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  • City Finance Rankings, 2022

    The Centre launched City Finance Rankings 2022 and City Beauty Competition aimed at incentivising urban local bodies for improving cities’ public infrastructure and strengthening them on basis of key financial parameters.

    What is City Finance Rankings?

    • It aims to evaluate, recognise, and reward urban local bodies on the basis of their strength across key financial parameters.
    • City Finance Rankings aim to motivate city and state officials and decision makers, to implement municipal finance reforms.
    • The participating urban local bodies will be evaluated on 15 indicators across three key municipal finance assessment parameters like resource mobilisation, expenditure performance, and fiscal governance.
    • The cities will be ranked at the national level on the basis of their scores under any one of the following four population categories:
    1. Above 40 lakh
    2. Between 10-40 lakh
    3. 1 lakh to 10 lakh and
    4. Less than one lakh
    • The top three cities in each population category will be recognised and rewarded at the national level as well as within each state and state cluster

    About City Beauty Competition

    • Wards and public places of cities would be judged against the five broad pillars (i) accessibility (ii) amenities (iii) activities (iv) aesthetics and (v) ecology.
    • It would felicitate most beautiful wards and beautiful public places at the city level.
    • It aims to encourage and recognise the transformational efforts made by cities and wards in India to create beautiful, innovative and inclusive public spaces

     

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  • Amrit Bharat Station Scheme

    The Ministry of Railways, as part of its station redevelopment drive, has formulated Amrit Bharat Station Scheme to modernize over 1,000 small stations over the coming years.

    Amrit Bharat Station Scheme

    • Under this, stations will be equipped with facilities inspired by the mega-upgradation of marquee stations such as New Delhi and Ahmedabad, albeit at a lower cost.
    • Key features of these proposed stations include provisions for roof top plazas, longer platforms, ballast-less tracks, and 5G connectivity.
    • The scheme will subsume all previous redevelopment projects where work is yet to begin.

    Implementation strategy

    • The model envisages low-cost redevelopment of stations which can be executed timely.
    • Zonal railways have been given the responsibility of selecting stations, which will then be approved by a committee of senior railway officials.
    • Plans and consequent budgets will only be approved on the basis of factors such as footfall and inputs from stakeholders.

    Facilities Planned under this Scheme

    • Provision for Roof Plaza to be created in future
    • Free Wi-Fi, space for 5G mobile towers
    • Smooth access by widening of roads, removal of unwanted structures, properly designed signages, dedicated pedestrian pathways, well-planned parking areas, improved lighting etc.
    • High level platforms (760-840 mm) at all stations with a length of 600 metres
    • Special amenities for the disabled

     

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  • Five space exploration missions to look out for in 2023

    2023 is set to be another busy year. Here are five of the most exciting missions to watch out for.

    (1) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer

    space

    • In April, the European Space Agency (ESA) is set to launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice), in what will be Europe’s first dedicated robotic mission to Jupiter.
    • Juice is due to reach the planet in July 2031 after performing an incredible flight path through the Solar System.
    • The mission will enter into orbit around Jupiter and perform numerous flybys of its large icy moons: Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
    • After four years of moon flybys, Juice will then enter into orbit around Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System — becoming the first spacecraft ever to reach orbit around the moon of another planet.
    • The icy moons of Jupiter are interesting as they are all believed to host oceans of liquid water beneath their frozen surfaces.
    • Europa, in particular, is regarded as one of the most likely abodes in the Solar System for extra-terrestrial life.

    (2) SpaceX Starship

    space

    • Starship will be the largest spacecraft capable of carrying humans from Earth to destinations in space (the International Space Station is larger, but it was assembled in space).
    • It will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever to fly, capable of lifting 100 tonnes of cargo to low Earth orbit.
    • Starship is the collective name for a two-component system consisting of the Starship spacecraft (which carries the crew and cargo) and the Super Heavy rocket.
    • The rocket component will lift Starship to some 65km altitude before separating and returning to Earth in a controlled landing.
    • The upper Starship component will then use its own engines to push itself the rest of the way to orbit.

    (3) dearMoon Project

    space

    • The long-awaited dearMoon project, which will take members of the public on a six-day trip around the Moon and back, is due for launch on Starship and was originally planned for 2023.
    • It will be the first true deep space tourism launch.
    • This mission will mark a big change in the way we think about space, as previously only astronauts picked using incredibly stringent criteria have been able to go into deep space.
    • The success or failure of the dearMoon mission could affect whether deep space tourism becomes the next big thing, or it is relegated back to being a pipe-dream.

    (4) OSIRIS-REx returning Earth

    space

    • The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security — Regolith Explorer, mercifully more commonly known as OSIRIS-REx, is a NASA mission to near-Earth asteroid Bennu.
    • A key goal of this robotic mission was to acquire samples of Bennu and return them to Earth for analysis.
    • OSIRIS-REx is now fast returning to Earth with up to a kilogram of precious asteroid samples stored aboard.
    • If all goes well, the capsule will detach from the spacecraft, enter the Earth’s atmosphere and parachute to a soft landing in the deserts of Utah.
    • Asteroid sample return has only been achieved once before, by the Japanese Space Agency’s Hayabusa 2 mission in 2020.
    • Bennu is an approximately diamond-shaped world just half a kilometre in size, but has many interesting characteristics.
    • Some of the minerals detected within it have been altered by water, implying that Bennu’s ancient parent body possessed liquid water.
    • It also has an abundance of precious metals, including gold and platinum.
    • It is however classed as a potentially hazardous object with a (very) small possibility of Earth impact in the next century.

    (5) India’s private space launch

    • Skyroot Aerospace, which successfully launched its Vikram-S rocket in November 2022, is soon to become the first private Indian company to launch a satellite.
    • The rocket itself reached 90km in altitude, a distance that would need to be improved upon to get a constellation of satellites into orbit.
    • Skyroot’s first satellite launch is planned for 2023, with a goal of undercutting the cost of private space launch rivals by producing its 3D-printed rockets in a matter of days.
    • If successful, this could also provide a route for cheaper launches of scientific missions, enabling a faster rate of research.

    Conclusion

    • With many bold advances and launches due in 2023, we are entering a new phase akin to the “Golden era” of space launches in the 1960s and ’70s.

  • Naegleria fowleri: The Brain-eating Amoeba

    naegleria

    South Korea reported its first case of infection from Naegleria fowleri or “brain-eating amoeba”.

    What is Naegleria fowleri (Amoeba)?

    • Amoeba is a type of cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and retracting pseudopods.
    • Naegleria is an amoeba, a single-celled organism, and only one of its species, called Naegleria fowleri, can infect humans.
    • It was first discovered in Australia in 1965 and is commonly found in warm freshwater bodies, such as hot springs, rivers and lakes.
    • So far, Naegleria fowleri has been found in all continents and declared as the cause of PAM in over 16 countries, including India.

    How does it infect humans?

    • The amoeba enters the human body through the nose and then travels up to the brain.
    • This can usually happen when someone goes for a swim, or dive or even when they dip their head in a freshwater body.
    • In some cases, it was found that people got infected when they cleaned their nostrils with contaminated water/ vapour/ or aerosol droplets.
    • Once Naegleria fowleri goes to the brain, it destroys brain tissues and causes a dangerous infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

    What are the symptoms of PAM?

    • The CDC says the first signs of PAM start showing within one to 12 days after the infection.
    • In the initial stages, they might be similar to symptoms of meningitis, which are headache, nausea and fever.
    • In the later stages, one can suffer from a stiff neck, seizures, hallucinations, and even coma.
    • The infection spreads rapidly and on average causes death within about five days.

    How its spread is linked to climate change?

    • With the rising global temperatures, the chances of getting Naegleria fowleri infection will go up as the amoeba mainly thrives in warm freshwater bodies.
    • The organism best grows in high temperatures up to 46°C and sometimes can survive at even higher temperatures.
    • Various recent studies have found that excess atmospheric carbon dioxide has led to an increase in the temperature of lakes and rivers.
    • These conditions provide a more favourable environment for the amoeba to grow.

     

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  • Pralay: India’s first tactical quasi-ballistic missile

    pralay

    The Defence Ministry has decided to deploy indigenously developed surface-to-surface ‘Pralay’ ballistic missiles near India’s borders with China and Pakistan.

    What are Tactical Missiles?

    • Generally, short-range missiles are termed tactical while long-range missiles are termed strategic.
    • A missile which is used to destroy tactical targets of enemy like bunkers, mortar position, artillery position etc. is tactical missile.
    • Battlefield missiles are tactical while long-range missiles targeting bigger targets like cities are termed strategic.
    • Features of these missiles include-
    1. Versatile range: Tactical missiles fills the gap between long range rockets and short range ballistic missiles , and have range mainly about 100 to 200 kms .
    2. Very high precision and accuracy: These missiles are highly accurate, and can destroy small steady and moving targets with high accuracy.

    About ‘Pralay’ Missile

    • Pralay is a Hindi word which means “apocalypse” or “to cause great destruction” or “damage”.
    • The Pralay missile project was sanctioned in 2015 and is a derivative of the Prahaar missile programme, which was first tested in 2011.
    • Developed by the DRDO, the ‘Pralay’ ballistic missile is a canisterised tactical, surface-to-surface, and short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) for battlefield use.
    • It can hit targets from a distance of 150 to 500 km and is extremely difficult to intercept by enemy interceptor missiles.
    • Pralay is powered by a solid fuel rocket motor and is a high explosive preformed fragmentation warhead that weighs somewhere between 350 kg to 700 kg.
    • It also accounts for its Penetration-Cum-Blast (PCB) and Runaway Denial Penetration Submunitions (RDPS).

    Unique features of Pralay

    • Precise targeting: The missile is designed to destroy enemy radar, communication installations, command centres and airfields.
    • Quasi Ballistic Trajectory: It means the object takes a low curved path after being shot.
    • Stealth features: Pralay has the ability to evade any anti-ballistic missile (ABM) interceptors by performing mid-air manoeuvres by using a manoeuvrable re-entry vehicle.
    • Destruction capability: When a high-explosive warhead, like the one Pralay missile is equipped with, explodes, its pieces are thrown at a high speed which can inflict heavy damage.

    What makes Pralay lethal?

    • The Indian missile can be compared to China’s Dong Feng 12 and the Russian Iskander missile that has been used in the ongoing war with Ukraine.
    • The US Army is in the process of increasing the range of a similar short-range ballistic missile called the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).
    • What makes Pralay deadly is that it is a quasi-ballistic weapon, which means that while it has a low trajectory and is largely ballistic, it can manoeuvre in flight.
    • Unlike intercontinental ballistic missiles that exit the Earth’s atmosphere, short-range ballistic missiles stay within it.

    What lies ahead?

    • Pralay, along with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, will form the crux of India’s planned Rocket Force — a concept that was envisaged by former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the late General Bipin Rawat.
    • Only conventional missiles would come under the planned Rocket Force as and when it’s ready, while nuclear weapons would continue to be under the ambit of the Strategic Forces Command.

     

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  • In news: Ratnagiri Prehistoric Geoglyphs

    geoglyph

    Experts and conservationists have raised concerns over the proposed location for a mega oil refinery in Barsu village of Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district.

    What are geoglyphs?

    • Geoglyphs are a form of prehistoric rock art, created on the surface of laterite plateaus.
    • They are made by removing a part of the rock surface through an incision, picking, carving or abrading.
    • They can be in the form of rock paintings, etchings, cup marks and ring marks.

    Ratnagiri’s geoglyphs

    • Clusters of geoglyphs are spread across the Konkan coastline in Maharashtra and Goa, spanning around 900 km.
    • Porous laterite rock, which lends itself to such carving, is found on a large scale across the entire region.
    • Ratnagiri district has more than 1,500 pieces of such art, also called “Katal shilpa,” spread across 70 sites.
    • The figures depicted in the geoglyphs include humans and animals such as deer, elephant, tiger, monkey, wild boar, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, cattle, pig, rabbit, and monkey.
    • Moreover, they also include a high number of reptilian and amphibian creatures such as tortoises and alligators, aquatic animals such as sharks and sting rays, and birds like peacocks.

    Why are they significant?

    • Tourism potential: Ratnagiri’s prehistoric sites are among three Indian attractions that may soon become World Heritage Sites. The other two include Jingkieng Jri, the living root bridge in Meghalaya, and Sri Veerabhadra Temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Lepakshi.
    • Evolution of art: The geoglyph clusters also are examples of advanced artistic skills, showing the evolution of techniques of etching and scooping in rock art.

     

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  •  ‘PRASAD’ Scheme to create a slew of facilities at Srisailam

    President of India inaugurated ‘PRASAD’ project at the tourism facilitation centre in the pilgrim town of Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh.

    About Srisailam

    • The temple at Srisailam is the ancient and sacred place of South India.
    • The presiding deity of the place is Brahmaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy in natural stone formations in the shape of Lingam.
    • It is listed as one of the twelve Jyotirlingams existing in the country.

    Development with PRASAD scheme

    • The pilgrim town will get a pilgrim complex, amenities centres, an amphitheatre, sound and light show, digital intervention, parking areas among others.
    • There is total outlay of ₹48.03 crore under the PRASAD project.

    Back2Basics: PRASAD Scheme

    • PRASAD stands for Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive (PRASAD).
    • It is 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Tourism Ministry.
    • Provisions under the scheme include-
    1. Tourism Promotion and Tourist Ecosystem
    2. Vocational Training for Tourists and Hospitality Business
    3. Hunar se Rozgar tak (HSRT) and earn while you learn programs
    4. Improving Tourist Infrastructure

     

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  • What is a ‘Bomb Cyclone’?

    bomb

    Bomb cyclone continued to unleash havoc as the death toll due to weather-related incidents in the United States mounted to 34 and has left millions without power.

    What is Bomb Cyclone?

    • A bomb cyclone is a large, intense mid-latitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation.
    • It becomes a bomb when its central pressure decreases very quickly—by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.
    • When a cyclone “bombs,” or undergoes bombogenesis, this tells us that it has access to the optimal ingredients for strengthening, such as high amounts of heat, moisture and rising air.

    Why is it called a bomb?

    • Most cyclones don’t intensify rapidly in this way.
    • Bomb cyclones put forecasters on high alert, because they can produce significant harmful impacts.

    Its etymology

    • The word “bombogenesis” is a combination of cyclogenesis, which describes the formation of a cyclone or storm, and bomb, which is, well, pretty self-explanatory.
    • This can happen when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass, such as air over warm ocean waters.
    • The formation of this rapidly strengthening weather system is a process called bombogenesis, which creates what is known as a bomb cyclone.

    How does it occur?

    • Over the warmer ocean, heat and moisture are abundant.
    • But as cool continental air moves overhead and creates a large difference in temperature, the lower atmosphere becomes unstable and buoyant.
    • Air rises, cools and condenses, forming clouds and precipitation.

    Where does it occur the most?

    • The US coast is one of the regions where bombogenesis is most common.
    • That’s because storms in the mid-latitudes – a temperate zone north of the tropics that includes the entire continental US – draw their energy from large temperature contrasts.
    • Along the US East Coast during winter, there’s a naturally potent thermal contrast between the cool land and the warm Gulf Stream current.

     

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  • What are Orans?

    Oran Bachao Yatras are taking place in Rajasthan for the protection of orans or sacred groves facing the threat of destruction due to the land being allotted for renewable energy infrastructure and high-tension power lines.

    What are Orans?

    • Orans are Community Conserved Areas protected for their sacred values.
    • They include woodlots, pastures, orchards, sacred groves, and habitats usually centered around sources of water such as natural springs, rivulets, or artificially constructed ponds.
    • Additionally, there is usually a shrine dedicated to a local deity at the heart of an Oran.
    • Their traditional boundaries are based on landmarks or geographical milestones established by indigenous and agro-pastoral communities associated with them.
    • Orans are usually defined by a strong community-territory relationship and a well-functioning governance system.

    Reasons for the Yatra

    • Named after local deities and medieval warriors, orans hold religious and social significance as small forest patches in the middle of the mighty Thar desert.
    • Orans also form the natural habitat for India’s most critically endangered bird, the Great Indian Bustard (GIB), a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act, which is also the State bird of Rajasthan.
    • GIBs have died during the last few years because of collision with power lines, making this the most significant threat to the majestic birds.

    Back2Basics: Sacred Grooves

    • Sacred groves of India are forest fragments of varying sizes, which are communally protected, and which usually have a significant religious connotation for the protecting community.
    • It usually consists of a dense cover of vegetation including climbers, herbs, shrubs and trees, with the presence of a village deity and is mostly situated near a perennial water source.
    • Sacred groves are considered to be symbols of the primitive practice of nature worship and support nature conservation to a great extent.
    • The introduction of the protected area category community reserves under the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002 has introduced legislation for providing government protection to community-held lands, which could include sacred groves.

    Historical references

    • Indian sacred groves are often associated with temples, monasteries, shrines, pilgrimage sites, or with burial grounds.
    • Historically, sacred groves find their mentions in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, from sacred tree groves in Hinduism to sacred deer parks in Buddhism for example.
    • Sacred groves may be loosely used to refer to natural habitat protected on religious grounds.
    • Other historical references to sacred groves can be obtained in Vrukshayurveda an ancient treatise, ancient classics such as Kalidasa’s Vikramuurvashiiya.
    • There has been a growing interest in creating green patches such as Nakshatravana

    Regulation of activities in Sacred Grooves

    • Hunting and logging are usually strictly prohibited within these patches.
    • Other forms of forest usage like honey collection and deadwood collection are sometimes allowed on a sustainable basis.
    • NGOs work with local villagers to protect such groves.
    • Traditionally, and in some cases even today, members of the community take turns to protect the grove.

    Threats to such grooves

    • Threats to the groves include urbanization, and over-exploitation of resources.
    • While many of the groves are looked upon as abode of Hindu deities, in the recent past a number of them have been partially cleared for construction of shrines and temples.

    Total grooves in India

    • Around 14,000 sacred groves have been reported from all over India, which act as reservoirs of rare fauna, and more often rare flora, amid rural and even urban settings.
    • Experts believe that the total number of sacred groves could be as high as 100,000.
    • They are called by different names in different states:
    1. Sarna in Bihar
    2. Dev Van in Himachal Pradesh
    3. Devarakadu in Karnataka
    4. Kavu in Kerala
    5. Dev in Madhya Pradesh
    6. Devarahati or Devarai in Maharashtra
    7. Lai Umang in Maharashtra
    8. Law Kyntang or Asong Khosi in Meghalaya
    9. Kovil Kadu or Sarpa Kavu in Tamil Nadu

     

     

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  • What is Purse Seine Fishing?

    seine

    The Centre has told the Supreme Court that a ban imposed by certain coastal States on purse seine fishing, which is known to disadvantage endangered species, is not justified.

     Purse seine fishing

    • It uses a large vertical net to surround dense shoals of pelagic or midwater fish in the open ocean, and then draws in the edges like tightening the cords of a drawstring purse.
    • A vertical net ‘curtain’ is used to surround the school of fish, the bottom of which is then drawn together to enclose the fish, rather like tightening the cords of a drawstring purse.
    • It is deployed widely on India’s western coasts,

    What is the issue?

    • This mode of fishing is prohibited by Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Odisha, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Andaman and Nicobar Islands in their respective territorial waters of up to 12 nautical miles.
    • However, states like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, and West Bengal have not imposed any such ban on purse seine fishing.

    Why states are divided over this?

    • In some States, it is linked to concerns about the decreasing stock of small, pelagic shoaling fish such as sardines, mackerel, anchovies and trevally on the western coasts.
    • The scientific community argues that climatic conditions, including the El Nino phenomenon, are responsible for the declining catch of such fish in the last ten years.
    • Fishermen using traditional methods have placed the blame squarely on the rise of purse seine fishing.
    • They fear a further fall in the availability of these small fish if the ban is lifted.

    How does the Centre see this plan?

    • The Fisheries Department of the Union government has recommended the lifting of the ban on purse seine fishing.
    • The expert panel has said that this mode of fishing has “per se has not resulted in any serious resource depletion so far, given the available evidence”.
    • It recommended purse seiners to fish in territorial waters and the Indian Exclusive Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) subject to certain conditions.

    Way ahead

    • There should be a national management plan on purse seine fisheries.
    • Partial ban in some states may put fishermen at disadvantage in other states.

     

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