Floraison IAS

2021-05-28 11:54:54 The Blackbuck
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The Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), or the Indian Antelope, is a species of antelope native to India and Nepal.
Once widespread throughout the Indian subcontinent, it has become extinct in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Only scattered herds are found in protected areas in India and Nepal.
The blackbuck is easily recognizable through the dark brown to black colour of the upper part of the coat of its males.
They inhabit grassy plains and thin forest areas with easily available water resources.
The IUCN Red List designated the blackbuk as ‘least concerned’. In India, hunting of blackbuck is prohibited under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
It inhabits several protected areas of India, including:
Gir National Park, Gujarat
Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary, Bihar
Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh
Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan
Ranebennur Blackbuck Sanctuary, Karnataka
Vallanadu Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu
In 2017, the Uttar Pradesh State Government approved the plan of setting up the Blackbuck Conservation Reserve in the trans-Yamuna belt near Prayagraj. It would be the first conservation reserve dedicated to the blackbuck
#Environment #Geography
@FloraisonIAS Open / Comment

2021-05-28 11:51:15 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/odisha-s-blackbucks-double-in-6-years-reveals-census-77138 Open / Comment

2021-05-28 11:51:03 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/un-calls-for-swift-zero-carbon-recovery-action-at-climate-summit-77143 Open / Comment

2021-05-28 11:42:32 8, 9, 10 Degree Channels
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A channel is a broad open waterway that passes through two landmasses that lie close to each other. It is different from the strait which is a relatively narrow body of water, connecting two larger bodies of water.
As per National Geographic, it is the deepest part of a waterway/narrow water body that connects two larger bodies of water.
Channels are created either by glaciers or by people. The channels that are created by glaciers carve out deep canyons between two landmasses. The channels that are created by people are usually dug from the bottoms of shallow waterways to build a passage for large ships.

Ten Degree Channel
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It separates the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands from each other in the Bay of Bengal and forms the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
It is 150km wide from north to south and 10km long from east to west with a minimum depth of 7.3m.
It is so named as it lies on the 10-degree line of Latitude, north of the equator.

Nine Degree Channel
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It separates the island of Minicoy from the main Lakshadweep archipelago. The Kalpeni and Suheli Par, and Maliku Atoll and Amindivi Subgroup together form the Union Territory of Lakshadweep.
It is 200 km wide with a depth of 2597 metres.
Investigator Bank-- a submerged bank-- is located in the southern region of this channel.
It is strategically important as it is the passage of nearly all merchant shipping between Europe, the Middle-East and Western Asia with South-East Asia and the Far-East.
It is so named as it lies on the 9-degree line of Latitude, north of the equator.

Eight Degree Channel
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The maritime boundary between the Maldives and India runs through the Eight Degree Channel. It separates the islands of Minicoy and Maldives.
Maliku Kandu and Māmalē Kandu Divehi are the traditional names of the Eight Degree Channel
It is so named as it lies on the 8-degree line of Latitude, north of the equator.

NOTE : To sum up, the Eight Degree Channel separates the islands of Minicoy and Maldives, the Nine Degree Channel separates the island of Minicoy from the main Lakshadweep archipelago and the Ten Degree Channel separates the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands from each other in the Bay of Bengal.
#Geography
@FloraisonIAS Open / Comment

2021-05-28 11:37:08 Lakshadweep
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India’s smallest Union Territory, Lakshadweep is an archipelago consisting of 36 islands with an area of 32 sq km.
It is directly under the control of the Centre through an administrator.
All are tiny islands of coral origin (Atoll) and are surrounded by fringing reefs.
The Capital is Kavaratti and it is also the principal town of the UT.
Pitti island, which is uninhabited, has a bird sanctuary.
More than 93% of the population who are indigenous, are Muslims and majority of them belong to the Shafi School of the Sunni Sect.
Malayalam is spoken in all the islands except Minicoy where people speak Mahl which is written in Divehi script and is spoken in Maldives also.
The entire indigenous population has been classified as Scheduled Tribes because of their economic and social backwardness. There are no Scheduled Castes in this Union Territory.
The main occupation of the people is fishing, coconut cultivation and coir twisting. Tourism is an emerging industry.
Organic Agricultural Area: Recently, the entire Lakshadweep group of islands has been declared as an organic agricultural area under the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) of India.
#Geography Open / Comment

2021-05-28 11:34:22 Draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, 2021
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The latest Draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, 2021, for the creation of a Lakshadweep Development Authority (LDA) is widely resented by the people of Lakshadweep.
It empowers the government, identified as the administrator, to constitute Planning and Development Authorities under it to plan the development of any area identified as having “bad layout or obsolete development”.
The authority would be a body corporate with a government-appointed chairman, a town planning officer and three ‘expert’ government nominees besides two local authority representatives.
These authorities are to prepare land use maps, carry out zonation for type of land use and indicate areas for proposed national highways, arterial roads, ring roads, major streets, railways, tramways, airports, theatres, museums etc.
Only cantonment areas are exempted from this.
It defines development as the carrying out of building, engineering, mining, quarrying or other operations in, on, over or under land, the cutting of a hill or any portion thereof or the making of any material change in any building or land or in the use of any building or land.
It stipulates that islanders must pay a processing fee for zone changes.
It implies that localities would be required to pay fees to gain approval to alter zones as per the development plan, as well as fees for permission to develop their own land.
It establishes penalties such as imprisonment for obstructing the development plan's work or workers.

issues
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People suspect that this might have been issued at the behest of ‘real estate interests’ seeking to usurp the small holdings of property owned by the islanders, a majority of them (94.8% as per the 2011 census) belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Proposals to bring real estate development concepts such as ‘transferable development rights’ to the island have raised people's fear of forced migration en masse.
It vests such powers with the authority that it can prepare comprehensive development plans for any area and relocate people regardless of their will.
It provides for forcible eviction, puts the onus on the owner to develop his holding as per the plan prepared by the authority as also to heavily penalise them in the event of non-compliance.
#Social_Issues #Polity Open / Comment

2021-05-27 10:58:37 Naming of the Tropical Cyclones
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The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) at its 27th Session held in 2000 in Muscat, Oman agreed in principle to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
The naming of the tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean commenced from September 2004.
This list contained names proposed by then eight member countries of WMO/ESCAP PTC, viz., Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The requirement for a fresh list of tropical cyclones including representation from five new member countries: Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen (total 13 member countries) was tabled during the 45th session of WMO/ESCAP, held in September 2018. The session was hosted by Oman.
IMD, one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres (RSMC) in the world, is mandated to issue advisories and name tropical cyclones in the north Indian Ocean region.


Tropical Cyclone
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Tropical cyclone is an intense circular storm that originates over warm tropical oceans and is characterized by low atmospheric pressure, high winds, and heavy rain.
A characteristic feature of tropical cyclones is the eye, a central region of clear skies, warm temperatures, and low atmospheric pressure.
Storms of this type are called hurricanes in the North Atlantic and eastern Pacific and typhoons in SouthEast Asia and China. They are called tropical cyclones in the southwest Pacific and Indian Ocean region.
Formation: Tropical cyclones form near the equator and gain their energy from the heat that is released when water vapour condenses into rain.
In the southern hemisphere storms rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere.
#Environment #Disaster_Management
@FloraisonIAS Open / Comment

2021-05-27 10:54:51 Olive Ridley Turtles
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The Olive ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world, inhabiting warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
They are best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.
The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, Appendix 1 in CITES, and Schedule 1 in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Olive-ridleys face serious threats across their migratory route, habitat and nesting beaches, due to human activities such as unfriendly turtle fishing practices, development, and exploitation of nesting beaches for ports, and tourist centers.
#Environment
@FloraisonIAS Open / Comment

2021-05-27 10:53:25 Bhitarkanika National Park
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Cyclone Yaas fells hundreds of trees in Bhitarkanika, hit on fauna being assessed
Bhitarkanika National Park is one of Odisha’s finest biodiversity hotspots and is famous for its mangroves, migratory birds, turtles, estuarine crocodiles, and countless creeks.
The Bhitarkanika is represented by 3 Protected Areas, the Bhitarkanika National Park, the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary.
Bhitarkanika is located in the estuary of Brahmani, Baitarani, Dhamra, and Mahanadi river systems.
It is said to house 70% of the country’s estuarine or saltwater crocodiles, conservation of which was started way back in 1975.
it is famous for Olive Ridley turtles
#Environment #Geography Open / Comment

2021-05-27 10:50:40 National Green Tribunal
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It is a specialised body set up under the National Green Tribunal Act (2010) for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
NGT is mandated to make disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6 months of filing the same.
The NGT has five places of sittings, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the other four.
Being a statutory adjudicatory body like Courts, apart from original jurisdiction on filing of an application, NGT also has appellate jurisdiction to hear appeal as a Court (Tribunal).
#Polity Open / Comment