Groundwater extraction shifted the Earth’s Axis

Syllabus: GS1/ Physical Geography

In News

• In June 2023, the study, ‘Drift of Earth’s Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a Significant Contributor to Global Sea Level Rise 1993–2010’, was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Findings: Rise in Sea Levels

• Humans pumped out around 2,150 gigatons of groundwater for drinking and irrigation between 1993 and 2010.
• This excessive extraction of groundwater has shifted the Earth’s axis of rotation at the rate of 4.36 cm per year towards the east.

Impact

• The shift is not significant enough to have real-life consequences.
• Mass change on the equator or pole cannot affect change in the rotational pole. Rotational pole change is actually associated with the moment of inertia of the Earth, which is sensitive to midlatitude mass change.
• The water sucked out from the ground for irrigation and meeting the world’s freshwater demands, eventually, goes into the oceans.

Polar Motion

• Earth spins around an imaginary axis which passes through the north pole, its centre of mass and the south pole. 
• The poles and the axis keep shifting naturally as the mass distribution in and on the planet changes. This phenomenon is known as “Polar Motion”.
• The shift of the axis “varies about several metres in a year.”

Reasons for Polar Motion

• Rocks slowly circulating inside Earth’s mantle causes the planet’s mass to shift, leading to a change in the position of the rotational axis. 
• Other reasons for polar motion are ocean currents and even hurricanes. 
• Climate-driven changes in water mass distribution, led by the melting of glaciers and ice in Greenland, can also cause Earth’s axis to drift.

Source:IE

 

Renouncement of Indian Citizenship

Syllabus: GS2/ Indian Polity, Citizenship

In News

• Between 2011 and 2022, close to 70,000 Indians surrendered their passports at regional passport offices (RPOs) across the country. 

About

• The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reveals data in response to an RTI.
• With eight states – Goa, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Chandigarh – accounting for over 90 per cent of the surrendered documents.
• As many as 40.45 per cent of the 69,303 passports that were given up in this period were surrendered at the RPO in Goa followed by Punjab.
• Goa has consistently topped the list of states with the highest number of surrendered passports, except for 2012 and 2013, when Gujarat had the maximum numbers.

• The MEA data presented in the Lok Sabha shows that on an average, 11,422 Indians renounced their Indian citizenship every month since 2011. 
• Over 16 lakh Indians have renounced their Indian citizenship since 2011. 

Why do People Relinquish Citizenship?

• The people leave their countries for better jobs and living conditions, and some are pushed out by climate change or unfavourable political situations at home.
• As the Indian diaspora around the world has increased in numbers, with newer generations holding passports of other countries, some older Indians are choosing to leave to be with family settled overseas. 
• Some people who leave India may be fleeing the law or fear of legal action for alleged crimes. A 2020 report by the Global Wealth Migration Review showed that high net worth individuals around the world who renounce citizenship acquired at birth may do so for reasons of rising crime rates or the lack of business opportunities at home. 
• Safety of women and children, lifestyle factors like climate and pollution, financial concerns including taxes, better healthcare for families and educational opportunities for children, and to escape oppressive governments.
• The post-Independence diasporic community has been going (out of India) for jobs and higher education.
• India stands at the 69th number on the passport power rank according to the world passport index.  The higher the passport index ranking, the better access they get to travel visa-free to many countries.

Source: IE

 

Assam’s Delimitation Draft

Syllabus :GS 2/Polity and Governance

In News

• Recently,the Election Commission (EC) released a draft proposal on the delimitation of the Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam. 
  • The last delimitation exercise in Assam was carried out in 1976.

About Delimitation 

• Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and State Assembly constituencies based on a recent Census to ensure each seat has an almost equal number of voters. 
• It is ideally carried out every few years after a Census by an independent Delimitation Commission formed under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act. 
•  Its aim is to provide equal representation for equal population segments, to ensure that no political party has an advantage.
• Procedure for the delimitation process has been followed as laid down in the relevant laws viz. Section 8 A of the R. P. Act, 1950 read with Section 9 (1) (c) and (d) of the Delimitation Act, 2002 (33 of 2002), Article 82, 170, 330 and 332 of the Constitution of India. 

Previous commissions 

• They were set up in 1952, 1962, and 1972 before the exercise was suspended in 1976 due to the family planning programme. 
• Before the exercise of the next panel could be completed in 2008, the delimitation of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, and Nagaland was deferred due to “security risks” through presidential orders.
• The Centre reconstituted the Delimitation Commission for the four north-eastern States and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on March 6, 2020. 

Key Highlights Recent Proposal  for Assam

• All Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the State are to be delimited on the basis of the 2001 Census as provided in Article 170 and Article 82 of the Constitution.  
  • The census figures of 2001, as published by the Census Commissioner have thus alone been considered for this purpose.
• The number of seats in the Legislative Assembly and the House of People in the State of Assam has been retained as 126 and 14 respectively. 
• Reserved seats increased: SC assembly seats have increased from 8 to 9; ST assembly seats have increased from 16 to 19
• Districts with autonomous councils (administered under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution) get more seats: one assembly seat increased in West Karbi Anglong District; three assembly seats increased in the Bodo Territorial Region
• Change in nomenclature: Kaliabor Lok Sabha constituency now named ‘Kaziranga’.

Opposition 

• There have been protests across Assam since the EC announced the draft proposal. 
• Ethnic groups such as the Ahoms are disappointed with the number of Assembly seats reduced from eastern Assam and increased in western Assam.
• Some seats have been reshaped to scatter the Muslims voters to ensure their representation in the Assembly and Parliament reduces..

Way Ahead

• The EC devised the Guidelines and Methodology keeping in mind the constitutional and legal provisions and the suggestions received in the representations.
• The proposal was based on suggestions from 11 political parties and 71 other organisations although Congress skipped a meeting with the election panel team that visited Assam a few months ago. 
• The EC has sought “suggestions and omissions” by July before visiting the State again for meeting various stakeholders. 

Source:TH

India and Philippines Relations

Syllabus: GS2/ International Relation

In News

• Indian External Affairs Minister and his visiting Philippines counterpart held the 5th meeting of the Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC). 

Major Highlights of the Visit

• Both the Nations looked at expanding cooperation in existing domains like the economy, defence, education, people-to-people relations, anti-terrorism measures, and maritime cooperation, and also discussed new areas including cyber security, artificial intelligence, and space cooperation.
• Cyber Security: This includes exchange of intelligence, and this also relates to cyber security and cyber threats. A new issue that was discussed was cyber trafficking. 
  • It is becoming a major issue for the Philippines, India and also the region both sides agreed to cooperate on this issue.
• Shared view on Indo-Pacific: India and Phillipines both are maritime nations and there is great scope where both could identify various cooperative activities including, in the future, joint sales and joint patrols and exchanging information, best practices and anything to enhance MDA.
  • Both believe that the Indo-Pacific should be a region which is free and open and a region whose members promote peace and stability. So there is a lot of room to cooperate, especially in the area of defence.
  • Both Ministers called for early operationalisation of the standard operating procedure for the White Shipping Agreement between the Indian Navy and the Philippines Coast Guard. 
• Economic ties: The two sides discussed improved access to the Philippines’ markets. The Philippines also invited a number of Indian companies, especially in IT, agro-processing, copper and textiles. 
  • The two countries are also undertaking discussions to renegotiate their bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement. 

Defence relations

• Supply of BrahMos missile system: The mainstay of bilateral defence cooperation continues to remain capacity building with training exchanges and visits of delegations and units of the Indian Navy (including aircraft) and Coast Guard. 
  • In 2022, the Philippines concluded a $375 million deal with India for the purchase of three batteries of the shore-based anti-ship variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. Deliveries are expected to begin by year-end.
• Participation of forces: The participation of officers of the armed forces of both countries in various specialized training courses in each other’s countries has intensified. 
  • This includes the recent course subscription from the Philippines to India’s prestigious National Defence College(NDC) for the NSSS course, the first in several decades. 
• The two countries also signed an MoU on Defence Industry and Logistics cooperation in 2017 and have also set up a separate Joint Defence Industry and Logistics Committee (JDILC) under the MoU.
• 5th meeting of JCBC: Both Ministers expressed keen interest to continue to work together on defence cooperation, including through the regular or upgraded official-level interaction among defence agencies.
  • Both countries considered India’s offer for concessional Line of Credit to meet Philippines’ defence requirements, acquisition of naval assets, and expansion of training and joint exercises on maritime security and disaster response, among others.
  • The key dialogue was not only in terms of weapons, but cooperation through training courses, greater military exchanges and in future joint exercises, stressing that it was a process which would continue and not be limited to single sales of equipment.

India and Philippines Bilateral Relations

• Background:  India and the Philippines formally established diplomatic relations on 26 November 1949, shortly after both countries gained independence [Philippines in 1946 and India in 1947]. 
  • When India launched the Look East Policy and intensified partnership with ASEAN in 1992, this also resulted in stronger relations with countries in the region including the Philippines, both bilaterally and in the regional context. 
  • With the Act East Policy initiated in 2014, the relationship with Philippines has diversified further into political-security; trade and industry and people-to-people realms. 
• Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC): It is co chaired by External Affairs Minister and Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs, which met for the 5th time recently. 
  • The meeting reviews recent developments in bilateral relations and discusses the future trajectory of engagement in all the areas of mutual interests.
  • Official level foreign policy and security dialogue meetings have been held regularly (from 1994 and from 2004 respectively, when the security dialogue was upgraded to a ‘Strategic Dialogue’ at the 2nd JCBC).
• Support at International Fora: The Philippines has been supportive of a greater role for India in the UN Security Council. 
  • The Philippines supported India in the recent election to IAEA, INTERPOL, IMO, CLCS and ITU. 
  • There are regular consultations between delegations of both countries in the UN and other multilateral fora. 
• Bilateral Trade: Bilateral trade between India and Philippines (in terms of value) increased from 1.89 billion USD in 2015-16 to 2.84 billion USD in 2021-22. 
  • India is the fifteenth largest trading partner for the Philippines, with trade worth around $3 billion last year.
  • In  2022, an Agreement on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Custom Matters was signed which would facilitate trade.
• Culture: The Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) between the two countries was renewed for the period 2019-2023 during the President of India’s visit to the Philippines in 2019. 
  • Indian cultural events are organised regularly in the Philippines in commemoration of Indian national days, Indian festivals (Holi, Diwali etc.) and other important days such as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, Constitution Day, Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, etc. 

Way Ahead

• The diplomatic relations between the Philippines and India, which will mark their 75th year in 2024, are on the threshold of a new age of a transformative partnership.
• Coupled with the current development trajectory in the Philippines, the stage appears to be set for further intensification in bilateral relations, covering a broad canvas of consultations and cooperation on matters related to foreign policy, security, defence, trade, finance, tourism, health, agriculture, people-to-people relations and culture.

Source: TH

 

Human-animal Conflict

Syllabus: GS3/ Environment, Conservation

In News

• Debrigarh, a wildlife sanctuary in Odisha, has been made free from any human settlement following relocations of forest-dwellers.  
  • The positive impact of this relocation was a visible drop in incidences of man-animal conflict. 

What is Human-wildlife conflict?

• It’s an encounter between humans and wildlife  which leads to negative results, such as loss of property, livelihoods, and even life. 

A Recurring episode

• The man-animal conflict was at its highest during 2022 over 100 humans lost their lives in Maharashtra.
• According to the data starting from 2000 to 2022, a total of 1,054 people fell victim to wildlife attacks, while an additional 5,112 individuals were injured in such attacks in Uttarakhand. 

Factors causing Human-Animal conflict

• Urbanisation and Agricultural expansion: Increased pressure on forest resources due to urbanization and expansion of agriculture is leading to increased encounters between humans and animals.
• Lack of Protected areas: A new report by WWF and UNEP has found that 35 per cent of India’s tiger ranges currently lie outside protected areas. 
• Climate change: Climate change induced extreme weather events like droughts and heat waves is causing animals to move outside forests in search of water.
• Increase in eco-tourism: Pristine forest resources are being disturbed in the wake of weekend holidays in the forest areas.

Impacts of Human-Animal conflict

• A 2019 report by Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, titled ‘Human-Elephant conflict: A review of current management strategies and future directions’ suggested that “India’s cost of human–elephant conflict is estimated at 1 million hectares of destroyed crops, 10,000 to 15,000 damaged properties, 400 human deaths, and 100 dead elephants per year.”
• Increase in Road and Railways Accidents due to infrastructure development in forested areas.

Steps Taken by Government

• Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released 14 guidelines to address Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC), which includes Guidelines for Cooperation between the Forest and Media sector in India, Crowd Management in Human-Wildlife Conflict Related Situations and Addressing Health Emergencies and Potential Health Risks Arising Out of Human—Wildlife Conflict Situations by Taking a One Health Approach.
• Wildlife Protection Act 1972: It lays down the rules and regulations for the conservation and protection of Animals in India.
• Plan Bee: It is adopted by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) which is a unique method to keep elephants away from railway tracks and plans are afoot to implement it all over the country to save the lives of elephants.

 Way Ahead

• Building trust among communities: The communication and interaction between the forest department and the locals has to be improved so that they can be sensitized about the issues and animals.
• Wildlife corridors: Corridors allow animals to freely move from one habitat patch to another without crossing human-caused barriers which can put animals, and potentially humans, in danger. 
• Increase in Protected areas: To conserve the animals and avoid any human-animal interaction more protected areas need to be developed by the Government.
• Other measures: Includes barriers (fences, nets, trenches), guarding and early-warning systems, deterrents and repellents (sirens, lights, beehives), translocation (moving wildlife), compensation or insurance, providing risk-reducing alternatives, as well as managing tensions between stakeholders involved in these situations.

Source: PIB

Facts In News

   Highway Network In India

Syllabus: GS3. Infrastructure

In News 

• India’s network of national highways, at 1.45 lakh km, is now the second largest in the world after the United States, and it has increased by 59 per cent in the past nine years. 

About

• This road network transports 64.5% of all goods in the country and 90% of India’s total passenger traffic uses the road network to commute. 
• In the last nine years, the 4-lane NH increased about two-fold to 44,654 km from 18,371 km in 2013-14. 
• The usage of FASTags has helped in reducing the waiting time at the toll plazas to 47 seconds which is envisaged to be completely eliminated by 2047.

Related Government Initiatives 

• Bharatmala Pariyojana envisages development of about 26,000 km length of Economic Corridor with a view to develop the road connectivity to Border areas, development of Coastal roads including road connectivity for Non-Major ports.
• The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for FY 2019-25 aims to provide world-class infrastructure to citizens and improve their quality of life. The roads sector is likely to account for 18% capital expenditure over FY 2019-25.
• National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP): The strategic objective of the programme is to unlock the value of investments in brownfield public sector assets by tapping institutional and long-term patient capital, which can thereafter be leveraged for further public investments.
• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has developed the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) which offers an interoperable nationwide toll payment solution including clearing house services for settlement and dispute management.
• Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP) in the highway sector is promoted through Foreign Direct Investment up to 100 % in the road sector, Provision of subsidy up to 40% of project cost to make projects viable, 100% tax exemption in any consecutive 10 years out of 20 years after commissioning of the project, etc.
• PM Gati Shakti – National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity, a digital platform was launched to bring 16 Ministries including Railways and Roadways together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.

Source: IE

Upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT)

Syllabus: GS 3/Science and Technology

In News

• An international team of astronomers from India, Japan and Europe has published the results from monitoring pulsars, called ‘nature’s best clocks’, by using six of the world’s most sensitive radio telescopes, including India’s largest telescope uGMRT.

Key Points 

• The 100-m Effelsberg radio telescope in Germany, the Lovell Telescope of the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the United Kingdom, the Nancay Radio Telescope in France, the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands were used for observations.
• The results provide a hint of evidence for the relentless vibrations of the fabric of the universe, caused by ultra-low frequency gravitational waves. 
• Such waves are expected to originate from a large number of dancing monster black hole pairs, crores of times heavier than our sun.

Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)

• It is a low-frequency radio telescope that helps investigate various radio astrophysical problems ranging from nearby solar systems to the edge of the observable universe. 
• It is a project of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), operating under the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).
• It is located at a site about 80 km north of Pune. 

UGMRT 

• The UGMRT will increase its sensitivity by up to three times and make it a more powerful and versatile facility. 

Source:TH

 

PEN Pinter Prize

Syllabus: GS1/ Miscellaneous, Awards

In News

• British children’s writer and performance poet Michael Rosen has been awarded the prestigious PEN Pinter Prize 2023.

About Michael Rosen 

• Rosen was the sixth British Children’s Laureate between 2007 and 2009 and is known for making poetry accessible to children through his work and performances. 
• His themes are often social, political and ethical.
• He is among the first poets who visited schools extensively across the UK and even overseas, talking about poetry and literature and the ways it can help us see the world around us with humour and empathy.
• Some of Rosen’s most well-known books include You Can’t Catch Me (1982), which won the Signal Poetry Award; You Wait Till I Am Older Than You (1996), Rover (2007), Fantastic Mr Dahl (2012, on Roald Dahl’s writing life). 

PEN Pinter Prize 

• The PEN Pinter Prize and the Pinter International Writer of Courage Award both comprise an annual literary award launched in 2009 by English PEN in honour of the late Nobel Literature Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter.
• The winner must be the author of a significant body of plays, poetry, essays, or fiction of outstanding literary merit, written in English.
• Previous winners of the PEN Pinter Prize include Hanif Kureishi (2010), Salman Rushdie (2014), Lemn Sissay (2019). 

Source: IE

       Aspartame

Syllabus: GS3/ Science & Technology

In News

• The cancer research arm of the World Health Organisation (WHO) will declare aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.

Aspartame

• Aspartame is a type of low-calorie sweetener. Aspartame contains calories—four calories per gram just like sugar. But aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar, so very little is needed to provide the same sweetness.
• Chemical composition: Aspartame is a methyl ester of the dipeptide of two natural amino acids, L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine.
• Use:It is used in a wide range of diet soft drinks, sugar-free chewing gum, sugar-free ice cream, sugar-free breakfast cereals, etc.
• Discovered by James M Schlatter, in 1965, by accident while researching an anti-ulcer drug,he happened to lick his finger and detected a sweet taste.

Other artificial sugars

• Acesulfame K, aspartame,advantame, cyclamates, neotame, saccharin, sucralose,stevia and stevia derivatives;certain D-amino acids, and several plant proteins also impart a sweet taste.

Is Aspartame dangerous?

• Over more than 40 years, aspartame has been one of the most widely studied and rigorously tested chemical additives in food. More than 100 studies have found no evidence of harm caused by aspartame.
• However it is not safe for those suffering from phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare inherited disorder in which the patient does not have the enzyme that is needed to break down phenylalanine, one of the two amino acids in aspartame.

Aspartame use in different countries

• The US FDA permitted the use of aspartame in food in 1981, and has reviewed the science of its safety five times since then.
• Aspartame is also certified as safe for human consumption by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), national regulators in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Australia, and even the WHO’s Joint Expert Committee on food Additives (JECFA).
• Around 100 countries around the world, including India, permit the use of aspartame.
• In India The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has approved  aspartame for use in food.

Source: IE

Body Mass Index (BMI)

Syllabus: GS2/Health

In News

• The American Medical Association(AMA) has accepted that Body Mass Index (BMI) was an imperfect way to measure body fat.

What is BMI?

• Body Mass Index (BMI) is a person’s weight in kilograms (or pounds) divided by the square of height in meters (or feet). 
• A high BMI can indicate high body fatness. BMI screens for weight categories that may lead to health problems, but it does not diagnose the body fatness or health of an individual.
• It rose to prominence for clinicians in the 1990s following the World Health Organisation’s adoption of the metric as the official screening index for obesity.
  • For most adults, an ideal BMI is in the 18.5 to 24.9 range.
  • For children and young people aged 2 to 18, the BMI calculation takes into account age and gender as well as height and weight.
  • If BMI is below 18.5 it is the underweight range,
  • between 18.5 and 24.9 it is the healthy weight range,
  • between 25 and 29.9 it is the overweight range,
  • 30 or over is the obese range.
• Significance: Research has consistently shown that BMI at a population level correlates strongly with body fat percentage and risk for serious health conditions. 
  • The index is easy to measure and inexpensive to calculate, allowing its wide implementation in health care settings

Criticism

• BMI takes into account natural variations in body shape, giving a healthy weight range for a particular height.
• Muscle is much denser than fat, so very muscular people, such as heavyweight boxers, weight trainers and athletes, may be a healthy weight even though their BMI is classed as obese.

Alternatives to BMI

• With the shift away frovm BMI, the AMA recommends alternative measures that clinics can use for the assessment of the health risks of an elevated body weight.  A variety of measures are suggested, including body adiposity index, relative fat mass, waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference.
• These measures attempt to better characterise fat distribution in the body, given the increased health risks of fat stored around the internal organs. They require additional measurements in a clinic visit. 

Source: TH