Daily News Descriptions

12 Aug 2024 14:42:19 pm

1.Neelakurinji

Why in the news?

Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana), the purplish flowering shrub which blooms once in 12 years, has been included on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) official Red List of threatened species.
This is the first ever Global Red List assessment for this flagship species of the montane grasslands of southwest India.
The latest global assessment confirms its threatened status in the Vulnerable (Criteria A2c) category of the IUCN.
The mass blooming of the flower is a huge tourist attraction. The blooming was reported recently, though not in a vast spread, at Peerumade in Idukki.

About Neelakurinji:

In Neelakurinji, ‘Neela’ means blue, and ‘Kurinji’ refers to the flowers.
At maturity, the light blue color of the flowers changes to purple bluish.
The flowers give the ‘Nilgiri Mountain Range’ its name.
The plant is named after the famous Kunthi River which flows through Kerala’s Silent Valley National Park, where the plant occurs abundantly
It usually grows at an elevation of 1,300-2,400m.
Its scientific name is Strobilanthes Kunthiana.
All neelakurinji species are endemic to the Shola Forest of Western Ghats.
According to statistics, there are more than 40 different varieties of Neelakurinji in India.
Flower Bloom takes place once in 12 years as the pollination of flowers needs a longer period.
Tamil Nadu’s ‘Paliyan’ tribe used the Neelakurinji flowers to calculate age.
There are almost 250 Neelakurinji species in the world.

Silent Valley National Park:

It is one of the last remaining rainforests of Kerala.
It is located in the Southwestern corner of Nilgiris.
A perennial river named Kunthipuzha passes through the western side of the park, from north to south direction, finally merges into Bharathapuzha.
It is known for many highly endangered species such as lion-tailed macaque, tiger, gaur, leopard, wild boar, panther, Indian Civet and Sambhar.
The indigenous tribal groups that live within park boundaries include Irulas, Kurumbas, Mudugas and Kattunaikkars.

2.Nankai Trough

Why in the news?

After a 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook southern Japan, the country’s meteorological agency issued its first-ever “megaquake advisory”.
The warning said the likelihood of strong shaking and large tsunamis is higher than normal on the Nankai Trough, a subduction zone along Japan’s southwest Pacific coast.
However, this does not mean that a major earthquake would definitely happen during a specific period, the advisory said.

About Nankai Trough:

It is a subduction zone between two tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean, where massive earthquakes have hit in the past.
This underwater subduction zone (nearly 900 km long) where the Eurasian Plate collides with the Philippine Sea Plate, pushing the latter under the former and into the Earth’s mantle.
It runs from Shizuoka, west of Tokyo, to the southern tip of Kyushu Island.
It has been the site of destructive quakes of magnitude eight or nine every century or two.
- These megathrust quakes, which often occur in pairs, have been known to unleash dangerous tsunamis along Japan’s southern coast.

Subduction Zone:

It is a spot where two of the planet's tectonic plates collide and one dives, or subducts, beneath the other.
- Tectonic plates are pieces of the Earth’s rigid outer layer that slowly move across the planet's surface over millions of years. This is the main tenet of plate tectonics, the theory that portions of Earth's shell glide over the lower mantle, taking continents with them.
Subduction zones occur in a horseshoe shape around the edge of the Pacific Ocean, offshore of the USA, Canada, Russia, Japan, and Indonesia, and down to New Zealand and the southern edge of South America called the "Ring of Fire,”
These subduction zones comprise “the most seismically and volcanically active zone in the world, responsible for more than 80% of the world's biggest earthquakes and most of the planet’s active volcanoes.

3.National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)

Why in the news?

Expressing concern over the prevailing law and order situation in Punjab, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has cautioned Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann that eight severely affected highway projects in the State, estimated at ₹14,288 crore, would be terminated if the situation does not improve.
Raising safety concerns of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officers, contractors, Mr. Gadkari said he had come to know of two untoward incidents that occurred on the Delhi-Katra expressway projects

About National Highways Authority of India (NHAI):

It is a statutory body set up under the NHAI Act, 1988.
It works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
It has been entrusted with the National Highways Development Project, along with other minor projects for development, maintenance and management.
- National Highways Development Project (NHDP) is a project to upgrade, rehabilitate and widen major highways in India to a higher standard. The project was started in 1998.
It maintains the National Highways network to global standards and cost effective manner and promotes economic well being and quality of life of the people.
It has mandated development of about 27,500 km of national highways under Bharatmala Pariyojna Phase-I.
- Bharatmala Pariyojana is an umbrella program for the highways sector that focuses on optimizing efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps through effective interventions.
- The effective interventions include development of Economic Corridors, Inter Corridors and Feeder Routes, National Corridor Efficiency Improvement, Border and International connectivity roads, Coastal and Port connectivity roads and Green-field expressways.

National Highways (NH):

These are the arterial roads of the country for inter-state movement of passengers and goods.
They traverse the length and width of the country connecting the National and State capitals, major ports and rail junctions and link up with border roads and foreign highways.
These Expressways constitute only about 1.7% of the length of all roads. On the other hand, they carry about 40% of the road traffic.

4.NewSpace India Limited (NSIL)

Why in the news?

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and ISRO's commercial arm NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) signed an agreement to grant assistance for launching the Nepal-built Munal satellite.
Munal is an indigenous satellite developed in Nepal under the aegis of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology. Antarikchya Pratishan, Nepal, a Nepalese space startup, has assisted in the design and fabrication of the satellite.
It aims to build a vegetation density database of the earth’s surface.
It is expected to be launched on NSIL’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

About NewSpace India Limited (NSIL):

It is a Central Public Sector Enterprise of the Government of India.
It was established in 2019 under the administrative control of the Department of Space.
Its headquarters are located at Bengaluru.
It is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the primary responsibility of enabling Indian industries to take up high technology space related activities and is also responsible for promotion and commercial exploitation of the products and services emanating from the space industry.
Its main objective is to scale up industry participation in Indian space programmes in comparison to IN-SPACe which gives emphasis on the participation of the private sector.
It is incorporated to carry forward the industry production of space systems and the ISRO’s efforts in realizing Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) from industry.
It differs from ISRO’s existing commercial arm Antrix Corporation, which handles ISRO’s commercial deals for satellites and launch vehicles with foreign customers.
It deals with capacity building of local industry for space manufacturing.

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV):

It is India's third-generation launch vehicle, first successfully launched in October 1994.
It is the first Indian launch vehicle to have liquid stages.
It is a four-stage vehicle with multiple satellite launch capabilities and multiple orbit capabilities.
Due to its unmatched reliability, numerous satellites, including satellites from the IRNSS constellation, have been launched. Thus, it is regarded as “the workhorse of ISRO” for Low Earth Orbits (LEO).
It can carry up to 1,750 kg of payload to 600 km altitude Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbits.
It successfully launched Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013.

5.Great Nicobar Island Project

Why in the news?

Congress spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh has written to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav to revoke the environmental clearances accorded to the Great Nicobar Project.
He demanded that parliamentary panels review the project.
He added that the project could lead to genocide of the Shompen, an indigenous community in the island.

About Great Nicobar Island Project:

It is a mega project, launched in 2021, to be implemented at the southern end of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
It involves developing a trans-shipment port, an international airport, township development, and a 450 MVA gas and solar-based power plant on the island.
It was implemented after a report by NITI Aayog which identified the potential to utilise the advantageous position of the island, which is approximately equidistant from Colombo in Sri Lanka to the southwest and Port Klang (Malaysia) and Singapore to the southeast.
It is being implemented by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO) and is proposed to include an International Container Trans-shipment Terminal (ICTT), a greenfield international airport.
It is close to the Malacca Strait, the main waterway that connects the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, and the ICTT is expected to allow Great Nicobar to participate in the regional and global maritime economy by becoming a major player in cargo transshipment’.
The site for the proposed ICTT and power plant is Galathea Bay on the southeastern corner of Great Nicobar Island, where there is no human habitation.

Shompen Tribe:

They are one of the most isolated tribes on Earth.
They reside in the dense tropical rain forest of the Great Nicobar Island of Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands.
They are one of the least studied Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India.
Though according to the Census (2011), the estimated population of Shompen is 229, the exact population of Shompen is unknown till today.
Most of them are uncontacted, refusing all interactions with outsiders.
They live in small groups, whose territories are identified by the rivers that criss-cross the rainforest.
They are semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, and their main sources of livelihood are hunting, gathering, fishing, and a little bit of horticultural activities in a rudimentary form.
- Primarily, they used to hunt wild pig, python, monitor Lizard, crocodile, sea turtle etc.
- They collect a wide variety of forest plants, but their staple food is the pandanus fruit, which they call larop.
They speak their own language, which has many dialects. Members of one band do not understand the dialect of the other.
They are of short to medium stature, have a round or nearly broad head shape, narrow nose, a broad facial profile, and distinctly exhibit Mongoloid features such as light brown to yellow brown skin and oblique eye features.
They have nuclear families comprising husband, wife, and their unmarried children.
- A Shompen family is controlled by the eldest male member, who controls all activities of the women and kids.
- Monogamy is the general rule, although polygamy is allowed too.

0 Comments

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Rating is: 0/5

Whats New

test Blog

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text...

established-fact-that-a-reader-w...

Home / Daily News Descriptions

Rating is: 0/5

More Links

Whats New

News/Editorial

Reach Us

Connect With Us

Quick Links

Social Media Links