[WpProQuiz 622]
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Climate change causing a shift in Earth’s axis, finds new study
About the study
- A study is published in Geophysical Research Letters of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
- The study has added yet another impact of climate change on the earth – marked shifts in the axis along which the Earth rotates.
- It says that due to the significant melting of glaciers because of global temperature rise, our planet’s axis of rotation has been moving more than usual since the 1990s.
How the earth’s axis shifts
- The Earth’s axis of rotation is the line along which it spins around itself as it revolves around the Sun.
- The points on which the axis intersects the planet’s surface are the geographical north and south poles.
- The location of the poles is not fixed, however, as the axis moves due to changes in how the Earth’s mass is distributed around the planet.
- Thus, the poles move when the axis moves, and the movement is called “polar motion”.
- Generally, polar motion is caused by changes in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, oceans, or solid Earth.
- But now, climate change is adding to the degree with which the poles wander.
What the study says
- As per the study, the north pole has shifted in a new eastward direction since the 1990s, because of changes in the hydrosphere (meaning the way in which water is stored on Earth).
- From 1995 to 2020, the average speed of drift was 17 times faster than from 1981 to 1995.
- The faster ice melting under global warming was the most likely cause of the directional change of the polar drift in the 1990s, the study says.
- The other possible causes are terrestrial water storage change in non‐glacial regions due to climate change and unsustainable consumption of groundwater.
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G7 to consider mechanism to counter misinformation
G7 considering rapid response mechanism
- The G7 members are Britain, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan and their combined gross domestic product is about $40 trillion – a little less than half of the global economy.
- G7 will look at a proposal to build a rapid response mechanism to counter Russian propaganda and disinformation.
- Speaking ahead of a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in London British Foreign Secretary said the United Kingdom was getting the G7 to come together with a rapid rebuttal mechanism to counter Russian misinformation.
- Britain has identified Russia as the biggest threat to its security though it views China as its greatest long-term challenge, militarily, economically and technologically.
Britain to engage more in Indo-Pacific
- Britain has invited India, Australia and South Korea to attend this week’s meeting and the full leaders’ summit in June.
- There was no concrete proposal as yet about Britain joining Quad.
- Britain has been looking at ways to engage more in the Indo-Pacific.
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RBI to strengthen risk-based supervision (RBS) of banks, NBFCs
About RBS model
- The RBI uses the Risk-Based Supervision (RBS) model, including both qualitative and quantitative elements, to supervise banks, urban cooperatives banks, non-banking financial companies and all India financial institutions.
Decision to review the model
- The Reserve Bank has decided to review and strengthen the Risk-Based Supervision (RBS) of the banking sector with a view to enable financial sector players to address the emerging challenges.
- The review process will help make the extant RBS model more robust and capable of addressing emerging challenges, while removing inconsistencies if any.
- Annual financial inspection of UCBs and NBFCs is largely based on CAMELS model (Capital Adequacy, Asset Quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity, and Systems & Control).
- It is intended to review the existing supervisory rating models under CAMELS approach for improved risk capture in a forward-looking manner and for harmonising the supervisory approach across all Supervised Entities.
Source:
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/banking-finance/rbi-to-strengthen-risk-based-supervision-of-banks-nbfcs/2244259/
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Melting of Glaciers
Glaciers shrinking faster than before
- A new study by ETH Zurich and University of Toulouse researchers finds that the world’s glaciers are shrinking at a faster rate than before.
- If the trend continues this will put the densely-populated parts of Asia at risk of flood and water shortages.
- The study found the world’s ice fields lost 298 gigatons of ice per year from 2015 to 2019, a 30% increase in the rate of retreat compared with the previous five years.
- Glaciers in Alaska, the Alps and Iceland are among those disappearing at the fastest pace.
- The scientists used images from a special camera aboard NASA’s Terra satellite, which has circled the Earth every 100 minutes since its launch in 1999.
Impact
- The situation in the Himalayas is particularly worrying.
- Swathes of India and Bangladesh could face water stress during dry periods when major rivers like the Ganges and Indus are mainly fed by glacial runoff.
- Glaciers typically accumulate ice in the winter, but a warming climate means summer melting has outstripped those gains and caused a net loss of ice in mountain regions.
- The melting in turn contributes to global warming and indirectly accelerates sea level rise, raising the risk of flooding faced by coastal communities.
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Judicial federalism
The article discusses the idea of judicial federalism and autonomy of the High Courts.
Issue of transfer of cases from High Courts to Supreme Court
- Under Article 139A of the Constitution, the Supreme Court does have the power to transfer cases from the High Courts to itself if cases involve the same questions of law.
- In Parmanand Katara v. Union of India (1989), the Supreme Court underlined that the right to emergency medical treatment is part of the citizen’s fundamental rights.
- As such, constitutional courts owe a duty to protect this right.
- In the face of a de facto COVID-19 health emergency, the High Courts of Delhi, Gujarat, Madras and Bombay, among others, have done exactly that.
- These High Courts among others have directed the state governments on various issues related to COVID-19 health emergency.
- However, Supreme Court issued an order asking the State governments and the Union Territories to “show cause why uniform orders” should not be passed by the Supreme Court.
- Therefore, the Supreme Court indicated the possibility of the transfer of cases to itself.
Issues with the SC’s move
- According to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, public health and hospitals come under the State List as Item No. 6.
- There could be related subjects coming under the Union List or Concurrent List.
- Also, there may be areas of inter-State conflicts.
- But as of now, the respective High Courts have been dealing with specific challenges at the regional level, the resolution of which does not warrant the top court’s interference.
- In addition to the geographical reasons, the constitutional scheme of the Indian judiciary is pertinent.
- In L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997), the Supreme Court itself said that the High Courts are “institutions endowed with glorious judicial traditions” since they “had been in existence since the 19th century”.
- Even otherwise, in a way, the power of the High Court under Article 226 is wider than the Supreme Court’s under Article 32.
- This position was reiterated by the court soon after its inception in State of Orissa v. Madan Gopal Rungta (1951).
- Judicial federalism has intrinsic and instrumental benefits which are essentially political.
- The United States is an illustrative case.
- The U.S. Supreme Court reviews “only a relative handful of cases from state courts” which ensures “a large measure of autonomy in the application of federal law” for the State courts.
- The need for a uniform judicial order across India is warranted only when it is unavoidable — for example, in cases of an apparent conflict of laws or judgments on legal interpretation.
- Otherwise, autonomy, not uniformity, is the rule.
- Decentralisation, not centrism, is the principle.
Consider the question “Under Article 139A of the Constitution, the Supreme Court does have the power to transfer cases from the High Courts to itself if cases involve the same questions of law. However, transferring such cases should not impinge on judicial federalism. Comment.”
Conclusion
In the COVID-19-related cases, High Courts across the country have acted with an immense sense of judicial responsibility. This is a legal landscape that deserves to be encouraged. To do this, the Supreme Court must simply stay away.
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Rare white-bellied heron spotted in Arunachal Pradesh
About the bird
- The white-bellied heron is categorised as ‘critically endangered’ in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red Data Book.
- It is listed in Schedule IV in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
- It is one of the rarest birds in the world and is found only in Bhutan, Myanmar and the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh.
- It had also been recorded in the adjacent Kamlang Tiger Reserve in Lohit district in camera trap images.
Significance of recent sighting
- The recent sighting at a height of 1,200 metres above sea level is a first at such a higher elevation in India.
- The presence of nesting sites within this area is a positive sign for the future habitat as the breeding season of the white-bellied heron starts in February and lasts till June.
- It is great news that the critically endangered bird is establishing new habitat beyond its traditional range.