Odd-even vehicle rationing scheme — history, efficacy, expert views

• ‘Odd-even’ was first introduced in 2016 by the AAP government to control vehicular pollution and bring down increasing particulate matter levels.
• Under it, private vehicles with registration plates ending in odd numbers could ply on odd dates, and even numbers on even dates.
• Studies and research done on its impact in Delhi suggest positive results — from reduction in congestion to a slight drop in pollution levels and consequent improvement in air quality.
• According to a study done by Delhi Technological University (DTU) published in 2016, when the scheme was implemented for a roughly two-week period, concentration of PM 2.5 and PM 1 saw a drop.
• Studies have also shown that on an average, there was a reduction in PM 2.5 of 5.73 per cent and 4.70 per cent in PM 1 levels.

Navy chiefs of Quad countries meet in Japan ahead of Malabar multilateral exercise

• Malabar is a multilateral naval exercise that began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the navy fleets of India and the United States.
• It includes simulated war games and combat manoeuvres.
• Since 2007, MALABAR has been held alternatively off Indian Coast and in the Western Pacific.
• The exercise has been held every year since 2002 (there was a gap after the 1992, 1995, and 1996 editions due to India''s nuclear testing).
• It was expanded into a trilateral format with the inclusion of Japan in 2015.
• Currently, the Malabar exercise is among the navies of India, Japan, the US and Australia.

Global mortality of snakebite envenoming between 1990 and 2019

• The study used data from verbal autopsy and vital statistics (civil registration) to estimate snakebite deaths from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study.
• The global estimate of deaths due to snakebite comes 14 years after the previous one in 2008 and provides a more robust estimate.
• Snakebite (a neglected tropical disease) is a public health problem in India and many other low- and middle-income countries has been long known.
• Within India, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of deaths, estimated to be up to 16,100, followed by Madhya Pradesh (up to 5,790 deaths), and Rajasthan (up to 5,230 deaths).
• The study estimated that the age-standardised death rate (which accounts for different age-structures in different countries, thus allowing comparison between countries) in India, at 4.0 per 1,00,000, is also among the highest globally, and many times over than the global figure of 0.8 deaths per 1,00,000.
• Only Somalia has a higher age-standardised death rate than India at 4.5 per 1,00,000.
• Within India, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan have even higher age-standardised death rates, at 6.5, 6.0, and 5.8 per 1,00,000, respectively.

Treatment:

• Anti-snake venom (ASV) are effective treatments to prevent or reverse most of its harmful effects.
• Steps by WHO:
  • In June 2017, WHO added snakebite envenoming to its priority list of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
  • Anti-snake venom (ASV) is included in the WHO Essential Medicines List.

What is the status of remote voting for NRIs?

• According to estimates, India has the largest diaspora population, with nearly 1.35 crore non-resident Indians spread across the globe.
• Many of them are in the Gulf countries, the U.S. and the U.K.
• In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 99,844 NRIs registered and 25,606 electors turned up to vote, with a majority hailing from Kerala (25,534).
• In the 2014 Parliamentary elections, 11,846 NRIs registered and only a fraction turned up to vote.
• Of the registered overseas electors, 90% belonged to Kerala. Others registered are from Gujarat, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu among other States.
• A major reason for low NRI registration and voting despite India amending the Representation of the People Act in 2010 to enable eligible NRIs who had stayed abroad beyond six months to vote is the condition that they have to visit the polling booth in person.
• Since the in-person proviso of the amended Act discouraged many, petitions were filed in the Supreme Court between 2013 and 2014 by NRIs.
• The Election Commission of India (ECI) formed a Committee in 2014 on the Court’s direction to explore the options for overseas electors.
• The committee narrowed it down to two remote voting options —
  • e-postal ballot and
  • proxy voting.
• Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS):
  • The Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) involves the NRI voter sending an application to the returning officer in person or online.
  • The returning officer will send the ballot electronically.
  • The voter can then register their mandate on the ballot printout and send it back with an attested declaration.
  • The voter will either send the ballot by ordinary post or drop it at an Indian Embassy where it would be segregated and posted.
• Proxy voting:
  • Proxy voting, meanwhile, enables voters to appoint proxies to vote on their behalf.
  • Both ETPBS and proxy voting are currently available to only service voters, like those in the armed forces or diplomatic missions.
• In its report, the ECI said proxy voting would be a “convenient” and “doable” method.
• In 2017, however, the government introduced a Bill to amend the Representation of People Act to remove the condition of in-person voting for NRIs and enable them to vote through proxies.
• The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in 2018 but never introduced in the Upper House, eventually lapsing with the 16th Lok Sabha.
• In 2020, the ECI wrote to the Law Ministry that it was “technically and administratively ready” to facilitate ETPBS for NRIs in the 2021 Assembly elections in five States but the External Affairs Ministry flagged “huge logistical challenges” relating to identity verification of voters, absence of polling agents, the burden on embassy staff etc.

New Scottish fossil sheds light on the origins of lizards

• The skeleton is of Bellairsia gracilis, a primitive squamate.
• Squamates are a group of reptiles that includes more than 10,000 living species descended from a shared common ancestor that lived 240 MYA.
• The fossil may improve our understanding of the anatomical transformations that led to the establishment of the body plan of reptiles such as modern lizards.
• If the anatomical interpretation is correct, then primitive squamates survived for tens of millions of years after the first lizards and snakes evolved and lived alongside them.

A third of world heritage glaciers under threat, warns UNESCO study

• The study said it was still possible to save the other two-thirds if the rise in global temperature did not exceed 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era.
• In addition to drastically reduced carbon emissions, the UNESCO is advocating for the creation of a new international fund for glacier monitoring and preservation.
• Such a fund would support comprehensive research, promote exchange networks between all stakeholders and implement early warning and disaster risk reduction measures, the study said.
• Half of humanity depends directly or indirectly on glaciers as their water source for domestic use, agriculture, and power.
• Glaciers are also pillars of biodiversity, feeding many ecosystems.
• This study highlights the urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions and invest in nature-based solutions, which can help mitigate climate change.
• As many as 50 UNESCO World Heritage sites are home to glaciers, representing almost 10% of the Earth’s total glacierised area.
• The UNESCO study, in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), showed that these glaciers have been retreating at an accelerated rate since 2000 due to CO2 emissions, which are warming temperatures.
• They are currently losing 58 billion tonne of ice every year — equivalent to the combined annual water use of France and Spain — and are responsible for nearly 5% of observed global sea level rise.

Nagaland to host Tokhü Emong Bird Count from November 4

• It is the first avian documentation exercise taken by Nagaland to go beyond Amur falcons.
• The event is being held during the Tokhü Emong post-harvest festival of the Lotha Nagas to spread awareness about Nagaland’s bird diversity.
• This event is being organised in collaboration with the Wokha Forest Division and the Divisional Management Unit, Nagaland Forest Management Project (NFMP), Wokha, and Bird Count India.
• The TEBC falls within the Salim Ali Bird Count, a nationwide event conducted by the Bombay Natural History Society.

Meghalaya to host 3-day ''Wangala Festival'' from Nov 10

• The Wangala Festival, also known as the 100 drum festival is celebrated with much zeal and enthusiasm in India’s north-eastern state of Meghalaya.
• Celebrated since 1976, it’s the most important festival of the Garo tribe and attracts a lot of tourists.
• During the Wangala, tribals offer sacrifices to please their deity Saljong, the Sun God.
• It marks the end of the long harvest season.
• The celebration also signifies the end of a long toil period in the field for the Garo tribe before the start of the winters.
• The first day of the festival is celebrated with a ceremony called Ragula which is performed in the house of the village’s chief.

Threatened pirarucu returned to the Amazon

• It can weigh up to 200 kilos (440 pounds), by far the largest of 2,300 known fish species in the Amazon.
• It is found primarily in floodplain lakes across the Amazon basin, including the region of Medio Jurua.
• It is one of the few fish species in the world that surfaces to breathe. It does that with a big splash, flashing its red tail out of the water.
• The giant fish not so long ago nearly vanished from Jurua, due to unregulated fishing.
• The illegal and unsustainable fishing left river and Indigenous communities struggling to catch their staple food.
• And it left pirarucu designated as threatened with extinction, unless trade in the fish is closely controlled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.