Daily Prelims Notes 23 August 2020

  • August 23, 2020
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN
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Table Of Contents

  1. Tropical storms
  2. Land Boundary Agreement
  3. Indian Gaur
  4. Ozone

1. Tropical storms

Subject: Geography

Context:

Two newly formed tropical storms Laura and Marco could become almost simultaneous threats to the US Gulf Coast early next week

Concept:

  • Tropical cyclones are violent storms that originate over oceans in tropical areas and move over to the coastal areas bringing about large scale destruction due to violent winds, very heavy rainfall and storm surge.
  • They are irregular wind movements involving closed circulation of air around a low pressure center. This closed air circulation is a result of rapid upward movement of hot air which is subjected to Coriolis force.
  • Conditions Favourable for Tropical Cyclone Formation
    • Large sea surface with temperature higher than 27°C
    • Presence of the Coriolis force enough to create a cyclonic vortex
    • Small variations in the vertical wind speed
    • A pre-existing weak low-pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation
    • Upper divergence above the sea level system
  • Favorite Grounds for Tropical Cyclones
    • South-east Caribbean region where they are called hurricanes.
    • Philippines islands, eastern China and Japan where they are called typhoons.
    • Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea where they are called cyclones.
    • Around south-east African coast and Madagascar-Mauritius islands.
    • North-west Australia.

2. Land Boundary Agreement

Subject: IR

Context:

India-Bangladesh border talks have lessons for Nepal. Despite much more territory being involved, the two countries resolved their border disputes with political dialogue

Concept:

  • India and Bangladesh share a 4,096 km land boundary covering West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram. This is largest among the international boundaries that India shares with its neighbours.
  • The land boundary between the Indian and then East Pakistan boundary was determined by the Radcliffe Award. However, some disputes came up over this award.
  • On May 16 1974 an agreement was signed between India and Bangladesh and it was decided that a solution to the dispute would be found.
  • The agreement was ratified by Bangladesh, but India restrained as it involved transfer of territory which required a Constitutional Amendment
  • There is problem with the enclaves. There were 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and in Bangladesh there are 51 enclaves.
  • This ambiguity has led the life of the residents of these enclaves to misery. They are unable to get the basic government services because they are isolated from their own country by strips of foreign land.
  • So 100th constitutional amendment was made to give effect to the acquiring of certain territories by India and transfer of certain other territories to Bangladesh (through the exchange of enclaves and retention of adverse possessions) in pursuance of the Land Boundary Agreement of 1974 and its Protocol of 2011.
  • For this purpose, this amendment act amended the provisions relating to the territories of four states (Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura) in the First Schedule of the Constitution.

3. Indian Gaur

Subject: Environment

Context:

A pregnant Gaur was shot and killed by six men in Kerala’s Malappuram district earlier this month

Concept:

  • The gaur is a wild bovid that is native to the forests of South and Southeast Asia.
  • It is biggest among wild cattle.
  • It is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
  • The first population estimation exercise of the Indian Gaur (Bison) was carried out in the Nilgiris Forest Division, Tamil Nadu. World Wide Fund for Nature India assisted the exercise and highlighted that there are estimated 2,000 Indian gaurs across the division.

4. Ozone

Subject: Environment

Context:

The levels of ozone have increased across the Northern Hemisphere in the last 20 years, a new study by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States has showed.

Concept:

  • Ozone is a gas made up of three oxygen atoms (O3). It occurs naturally in small (trace) amounts in the upper atmosphere (the stratosphere).
  • Ozone protects life on Earth from the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
  • In the lower atmosphere (the troposphere) near the Earth’s surface, ozone is created by chemical reactions between air pollutants from vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, and other emissions. At ground level, high concentrations of ozone are toxic to people and plants.
  • Ninety percent of the ozone in the atmosphere sits in the stratosphere, the layer of atmosphere between about 10 and 50 kilometers altitude.
  • The natural level of ozone in the stratosphere is a result of a balance between sunlight that creates ozone and chemical reactions that destroy it.
  • Ozone is destroyed when it reacts with molecules containing nitrogen, hydrogen, chlorine, or bromine. 
  • Increased levels of human-produced gases such as CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) have led to increased rates of ozone destruction, upsetting the natural balance of ozone and leading to reduced stratospheric ozone levels. These reduced ozone levels have increased the amount of harmful ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth’s surface.
  • The Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to address the global problem of ozone destruction, was signed by more than 70 countries in 1986.
  • It set goals of reducing CFC production 20% by 1993 and 50% by 1998. Since the agreement was signed, these targets have been strengthened to call for the elimination of the most dangerous CFCs by 1996 and for regulation of other ozone-depleting chemicals.
Prelims Notes