Delhi traffic police’s elaborate plan ahead for Kanwar Yatra

Every year, during the Hindu lunar month of Shravan, devotees travel on–foot from GauMukh, Gangotri Dham and Haridwar to offer holy Ganga water at Shiva Temples on Shravan Shivratri

During these days, due to the movement of Kanwarias and setting up of “Kanwar Camps” on roadsides, traffic congestion and obstruction will be experienced at several places.

Kanwar Yatra

• The Kanwar Yatra is a pilgrimage organised in the Hindu calendar month of Shravana.
• Saffron-clad Shiva devotees generally walk barefoot with pitchers of holy water from the Ganga or other holy rivers.
• Devotees carry the pitchers of holy water on their shoulders, balanced on decorated slings known as Kanwars.
• The water is used by the pilgrims to worship Shiva lingas at shrines of importance, include the 12 Jyotirlingas, or temples such as the Pura Mahadeva and Augharnath Temple in Meerut, Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar, Jharkhand etc.
• An important festival with similarities to the Kanwar yatra in North India, called the Kavadi festival, is celebrated in Tamil Nadu, in which Lord Muruga is worshipped.
• The legend of the ritual goes back to the ‘samudra manthan’, narrated in the Bhagavata Purana.

Jyotirlingas

• A Jyotirlinga is a devotional representation of Shiva.
• There are twelve traditional Jyotirlinga shrines in India.

India’s diabetes epidemic is making India’s TB epidemic worse

Currently, India has around 74.2 million people living with diabetes while TB affects 2.6 million Indians every year. Yet few know how deeply these diseases are interlinked.

The evidence is clear: DM (diabetes mellitus, DM) increases the risk of developing respiratory infections. Also DM is a major risk factor that increases the incidence and severity of TB.

DM and TB co-infections adversely affect TB treatment outcomes in a patient. The worry is that among people with TB, the prevalence of DM was found to be 25.3% while 24.5% were pre-diabetic, in a 2012 study in tuberculosis units in Chennai.

How do DM and TB ‘work’ together

• DM not only increases the risk of TB, it also delays the sputum smear and culture conversion of an individual affected by both diseases. In other words, reducing the number of TB bacteria to below the threshold required to claim they have ‘healed’ will take longer than usual.
• DM impairs cell-mediated immunity; uncontrolled DM affects the cytokine response and alters the defences in the alveolar macrophages. The altered functions of small blood vessels in the lung (due to hyperglycaemia) along with poor nutritional status may facilitate the invasion and establishment of TB.
• As people with diabetes have already compromised immune function, the risk of TB infection is high. They will also have a higher bacterial load. The coexistence of TB and DM in patients may also modify TB symptoms, radiological findings, treatment, final outcomes, and prognosis. Individuals with TB and DM are more likely to have cavitary lesions in lower lung fields.

How does DM affect people with TB?

• In individuals affected by both diseases, the lungs are severely affected (in studies, researchers have observed multiple and large lung cavities). Persistent inflammation has also been seen in people with DM and TB – even after they have completed their TB treatment.
• Experts have reported that TB-related respiratory complications have been a common cause of death among people with TB and DM, but which wasn’t the case with people with TB only.
• DM directly affects the outcomes of those affected by both diseases. However, a recent study reported that a higher fraction of unfavourable TB treatment outcomes occurred among people with low body-mass indices and with low glycated haemoglobin levels (better known as HbA1c) compared to people with low BMI and high HbA1c. This indicates that one’s nutritional status is important for favourable TB treatment outcomes. In effect, the study extended the evidence of association of undernutrition with TB.

Greedflation and its counter arguments: how consumers ultimately decide prices

(Many economists have questioned the validity of the argument that corporate thirst for higher profits is the cause behind inflation)

• Greedflation refers to price inflation caused by corporate greed for high profits. Progressives in the United States have accused corporate greed as a major reason for the historically high price inflation in the U.S. since the pandemic.
• The proponents of the idea of greedflation argue that corporate profit margins have risen significantly since the pandemic even though the larger economy has struggled and that this has contributed to high inflation.
• They contend that the U.S. corporations have allegedly increased the prices of their goods by more than what was necessary to compensate for higher input costs caused by supply-chain bottlenecks.
• Proponents of the greedflation theory of inflation see this as a sign of increased market dominance by corporations, and have called for efforts to rein in market power of large corporations and some have even advocated for a ban on price hikes to prevent “profiteering”.
• Greedflation has been compared to other theories of “cost-push” inflation which attribute inflation to a rise in input costs. In the case of greedflation, it is the rise in the corporate thirst for profits that is seen as a cost that is driving up prices.

An intriguing exhibition of British-India maps, organised recently by the Asiatic Society of Mumbai

While satellites have taken over the role of mapping in the last 40 years, the most precise method of measuring terrain in the previous two centuries was the Triangulation survey.

Like GPS, national triangulation surveys were incredible technological and administrative achievements but often mired in political intrigue. This was especially true in colonised lands like India, as evident from an exhibition titled “Mapped!” (May 5-June 4), displayed at the Asiatic Society of Mumbai.

Daunting task

• The principle behind triangulation surveys is calculating the length of a triangle’s sides if we know both the length of the base and the angles between the sides. Having calculated the length of two sides in this fashion, we can now use them as bases of new triangles in a spreading network that comprehensively covers a large area.
• The first triangulation survey in India, which later expanded into the Great Trigonometrical Survey, was initiated in Madras in 1802 by William Lambton. In 1818, by which time the East India Company
• However simple the idea behind triangulation, in practice mapping a country as massive as India is only possible if the triangles are themselves enormous. Workers of the GTS had access to theodolites, precision instruments invented in the late 18th century to calculate horizontal and vertical angles between two visible points, but finding vantage points of visibility at great distances was far from easy.

Lucid and informative notes

• “A Map of Hindoostan or the Mogul Empire” published by James Rennell on January 1, 1788. This was one of the first nearly accurate maps of India.
• There were places the survey leaders wanted to go to but could not, such as Tibet, which was sealed off from foreigners. That is the ostensible reason why Mount Everest is one of the only two Himalayan peaks (the other being K2/Godwin-Austen) that does not retain its traditional name in English.
• Apparently, a number of local names were floating around and the lack of access to the Roof of the World meant no definitive appellation could be found. And so, the second Superintendent of the GTS received the honour, above his own protestations, of being identified in the world at large with the loftiest spot on the planet.

Detecting carbon molecules in space

The required steps for life arise from non-living matter are, the formation of complex organic molecules, like amino acids, from simpler ones, like CH3+, or methylium.

Life is carbon-based

• The CH3+ molecule, which is also known as methyl cation, has been detected in space for the first time by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Organic molecules are carbon based. They contain carbon atoms bonded to hydrogen atoms but can also bond to other elements, such as oxygen, nitrogen or phosphorus.
• Everything that makes us and all life on Earth is carbon based.
• CH3+ is a very simple organic molecule, just one carbon atom and 3 hydrogen atoms. But it reacts with other molecules to form more complex ones.

Looking for molecular fingerprints in space

• Scientists found the fingerprints of the CH3+ molecule in light coming from a swirling disk of dust and gas around a young star. The disk is in the Orion Nebula, 1,350 light years from Earth.
• The Orion Nebula is visible to the naked eye although you may only see a dot on Orion’s sword slightly below the belt.
• Visible light is just a fraction of the whole picture. But every atom and molecule absorbs or emits light uniquely, with its own specific color palette.
• For example, hydrogen, the simplest of atoms, when excited, emits a red glow, and if you view it through a prism, you will see four characteristic lines that make up its spectrum.

The lab had been studying the fingerprint of molecules and analyzed CH3+ in detail. And that enabled scientists to match the unknown fingerprint detected by the JWST to this specific, life-giving molecule.

Why area under maize has hit a plateau in Punjab, and why it is critical that it expands quickly

The sowing of kharif maize is currently ongoing in Punjab, but no major increase is expected in the area under the crop. Efforts by state governments over the past decade to increase the area under kharif maize have produced no noteworthy results. This raises some questions — including whether the possibility of expanding the cultivation of kharif maize still exists.

Maize

• The predominant maize growing states that contributes more than 80 % of the total maize production are:

Andhra Pradesh (20.9 %) > Karnataka (16.5 %) > Rajasthan (9.9 %) > Maharashtra (9.1 %) > Bihar (8.9 %) > Uttar Pradesh (6.1 %) > Madhya Pradesh (5.7 %) > Himachal Pradesh (4.4 %)

• Temperature: Between 21-27°C
• Rainfall: High rainfall.
• Soil Type: Old alluvial soil.
• Maize is used both as food and fodder.
• The United States of America (USA) is the largest producer of maize contributes nearly 36% of the total production in the world.
• India is the seventh largest producer of Maize representing around 4% of world maize area and 2% of total production.

Himalayan glaciers face dire straits if global warming not controlled

A new study says water security for nearly 2 billion people living downstream from the Hindu Kush Himalayan ranges is under severe threat.

• Glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges and could lose up to 80 per cent of their volume by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not sharply reduced, according to a report.
• Development warned that flash floods and avalanches would grow more likely in coming years, and that the availability of fresh water could be curtailed for nearly two billion people who live downstream of 12 rivers that originate in the mountains.

Cryosphere worst affected

• Various earlier reports have found that the cryosphere—regions on Earth covered by snow and ice—are among the worst affected by climate change. Recent research found that Mt Everest’s glaciers, for example, have lost 2,000 years of ice in just the past 30 years.

Paris Agreement on Climate Change

• It is a legally binding global agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was adopted in 2015. It was adopted in UNFCCC COP21.
• It aims to combat climate change and limit global warming to well below 2o C above pre-industrial levels, with an ambition to limit warming to 1.5o C.
• It replaced the Kyoto Protocol which was an earlier agreement to deal with climate change.
• The Paris Agreement sets out a framework for countries to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to the impacts of climate change, and provide support to developing countries in their efforts to address climate change.
• Under the Paris Agreement, each country is required to submit and update their NDCs every 5 years, outlining their plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change.
  • NDCs are pledges made by countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Can Switzerland’s net-zero climate law help save its Alpine glaciers

Prior to the referendum, the Swiss parliament had earlier passed the law that also requires the country to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Alpine glaciers melting fast

Backers of the plan argue that Switzerland will be hard-hit by climate change and is already seeing the effects of rising temperatures in the Alps.

Swiss glaciers experienced record melting in 2022, losing more than 6 per cent of their volume and alarming scientists who say a loss of 2 per cent would once have been considered extreme.

• Alps:
  • The Alps emerged during the Alpine orogeny (mountain-building event), an event that began about 65 million years ago as the Mesozoic Era was drawing to a close.
  • Alps are young fold mountains with rugged relief and high conical peaks.
  • They are the most prominent of western Europe’s physiographic regions. Some 750 miles long and more than 125 miles wide at their broadest point between Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and Verona, Italy, the Alps cover more than 80,000 square miles.
  • The Alps extend north from the subtropical Mediterranean coast near Nice, France, to Lake Geneva before trending east-northeast to Vienna, Austria. There they touch the Danube River and meld with the adjacent plain.
  • Because of their arclike shape, the Alps separate the marine west-coast climates of Europe from the Mediterranean areas of France, Italy, and the Balkan region.
  • Countries Covered:
    • The Alps form part of France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Albania.
    • Only Switzerland and Austria can be considered true Alpine countries.
  • Important Peaks:
    • Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps and in Europe, reaching a lofty 4,804 meters above sea level. It is located in the Graian Alps and lies within France, Switzerland, and Italy.
    • Monte Rosa is a massif (a compact group of mountains) consisting of several peaks. The highest peak in this range (Dufourspitze) has an elevation of 4,634 meters, claiming the title of Switzerland’s highest peak.
    • Dom, which is located near Monte Rosa, Dom stands at 4,545 meters and is known as one of the “easier” tall peaks in the Alps to summit because of it’s straightforward routes.
    • Other major peaks are Liskamm, Weisshorn, Matterhorn, Dent Blanche, Grand Combin etc.

Impact of climate change on Kashmir’s mushroom pickers

Unpredictable weather patterns, early springs, and above-average temperatures have left gucchi mushroom hunters in distress, facing another season of low yield for the second consecutive year

• When the Celsius hits 15 to 20 degrees in the daytime, it’s the perfect time of year for “gucchi” to start springing up in the Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir. Soil temperatures warm, and competition to find the tasty, coveted fungi heats up.
• The gucchi mushroom, the local name for morel, truffle-like fungi can fetch prices upward of Rs 40,000 a kg due to their scarcity and short growing season. So, in the world of morels, much like in fishing and game hunting, the whereabouts of fruitful caches are kept secret.
• The vast majority of each yearly crop is collected in the wild – mostly in the mountains of Ramban, Kupwara and Anantnag districts. But where exactly those wild mushrooms will pop up is largely a guessing game.

High morel ground

• Gucchi mushrooms are difficult to spot on the wooded floor and often blend perfectly with their surroundings. But their spongy and honeycomb-looking top gives them a distinctive appearance.
• Ideal weather conditions for the great morel are when daytime Celsius is between 15 and 20 and night-time temperatures are in the five to nine. They can normally be found on southerly slopes and sunny areas before showing up on the northern side of hills or in the shade.
• Gucchis can vary in colour from blonde to dark black, and sometimes the best way to spot them is by kneeling, crouching or changing the perspective.

Under the weather

• Gucchis are weather dependent, triggered by the temp and moisture. The past few years have been bad for pickers of morel mushrooms in Jammu and Kashmir.
• According to experts, gucchi is becoming rarer because of climate change, deforestation, and habitat destruction. The Jammu and Kashmir forest department data shows morel mushroom production has shrunk from 2,000 quintals in 1991 to around 45 quintals in 2021.
• As there’s nobody to pick them then, the second-best fungi in the world – second only to the truffle – and one of the most expensive mushrooms in the world go to waste in the jungles.

Poaching biggest threat to sturgeon species in Danube; 337 illegal activities in 7 years: Report

Poaching of sturgeons is rampant in the Lower Danube and poses a threat to the existence of the four endangered fish species of the family in the waterbody, according to a new report.

• Danube is the second longest river in Europe after the Volga. It rises in the Black Forest mountains of western Germany and flows for some 2,850 km to its mouth on the Black Sea.

Sturgeons

• Sturgeons have existed since the time of dinosaurs, for about 200 million years. Some of the species can grow up to eight metre in length and live more than a century.
• They are called ‘living fossils’ because their appearance has altered very little over the years.
  • Living Fossil is an organism that has remained unchanged from earlier geologic times and whose close relatives are usually extinct.
  • Other than Sturgeons, Horseshoe crab and ginkgo trees are examples of living fossils.
• Because the sturgeons live for so many years, mature late and spawn with long intervals, they take a long time to recover from environmental and human pressures, according to WWF. This makes them great indicators for the health of the river and other ecological parameters.
• Habitat:
  • There are 27 species of sturgeons and paddlefishes distributed across the Northern hemisphere. While some species inhabit only freshwater, most species are anadromous, spawning in freshwater but spending much of their life history in marine or brackish environments.
  • Danube sturgeons live mostly in the Black Sea, migrating up the Danube and other major rivers to spawn.
• Threats:
  • Over-exploitation and poaching (exacerbated by poor fishery management and insufficient legal enforcement of fishing bans).
  • Blocked migration routes through dams.
  • Loss or degradation of habitats.
  • Pollution.
• Protection Status:
  • IUCN Red list: There are 6 species of sturgeon in the Danube River. Five of them are now listed as critically endangered.
  • CITES: Appendix-II.

Lancet study finds link between antibiotic resistance genes, water and sanitation

Water and sanitation interventions are needed to block transmission of antibiotic resistance genes, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and dissemination of antibiotic residues between humans, animals, environment and the food-supply chain

• The highest burden of antibiotic resistance occurring in low-resource settings was a factor behind ARGs causing deaths. It also said the association of water and sanitation with ARG was stronger in urban-over-rural areas.
• Pathogenic bacteria can acquire ARGs from other bacteria through horizontal gene transfer. (Horizontal gene transfer is the movement of genetic material between unicellular and / or multicellular organisms).
• The researchers also found that low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) had the highest burden of antibiotic-resistant infections. Some of the most concerning ARGs are believed to have emerged in LMICs.
• However, additional studies were needed to determine if there is a causal relationship between improving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and antibiotic resistance burden. Further metagenomic data from LMICs is also needed
• The abundance of ARGs was highest in (sub-Saharan) Africa, followed by South-East Asia and South and Central America. Total ARGs were also highest in Africa, the study found.