Daily Prelims Notes 8 February 2021

February 8, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

8 February 2021

By

Santosh Sir

All 6 CSE Prelims Qualified

4 CSE Mains Qualified

If I can do it, you can too

Table Of Contents

1. GLACIAL OUTBURST FLOOD / AVALANCHE

Subject: Geography

Context : A glacial lake burst, a cloud burst or an avalanche, the impact of climate change or “development” — scientists are not sure what triggered the sudden surge of water near Chamoli in Uttarakhand Sunday morning that briefly raised fears of a repeat of the 2013 disaster in the state.

Concept:

Glacial Lake Outburst Flood

A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a release of meltwater from a moraine– or ice-dam glacial lake due to dam failure.
GLOFs often result in catastrophic flooding downstream, with major geomorphic and socioeconomic impacts.

GLOFs have three main features:

They involve sudden (and sometimes cyclic) releases of water.
They tend to be rapid events, lasting hours to days.
They result in large downstream river discharges (which often increase by an order of magnitude).

Direct Causes

The following direct causes of glacial lake outburst floods were documented:
Rapid slope movement into the lake
Heavy rainfall/snowmelt
Cascading processes (flood from a lake situated upstream)
Earthquake
Melting of ice incorporated in dam/forming the dam (including volcanic activity-triggered jökulhlaups)
Blocking of subsurface outflow tunnels (applies only to lakes without surface outflow or lakes with a combination of surface and subsurface outflow)
Long-term dam degradation

Glacial Lakes

There are two main settings in which glacial lakes form:
Behind moraine dams
Behind ice dams.

Moraine Dammed Lakes

When a glacier retreats, it can leave behind a large impression in the ground that fills with water, turning it into a lake.This is typically known as a moraine.
Moraine-dammed lakes form during periods of glacier retreat from a moraine.
As a glacier margin retreats, water collects in the topographic low between the ice-front and the abandoned frontal and/or lateral moraine.
These lakes can be impounded by an unstable pile of debris and buried ice.
Most existing moraine-dammed lakes were formed when mountain glaciers began to retreat from large moraine ridges constructed during the Little Ice Age.

Ice Dammed Lakes

In contrast to moraine-dammed lakes, ice-dammed lakes form when drainage is blocked by a glacier that advances or becomes thicker.
Consequently, ice-dammed lake growth is closely related to glacier mass balance and climate.
Ice-dammed lakes form wherever a glacier blocks the drainage of meltwater.

AVALANCHE

Avalanche is a rapid downslope movement of a large detached mass of snow, ice, and associated debris such as rocks and vegetation.
Small avalanches, or Sluffs, occur in large numbers, while large avalanches that may encompass slopes a kilometer or more in length with millions of tons of snow, occur infrequently but cause most of the damage.
Humans have been exposed to the threat of sliding snow for as long as they have inhabited mountainous regions.

Types of Avalanches:

Loose snow avalanches-formed in snow with little internal cohesion among individual snow crystals.
Slab avalanches-Originate in snow with sufficient internal cohesion to enable a snow layer, or layers, to react mechanically as a single entity.
Wet snow avalanches-These move more slowly than dry ones and are seldom accompanied by dust clouds.
Direct action avalanches –These are the immediate result of a single snowstorm. They usually involve only fresh snow.
Climax avalanches-Result of a series of snowstorms or a culmination of weather influences. Their fall is not necessarily associated with a current storm or weather situation.

2. CULLING OF ANIMALS AND WPA 1972

Subject: National Legislations

Context : Maharashtra on Sunday culled 40,000 poultry birds in Navapur in Nandurbar district, 340 km north of Mumbai, after cases of avian influenza or bird flu were confirmed in the four-layer poultry farms in the region.

Concept :

Culling and Wildlife Protection Act

Wildlife Protection Act divide species into ‘schedules’ ranked from I to V.
Schedule I members are the best protected, in theory, with severe punishments meted out to those who hunt them.
Animals like Wild boars, nilgai and rhesus monkeys are Schedule II and III members — also protected, but can be hunted under specific conditionslike threat to human life.
Animals like Crows and fruit bat fall in Schedule 5, the vermin category.
Section 11(1)a of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) authorizes chief wildlife warden to permit hunting of any problem wild animal only if it cannot be captured, tranquillized or translocated.
For wild animals in Schedule II, III or IV, chief wildlife warden or authorized officers can permit their hunting in a specified area if they have become dangerous to humans or property (including standing crops on any land).
Section 62 of Act empowers Centre to declare wild animals other than Schedule I & II to be vermin for specified area and period.

3. AMASR ACT

Subject: National Legislations

Context: Days after the National Monument Authority (NMA) issued draft bylaws for Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri, proposing a 100-m no construction zone around the shrine, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Sunday sought withdrawal of the proposed bylaws.

Concept:

The NMA, under the Union Ministry of Culture, had released the draft bylaws under The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act (AMASR), 2010, for the Jagannath Temple and its subsidiary shrines, defining various zones for their conservation and periphery development.

Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958

The AMASR Act provides for preservation of ancient and historical monuments and archaeological sites and remains of national importance.
It provides for the regulation of archaeological excavations and for protection of sculptures, carvings and other like objects.
The Archaeological Survey of India functions under the provisions of this act.
The Act prohibits construction in ‘prohibited area’, an area of 100 meters around protected monument.
It does not permit construction in such prohibited areas even if it is for public purposes, except under certain conditions.
The central government can extend the prohibited area beyond 100 meters.
The iconic monuments in India, Taj Mahal, Ajanta Caves, The Great Stupa at Sanchi and the Sun Temple of Konark, among others are designated as “ancient monuments of national importance” and protected under the AMASR Act.
The Archaeological Survey of India is the custodian of these monuments.
National Monument Authority will make a recommendation, for construction of public works to the central government, only if it is satisfied that there is no reasonable possibility of moving the construction outside the prohibited area.

4. DHEKIAJULI

Subject: History

Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his second visit in a fortnight to poll-bound Assam. On sundaymodi was at the historic “martyr” town of Dhekiajuli,to lay the foundation stone for two medical colleges and launch a road and highway project.

Concept:

Dheikajuli Incident

Dhekiajuli was home to possibly the youngest martyr of the Indian freedom struggle.
On September 20, 1942, as part of the Quit India movement, processions of freedom fighters marched to various police stations across several towns in Assam.
These squads, which were known as ‘MrityuBahini’, or death squads, had wide participation — including women and children — and set out to unfurl the tricolour atop police stations, seen as symbols of colonial power.
he British administration came down heavily on them. In Gohpur, 17-year-old KanaklataBarua and others fell to bullets.
And in Dhekiajuli, at least 15 people were shot dead, three of them women, including the 12-year-old TileswariBarua.
Dhekiajuli town in Sonitpur district observes September 20 as Martyrs’ Day, but outside the town few know of Tileswari who would have been 87 years old today.

5. PM URJA GANGA PROJECT

Subject: Economy

Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation several infrastructure projects in the oil and gas sector in Haldia, including the ambitious 348-km Dobhi-Durgapur natural gas pipeline built by government-owned GAIL.

Concept:

The 348-kilometer pipeline from Dobhi in Bihar to Durgapur in West Bengal is part of the Pradhan MantriUrja Ganga project to take environment-friendly natural gas to India’s eastern parts which hereto was left untouched by the benefits of gas-based economy..

About the Pradhan MantriUrja Ganga Project:

It is a gas pipeline project that aims to provide cooking gas to people.
It was launched in 2016 in Varanasi and later extended to people in the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
The government is taking the initiative to connect the eastern states with the national gas grid.
The total length of the pipeline under the Pradhan MantriUrja Ganga Project is approximately 3,384 km, out of which 766 km of pipeline is in Odisha state and the balance 2,618 km is in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal & Assam.
The project will not just supply CNG to automobiles and cooking gas to household kitchens in cities along the route, but also to industries to meet their feedstock or fuel requirement.
The project is being implemented by GAIL.

6. FPI & DII

Subject: Economics

Context: FPI ownership in NSE-listed companies hit a five-year high of 22.74 per cent at the end of December 2020, up from 21.51 per cent as on September 30, 2020.

Concept:

Foreign Portfolio Investments

Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) refers to investing in the financial assets of a foreign country, such as stocks or bonds available on an exchange.
This type of investment is at times viewed less favorably than direct investment because portfolio investments can be sold off quickly and are at times seen as short-term attempts to make money, rather than a long-term investment in the economy.
Portfolio investments typically have a shorter time frame for investment return than direct investments.
As securities are easily traded, the liquidity of portfolio investments makes them much easier to sell than direct investments. With any equity investment, foreign portfolio investors usually expect to quickly realize a profit on their investments.
Portfolio investments are more accessible for the average investor than direct investments because they require much less investment capital and research.
Examples of foreign portfolio investments include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, American depositary receipts (ADRs), and global depositary receipts (GDRs).

Domestic Institutional Investors

Domestic institutional investors are those institutional investors which undertake investment in securities and other financial assets of the country they are based in.
Institutional investment is defined to be the investment done by institutions or organizations such as banks, insurance companies, mutual fund houses, etc in the financial or real assets of a country.
Simply stated, domestic institutional investors use pooled funds to trade in securities and assets of their country.
These investment decisions are influenced by various domestic economic as well as political trends.
In addition to the foreign institutional investors, the domestic institutional investors also affect the net investment flows into the economy.

7. LAC

Subject: Security

Context : India-China talk disengagement, PLA beefs up on LAC with more missiles, rockets and howitzers.

Concept :

Line of Actual Control

Demarcation Line: The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the demarcation that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory.

LAC is different from the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan:

The LoC emerged from the 1948 ceasefire line negotiated by the United Nations (UN) after the Kashmir War.
It was designated as the LoC in 1972, following the Shimla Agreement between the two countries. It is delineated on a map signed by the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of both armies and has the international sanctity of a legal agreement.
The LAC, in contrast, is only a concept – it is not agreed upon by the two countries, neither delineated on a map nor demarcated on the ground.
Length of the LAC: India considers the LAC to be 3,488 km long, while the Chinese consider it to be only around 2,000 km.

Sectors Across the LAC:

It is divided into three sectors: the eastern sector which spans Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim (1346 km), the middle sector in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh (545 km), and the western sector in Ladakh (1597 km).
The alignment of the LAC in the eastern sector is along the 1914 McMahon Line.
The McMohan line marked out previously unclaimed/undefined borders between Britain and Tibet.
The middle sector is the least disputed sector, while the western sector witnesses the highest transgressions between the two sides.

Disagreements:

India’s claim line is different from that of the LAC. It is the line seen in the official boundary marked on the maps as released by the Survey of India, including Aksai Chin (occupied by China).
In China’s case, LAC corresponds mostly to its claim line, but in the eastern sector, it claims the entire Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet.
The claim lines come into question when a discussion on the final international boundaries takes place, and not when the conversation is about a working border i.e. LAC.

8. DHAULIGANGA

Subject: Geography

Context: Water Levels Surge Up In Dhauli Ganga Once Again After Glacier Burst.

Concept:

Dhauligangaalso known as Dhauli river is one of the six source streams of the ganga river. It originates from DeovanHimani and flows along gahrwal division of uttarakhand.
It rises at an altitude of 5070 metres in Niti Pass at chamoli district of uttarakhand.
It meets Alaknandariver at Vishnu Prayag at the base of Joshimath Mountains.
Major Hydroelectric projects situated at Tapovan, Maleri Jhelum, Jhelum Tamak in chamoli district.