Biodiversity and Environment
Komodo Dragons
Syllabus: GS 3/Species in News
Context
- According to the IUCN red list, the Komodo dragon is threatened with extinction as rising water levels, driven by the climate crisis, shrink its habitat.
About
- Scientific Name : Varanus komodoensis
- The dragon is a monitor lizard of the family Varanidae.
- It is the world’s largest lizard.
- Discovery: Europeans discovered Komodo dragons only in the early 20th century and were immediately fascinated by the creatures.
- It Grows up to 3 metres long and weighs more than 150kg,
- It feeds mainly on forest-dwelling pigs, deer, buffalo and fruit bats that hang in the low-lying mangrove trees.
Image Courtesy: Forbes
- Habitat: Endemic to a handful of Indonesian islands and it lives on the edge of the forest or in open savannah, rarely venturing higher than 700 metres above sea level.
- Rising water levels are set to affect 30% of its habitat in the next 45 years.
- Threat: the komodo dragons’ habitat is becoming increasingly fragmented by human activity, which makes populations less genetically healthy and more vulnerable. Their habitat range on the island of Flores in south-eastern Indonesia is thought to have shrunk by more than 40% between 1970 and 2000.
- The forest is slowly being cut down and disappearing, and the savannah is affected by fires and degradation. Habitats are being made even smaller due to rising sea levels.
- Conservation Status: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)has changed its status from vulnerable to endangered.
Source: The Guardian.com
Polity and Governance
Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D)
Syllabus :GS 2/Ministries & Departments
In News
- The Union Home and Cooperation Minister attended the 51st Foundation Day program of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).
About
- The Bureau of Police Research and Development was raised on 28th August 1970, through a resolution of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
- The Bureau was initially started with two Divisions, i.e., Research, Publication & Statistics Division and Development Division.
- In 1973, the Training Division was added, on the recommendation of the Gore Committee on Police Training.
- In 1995, the Correctional Division was started to study the issues of Prisons and Prison Reforms.
- In 2008, the National Police Mission was added and the Development Division was restructured as the Modernization Division.
- Mandate :
- To take a direct and active interest in the issues
- To promote a speedy and systematic study of the police problems,
- To apply science and technology in the methods and techniques used by police.
Source:PIB
Biodiversity and Environment
Bhitarkanika National Park
Syllabus: GS 3/Biodiversity and Environment
In Context
- Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park is under severe threat due to the planned diversion of freshwater from the Brahmani river basin.
About
- Location: Kendrapara district in Odisha.
- It became a Ramsar site in 2002 (the second site after Chilika Lake in Odisha).
- Rivers: Brahmani, Baitarani, Dhamra, Pathsala.
- It is India’s second-largest mangrove forest after the Sundarbans in West Bengal.
- Species: Estuarine Crocodile (the largest population in the Indian subcontinent), Indian python, king cobra, black ibis, etc.
- The floral diversity in Bhitarkanika is the 2nd largest after Papua New Guinea.
- It is the only major mangrove patch of the State of Odisha.
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About the Ramsar Convention
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Science & Technology
Low Orbit Satellite Communication
Syllabus: GS3/ Space Technology
In Context
- Low earth orbit (LEO) satellites operate 311 miles (roughly 500 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface.
- They can be used for providing communication services using satellite phones, unlike the traditional method.
- The traditional method places the satellite in Geosynchronous HEO at around 36000 km.
- These satellites connect to local service providers’ antennas, which amplify and provide services to users.
- The first satellite phone was launched by Motorola in 1989.
- A satellite phone, aka satphone, works by connecting to a telecommunications satellite in space.
- Examples of technology being used:
- One Web (Airtel’s Sunil Bharti Mittal),
- Starlink (Elon Musk),
- Garmin inReach, a satellite phone, has a built-in satellite receiver for sending and receiving SMS via the Iridium network.
- Thuraya X5-Touch is a ruggedised Android powered satellite smartphone with support for GSM/LTE networks as well.
- Advantages
- Lower latency
- High-speed internet service
- Global Coverage to remote parts of the world
- Traditional Methods require huge Ground based Infrastructure
- Disadvantages
- Satellite data speeds are super slow
- Need of an external antenna
- Niche market of Satellite Phones
- Apple iphone 13 may be a satellite phone.
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