India was a tree planting laboratory for 200 years — here are the results

Allowing forests to regenerate on their own has been championed as a strategy for reducing planet-heating carbon in the atmosphere while also boosting biodiversity, the benefits ecosystems offer and even the fruitfulness of livelihoods.

While plantations on farms and barren land can provide firewood and timber, easing the pressure on natural forests and so aiding their regeneration, ill-advised tree planting can unleash invasive species and even dispossess people of their land.

Plantations in colonial-era India

• Britain needed great quantities of timber to lay railway sleepers and build ships in order to transport the cotton, rubber and tea it took from India. Through the Indian Forest Act of 1865, forests with high-yielding timber trees such as teak, sal and deodar became state property.
• To maximise how much timber these forests yielded, British colonial authorities restricted the rights of local people to harvest much beyond grass and bamboo. Even cattle grazing was restricted.
• Meanwhile plantations of teak (Tectona grandis), a species well adapted to India’s hot and humid climate and a source of durable and attractive timber, spread aggressively. Pristine grasslands and open scrub forest gave way to teak monocultures.
• Eucalyptus and other exotic trees which hadn’t evolved in India were introduced from around 1790. British foresters planted pines from Europe and North America in extensive plantations in the Himalayan region as a source of resin and introduced acacia trees from Australia for timber, fodder and fuel.
• One of these species, wattle (Acacia mearnsii), first introduced in 1861 with a few hundred thousand saplings, was planted in the Nilgiris district of the Western Ghats.
• This area is what scientists all a biodiversity hotspot — a globally rare ecosystem replete with species. Wattle has since become invasive and taken over much of the region’s mountainous grasslands.
• Similarly, pine has spread over much of the Himalayas and displaced native oak trees while teak has replaced sal, a native hardwood, in central India. Both oak and sal are valued for fuel, fodder, fertiliser, medicine and oil. Their loss, and the loss of grazing land, impoverished many.

Restoring forests in India today

• This focus on increasing the area of land covered with trees is reflected in India’s national forest policy, which aims for trees on 33% of the country’s area. Schemes under this policy include plantations consisting of a single species such as eucalyptus or bamboo which grow fast and can increase tree cover quickly, demonstrating success according to this dubious measure.
• Sometimes these trees are planted in grasslands and other ecosystems where tree cover is naturally low. The result is that afforestation harms rural and indigenous people who depend on these ecosystems for grazing and produce. The continued planting of exotic trees risks new invasive species, in a similar way to wattle 200 years ago.
• There are positive case studies too. The Forest Rights Act of 2006 empowered village assemblies to manage forest areas which had once been in traditional use. Several assemblies (known as Gram Sabhas) in the Gadchiroli district of central

In a warmer, wetter world, pests are multiplying faster and damaging crops severely

In April, tea planters from southern India sought urgent government intervention, saying that the tea mosquito bug is causing havoc in the most unlikely places. The bug, recognised as a serious pest of fruits and tea plantations across the world, is usually confined to low elevation areas.

The extent of damage can be seen in Tamil Nadu’s Valparai hills, where tea production has declined by 50 per cent

• Helopeltis theivora, the most predominant tea mosquito bug species in India, is spreading in an alarming form in tea plantations of Tamil Nadu’s Anaimalai and Valparai hills. Sikkim has recorded the first infestation of H theivora in red cherry pepper
• H bradyi, which has so far been restricted to Peninsular India, was reported for the first time on the high altitude Tura region of Meghalaya. H antonii, which causes damage to cashew crops, is now being reported in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, the authors note.
• In Rajasthan’s Alwar district, Tidda (leafhoppers) and silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) are not new to Ramgarh village, where farmers primarily grow wheat, millets, mustard, vegetables and pulses. But they have become more menacing in recent years.
• Impacts of Climate Change, the scientists write that in India, such warming is likely to result in pest attacks on staple crops such as cotton, wheat, barley, oats, rice, pulse crops, maize, sorghum, oilseed and vegetables, on which a majority of the population relies for daily nutrition.
• In a warming world, changes in both temperature and rainfall are the two big drivers of shifts in how and where pests and diseases spread. This trend will be exacerbated by increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Warming, a multiplier

The impact of warming will profoundly affect aphids—soft-bodied insects that suck into plant saps to deform leaves and flowers. About 250 aphid species are recognised as crops pests for agriculture, as they can affect multiple crops of different plant families.

They also known to transmit plant viruses. Aphids are found across the world and have the ability to migrate up to 1,300 km, typically during spring and autumn seasons. Since they are sensitive to changes in ambient temperatures, this will translate to changes in their lifecycle.

NPC favours offering incentives for buying & selling power on PUShP portal

PUShP portal

• A High Price Day Ahead Market (HP-DAM) and Surplus Power Portal (PUShP) was launched by the Ministry of Power.
• It was launched to ensure greater availability of power during the peak demand season at a price higher than the ceiling of Rs 12 per unit by certain category of sellers.
• The power distribution companies (DISCOMs) will be able to indicate their surplus power in block times / days / months on portal.
• Those DISCOMs who need power will be able to requisition the surplus power.
• The new buyer will pay both variable charge (VC) and fixed cost (FC) as determined by Regulators. Once power is reassigned, the original beneficiary shall have no right to recall as entire FC liability is also shifted to the new beneficiary.
• This will reduce the fixed cost burden on the DISCOMs, and will also enable all the available generation capacity to be utilized.

Day Ahead Market

• It is a physical electricity trading market where power is delivered within 24 hours of the next day starting from midnight.
• They are traded in 15 minute time blocks and the prices and quantum of electricity closed the auction bidding process.

Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, TSA join hands for turtles and tortoises conservation

Pilibhit Tiger Reserve

• It is located in Pilibhit District, Lakhimpur Kheri District and Bahraich District of Uttar Pradesh.
• It lies along the India-Nepal border in the foothills of the Himalayas and the plains of the ‘terai’ in Uttar Pradesh.
• The river Gomti originates from the reserve, which is also the catchment of several others like Sharda, Chuka and Mala Khannot.
• The Sharda Sagar Dam extending up to a length of 22 km (14 mi) is on the boundary of the reserve.
• Vegetation: North Indian moist deciduous type.
• Flora:
  • It is characterized by sal forests, tall grasslands and swamps, maintained by periodic flooding from rivers.
  • The sal woodland is very dense with good natural regeneration, amounting to almost 76% of the reserve area.
  • The forest patches are interspersed with grass meadows with several species like Sacchrum, Sclerostachya, Imperata, Themeda, Bothriochloa, Vetiveria, Apluda, Dichanthium, Digitaria and Cyperus.
• Fauna: It is home to a myriad of wild animals including the endangered tiger, swamp deer, Bengal florican, hog deer, leopard, etc.

Webb captures Earendel, most distant star ever discovered

Earendel

• It is a star discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2022 and it is the most distant and earliest known star.
• It is a massive B-type star that is more than twice as hot as our Sun and about a million times more luminous.
• It is located in the Sunrise Arc Galaxy and is around 12.9 billion years away.
• Both Webb and Hubble were only able to detect it due to a natural phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
• The star happened to be aligned behind a wrinkle in space-time created by the galaxy cluster WHL0137-08, which is located between us and Earendel.

Gravitational lensing

• It occurs when a massive celestial body, such as a galaxy cluster, causes a sufficient curvature of spacetime for the path of light around it to be visibly bent, as if by a lens.
• The body causing the light to curve is accordingly called a gravitational lens.
• An important consequence of this lensing distortion is magnification, allowing us to observe objects that would otherwise be too far away and too faint to be seen.

Oldest surviving plant species saw dinosaurs come and go, humans threaten it

Takakia

• It is a rare genus of moss that adapted over millions of years to life at high altitudes.
• Appearance: When seen from a distance, it looks like a later of moss or green algae on the rocks where it grows. But closer inspection would reveal slender turf around one centimetre in length with an arrangement of short, finger-like leaves.
• It is a genus that only has two species ( lepidozioides and T. ceratophylla ) and both of them are found together only in the Tibetan Plateau.
• It has developed the ability to survive frost, life-threatening UV radiation and other hazardous conditions.
• It combines features found in mosses, liverworts and green algae.
• It is a moss that separated from other mosses 390 million years ago, not long after the first land plants evolved.

Moss

• It is a small nonvascular spore-bearing land plants.
• Mosses are distributed throughout the world except in salt water and are commonly found in moist shady locations.
• Ecologically, mosses break down exposed substrata, releasing nutrients for the use of more-complex plants that succeed them.
• They also aid in soil erosion control by providing surface cover and absorbing water, and they are important in the nutrient and water economy of some vegetation types.

Powerful sun storm knocks out radio transmissions across North America

Solar Flare

• A solar flare is an intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots.
• Flares are our solar system’s largest explosive events.
• They are seen as bright areas on the sun, and they can last from minutes to hours.
• In a matter of just a few minutes, they heat the material to many millions of degrees and produce a burst of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, including from radio waves to x-rays and gamma rays.
• Although solar flares can be visible in white light, they are often more readily noticed via their bright X-ray and ultraviolet emissions.
• Effect on Earth:
  • The intense radiation emitted during a solar flare can affect satellite communications, disrupt radio signals, and even pose a risk to astronauts in space.
  • Additionally, the increased solar radiation can lead to geomagnetic storms, which may impact power grids and cause auroras (northern and southern lights) at lower latitudes.

Geomagnetic Storm

• A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth''s magnetosphere.
• These storms result from variations in the solar wind that produces significant changes in the currents, plasmas, and fields in Earth’s magnetosphere.
• The solar wind conditions that are effective for creating geomagnetic storms are sustained (for several hours) periods of the high-speed solar wind and a southward-directed solar wind magnetic field (opposite the direction of Earth’s field) at the dayside of the magnetosphere.
• The largest such storms are associated with solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs), where a billion tons or so of plasma from the sun, with its embedded magnetic field, arrives at Earth.

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

• Solar flares are different to ''coronal mass ejections'' (CMEs), which were once thought to be initiated by solar flares.
• CMEs are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona that propagates outward into interplanetary space.
• Although some are accompanied by flares, it is now known that most CMEs are not associated with flares.
• The blast of a CME carries about a billion tons of material out from the Sun at very high speeds of hundreds of kilometers per second.

Performance Audit Report on National Social Assistance Programme

National Social Assistance Programme

• It was launched on 15th August, 1995.
• Objective
  • It is is a social security and welfare programme to provide support to aged persons, widows, disabled persons and bereaved families on death of primary bread winner,belonging to below poverty line households.
• Eligibility
  • For getting benefits under NSAP the applicant must belong to a Below Poverty Line (BPL) family according to the criteria prescribed by the Govt. of India.
  • The other eligibility criteria and the scale of central assistance under the sub - schemes of NSAP are as follows
• Presently NSAP comprises of five schemes, namely –
  • Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS): The eligible age for IGNOAPS is 60 years. The pension is Rs.200 p.m. for persons between 60 years and 79 years. For persons who are 80 years and above the pension is Rs.500/ - per month.
  • Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS): Widow aged 40 years will get pension is Rs.300 per month. After attaining the age of 80 years, the beneficiary will get Rs.500/ - per month.
  • Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS): An individual aged 18 years and above and the disability level has to be 80% wil get Rs.300 per month and after attaining the age of 80 years, the beneficiary will get Rs 500/ - per month.
  • National Family Benefit Scheme NFBS) : In the event of death of the bread – winner Rs. 20000/ - will be given as a lumpsum assistance to the bereaved household. The breadwinner should have been between 18-60 years of age.
  • Annapurna: The scheme aims at provide food security to meet the requirements of those eligible old aged persons who have remained uncovered under the IGNOAPS. Under this programme 10 kgs of food grains (wheat or rice) is given per month per beneficiary.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Rural Development

RBI asks banks to set aside incremental CRR

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)

• Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is the share of a bank’s total deposit that is mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to be maintained with the latter as reserves in the form of liquid cash.
• The bank cannot use this amount for lending and investment purposes and does not get any interest from the RBI.
• CRR applies to scheduled commercial banks, while the regional rural banks and NBFCs are excluded.
• Key objectives of the Cash Reserve Ratio:
  • CRR helps control inflation. In a high-inflation environment, RBI can increase CRR to prevent banks from lending more.
  • CRR also ensures banks have a minimum amount of funds readily available to customers even during huge demand.
  • CRR serves as the reference rate for loans. Also known as the base rate for loans, the banks cannot offer loans below this rate.
  • Since CRR regulates the money supply, it boosts the economy whenever required by lowering the CRR.
• How is CRR Calculated?
  • CRR is calculated as a percentage of Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL).
  • This percentage is fixed by the RBI and is changed from time to time by the central bank itself.
  • NDTL for banking refers to the aggregate savings account, current account and fixed deposit balances held by a bank.
  • Currently, the CRR is fixed at 4.50%. This means that for every Rs 100 worth of deposits, the bank has to keep Rs 4.5 with the RBI.

Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)

• SLR is a minimum percentage of deposits that a commercial bank has to maintain in the form of liquid cash, gold or other securities.
• It is basically the reserve requirement that banks are expected to keep before offering credit to customers.
• However, these deposits are maintained by the banks themselves and not with the RBI.
• The SLR is fixed by the RBI.
• How does SLR work?
  • Every bank must have a particular portion of their NDTL in the form of cash, gold, or other liquid assets by the end of the day.
  • The ratio of these liquid assets to the demand and time liabilities is called the SLR.
• Importance of SLR:
  • The government uses the SLR to regulate inflation and liquidity.
  • Increasing the SLR will control inflation in the economy while decreasing it will cause growth in the economy.
  • Although, the SLR is a monetary policy instrument of RBI, it is important for the government to make its debt management programme successful.
  • SLR has helped the government to sell its securities or debt instruments to banks.
  • Most of the banks will be keeping their SLR in the form of government securities as it will earn them an interest income.

Parliamentary panel recommends relaxation in criteria for recognised startups to avail tax benefits

Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP)

• Employee Stock Option Plan - which is also called Employee Stock Ownership Plan in India is a benefit plan that offers employees the right to buy company shares at a predetermined price.
• Purpose:
  • It''s a tool companies use to attract, retain, and reward employees.
  • ESOPs help to align employees'' interests with the company''s growth and success.
• Granting of Options:
  • Under an ESOP, eligible employees are granted the right, but not the obligation, to purchase company shares at a predetermined price, known as the "exercise price" or "strike price."
  • This price is typically set at a discount to the current market price of the company''s shares.
  • Employees have to wait for a certain time period – known as the vesting period– before they can exercise the right to purchase those specified number of shares.
• All companies other than listed companies should issue it in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014.
• In the case of listed companies, they should issue in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India Employee Stock Option Scheme Guidelines.
• To Whom Can The ESOP Be Issued? Rule 12(1) of Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014 states that ESOP can be issued to the following employees-
  • A permanent employee of the company who is working in India or outside India.
  • A Director of the company, including a whole-time or part-time director but not an independent director.
  • A permanent employee or director of a subsidiary company in India or outside India, or holding company, or an associate company.
• A company cannot issue ESOP to the following employees-
  • An employee who belongs to the promoter group or is a promoter of the company.
  • A director who either himself or through any body corporate or through his relative holds more than ten per cent of the outstanding equity shares of the company, whether directly or indirectly.
  • However, the above two conditions do not apply to Startup Companies for a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation.

MeitY launches Indian Web Browser Development Challenge

India Web Browser Development Challenge (IWBDC)

• The challenge is spearheaded by MeitY in collaboration with the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) Bangalore.
• The Challenge seeks to inspire and empower technology enthusiasts, innovators, and developers from all corners of the country to create an indigenous web browser.
• The desired browser will have its own trust store, use a root certificate from India''s CCA, and offer cutting-edge functionalities and enhanced security & data privacy protection features.
• As part of the challenge the government has announced a cash prize of Rs 3.4 crores for the developers.
• Qualifications for Participants:
  • The Indian Tech Start-ups, MSMEs, Companies, and LLPs registered in India under the Companies Act 2013 can apply.
  • The entity must have at least 51% shareholding with Indian citizens or persons of Indian origin.
  • The applicant''s entity should not be a subsidiary company of any foreign corporation.
  • Participants can apply either as “individuals” or “organization”. Members applying as “individuals” should have a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 7 members in their Group.
  • All other applicants (Startups, MSME, etc.) should apply under the “organization” category only.
• Desired features in an Indian web browser: The ministry has also laid down the features desired in an Indian web browser.
  • It must be compatible with all platforms, including iOS, Android and Desktop.
  • It should offer built-in accessibility support.
  • The browser should also have the ability to digitally sign the documents using a crypto token.
  • It should also have parental control and a web filter for child-friendly browsing.
  • It should come with support for Web3 and compliance with W3C standards.
  • Lastly, it should also support all the official Indian languages.

Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA)

• The Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act) provides for the CCA.
• Function: To license and regulate the working of Certifying Authorities (CAs).
• The CAs issue digital signature certificates for electronic authentication of users.
• The CCA also maintains the National Repository of Digital Certificates (NRDC), which contains all the certificates issued by all the CAs in the country.
• Its aim is to promote the growth of e-Commerce and e-Governance through a wide use of digital signatures.
• The Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) is appointed by the Central Government under section 17 of the IT Act.

India committed to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis by 2027

Lymphatic Filariasis

• Lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, is a neglected tropical disease.
• Infection occurs when filarial parasites are transmitted to humans through mosquitoes. This impairs the lymphatic system and can lead to the abnormal enlargement of body parts, causing pain, severe disability and social stigma.
• Cause: It s caused by infection with parasites classified as nematodes (roundworms) of the family Filariodidea. There are 3 types of these thread-like filarial worms:
  • Wuchereria bancrofti, which is responsible for 90% of the cases.
  • Brugia malayi, which causes most of the remainder of the cases.
  • Brugia timori, which also causes the disease.
• Adult worms nest in the lymphatic vessels and disrupt the normal function of the lymphatic system. The worms can live for approximately 6–8 years and, during their lifetime, **produce millions of microfilariae (**immature larvae) that circulate in the blood.
• Transmission: Mosquitoes are infected with microfilariae by ingesting blood when biting an infected host. Microfilariae mature into infective larvae within the mosquito. When infected mosquitoes bite people, mature parasite larvae are deposited on the skin, from where they can enter the body.
• Symptoms: About two in every three people who have lymphatic filariasis don’t have severe symptoms. But filariasis usually leads to a weakened immune system. Some people may experience:
  • Inflammation: An overactivated immune system.
  • Lymphedema: Fluid buildup in your lymphatic system.
  • Hydrocele: Swelling and fluid buildup in the scrotum.
  • Edema: Swelling and fluid buildup in your arms, legs, breasts and female genitals (vulva).
• Treatment:
  • Elimination of lymphatic filariasis is possible by stopping the spread of the infection through preventive chemotherapy.
  • The WHO-recommended preventive chemotherapy strategy for lymphatic filariasis elimination is mass drug administration (MDA).
  • MDA involves administering an annual dose of medicines to the entire at-risk population.
  • The medicines used have a limited effect on adult parasites but effectively reduce the density of microfilariae in the bloodstream and prevent the spread of parasites to mosquitoes.

Global Initiatives to Eradicate Lymphatic Filariasis:

• WHO’s road map 2021−2030: Sets global targets and milestones to prevent, control, eliminate or eradicate 20 diseases.
• Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF): WHO established this to stop the transmission of infection by mass drug administration (MDA) of anthelmintics and to alleviate the suffering of people affected by the disease through morbidity management and disability prevention (MMDP).