Daily Prelims Notes 22 February 2023

Daily Prelims Notes

22 February 2023

Table Of Contents

1. Survey of India
2. India and Singapore link payment services
3. ISRO announces opportunities to analyse Astrosat
4. TN, Kerala and Karnataka to carry out first synchronised vulture survey
5. El Nino and La Nina
6. Russia suspends New START treaty
7. Angel Tax
8. Unusual February heat, and the ‘normal abnormal’ in global weather
9. Viscose Fibre
10. Children have a Right to protect their Genetic Information from DNA tests: SC
11. ICAR develops wheat that can beat the heat
12. What is whale stranding and why does it happen?
13. Etalin hydel project
14. Launch of the ‘Mangrove Breakthrough’
15. UN High Seas Treaty

1. Survey of India

Subject : History

Section : Art and Culture

Context: The Survey of India (SoI), India’s 250-year-old map maker (as of 2017), while no longer having a monopoly on making high resolution maps, will remain the arbiter of maps that deal with State borders and national boundaries says Sunil Kumar, Surveyor General of India and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology.

More in news:

• In December 2022, the Centre officially released the National Geospatial Policy of India that allows any private agency to make high resolution maps.
• Before this, the Survey of India made various categories of maps that, while available for nominal charges, were relatively hard to access. Moreover, maps made for “civilian purposes” were coarser than the “defence series maps” that were more detailed but only accessible to the Defence Ministry.
• The SoI will continue to maintain CORS (Continuously Operating Reference Stations) that are necessary to create accurate digital maps to cartographers. A CORS consists of a GPS receiver operating continuously, and a stable antenna for continuously streaming raw data.

Concept:

Survey of India:

• Origin: 1767, Major James Rennell was appointed as the Surveyor General of Bengal.
• It is the oldest scientific department in India and one of the oldest survey establishments in the world.
• Foundation for the scientific survey and mapping of the country was laid with The Great Trignometric Survey in the 19^th C by noted surveyors Col Lambton and George Everest.
• It has played an indispensable pioneering role in understanding the country’s priorities in growth and Defense and was pivotal in the foundation of almost all major developmental activities of the modern India.
• It looks forward to create a new era of geospatial evolution which would facilitate India to achieve future economic milestones along with Sustainable Development Goals.
• Significant Developments include:
  • 1787: 1^st Indian survey based on Triangulation system conducted from Madras to the Southern Peninsula
  • 1843: Measurement of the Great Arc from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas completed
  • 1849: Height of Highest Himalayan peak Mt. Everest (computed by RadhanathSikdar)

National Geospatial Policy,2022:

• It is a citizen-centric policy that seeks to strengthen the Geospatial sector to support national development, economic prosperity and a thriving information economy.
• The policy has divided 14 Geospatial Data Themesto support the development of commercial geospatial applications in various sectors e.g., disaster management, mining, forestry etc.
• Some of the major Goals include:

2. India and Singapore link payment services

Subject : Economy

Section :Monetary Policy

Concept :

• India and Singapore have integrated their respective real-time payment network for the first time to facilitate cross-border exchange.
• India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and its equivalent in Singapore known as PayNow have been conjoined.
• This will enable transfer of remittances, funds and payments between the two countries in a quick and real-time.
• Now residents of Singapore and India can instantly transfer money to each other via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow.
• The low-cost, faster and 24×7 cross-border connectivity project can be utilised by Indians using Google Pay, Paytm and other similar digital payment systems to transfer money to people in Singapore.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

• UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank).
• It does so by merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
• In other words, UPI is an interface via which one can transfer money between bank accounts across a single window.
• UPI supports both Person-to-Person (P2P) and Person-to-Merchant (P2M) payments and it also enables a user to send or receive money.
• It was launched in 2016, by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• Features :
  • Immediate money transfer through mobile device round the clock 24*7 and 365 days
  • Hassle free transactions as customers are not required to enter the details such as Card no, Account number, IFSC etc.

PayNow

• Similar to India’s fast payment system UPI, PayNow is Singapore’s counterpart.
• With just a mobile number, users can send and receive funds from one bank or e-wallet account to another in Singapore.
• This peer-to-peer payments linkage is enabled through participating banks and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NFIs) in the country.

3. ISRO announces opportunities to analyse Astrosat

Subject : Science and technology

Section :Space

Concept :

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has recently made an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to allow scientists and researchers to analyze data from the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission, AstroSat.

About AstroSat:

• It is India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory.
• It is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical, and UV spectral bands simultaneously.
• AstroSat, with a lift-off mass of 1515 kg, was launched by the Indian launch vehicle PSLV from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on September 28, 2015, into a 650 km orbit inclined at an angle of 6 degrees to the equator.
• The spacecraft control center at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, manages the satellite during its entire mission life.
• It is a multi-institute collaborative project, involving IUCAA, ISRO, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (Bengaluru), and Physical Research Laboratory (Ahmedabad), among others.

Scientific Objectives:

• To understand high energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes.
• Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars.
• Study star birth regions and high energy processes in star systems lying beyond our galaxy.
• Detect new briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky.
• Perform a limited deep-field survey of the Universe in the Ultraviolet region.

4. TN, Kerala and Karnataka to carry out first synchronised vulture survey

Subject : Environment

Section: Species in News

Concept :

• The Forest and Wildlife Departments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are preparing to organise the first synchronised vulture survey in various regions of the Western Ghats.
• Every year the Forest Departments of the three States organise separate surveys but in a tripartite coordination meeting held in Mudumalai Tiger reserve, the departments have decided to organise the first synchronised vulture survey in the Western Ghats to avoid duplications.
• The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, contiguous to the Nagarhole and Bandipur Tiger reserves of Karnataka and Mudumalai tiger reserve of Tamil Nadu, is the only region where vultures thrive in Kerala.
• The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary houses close to 120-150 white-rumped vultures and about 25 red-headed vultures with the occasional sightings of long-billed vultures also being reported.
• Vultures are witnessing a catastrophic decline during the 2000s as these species are being exposed to diclofenac drug which is mainly used as a painkiller for cattle.

Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus)

• Critically Endangered [IUCN]
• Long-billed Vulture, The Indian Vulture, which is closely related to the European Griffon, is typically found in woods, grasslands, and shrub lands.
• It is seen close to human-occupied regions like cities, towns, and agricultural areas, just like many other vulture species. This vulture can be found all over the Indian subcontinent and its neighboring nations, as its name suggests.

Red-headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus)

• Critically Endangered [IUCN]
• Other names: Pondicherry Vulture, Indian Black Vulture, Asian King Vulture
• Red-headed Vultures are found all over India, though in small numbers with the exception of the western Himalayas. These vultures favor vast spaces, semi-deserts, and scrublands that are far from populated areas.
• They are distinct, medium-sized raptors with dark plumage, red legs, and red necks.
• They typically appear alone or in pairs rather than in vast groups, in contrast to many other vultures. They construct nests in large trees.

White-Rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis)

• Critically Endangered [IUCN]
• Known as: Indian White-backed Vulture, White-backed Vultures.
• White-rumped Vultures, a medium-sized vulture, are frequently spotted close to areas where people are present. They have black and brown plumage with white neck ruffs.
• They frequently appear in groups with different vulture species. White-rumped Vultures consume carrion, like the majority of vultures.
• However, they have also been seen eating trash and abattoir waste as they dwell close to populated areas. They erect nests atop cliffs and trees.

5. El Nino and La Nina

Subject : Geography

Section:  Physical Geography (Climatology)

Concept :

• India is currently witnessing a colder than normal winter mainly due to the north-south winter flow because of the climate phenomenon known as La Niña.
• The equatorial Pacific Ocean is experiencing the longest-ever La Niña episode in recorded history.
• Having started in September 2020, it has prevailed for three consecutive years and thus has been classified as a “triple dip La Nina”.
• However, the forecasts for the 2023 fall and winter are predicting that there is a 50% possibility for the occurrence of El Niño.
• In the Indian context, La Niña is associated with good monsoon rainfall, while El Niño is expected to suppress monsoon rainfall.

El Nino

• El Nino refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific.
• It is associated with high pressure in the western Pacific. El Nino adversely impacts the Indian monsoons and hence, agriculture in India.

El Nino impacts on India:

• In a normal monsoon year (without El Nino), the pressure distribution is as follows:
• The coast of Peru in South America has a higher pressure than the region near northern Australia and South East Asia.
• The Indian Ocean is warmer than the adjoining oceans and so, has relatively lower pressure. Hence, moisture-laden winds move from near the western Pacific to the Indian Ocean.
• The pressure on the landmass of India is lower than on the Indian Ocean, and so, the moisture-laden winds move further from the ocean to the lands.
• If this normal pressure distribution is affected for some reason, the monsoons are affected.
• El Nino means lesser than average rains for India. Indian agriculture is heavily dependent on the monsoons and because of this, lesser rainfall during the monsoons generally translates to below-average crop yields.

What happens because of El Nino?

• The cool surface water off the Peruvian coast goes warm because of El Nino. When the water is warm, the normal trade winds get lost or reverse their direction.
• Hence, the flow of moisture-laden winds is directed towards the coast of Peru from the western Pacific (the region near northern Australia and South East Asia).
• This causes heavy rains in Peru during the El Nino years robbing the Indian subcontinent of its normal monsoon rains. The larger the temperature and pressure difference, the larger the rainfall shortage in India.

About La Nina:

• It means the large-scale cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, together with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation, namely winds, pressure and rainfall.
• It has the opposite impacts on weather and climate as El Niño, which is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Weather Changes due to La Nina :

• The Horn of Africa and central Asia will see below average rainfall due to La Niña.
• East Africa is forecast to see drier-than-usual conditions, which together with the existing impacts of the desert locust invasion, may add to regional food insecurity.
• It could also lead to increased rainfall in southern Africa.
• It could also affect the South West Indian Ocean Tropical Cyclone season, reducing the intensity.
• Southeast Asia, some Pacific Islands and the northern region of South America are expected to receive above-average rainfall.
• In India, La Niña means the country will receive more rainfall than normal, leading to floods.

ENSO Cycle

• El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an irregularly periodic variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean.
• Every three to seven years, the surface waters across tropical Pacific Ocean warm or cool by 1°C to 3°C, compared to normal.
• The warming phase of the sea temperature is known as El Nino and the cooling phase as La Nina.
• Thus, El Nino and La Nina are opposite phases of what is known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.
• These deviations from normal surface temperatures can have large-scale impacts not only on ocean processes, but also on global weather and climate.

6. Russia suspends New START treaty

Subject : International Relations

Section:  International Agreements

Concept :

• President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START treaty, the only remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia.

New START Treaty: Background

• The name START comes from the original “Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty”, known as START-I.
• START-I was signed between the US and the erstwhile USSR in 1991, and came into force in 1994.
• START-I capped the numbers of nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that each side could deploy at 6,000 and 1,600 respectively.
• START-I lapsed in 2009 and was replaced first by the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT, also known as the Treaty of Moscow), and then by the New START treaty.

New START Treaty

• New START Treaty is officially known as – “Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms”.
• It was signed by then-President Barack Obama and then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in 2010.
• The treaty entered into force in February 2011, and placed new verifiable limits on intercontinental-range nuclear weapons.
• Under the treaty, the United States and Russia were given seven years to scale back their stockpiles of strategic offensive arms — broadly, nuclear warheads deployed by missiles, planes or submarines that can travel long distances.
• After February 2018, both the countries had to maintain the stockpiles of these arms within the limits fixed by the treaty, for the period the treaty remained in force.
• The US and Russia Federation subsequently agreed to extend the treaty through February 4, 2026.

What limits did the New START impose on the two countries?

• 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), deployed submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments;
• 1,550 nuclear warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments (each such heavy bomber is counted as one warhead toward this limit);
• 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments.

How is compliance with the treaty ensured?

• Detailed procedures for the implementation and verification of the central limits, and all treaty obligations, are part of the treaty terms.
• The treaty provides for 18 on-site inspections per year for US and Russian inspection teams.

Compliance status

• Both countries met the limits spelled out in the treaty by February 2018 and appear to have remained at or below them since then.
• However, regular inspections mandated by the agreement have not been held for the past three years — initially because of the coronavirus pandemic, and later because relations soured after Russia invaded Ukraine.

7. Angel Tax

Subject : Economy

Section: Fiscal Policy

Concept :

• A senior government official recently said that the ‘angel tax’ provision in the Finance Bill will not impact startups in India.
• The Finance Bill 2023 has proposed some changes that will remove the exemption for foreign funds and non-resident investors, who will now have to pay Angel Tax on the difference between capital raised and the fair value of securities sold.

About Angel Tax:

• Angel Tax is a term basically used to refer to the income tax payable on the capital raised by unlisted companies via the issue of shares through off-market transactions.
• The excess funds raised at prices above fair value is treated as income, on which tax is levied.
• It derives its genesis from section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
• It was introduced in 2012 to prevent black money laundering through share sales.
• The Angel Tax is levied at a rate of 30.9% on net investments in excess of the fair market value.
• In 2019, the Government announced an exemption from the Angel Tax for startups on fulfillment of certain conditions. These are,
• The startup should be recognized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as an eligible startup.
• The aggregate amount of paid-up share capital and share premium of the Startup cannot be more than ₹25 crores. This amount does not include the money raised from Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Venture Capital Firms, and specified companies.
• For angel investors, the amount of investment that exceeds the fair market value can be claimed for a 100% tax exemption. However, the investor must have a net worth of ₹2 crores or an income of more than ₹25 Lakh in the past 3 fiscal years.

Changes introduced in the Budget 2023-24

• Before budget 2023-24, angel tax was imposed only on investments made by a resident investor.
• e., it was not applicable in case the investments are made by any non-resident or venture capital funds.
• The Finance Bill, 2023 has proposed to amend Section 56(2) VII B of the Income Tax Act.
• With this, the government has proposed to include foreign investors in the ambit, meaning that when a start-up raises funding from a foreign investor, that too will now be counted as income and be taxable.
• However, these foreign investors will not need to pay any angel tax while investing in a government-recognized (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) registered) startup in India — similar to the provision for domestic investors.

Eligibility Criteria for Startup Recognition:

• The Start-up should be incorporated as a private limited company or registered as a partnership firm or a limited liability partnership.
• Turnover should be less than INR 100 Crores in any of the previous fiscal years.
• An entity shall be considered a Start-up up to 10 years from the date of its incorporation.
• The Start-up should be working towards innovation/ improvement of existing products, services, and processes and should have the potential to generate employment/ create wealth.
• An entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a “Startup”.

8. Unusual February heat, and the ‘normal abnormal’ in global weather

Subject : Geography

Section: PJUSICAL Geography ( climatology)

Concept :

• It is still February, technically a winter month, and temperatures in some parts of the country are touching 40 degrees Celsius. There are already concerns over the possibility of an intensely hot summer and extended heat waves this year.
• However, the current spell of abnormally high temperatures, mainly in northern and western India, is no indicator of how hot the summer, or the rest of the year will be.

India IMD Weather Forecast:

• The maximum temperature in February, averaged over the country as a whole, is expected to be around 28 degrees C based on the record of the 30-year period from 1981 to 2010. This is taken to be the “normal”. The minimum temperature is expected to be around 15 degrees C.
• However in the past week, maximum temperatures have been 5-11 degrees C higher than normal in most parts of northern and western India.
• These abnormal high temperatures are qualified to be decribed as ‘heat waves’.
• However, heat wave declarations by the IMD, which trigger follow-up action by the local administration, are meant only for the April-July period, not for February or March.

Possible Reasons

• The IMD has attributed the current spell of hot weather to a combination of factors, including the absence of western disturbance activity in February, which brings some rainfall in this month and keeps temperatures down.
• Until now, less than a sixth of the country has recorded normal or excess rainfall for February.
• The IMD has said that the plains have been relatively dry, and rainfall or snowfall in the hills has been subdued.
• According to the IMD, an anticyclonic formation over south Gujarat is one of the main reasons for the warming on the west coast. Its effect was being transmitted northward to Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and western Uttar Pradesh.
• At the gobal level, this year is widely expected to be a little hotter than the previous two years, mainly because of the expected end of the strongest ever La Niña event.
• The cushion against warming provided by the La Niña is projected to go in the next couple of months, raising fears that this year could set new warming records.

What are heat waves?

• A Heat Wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season in the North-Western parts of India.
• Heat Waves typically occur between March and June, and in some rare cases even extend till July.
• The extreme temperatures and resultant atmospheric conditions adversely affect people living in these regions as they cause physiological stress, sometimes resulting in death.
• The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has given the following criteria for Heat Waves :
• Heat Wave need not be considered till maximum temperature of a station reaches atleast 40°C for Plains and atleast 30°C for Hilly regions.
• When normal maximum temperature of a station is less than or equal to 40°C .
• Heat Wave Departure from normal is 5°C to 6°C and Severe Heat Wave Departure from normal is 7°C or more
• When actual maximum temperature remains 45°C or more irrespective of normal maximum temperature, heat waves should be declared.
• Higher daily peak temperatures and longer, more intense heat waves are becomingly increasingly frequent globally due to climate change.
• India too is feeling the impact of climate change in terms of increased instances of heat waves which are more intense in nature with each passing year, and have a devastating impact on human health thereby increasing the number of heat wave casualties.

9. Viscose Fibre

Subject : Science and technology

Section :Msc

Concept :

• Viscose, a man-made fibre witnessing global demand growth, is a new addition to India’s textile story.
• Viscose fibre consumption is witnessing a steady rise, where the market grew from 542 KT (Thousand tons) in 2021 to 744 KT in 2022, a robust 37 per cent growth.
• One issue plaguing the viscose value chain is the limited raw material supply of Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF).
• India has a limited number of players involved in manufacturing VSF, with one major company contributing to over 90 per cent of the supply.
• As a result, many weavers rely on imported fibre. It provides new alternatives to these weavers so that they can survive in the market and be competitive.
• An upcoming development that can be detrimental to the weavers of viscose is the anti-dumping duty imposition on VSF imports.

About Viscose Fibre:

• Viscose is a type of rayon. Originally known as artificial silk, in the late 19th century, the term “rayon” came into effect in 1924.
• The name “viscose” is derived from the way this fibre is manufactured; a viscous organic liquid used to make both rayon and cellophane.
• It is a biodegradable fibre and an alternative to silk and cotton.
• It is versatile, Highly absorbent and Inexpensive fibre.
• Viscose is made from tree wood pulp, like beech, pine, and eucalyptus, but can also be made from bamboo.
• As a manufactured regenerated cellulose fibre, it is neither truly natural (like cotton, wool or silk) nor truly synthetic (like nylon or polyester) – it falls somewhere in between.
• Chemically, viscose resembles cotton, but it can also take on many different qualities depending on how it is manufactured.

10. Children have a Right to protect their Genetic Information from DNA tests: SC

Subject :Polity

Section :Rights issues

Concept :

• The Supreme Court of India has ruled that children have the right to protect their genetic information from being revealed in DNA tests without their consent.
• The court ruled that-
  • Genetic information is personal and intimate
  • Children have the right to privacy and bodily integrity
  • Children are not to be regarded like material objects and should not become the focal point of the battle between spouses
  • Allowing DNA tests would also harm the reputation and dignity of the mother

Basis of this judgment

• The court drew attention to the rights of privacy, autonomy and identity recognised under the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• It acknowledged the control that individuals, including children, have over their own personal boundaries and the means by which they define who they are in relation to other people.
• Children are not to be deprived of this entitlement to influence and understand their sense of self simply by virtue of being children.

How can one get the tests done?

• Family courts should direct for a DNA test only in expedient situations and in the interest of justice, as a last resort, said the judgment.
• This should be practised as the option of last resort.

Right to protect Genetic Information

• The right to protect genetic information is a fundamental right that recognizes an individual’s autonomy and control over their own personal and intimate genetic data.
• It allows individuals to make informed decisions about their health, privacy, and identity.
• In India, the Supreme Court has also held that children have the right to protect their genetic information from DNA testing in divorce proceedings, as it is part of their fundamental right to privacy.
• This is guaranteed under Article 21 of Indian Constitution.
• This right is recognized under various international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

• It is a treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989.
• It recognises a child as every human being under 18 years old.
• It is an international agreement that is legally binding on the members.
• It sets out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion or abilities.
• It includes rights such as Right to Education, Right to Rest and Leisure, Right to Protection from Mental or Physical Abuse including Rape and Sexual Exploitation.
• It has been ratified by all members of the UN except for the United States.
• It is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the history of the world.

Committee on the Rights of the Child

• The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a body of experts that monitor and report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• The Committee also monitors the Convention’s three optional protocols:
  • the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict,
  • the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
  • Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure

11. ICAR develops wheat that can beat the heat

Subject :Science and Technology

Section :Biotechnology

Context: Last year in March, the temperature increases above normal conditions results into the damage of crops specially wheat, at a time when the grains were accumulating starch and proteins; leading to a significant drop in output as well as government procurement.

More in news:

• Keeping previous year’s damage in view, the Agriculture ministry has set-up a committee to monitor the situation arising from the increase in temperatures and its impact, if any, on the current wheat crop.
• This year, the temperatures are already 3-5 degrees Celsius above normal in many wheat-growing areas.

Probable solution of India’s crop vulnerability due to terminal heat stress:

• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has suggested to advance the time of sowing.
  • Wheat is a typically a 140-145 days crop planted mostly in November – before the middle of the month in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (post the harvesting of paddy, cotton and soyabean) and the second half and beyond in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (after sugarcane and paddy).
  • If sowing can be preponed and taken up from around October 20, the crop isn’t exposed to terminal heat, with much of the grain-filling being completed by around the third week of March.
  • It can, then, be comfortably harvested by the month-end.
• Issue: wheat sown before early-November is also prone to premature flowering.
  • The crop seeded in the first half of November normally takes 80-95 days to come to heading (i.e. for the ‘baali’, or earheads bearing the flowers and eventually grain, to fully emerge from the wheat tillers).
  • But if we sow in October, heading is cut short by 10-20 days and occurs in 70-75 days. This affects yields, as the crop does not get enough time for vegetative growth (of roots, stems and leaves).

New varieties developed by IARI:

• The IARI scientists have developed three varieties, all of them incorporating genes that are responsible for the “mild vernalisation requirement” preventing premature flowering and early heading.
  • Mild vernalisation requirement is the need for a certain minimum period of low winter temperatures for initiation of flowering.

1. HDCSW-18: It was released and officially notified in It has a Higher yield and its plants are taller than the normal varieties, which made them prone to lodging or bending over when their earheads were heavy with well-filled grains.
2. HD-3410: It was released in 2022, has higher yield potential (7.5 tonnes/hectare) with lower plant height (100-105 cm).
3. HD-3385: Most promising among the three. With the same yields as HD-3410, plant height of just 95 cm and strong stems, it is least lodging-prone and most amenable for early sowing.
   • IARI has registered HD-3385 with the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA). It has also licenced the variety to the DCM Shriram Ltd-owned Bioseed for undertaking multi-location trials and seed multiplication.

Merits of these wheat varieties:

• Longer window for grain development
• Longer period for vegetative stage growth between germination and flowering
• Able to accumulate more biomass along with grain weight

12. What is whale stranding and why does it happen?

Subject : Environment

Section :Species in news

In the news:

• Earlier in February, 14 pilot whales were stranded near the shore of Kalpitiya, a town located on Sri Lanka’s west coast.

Details:

• In 2020, the country witnessed one of the biggest whale strandings in recent history when more than 100 pilot whales beached on the western coast of Panadura.
• Apart from Sri Lanka, Australia’s Tasmania has also seen mass beaching of whales. Last year in September, more than 230 pilot whales were stranded on the west coast of the region.

Whale stranding:

• Whale stranding is a phenomenon in which whales are stuck on land,usually on a beach.
• Other aquatic animals like dolphins and porpoises are also known to beach.
• Most of the stranding events involve single animals but sometimes, mass strandings, consisting of hundreds of marine animals at a time, can happen.
  • This is not a new phenomenon and have been occurring since the times of Aristotle
• Reason: No clear reason has been established yet. The reasons for mass strandings are several including:
  • the topography of the region,
  • Illness,
  • Rising temperature in the ocean
  • Human activities and
  • Increasing noise pollution in the oceans.
• Hotspot regions: Tasmania, New Zealand‘s Golden Bay and Massachusetts’s Cape Cod in the United States.
• Currently there is no ‘One-size-fit-all’ approach to prevent these mass strandling.

13. Etalin hydel project

Subject :Geography

Section :Indian Physical Geography

Context: Denial of clearance to Etalin hydel project offers relief to some; may impact Arunachal’s hydropower development plan.

More in news:

• The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) did not limit its discussion to the Etalin project alone and involved other projects being executed and planned in the entire Dibang Valley.

Hydro projects in Arunachal Pradesh:

• Overall, 18 hydel projects with a cumulative capacity of 9,973 MW have been planned in the Dibang river valley, covered by the administrative districts of Dibang Valley and Lower Dibang Valley.
• Etalin Hydel Project:
  • 3,097-megawatt Etalin Hydroelectric Project (EHEP) — was proposed to be developed as a joint venture between Jindal Power Ltd and the Hydropower Development Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh Ltd.
  • The plan combined two run-of-the-river schemes with limited storage requiring concrete gravity dams on rivers Tangon and
  • The Etalin project is planned to be built about a 100-kilometre north of another mega project, the 2,880 MW Dibang multipurpose project (DMP).
  • The latter got Stage-II forest clearance in 2020, but work is yet to begin, as approval from the Public Investment Board is still pending.
  • It ran into several controversies since its inception in 2008 over concerns of ecological damage, forest invasion and tribal displacement.
• Major concerns include:
  1. It may submerge a large area of forest and wildlife habitat.
  2. Displacement of local communities
  3. It may change the natural flow of the river and affect the fish migration and breeding.
  4. Geological and seismic risks.

Dir and Tangon River:

• The Dir and Tangon river, both tributaries of the Dibang River (tributary of Brahmaputra) in Arunachal Pradesh, India, have the following significance:
  • Hydrological: Both rivers contribute to the overall hydrology of the region by providing water for irrigation and hydropower generation.
  • Ecological: The Dir and Tangon rivers support a diverse array of plant and animal life, including rare and endangered species.
  • Tourist Attraction: The scenic beauty of the Dir and Tangon rivers, along with the Dibang, is a major tourist destination.

Forest Advisory Committee

• It is a statutory body which was constituted by the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980.
• It comes under the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
• It considers questions on the diversion of forest land for non-forest uses such as mining, industrial projects, townships and advises the government on the issue of granting forest clearances. However, its role is advisory.

14. Launch of the ‘Mangrove Breakthrough’

Subject : Environment

Section : International convention

What is Mangrove Breakthrough?

• The Mangrove Breakthrough is part of a set of Marrakech Partnership Adaptation and Resilience Breakthroughs which collectively define global milestones and high-impact solutions to reduce climate risks, particularly in vulnerable communities, through adaptation action.
• It aims tocatalyze the financial support needed to scale proven solutions by working to channel finance to the ground through the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA).
  • GMA is a world-wide collaboration between NGOs, governments, academics and communities working together towards a global vision for accelerating change and building a host of opportunities for coastal peoples and biodiversity around the planet.
• Agenda: Building on the Breakthrough Agenda launched at COP26, and the work of the Global Mangrove Alliance, the Mangrove Breakthrough provides a framework for countries, the private sector, and others to join forces and strengthen their actions every year, in every sector, through a coalition of leading public, private and public-private global initiatives scaling up investment in mangrove protection and restoration.

About The Global Mangrove Alliance:

• Launched In 2018
• Launched jointly by the Conservation International (CI), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Wetlands International, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
• This partnership now includes over 30 member organizations that share the aim of scaling up the recovery of mangroves through equitable and effective expansion of both mangrove protection and the restoration of former mangrove areas.
• The GMA works worldwide in supporting research, advocacy, education and practical projects on the ground with local and community partners.

15. UN High Seas Treaty

Subject :Environment

Section : International convention

In the news:

• A new round of negotiations on the United Nations High Seas Treaty for conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) began in New York February 20, 2023.

Definition of High seas:

• The high seas are areas beyond the 200 nautical mile limit of the exclusive economic zones of coastal states.
• Why is it important?
  • Home to around 270,000 species, the high seas cover more than two-thirds of the global ocean.
  • Over 1,550 marine animals and plants face a risk of extinction, with climate change impacting at least 41 per cent of threatened marine species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature Only 1.44 per cent of the high seas are protected.

What is the BBNJ Treaty?

• The “BBNJ Treaty”,also known as the “Treaty of the High Seas”, is an international agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction,currently under negotiation at the United Nations.
• The treaty will belegally bindingin nature.
• This new instrument isbeing developed within the framework of the UNCLOS,the main international agreement governing human activities at sea.
• It will achieve a more holistic management of high seas activities, which should better balance the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources.
• BBNJ encompasses the high seas, beyond the exclusive economic zones or national waters of countries.
  • According to theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), these areas account for “almost half of the Earth’s surface”.
  • These areas arehardly regulated and also least understood or explored for its biodiversity – only 1% of these areas are under protection.
• An important element under the treaty: The benefit sharing of marine genetic resources (MGRs).
  • It includes marine plants, animals and microbes from areas beyond national jurisdiction.
  • The element aims to address the inequalities in sharing benefits from samples, basic and applied research results as well as monetary benefit sharing from MGRs.
• Launched at the One Ocean Summit in February 2022, the High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction brings together many delegations engaged in the BBNJ negotiations on a common and ambitious outcome at the highest political level.
• The negotiations are centred around a package of elements agreed upon in 2015, namely:
  • the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, in particular, together and as a whole, marine genetic resources, including questions on the sharing of benefits
  • area-based management tools, including marine protected areas
  • environmental impact assessments
  • capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology