1)Ice Man of India and Artificial Glacier :-
- Chewang Norphel is an Indian civil engineer from Ladakh, who has built 12 artificial glaciers.He has earned the nickname Ice Man.
- Ladakh is known for its receding glaciers and the people in the region face hardships to obtain water , Norphel came up with an brilliant idea of artificial glacier to store the water longer there by extending the availability of water for longer period .
- Artificial Glaciers:-
- In 1996, Norphel joined the Leh Nutrition Project, a non-governmental organisation, as project manager for watershed development
- Norphel noticed a small stream had frozen solid under the shade of a group of poplar trees, though it flowed freely elsewhere in his yard. He realized the reason for this phenomenon: the flowing water was moving too quickly to freeze, while the sluggish trickle of water beneath the trees was slow enough to freeze. Based on this, he created artificial glaciers by diverting a river into a valley, slowing the stream by constructing checks. The artificial glaciers increase the ground-water recharge, rejuvenating the spring and providing water for irrigation. He constructed them at lower elevations, so that they melt earlier, expanding the growing season.
- The biggest artificial glacier, 1000 ft long and 150 ft wide, with an average depth of 4ft, is situated near the village of Phuktsey. Having cost $2,000, it now provides water for the village of 700 people.Cement water reservoirs of similar capacities typically cost $34,000.
- Documentary :- http://climateheroes.org/portfolio-item/chewang-norphel-ice-mans-dams-himalayas/
2) National Gas Grid and Expansion of Gas Pipeline Project :-
- At present, the country is having about 15,000 kms of natural gas pipeline infrastructure and an additional 15,000 kms of pipeline is required for completion of National Gas Grid.
- GAIL has been appointed as the “Sponsoring Authority” for development of Ranchi-Talcher-Paradip pipeline as a pilot project under PPP mode with Viability Gap Funding.
- Government has taken several steps which inter alia include the following:–
- Intensification of domestic Exploration & Production (E&P) activities through New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) rounds
- Shale Gas Policy framework
- Research and development of Gas Hydrate resources in the country
- Import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from various countries
- Transnational pipelines viz., Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline and Iran-Pakistan-India(IPI) pipeline
- Clearance for exploration and development of some NELP blocks where the same was held up by various agencies
- Exploration in the Mining Lease Area has been allowed with certain conditions
- Acquisition of Overseas Oil and Gas assets is being pursued in order to enhance energy security for the country
3)Bharat Stage Emission Standards :-
News:- Government advances roll out of BS-V and BS-VI norms for 4-wheelers .According to the roadmap earlier laid down by the Auto Fuel Policy, BS-V norms were to be implemented from April 1, 2022 and BS-VI from April 1, 2024.
What is Bharat Stage Emission Standard:-
Bharat stage emission standards are emission standards instituted by the Government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles. The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment & Forests and climate change.
The standards, based on European regulations were first introduced in 2000. Progressively stringent norms have been rolled out since then. All new vehicles manufactured after the implementation of the norms have to be compliant with the regulations.Since October 2010, Bharat stage III norms have been enforced across the country. In 13 major cities, Bharat stage IV emission norms have been in place since April 2010.
The phasing out of 2 stroke engine for two wheelers, the stoppage of production of Maruti 800 & introduction of electronic controls have been due to the regulations related to vehicular emissions.
While the norms help in bringing down pollution levels, it invariably results in increased vehicle cost due to the improved technology & higher fuel prices. However, this increase in private cost is offset by savings in health costs for the public, as there is lesser amount of disease causing particulate matter and pollution in the air. Exposure to air pollution can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, which is estimated to be the cause for 620,000 early deaths in 2010, and the health cost of air pollution in India has been assessed at 3 per cent of its GDP.
4)Injectable vaccine to prevent re-emergence of polio launched:
- An injectable vaccine to prevent re-emergence of polio was launched today by the government and it will be administered in addition to polio drops to double the protection from the deadly virus, which has chances of coming back.
- The Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) will be introduced in the routine immunization programme of the government to do away with the risk of re-introduction of the disease.
5) eBird: India lists 20 lakh sightings :-
- Bird enthusiasts of India are scripting a popular science record of sorts. Till last month, over 4,000 dedicated volunteer birders have uploaded over 20 lakh bird sightings from India, which has caught even the seasoned ornithologists pleasantly off guard. Birders of all hues and shades are flocking together with their bird sighting data on an electronic platform eBird (www.ebird.org) in a big way.
- According to the site, anyone taking a stroll or even peering from a window can contribute to the careful documentation of nature. eBird is a “platform for birdwatchers” to upload their data and keep track of their sightings.
6)A generation at Risk : The Diabetic Epidemic:-
The Risk:-
- Chronic conditions or non-communicable diseases are virtually lifelong diseases; they can be managed and controlled, but in most cases not cured fully. Examples are diseases of the heart and blood vessels, diabetes, lungs, chronic kidney disease, cancers and arthritis.
- Diabetes has now become a major public health concern especially in India because of several reasons
- Today, over 300 million people live with diabetes. A similar number is at high risk. India has often been referred to as the “diabetes capital of the world” but has now ceded this position to China. According to the International Diabetes Federation, over 66 million people in India live with this metabolic disease; an almost equal number has pre-diabetes which is an immediate precursor to diabetes. The belief is that diabetes is an urban and rich man’s disease but we now know that the annual increase in the numbers of those with diabetes is much higher in the rural areas, poor individuals and those less educated
- Generally, the rise in numbers has been attributed to chaotic urbanisation, an ageing population, reduced physical activity/deskbound lifestyle and a change in diet patterns which includes consuming junk food. Other factors include genetic susceptibility, under-nutrition during foetal and early life and environmental pollutants
- The rapidly changing lifestyle of children is equally important; they are now more sedentary than earlier generations. Most Indians also have abdominal obesity (“pot-belly”) which has a role in the development of diabetes.
- If this continues unchecked, an already overloaded and inefficient health system will run out of solutions. What is needed are prevention and management strategies
The Solution:-
- Public awareness and promotion of healthy diet and way of living is important
- Non-personal policy interventions also play an important role. These include taxation, enabling urban infrastructure development particularly in the new ‘Smart City’ plan, encouraging right agricultural practices and reducing sugar consumption, an increased and daily intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grain-based food and a promotion of physical activity. These are cost-effective and prventive strategies. For example, a 20 per cent increase in taxation on sweetened beverages helped reduce new cases of diabetes by 1.6 per cent over 2014-2023. This means that 400,000 type-2 cases of diabetes can be prevented during the same decade.
- Strengthening health systems at the primary care level is imperative and involves providing low-cost generic drugs, long-term management of the disease with health counselling and a robust surveillance mechanism to study changing trends and progress.
- Here, innovations include developing a cadre of physician assistants to schedule and manage diabetes care, yoga as a lifestyle [improvement] package, self-care apps and innovative use of gaming technologies to improve physical activity.
Questions of the Day
1)Find the incorrect match among the following:-
- Ice Man of India- Chewang Norphel- Ladakh
- Waterman of India – Rajendra Singh- Rajasthan
- Mountain man of India – Dashrath Manjhi – Bihar
- Forest Man of India – Jadav Payeng- Arunachal Pradesh
2)Check the photo and find out the following :-
- What is this Picture ?
- Which kingdom it was related to ?
- Why was it in the recent news ?
3)Find the wrong statement:-
- India has largest no of Diabetic patient in the world
- Diabetes is a lifestyle disease . It also has hereditary implication
- Type-2 Diabetics is most wide spread
- Healthy diet and regular exercise can prevent this disease.
Answers Given By BodhiSatva in Comment sections are correct.
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.