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GS Paper: GS3

  • A resilient future for Uttarakhand

    The article discusses the factors that could explain the cause of the recent flash floods in Uttarakhand and suggest the immediate steps to deal with such disasters.

    What makes Uttarakhand vulnerable

    • Days after a glacier burst in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand caused flash floods, the scientific community is still struggling to understand what triggered the disaster.
    • Uttarakhand is located in the midst of young and unstable mountains and is subject to intense rainfall.
    • For years experts have voiced their fears about an impending disaster due to climate change, rapid and indiscriminate construction activities, and the subsequent ecological destruction in the region.
    • Studies have shown that widespread settlements, farming, cattle grazing and other anthropogenic activities could destroy the natural barriers that control avalanches and floods, thereby enhancing the possibilities of a glacial lake outburst flood.
    • The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Report (2019) had pointed out that one-third of the Hindu Kush Himalaya’s glaciers would melt by 2100 and potentially destabilise the river regime in Asia, even if all the countries in the region fulfilled their commitments under the Paris Agreement.

    Possible causes of the current glacial outburst

    • The current glacier burst was loosely attributed to erosion, a build-up of water pressure, an avalanche of snow or rocks, landslides or an earthquake under the ice.
    • A rock mass, weakened from years of freezing and thawing of snow, may have led to the creation of a weak zone and fractures leading to a collapse that resulted in flash floods.

    Issue of construction activity

    • Experts and activists have incessantly asked for scrutiny into the construction of hydroelectric power projects in Uttarakhand.
    • There have also been allegations about the use of explosives in the construction of dams and other infrastructure.
    • In 2014, an expert committee led by Dr Ravi Chopra, instituted to assess the role of dams in exacerbating floods, provided hard evidence on how haphazard construction of dams was causing irreversible damage to the region.

    7 Immediate steps

    • 1) Investing in resilience planning, especially in flood prevention and rapid response.
    • 2) Climate proofing the infrastructure such as by applying road stabilisation technologies for fragile road networks and strengthening existing structures like bridges, culverts and tunnels.
    • 3) Strengthening embankments with adequate scientific know-how
    • 4) Reassessing development of hydropower and other public infrastructure.
    • 5) Investing in robust monitoring and early warning system.
    • 6) Establishing implementable policies and regulatory guidelines to restrict detrimental human activities, including responsible eco- and religious tourism policies.
    • 7) Investing in training and capacity building to educate and empower local communities to prevent and manage risks effectively.

    Consider the question “What are the factors that make Uttarakhand vulnerable to natural disasters? Suggest the measures to prevent and deal with the disasters” 

    Conclusion

    India needs to urgently rise up to the challenge by applying innovative and inclusive solutions that support nature and marginalised communities, to restore and rebuild a resilient future for Uttarakhand.

  • National Rail Plan for 2030

    The Budget unveiled the National Rail Plan 2030. 

    Key provision in the Budget for railways

    • First, there is a National Rail Plan (NRP) for 2030.
    • Second, the Western dedicated freight corridor (DFC) and the Eastern DFC will be commissioned by June 2022.
    • Parts of DFC will be in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
    • Third, there will be an East Coast corridor (Kharagpur to Vijaywada), an East-West corridor (Bhusaval to Kharagpur/Dankuni) and a North-South corridor (Itarsi to Vijayawada).
    • Fourth, all broad-gauge routes will be electrified by December 2023.
    • Fifth, there will be safety and passenger amenity measures.

    National Rail Plan provisions

    • The NRP is meant to increase the share of railways in freight, rectifying the pre-Independence and post-Independence bias
    • It also aims to develop capacity that will cater to demand in 2050.
    • It provides for mapping of the existing railway network on a GIS platform.
    • The primary value addition of the NRP is an analysis of the existing network, with expected additions (such as the National Infrastructure Pipeline) also built in.
    •  NRP bases decision making on objective criteria.

    Pricing and cross-subsidy issue

    • In 2018-19, as per the NRP, India’s operating ratio (OR) was 0.59 for freight and 1.92 for passenger traffic.
    • The problem is low passenger fares and artificially high freight rates required to cross-subsidise those.
    • This is not the complete picture since normally, freight and passenger trains share common sections of track and passenger trains are given preference over goods trains in getting a path (route from point A to point B).
    • Therefore, the average speed of a freight train is 24 km/hour — average speed is a surrogate indicator.
    • A superior indicator is transit time — the time taken for a consignment to reach from one point to another.

    Need for decreasing the cost and increasing the average speed

    • Indian Railways has a system of HDN and HUN identification for the present network.
    • HDNs are high-density routes.
    • HUNs are highly-used networks with multiple origins and destinations and no clear single haul corridor.
    • HUNs are primarily for passengers.
    • For freight, HDNs are important.
    • HDNs and HUNs carry 80 per cent of the traffic and there are sections where capacity utilisation is more than 100 per cent.
    • With traffic increasing, capacity utilisation will worsen.
    • If the intention is to increase rail share in the total freight carried to 44 per cent, the average speed must increase and costs must decline.
    • With the Western and Eastern DFCs, both should happen.

    Consider the question “What are the factors responsible for preventing the railways from realising its contribution in the development of the country. How far will the National Rail Plan help railways deal with these factors?” 

    Conclusion

    The implementation of the NRP will help railways deal with the issues faced by it.

    Back2Basics: Operating Ratio

    • The operating ratio shows the efficiency of a company’s management by comparing the total operating expense of a company to net sales.
    • An operating ratio that is decreasing is viewed as a positive sign, as it indicates that operating expenses are becoming an increasingly smaller percentage of net sales.

    OR = (Operating Expenses + Cost of Goods Sold)/ Net sales​ 

     

  • Significance of crude oil crossing $60 a barrel

    The price of Brent crude crossed the $60 per barrel mark after over a year on the back of oil-producing countries maintaining production cuts due to lockdowns.

    What is Crude Oil?

    • Petroleum also known as crude oil and oil is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earth’s surface.
    • It is commonly refined into various types of fuels.
    • Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation, i.e. separation of a liquid mixture into fractions differing in boiling point by means of distillation, typically using a fractionating column.
    • It consists of naturally occurring hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and may contain miscellaneous organic compounds.
    • The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil.

    Why has the price of crude oil risen sharply?

    • Major oil-producing countries had cut oil production last year amid a sharp fall in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
    • However oil-producing countries have continued to limit production despite an increase in prices with Saud Arabia cutting its own oil production by 1 million barrels per day to strengthen crude oil prices.
    • Expectations of strong improvements in demand with the global rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine have also put upward pressure on crude oil prices according to experts.

    How will this impact India?

    • The rise in the price of Brent crude will lead to an increase in India’s import bill.
    • India imports of 80 per cent of its crude oil requirements and the average price of Indian basket of crude oil has already risen to $54.8 barrel for January.
    • The upward move in crude prices will also put upward pressure on petrol and diesel prices across the country which is already at all-time highs.

    Signs of no remedy

    • The government had hiked central taxes on petrol and diesel by Rs 13 per litre and Rs 11 per litre in 2020 to boost revenues amid lower economic activity.
    • The increase in taxes had prevented consumers from getting the benefit of low fuel prices as international prices crashed during the first quarter of last fiscal.

  • [pib] National Monsoon Mission

    Under the National Monsoon Mission (NMM), Ministry of Earth Sciences has developed the state-of-the-art weather and climate prediction models, which are now in operational use.

    Tap to read about the mechanism of Indian Monsoon System at:

    The Southwest Monsoon Season (Jun – Sep) | Part 1

    National Monsoon Mission (NMM)

    • Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) had launched NMM in 2012 with a vision to develop a state-of-the-art dynamical prediction system for monsoon rainfall on different time scales.
    • The responsibility of execution and coordination of this mission is vested to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
    • Climate Forecast System (CFS) of USA has been identified as the basic modelling system for the above purpose, as it is one of the best among the currently available coupled models.

    Targets of NMM

    • Development of a seamless prediction system using monsoon mission model, on different time scales, like Seasonal (for whole Monsoon season), extended-range (upto 4 weeks), short-range prediction (up-to 5days).
    • Initiate and coordinate the working partnership between Indian and foreign institutes to develop a system for prediction of extremes and climate applications
    • Develop and implement the system for climate applications having social impacts (such as agriculture, flood forecast, extreme events forecast, wind energy, etc.
    • Advanced data assimilation system for preparing high-quality data for model predictions.

    Achievements of NMM during the last 3 years

    • Setting up of an advanced prediction system for Seasonal prediction; Extended range prediction and Very high-resolution Short-range prediction.
    • Commissioning of a Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) for short and medium-range prediction at 12km.
    • The Cyclone track and intensity prediction has also shown a steady improvement over the last three years.
    • The operationalization of Monsoon Mission dynamical model (MMCFS) to prepare operational seasonal forecast of monsoon rainfall and temperatures during the hot and cold weather seasons over India.
    • Development of an algorithm to monitor and predict the Monsoon Intra-seasonal Oscillations (MISO) and Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) on the extended range.
    • Development of an index to predict the genesis and evolution of tropical cyclones and other cyclonic disturbances over the north Indian Ocean.

  • Role of dams in Uttarakhand floods

    The article explains the link between the disasters in the Uttarakhand and the construction of dams.

    How dams exacerbate disasters

    • The use of explosives has repeatedly been questioned for dam construction, and the construction of other infrastructure projects, such as roads, in the fragile Himalayan State.
    • Other than this, deforestation takes place when dams are constructed.
    • The construction material that is supposed to be dumped on separate land is often dumped into the rivers.

    The Chopra Committee report after Kedarnath flood

    • The Chopra Committee report of 2014 brings more clarity on how dams exacerbate a disaster such as floods.
    • Its report mentions how dams exacerbated the 2013 deluge, mainly as riverbeds were already raised from the disposed muck at the dam construction sites.
    • The report presents evidence to prove that dams are not only damaged in floods, they also cause immense damage in downstream areas.
    • This is because as floodwaters damage a barrage, they increase the destructive capacity of the water that flows downstream of the barrage.
    • In an affidavit submitted on December 5, 2014 in the Supreme Court, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change acknowledged the adverse impact of dams in the 2013 floods.

    Impact of climate change and threat of earthquakes

    • Himalayan glaciers are receding and disintegrating as a result of climate change, and the snow cover in the Himalayas is also thinning.
    • Research shows an increase in number and volume of glacial lakes as a result of of increased temperatures.
    • For dams, this means rapid increase or decrease in the reservoir water level.
    • It also means that the projections on the life of a dam reservoir may not stand due to erratic events, such as floods, that could rapidly fill a reservoir with muck and boulders brought along with the floods.
    • In terms of earthquake risk, Uttarakhand lies in Seismic Zone-IV (severe intensity) and Seismic Zone-V (very severe intensity).
    • Ignoring this, many dams have been constructed in zones that are under high risk of witnessing severe earthquakes.

    Consider the question “Examine the role played by the dams in exacerbating the disasters in the Himalayan states”

    Conclusion

    It is clear that dams worsen disasters, and for this to be ignored by the State authorities is unfortunate.

  • Flash floods and their mitigation

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

    What are Flash floods?

    • A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions.
    • It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, tropical storm, or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields.

    Take a glimpse of the series of disasters in Uttarakhand

    Chamoli example

    • Flash flood incident in Uttarakhand is another warning of the dangers that a Himalayan state like Uttarakhand faces from natural processes like landslides, snow avalanches cloudbursts or lake bursts.
    • As we saw in 2013 in the same state, such processes can trigger much bigger disasters and cause massive destruction.
    • But it is possible to work towards minimising the threat of such incidents and reduce their impact.

    Role of glacial lakes

    • There are over 1,000 glaciers in Uttarakhand. Almost all of them are receding. Most of the glaciers also have debris cover.
    • When glaciers retreat due to rising temperatures, the snow melts but the debris remains. This debris aids in the formation of lakes.

    Cause: Retreat of glaciers

    • Glaciers have reduced considerably in mass and surface area since the little ice age period.
    • This has led to the formation of a large number of glacial lakes all across the Himalayas.
    • Many of these high-altitude lakes are potentially dangerous, because of their potential to cause flash floods in the event of a breach.

    How big is the threat?

    • Over the years, the frequency of formation of these lakes has increased.
    • But despite that, there are not many GLOF (glacial lake outburst flood) events happening in Uttarakhand.
    • Not as many as in Sikkim, for example. This is because Uttarakhand has very steep slopes, and the water manages to find a way out.

    What should be done?

    (a) Coherent research

    • There are a lot more glaciologists and others who are working in the area and generating data.
    • Multiple scientific groups and institutions are involved. But there is no coherent output. Lots of data are being generated but not being put to good use.
    • There has to be one agency dedicated to the job.

    (b) Monitoring

    • The first step in tackling the threat from these glacial lakes is to start monitoring them and the glaciers more actively and regularly.
    • There is a need to monitor every glacier. Glaciers in one basin do not have remarkably different properties.
    • Relying only on satellites and remote sensing is not going to be enough.
    • What is required is a consolidated state of glaciers in India, with the ability to zoom in on any of them and track the changes happening year by year.

    (c) Planning

    • Construction-related activities in the state might not have a direct link to Chamoli incident, but these are not entirely benign.
    • The Himalayas are very young mountain systems, and extremely fragile and a minor change in orientation of the rocks can be enough to trigger landslides.
    • It is important to include glaciers in any environment impact assessment for major projects such as the construction of dams.
    • The entire catchment areas should be made part of the impact assessment.

    (d) Mitigation

    • If we monitor the glaciers regularly, it would enable us to identify the lakes that need mitigation solutions.
    • Several structural and geotechnical measures can be applied, and there are successful examples where the threat from these lakes has been reduced.
    • It is possible to construct channels for the gradual and regulated discharge of water from these lakes, which will reduce the pressure on them, and minimise the chances of a breach.
    • At the same time, it also reduces the volume of water that goes into the flash flood. Also, alarm systems can be set up at the lakes that will warn the community downstream whenever an overflow happens.

    Way forward

    • It is not possible to completely prevent these kinds of incidents. But their potential to cause destruction can certainly be minimized.
    • Scientists can find a way to let the lake waters slowly drain at the nearby river at a regulated rate so that there is no flooding, and the pressure on the lake does not become unbearable.
    • Such solutions can be applied in Uttarakhand, and some work is being done.

  • Why hydel projects in the Himalayas are worrying?

    The flash flood that claimed several lives in Chamoli has caused Uttarakhand’s hydroelectric projects (HEPs) to be scrutinized closely.

    Q.How do hydropower projects pose geological and topographical threats to the ecosystem? (150W)

    Why Hydropower in Uttarakhand?

    • Uttarakhand has a tricky relationship with electricity.
    • With a landscape that’s inhospitable to thermal power grid lines and with people too poor to pay for electricity, micro and mini hydro-electric power projects were seen as the answer.
    • Between the government’s long-standing ‘power for all’ objective, and environmentalists pushing for a cleaner, renewable energy, setting up dozens of hydel power plants seemed ideal.

    Impacts of HEPs

    Limitless quarrying, deforestation, stopping the flow of rivers, and mushrooming of hydropower projects have made the Himalayas unstable.

    • Existing and under-construction hydro-power projects in Uttarakhand have led to several deleterious environmental impacts (Char Dham Committee).
    • Among the significant impacts are on the river ecosystem, forest and terrestrial biodiversity, geological environment and social infrastructure.
    • More than seven years later, some experts believe that over-exploitation of rivers and rampant damming for hydroelectric projects (HEPs) could be one of the big factors responsible for the Chamoli disaster.
    • The ‘river-bed profile’ across the major HEPs of Uttarakhand has changed significantly, suggesting the possibility of disasters in future.

    The Kedarnath floods

    • Between June 13 and 17, 2013, Uttarakhand had received an unusual amount of rainfall.
    • This led to the melting of the Chorabari glacier and the eruption of the Mandakini river.
    • The floods affected large parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Western Nepal.
    • The heavy rainfall caused massive flash floods and landslides resulting in the death of residents and tourists as well as extensive damage to property.
    • Over 5,000 people were killed in the floods

    Construction still persists

    • Neglecting all warnings of the experts, rampant construction was carried out in the sensitive zones even after the 2013 Kedarnath deluge.
    • Notably, two dozen hydropower plants of Uttarakhand were rejected by the Supreme Court after the expert panel report.

    HEPs in Uttarakhand

    The rivers and basins in the state are dotted with 43 micro hydel projects. Some of them are:

    Alarms have been raised earlier

    • The Kedarnath expert committee had warned about the excessive exploitation of vulnerable regions and the need to re-study and re-evaluate the HEPs of Uttarakhand.
    • The report also objected to HEPs at an altitude of over 2000 metres.
    • The report pointed out that the potential threat of landslide, cloudburst, subsidence, flash floods has increased tremendously in the past few years and many critical zones need immediate attention.
    • The study also mentioned that a lot of anthropogenic pressure due to different activities related to HEPs was alarming and needed checks.

  • Dickinsonia fossil discovered in Bhimbetka

    Researchers have found the first-ever fossil in India of a Dickinsonia —the Earth’s ‘oldest animal’, dating back 570 million years — on the roof of what’s called the ‘Auditorium Cave’ at Bhimbetka.

    Dickinsonia

    • Dickinsonia is an extinct genus of basal animal that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, Russia and Ukraine.
    • The individual Dickinsonia typically resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval.
    • Its affinities are presently unknown; its mode of growth is consistent with a stem-group bilaterian affinity, though some have suggested that it belongs to the fungi or even an “extinct kingdom”.
    • The discovery of cholesterol molecules in fossils of Dickinsonia lends support to the idea that Dickinsonia was an animal.

    What are the new findings?

    Like the awe-inspiring rock shelters themselves, this fossil was discovered by chance.

    • Dickinsonia fossils have shown that they could exceed four feet in length but the one found in Bhimbetka is 17 inches long.
    • Eleven feet above the ground, almost blending with the rock and easily mistaken by laymen for prehistoric rock art, they found imprints of the Dickinsonia.
    • It is believed to be one of the key links between the early, simple organisms and the explosion of life in the Cambrian Period, about 541 million years ago.

    Cambrian Explosion and Dickinsonia

    • The ‘Cambrian Explosion’ is the term given to the period of time in history when complex animals and other macroscopic organisms such as molluscs, worms, arthropods and sponges began to dominate the fossil record.
    • Researchers from Australian found the Dickinsonia fossil since its tissue contained molecules of cholesterol a type of fat that is the hallmark of animal life.

    Do you know?

    Cosmogenic nuclide dating is deployed to determine time of earliest human culture. India’s oldest stone-age tools, up to 1.5 million years old, are at a prehistoric site near Chennai.

    About Bhimbetka

    • The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans the prehistoric Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period.
    • It exhibits the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of Stone Age starting at the site in Acheulian times.
    • It is located in the Raisen District in Madhya Pradesh about 45 kilometres (28 mi) south-east of Bhopal.
    • It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that consists of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters distributed over 10 km (6.2 mi).
    • At least some of the shelters were inhabited more than 100,000 years ago.
    • Some of the Bhimbetka rock shelters feature prehistoric cave paintings and the earliest are about 10,000 years old (c. 8,000 BCE), corresponding to the Indian Mesolithic.
    • These cave paintings show themes such as animals, early evidence of dance and hunting.
    • The Bhimbetka rock shelters were found by V S Wakankar 64 years ago. Since then, thousands of researchers have visited the site, but this rare fossil went undetected.

  • Einsteinium: the mysterious element named after Albert Einstein

    The University of California has reported some of the properties of element 99 in the periodic table called “Einsteinium”, named after Albert Einstein.

    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? (CSP 2012)

    (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.

    Einsteinium

    • It was discovered in 1952 in the debris of the first hydrogen bomb (the detonation of a thermonuclear device called “Ivy Mike” in the Pacific Ocean).
    • Since its discovery, scientists have not been able to perform a lot of experiments with it because it is difficult to create and is highly radioactive.
    • Therefore, very little is known about this element.
    • With this new study published in the journal Nature last week, for the first time researchers have been able to characterize some of the properties of the element.

    The discovery of the element

    • Ivy Mike was detonated on November 1, 1952, as part of a test at a remote island location called Elugelab on the Eniwetok Atoll in the South Pacific.
    • The blast produced an explosion that was about 500 times more destructive than the explosion that occurred at Nagasaki.
    • Subsequently, the fallout material from this explosion was sent to Berkeley in California for analysis which identified over 200 atoms of the new element.

    Properties of the element

    • Einsteinium has a half-life of 20 days.
    • Because of its high radioactivity and short half-life of all einsteinium isotopes, even if the element was present on Earth during its formation, it has most certainly decayed.
    • This is the reason that it cannot be found in nature and needs to be manufactured using very precise and intense processes.
    • Therefore, so far, the element has been produced in very small quantities and its usage is limited except for the purposes of scientific research.
    • The element is also not visible to the naked eye and after it was discovered, it took over nine years to manufacture enough of it so that it could be seen with the naked eye.

  • [pib] Scheme for Management of Crop Residues

    The Scheme on ‘Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi’ has been extended for the year 2021-22.

    We can cite the example of this scheme for crop residue management as an effective solution against stubble burning.

    Management of Crop Residues

    • In pursuance this, a central sector scheme (100% funded by centre) was launched in 2018 Budget to support the efforts of the governments of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and the NCT of Delhi to address air pollution.
    • It aimed to subsidize the machinery required for in-situ management of crop residue.

    Various objectives of the scheme:

    • Protecting the environment from air pollution and preventing loss of nutrients and soil micro-organisms caused by burning of crop residue;
    • Promoting in-situ management of crop residue by retention and incorporation into the soil through the use of appropriate mechanization inputs and
    • Creating awareness among stakeholders for effective utilization and management of crop residue

    Outcomes of the scheme

    • The residue burning events in 2020 in Punjab, Haryana and UP together have reduced by -30% as compared to 2016.
    • In Punjab the reduction is -22.7%, Haryana – 63.8% and UP – 52.01%.