EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
7th March 2021
China gives green light for first downstream dams on Brahmaputra.
- 1. A draft of China’s new Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), which is set to be formally approved on March 11, 2021, has given the green light for the first dams to be built on the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river, as the Brahmaputra is known in Tibet before it flows into India.
- The draft outline of the new Five-Year Plan (FYP) for 2025 and “long range objectives through the year 2035” specifically mentions the building of hydropower bases on the lower reaches of the river as among the priority energy projects to be undertaken in the next five years.
- The lower reaches refer to the sections of the river in Tibet before it flows into India.
- The inclusion of the projects in the draft plan suggests the authorities have given the go-ahead to begin tapping the lower reaches for the first time, which marks a new chapter in the hydropower exploitation of the river.
- Other major projects include the construction of coastal nuclear power plants and power transmission channels.
- The project is also listed along with the Sichuan-Tibet railway and the national water network.
The chinese power project on Brahmaputra river:
- In 2015 China operationalised its first hydropower project at Zangmu in Tibet, while three other dams at Dagu, Jiexu and Jiacha are being developed, all on the upper and middle reaches of the river.
- The Zangmu Dams a gravity dam on the Yarlung Zangbo/Brahmaputra River 9 km (5.6 mi) northwest of Gyaca in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. This dam is built a few kilometers from the Bhutan-India border.
- List of dams on the Brahmaputra River by China:
- Brahmaputra River:
- Brahmaputra originates near Mount Kailash, flows through Tibet where it is called Yarlung Tsangpo. It enters India in Arunachal Pradesh in Eastern Himalaya, and then enters Bangladesh where it is called Jamuna (not to be mistaken with Yamuna tributary of Ganges in India).
- It finally flows into the Bay of Bengal where it confluences with the Ganges at Sunderban Delta. There are existing and planned dams on Brahmaputra in Tibet and India, but none in Bangladesh.
All-women crew of MT Swarna Krishna makes history.
- 1. Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has flagged off an all-woman crew onboard Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) vessel m.t. Swarna Krishna, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said.
- It is the first time in maritime history that a ship is being sailed by only women officers
- T. SWARNA KRISHNA is an Oil Products Tanker that was built in 2010 and is being operated by Shipping Corporation of India (SCI).
- The move demonstrated the gradual shift in the perception of seafaring as a male-oriented profession and the principles of Diversity & Inclusion that SCI upholds.
- SCI has been a pioneer in employing women seafarers onboard its vessels and has implemented various initiatives including age relaxations and fee concessions to aspiring female cadets through its Maritime Training Institute to promote their integration into the maritime sector.
- The first women officers in the Indian Navy as part of ship's crew:
- In 1956, Ram Dass Katari became the first Indian flag officer, and was appointed the first Indian Commander of the Fleet on 2 October. On 22 April 1958, Vice Admiral Katari assumed the command of the Indian Navy from Carlill as the first Indian Chief of Staff of the Indian Navy.
- Recently two women officers have been selected to join as "Observers" (Airborne Tacticians) in the helicopter stream. Lieutenant Kumudini Tyagi and Sub Lieutenant Riti Singh will be the first women officers in the Indian Navy to embark on Navy warships as part of ship's crew.
- Prior to 1992, women officers were inducted in the Navy only in the medical stream from the Armed Forces Medical Service. From July 1992, the Navy started inducting women, initially through a special entry scheme and later through the Short Service Commission, in only select branches of the Navy.
MT Swarna Krishna:
- All-women crew of MT Swarna Krishna becomes first to pilot ship in maritime history, is an Oil Products Tanker built in 2010 and currently sailing under the flag of India.
- International Women’s Day 2021: Date, history, and why we celebrate it on March 8.
- International Women's Day 2021 is being celebrated on 8th of March with theme #ChooseToChallenge. It indicates that a "challenged world is an alert world, and from challenge comes change".
- After the Socialist Party of America organized a Women's Day in New York City on February 28, 1909, German delegates Clara Zetkin, Käte Duncker, Paula Thiede and others proposed at the 1910 International Socialist Woman's Conference that "a special Women's Day" be organized annually,
- IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first? ?IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.
- Prior to this the? Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom's Suffragists and Suffragettes, and further groups campaigned for women's equality.
- The United Nations began celebrating the day in 1977.
IWD 2021 campaign theme:
- A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.
- We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.
- From challenge comes change, so let's all "#choose to challenge”.
- Individual contribution:
- Individuals and organizations are invited to send in their #ChooseToChallenge images as we share images from around the world in the lead up to International Women's Day 2021.
- So strike the #ChooseToChallenge pose with your hand high to show your commitment to choose to challengeinequality, call out bias, question stereotypes, and help forge an inclusive world.
- Submissions are photographs of individual or group compositions striking the #ChooseToChallenge hand up pose to potentially be shared on the IWD website and social media feeds - and are ideally 16:9 aspect ratio (landscape composition; max 3000 pixels width). All gender identities welcome.
- Please submit #ChooseToChallenge images as early as possible.
What the new rule on airbags means for passengers and carmakers.
- The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a Gazette notification regarding mandatory provision of an airbag for passengers seated on the front seat of a vehicle, next to the driver.
- The Ministry has mandated that “Vehicles manufactured on and after the April 1, 2021, in the case of new models, and August 31, 2021, in the case of existing models, shall be fitted with airbags for the person occupying the front seat, other than the driver.”
- This has been mandated as an important safety feature and is also based on suggestions of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety.”
- The latest mandate is for all existing models in the M1 category — passenger motor vehicles having not more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s.
What is an Airbag?
- An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate extremely quickly, then quickly deflate during a collision. It consists of the airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor.
- The purpose of the airbag is to provide a vehicle occupant with a soft cushioning and restraint during a crash event. It can reduce injuries between the flailing occupant and the interior of the vehicle.
- An airbag pops up as a protective cushion between the passenger and the car’s dashboard during a collision.
Implications of this decision
- India accounts for 10% of all road crash victims in the world, as per a recent World Bank report.
- In a country where 415 people die in road accidents every day, an airbag can literally be a lifesaver.
- Some of the other safety features in automobiles are:
- Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS)
- Speed Alert System
- Reverse Parking Sensors
- Driver and passenger seat belt reminder
- Manual override for central locking system
Why scientists want ‘Australia’s worst female serial killer’ to be pardoned based on genetics.
- In Australia, Leading scientists and medical experts are calling for the pardon of convicted child killer Kathleen Folbigg after a recent study showed that her victims — four of her children — may have died of natural causes.
- Medical experts have argued that her children died due to a rare genetic defect. They inherited a genetic mutation from their mother called CALM2.
- CALM-2 mutations are known to cause sudden death due to cardiac arrest.
- Calmodulin 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CALM2 gene. Mutations in CALM2 are associated to cardiac arrhythmias.
Who is Kathleen Folbigg?
- Folbigg, 53, was arrested in 2003 following a seven-week trial in which she was convicted of smothering her four children — Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Elizabeth — over a ten-year period during moments of frustration.
- Genome sequencing of Sarah and Laura’s DNA, pulled from their neonatal heel prick tests, showed that they had both inherited a genetic mutation from their mother called CALM2.
- According to the experts, CALM-2 mutations are known to cause sudden death due to cardiac arrest. Folbigg’s sons Caleb and Patrick’s genomes showed a different genetic mutation, which may have also contributed to their deaths, the scientists claimed. They both possessed a variant of the BSN gene, which has been linked to lethal epileptic fits.
What happens if Folbigg gets pardoned?
- If pardoned, Folbigg’s convictions will not automatically be overturned. Rather, she will still have to appeal her conviction in the NSW courts.
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