Current Affair 1:

A report on Human-wildlife conflict

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Conflict between humans and animals is one of the main threats to the long-term survival of some of the world’s most iconic species, a new report by the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), released July 8, 2021.

The report, titled, A future for all - the need for human-wildlife coexistence highlights,

1. that globally, conflict-related killing affects more than 75 per cent of the world’s wild cat species. Besides, many other terrestrial and marine carnivore species such as polar bears and Mediterranean monk seals as well as large herbivores such as elephants are affected.
2. In India, data from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change indicates that over 500 elephants were killed between 2014-2015 and 2018-2019, mostly due to human-elephant conflict. During the same period, 2,361 people were killed as a result of conflict with elephants.
3. Human-wildlife conflict, in combination with other threats, has driven the significant decline of species that were once abundant and species that are naturally less abundant, have been pushed to the brink of extinction

If human-wildlife conflict is not adequately addressed by the international community, WWF believes it will have a considerable negative impact on countries’ ability to meet the majority of the SDGs,

The report says that completely eradicating human-wildlife conflict is not possible but that well-planned, integrated approaches to managing it can reduce conflicts and lead to a form of coexistence between people and animals.

 

Current Affair 2:

Removal of Governors: What does the law say?

The President appoints new Governors for 8 states. A very important concepts regarding removal of Governor:

What does the Constitution say?

As per Article 155 and Article 156 of the Constitution, a Governor of a state is an appointee of the President, and he or she holds office “during the pleasure of the President”.  If a Governor continues to enjoy the “pleasure of the President”, he or she can be in office for a term of five years.  Because the President is bound to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers under Article 74 of the Constitution, in effect it is the central government that appoints and removes the Governors.

“Pleasure of the President” merely refers to this will and wish of the central government. The Supreme Court’s interpretation in 2010, a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court interpreted these provisions and laid down some binding principles (B.P. Singhal v. Union of India). The Supreme Court held:

• The President, in effect the central government, has the power to remove a Governor at any time without giving him or her any reason, and without granting an opportunity to be heard.
• However, this power cannot be exercised in an arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable manner.  The power of removing Governors should only be exercised in rare and exceptional circumstances for valid and compelling reasons.
• The mere reason that a Governor is at variance with the policies and ideologies of the central government, or that the central government has lost confidence in him or her, is not sufficient to remove a Governor.  Thus, a change in central government cannot be a ground for removal of Governors, or to appoint more favorable persons to this post.
• A decision to remove a Governor can be challenged in a court of law.  In such cases, first the petitioner will have to make a prima facie case of arbitrariness or bad faith on part of the central government.  If a prima facie case is established, the court can require the central government to produce the materials on the basis of which the decision was made in order to verify the presence of compelling reasons.

Governors of States in India (Article 152-162): A governor is a nominal head of a state, unlike the Chief Minister who is the real head of a state in India. According to the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act 1956, the same person can be the Governor of two or more states. The Governor of a State shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.  Removal:   The Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President.   Can be terminated earlier by: Dismissal by the president, at whose pleasure the governor holds office or Resignation by the governor. There is no provision of impeachment, as it happens for the president.

Current Affair 3:

Lead poisoning

 

Lead exposure that, in turn, causes cardiovascular diseases (CVD), chronic kidney diseases and idiopathic intellectual disability, is said to be responsible for nearly 45 per cent or close to half of these deaths in 2019, according to the WHO report.

Over 0.9 million people died from exposure to lead. Of these, close to 9 out of every 10 persons died from CVD due to lead exposure. In fact, the deaths due to lead exposure have also increased by a disturbing 67 per cent since 2016

Lead is added to paints for various reasons, including enhancing the colour, reducing corrosion and decreasing the drying time.

The world is lagging behind in controlling lead use. Just 41 per cent of countries including India, have legally binding controls on the production, import, sale and use of lead paints, according to the WHO.

According to the report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), only 13 countries have laws which prescribe that lead concentration should not be more than 90 particles per million (ppm). These countries are: India, the United States (US), Bangladesh, Canada, Cameroon, China, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal and the Philippines.

Current Affair 4:

Palomar 5

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Orbiting in the outer halo of the Milky Way is an unusual and unique globular cluster of stars known as Palomar 5.

This star cluster is characterized by two unique and mysterious features:

1. a low mass of stars as compared to other star clusters, and
2. two long streaming tails of stars ejected from the cluster that extend outwards to much longer distances than other typical star tails.

Why the cluster has these features has remained a mystery, and whether it was born this way with a low mass or evolved to be so has been unclear so far. But according to a new theory from an international team of astrophysicists, the reason is because the cluster has more black holes than usual, enhancing the process of tail formation.

They predict that Palomar 5 will dissolve as a 100 per cent black hole cluster a billion years from now.

Palomar 5 is a globular cluster or a group of stars that are gravitationally bound in a spherical shape. It orbits our Milky Way galaxy.

New findings, new directions

• Currently, black holes make up a fifth of the mass of the cluster. As all-stars exit the system eventually, it will one day be full of only black holes. The scientists expect this to occur in a billion years.
• Black holes also get ejected from clusters, but at slower rates than stars. However, as the cluster fills up with more black holes, scientists expect to find out if ejection from black hole-black hole collisions are slower or faster than star ejections.
• Collisions of massive objects like black holes can be observed and tracked by gravitational waves.
• The findings in the study were made using simulations and modelling, but the team now plans to perform follow up studies using long-term telescopic observations. Future findings are expected to enhance our understanding of globular cluster formation, evolution, as well as black hole interactions.

Current Affair 5:

NISHTHA Programme

 

Recently, the National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) programme has been launched for the first time in online mode in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

About Program: UPSC will simply ask its main aim. So, no need to go in much detail. Just few diagrams and you will understand well.

National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) is a capacity building programme for improving the quality of school education through integrated teacher training.

It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage (very important).

 

 

 

 

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