pakistan” started being used by Jinnah and other Muslim League leaders in their speeches and correspondence.

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Mahatma Gandhi undertook fast unto death in 1932, mainly because:

    (a) Round Table Conference failed to satisfy Indian political aspirations

    (b) Congress and Muslim League had differences of opinion

    (c) Ramsay Macdonald announced the Communal Award

    (d) None of the statements (a), (b) and (c) given above is correct in this context

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”zy4hsvahii” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • Mughal Gardens will now be called as Amrit Udyan

    mughal

    The Rashtrapati Bhavan gardens — popularly known as the Mughal Gardens was renamed as Amrit Udyan.

    The Amrit Udyan

    • Edwin Lutyens had finalized the designs of the Mughal Gardens in 1917, but it was only during the year 1928-1929 that planting was done.
    • It is spread across 15 acres and it incorporates both Mughal and English landscaping styles.
    • The main garden has two channels intersecting at right angles dividing the garden into a grid of squares- a Charbagh (a four-cornered garden)- a typical characteristic of Mughal landscaping.
    • There are six lotus-shaped fountains at the crossings of these channels rising to a height of 12 feet.
    • The gardens house nearly 2500 varieties of Dahlias and 120 varieties of roses.

    Why was it earlier named as Mughal Gardens?

    • The garden is designed in Persian style of landscaping or what we call as ‘‘Mughal Gardens”.
    • In fact, Edward Lutyens who designed the Viceroy’s House, what we call today as Rashtrapati Bhavan had deliberately used Mughal architectural details as part of the British appeasement plan.
    • We see Chajja (dripstone), the Chattri (domed kiosk), the Jali (pierced screen) and many other Indian architectural features liberally used there.
    • Mughal canals, terraces and flowering shrubs are beautifully blended with European flowerbeds, lawns and private hedges.

    Back2Basics: Mughal Gardening in India- The Charbagh Style

    mughal

    • The Mughals were known to appreciate gardens. In Babur Nama, Babur says that his favourite kind of garden is the Persian charbagh style (literally, four quadrants garden).
    • The charbagh structure was intended to create a representation of an earthly utopia – ‘jannat’ – in which humans co-exist in perfect harmony with all elements of nature.
    • Defined by its rectilinear layouts, divided in four equal sections, these gardens can be found across lands previously ruled by the Mughals.
    • From the gardens surrounding Humanyun’s Tomb in Delhi to the Nishat Bagh in Srinagar, all are built in this style – giving them the moniker of Mughal Gardens.
    • A defining feature of these gardens is the use of waterways, often to demarcate the various quadrants of the garden.
    • Fountains were often built, symbolising the “cycle of life.”

     

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  • Munroe Thuruthu: Kerala’s Sinking Island

    munroe

    A study conducted by the National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) has revealed anthropogenic interventions as the main reason for the sinking of Munroe Thuruthu Kerala’s, Kerala’s Sinking Island.

    Note: This Island has nothing to do with Thomas Monroe, the erstwhile Governor of Madras Presidency (1820-27).

    Munroe Thuruthu

    • Munroe Thuruthu is an inland island group located at the confluence of Ashtamudi Lake and the Kallada River, in Kollam district of Kerala.
    • The place is named in honour of Resident Colonel John Munro of the former Princely State of Travancore.
    • It is a group of eight small islets comprising a total area of about 13.4 km2.
    • This island is also known as “Sinking Island of Kerala”.

    How was this island inhabited?

    • In 1795 the British established their supremacy in South India and the princely state of Travancore came under their governance.
    • From 1800 onwards, a Resident was appointed by East India Company as administrative head of Travancore.
    • The first Resident was Colonel Colin Macaulay, followed by Colonel John Munro.
    • During his tenure Munro oversaw the land reclamation efforts in the delta where Kallada River joins Ashtamudi Lake and the reclaimed island was named after him as Munroe Island.

    Why in news?

    • The islanders are facing steady land subsidence, tidal flooding and lower agricultural productivity, all of which have triggered a mass exodus from the region.
    • According to the study, almost 39% of the land area of the Munroe Thuruthu has been lost with Peringalam and Cheriyakadavu islands recording a land depletion of around 12% and 47% respectively.
    • The study finds that anthropogenic activities have considerably affected the isostatic conditions and land neutrality of Munroe Thuruthu.

     

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