The Supreme Court has grilled the Centre on how the settlement can be reopened, when Union Carbide has already paid over $ 470 million to the Bhopal gas tragedy victims, and also expressed concern over Rs 50 crore undisbursed funds.

Why in news?

• Union Carbide, now a part of Dow Jones – has not fulfilled its responsibility in terms of providing just compensation.
• Around 19 years after compensation was agreed upon, the Indian government filed a curative petition in 2010 to seek additional compensation from Dow, of more than ten times the amount it gave in 1989.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

• On the night of December 2, 1984, one of the biggest industrial disasters to ever take place began unfolding in Bhopal.
• Harmful Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas started leaking from a nearby Union Carbide pesticide plant, eventually resulting in the Bhopal Gas tragedy.
• An estimated 3,000 people died within the first few days.
• Over time, similarly horrifying numbers of those who suffered life-long health issues would become known.

Health hazards of the disaster

• Its effects were such that apart from killing thousands of people in a short span of time, it led to disease and other long-term problems for many who inhaled the gas.
• The sources of water around the factory were deemed unfit for consumption and many handpumps were sealed.
• To date, the reproductive health of many of Bhopal’s women has been affected.
• Children born to those exposed to the gas have faced congenital health problems.

How did govt respond to the disaster?

The incident pointed to the lack of specific laws in India at the time for handling such matters.  This changed after Bhopal.

• Environment (Protection) Act, 1986: It authorised the central government to take relevant measures and regulate industrial activity for environmental and public safety.
• Public Liability Insurance Act of 1991: It was also passed to provide public liability insurance for providing immediate relief to the persons affected by an accident occurring while handling any hazardous substance.

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Many families living in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath has shifted to safe places after their homes developed deep cracks, leaving them in a panicked state.

Joshimath Crisis

• Joshimath lies on an ancient landslide, resting on a deposit of sand and stone, not rock.
• The rivers Alaknanda and Dhauli Ganga play their part in triggering landslides, by eroding the river banks and mountain edges.
• It is believed that increased construction activity and growing population have contributed to frequent landslides in the area, the 1976 Mishra Committee Report had pointed out.

Why is it sinking?

• Joshimath is a deposit of sand and stone — it is not the main rock — hence it was not suitable for a township.
• Vibrations produced by blasting, heavy traffic, etc. has led to a disequilibrium in natural factors.
• Lack of proper drainage facilities also leads to landslides.
• A lot of water has been percolating down into the porous crystalline rocks beneath the surface, softening them further.
• When water is not allowed to flow down its natural course, it creates a lot of pressure, either over the ground, or underneath.
• The existence of soak pits, which allow water to slowly soak into the ground, is responsible for the creation of cavities between the soil and the boulders.
• This leads to water seepage and soil erosion.

Issues with Joshimath’s town-planning

• Overt tourism: The place is now the hub of tourists headed to at least three important shrines — Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib and Shankaracharya temple — as a result of which major infrastructure development has taken place.
• Ignoring topography: There are lots of loose soft rocks, moraine (material left behind by retreating glaciers), and sediments. The soil is, therefore, not ideal for large constructions.
• Seismically active area: Added to this is the fact that the area falls in a highly seismic zone, and experiences regular tremors, making the top soil unstable.

Preventing a disaster

1976 Mishra Committee Report suggested-

• Imposition of restrictions on heavy construction: Construction should only be allowed after examining the load-bearing capacity of the soil and the stability of the site, and restrictions should also be imposed on the excavation of slopes.
• Keeping the boulders: In the landslide areas, stones and boulders should not be removed from the bottom of the hill as it would remove toe support, increasing the possibility of landslides.
• Sealing of cracks: Cracks which have developed on the slopes should be sealed. The toe of a landslide is its bottom-most point.
• Conserving of trees: It has also advised against cutting trees in the landslide zone, and said that extensive plantation work should be undertaken in the area, particularly between Marwari and Joshimath, to conserve soil and water resources.
• Agriculture on the slopes must be avoided: Activities like ploughing loosens the soil thereby triggering the scope for landslides.
• Preventing water seepage: To prevent any more landslides in the future, the seepage of open rain water must be stopped by the construction of a pucca drainage system.
• Cobbled roads: Roads should be metalled and without scuppers, that drain away the water from the road surface.
• River training: The construction of structures to guide the river’s flow should be carried out. Hanging boulders on the foothills should be provided with appropriate support.

Way forward

• Ensuring safety of people: This should be immediate priority. State government should establish a clear and continuous communication channel with the affected people.
• Time-bound reconstruction plan must be prepared.
• Continuous seismic monitoring must be done.
• A risk sensitive urban development plan for Joshimath should also be developed.

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Context

The severe cyclones, Tauktae and Yaas, battered India earlier this year. With a rise in the frequency of devastating cyclones, India needs to look at long-term mitigation measures.

India’s vulnerability

• The Indian coastline is around 7,500 km; there are 96 coastal districts (which touch the coast or are close to it), with 262 million people exposed to cyclones and tsunamis.
• The World Bank and the United Nations (2010) estimate that around 200 million city residents would be exposed to storms and earthquakes by 2050 in India.
• Between 1891 and 2020, out of the 313 cyclones crossing India’s eastern and western coasts, the west coast experienced 31 cyclones, while 282 cyclones crossed the east coast.
• Among the natural disasters, cyclones constituted the second most frequent phenomena that occurred in 15% of India’s total natural disasters over 1999-2020.
• According to the Global Climate Risk Index report 2021, India ranks the seventh worst-hit country globally in 2019 due to the frequent occurrence of extreme weather-related events.
• Increase in frequency: According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), 2013 data frequency of cyclones in the coastal States accounting increased by 7%.
• Factor’s responsible: Increasing sea surface temperatures in the northern Indian Ocean and the geo-climatic conditions in India are the factors responsible for the increase in frequency.

Economic cost

• Between 1999 and 2020, cyclones inflicted substantial damage to public and private properties, amounting to an increase in losses from $2,990 million to $14,920 million in the absence of long-term mitigation measures.
• India lost around 2% of GDP and 15% of total revenue over 1999-2020.
• Between 1999-2020, around 12,388 people were killed, and the damage was estimated at $32,615 million.
• Cyclones are the second most expensive in terms of the costs incurred in damage, accounting for 29% of the total disaster-related damages after floods (62%).
• In addition, they are the third most lethal disaster in India after earthquakes (42%) and floods (33%).

Odisha model

• In the aftermath of the 1999 super cyclone, the Government of Odisha took up various cyclone mitigation measures.
• These included installing a disaster warning system in the coastal districts, and construction of evacuation shelters in cyclone-prone districts.
• Other steps were the setting up of the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), conducting regular cabinet meetings for disaster preparedness, and building the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF).

Way forward

• Still, Odisha’s disaster management model is inadequate to minimise the economic losses that result from cyclones.
• Therefore, the Government of India should adopt a few measures to minimise disaster damage and fatalities.
• Improve warning system: It is imperative to improve the cyclone warning system and revamp disaster preparedness measures.
• Increase cover under shelterbelt plantation: The Government must widen the cover under shelterbelt plantations and help regenerate mangroves in coastal regions to lessen the impact of cyclones.
• In addition, adopting cost-effective, long-term mitigation measures, including building cyclone-resilient infrastructure such as constructing storm surge-resilient embankments, canals and improving river connectivity to prevent waterlogging in low-lying areas are important.
• Disaster resilient power infrastructure: installing disaster-resilient power infrastructure in the coastal districts, providing concrete houses to poor and vulnerable households, and creating massive community awareness campaigns are essential.
• Coordination between Centre-State: Healthy coordination between the Centre and the States concerned is essential to collectively design disaster mitigation measures.
• Collective mitigation effort by the Centre and States that can help reduce the fiscal burden of States and also be effective in minimising disaster deaths.

Conclusion

Long term mitigation measures are essential to minimise the impact of the disasters such as cyclones.

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Under the existing Scheme of State Disaster Response Fund / National Response Fund of the Ministry of Home Affairs, there is no provision to declare any disaster including flood as a National Calamity.

How does the law define a disaster?

• A natural disaster includes earthquake, flood, landslide, cyclone, tsunami, urban flood, heatwave; a man-made disaster can be nuclear, biological and chemical.
• As per the Disaster Management Act, 2005, “disaster” means:

1. A catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or man-made causes, or
2. It results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and
3. Damage is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area.

How can any of these be classified as a national disaster?

• There is no provision, executive or legal, to declare a natural calamity as a national calamity.
• The existing guidelines of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)/ National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), do not contemplate declaring a disaster as a National Calamity.

Has there ever been an attempt to define a national calamity?

• In 2001, the National Committee under the chairmanship of the then PM was mandated to look into the parameters that should define a national calamity.
• However, the committee did not suggest any fixed criterion.

How, then, does the government classify disasters/calamities?

• The 10th Finance Commission (1995-2000) examined a proposal that a disaster be termed “a national calamity of rarest severity” if it affects one-third of the population of a state.
• The panel did not define a “calamity of rare severity” but stated that a calamity of rare severity would necessarily have to be adjudged on a case-to-case basis taking into account.

What happens if a calamity is so declared?

• When a calamity is declared to be of “rare severity/severe nature”, support to the state government is provided at the national level.
• The Centre also considers additional assistance from the NDRF.
• A Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) is set up, with the corpus shared 3:1 between Centre and state.
• When resources in the CRF are inadequate, additional assistance is considered from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF), funded 100% by the Centre.
• Relief in repayment of loans or for grant of fresh loans to the persons affected on concessional terms, too, are considered once a calamity is declared “severe”.

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The Supreme Court has reserved its verdict seeking compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of those who have died of Covid-19 or related complications.  The Centre has stated that state governments cannot afford to pay this, and had argued in favor of a broader approach including health interventions.

Provisions for Compensation

• Last year, the Centre declared Covid-19 as a notified disaster under the Disaster Management Act.
• Section 12(iii) of the Act says the National Authority shall recommend guidelines for the minimum standards of relief to be provided to persons affected by disaster.
• It includes “ex gratia assistance on account of loss of life as also assistance on account of damage to houses and for restoration of means of livelihood”.
• The Centre revises this amount from time to time.

What is the latest amount?

• On April 8, 2015, the Disaster Management Division of the Home Ministry wrote to all state governments and attached a revised list of “norms of assistance”.
• Under “ex gratia payment to families of deceased persons”, it specified: Rs 4 lakh per deceased person including those involved in relief operations or associated in preparedness activities.
• This is subjected to certification regarding cause of death from appropriate authority.

So, what about compensation for Covid?

• Last year the Home Ministry wrote to state governments that the central government has decided to treat it (Covid-19) as a notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance under SDRF.
• It attached a partially modified list of items and norms of assistance.
• It did not specify payment of ex gratia to families of deceased.
• Some states have decided to pay, but not for all deaths.

How has the government responded to the petition?

• The Centre has submitted that ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh is beyond the affordability of state governments.
• It argued that if Rs 4 lakh is paid to the kin of each, it “may possibly” consume the entire amount of the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF).
• This would leave states with insufficient funds for organizing a response to the pandemic, or to take care of other disasters.
• The centre argued that the term ex gratia itself means the amount is not based on legal entitlement.

Way ahead

• A broader approach, which involves health interventions, social protection, and economic recovery for the affected communities would be a more prudent, responsible, and sustainable approach.

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This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the Indian Express.

What are Flash floods?

• A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions.
• It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, tropical storm, or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields.

Take a glimpse of the series of disasters in Uttarakhand

Chamoli example

• Flash flood incident in Uttarakhand is another warning of the dangers that a Himalayan state like Uttarakhand faces from natural processes like landslides, snow avalanches cloudbursts or lake bursts.
• As we saw in 2013 in the same state, such processes can trigger much bigger disasters and cause massive destruction.
• But it is possible to work towards minimising the threat of such incidents and reduce their impact.

Role of glacial lakes

• There are over 1,000 glaciers in Uttarakhand. Almost all of them are receding. Most of the glaciers also have debris cover.
• When glaciers retreat due to rising temperatures, the snow melts but the debris remains. This debris aids in the formation of lakes.

Cause: Retreat of glaciers

• Glaciers have reduced considerably in mass and surface area since the little ice age period.
• This has led to the formation of a large number of glacial lakes all across the Himalayas.
• Many of these high-altitude lakes are potentially dangerous, because of their potential to cause flash floods in the event of a breach.

How big is the threat?

• Over the years, the frequency of formation of these lakes has increased.
• But despite that, there are not many GLOF (glacial lake outburst flood) events happening in Uttarakhand.
• Not as many as in Sikkim, for example. This is because Uttarakhand has very steep slopes, and the water manages to find a way out.

What should be done?

(a) Coherent research

• There are a lot more glaciologists and others who are working in the area and generating data.
• Multiple scientific groups and institutions are involved. But there is no coherent output. Lots of data are being generated but not being put to good use.
• There has to be one agency dedicated to the job.

(b) Monitoring

• The first step in tackling the threat from these glacial lakes is to start monitoring them and the glaciers more actively and regularly.
• There is a need to monitor every glacier. Glaciers in one basin do not have remarkably different properties.
• Relying only on satellites and remote sensing is not going to be enough.
• What is required is a consolidated state of glaciers in India, with the ability to zoom in on any of them and track the changes happening year by year.

(c) Planning

• Construction-related activities in the state might not have a direct link to Chamoli incident, but these are not entirely benign.
• The Himalayas are very young mountain systems, and extremely fragile and a minor change in orientation of the rocks can be enough to trigger landslides.
• It is important to include glaciers in any environment impact assessment for major projects such as the construction of dams.
• The entire catchment areas should be made part of the impact assessment.

(d) Mitigation

• If we monitor the glaciers regularly, it would enable us to identify the lakes that need mitigation solutions.
• Several structural and geotechnical measures can be applied, and there are successful examples where the threat from these lakes has been reduced.
• It is possible to construct channels for the gradual and regulated discharge of water from these lakes, which will reduce the pressure on them, and minimise the chances of a breach.
• At the same time, it also reduces the volume of water that goes into the flash flood. Also, alarm systems can be set up at the lakes that will warn the community downstream whenever an overflow happens.

Way forward

• It is not possible to completely prevent these kinds of incidents. But their potential to cause destruction can certainly be minimized.
• Scientists can find a way to let the lake waters slowly drain at the nearby river at a regulated rate so that there is no flooding, and the pressure on the lake does not become unbearable.
• Such solutions can be applied in Uttarakhand, and some work is being done.

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Russia has declared a state of emergency after a power plant fuel leak in its Arctic region caused 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil to escape into a local river, turning its surface crimson red.

Locate major rivers in Russia in the given map from east-west and west-east directions.

Details of the spillage

• The Ambarnaya River, into which the oil has been discharged, is part of a network that flows into the environmentally sensitive Arctic Ocean.
• The state-owned TASS news agency reported that the emergency measures were announced within Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Region, located in the vast and sparsely populated Siberian peninsula.

How did the leak happen?

• The thermoelectric power plant at Norilsk is built on permafrost, which has weakened over the years owing to climate change.
• The power plant is located near the Region’s Norilsk city, around 3000 km northeast of Moscow.
• This caused the pillars that supported the plant’s fuel tank to sink.
• Around 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil was released into the Ambarnaya river, which has since drifted 12 km on its surface.

What has Russia done so far?

• Boom obstacles were placed in the river, but they were unable to contain the oil because of shallow waters.
• The state of emergency declared would bring in extra forces and federal resources for the clean-up efforts.

What is the extent of the damage?

• Environmentalists have said the river would be difficult to clean, given its shallow waters and remote location, as well as the magnitude of the spill.
• This is the second-largest known oil leak in modern Russia’s history in terms of volume.
• The clean-up effort could take between 5-10 years.

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For the past five days, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra have been experiencing severe to very severe heatwave conditions. Here is why this summer is slightly unusual.

Heatwaves being more frequent phenomena, the UPSC may end up asking a prelim as well as mains question about it.  It may ask Q. What are heat waves and how are they classified? What are the external factors on which it is depended?

A MCQ may be a statement based question mentioning the criteria for declaring a heatwave.

What is a heatwave and when is it declared?

Heatwaves occur over India between March and June.

• IMD declares a heatwave event when the maximum (day) temperature for a location in the plains crosses 40 degrees Celsius.
• Over the hills, the threshold temperature is 30 degrees Celsius.

Following criteria are used to declare heatwave:

To declare heatwave, the below criteria should be met at least in 2 stations in a Meteorological subdivision for at least two consecutive days and it will be declared on the second day.

a) Based on Departure from Normal

• Heat Wave: Departure from normal is 4.5°C to 6.4°C
• Severe Heat Wave: Departure from normal is >6.4°C

b) Based on Actual Maximum Temperature (for plains only)

• Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥ 45°C
• Severe Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥47°C

How long can a heatwave spell last?

• A heatwave spell generally lasts for a minimum of four days. On some occasions, it can extend up to seven or ten days.
• The longest recorded heatwave spell, in recent years, was between 18 – 31 May 2015.
• This spell had severely affected parts of West Bengal along with Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
• Heatwave conditions occurring in May have been observed to last longer, as the season reaches its peak this month.
• Whereas those reported in June often die down sooner, often due to the onset of Southwest monsoon over the location or in its neighbourhood.

Does all of India experience heatwave conditions?

• Heatwaves are common over the Core Heatwave Zone (CHZ) — Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, West Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Vidarbha in Maharashtra.
• The CHZ also includes parts of Gangetic West Bengal, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, as categorised by IMD.
• Several recent studies indicate that CHZ experience more than six heatwave days per year during these four months.
• Many places in the northwest and cities along southeastern coast report eight heatwave days per season.
• However, the regions in the extreme north, northeast and southwestern India are lesser prone to heatwaves.

Whats’ so unusual this year?

• Summer season reaches its peak by May 15 in India when the day temperatures across north, west, and central India cross 40 degrees and hover close to 45 degrees then on.
• This year, north India did not experience such temperatures till May 21.
• It was mainly because of the continuous inflow of Western Disturbances that influenced the weather in the north till as late as April.
• Since last winter, there was frequent passing of Western Disturbances over the north, appearing after every five to seven days.

What are these Western Disturbances?

• Originating in the Mediterranean Sea, Western Disturbances are eastward-moving winds that blow in lower atmospheric levels.
• They affect the local weather of a region during its onward journey.
• Between January and March this year, there were about 20 Western Disturbances, a record of sorts.
• When Western Disturbances interact with weather systems heading from the two southern seas, that is, warm winds blowing in from the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea, they cause snowfall or rainfall over the north.
• A significant influence of Western Disturbances is experienced from December to February. However, this year, its influence persisted until early May.
• The recent Western Disturbances got support from easterly winds blowing over from the Bay of Bengal.

Has cyclone Amphan influenced the current heatwave?

• Since the event of severe heat has emerged immediately after the passing of Cyclone Amphan, experts confirm its role in leading to the present heatwave spell.
• Cyclone Amphan, which was a massive Super Storm covering 700 km, managed to drag maximum moisture from over the Bay of Bengal to entire Peninsula.
• All the moisture that was otherwise built during the thunderstorm and rainfall got gradually depleted from over vast areas as the storm advanced towards West Bengal and Bangladesh between May 16 and 20.
• It has now triggered dry north-westerly winds to blow over Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra causing severe heatwave.

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Locusts normally arrive during July-October but have already been spotted in Rajasthan. At a time India is battling COVID, they present a new worry with their potential for exponential growth and crop destruction.

Along with being a disaster issue, Locust attack is also a challenge for India’s food security. Discuss what socio – economic and technological ways can be adopted to tackle this menance.

What exactly are Locusts?

• The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a short-horned grasshopper that is innocuous while it is in a “solitary phase” and moving about independently.
• These winged insects differ from normal hoppers and become dangerous only when their populations build up rapidly and the close physical contact in crowded conditions triggers behavioural changes.
• They, then, enter the “gregarious phase”, by grouping into bands and forming swarms that can travel great distances (up to 150 km daily), while eating up every bit of vegetation on the way.
• If not controlled at the right time, these insect swarms can threaten the food security of countries.

How seriously should the first sightings be viewed?

• The damage potential of locusts has been limited in India only because of the country hosting a single breeding season — unlike Pakistan, Iran and East Africa, where they also multiply during January-June.
• There’s nothing much to worry right now, as the rabi crop has already been harvested and farmers are yet to commence plantings for the new Kharif season.
• The locusts’ bands so observed are less populated. But their timing, though, is cause for concern.
• The normal breeding season for locusts in India is July-October. But this time, they have been sighted by mid-April.
• Last year, too, they were seen towards end-May as isolated grasshoppers.
• The longer time to breed is more conducive for a build-up of gregarious insect swarms, as opposed to solitary, innocuous hoppers.

Control measures in India

• India has a Locust Control and Research scheme that is being implemented through the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), established in 1939.
• It was amalgamated in 1946 with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage (PPQS) of the Ministry of Agriculture.
• The LWO’s responsibility is monitoring and control of the locust situation in Scheduled Desert Areas mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and partly in Punjab and Haryana.
• The LWO publishes a fortnightly bulletin on the locust situation.

What kind of damage can they cause?

• Locusts are polyphagous, i.e. they can feed on a wide variety of crops.
• Secondly, they have the ability to multiply rapidly. A single female desert locust lays 60-80 eggs thrice during its roughly 90-day life cycle.
• It is estimated that a 1-square-km area can accommodate 40-80 million of these insects, making the growth of their swarms exponential quite like the Covid-19 virus.

What is the genesis of the present locust upsurge, particularly in East Africa?

• It lies in the Mekunu and Luban cyclonic storms of May and October 2018 that struck Oman and Yemen, respectively.
• These turned large desert areas in remote parts of the southern Arabian Peninsula into lakes, which allowed the insects to breed undetected across multiple generations.
• The swarms attacking crops in East Africa reached peak populations from November onwards while building up since the start of this year in southern Iran and Pakistan.
• Widespread rains in East Africa in late March and April have enabled further breeding.
• Prior to that, the locusts from spring breeding areas of southwest Pakistan and southern Iran would arrive in Rajasthan and Gujarat during May-June.
• They would, then, breed with the onset of the southwest monsoon rains and continue doing so through the Kharif cropping season.

What can and should be done?

• If the monsoon is good, and in the absence of control operations, the magnitude of attack could be worse than in the 2019-20 rabi season.
• The last year’s locust incursions were the first and most significant since 1993.
• Local authorities in Rajasthan and Gujarat had to treat over 4.30 lakh hectares of infested areas with sprayers mounted on tractors and other vehicles.

Pesticides give better control

• The old generation organophosphate insecticides such as Malathion (96% ultra-low volume aerial application) are effective against locusts.
• About one litre of the chemical is necessary to treat a hectare of their breeding areas, including trees where they halt for the night.
• There is ample stock of pesticides to control any swarms in India.

Click here to read about the complete genesis of Locusts and their origin:

Locust Invasions and its mitigation

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As the Army moves in to take over the COVID-19 quarantine facility in Delhi, the procedure for calling the armed forces to help the civil administration is in the spotlight.

Requisition the Army

• The regulations permit civil authorities to requisition the Army for controlling law and order, maintaining essential services, assisting during natural calamities such as earthquakes, and any other type of help that may be needed by the civil authorities.
• The procedure for requisitioning armed forces is governed under several guidelines including:

1. ‘Aid to Civil Authorities’ under the guidelines laid in Instructions on Aid to the Civil Authorities by the Armed Forces, 1970;
2. Regulations for the Army, Chapter VII, Paragraphs 301 to 327 and
3. Manual of Indian Military Law, Chapter VII

How is Army invited?

• Civil administration requests the Local Military Authority for assistance, for the maintenance of law and order, maintenance of essential services, disaster relief and other types of assistance.
• Armed forces can be asked to provide troops and equipment for a flag march, rescue and relief, evacuation, and immediate aid.
• The current case of checking the spread of COVID-19 is different, as the medical aspect is predominant.
• These resources are being controlled centrally and judiciously, because of the requirement of doctors, equipment and facilities.

Why need Armed forces in such situations?

• Besides the specialised medical resources, which are centrally controlled, the local units are prepared for maintenance of law and order, crowd control, curfew in sensitive areas etc.
• Moreover provision of essential supply of electricity and water, restoration of essential services, emergency feeding and shelter, prevention of panic, prevention of theft and loot are other areas of concerns.
• During such multi-faceted challenges, local authorities have shortfall to perform all such functions.

In such situations, what happens to the armed forces’ primary role?

• Providing aid to civil authorities, as and when called upon to do so, is a secondary task for the armed forces.
• It cannot replace the primary role of ensuring external security and operational preparedness.

Is there a ceiling on such deployment?

• No, there is no such ceiling either of a duration of deployment or on the number of armed forces personnel that can be deployed to aid civil authority.
• The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by the cabinet secretary, is the final authority.

Are there any templates or instances from the past that are applicable here?

• The current situation is different from earlier cases such as tsunami or super-cyclone, which were natural disasters.
• The major difference is that specialists are the key in the current situation, and their tasks cannot be performed by general duty soldiers.

Who pays for the costs incurred?

• The civil administration is responsible for the costs incurred by the armed forces in these roles.
• The cost of assistance provided by the Armed Forces is recovered in accordance with the instructions contained in ‘Instructions on Aid to Civil Authorities by the Armed Forces 1970’.

What is the role of the National Disaster Management Authority?

• NDMA is involved in secondary follow-ups by the Home Ministry and is not very actively involved in the current case.
• The roles of the Ministries of Health, Home, Civil Aviation and Defence are predominant in this case.
• The armed forces are aligned with them at the apex level viz NCMC.
• The directions are followed by execution-level coordination which is done by respective secretaries in the government.

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Keeping in view the novel coronavirus crisis across the country, various govt. employees, celebrities and political dignitaries are open-heartedly contributing to the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to help combat the disease.

PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF)

• In pursuance of an appeal by the then PM, Pt. Nehru in January, 1948, the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was established with public contributions.
• It was aimed to assist displaced persons from Pakistan.
• The resources of the PMNRF are now utilized primarily to render immediate relief to families of those killed in natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, etc. and to the victims of the major accidents and riots.
• Assistance from PMNRF is also rendered, to partially defray the expenses for medical treatment like heart surgeries, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment and acid attack etc.
• The fund consists entirely of public contributions and does not get any budgetary support.

Legal status

• PMNRF has not been constituted by the Parliament.
• The fund is recognized as a Trust under the Income Tax Act and the same is managed by PM or multiple delegates for national causes.

Donations

• PMNRF accepts only voluntary donations by individuals and institutions.
• Contributions flowing out of budgetary sources of Government or from the balance sheets of the public sector undertakings are not accepted.
• Conditional contributions, where the donor specifically mentions that the amount is meant for a particular purpose, are not accepted in the Fund.

Its operation

• PMNRF operates from the Prime Minister’s Office and does not pay any license fee.
• PM is the Chairman of PMNRF and is assisted by Officers/ Staff on an honorary basis. Permanent Account Number of PMNRF is AACTP4637Q.

Tax exemptions

• PMNRF is exempt under the Income Tax Act, 1961 under Section 10 and 139 for return purposes.
• Contributions towards PMNRF are notified for 100% deduction from taxable income under section 80(G) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

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