MOST PROBABLE TOPICS – PART 18

This list is in addition to the 500 list .

1. Corals

• Cyclone disturbances in April and May this year assisted faster coral recovery in the Gulf of Mannar.
• Studies showed that the corals were significantly healthier than what is normal for that part of the year and corals, which had experienced mild bleaching, had already recovered earlier than they usually do.
• Corals are sensitive to temperature change and start to bleach when the sea surface temperature rises above a certain temperature. Recovery takes place when the temperature level drops.

• Corals are marine invertebrates.

• Coral are made up of genetically identical organisms called polyps. These polyps have microscopic algae called zooxanthellae living within their tissues.
• The corals and algae have a mutualistic relationship.

• They are important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.

• Individual heads grow by asexual reproduction of polyps.

• Corals are major contributors to the physical structure of the coral reefs that develop in tropical and subtropical waters, such as the enormous Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia.

• Coral reefs have the greatest biodiversity of all marine ecosystems.

• Corals are under threat mainly due to sea temperature rise, sea level rise and pH changes from ocean acidification, all associated with greenhouse gas emissions.

Coral Bleaching

• When corals face stress by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white. This phenomenon is called coral bleaching.

2. Coringa Wildlife Sanctuay

• The Andhra Pradesh government has begun the process to get UNESCO world heritage status for Godavari Mangroves at Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, near Kakinada.
• Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary has the second largest stretch of mangrove forests in India with 24 tree species, after Sundarbans. 
• The sanctuary also has an 18-km-long sand pit where olive ridley sea turtles nest from January to March every year. 
• Hope Island and Sacramento Island located in the mangrove region are two important nesting sites for the endangered Olive Ridley turtles.
• Located on the backwaters of the Bay of Bengal, the sanctuary is home to numerous endangered species including the fishing cat, otter, jackal, sea turtle, sea gull, pelican, stork, heron, snipes, flamingos among others.
• Kakinada Madha mangroves forest were in news this year as forests were to be cleared for a housing project,these forests are also located near Coringa Mangroves.

3. GDP Calculation

4. APMCs

• Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) is the marketing boards established by the state governments in order to eliminate the exploitation incidences of the farmers by the intermediaries, where they are forced to sell their produce at extremely low prices.

• All the food produce must be brought to the market and sales are made through auction. The market place i.e, Mandi is set up in various places within the states. These markets geographically divide the state.

• Licenses are issued to the traders to operate within a market. The mall owners, wholesale traders, retail traders are not given permission to purchase the produce from the farmers directly.

• The introduction of APMC was to limit the occurrence of Distress Sale by the farmers under the pressure and exploitation of creditors and other intermediaries.

Model APMC Act of 2003

The Government of India designed a model Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act in 2003 as a first attempt to bring reformations in the agricultural markets. 

Provisions under this act were:

• New market channels other than APMC markets
• Private wholesale markets
• Direct purchase
• A contract for buyers and farmers

5. Kuchipudi

• It is the art from Andhra Pradesh. One of the foremost and key patrons of Kuchipudi, was the Nawab of Golconda, Abul Hasan Qutb Shah.
• In the 17th century, this art form was dying. That was when the Nawab gifted these dancers a whole village which is now called Kuchipudi.
• Kuchipudi dancers are called Bhagavatulu.
• Theme – episodes from the Bhagavata Purana.
• The sabdam is considered one of the most important pieces in the Kuchipudi repertoire.Traditional Sabdams where stories are narrated, often about kings, sometimes even end with a ‘Salam’, like in the Manduka Sabdam which narrates the story of Gajendra Moksham. This Sabdam narrates the story of how the king of the elephants is saved by Lord Vishnu.

6. Kathak

• Krishna’s Ras Leela is an important topic for Kathak dancers. Kathak too was patronised by Muslim rulers in the northern part of India.
• The 19th century is considered the golden period for Kathak. It was during this time that Nawab Wajid Ali Shah patronised it and the Lucknow Gharana was established.

Ashtapadis are central pieces in Odissi. Now, Ashtapadis have become an integral part of the repertoire in both Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi.

7. Millets

•  Millets are a group of small cereal grains belonging to the grass or Poaceae family. They are native of Asia and Africa. The following types of millets are recognized in India:

• Major millets:

  1. Sorghum (Jowar)

  2. Pearl Millet (Bajra)

  3. Finger Millet (Ragi)

  Small millets:

  1. Barnyard Millet (Sanwa)

  2. Proso Millet (Chena)

  3. Foxtail Millet (Kakum)

  4. Kodo Millet (Kodon)

  5. Little Millet (Kutki)

• Millets are highly nutritious and can potentially be a solution for India’s chronic disease burden. Millets are gluten-free, and high in dietary fibre and micronutrients such as calcium, iron and phosphorus. Millets in general are better sources of proteins that rice or wheat. 
• Indian government in 2018 declared millets as “nutri-cereals”.
• Mixed farming– growing crops and raising livestock together on a farm.
• PVTGs- Irulas and Kurumbas – Tamil Nadu
• The Hindu-Tribal communities turn to millet farming

8. Inflight Wi-Fi

• In-flight connectivity essentially allows those onboard aircraft to access voice, video and data services after the aircraft has attained an altitude of 3,000 meters. 
• In-flight connectivity for aircraft flying over Indian airspace was approved by the DoT in May 2018.

How does in-flight connectivity work?

• It relies on onboard antenna as well as satellites for Internet and mobile communications.
• Onboard Antenna
  • Here, signals are picked from the nearest tower on the ground.
  • However, the connection does become an issue after a certain altitude if the aircraft is passing over an area with no towers, say a large water body.
• Through Satellite
  • It works in a manner similar to how satellite TV signals are transmitted. 
  • So, an onboard router, which connects to the plane’s antenna transmits data to a personal electronic device. 
  • The signals are then transmitted to ground station via satellites and is redirected to a billing server for calculation of the data consumption. 
  • Finally, the signal is relayed to the World Wide Web.

9. Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes: SATHI

• The Department of Science & Technology (Ministry of Science and Technology) has launched a unique scheme called Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI).
• These Centres have major analytical instruments and advanced manufacturing facilities to provide common services of high-end analytical testing, thus avoiding duplication and reduced dependency on foreign sources.

Not to be confused with-

SAATHI (Sustainable and Accelerated Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help Small Industries) Initiative

• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Textiles.
• Objective: To sustain and accelerate the adoption of energy efficient textile technologies in the powerloom sector and cost savings due to use of such technology.

10. State of India’s Bird 2020

It was released at the 13^th Conference of Parties of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals which is taking place in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

• The first-of-its-kind analysis was carried out by ten research and conservation organisations across India.
• It used a massive database of over 10 million observations uploaded by 15,000 birdwatchers on the online platform (e-Bird) and ‘citizen science data’ to assess the distribution and trends of common Indian birds.

Key Points

• Declining trend:
  • The groups that show the greatest decline are raptors, migratory shorebirds, and habitat specialists, including White-rumped Vulture, Richard’s Pipit, Indian Vulture, Large-billed Leaf Warbler, Pacific Golden Plover and Curlew Sandpiper.
• Increasing Trend:
  • The species that have shown an increase in numbers include Rosy Starling, Feral Pigeon, Glossy Ibis, Plain Prinia and the Ashy Prinia
• Categorisation of Birds:
  • The study categorised 101 species as “high concern”, 319 as “moderate concern” and 442 into “low concern”.
  • Out of the species categorised as a high concern, 26% are classified globally by IUCN as “least concern”.

Analysis of Species

• Indian Peacocks:
  • The numbers of India’s national bird, the Indian Peacock, has increased dramatically over the past few decades.
  • The increase in numbers of the species has been attributed to a combination of the bird expanding its range (earlier it was absent in Kerala), conservation efforts and associated penalties for poaching under Schedule I of the Wildlife Act.
  • It is listed as ‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN Red List.
• Indian vultures:
  • It has experienced catastrophic population declines starting in the early 1990s.
  • The declines are almost entirely attributable to inadvertent poisoning by the livestock anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac.
  • Surveys conducted have shown that White-rumped Vulture has suffered the most severe declines, followed by Indian Vulture and Egyptian Vulture.
• House Sparrow:
  • The House Sparrow has been found to be stable across the country as a whole, although declining in the major cities.
  • It has been declared as the “State Bird of Delhi” to save the species and enhance awareness about their life and habitat.
  • The reasons for the decline include decreasing insect populations (a key part of the diet of sparrow chicks) and paucity of suitable nesting sites.
  • Moreover, the popular theory that radiation from mobile phone towers is a factor is not supported by the findings of this report.
• Bustards in India:
  • All the four species of bustards in India (the Great Indian Bustard, Macqueen’s Bustard, Lesser Florican and Bengal Florican) have suffered continuous population declines.
  • The decline is observed due to historical hunting and widespread habitat loss, with their slow growth and reproduction.
• Waterbirds:
  • It showed overall long-term declines, amongst which migratory shorebirds and gulls and terns appear to have declined the most.
  • Overall, migratory species (both long-distance and within-subcontinent) show steeper declines than residents.

Key Recommendations

• Updation of global and national priorities using conservation assessments.
• Fund conservation efforts on High Concern species and habitats where species have declined.
• Support monitoring efforts by citizen scientists and researchers.
• Promote collaborations between researchers and the public at large

Source: IE

11. Golden Jackal

• Large scale poaching of Jackals in India
• The analysis by the researchers brought to light a widespread demand for a talisman that appears to be derived from the jackal skull, known as “jackal horn” in English, siyar singhi in Hindi and nari kombu in Tamil/ Kannada/ Telugu. “The ‘jackal horn’ trade is fuelled by extensive online endorsement and unsubstantiated claims made by religious practitioners.
• It is included in CITES Appendix III which permits limited trade of pelts.
• In India, the golden jackal is listed in Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act (1972, which though offers reduced protection compared to endangered species, but still ensures a complete ban on hunting.
• In India, the golden jackal is found in most protected areas, semi-urban and rural landscapes of the country, except in the high elevation regions of the Himalaya. Certain pastoral areas in western and northern India, which have abundant livestock also support high jackal densities.
• IUCN-Least Concern
• Source – The Hindu

12. Thai Mangur

• The fish whose breeding is to be stopped in Maharashtra is commonly called Thai Mangur or foreign Mangur or African Mangur.
• As they are being cultivated in unhygienic conditions and has enough potential to make people sick.
• The Mangur Fish was banned in India as the fish poses threats to other fishes in an ecosystem.
•  The National Green Tribunal in 2000 banned the cultivation of the Thai Mangur, because it preys on indigenous varieties of fish and is said to be carcinogenic.
• A study in Mumbai says that the Mangur fish is responsible for 70% decline in native fish species of the country.

13. Dholavira

• Government of India has submitted nomination dossier of ‘Dholavira: A Harappan City’ for inclusion in the World Heritage List for the year 2020.
• Dholavira is an archaeological site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District, in the state of Gujarat. Dholavira’s location is on the Tropic of Cancer.
• Also known locally as Kotada timba, the site contains ruins of an ancient Indus Valley Civilization/Harappan city.
• It is one of the five largest Harappan sites and most prominent archaeological sites in India belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization. 

14. UNEP COLOMBO DECLARATION

• The declaration aims to halve nitrogen waste by 2030.
• Though Nitrogen is a critical element for building structures of living organisms, its overuse has negative impacts on the planet, biodiversity and is a contributor to the climate crisis, as well as promoter of eutrophic zones affecting fishing and tourism industries.
• As part of the Declaration, environment ministers and officials representing the governments of more than 30 countries endorsed UN plans for acampaign on sustainable nitrogen management called “Nitrogen for Life”.
• This campaign stems from the Sustainable Nitrogen Management Resolution which was adopted during the fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly held in March, 2019 at the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
• The Colombo Declaration has been developed with the technical support of the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS), a joint activity of the UNEP and the International Nitrogen Initiative supported by the Global Environment Facility.
• It provides $100 billion opportunity to mobilize innovation for the nitrogen circular economy, while contributing to the environment, health and livelihoods.
• Check Nitrogen Cycle at the end of the article.

15. Santamasa

• A white yellow star in Sextans constellation and its Jupiter-like exoplanets, which were hitherto named HD 86081 and 86081b, will now have Indian names.
• The International Astronomical Union (IAU) on December 17 announced that while the star would be called ‘Bibhā’, the planet would be known as ‘Santamasa’. The star has been named in honour of a pioneering Indian woman scientist Bibha Choudhury, who discovered subatomic particle, pi-meson. ‘Bhibha’ also means “a bright beam of light” in Bengali. The planet has been named S’antamasa’ to reflect the cloudy nature of its atmosphere. ‘Santamasa’ is the Sanskrit term for ‘clouded’.