Ukrainian authorities said that radiation levels had increased in the Chernobyl exclusion zone after the Russian Invasion.
What is Chernobyl Disaster?
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of Ukraine (formerly USSR).
It is considered the worst nuclear disaster in history both in cost and casualties.
It is one of only two nuclear energy accidents rated at seven—the maximum severity—on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
The other such incident was the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.
Destruction caused
Some sources state that two people were killed in the initial explosions, whereas others report that the figure was closer to 50.
Dozens more people contracted serious radiation sickness; some of them later died.
Between 50 and 185 million curies of radionuclides (radioactive forms of chemical elements) escaped into the atmosphere.
This is several times more radioactivity than that created by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
This radioactivity was spread by the wind over Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine and soon reached as far west as France and Italy.
Aviation and defence colossus Boeing delivered India’s 12th maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare P-8I aircraft.
P-8I Aircraft
It is a multi-mission aircraft with state of the art sensors, proven weapons systems, and a globally recognised platform.
The first aircraft produced by Boeing flew in 2009, and has been in service with the US Navy since 2013, the same year as the Indian Navy.
Apart from India and the US, it has been chosen by six other militaries in the world.
The aircraft has two variants — the P-8I, which is manufactured for the Indian Navy, and the P-8A Poseidon.
The aircraft is designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Naval operations
While the Indian Navy uses it for maritime operations, the aircraft was also used in eastern Ladakh in 2020 and 2021, when the standoff with China was at its peak.
The aircraft for the Indian Navy are called P-8I, and have replaced the ageing Soviet/Russian Tupolev Tu-142s.
Specifications and features
The P-8I can fly as high as 41,000 feet, and has a short transit time, which reduces the size of the Area of Probability when searching for submarines, surface vessels or search and rescue survivors.
The aircraft has two engines, and is about 40 metres long, with a wingspan of 37.64 metres.
Each aircraft weighs about 85,000 kg, and has a top speed of 490 knots, or 789 km/hour.
It requires a crew of nine, and has a range of 1,200+ nautical miles, with 4 hours on station, which means about 2,222 km.
According to Boeing, more than 140 P-8 aircraft have “executed more than 400,000 mishap-free flight-hours around the globe”.
India’s first Dugong conservation reserve will be built in Tamil Nadu for the conservation of Dugong, a marine mammal.
Dugong Conservation Reserve
The reserve will spread over an area of 500 km in Palk Bay on the southeast coast of Tamil Nadu.
Palk Bay is a semi-enclosed shallow water body with a water depth maximum of 13 meters.
Located between India and Sri Lanka along the Tamil Nadu coast, the dugong is a flagship species in the region.
Dugong: The sea cow
Dugong or the sea cow is the State animal of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
This endangered marine species survive on seagrass and other aquatic vegetation found in the area.
It is the only herbivorous mammal that is strictly marine and is the only extant species in the family Dugongidae.
Dugongs are usually about three-meter long and weigh about 400 kg.
Dugongs have an expanded head and trunk-like upper lip.
Elephants are considered to be their closest relatives. However, unlike dolphins and other cetaceans, sea cows have two nostrils and no dorsal fin.
Their habitat
Distributed in shallow tropical waters in the Indo-Pacific region, in India, they are found in the Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Dugongs are long-living animals, that have a low reproductive rate, long generation time, and high investment in each offspring.
The female dugongs do not bear their first calf until they are at least 10 and up to 17 years old.
A dugong population is unlikely to increase more than 5% per year. They take a long time to recover due to the slow breeding rate.
Causes of extinction
Having being declared vulnerable, the marine animal calls for conserving efforts.
Studies have suggested the reasons for the extinction of the animal such as slow breeding rate, fishing, and the loss of habitat.
They are also known to suffer due to accidental entanglement and drowning in gill-nets.
Conservation in India
The conservation reserve can promote growth and save vulnerable species from the verge of extinction.
Dugongs are protected in India under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Act 1972 which bans the killing and purchasing of dugong meat.
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Try answering this PYQ:
Q. With reference to ‘dugong’, a mammal found in India, which of the following statements is/are correct?
It is a herbivorous marine animal.
It is found along the entire coast of India.
It is given legal protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1974.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Did you know that the success rate for UPSC Exams is just 0.1%? Out of 10 lakh students who appear for the exam annually, only 700 make it to the final list. Hence, don’t make the mistake of delaying your UPSC 2023 preparation any further!
Write down the syllabus, open your books, stay updated to current affairs and create a timetable that can help you sail through Prelims & Mains! Sajal sir will lay out the whole process for you based on his experience of 6 UPSC interviews and successful mentorship of 400 UPSC Toppers!
Also, even after watching the entire video you are unsure of how to streamline your preparation, you can book your slot for Samanvaya free 1-on-1 mentorship program over here. Anyone who registers in 24 hours will get Free Tikdam (Art of Elimination Technique) Handbook from AIR 20, 2015 Topper Vipin Garg.
UPSC Civil Services Exam is conducted every year to induct officers into All India Services like IAS, IPS, IFS and IRS. Known for being one of the most rigorous exams in India, over ten lakh candidates vie for 700-900 vacancies every year. These challenges, however, shouldn’t deter you from cracking UPSC-CSE in 2023.
The Holy Trinity of UPSC-CSE Preparation
Before you begin your preparation for the UPSC Exam, you need to ace the Holy Trinity of clearing UPSC-CSE – hard work, strategy and guidance. Most toppers believe in putting 70% of their efforts into self-studies. They then invest 20% of their time in honing their strategy. Finally, about 10% of their preparation goes into seeking guidance from experienced UPSC mentors.
There are three qualifying stages in UPSC-CSE – Prelims, Mains and Interview. The preliminary examination is based on objective questions, the mains examination requires one to write explanatory answers, and the interview is a personality test. With the advent of digital media, you can prepare for all three stages online in an integrated manner.
Develop a deep Knowledge of the syllabus
Realize the extent of your preparation even before you start. It would help if you memorized the entire UPSC syllabus and understood the nature and scope of every sub-topic. You must also know the right books in the market for every subject and the unnecessary ones. Going through the previous year papers will give you a glimpse of the pattern of questions asked under each topic. Sometimes, aspirants are unaware of their strong and weak points. Getting timely assistance from a UPSC mentor is crucial at this point.
Creating a plan with measurable outcomes is critical for this exam. An ideal schedule will have syllabus coverage, revision, and tests for both prelims and mains on a daily basis. It’s important to set weekly and monthly targets to stay on track for an entire year. However, following a topper’s strategy blindly without understanding your pace of learning makes you disoriented in the long run. Every aspirant should have a personalized study plan by a mentor that is tailored to their learning curve. A smart strategy is experimental only at the initial stages while you try to understand your comfort zones. However, after three months or so, it needs to provide stability to your preparation.
Current Affairs is the lifeblood of UPSC preparation. However, there is so much news every day that an average aspirant struggles to keep up. To streamline current affairs preparation, you must connect news events to the topics in your books. Doing so can make it easier for aspirants to recall essential facts and score better in the exam. A mentor can give you an idea and work along with you to track the right news topics for UPSC in the initial peroiod.
Out of 9 papers in GS Mains, two of them will be based on a subject of your choice from the 48 options provided by UPSC-CSE. Before selecting an optional, narrow down the 3-4 based on your educational background. After going through the previous year question papers and the study material, consult with a mentor which could be the most scoring subject amongst the three subjects. The objective is to score above 100 marks out of 250 in your optional papers.
While studying a topic, it’s essential to know what kind of questions would appear in this section from Mains point of view. Any aspirant must practice answering questions on Mains G subjects and Essays. Not just answer-writing, but evaluation and feedback of those answers by a trusted mentor will considerably improve your marks. Getting constructive criticism at the outset will help you implement the best technique to write answers. Having your essays examined will ensure you make a habit of avoiding blunders in the exam hall.
Getting the appropriate advice may save you a lot of time and effort. Why waste time learning by trial-and-error when you can simplify the process with proper guidance through one-on-one UPSC mentorship?
Why Should You Opt for a Free 1-on-1 Mentorship from Civilsdaily Mentor to Understand UPSC than Follow Generic Advice on Youtube?
You have heard the same advice over and over again in many youtube videos by toppers and UPSC coaches — Revise every topic three times, study so-and so books for the exam and practice test series. However is it helping you much?
Jasmine Kaur also felt the same way, before she got in touch with Santosh sir. Despite revising three times and reading the same books like other toppers, she was not able to clear prelims. After Santosh sir’s mentorship, she easily cleared the exam in 2021.
It’s always better to opt for personalised mentorship than generic advice on youtube which can clash with your capacity. And here at Civilsdaily, we provide it absolutely for free!
How does Samanvaya, Free 1-on-1 Mentorship help you clear UPSC 2023 in one shot?
Our philosophy behind MENTORSHIP is to get you out of this Snooze cycle. This ensures that you are the BEST VERSION of yourself in this journey. If you are under the impression that mentorship is weekly calls you attend, then you are mistaken, my friend. Trust us, your mentor will be your ‘FRIEND, PHILOSOPHER AND GUIDE’.
TO EACH THEIR OWN – Every aspirant is different. Their strengths and weaknesses are different. Their time availability is also different. Identifying this is important so you don’t end up making unrealistic targets and lose momentum. Your mentor will make sure you start slow but remain consistent to build your confidence. Making your schedule structured based on our experience of working with 2500+ students is our first priority.
TRACK YOUR PROGRESS – When you see yourself grow, it becomes easier to motivate yourself to push boundaries. Tracking your progress can happen in many ways like mentorship calls or chat sessions or by regular tests. The idea is to ensure that you don’t go off track in your preparation, and even if you do, we have your back.
EVOLUTION – A constant guidance is important to bring consistency to your UPSC preparation. Guidance is not about clearing your doubts or asking you to study when you don’t. It is also about the evolution of your preparation. This is where you and your mentor work as a team. A constant effort to PLAN AND BUILD UP YOUR ABILITY to learn in a faster and more efficient way.RECEIVE PERSONAL GUIDANCE FOR UPSC (REGISTER HERE)
TALK IT OUT – The biggest hurdle in achieving your highest level of consistency is the emotional part. Every now and then, you. surround yourself with negative thoughts, you feel scared and depressed. Instead of resolving these emotional issues, you avoid them as it seems like a waste of your precious time. You have to understand that ignoring emotional troubles does not solve them. What your doing is building an emotional time bomb that may burst a week before your mains or prelims! This is where your MENTOR AS A FRIEND comes in. All our mentors have been through this journey. We understand your fears and anxieties. So, TALK IT OUT.
Don’t let inconsistency keep you away from your dreams.
How has Civilsdaily Mentorship, helped Aspirants become Toppers?
The most difficult challenge faced by EVERY candidate is inconsistency. Be it inconsistency in studies, answer-writing practice, covering the syllabus, or revision, every candidate finds it difficult to cope with. Buthow do successful candidates manage to FIGHT Inconsistency so consistently?
In UPSC 2020, Civilsdaily helped 80+ students secure ranks in their exams. In the top 100, every 3rd ranker was a Civilsdaily student.
A very recent success story would be Vishwa Shah, student of Civilsdaily Mentor, Sukanya Ma’am. Vishwa has cleared the GPSC exam to become the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Gujarat. He has penned a thank-you note yesterday. Heartiest Congratulations to Vishwa!
One of our other Civilsdaily Student, Shubham Nagargojecleared the exams in 2020 to become an IPS Officer. Shubham was gracious enough to let us know how he felt about Civilsdaily Samanvaya Guidance under Parth sir.
To know how all of them cleared the exam with our mentorship, visit the UnherdPodcast.https://www.youtube.com/embed/SJ88ihHyqRg?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.civilsdaily.com
Now that results are announced for UPSC 2021 Prelims, out of 15 out of 25 students of Santhosh Gupta sir have been recommended to Mains. One such student, Rahul expresses his gratitude and extends his appreciation.https://www.youtube.com/embed/JisjYSfTzaM?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.civilsdaily.com
Most of our Mentors like Sudhanshu sir, Sajal sir, Santhosh sir, Pravin sir, Parth Verma sir and Sukanya Ma’am were UPSC aspirants themselves and have attended UPSC Mains more than five times and UPSC Interview more than twice. Hence their mentorship is always a blend of the best test series, comprehensive notes and current affairs knowledge.
All of them dedicate their time weekly to give 1-on-1 mentorship to every student where they discuss last week’s performance and next week’s approach.
Be it Telegram, Whatsapp or Habitiat channels, they are always available and clear student’s doubts in a turnaround time of 24 Hours.
Why Civilsdaily Mentors are the GPS for Your UPSC-CSE Preparation
Remember there is always light at the end of the tunnel and if you want to get out of the tunnel you have to follow the direction of the light! Our mentors’ give you direction which is divided into daily modules. All you have to do is study and complete them on time.
How are Current Civilsdaily Students Gearing up for UPSC-CSE 2022?
Initially, our Civilsdaily student Smriti wasn’t confident about Prelims when she began her preparation. Though she had joined Civilsdaily in 2020, she started studying for UPSC-CSE back in 2019. At that time, Smriti had enrolled in multiple institutes. Though, most of these institutes had promised a personal mentor, she was unable to get in touch with them on a daily basis. Also those mentors never scheduled test-series on a weekly basis. Hence, despite preparing for a year, Smriti had scored only 35 marks out of 200 in her first test series by Civilsdaily.
She then started writing 20-25 test series over the course of UAP 2021 and in her last test, her scores have drastically improved. She now scores in the range of 130-135 marks in prelims’ and 110+ in mains’ papers.
In Smriti’s own words she describes her Samanvaya Mentorship Experience to be —
“Our parents provide us financial and emotional support, friends provide us moral support and the right mentor gives you logistic and logical support for UPSC. There are days when I felt I won’t be able to compete against lakhs of aspirants. That’s when my mentor, Ravi sir reminded me of my improvement and encouraged me that I can crack it with the same consistency. We need someone, who tells us we are performing well especially when we cannot see that ourselves. The mentorship at Civilsdaily helped me become mentally stronger as a person. In other institutes, mentors are allotted only for doubt resolution. But at Civilsdaily, I am getting end-to-end mentorship via value added notes, classes, test series and detailed evaluation.”
Similarly our another Civilsdaily student, Ashishsums up his Samanvaya experience with Civilsdaily mentor,Pravin Sir, “Because of Pravin sir’s support, I am able to understand a topic in lesser time.”
This is how Pravin sir evaluates Ashish’s Mains Test Series every week. After every test series evaluation, Pravin sir schedules a 1 hour call to discuss how Ashish can improve his marks and the sources he can refer for key topics.
It’s Your Turn Get the Free 40 Min Counselling Session By a CD Mentor
Civilsdaily mentors are so dedicated, consistent and focused for your UPSC goal, that you will eventually become focused into turning your dreams to reality.
At the core of Civilsdaily UPSC mentorship, lies the fact that each one of you will have a unique journey while preparing for the exam. Some will get through on the first attempt without much effort while others will take both more time and more effort.
We want to understand you better to help you optimize your journey so you can focus on the right things and not waste time on the wrong ones. We are asking you to tap into the valuable experiences of mentors who underwent the same grind and realize the pitfalls and understand the shortcuts to make it.
GS-1 Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present – significant events, personalities, issues.
GS-2 Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
GS-3 Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers
HOW TO ATTEMPT ANSWERS IN DAILY ANSWER WRITING ENHANCEMENT(AWE)?
Daily 4 questions from General studies 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be provided to you.
A Mentor’s Comment will be available for all answers. This can be used as a guidance tool but we encourage you to write original answers.
You can write your answer on an A4 sheet and scan/click pictures of the same.
Upload the scanned answer in the comment section of the same question.
Along with the scanned answer, please share your Razor payment ID, so that paid members are given priority.
If you upload the answer on the same day like the answer of 11th February is uploaded on 11th February then your answer will be checked within 72 hours. Also, reviews will be in the order of submission- First come first serve basis
If you are writing answers late, for example, 11th February is uploaded on 13th February , then these answers will be evaluated as per the mentor’s schedule.
We encourage you to write answers on the same day. However, if you are uploading an answer late then tag the mentor like @Staff so that the mentor is notified about your answer.
*In case your answer is not reviewed, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*.
The country faces the dual challenge of achieving nutrition security, as well as addressing declining land productivity, land degradation and loss of ecological services with change in land use. Not surprisingly, widespread concerns about poverty, malnutrition and the need for a second Green Revolution are being made in tandem.
Challenges for India
Macro- and micronutrient malnutrition is widespread in India.
18.7% of women and 16.2% of men are unable to access enough food to meet basic nutritional needs.
Over 32% of children below five years are still underweight as per the recently released fifth National Family Health Survey (2019-2021) phase 2 compendium.
India is ranked 101 out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index, 2021.
Although India is now self-sufficient in food grains production in the macro sense, it has about a quarter of the world’s food insecure people, a pointer to the amount of food necessary to allow all income groups to reach the caloric target (2,400 kcal in rural and 2,100 kcal in the urban set-up).
India needs to adopt ‘food systems’ for ‘sustainability’ and ‘better nutrition’
The UN Food Systems Summit called for action by governments in five areas: nourish all people; boost nature-based solutions; advance equitable livelihoods, decent work and empowered communities; build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses; and accelerate the means of implementation.
Wholistic policy approach: In the context of the intensifying economic, environmental and climate challenges and crisis, the need of the hour is a good theory of transition encompassing the spatial, social and scientific dimensions, supported by policy incentives and mechanisms for achieving a sustainable, resilient and food secure agriculture.
Agro-climatic approach: An agro-climatic approach to agricultural development is important for sustainability and better nutrition.
Potential for crop diversification: Data compiled in the agro-climatic zones reports of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the erstwhile Planning Commission of India reveal enormous potential for crop diversification and precision for enhanced crop productivity based on soil type, climate (temperature and rainfall), and captive water resources.
The focus should be on improving farmers’ competitiveness, supporting business growth in the rural economy, and incentivising farmers to improve the environment.
Review of agro-climatic zones: It is assumed that a meticulous review of agro-climatic zones could make smallholders farming a profitable business, enhancing agricultural efficiency and socio-economic development, as well as sustainability.
Strengthening and shortening food supply chains, reinforcing regional food systems, food processing, agricultural resilience and sustainability in a climate-changing world will require prioritising research and investments along these lines.
A stress status of the natural resource base — soil and water in different agro-climatic zones — will help understand the micro as well as meso-level interventions needed with regard to technologies, extension activities and policies.
Infrastructure: Lastly, infrastructure and institutions supporting producers, agri-preneurs and agri micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in their production value chain are central to the transition.
Alignment with national and State policies: This should be aligned to the national and State policy priorities such as the National Policy guidelines 2012 of the Ministry of Agriculture for the promotion of farmer producer organisations, and the National Resource Efficiency Policy of 2019 of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Conclusion
Clearly, science, society and policy have a lot to gain from an effective interface encompassing the range of actors and institutions in the food value-chain and a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, along with a greater emphasis on policy design, management and behavioural change.
Did you know that the success rate for UPSC Exams is just 0.1%? Out of 10 lakh students who appear for the exam annually, only 700 make it to the final list. Hence, don’t make the mistake of delaying your UPSC 2023 preparation any further!
Write down the syllabus, open your books, stay updated to current affairs and create a timetable that can help you sail through Prelims & Mains! Sajal sir will lay out the whole process for you based on his experience of 6 UPSC interviews and successful mentorship of 400 UPSC Toppers!
Also, even after watching the entire video you are unsure of how to streamline your preparation, you can book your slot for Samanvaya free 1-on-1 mentorship program over here. Anyone who registers in 24 hours will get Free Tikdam (Art of Elimination Technique) Handbook from AIR 20, 2015 Topper Vipin Garg.
