Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Floods in Assam
Context
This year’s floods in Assam have been merciless. In many parts of the state, both rural and urban, shoals of water drove people from their homes and forced many of them to seek shelter for their livestock.
Understanding the reasons for massive flood in Assam this year
- The Bay has a major influence on the monsoon in Northeast India.
- Two coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomena, one from the distant Pacific, La Niña and another in the tropical Indian Ocean, a negative dipole condition, combined to create high rainfall in the Bay of Bengal.
- To add to that, a warmer atmosphere because of climate change can hold more moisture leading to intense bouts of rain.
- Apart from embankment failures, a number of unofficial and media reports suggest that the devastation in the floodplains is also a consequence of the way the dams and reservoirs are operated.
- This indicates that environmental factors unique to each locality are responsible for the floods.
- The flooding pattern is usually repeated year-to-year. However, at times, this pattern is disturbed — this year for example.
- The incidence of such megafloods depends on several variables like unusually high rainfall and the failure of critical embankments.
Role of floods in the making of the floodplain environment and ecology
- Rejuvenation of ecosystem: Floods cause disruption and damage but they also generate a bounty of fish and rejuvenate flood-plain ecosystems all along the Brahmaputra, including in the Kaziranga.
- Landscape: This landscape has been shaped over millions of years with the help of an active monsoonal environment and mighty rivers that carry sediments weathered from the still-rising Himalaya.
- Every year, the Brahmaputra and its tributaries — which are at the centre of Assam’s environment — transport billions of tonnes of sediment, mainly from the Eastern Himalaya, making the landscape volatile.
- Flooding helps release waters to surrounding land and distribute sediments and nutrients across the floodplains and wetlands.
How human presence has influenced floodplains
- As the human footprint intensified on the floodplains, the landscape was increasingly “developed and engineered”.
- The engineered and planned landscape has affected the floodplains in two ways: It has undermined their ability to store and absorb water and reduced their capacity to transport sediment.
- Urban floods: This year’s floods took an especially worrying proportion in several urban areas.
- Guwahati has historically been a lowland and the city has been uniquely shaped by three hills that accumulate water during the monsoon.
- Its northern side faces one of the most turbulent rivers in the world.
- However, extensive swamps, channels and their tributaries worked in tandem to make the place habitable.
- A transformation, however, took place in the 20th century, especially in the later decades, when these natural features were forced to disappear.
- From an estimated 11,000 people in 1901, the city now is home to close to 1.1 million people.
- Such a population increase is bound to have several footfalls and not all of them could have been prevented.
- What has hit the city hardest is the disappearance of some of its critical environmental features.
Way forward
- Human interventions such as dams to “tame” rivers and “stabilise” hydrologically dynamic landscapes and riverscapes should be based on guidelines that account for the environmental conditions in Northeast India, especially the fragile geology, changing rainfall patterns, high seismicity and the risk of landslides.
- Resilience of people: The rapid transformation in rainfall characteristics and flooding patterns demand building people’s resilience.
- Reconsider projects: Construction projects that impede the movement of water and sediment across the floodplain must be reconsidered.
- Use of technology: At the same time, climate-imposed exigencies demand new paradigms of early-warning and response systems and securing livelihoods and economies.
Conclusion
Floods have played a key role in Assam’s ecology. But increasing human footprint has affected the ability of flood plains to absorb water and transport sediment.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Indian aviation sector- challenges and opportunities
What is the issue?
Policymakers ought to recognise the country’s untapped potential and work towards dismantling the many hurdles.
What is the significance of aviation sector?
India is the world’s third-largest market in aviation sector.
- Aviation is integral to equitable economic growth, for a country to be globally competitive and to change the situation of poverty and unemployment.
- Passenger airlines and air cargo overcome geography and connect remote areas that are alienated from the mainstream.
- They can drive investment deep into the country, giving people access to markets.
- They also boost tourism, which is the largest employment generator in the unorganised sector.
What is the status of aviation sector in India?
- Pre-economic reform period– India had only two airlines – Air India and Indian Airlines.
- Post 1991 reforms– The reforms that opened up the aviation sector in 1991 and ended the licence raj and the monopoly of Indian Airlines and Air India changed the sector.
- Numerous private sector airlines were given the licence to fly, but Jet Airways and Sahara, survived, resulting in cartelisation.
- The concept of low cost airlines in India took shape in 2003 which overcame the cost barrier.
- Sadly, Indian aviation has become ‘the sick man of India’.
What are the barriers in Indian aviation sector?
- Per capita consumption of air tickets – The number of Indians who buy air tickets in 2019 is 140 million of which 35 million to 40 million frequent flyers form the bulk of ticket buyers.
- It translates to less than 4% of the population who can afford air travel, placing India just alongside some poorer African countries, in terms of the per capita consumption of air tickets.
- Factors affecting the growth of aviation sector– The growth of aviation has been affected by
- Choking regulations
- Tough entry barriers for new entrants
- High fuel prices on account of sky high taxes
- Inefficient public sector airports that pave the way for monopoly airports
- Frequent and knee-jerk changes point to the absence of a long-term visionary strategic policy for the entire gamut of sectors in aviation.
How efficient are government schemes in the development of the airline sector?
- Boosting entrepreneurship- Start-up India initiative was started with the objective of supporting entrepreneurs, building a robust startup ecosystem and transforming India into a country of job creators.
- Regional connectivity– Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme aims to connect small and medium cities with big cities through air service.
- Low cost airlines– UDAN plans to connect the underserved airports to key airports through flights that will cost Rs 2,500 for per hour flight.
- Comprehensive development– The National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 aims to take flying to the masses and covers 22 areas of the Civil Aviation sector.
What reforms are needed?
- Reforms in all sectors– It is critical to understand that for passenger airlines to grow, there have to be reforms in all areas of aviation – air cargo, airports, aviation fuel taxes and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO).
- Updated laws– India’s Aircraft Act, 1934 and Aircraft Rules, 1937 need to be updated to keep pace with modern technology in aerospace, increasing costs to the industry and ultimately affecting passenger growth.
- Overhaul DGCA – India’s statutory regulatory authority, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), needs to be modernised, well-staffed, motivated and incentivized.
- Need for aviation professionals– There need to be aviation professionals in charge rather than the ubiquitous bureaucrat from the Indian Administrative Service.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BRI
Mains level: Chinese BRI and its progress
China has felt a need to re-visit the various projects under the BRI in different South Asian countries.
Why in news?
- At the recently concluded summit of G-7 leaders in Germany, US and his allies unveiled their $600 billion plan called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Intelligence.
- This is being seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), valued at a trillion U.S. dollars by some experts.
What is China’s Belt and Road Initiative?
- In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia, expressed his vision to build a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
- He then aimed to break the “bottleneck” in Asian connectivity. This vision led to the birth of the BRI.
- The initiative envisioned a Chinese-led investment of over $1 trillion in partner countries by 2025.
- More than 60 countries have now joined BRI agreements with China, with infrastructure projects under the initiative being planned or under construction in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.
How does BRI work?
- To finance BRI projects, China offers huge loans at commercial interest rates that countries have to pay within a fixed number of years.
- The west has accused China of debt-trapping by extending “predatory loans” that force countries to cede key assets to China.
- However, research indicates that low and middle-income countries are often the ones to approach China after not being able to secure loans from elsewhere.
- In recent years, the BRI seems to have experienced a slowing down as annual Chinese lending to countries slimmed from its peak of $125 billion in 2015 to around $50 to 55 billion in 2021.
What have been the BRI’s investments in Pakistan?
- On his 2015 visit to Pakistan, Xi unveiled the BRI’s flagship project and its biggest one in a single country — the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
- The CPEC envisioned multiple projects involving energy, transport and communication systems.
- At the centre of the CPEC was the $700 million development of the city of Gwadar into a smart port city that would become the “Singapore of Pakistan”.
- Other major projects are the orange line metro, coal power plants to tackle energy shortages and the Main Line 1 rail project from Peshawar to Karachi.
Pace of progress in Pakistan
- Multiple reports have shown that shipping activities at the Gwadar Port is almost negligible so far, with only some trade to Afghanistan.
- Gwadar residents have also protested against the large security force deployed to protect Chinese nationals involved in projects.
- Chinese nations has also became the target of multiple deadly attacks by Baloch freedom fighters.
- Coal plants were set up and managed by Chinese firms to improve the power situation in Pakistan.
- Chinese power firms closing down their operations as the latter did not pay dues worth 300 billion in Pakistani rupees (approximately $1.5 billion).
What about Sri Lanka?
- In Sri Lanka, multiple infrastructure projects that were being financed by China came under the fold of the BRI after it was launched in 2013.
- In 2021, Colombo ejected India and Japan out of a deal to develop the East Container Terminal at the Colombo port and got China to take up the project.
- Some BRI projects in Sri Lanka have been described as white elephants — such as the Hambantota port.
- The port had always been secondary to the busy Colombo port until the latter ran out of capacity.
- Other key projects under BRI include the development of the Colombo International Container Terminal, the Central Expressway and the Hambantota International Airport among others.
Projects in Afghanistan
- Afghanistan has not comprehensively been brought into the BRI, despite a MoU being signed with China in 2016.
- China had promised investments worth $100 million in Afghanistan which is small in comparison to what it shelled out in other South Asian countries.
- The projects have not materialised so far and uncertainties have deepened after the Taliban takeover last year.
Projects in Maldives
- Situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Maldives comprises two hundred islands, and both India and China have strategic interests there.
- One of the most prominent BRI projects undertaken in the Maldives is the two km long China-Maldives Friendship Bridge — a $200 million four lane bridge.
- Most of China’s investment in the Maldives happened under former President Abdullah Yameen, seen as pro-China.
Projects in Bangladesh
- Bangladesh, which joined the BRI in 2016, has been promised the second-highest investment (about $40 billion) in South Asia after Pakistan.
- It has been able to benefit from the BRI while maintaining diplomatic and strategic ties with both India and China.
- It has managed to not upset India by getting India to build infrastructure projects similar to BRI in the country.
- BRI projects include Friendship Bridges, special economic zones, the $689.35 million-Karnaphuli River tunnel project, upgradation of the Chittagong port, and a rail line between the port and China’s Yunnan province.
- However, multiple projects have been delayed owing to the slow release of funds by China.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Critical Minerals
Mains level: Read the attached story
India and Australia have decided to strengthen their partnership in the field of projects and supply chains for critical minerals.
What is the news?
- Australia has confirmed that it would commit A$5.8 million to the three-year India-Australia Critical Minerals Investment Partnership”.
What are Critical Minerals?
- Critical minerals are elements that are the building blocks of essential modern-day technologies, and are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
- These minerals are now used everywhere from making mobile phones, computers to batteries, electric vehicles and green technologies like solar panels and wind turbines.
- Based on their individual needs and strategic considerations, different countries create their own lists.
- However, such lists mostly include graphite, lithium, cobalt, rare earths and silicon which is a key mineral for making computer chips, solar panels and batteries.
- Aerospace, communications and defence industries also rely on several such minerals as they are used in manufacturing fighter jets, drones, radio sets and other critical equipment.
Why is this resource critical?
- As countries around the world scale up their transition towards clean energy and digital economy, these critical resources are key to the ecosystem that fuels this change.
- Any supply shock can severely imperil the economy and strategic autonomy of a country over-dependent on others to procure critical minerals.
- But these supply risks exist due to rare availability, growing demand and complex processing value chain.
- Many times the complex supply chain can be disrupted by hostile regimes, or due to politically unstable regions.
- They are critical as the world is fast shifting from a fossil fuel-intensive to a mineral-intensive energy system.
What is China ‘threat’?
- China is the world’s largest producer of 16 critical minerals.
- China alone is responsible for some 70% and 60% of global production of cobalt and rare earth elements, respectively, in 2019.
- The level of concentration is even higher for processing operations, where China has a strong presence across the board.
- China’s share of refining is around 35% for nickel, 50-70% for lithium and cobalt, and nearly 90% for rare earth elements.
- It also controls cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, from where 70% of this mineral is sourced.
- In 2010, China suspended rare earth exports to Japan for two months over a territorial dispute.
What are countries around the world doing about it?
- US has shifted its focus on expanding domestic mining, production, processing, and recycling of critical minerals and materials.
- India has set up KABIL or the Khanij Bidesh India Limited to ensure mineral security of the nation.
- Australia’s Critical Minerals Facilitation Office (CMFO) and KABIL had recently signed an MoU aimed at ensuring reliable supply of critical minerals to India.
- The UK has unveiled its new Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre to study the future demand for and supply of these minerals.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Environment Ministry proposes to soften the provisions of the EP Act (EPA) by replacing a clause that provides for imprisoning violators with one that only requires them to pay a fine.
Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986
- EP Act was passed under Article 253 of the Constitution, which empowers the Centre to enact laws to give effect to international agreements signed by the country.
- The purpose of the Act is to implement the decisions of the UN Conference on the Human Environment.
- They relate to the protection and improvement of the human environment and the prevention of hazards to human beings, other living creatures, plants and property.
- It was enacted in 1986 on the backdrop of Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
- The Act was last amended in 1991.
Why this Act?
- The Act is an “umbrella” legislation that has provided a framework for the environmental regulation regime in India.
- It covers all major industrial and infrastructure activities and prohibits and regulates specific activities in coastal areas and eco-sensitive areas.
- The Act also provides for coordination of the activities of various central and state authorities established under other environment-related laws, such as the Water Act and the Air Act.
Key provisions
- The Environment (Protection) Rules lay down procedures for setting standards of emission or discharge of environmental pollutants.
- The objective of Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989 is to control the generation, collection, treatment, import, storage, and handling of hazardous waste.
- The Manufacture, Storage, and Import of Hazardous Rules define the terms used in this context, and sets up an authority to inspect, once a year.
- The Cells Rules,1989 were introduced with a view to protect the environment, nature, and health in connection with the application of gene technology and micro-organisms.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Consider the following statements:
The Environment Protection Act, 1986 empowers the Government of India to
- State the requirement of public participation in the process of environmental protection, and the Procedure and manner in which it sought.
- Lay down the standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants from various sources.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PMI
Mains level: Not Much
India’s services firms saw growth in new business and output accelerate to a 11-year high in June, as per the survey-based S&P Global India Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI).
What is the news?
- The index rose to 59.2 last month, from 58.9 in May, signalling a strengthening in demand across the services sector, which had borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)
- PMI is an indicator of business activity — both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
- It is a survey-based measure that asks the respondents about changes in their perception of some key business variables from the month before.
- It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is constructed.
- The PMI is compiled by IHS Markit based on responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 400 manufacturers.
How is the PMI derived?
- The PMI is derived from a series of qualitative questions.
- Executives from a reasonably big sample, running into hundreds of firms, are asked whether key indicators such as output, new orders, business expectations and employment were stronger than the month before and are asked to rate them.
How does one read the PMI?
- A figure above 50 denotes expansion in business activity. Anything below 50 denotes contraction.
- Higher the difference from this mid-point greater the expansion or contraction. The rate of expansion can also be judged by comparing the PMI with that of the previous month data.
- If the figure is higher than the previous month’s then the economy is expanding at a faster rate.
- If it is lower than the previous month then it is growing at a lower rate.
What are its implications for the economy?
- The PMI is usually released at the start of the month, much before most of the official data on industrial output, manufacturing and GDP growth becomes available.
- It is, therefore, considered a good leading indicator of economic activity.
- Economists consider the manufacturing growth measured by the PMI as a good indicator of industrial output, for which official statistics are released later.
- Central banks of many countries also use the index to help make decisions on interest rates.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Quarks
Mains level: Not Much
The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment has observed three never-before-seen particles.
What is the discovery?
- CERN was investigating the slight differences between matter and antimatter by studying a type of particle called the “beauty quark”, or “b quark”.
- The three “exotic” additions — a new kind of “pentaquark” and the first-ever pair of “tetraquarks” — to the growing list of new hadrons were found.
- This discovery will help physicists better understand how quarks bind together into these composite particles.
What are Quarks?
- Quarks are elementary particles that come in six “flavours”: up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom.
- They usually combine together in groups of twos and threes to form hadrons such as the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei.
- But they can also combine into four-quark and five-quark particles, called tetraquarks and pentaquarks.
- These exotic hadrons were predicted by theorists about six decades ago — around the same time as conventional hadrons — but they have been observed by LHCb and other experiments only in the past 20 years.
What about tetraquarks and pentaquarks?
- Most exotic hadrons discovered in the past two decades are tetraquarks or pentaquarks.
- They contain a charm quark and a charm antiquark — with the remaining two or three quarks being an up, down or strange quark or their antiquarks.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fields Medal
Mains level: NA
Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska was named as one of four recipients of the prestigious Fields Medal, which is often described as the Nobel Prize in mathematics.
What is Fields Medal?
- The Fields Medal is awarded by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organisation.
- It is awarded every four years to one or more mathematicians under the age of 40 in recognition of “outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement”.
- The winners are announced at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), which was supposed to be held in Russia this year, but was moved to Helsinki.
Belongings of the award
- The honour carries a physical medal of 14K gold, 63.5 mm in diameter and weighing 169 g, and with a unit price of approximately 5,500 Canadian dollars.
- There is also a cash award of CAD 15,000.
- The obverse of the medal is embossed with the head of Archimedes facing right, and some Latin quotes.
History of the Medal
- According to the IMU website, the 1924 ICM in Toronto adopted a resolution that at each conference, two gold medals would be awarded to recognise outstanding mathematical achievement.
- The Canadian mathematician Prof J C Fields, who was secretary of the 1924 Congress, later donated funds to establish the medals, which were named in his honour.
- In 1966, it was agreed that, in light of the great expansion of mathematical research, up to four medals could be awarded at each Congress.
Indian-origin winners
- Among the more than 60 mathematicians who have been awarded the Fields Medal since 1936, there are two of Indian origin.
- Akshay Venkatesh of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, won in 2018, the last time the honour was announced.
- Manjul Bhargava of the Department of Mathematics at Princeton University was awarded in 2014.
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