Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Construction of dams Brahmaputra river by China
Scarcity of water in India and China
- As India and China continue to grow demographically as well as economically amid increased consumption among its citizenry, both nations face water constraints.
- China, which is home to close to 20 per cent of the world’s population, has only 7 per cent of its water resources.
- Severe pollution of its surface and groundwater caused by rapid industrialisation is a source of concern for Chinese planners.
- China’s southern regions are water-rich in comparison to the water-stressed northern part.
- The southern region is a major food producer and has significant industrial capacity as a consequence of more people living there.
- India is severely water-stressed as well.
- Similar to China, India has 17 per cent of the world’s population and 4 per cent of water.
- As in China, an equally ambitious north-south river-linking project has been proposed in India.
Impact on downstream states
- The construction of several dams along the Yarlung (Brahmaputra) river on the Chinese side has been a repeated cause for concern for Indian officials and the local people.
- China has an ambitious plan to link its south and north through canals, aqueducts and linking of major rivers to ensure water security.
- In pursuit of these goals, China, being an upper riparian state in Asia, has been blocking rivers like the Mekong and its tributaries, affecting Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
- It has caused immense damage to the environment and altered river flows in the region.
- China sees these projects as a continuation of their historic tributary system as the smaller states have no means of effectively resisting or even significant leverage in negotiations.
Challenges for India
- There are now multiple operational dams in the Yarlung Tsangpo basin with more dams commissioned and under construction. These constructions present a unique challenge for Indian planners.
- 1) Dams will eventually lead to degradation of the entire basin:
- Silt carried by the river would get blocked by dams leading to a fall in the quality of soil and eventual reduction in agricultural productivity.
- 2) The Brahmaputra basin is one of the world’s most ecologically sensitive zones.
- It is identified as one of the world’s 34 biological hotspots.
- This region sees several species of flora and fauna that are endemic to only this part of the world.
- The river itself is home to the Gangetic river dolphin, which is listed as critically endangered.
- 3) The location of the dams in the Himalayas pose a risk.
- Seismologists consider the Himalayas as most vulnerable to earthquakes and seismic activity.
- The sheer size of the infrastructure projects undertaken by China, and increasingly by India, poses a significant threat to the populations living downstream.
- Close to a million people live in the Brahmaputra basin in India and tens of millions further downstream in Bangladesh.
- 4) Damming Brahmaputra would result in water security in an era of unprecedented shifting climate patterns.
- This security extends beyond water, as there is the potential to significantly change the flow rate during times of standoffs and high tensions.
Way forward
- Both sides must cease new constructions on the river and commit to potentially less destructive solutions.
- Building a decentralised network of check dams, rain-capturing lakes and using traditional means of water capture have shown effective results in restoring the ecological balance while supporting the populations of the regions in a sustainable manner.
Conclusion
There are alternate solutions to solving the water crisis. It is in the interest of all stakeholders to neutralise this ticking water bomb.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ground level pollution and its impact on agriculture
Mains level: Paper 3- Interplay between agri-subsidies and pollution
Agriculture’s contribution to air pollution
- Agriculture’s contribution to air pollution runs deeper than what happens between crop seasons.
- The Indo-Gangetic plain is also one of the world’s largest and rapidly-growing ammonia hotspots.
- Atmospheric ammonia, which comes from fertiliser use, animal husbandry, and other agricultural practices, combines with emissions from power plants, transportation and other fossil-fuel burning to form fine particles.
Impact of pollution on agriculture
- It is important to note that agriculture is a victim of pollution as well as its perpetrator.
- Particulate matter and ground-level ozone formed from industrial, power plant, and transportation emissions among other ingredients cause double-digit losses in crop yields.
- Ozone damages plant cells, handicapping photosynthesis, while particulate matter dims the sunlight that reaches crops.
- Agriculture scientist Tony Fischer’s 2019 estimates of the two pollutants’ combined effect suggest that as much as 30 per cent of India’s wheat yield is missing (Sage Journals, Outlook on Agriculture).
- Earlier, B Sinha et al (2015), in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, found that high ozone levels in parts of Haryana and Punjab could diminish rice yields by a quarter and cotton by half.
Role played by subsidies
- The current system of subsidies is a big reason that there is stubble on these fields in the first place.
- Free power — and consequently, “free” water, pumped from the ground — is a big part of what makes growing rice in these areas attractive.
- Open-ended procurement of paddy, despite the bulging stocks of grains with the Food Corporation of India, adds to the incentives.
- Subsidies account for almost 15 per cent of the value of rice being produced in Punjab-Haryana belt.
- Fertiliser, particularly urea in granular form, is highly subsidised.
- It is one of the cheapest forms of nitrogen-based fertiliser, easy to store and easy to transport, but it is also one of the first to “volatilise,” or release ammonia into the air.
- This loss of nitrogen then leads to a cycle of more and more fertiliser being applied to get the intended benefits for crops.
Way forward
- We need to shift the nature of support to farmers from input subsidies to investment subsidies.
- This could involve the conversion of paddy areas in this belt to orchards with drip irrigation, vegetables, corn, cotton, pulses and oilseeds.
- All of the above consume much less water, much less power and fertilisers and don’t create stubble to burn.
- A diversification package of, say, Rs 10,000 crore spread over the next five years, equally contributed by the Centre and states, may be the best way to move forward in reducing agriculture-related pollution.
- The approach to diversification has to be demand-led, with a holistic framework of the value chain, from farm to fork and not just focused on production.
- On the fertiliser front, it would be better to give farmers input subsidy in cash on per hectare basis, and free up the prices of fertilisers completely.
Conclusion
Taken together, these measures could double farmers’ incomes, promote efficiency in resource use, and reduce pollution — a win-win solution for all.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Deep Ocean Mission
Mains level: India's deep ocean mission
India will soon launch an ambitious ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ that envisages exploration of minerals, energy and marine diversity of the underwater world, a vast part of which still remains unexplored.
Deep Ocean Mission (DOM)
Nodal Agency: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
- The mission proposes to explore the deep ocean similar to the space exploration started by ISRO.
- Underwater robotics and ‘manned’ submersibles are key components of the Mission which will help India harness various living and non-living (water, mineral and energy) resources from the seabed and deep water.
- The tasks that will be undertaken over this period include deep-sea mining, survey, energy exploration and the offshore-based desalination.
- These technological developments are funded under an umbrella scheme of the government – called Ocean Services, Technology, Observations, Resources Modelling and Science (O-SMART).
Mining PMN
- One of the main aims of the mission is to explore and extract polymetallic nodules (PMN).
- These are small potato-like rounded accretions composed of minerals such as manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper and iron hydroxide.
- They lie scattered on the Indian Ocean floor at depths of about 6,000 m and the size can vary from a few millimetres to centimetres.
- These metals can be extracted and used in electronic devices, smartphones, batteries and even for solar panels.
Where will the team mine?
- The International Seabed Authority (ISA), an autonomous international organisation established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, allots the ‘area’ for deep-sea mining.
- India was the first country to receive the status of a ‘Pioneer Investor ‘ in 1987 and was given an area of about 1.5 lakh sq km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) for nodule exploration.
- In 2002, India signed a contract with the ISA and after complete resource analysis of the seabed 50% was surrendered and the country retained an area of 75,000 sq km.
Which are the other countries that are in the race to mine the deep sea?
- Apart from the CIOB, polymetallic nodules have been identified from the central Pacific Ocean. It is known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.
- According to the ISA’s website, it has entered into 15-year contracts for exploration for polymetallic nodules, polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts in the deep seabed with 29 contractors.
- Later it was extended for five more years till 2022.
- China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Russia and also some small islands such as the Cook Islands, Kiribati have joined the race for deep-sea mining.
- Most of the countries have tested their technologies in shallow waters and are yet to start deep-sea extraction.
India’s preparedness
- India’s mining site is at about a depth of 5,500 metres, where there is a high pressure and extremely low temperature.
- We have also deployed Remotely Operated Vehicle and In-situ Soil Tester in the depth of 6,000 metres and have a thorough understanding of the mining area at the Central Indian Ocean Basin.
- The mining machine newly developed for 6000 metres depth was able to move about 900 metres and will be deployed soon at 5,500 metres.
- Weather conditions and the availability of ships also play a role.
- More tests are being conducted to understand how to bring the nodules up to the surface. A riser system comprising an umbilical cable or electromechanical cable and a hose is being developed.
What will be the environmental impact?
- According to the IUCN, these deep remote locations can be home to unique species that have adapted themselves to conditions such as poor oxygen and sunlight, high pressure and extremely low temperatures.
- Such mining expeditions can make them go extinct even before they are known to science.
- The deep sea’s biodiversity and ecology remain poorly understood, making it difficult to assess the environmental impact and frame adequate guidelines.
- Though strict guidelines have been framed, they are only exploration guidelines. A new set of exploitation guidelines are being worked out and discussions are on with the ISA.
- Environmentalists are also worried about the sediment plumes that will be generated as the suspended particles can rise to the surface harming the filter feeders in the upper ocean layers.
- Additional concerns have been raised about the noise and light pollution from the mining vehicles and oil spills from the operating vessels.
Is deep-sea mining economically viable?
- The latest estimate from the ISA says it will be commercially viable only if about three million tonnes are mined per year.
- More studies are being carried out to understand how the technology can be scaled up and used efficiently.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bru Tribals
Mains level: Bru-Reang Repatriation Agreement
People erupted in violent protests against the planned resettlement of thousands of Bru migrants permanently at Kanchanpur sub-division of North Tripura.
Try this PYQ:
Q. With reference to ‘Changpa’ community of India, consider the following statement:
- They live mainly in the State of Uttarakhand.
- They rear the Pashmina goats that yield fine wool.
- They are kept in the category of Scheduled Tribes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2014)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Who are the Brus?
- Reangs or Brus are the second largest ethnic group in Mizoram.
- Their exodus in 1997 was spurred by violent clashes in Mamith subdivision, a Reang-dominated area when they demanded the creation of an autonomous council that was vehemently opposed by Mizo groups.
- Around 34,000 people were forced to live in sub-human conditions in tents in Tripura. No solution could be reached all these years.
- These people were housed in temporary camps at Kanchanpur, in North Tripura.
Why have there been violent protests?
- Twenty-three years after ethnic clashes in Mizoram forced 37,000 people of the Bru (or Reang) community to flee their homes to neighbouring Tripura.
- The news was not welcomed by the Bengali and Mizo communities in Tripura.
- They fear a demographic imbalance, which would exert pressure on local resources and potentially lead to law and order problems.
Also read
[Burning Issue] Bru– Reang Repatriation Agreement
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chandigarh
Mains level: Interstate boundary disputes in India
Earlier this month, Haryana Dy. CM said it would be better if both Haryana and Punjab agreed on Chandigarh as a Union Territory and make their independent capitals and Benches of High Courts.
Try answering this
Q.The linguistic re-organization of Indian states in the post-Independence period has prevented its balkanization, unlike our neighbourhood. Comment.
Why was Chandigarh created?
- Chandigarh was planned to replace Lahore, the capital of erstwhile Punjab, which became part of Pakistan during the Partition.
- In March 1948, the Government of (India’s) Punjab, in consultation with the Centre, approved the area of the foothills of the Shivaliks as the site for the new capital.
- From 1952 to 1966 (till Haryana was carved out of Punjab), Chandigarh remained the capital of Punjab.
How did it become a shared capital?
- At the time of reorganization of Punjab in 1966, the city assumed the unique distinction of being the capital of both Punjab and Haryana.
- Even as it was declared a union territory and was placed under the direct control of the Centre.
- The properties in Chandigarh were to be divided into 60:40 ratio in favour of Punjab.
Punjab’s claim
- The-then PM Indira Gandhi had announced that Haryana, in due course, would have its own capital and Chandigarh would go to Punjab.
- As per documents submitted in the Lok Sabha, the Centre had even issued a formal communication is this regard on January 29, 1970, almost three years after Haryana came into being.
- Again, in 1985, under the Rajiv-Longowal accord, Chandigarh was to be handed over to Punjab on January 26, 1986, but the Rajiv Gandhi government withdrew at the last minute.
Haryana’s counter-claim
- As per the 1970 documents, the Centre had considered various alternatives for settling the matter, including dividing the city.
- But that wasn’t feasible since Chandigarh was built as a planned city to serve as the capital of one state.
- Haryana was told to use the office and residential accommodation in Chandigarh only for five years till it shifts to its own new capital.
- The Centre had offered Rs 10 crore grant to Haryana and an equal amount of loan for setting up the new capital.
- In 2018, Haryana CM suggested setting up a special body for the development of Chandigarh, but the Punjab CM rejected it, saying the city “indisputably belonged to Punjab”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bioluminescence
Mains level: Eastern Himalayas and its biodiversity
A mushroom documentation project in the forests of Northeast India has discovered a bioluminescent — or light-emitting — variety of mushroom.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Lichens, which are capable of initiating ecological succession even on a bare rock, are actually a symbiotic association of:
(a) Algae and bacteria
(b) Algae and fungi
(c) Bacteria and fungi
(d) Fungi and mosses
Roridomyces phyllostachydis
- The new species was first sighted near a stream in Meghalaya’s Mawlynnong in East Khasi Hills district and later at Krang Shuri in West Jaintia Hills district.
- It is now one among the 97 known species of bioluminescent fungi in the world.
Bioluminescence in fungi
- Bioluminescence is the property of a living organism to produce and emit light.
- Bioluminescent organisms are usually found in ocean environments, but they are also found in terrestrial environments.
- The colour of the light emitted by the organism depends on its chemical properties.
- In the case of fungi, the luminescence comes from the enzyme, luciferase.
- The green light emits when luciferans is catalysed by the enzyme luciferase, in the presence of oxygen.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sentinel 6
Mains level: Sea level rise and climate change
The Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, designed to monitor oceans, was launched from the in California.
Try this MCQ:
The Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) Mission recently seen in news is aimed at observing:
(a)Microgravity changes
(b)Sea level rise
(c)Cosmic radiation
(d)Space debris
Sentinel-6 Satellite
- This is a part of the next mission dedicated to measuring changes in the global sea level.
- It has been named after Dr Michael Freilich, who was the Director of NASA’s Earth Science Division from 2006-2019 and passed away in August this year.
What is the mission?
- The mission, called the Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) mission, is designed to measure the height of the ocean, which is a key component in understanding how the Earth’s climate is changing.
- The spacecraft consists of two satellites, the other, called Sentinel-6B, to be launched in 2025.
- It has been developed jointly by the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, and France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES).
What will the satellite do?
- The satellite will ensure the continuity of sea-level observations into the fourth decade and will provide measurements of global sea-level rise.
- Since 1992, high-precision satellite altimeters have helped scientists understand how the ocean stores and distributes heat, water and carbon in the climate system.
- Essentially, the satellite will send pulses to the Earth’s surface and measure how long they take to return to it, which will help scientists measure the sea surface height.
- It will also measure water vapour along this path and find its position using GPS and ground-based lasers.
Significance of the mission
- As per NASA, it is possible to observe the height of the oceans on a global scale and monitor critical changes in ocean currents and heat storage only from space.
- Data from satellites such as Sentinel-6 help scientists foresee the effects of the changing oceans on the climate.
- Further, in order to measure and track changes in the oceanic heat budget, scientists need to know the ocean currents and heat storage of the oceans, which can be determined from the height of the sea surface.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise SITMEX
Mains level: NA
The second edition of the India, Thailand and Singapore trilateral naval exercise SITMEX-20 has concluded in the Andaman Sea.
Exercise SITMEX-20
- The SITMEX series of exercises are conducted to enhance mutual inter-operability and imbibing best practices between IN, Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN).
- The first edition of SITMEX, hosted by Indian Navy, was conducted off Port Blair in September 2019.
- The 2020 edition of the exercise is being hosted by RSN.
- The maritime drill witnessed a variety of exercises including naval manoeuvres, surface warfare exercises and weapon firings.
- Besides improving inter-operability, SITMEX series of exercise also aims to strengthen mutual confidence and develop common understanding and procedures towards enhancing the overall maritime security in the region.
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