Alappuzha, Kerala’s is among 5 cities Recognized by (UNEP)

Alappuzha, Kerala’s picturesque town famous for its canals, is among the five cities recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as global success stories in solving the problem of solid waste. 

 The UNEP’s report titled ‘Solid approach to waste: how 5 cities are beating pollution,’ notes that many urban centres have not risen to the challenge, but the Kerala town and the four other cities have adopted ‘a solid approach to waste.’ Osaka ( Japan), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Penang (Malaysia) and Cajicá (Colombia) are the other winners. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the report says, chose World Environment Day 2017 to launch a drive to address the mountains of trash piling up on the streets and in landlls across India. 

“To implement it, cities across the world’s second most­populous nation could do worse than follow the example of progressive municipalities like Alappuzha,” the UNEP said. Segregate, prosper Alappuzha addressed the problem by introducing a decentralised waste management system, the agency said.

 “A few years ago, roadsides and canals lled with stinking garbage were threatening coastal Alappuzha’s status as a tourist destination as well as exposing residents and visitors alike to clouds of ies and disease­spreading mosquitoes. 

Protests by local residents led to the closure of the city’s main from December 4 to 6. “Five of the 50 anti­pollution actions listed in a UN Environment report relate directly to solid waste. One emphasises that carefully crafted policies and regulation at the national level are vital to moving economies onto a more sustainable track. But it is usually up to cities and towns to implement them on the ground,” UNEP says. 

 Alappuzha is among a handful of municipalities that received the Clean City Award from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in 2016. landll site in 2014. Since then, the city, often referred to as ‘the Venice of the East’ for its backwaters and coastal lagoons where tourists rent houseboats, had introduced a decentralised waste management system. 

Under this, biodegradable waste was segregated at the ward level, and treated in small composting plants. “This provides many of its 1,74,000 residents with biogas for cooking,” the UN report said. Pollution is the theme of the 2017 UN Environment Assembly, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya

27th Nov Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

Mahendragiri Gecko

• A new species of gecko (lizards) belonging to the genus Hemidactylus was recently discovered from Mahendragiri hills in Andhra-Odisha border.
• It is the second gecko to be found endemic to the Eastern Ghats area.
• The first one “House Lizard” was discovered from Kanger Ghati National Park in Chattisgarh.
• Scientists discovered that Mahendragiri geckos were not a population of geckos found in Western Ghats in Maharashtra and it is the latest addition to the species list of the Eastern Ghats.
• The lizard is the 32nd species of Hemidactylus gecko found in India.
• The discovery highlights the biodiversity importance of the region.
• For the last 70 years, it did not get its rightful place in the classification scheme.

Mamallapuram Stone Sculptures

• The hand-crafted stone sculptures of Mamallapuram have been recently granted the Geographical Indications (GI) tag.
• The exquisite rock-sculpting techniques exhibited in Mamallapuram date back to early 7th century CE.
• The Pallava dynasty, which ruled the area between 6 and 9th centuries A.D., is responsible for the development of port town as a centre of art and architecture.
• Mahendravarman (AD 580-630), his son Narasimhavarman I Mamalla (AD 630-668), Paramesvaravarman (A.D. 672-700) and Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha (A.D. 700-728) had contributed the most of sculptures.
• Mamallapuram was named after the king Narasimhavarma Pallava, who was also known as Mamallan (great wrestler).
• Sculptors use blue metal for stone sculptors instead of granite which has high density and very costly.

GI tags

• Tamil Nadu is first among the states in India with regard to the number of GI tags for its products, while Uttar Pradesh comes second.
• Darjeeling Tea was the first Indian product to get a Geographic Indication in the early 2000s.
• Tamil Nadu has submitted 50 products of which 24 have been approved by the registry.
• The most famous among these is the Kanchipuram silk.
• Coimbatore wet grinder, artisans of Vadasery in Nagercoil who make dazzling jewellery of a unique kind for temples, Tanjavur Dancing Doll are some of the products that have obtained the GI certificate.

Neelakurinji Reserve

• The reserve is located in Munnar in Idukki district of Kerala.
• The government has decided to redraw the boundaries of the Neelakurinji reserve.
• The government had issued a preliminary notification in 2006 reserving a 3,200-hectare area for Neelakurinji bloom.
• It blooms once in 12 years and it is expected to bloom in July, 2018.
• The notification had triggered an outcry from the local community citing the presence of habitations, institutions, and places of worship within the notified area.
• Click here to know more about Neelakurinji.

UMANG App

• UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) mobile app allow citizens to access government services on a single platform.
• The services live on the app include Aadhaar, DigiLocker, Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) among others.
• It is expected to provide access to over 1,200 services of various government organisations in states and at the Centre as well as utility payments.
• Using the app, citizens will be able to access Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) services, apply for a new PAN, and can register under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

International Gita Mahotsava – 2017

• The International Gita Mahotsava-2017 was recently organized in Kurukshetra, Haryana.
• It was inaugurated by the President of India.
• The mahotsav which will conclude on December 3 will have Mauritius as partner country and Uttar Pradesh as partner state.

26th Nov Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World)

• It is an ethereal portrait of Jesus Christ by Leonardo da Vinci, which dates to about 1500.
• It is one of around 16 verified da Vinci originals in existence.
• It is the last privately owned Leonardo da Vinci painting and was put on sale recently.
• Experts have had doubts about the authenticity as also the condition of the painting as t#he work has been marred by repeated repaintings.

ASTROSAT

• It is India’s first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory.
• Most other scientific satellites are capable of observing only a narrow range of wavelength band. But ASTROSAT enables the simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite i.e  it  observes universe in the optical, Ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
• Multi-wavelength observations of ASTROSAT can be further extended with co-ordinated observations using other spacecraft and ground based observations.
• The Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride Imager (CZTI) is an instrument to observe and image hard X-rays in AstroSat.
• It has consistently been making important.
• The latest discovery of it is a polarization analysis of the Crab nebula pulsar.

Dindigul Locks

• The Dindigul region in Tamilnadu is known for well-crafted locks.
• There has been decline in the lock-making tradition in recent times.
• The reasons are—

1. the refusal of artisans to adopt modern technology
2. the absence of documentation,
3. research and development
4. an unorganised workforce paid poor wages
5. disinterest among younger workers to learn the craft
6. the invasion of cheaper and lightweight locks, especially from China and
7. the higher cost of handcrafted locks.

• The imposition of 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST) has also hiked the price of Dindigul locks.
• Geographical Indication tag has been sought for Dindigul locks since 2013.

Pre-Monsoon Dust

• The aerosol burden over north India is 3 times more than the global mean value.
• It has been increasing at about 3% per year for the past few decades.
• But the amount of dust aerosol during the pre-monsoon period has decreased by 10-20% during the period.
• Past studies have shown that whenever pre-monsoon dust aerosol is more over north Indian region, the early part of monsoon rainfall is higher.

Water Bodies & Methane

• Shallow lakes, ponds, rivers and wetlands are relevant in the context of climate change.
• They are responsible for much of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• An important part of these emissions is caused by bubbles filled with methane gas that develop in the sediment at the bottom of these water bodies.
• When the bubbles reach the surface, the gas enters the atmosphere.
• Nutrient-rich sediments produce more methane than nutrient-poor sediments.
• One possibility for reducing methane production is therefore to make sure that sediments have fewer nutrients, which means using less fertiliser!

Environmental Kuznets curve

 The environmental Kuznets curve states that a country’s environment tends to degrade as the country grows richer. But after the country reaches a certain level of economic development, the quality of its environments begins to improve. 

Supporters of this hypothesis believe that countries need to reach a particular average income level before they can aord to allocate the resources needed to protect the environment. In other words, poor countries do not care much about the environment as they have more pressing problems to solve.

What is Terahertz imaging?

It is a scanning technique that uses extremely high frequency waves to penetrate dense surfaces. Originally employed in the search for petroleum reserves, it is now used in art restoration. The beams can penetrate layers of paint introduced in varying degrees by artists to create particular effects or it can also plumb, without causing damage, layers of wear­ and­ tear over the years. 

Without the signal processing, researchers might only be able to identify layers 100 to 150 microns thick. But using the advanced processing, they can distinguish layers just 20 microns thick. Paintings done before the 18th century have been challenging to study because their paint layers tend to be very thin. Beyond old art, the non­ destructive technique also has potential applications for detecting skin cancer, ensuring proper adhesion of turbine blade coatings, and measuring the thickness of automotive paints.

New identity Dutta’s Mahendragiri gecko for an Eastern Ghats resident

For the last 70 years, it did not get its rightful place in the classication scheme. But the Dutta’s Mahendragiri gecko has come into its own now, and is the latest addition to the species list of the Eastern Ghats. 

Discovered from Andhra Pradesh’s Mahendragiri hills, it is the second gecko to be found endemic to the area. 

The discovery highlights the biodiversity importance of the region, say scientists. Genetics help Genetic analysis, which involves scrutiny of an organism’s DNA, helped scientists from institutes including the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Zoological Survey of India discover that the Dutta’s Mahendragiri geckos were not a population of Spotted rock geckos (found in the northern Western Ghats in Maharashtra) as it was believed. 

“DNA sequence data showed that these two geographically ­separated populations are different and a careful examination of their characteristics showed that the new species has many unique, diagnostic characters,” says Varad Giri (NCBS), lead author of the six­ year long study published in the journal Zootaxa. 

 Dutta’s Mahendragiri gecko has golden eyes and pale, black­ bordered horizontal bands. Christened Hemidactylus sushil duttai in honour of herpetologist Sushil Kumar Dutta, the lizard is the 32nd species of Hemidactylus gecko found in India.

ISRO’s solar mission Aditya ­L1

Sometime in 2019 or 2020 India will send ISRO’s solar mission Aditya ­L 1 to a vantage point in space, known as the L 1 Lagrange point, to do imaging and study of the sun. 

This launch will happen in the early part of the next solar cycle ­ an occurrence in which sunspots form on the face of the sun, growing in size and number and eventually diminishing, all over a period of eleven years. It will be a mission of many firsts. 

The so ­called L 1 point is 1.5 million kilometers away. Here, due to the delicate balance of gravitational forces, the satellite will require very little energy to maintain its orbit. Also it will not be eclipsed from the sun. The 1,500 ­kg class satellite will be programmed to orbit this point and image the sun’s magnetic Field  from space for the very first time in the world. Scientists hope to capture the closeups of the sun from here, uninterrupted by eclipses for years. 

 Few other space agencies have successfully placed their satellites at this location. Among the few, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a NASAESA collaboration involving America and Europe, and NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) are at L1 exclusively to study the sun and space weather, respectively.

 Aditya ­L1 is expected to be the very first to study from space two months from the time of launch, the magnetic field of the sun’s corona. The corona is the outer layer that we see during total solar eclipses. It will be the first 100% Indian mission which will not only negotiate a challenging orbit, but will also benefit the global scientific community in understanding the sun. 

Deeper look

 Earlier, the NASA­ESA mission SOHO was launched in 1995, and while it made many discoveries, its coronagraph, meant to image the sun, broke down shortly after the mission commenced. Hence there is currently no satellite imaging the sun from space. 

Aditya L1 will not only fill this gap it will also literally, look deeper into the sun than SOHO. “The nominal mission lifetime is expected to be five years, though it is expected to go on for much longer, perhaps even ten,” says Dipankar Banerjee from Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAP), Bengaluru, which is collaborating with ISRO on this project. 

The mission will carry seven payloads,consisting of a coronagraph, equipment that will image the sun using ultraviolet filters, X-­ray spectrometers, and particle samplers all being made within the country. The largest payload, or instrument, aboard the satellite, will be the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VLEC). This can view the sun more closely than has been done before even by SOHO.

25th Nov Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

India’s Biggest Oil Refinery

• India’s biggest oil refinery proposed on the western coastline near Rajapur tehsil of the Ratnagiri district in Maharastra.
• The government has recently begun the joint measurement of land.
• The land has been notified as an industrial area under Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) Act, instead of Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
• MIDC law is draconian and gives no voice to the people.
• So farmers from in Maharashtra have been protesting against it.
• The villagers are also concerned at the pollution caused by the refinery once it is operational.
• The refinery will stand next to world’s biggest nuclear power project, the proposed 9900 MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP), which is another cause for concern among locals.
• A desiltation project and a 1,500 MW thermal power project are also proposed in the vicinity.

Panel to reform IBC

• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code became operational in December 2016.
• It provides for a market-determined and time-bound insolvency resolution process.
• With rising number of cases under the IBC, the government has set up a 14-member panel to identify and suggest ways to address issues faced in its implementation.
• This committee will be chaired by Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas.
• The move also comes against the backdrop of concerns about the possibility of promoters wresting back control of a company under insolvency process.

North East Rural Livelihood Project

• It is a unique scheme proposed by the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER) and is being supported by the World Bank.
• It will primarily benefit the tribals and the lower socioeconomic groups, especially women, in the North-Eastern Region (NER).
• Four states, - Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, will be taken up for helping the tribal and even the non-tribal lower groups living in remote areas.
• It is also aimed at assisting over 10,000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) and benefit about three lakh poor households.
• The more vulnerable tribal groups like Reang in Tripura and Lepsha and Bhutias in Sikkim will also benefit from it.

Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017

• Bamboo is taxonomically a grass.
• Yet it was legally defined as a tree under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
• This was a major impediment for bamboo cultivation on non-forest land as the act mandates requirement of felling/transit permit for its economic use.
• Though India has 19% share of world’s area under bamboo cultivation, its market share in the sector is only 6%.
• So the Union Government has recently promulgated the Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017.
• It exempts bamboo grown in non-forest areas from the definition of tree.
• So there is no more a requirement of felling/transit permit.
• Hence this will promote cultivation of bamboo in non-forest areas to achieve twin objectives of increasing the farmer incomes and also increasing the green cover.
• It will greatly aid the success of recently constituted National Bamboo Mission.
• Bamboo grown in the forest areas will continue to be governed by the provisions of IFA, 1927.

Talanoa Dialogue

• It is facilitative dialogue among member of Conference of Parties of Paris Agreement to be taken in 2018.
• It is a year-long process to take stock of the collective efforts of Parties in relation to progress towards the long-term goal of economy-wide absolute emission reduction and to inform the preparation of nationally determined contributions.
• Talanoa is a traditional word used in Fiji and the Pacific to reflect a process of inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue.

How bacteria survive?

• Aerobic bacteria cannot undergo metabolic processes without oxygen.
• Each cell must extract electrons from food that are then transported along the cell's membrane until they reach an oxygen molecule.
• The energy released during this metabolic process is used to sustain life.
• But Bacteria rarely live by themselves as single-celled organisms.
• Most grow in communities to form a biofilm with tissue-like properties that serves to fortify the community.
• As communities grow they can become overcrowded, creating an environment where each cell has to compete for limited nutrients and oxygen to survive.

• Biologists have recently revealed a mechanism by which bacterial cells access oxygen for energy production.
• They say that the communities can change the overall structure of the biofilm so that its surface area-to-volume ratio is higher and a larger proportion of the cells inside are able to access the oxygen on the outside.
• Some can also make molecules called phenazines, which help to shuttle electrons from the inside to the outside of the cell.
• Some make alternative versions of terminal oxidases i.e enzymes that transfer electrons to oxygen, which use oxygen more efficiently or are better at scavenging oxygen when the concentration is low.

Sources: PIB, The Hindu, The Indian Express

24th Nov Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

India-Russia Agreement

• Cabinet has given its approval for signing an agreement between India and Russia on cooperation in the field of combating all forms of terrorism and organized crime.
• The proposed Agreement will replace the Agreement of October 1993.
• It is a step towards jointly fighting the new and evolving risks and threats.

Pay Revision for Judges

• The Union Cabinet has recently approved the revision in the salaries, gratuity, allowances, pension of the Judges of the SC and HC and retired Judges of SC and HC following the recommendation of Pay Commission.
• Salaries, gratuity, pension, allowances of Judges of Supreme Court are governed by the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958.
• For Judges of High Courts, it is governed by High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954.
• An amendment in the acts is required whenever there is any proposal for revision of salaries/pension gratuity, allowances.
• Therefore, the government intends to move bills to amend the two acts in the ensuing winter session of parliament.

Free float

• It refers to the portion of the total outstanding shares of a company that is in the hands of the public.
• Hence, it is available to be freely traded on the market.
• The shares of the companies with sufficient free float exhibit lesser price volatility than companies whose shares are mostly held by a close group of promoters.
• This is mainly due to availability of buyers for free floated shares held by public.
• Whereas promoters held the shares for the long run and do not engage in daily buying and selling activity.

Bishnois of Rajasthan

• The Bishnois are a sect of people mainly found in Bikaner Region in Rajasthan.
• They will not tolerate killing of wild animals and felling of a green tree.
• They are called as “The Protectors of Black Buck”.
• Jammeshwarji Maharaj launched this sect in 1542 A.D who preached 29 principles to the followers.
• It covers various aspects of brotherhood, penance, fighting social evils, reserving rights for women, wildlife preservation and kindness towards animals.
• Bishnois treat these principles a religion and follow them with devotion.
• They staged a protest recently against the poaching of Chinkara.

Chinkara

• The chinkara (Gazella bennettii), also known as the Indian gazelle, is a gazelle (Antelope) species native to Iran, Pakistan and India.
• They live in arid plains and hills, deserts, dry scrub and light forests.
• They are being poached allegedly by the Bawaria community, a Scheduled Caste whose traditional occupation is hunting.
• The Narayan Sarovar Sanctuary, located in Kachchh district of Gujarat is especially important for chinkara.
• It got the highest protection under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• The Bishnoi sect guards chinkaras in the Marwar region where it lives in majority.

UDAY scheme

• Nagaland, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu recently signed MoU with GoI under UDAY Scheme.
• Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) is an initiative of the union ministry of power.
• It aims to provide financial and operational turnaround of power distribution companies.
• It has target of making all DISCOMs profitable by 2018-19 through four initiatives.
• It includes improving operational efficiencies of Discoms, Reduction of cost of power, Reduction in interest cost of Discoms, Enforcing financial discipline on DISCOMs through alignment with state finances.
• Under this programme, States shall take over DISCOM debt.

Source: The Hindu, PIB

23th Nov Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

European Bank for Reconstruction & Development

• The Union Cabinet has approved India's membership for European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
• EBRD is an international financial institution founded in 1991 and headquartered in London.
• It is owned by 65 countries and two EU institutions, and US is the biggest shareholder.
• Besides Europe, member countries of the EBRD are also from other continents - North America (Canada and US), Africa (Morocco), Asia (Japan, China, South Korea) and Australia.
• EBRD's core operations pertain to private sector development in their countries of operation.
• The minimum initial investment towards the membership of EBRD will be approximately one million Euros.
• The EBRD is not to be confused with the European Investment Bank (EIB) which is owned by EU member states and used to support EU policy.

15th Finance Commission

• The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of the 15thFinance Commission.
• It will decide on the distribution of tax proceeds among centre, states and local bodies in the post-goods and services tax (GST) era.
• The setting up of the finance commission for every 5 years is a Constitutional obligation under Article 280 (1) of the Constitution.
• The recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission are valid from 2015 to 2020.
• The recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission will be implemented in the period 2020 to 2025.
• The 14th Finance Commission had raised the untied share of states in net central taxes to 42% from 32% after ending discretionary resource transfers from the centre to the states.

Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra

• The objective of this new scheme is to empower rural women through community participation.
• Improving the child sex ratio, survival of new born girl child, girl education and empower them through several initiatives are the main motives.
• It aims to create an environment in which women realize their full potential.
• The scheme is envisaged to work at national, state and block level.
• Under the scheme, community engagement through student volunteers is envisioned in the backward districts at block level.
• Student volunteers will help in awareness generation regarding various important government programmes as well as social issues.
• It will be implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development under umbrella mission for “Protection and Empowerment for Women” for the duration of 2017-18 to 2019-20.

Brahmos Missile

• It is the supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air based platforms.
• IAF has successfully test fired the air-launched version of the brahmos for the first time from Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet.
• With this launch, India has completed the cruise missile triad for land, sea and air variants.
• The air launched BrahMos missile is a 2.5 ton supersonic air to surface cruise missile with ranges of more than 400 kms.
• It marks a history as IAF is the first air force in the world to have successfully fired an air launched 2.8 Mach surface attack missile.
• The original range was 290 km which was further extended to 450 km after joining MTCR and expected to be extended even up to 600 km.
• Click here to know more about Brahmos missile

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao

• The Union Cabinet has recently given its approval for expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao for a Pan India reach covering all the 640 districts of the country as per census 2011.
• The scheme was launched in 2015 to address the issue of decline in Child Sex Ratio (CSR) in gender critical districts.
• The objectives of the Scheme are

1. Prevent gender biased sex selective elimination
2. Ensure survival & protection of the girl child
3. Ensure education of the girl child

• The initiative has two major components such as mass communication campaign and multi-sectoral action covering all States and UTs.
• It is currently implemented in 161 districts which has adverse CSR.
• It is being implemented in a coordinated effort by Ministry of WCD, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of HRD.
• CSR - Number of girls per 1000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years. It declined sharply from 976 in 1961 to 918 in Census 2011.

Implementation period of Environmental Protocols

• Paris Agreement, 2015 under UNFCCC is intended for 2020-2030 period.
• First phase of the Kyoto Protocol - 2005-2012
• Doha amendment, 2012 – concerning the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol
• As only 75 countries have so far ratified the Doha amendments it could not be enforced which requires ratification of 144 countries.
• Second phase of the Kyoto Protocol -  2013-2020
• India ratified the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol.

Source: The Hindu, PIB.