Daily Prelims Notes 2 July 2024
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Daily Prelims Notes
2 July 2024
1. Will the Hosur airport become a reality?
Sub: Geography
Sec: Economic geo
Context:
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin plans to set up an international airport on 2,000 acres in Hosur.
Significance of Hosur:
- Capacity: The airport will handle three crore passengers annually.
- Location: Hosur is in Krishnagiri district, on the border of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Hosur is 40 km from Bengaluru.
- Population Growth: Ranked 13th globally for fastest population growth in 2021.
- Industrial Hub: Home to companies like Tata Electronics, TVS, Ashok Leyland, Titan, and Rolls-Royce (IAMPL).
- Sectors: Strong in auto and electric vehicle manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, logistics, electronics, floriculture, and horticulture.
- MSMEs: Approximately 3,000 MSMEs in engineering fabrication, tooling, and polishing.
- The State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (SIPCOT), the State government’s nodal agency to promote industrial infrastructure, has established industrial parks in Hosur in two phases spread over 2,093 acres.
- Water Supply: SIPCOT is setting up a 20 MLD Tertiary Treatment Reverse Osmosis plant, expected by September.
Guidelines and Procedures:
- DGCA Guidelines: No greenfield airport within 150 km of an existing civilian airport without an impact assessment and government approval.
- In 2017, approval was granted for an airport in Jewar, 72 kms from IGI Airport, Delhi, to decongest Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.
- Union Cabinet Approval: Required for DGCA to grant a licence.
Impact and Benefits:
- Airport project to enhance connectivity and stimulate economic growth in Hosur and neighbouring districts (Dharmapuri and Salem).
- Foster growth between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, creating a twin-city ecosystem with Bengaluru.
Previous Plan:
- Hosur airport is owned by Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Limited.
- In 2023, a bid for the Chennai-Hosur-Chennai route was not awarded under the UDAN scheme due to the BIAL agreement.
- Hosur Airport was removed from future UDAN bidding documents.
Challenges
- Negotiations: DMK government needs to negotiate with the Centre for norm relaxation, regulatory, and environmental clearances.
- Infrastructure: Supporting infrastructure for the airport needs to be developed.
- Hurdles: Concession agreement with Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) restricts new airports within 150 km until 2033.
Source: TH
2. How urban expansion makes Delhi susceptible to flooding
Sub: Geography
Sec: Indian Physical Geography
Urban flood in Delhi NCR:
- Unchecked urban expansion is a major cause of chronic urban flooding in Delhi and the NCR.
- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded 228.1 mm of rain in 24 hours, an 88-year high.
- Delhi’s urban flooding is exacerbated by inadequate drain desilting and poor consideration of natural drainage patterns during expansion.
A rapidly growing city:
- Rapid urban expansion has seen Delhi’s geographic size almost double from 1991 to 2011, with significant growth in surrounding cities like Ghaziabad, Faridabad, and Gurugram.
- By 2030, Delhi is expected to become the world’s most populous city with nearly 39 million people.
- Most of this expansion has occurred on the peripheries of New Delhi, with erstwhile rural areas becoming engulfed in the capital’s urban sprawl. Cities outside Delhi, but a part of the NCR — Bahadurgarh, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida, and Gurugram — have also witnessed rapid urbanisation.
Topography and drainage:
- Historically, Delhi’s cities and villages were built on higher ground to facilitate natural drainage.
- Modern expansion has neglected this principle, resulting in high run-off and inadequate drainage systems.
- Urbanisation has led to water channelisation into concretised drains, which are often used as sewage dumps.
- Construction in low-lying areas and on flood plains has worsened flooding, with areas like Sarai Kale Khan experiencing intense annual flooding.
Concrete everywhere:
- Concretisation has reduced rainwater absorption, leading to more surface flooding.
- Floodplain encroachment occurred:
- When the British decided to build a railway line along the riverbed.
- When the Ring Road came up, again on the Yamuna floodplain.
- Flood plains near Kashmere Gate were reclaimed by the Delhi Metro for its maintenance shed.
- During the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
No ‘water masterplan’:
- The lack of a “water masterplan” and consistent neglect of water as a planning resource have exacerbated the issue.
- Important water bodies have been destroyed, reducing the city’s capacity to manage flooding.
- Effective flood management requires stopping construction in low-lying areas, de-concretising surfaces, and maintaining proper drainage.
- Setting up filtration pits in low-lying areas can help manage water flow and prevent flooding.
Source: IE
3. Team India stranded in Barbados due to Hurricane Beryl: What are hurricanes, their types?
Sub: Geography
Sec: Climatology
Context:
- The Indian cricket team, fresh from their ICC World T20 Cup win, is stranded in Barbados due to Hurricane Beryl.
- The team was scheduled to leave for New York on July 1, connecting through Dubai to reach India, but the hurricane has closed the Grantley Adams International Airport indefinitely.
Hurricane Beryl:
- Beryl is the earliest category 4 storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, with winds of at least 130 mph (209 km/h).
- It is impacting the Windward Islands, including Barbados, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago.
- The hurricane is expected to cause violent winds and flash flooding, with life-threatening conditions forecasted for July 1.
- Warnings have been issued for several islands, including Barbados and St. Lucia, while Dominica and Trinidad are under a tropical storm watch.
- Schools are suspended indefinitely, some being used as hurricane shelters.
- The Barbados Water Authority has shut down the water supply, while the power company has not planned electricity cuts.
- Beryl is the strongest storm to hit the Windward Islands since Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Hurricane Formation:
- Hurricanes form over warm ocean waters near the equator, fueled by warm, moist air.
- Rising warm air creates low-pressure areas, drawing in surrounding air, which also warms and rises.
- The process creates clouds and wind systems that grow and spin, forming a hurricane.
- Hurricanes rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere due to Earth’s rotation.
- The most influential factors are:
- A source of warm, moist air derived from tropical oceans with sea surface temperatures normally in the region of, or in excess, of 27 °C;
- Winds near the ocean surface blowing from different directions converging and causing air to rise and storm clouds to form;
- Winds which do not vary greatly with height – known as low wind shear. This allows the storm clouds to rise vertically to high levels;
- Sufficient distance from the equator to provide spin or twist.
- La Nina, a weather pattern most commonly found in the Southern Pacific region also causes cyclones depending on the weather conditions at the time.
Increasing Severity of Hurricanes:
- As hurricanes make landfall, they weaken due to losing ocean moisture.
- A study in Nature suggests that warmer sea surface temperatures slow hurricane decay, increasing their impact.
- The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season saw 29 named storms, a record high.
Hurricanes vs. Tropical Storms:
- Hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones are all tropical cyclones, named based on their location.
- Tropical cyclones are called by different names in different regions given below:
- Hurricane – Atlantic
- Typhoon – Western Pacific and the South China Sea
- Willy-Willies – Western Australia
- Cyclone – Indian Ocean
Source: IE
4. What discovery of prehistoric ostrich shells in Andhra means
Sub: Environment
Sec: Species in news
Context:
- A team of archaeologists discovered a 41,000-year-old ostrich nest (world’s oldest known ostrich nest) in Prakasam, Andhra Pradesh, led by Devara Anil Kumar from MS University, Vadodara.
- The nest, measuring 9-10 feet in width, originally housed 9-11 eggs but could hold up to 30-40 eggs, providing insights into ancient ostrich nesting habits.
Understanding Megafauna:
- Megafauna refers to large animals weighing over 50 kg, categorized as megaherbivores (plant-eaters), megacarnivores (meat-eaters), or megaomnivores (who eat both plants and meat).
- Ostriches, as megaomnivores, weigh 90-140 kg and stand 7-9 feet tall, making them significant members of prehistoric ecosystems.
Implications of the Andhra Discovery on Prehistoric Megafauna:
- The ostrich nest discovery confirms the presence of ostriches in southern India 41,000 years ago.
- This contributes to ongoing research on the extinction of megafauna in India, linking back to discoveries dating to the Upper Palaeolithic era and the contributions of previous studies such as those by S A Sali and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB).
Insights and Research on Megafauna Extinction:
- Research indicates megafaunal extinction in the Indian Subcontinent commenced around 30,000 years ago, coinciding with human migration.
- The “co-evolution hypothesis” suggests human interaction and environmental changes as key factors in megafaunal extinction.
- Current studies stress the importance of robust fossil datasets to deepen our understanding of this extinction process.
About Ostritches:
- Large, flightless birds with two living species: the common ostrich (native to sub-Saharan Africa) and the Somali ostrich (native to the Horn of Africa).
- Physical Characteristics: Heaviest and largest living birds, weighing 63.5-145 kg; lay the largest eggs of any land animal.
- Fastest birds on land, capable of running at 70 km/h (43.5 mph).
- Farming and Industry: Farmed globally, with major industries in the Philippines and Namibia. South Africa, particularly Oudtshoorn, produces about 70% of global ostrich products. Ostrich leather is valuable, and feathers are used for ceremonial headgear. Ostrich eggs have been utilized by humans for millennia.
- Taxonomy: Belong to the genus Struthio in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, which includes other flightless birds like emus, rheas, cassowaries, kiwis, and the extinct elephant birds and moas.
- Historical Range: The common ostrich was once native to the Arabian Peninsula and was present in Asia as far east as China and Mongolia during the Late Pleistocene and possibly into the Holocene.
Source: IE
Sub: Environment
Sec: Species in news
Context:
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) approved Rs 56 crore for the next phase of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) and Lesser Florican conservation.
Details:
- The plan includes habitat development, in-situ conservation, completion of the conservation breeding centre, and releasing captive-bred birds.
- In June, the National CAMPA executive committee recommended the Wildlife Institute of India’s (WII) proposal for scaling up the project from 2024-2033, including two components.
Conservation programme:
- The conservation programme has been running since 2016 for the long-term recovery of GIB and Lesser Florican, with around 140 GIBs and fewer than 1,000 Lesser Floricans currently surviving in the wild.
- The first component targets the completion of the conservation breeding centre (CBC) in Jaisalmer, development of the Sorsan Lesser Florican facility, and preparatory work for releasing captive-bred birds.
- The second component involves in-situ conservation of GIBs in other states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, with a budget of Rs 43.68 crore.
- WII will also undertake GIB population estimation and rangewide population estimation of the Lesser Florican between 2024-2026.
- Until rewilding begins in 2027, WII plans to collect two to four GIB eggs and six to ten Lesser Florican eggs each year.
- Release sites for captive-bred Bustards will be identified, with training and soft release enclosures developed.
- The 2024-2029 phase will target artificial insemination techniques as a backup to captive-breeding conservation, with collaboration from the Abu Dhabi-based International Fund for Houbara Conservation.
- Artificial insemination will aid genetic management and diversity, potentially using cryopreservation to manage the population from a genetic perspective.
- GIB and Lesser Florican populations have declined due to hunting, habitat loss, egg predation, and overhead power lines.
- Conservation efforts began with the National Bustard Recovery Plan in 2013 and the Bustard Recovery Project in 2016, including a 2018 tripartite agreement between MoEFCC, Rajasthan forest department, and WII.
- Two GIB conservation breeding centres and one Lesser Florican centre are operational in Rajasthan’s Sam, Ramdevra, and Sorsan.
About Great Indian Bustard (GIB):
- The Great Indian Bustard is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world.
- Scientific Name: Ardeotis nigriceps
- Habitat: Dry grasslands and scrublands on the Indian subcontinent; its largest populations are found in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
- Distribution:
- India, effectively the only home of the bustards, now harbours less than 150 individuals in five States.
- Today, its population is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Small population also occur in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
- It is the State bird of Rajasthan.
- Protection Status
- Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List
- In Appendix I of CITES,
- In Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
About Lesser Florican (Sypheotides indicus):
- Also known as the likh or kharmore is the smallest in the bustard family.
- Habitat: The bird is endemic to the Indian Subcontinent, where it is found in tall grasslands.
- In India, the bird is observed in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and some other regions during the monsoon season when it breeds and later disappears with its chicks to unknown places.
- Characteristics: The male has a contrasting black and white breeding plumage and distinctive elongated head feathers that extend behind the neck.
- The only similar species is the Bengal florican (Houbarobsis bengalensis) which is larger and lacks the white throat, collar and elongated plumes.
- Threats: The bird is threatened both by hunting and habitat degradation.
- Further, the species is highly endangered and has been officially hunted to extinction in some parts of its range, such as Pakistan.
- Conservation status:
- IUCN Status: Critically Endangered
- Wildlife Protection Act,1972: Schedule I
- CITES: Appendix II
Source: IE
6. What is on the agenda for the 16th Finance Commission?
Sub: Polity
Sec: Federalism
Context:
- The 16th Finance Commission (FC) has begun its work, established under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution, primarily focusing on the devolution of the consolidated fund.
More on news:
- Since the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments, local bodies have gained significant recognition within the federal system.
- These amendments introduced sub-clauses 280(3)(bb) and (c), which mandate the FC to recommend measures to augment State consolidated funds for supporting panchayats and municipalities.
What about cities?
- The National Commission on Urbanisation in the mid-80s described cities as “engines of growth.”
- Cities contribute around 66% of India’s GDP and about 90% of total government revenues.
- Cities, thus, are an important spatial zone for the overall development of the country. However, our economic scale is insufficient to meet rising needs.
What about the taxation system?
- The introduction of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) has reduced ULBs’ tax revenue (excluding property tax) from about 23% in 2012-13 to around 9% in 2017-18.
- IGTs from States to ULBs are very low, with State Finance Commissions recommending only about 7% of States’ own revenue in 2018-19.
- Increasing the quantum of IGTs as a percentage of GDP is necessary.
- Despite the 74th constitutional amendment’s aim to financially strengthen ULBs, progress over three decades has fallen short.
- The 13th Finance Commission observed that parallel agencies and bodies are emasculating local governments both financially and operationally.
- Local governments require support from Union and State governments through funds, functionaries, and technical aid.
How important is the Census?
- In the absence of the 2021 Census, reliance on 2011 data is inadequate for evidence-based fiscal devolution.
- India has approximately 4,000 statutory towns and an equal number of Census towns, with an estimated 23,000 villages, all of which are effectively urban.
- These figures must be captured by the 16th FC, including the significant migration to Tier-2 and 3 cities.
About Finance Commission:
- The Finance Commission is a constitutional body under Article 280 created every five years to recommend the transfer of financial resources from the Centre to the States.
- The Commission also decides the principles on which grants-in-aid will be given to the States.
- The State Finance Commission (SFC) is an institution created by the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (CAs) to rationalize and systematize State/sub-State-level fiscal relations in India.
- Article 243I of the Constitution mandated the State Governor to constitute a Finance Commission every five years.
- Article 243Y of the Constitution states that the Finance Commission constituted under article 243 I shall also review the financial position of the Municipalities and make recommendations to the Governor.
7. RBI Joins ‘Project Nexus’ for Instant Cross-Border Retail Payments
Sub: Economy
Sec: Monetary Policy
Overview:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has joined “Project Nexus”, an international initiative to enable instant cross-border retail payments by interlinking domestic Fast Payment Systems (FPSs).
About Project Nexus:
- Conceptualization: Developed by the Innovation Hub of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
- Objective: To connect the FPSs of four ASEAN countries (Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) and India.
- Founding Members:
- Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)
- Bank of Thailand (BOT)
- Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
- Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
- Special Observer: Indonesia, involved from the early stages.
Significance:
- Launch Timeline: The platform is expected to go live by 2026.
- Efficiency: Aims to make retail cross-border payments efficient, faster, and more cost-effective.
RBI’s Participation:
- Collaboration: RBI has been working bilaterally with various countries to link India’s FPS – the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), with their respective FPSs for cross-border person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) payments.
- Multilateral Approach: Joining Project Nexus will enhance India’s efforts in expanding the international reach of Indian payment systems beyond bilateral connections.
Impact:
- Enhanced Efficiency: Once operational, Nexus will significantly streamline cross-border retail payments, benefiting consumers and businesses alike.
- Broader Reach: The platform’s scalability allows for the potential inclusion of more countries in the future, broadening the network and impact of efficient cross-border payments.