Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Farmers agitation and the South Asia connection
With protests becoming catalysts for anti-authoritarian struggle, the air is ripe for new visions of rural emancipation
Recent policy changes and its impacts on agriculture
- There has been a systematic attack on agriculture in South Asia over the last decades. This can be seen in ongoing protests in India.
- Similar incidences of protests can be seen in Pakistan, where farmers protesting for support prices were beaten up and arrested in Lahore only a month ago, or Sri Lanka, where shortages of imported fertilizers and declining subsidies have led to farmers’ outcry.
- In the middle of a long-simmering rural economic crisis pushed over the cliff by the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts by South Asian governments to project corporatization and deregulation as the way forward for agriculture have angered long-suffering farmers.
- Successive governments have imposed a corporate agenda, seeking profits from food production and distribution by relaxing norms for cheap food imports, and encouraging export-oriented production, price speculation, agribusiness and retail supermarkets.
- South Asia’s rural landscape has been profoundly reshaped by such ‘reforms’, dispossessing farmers of their land, and pushing them into wage labour and migration as coping mechanisms.
- This hollowing out of rural livelihoods does not come with any assurance of stable jobs or a decent quality of life in urban areas.
Pandemic opportunism
- The COVID-19 crisis has increased such efforts and policy changes.
- India is not the only country to have attempted to seize this moment to deregulate agricultural markets. In Pakistan, the government inked an agreement with the World Bank to further deregulate the country’s wheat market.
- In Sri Lanka, with the national budget just passed for 2021, there are only meagre allocations towards revitalizing agricultural livelihoods and policies focused on supporting technologies suitable for agribusinesses.
- Instead of the current crisis sending governments back to the drawing board, South Asia’s authoritarian regimes, complicit with corporate interests, are railroading in anti-farmer agricultural policies.
Practice Question: Do you think there is a common ground between farmers protests in various South Asian countries. Discuss with proper examples.
Menace of the corporatization of Agriculture
- Corporate agriculture further worsens the existential danger faced by South Asian farmers.
- The corporate solutions do not address the role of middlemen and traders in denying farmers a fair price for their labour.
- Instead, opening up markets to large corporations is likely to spark the same sort of race to the bottom that has been seen in the industrial and service sectors.
- Deregulation makes farmers’ livelihoods even more precarious and threatens food sovereignty through increased dependence on global agricultural trade.
- It was the collapse of global agricultural commodity prices in the 1970s that had a large role to play in the debt crisis that haunts countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Reviving resistance
- There is a powerful legacy of rural movements in South Asia that have fought for the rights of farmers, peasants and agricultural workers.
- Rural movements played a crucial role in the anti-colonial struggle and fought for progressive land and agrarian reform after independence.
- Seventy years on, they continue to fight against the recent waves of anti-farmer policies, while advancing new progressive visions such as peasant agro-ecology and food sovereignty, which put small food producers and the environment at the centre.
- The current convergence of authoritarianism and corporate capital brings this existential crisis for rural agricultural producers even more sharply in focus.
- Farmers’ movements have been aware of state connivance with exploitative actors, but they must now also contend with a breakdown of the democratic process and increased repression.
- These should be ominous signs for regimes across South Asia which continue to act with impunity in the face of demands for economic and social justice.
Voices of movements
- The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed food sovereignty back into the public imagination. The solution, of course, only begins with making farming a viable livelihood.
- Dominant assumptions about inevitable rural-urban migration and techno-utopian transformation in agriculture must be challenged.
- Questions of land redistribution and other rural inequalities must remain a crucial part of the political agenda.
- The situation of mostly female agricultural workers, the rural landless and Dalits in South Asia remains precarious. Even as rural movements across South Asia fight the ongoing attack on their livelihoods, they must also tackle rural inequality head-on.
Conclusion
- The air is ripe for new visions of rural emancipation in South Asia.
- Rural movements are working to transform not just their world but are becoming catalysts for a broader anti-authoritarian struggle in South Asia.
- The current phase of struggles has revived old questions while raising others about the future of our long-ignored rural world.
- We must listen to the voices and demands of the rural movements converging across South Asia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sushrut Samhita
Mains level: Debate over mixopathy
This conundrum of different standards for surgical training must be solved because patient safety is far more important than the career progression of Ayurvedic postgraduates.
Practice Question: There is a need to rethink on the recent notification of AYUSH Ministry allowing Ayurveda postgraduates to conduct surgeries keeping the safety of the patient at the centre. Discuss.
The current clash
- The clash between the allopathic and AYUSH fraternities is about the AYUSH practitioners’ “right” to conduct surgeries.
- The Ayurvedic fraternity maintains postgraduates in Shalya and Shalakya (two surgical streams among 14 post-graduate courses) are taught procedures listed in the curriculum.
- The oldest-known surgical specialist was, in fact, an Ayurvedic surgeon/sage Sushrut (600 BC) who wrote the Sushrut Samhita — a profound exposition on conducting human surgery which continues to receive worldwide acclaim.
- Surgery was practised by Ayurvedic surgeons long before the advent of western medicine.
- Allopaths question the logic of Sushrut’s millennia-old pre-eminence bestowing the right to practise modern surgery. Ayurvedic surgeons may not know the hidden risks of every surgical procedure and how to surmount sudden mishaps.
- The Ministry of AYUSH justifies its notification on the ground that not all vaidyas but only postgraduates qualifying from two surgical streams have been authorized to perform selected surgeries.
The contentious issue
- The moot point is about who decides whether Ayurvedic surgeons possess sufficient proficiency to conduct these surgeries safely and by what standard their skills are judged.
- Surgical proficiency cannot be judged by different standards in one country — particularly when less-educated patients would rather save money than question a surgeon’s qualifications.
- The statutory regulatory body for AYUSH education is the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM). CCIM has only promoted what private college managements demand, propelled, in turn, by students’ need to earn a stable income as medical professionals.
- In this misplaced zeal to give better earnings to the Ayurvedic vaidyas, CCIM has sidelined many skills that Ayurveda could have included, which are relevant even today.
- This has subjugated the curriculum to nurture more and more replicas of doctors of modern medicine.
- This has killed the knowledge, purity and goodness of classical Ayurveda, which ironically is the Ayurveda in high demand in Europe, Russia and America.
Nothing can replace practise and training to perform surgery
- When it comes to surgery, it is not knowledge but rigorous training and continuous practice which makes for perfection. Both require clinical material and most Ayurvedic hospitals do not have a fraction of the surgical patients found in allopathic general hospitals.
- Allopathic students of surgery learn first by watching and then performing scores of surgeries under supervision.
- Surgical skills are by no means impossible to learn but they become difficult to master without continuous training and supervision.
- Due to the paucity of patients, limited scope for training and access to gaining hands-on practice, it is hazardous to allow all Shalya and Shalakya postgraduates to undertake surgical procedures.
- In the last three decades, specialization has excluded general surgeons from performing what was once considered routine. For example, only an ENT surgeon can perform a tonsillectomy.
- Therefore, to notify that Ayurvedic postgraduates in surgery can perform omnibus operations runs counter to the norm in India and in other countries.
Way forward
- In performing surgery, the only benchmark should be the duration of hands-on training received — counted by surgeries under supervision, and being judged through external evaluation.
- Every surgeon’s skills and competence must be tested by applying exactly the same standards before she/he can operate.
- This conundrum of different standards for surgical training must be solved because patient safety is far more important than the career progression of Ayurvedic postgraduates.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NFHS
Mains level: Various facets of hunger and malnutrition in India
Poor nutritional outcomes in NFHS-5 show that a piecemeal approach does not work.
Nutrition-related data released by NFHS-5
- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released data fact sheets for 22 States and Union Territories (UTs) based on the findings of Phase I of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5).
- The 22 States/ UTs don’t include some major States such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.
Practice Question: The latest findings from the National Family Health Survey data shows a sign of worry. Suggest the policy measures required to tackle the health and nutrition-related issues in India.
Worrying findings
- There is an increase in the prevalence of severe acute malnutrition in 16 States/UTs (compared to NFHS-4 conducted in 2015-16). Kerala and Karnataka are the only two big states where there is some decline.
- The percentage of children under five who are underweight has also increased in 16 out of the 22 States/UTs.
- Anaemia levels among children as well as adult women have increased in most of the States with a decline in anaemia among children being seen only in four States/UTs.
- There is also an increase in the prevalence of other indicators such as adult malnutrition in many States/ UTs.
- Most States/UTs also see an increase in overweight/obesity prevalence among children and adults shows the inadequacy of diets in India both in terms of quality and quantity.
- The data report an increase in childhood stunting (an indicator of chronic under-nutrition and considered a sensitive indicator of overall well-being) in 13 of the 22 States/UTs.
- Poshan Abhiyaan, one of the flagship programmes of the PM, launched in 2017, aimed at achieving a 2% reduction in childhood stunting per year.
Economic growth vs health indicators
- There is an increase in the prevalence of childhood stunting in the country during the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.
- This calls for serious introspection on not just the direct programmes in place to address the problem of child malnutrition but also the overall model of economic growth that the country has embarked upon.
- The World Health Organization calls stunting “a marker of inequalities in human development”.
- Over the last three decades, India has experienced high rates of economic growth. But this period has also seen increasing inequality, greater informalisation of the labour force, and reducing employment elasticities of growth.
- Currently, India is witnessing a slowdown in economic growth, stagnant rural wages and highest levels of unemployment. This is reflected in the rising number of reported starvation deaths from different parts of the country.
- The situation has become even worse due to the pandemic and lockdown-induced economic distress.
- Field surveys such as the recent ‘Hunger Watch’ are already showing massive levels of food insecurity and decline in food consumption, especially among the poor and vulnerable households.
- All of this calls for urgent action with commitment towards addressing the issue of malnutrition.
Social protection schemes and their impact on nutrition indicators
- Social protection schemes and public programmes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Public Distribution System, the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), and school meals have contributed to a reduction in absolute poverty as well as previous improvements in nutrition indicators.
- However, there are continuous attempts to weaken these mechanisms through underfunding and general neglect.
- Only about 32.5% of the funds released for Poshan Abhiyaan from 2017-18 onwards had been utilized.
- There are some improvements seen in determinants of malnutrition such as access to sanitation, clean cooking fuels and women’s status – a reduction in spousal violence and greater access of women to bank accounts.
A piecemeal approach
- The overall poor nutritional outcomes show that a piecemeal approach addressing some aspects does not work.
- Direct interventions such as supplementary nutrition (of good quality including eggs, fruits, etc.), growth monitoring, and behaviour change communication through the ICDS and school meals must be strengthened and given more resources.
- Universal maternity entitlements and child care services to enable exclusive breastfeeding, appropriate infant and young child feeding as well as towards recognizing women’s unpaid work burdens have been on the agenda for long, but not much progress has been made on these.
- The linkages between agriculture and nutrition both through what foods are produced and available as well as what kinds of livelihoods are generated in farming are also important.
Conclusion
- The basic determinants of malnutrition – household food security, access to basic health services and equitable gender relations – cannot be ignored any longer.
- An employment-centred growth strategy which includes the universal provision of basic services for education, health, food and social security is imperative.
- There have been many indications in our country that business as usual is not sustainable anymore.
- It is hoped that the experience of the pandemic, as well as the results of NFHS-5, serve as a wake-up call for a serious rethinking of issues related to nutrition and accord these issues priority.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Delimitation Commission
Mains level: Delimitation of constituencies
A paper released by the Pranab Mukherjee Foundation (PMF) has suggested that the next delimitation exercise should be a two-step process:
- First a Delimitation Commission should be set up to redraw boundaries of constituencies on the basis of the 2031 Census
- And then a State Reorganization Act be passed to split States into smaller ones
Q.With the new Parliament House, the role of the Presiding officers of the Houses is going to be more challenging. Discuss, how.
Back in news
- PM recently inaugurated a brand new Parliament Annexe building that will afford our lawmakers more space and enable better functioning.
- In a few years from now, we might actually need a new building for Parliament altogether due to the likely increase in a number of seats in both Houses after the lifting of the freeze imposed by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976, which is due in 2026.
What is Delimitation? Why is it needed?
- Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and state Assembly seats to represent changes in population.
- In this process, the number of seats allocated to different states in Lok Sabha and the total number seats in a Legislative Assembly may also change.
- The main objective of delimitation is to provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.
- It also aims at a fair division of geographical areas so that one political party doesn’t have an advantage over others in an election.
Why such debate?
- The 84th Amendment to the Constitution in 2002 had put a freeze on the delimitation of Lok Sabha and State Assembly constituencies till the first Census after 2026.
- While the current boundaries were drawn on the basis of the 2001 Census, the number of Lok Sabha seats and State Assembly seats remained frozen on the basis of the 1971 Census.
- The population according to the last census preceding the freeze was 50 crore, which in 50 years has grown to 130 crores.
- This has caused a massive asymmetry in the political representation in the country.
Why there are fewer delimitations?
- The Constitution mandates that the number of Lok Sabha seats allotted to a state would be such that the ratio between that number and the population of the state is, as far as practicable, the same for all states.
- Although unintended, this provision implied that states that took little interest in population control could end up with a greater number of seats in Parliament.
- The southern states that promoted family planning faced the possibility of having their seats reduced.
- To allay these fears, the Constitution was amended during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency rule in 1976 to suspend delimitation until 2001.
- Despite the embargo, there were a few occasions that called for readjustment in the number of Parliament and Assembly seats allocated to a state.
Background
- According to Article 81 of the Constitution — as it stood before the 42nd CAA 1976 — the Lok Sabha was to comprise of not more than 550 members.
- Clause (2) of Article 81 provided that there shall be allotted to each State a number of MPs in such manner that the ratio between that number and the population of the State is the same for all States.
- Further, clause (3) defined the expression “population” for the purposes of Article 81 to mean the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published.
Dilemma over delimitation
- States which took a lead in population control faced the prospect of their number of seats getting reduced and States which had higher population figures stood to gain by increase in the number of seats in Lok Sabha.
- As a result of the freezing of the allocation of seats, the allocation done on the basis of the 1971 Census continues to hold good for the present population figures.
- According to the 2011 Census, the population of our country stands at 121 crores with a registered electorate of 83.41 crores.
- Basing the 1971 Census figure of 54.81 crores to represent today’s population presents a distorted version of our democratic polity and is contrary to what is mandated under Article 81 of the Constitution.
- So when the first Census figure will be available after 2026 — that is, in 2031 — a fresh delimitation will have to do which will dramatically alter the present arrangement of seat allocation to the States in Parliament.
Acquainting more MPs: A big challenge
- One question that has to be addressed is how the Presiding Officers of the Houses/Legislatures will deal with such a large number of members to capture the attention of the Speaker to raise issues in the House.
- Even with the current strength of 543 members, the Speaker finds it extremely difficult to conduct the proceedings of the House.
- Members do not show much heed to the appeals of the Speaker, thereby making smooth conduct of House proceedings a difficult affair.
- The Speaker’s directions and rulings are not shown proper respect, and disruptions of proceedings aggravate the problem.
- The sudden increase in numbers will render the task of the Speaker more difficult and onerous.
Conclusion
- While 2026 is still a few years away. But we need to be clear on how to deal with the problems that are likely to arise, we will be forced to postpone the lifting of the freeze to a future date as was done in 2001.
- This will only postpone the problem for which we must find a solution sooner or later.
- Even the various proposals for electoral reforms which have been recommended by various Commissions over the past decade do not address these issues.
- These are challenges which our political leaders have to address in the immediate future.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NFHS
Mains level: Data on India's health
- Current times require integrated and coordinated efforts from all health institutions, academia and other partners directly or indirectly associated with the health care services to make these services accessible, affordable and acceptable to all.
- The data in NFHS-5 gives requisite input for strengthening existing programmes and evolving new strategies for policy intervention, therefore government and authorities should take steps to further improve the condition of women in India.
The first phase of the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) has been released.
Do you think that India is still the sick man of Asia?
What is the National Family Health Survey?
- The NFHS is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India.
- Three rounds of the survey have been conducted since the first survey in 1992-93.
- The survey provides state and national information for India on fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, nutrition, etc.
- The Ministry of Health has designated the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) Mumbai, as the nodal agency, responsible for providing coordination and technical guidance for the survey.
Part I of the Survey
- The latest data pertains to 17 states — including Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal — and five UTs (including J&K) and, crucially, captures the state of health in these states before the Covid pandemic.
- Phase 2 of the survey, which will cover other states such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, was delayed due to the pandemic and its results are expected to be made available in May 2021.
Highlights of the NHFS-5
- The NFHS-5 contains detailed information on population, health, and nutrition for India and its States and Union Territories.
- This is a globally important data source as it is comparable to Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) Programme of 90 other countries on several key indicators.
- It can be used for cross country comparisons and development indices.
Good news
- Several of the 22 states and UTs, for which findings have been released, showed an increase in childhood immunisation.
- There has been a drop in neonatal mortality in 15 states, a decline in infant mortality rates in 18 states and an increase in the female population (per 1,000 males) in 17 states.
- Fertility rate decline and increase in contraceptive use were registered in almost all the states surveyed showing trends of population stabilization.
Some bad news
- There has been an increase in stunting and wasting among children in several states, a rise in obesity in women and children, and an increase in spousal violence.
- In several other development indicators, the needle has hardly moved since the last NFHS-4.
(1) Hunger Alarm
- The proportion of stunted children has risen in several of the 17 states and five UTs surveyed, putting India at risk of reversing previous gains in child nutrition made over previous decades.
- Worryingly, that includes richer states like Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Himachal Pradesh.
- The share of underweight and wasted children has also gone up in the majority of the states.
(2) Fertility Rate
The total fertility rate (TFR) is defined as the average number of children that would be born to a woman by the time she ends childbearing.
- The TFR across most Indian states declined in the past half-a-decade, more so among urban women, according to the latest NFHS-5.
- Sikkim recorded the lowest TFR, with one woman bearing 1.1 children on average; Bihar recorded the highest TFR of three children per woman.
- In 19 of the 22 surveyed states, TFRs were found to be ‘below-replacement’ — a woman bore less than two children on average through her reproductive life.
- India’s population is stabilizing, as the total fertility rate (TFR) has decreased across majority of the states.
(3) Under-5 and infant mortality rate (IMR)
- The Under 5 and infant mortality rate (IMR) has come down but in parallel recorded an increase in underweight and severely wasted under 5 children among 22 states that were surveyed.
- These states are Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Telangana, Tripura, West Bengal, Lakshadweep and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
For the first time: Gaps in internet use
- In 2019, for the first time, the NFHS-5, which collects data on key indicators on population health, family planning and nutrition, sought details on two specific indicators: Percentage of women and men who have ever used the Internet.
- On average, less than 3 out of 10 women in rural India and 4 out of 10 women in urban India ever used the Internet, according to the survey.
- First, only an average of 42.6 per cent of women ever used the Internet as against an average of 62.16 per cent among the men.
- Second, in urban India, average 56.81 per cent women ever used the Internet compared to an average of 73.76 per cent among the men.
- Third, dismal 33.94 per cent women in rural India ever used the Internet as against 55.6 per cent among men.
- In urban India, 10 states and three union territories reported more than 50 per cent women who had ever used the Internet: Goa (78.1%), Himachal Pradesh (78.9%), Kerala (64.9%), and Maharashtra (54.3%).
- The five states reporting the lowest percentage of women, whoever used the Internet in urban India were Andhra Pradesh (33.9%), Bihar (38.4%), Tripura (36.6%), Telangana (43.9%) and Gujarat (48.9%).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mt. Everest
Mains level: Himalayan Orogeny
China and Nepal have announced Mount Everest is 0.86 m taller than the 8,848 m accepted globally so far.
Try this PYQ:
Q.When you travel to the Himalayas, you will see the following:
- Deep gorges
- U-turn river courses
- Parallel mountain ranges
- Steep gradients causing land-sliding
Which of the above can be said to be the evidences for the Himalayas being young fold mountains?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1, 2 and 4 only
(c) 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Scaling a mountains’ height
- The basic principle that was used earlier is very simple and uses only trigonometry which most of us are familiar with, or at least can recall.
- There are three sides and three angles in any triangle. If we know any three of these quantities, provided one of them is a side, all the others can be calculated.
- In a right-angled triangle, one of the angles is already known, so if we know any other angle and one of the sides, the others can be found out.
- This principle can be applied for measuring the height of any object that does not offer the convenience of dropping a measuring tape from top to bottom.
Accuracy issues
- For small hills and mountains, whose top can be observed from relatively close distances, this can give quite precise measurements.
- But for Mount Everest and other high mountains, there are some other complications.
- These again arise from the fact that we do not know where the base of the mountain is.
Measuring against sea level
- Generally, for practical purposes, the heights are measured above mean sea level (MSL). Moreover, we need to find the distance to the mountain.
- This is done through a painstaking process called high-precision levelling. Starting from the coastline, we calculate step by step the difference in height, using special instruments.
- This is how we know the height of any city from mean sea level.
Adjusting gravitation anomaly
- But there is one additional problem to be contended with — gravity. Gravity is different in different places. It means that even sea level cannot be considered to be uniform at all places.
- So, the local gravity is also measured to calculate the local sea level. Nowadays sophisticated portable gravitometers are available that can be carried even to mountain peaks.
Technology solutions
- These days GPS is widely used to determine coordinates and heights, even of mountains.
- But, GPS gives precise coordinates of the top of a mountain relative to an ellipsoid which is an imaginary surface mathematically modelled to represent Earth.
- This surface differs from the mean sea level. Similarly, overhead flying planes equipped with laser beams (LiDAR) can also be used to get the coordinates.
How accurate are China/Nepal’s apprehensions?
- Considering that during 1952-1954, when neither GPS and satellite techniques were available nor the sophisticated gravimeters, the task of determining the height of Mount Everest was not easy.
- Nepal and China have said they have measured Mount Everest to be 86 cm higher than the 8,848 m that it was known to be.
- But these have been explained in terms of geological processes that might be altering the height of Everest. The accuracy of the 1954 result has never been questioned.
- Most scientists now believe that the height of Mount Everest is increasing at a very slow rate. This is because of the northward movement of the Indian tectonic plate that is pushing the surface up.
- Big earthquake, like the one that happened in Nepal in 2015, can alter the heights of mountains. Such events have happened in the past.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Project 17A
Mains level: India's maritime capability
Himgiri, the first of the three stealth frigates being built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, under Project 17A for the Navy, was launched into the water.
Try this question:
Q“To be secure on Land, we must be Supreme at Sea”. In this context, discuss why India is primarily a Maritime Nation?
Project 17A
- The coveted ‘Project 17A’ was cleared by the govt back in 2015.
- It involves the building of seven stealth frigates at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore.
- Of these seven, the contract for three frigates was awarded to GRSE while the contract for another four frigates was awarded to Government-owned Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) which is based in Mumbai.
- These frigates will come armed with advanced state-of-the-art sensors and boast of top-notch stealth features.
- They will represent the most advanced class of major surface warships for the Indian Navy in a decade, also featuring BrahMos supersonic surface-to-surface missiles.
- These will also have torpedoes and rockets to hit submarines and rapid-fire guns to destroy anti-ship missiles as well as a heavy main gun to engage ships and coastal target.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Merger of Black Holes
Mains level: Black holes and gravitation waves
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shared the images of Galaxy NGC 6240 that contains two supermassive Black Holes in the process of merging.
From astronomers to general space enthusiasts, black holes are a topic of interest for many. If you’re someone who spends a lot of their time researching facts about this region of space-time or watching videos on the same, then you must check out this news.
Galaxy NGC 6240
- The black holes, located in Galaxy NGC 6240 are 3,000 light-years apart and they will drift together to form a larger black hole millions of years from now.
- As per a blog post by the observatory, the merging process began some 30 million years ago
- The pairs of massive black holes in the process of merging are expected to be the most powerful sources of gravitational waves in the Universe.
- Seen as the bright ‘dots’ near the centre of this image, the black holes are just 3,000 light-years apart.
About Chandra X-ray Observatory
- It is a telescope specially designed to detect X-ray emissions from very hot regions of the universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes.
- Orbiting at 139,000 km in space, the telescope was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-93 by NASA in 1999.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Himalayan Serow
Mains level: NA
A Himalayan Serow has been sighted for the first time in the Himalayan cold desert region.
Try this MCQ:
Q.In which one of the following State, the Rupi Bhaba Wildlife Sanctuary is located?
(a) Himachal Pradesh
(b) Manipur
(c) Meghalaya
(d) Uttarakhand
Himalayan Serow
- Himalayan Serow resembles a cross between a goat, a donkey, a cow, and a pig.
- They are herbivores and are typically found at altitudes between 2,000 metres and 4,000 metres (6,500 to 13,000 feet).
- They are known to be found in eastern, central, and western Himalayas, but not in the Trans Himalayan region.
- They are a medium-sized mammal with a large head, thick neck, short limbs, long, mule-like ears, and a coat of dark hair.
- There are several species of Serow s, and all of them are found in Asia.
Its’ conservation status
- According to the IUCN, Himalayan Serow s have experienced significant declines in population size, range size and habitat in the last decade, and this is expected to continue due to intensive human impact.
- Previously assessed as ‘near threatened’, the Himalayan Serow is now been categorised as ‘vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- It is listed under Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which provides absolute protection.
What is so unusual this time?
- The animal was spotted by locals and wildlife officials at a riverside rocky wall near Hurling village in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.
- This is the first recorded human sighting of the Serow in Himachal Pradesh.
- Serow s are generally not found at this altitude, and never before has a Serow been seen in the Himalayan cold desert.
- Wildlife officials believe this particular animal may have strayed into the Spiti valley from the Rupi Bhaba Wildlife Sanctuary in adjoining Kinnaur.
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