National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 20th March 2019

Honey as a pollution detector

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: A study published recently in Nature Sustainability , showed that the hives’ honey contained minute levels of lead,. The readings suggest that honey can be a sensitive indicator of air quality.

About Bio Indicators:

• A bio indicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment.
• For example, copepods and other small water crustaceans that are present in many water bodies can be monitored for changes (biochemical, physiological, or behavioural) that may indicate a problem within their ecosystem.
• Bioindicators can tell us about the cumulative effects of different pollutants in the ecosystem and about how long a problem may have been present, which physical and chemical testing cannot.
• A biological monitor or biomonitor is an organism that provides quantitative information on the quality of the environment around it. Therefore, a good biomonitor will indicate the presence of the pollutant and also attempt to provide additional information about the amount and intensity of the exposure.

Examples

• The presence or absence of certain plant or other vegetative life in an ecosystem can provide important clues about the health of the environment: environmental preservation. There are several types of plant biomonitors, including mosses, lichens, tree bark, bark pockets, tree rings, and leaves. Fungi too may be useful as indicators.
• Lichens are organisms comprising both fungi and algae. They are found on rocks and tree trunks, and they respond to environmental changes in forests, including changes in forest structure – conservation biology, air quality, and climate.
• The disappearance of lichens in a forest may indicate environmental stresses, such as high levels of sulfur dioxide, sulfur-based pollutants, and nitrogen oxides.
• The composition and total biomass of algal species in aquatic systems serve as an important metric for organic water pollution and nutrient loading such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
• There are genetically engineered organisms that can respond to toxicity levels in the environment; e.g., a type of genetically engineered grass that grows a different colour if there are toxins in the soil.
• Bee can be cited as an animal bio indicator.

Source: The Hindu

Tibetan Buddhism

Topic: Culture

In News: Recently Dalailama mentioned that his re incarnation (successor) will be from India.

More on the Topic:

• Tibetan Buddhism is the form of Buddhist doctrine and institutions named after the lands of Tibet, but also found in the regions surrounding the Himalayas and much of Central Asia. It derives from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism and preserves “the Tantric status quo of eighth-century India.”
• It has been spread outside of Tibet, especially due to the Mongol power of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), founded by Kublai Khan, that also ruled China.
• Tibetan Buddhism applies Tantric practices, especially deity yoga, and aspires to Buddhahood or the rainbow body.
• Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet has four major schools, namely Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug (developed out of Sakya). The Jonang is a smaller school, and the Rimé movement is an eclectic movement involving the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma
• Among the prominent proponents of Tibetan Buddhism are the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, the leaders of Gelug school in Tibet.

Source: The Hindu

Forest Rights Act

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: Since 1980, through the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) has “diverted for non-forest use” (bureaucratese for destroyed) over 1.5 million hectares of forest.

More on the topic:

• The FRA was enacted to recognise the pre-existing rights of forest-dwellers. Recognising them as “integral to the survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem,” the FRA gives their gram sabhas “the responsibilities and authority for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance.”
• A key 2009 regulation actualised gram sabha powers by mandating that all forest diversion proposals and compensatory and ameliorative schemes be presented in detail to the relevant gram sabhas to award or withhold its free, prior, informed consent, and also be preceded by the settlement of all rights under the FRA.
• This long overdue move created for the first time a space for forest communities to participate in decision-making around diversion proposals, making forest governance more accountable, ecologically informed and resource just.
• Some reports shows the fake Gram sabha reports made by authorities to divert forest land for different purposes such as mining.
• Recently MoEF tried to formalise this travesty by writing to all States that FRA compliance is not needed for ‘in-principle’ approval for diversions. Violating the FRA, this damaging move eliminates gram sabhas from decision-making, and makes diversion a violent fait accompli for forest-dwellers.
• Communities are increasingly rejecting such disempowerment, evident from protests like a 30-km march days ago by villagers in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand against the MoEF’s recent decision to divert over 2,000 acres of forest to a mine, despite gram sabha forgery complaints.
• A model of forest governance, forged on the back of usurping gram sabha powers, is servicing a ruthless resource grab. The Supreme Court should examine this sabotage of the FRA that is damaging our forests and our democracy.

About FRA:

• The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 also known as Forest Rights Act is a result of the protracted struggle by the marginal and tribal communities of our country to assert their rights over the forestland over which they were traditionally dependent.
• It seeks to undo the historical injustice committed against the forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have been living in and around the forests for centuries.
• Forest Right Act was enacted by the parliament in 2006 to recognise the claim of Tribals on forest resources and ownership on land.
• The act Grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities and makes a beginning towards giving communities and the public a voice in forest and wildlife conservation.

Source: The Hindu

Mitra shakti-VI

Topic: International Relations

In News:  Exercise MITRA SHAKTI is conducted annually as part of military diplomacy and interaction between armies of India & Sri Lanka. The joint exercise for the year 2018-19 will be conducted from 26 March to 08 April 2019 in Sri Lanka.

More On the Topic:

• The aim of the exercise is to build and promote close relations between armies of both the countries and to enhance ability of joint exercise commander to take military contingents of both nations under command.
• The exercise will involve tactical level operations in an international Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorist environment under United Nations mandate.
• Exercise MITRA SHAKTI-VI will go a long way in further cementing relationship between both the nations and will act as a catalyst in bringing synergy and cooperation at grassroots levels between both the armies.

Source:The Hindu

WhatsApp And NASSCOM Foundation Collaborate For Digital Literacy In India

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: Leading up to the 2019 General Elections, WhatsApp and NASSCOM Foundation — the social arm of the industry body, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) – have come together to impart digital literacy trainings to help tackle the challenge of misinformation.

More on the Topic:

• This partnership aims to reach approximately 100,000 Indians with trainings to spot false information and provide tips & tricks to stay safe on WhatsApp.
• The co-created curriculum encourages people to be mindful about forwarding rumors.
• The trainings will include real-world anecdotes, tools that can be used to verify a forward and actions users can take like reporting problematic content to fact checkers and Law Enforcement.
• The curriculum will be disseminated in multiple regional languages to address the diversity of India.

Source: The Hindu

SAIL’s smart Garbage bins

Topic:Science and Technology

In News: The State-owned SAIL said it has come out with smart steel garbage bins that can emit signals to the collection vehicles about the fill-up position.

More on the Topic:

• Bin will be installed at a smart garbage stations. Smart garbage stations with bins developed by SAIL will not only give a smart look but will also help to promote Clean India initiative.
• In the smart garbage stations, there will be a RCC pit in which the stainless steel bins will be placed. There will be separate bins for recyclable wastes and non-recyclable wastes.
• Since the bins will be placed under ground, the pit will be covered with a pit cover fabricated out of stainless steel slip free sheets. Suitable openings will be kept on the pit cover through which the sanitation crew can dump the collected garbage into the stainless steel bins placed underground.
• It is planned to have IoT (Internet of Things) enabled Gazelle sensors on the pit cover which will transmit the signals to the collection vehicle. The compactor will lift the bins from the underground pits and empty the garbage into the compactor vehicle.

About IoT:

• The Internet of things (IoT) refers to the concept of extending Internet connectivity beyond conventional computing platforms such as personal computers and mobile devices, and into any range of traditionally “dumb” or non-internet-enabled physical devices and everyday objects.
• Embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware (such as sensors), these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled.

Source: The Hindu

Solar Tsunami

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: Recently a group of solar physicists suggests that a “solar tsunami” is at work that triggers the new sunspot cycle, after the old one ends.

More on the Topic:

• Sun has toroidal magnetic field, from which sunspots get generated.
• Holding these fields in their place requires extra mass (plasma mass) from higher latitudes for storing a big mass of plasma a magnetic dam is formed.
• At the end of a solar cycle, this magnetic dam can break, releasing huge amounts of plasma cascading like a tsunami towards the poles.
• These tsunami waves travel at high speeds of about 1,000 km per hour carrying excess plasma to the mid-latitudes.
• There they give rise to magnetic flux eruptions and these are seen as the bright patches that signal the start of the next cycle of sunspots.

About Sunspots:

• Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the Sun’s photosphere that appear as spots darker than the surrounding areas.They are regions of reduced surface temperature caused by concentrations of magnetic field flux that inhibit convection.
• Sunspots usually appear in pairs of opposite magnetic polarity, their number varies according to the approximately 11-year solar cycle.Individual sunspots or groups of sunspots may last anywhere from a few days to a few months, but eventually decay.
• The larger variety are visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope.Similar phenomena indirectly observed on stars other than the Sun are commonly called star spots.

Source: The Hindu