ALL YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT - Episode 4

            

#1 Traditional water harvesting system in India

Examples of Traditional water harvesting system in India

◦ Trans-Himalayan Region 
    ▪ Zing -Tanks for collecting water from melted ice in Ladakh.

◦ Western Himalayas
      ▪ Kul -Water channels in mountain areas Jammu, Himachal Pradesh.
            ▪ Naula -Small ponds in Uttaranchal.

◦ Eastern Himalayas
    ▪ Apatani -Terraced plots connected by inlet and outlet channels in Arunachal Pradesh.

◦ Northeastern Hill Ranges
             ▪ Zabo -Impounding runoff  in Nagaland
     ▪ Bamboo drip irrigation - Water from streams in the hills is brought to the plains via bamboo pipes for drip irrigation in Meghalaya

◦ Brahmaputra Valley
     ▪ Dongs –Ponds in Assam

◦ Indo-Gangetic Plain
            ▪ Dighis -Small square or circular reservoir fed by canals from rivers in Delhi

◦ Thar Desert
            ▪ Baoris / bers -Community wells in Rajasthan
    ▪ Tankas -Underground tank Bikaner in Rajasthan

◦ Central Highlands
            ▪ Johads -Earthen check dams in Alwar district, Rajasthan

#2 SHIFTING CULTIVATION

Shifting cultivation in India is known as jhum in Assam, punam krishi is Kerala, podu in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, bewar, mashan, penda and beera in different parts of Madhya Pradesh. 

Shifting cultivation is practiced by tribal people. About 20 lakhs hectares of forests are cleared every year by felling and burning the trees and shrubs. 

These clearings are cultivated under very crude and extravagant methods for 2-3 years and then abandoned when fertility dwindles or soil erosion makes it unfit or forests reappear.

Paddy, buck wheat, maize, millets, tobacco, some vegetables and banana are grown on the burnt over clearings and the products shared jointly by the clan. Dry deciduous forests are especially suited to jhumming. This wasteful practice in difficult terrain obviously supports a very sparse population.

#3 SAATHIYA

1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the SAATHIYA Resource Kit including ‘Saathiya Salah’ Mobile App for adolescents, as part of the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program
2. One of the key interventions under the programme is introduction of the Peer Educators (Saathiyas) who act as a catalyst for generating demand for the adolescent health services and imparting age appropriate knowledge on key adolescent health issues to their peer groups
3. RKSK identifies six strategic priorities for adolescents i.e. nutrition, sexual and reproductive health (SRH), non-communicable diseases (NCDs), substance misuse, injuries and violence (including gender-based violence) and mental health
4. Fact check: India is home to 253 million adolescents which is largest in the world in terms of absolute numbers

#4 Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan

1. Aim: To provide fixed-day assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care universally to all pregnant women on the 9th of every month
2. A package of antenatal care services would be provided to pregnant women in their 2nd / 3rd trimesters
3. Support from private sector doctors to supplement the efforts of the government
4. IMP: Identification and follow-up of high risk pregnancies and red stickers would be added on to the Mother and Child Protection cards of women with high risk pregnancies
5. OBGY specialists / Radiologist/ Physicians working in the private sector are encouraged to volunteer for the campaign. Just encouraged. No coercion.

#5 Fire corals

‘Critically Endangered’ Corals

Fire corals (Millepora boschmai)

• They are more closely related to jellyfish than corals.
• Distribution: Indonesia, Gulf of Chiriqui, Panama Pacific Province. Possibly extinct from Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama, Singapore and Thailand.
• Threats: Collected for decoration and jewellery trade. This group is also sensitive to temperature rise, and is thought to have completely disappeared from the majority of marine areas possibly because of growing global warming related bleaching effects.

#6 GLOBAL GEOPARKS NETWORK (GGN)

Global Geoparks Network (GGN) is a UNESCO programme established in 1998. Managed under the body’s Ecological and Earth Sciences Division, the GGN seeks the promotion and conservation of the planet’s geological heritage, as well as encourages the sustainable research and development by the concerned communities. A GEOPARK is a nationally protected area containing a number of geological heritage sites of particular importance, rarity or aesthetic These Earth heritage sites are part of an integrated concept of protection, education and sustainable development. There are 54 Geoparks worldwide. No Geopark is located in India.

#7 SAUNI Yojana

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the first phase of SAUNI (Saurastra Narmada Avataran Irrigation) Yojana at Sanodara of Jamnagar district of Gujarat.

SAUNI Yojana is multipurpose project that aims to solve the water problems of a parched Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

Key Facts

• Technically, SAUNI is a ‘linking’ project where the water will be filled in irrigation dams that are already equipped with canal network.
• Under this project, 115 dams in the Saurashtra region will be filled with excess water from the Sardar Sarovar dam.
• In the first phase, around 10 dams and reservoirs of Rajkot, Jamnagar and Morbi districts will be filled with water from Narmada River for irrigation and drinking purposes.
• SAUNI project involves making pipe canals instead of the conventional open canals which has led to no acquisition of land for the project.
• This network of canals will comprise 1,125-km network of pipelines that will help to channel water into farms.

Background

Saruashtra region of Gujarat comprises 11 districts. These districts faces drought like situation often and has been reeling under severe water scarcity due to scanty rainfall. The SAUNI Yojana was announced in 2012 when PM Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

#8 Conspiracy Cases

1-Muzzafarpur Conspiracy— Attempt on Kingsford, Judge of Muzaffarpur by Prafful Chaki & Khudi Ram Bose in 1908

2-Alipore Conspiracy Case— Aurobindo Ghosh arrested

3-Delhi Conspiracy Case (1911)— Sanchin Sanyal and Rash Behari Bose were accused of attempting to assassinate

Lord Hardinge

4-Kanpur Conspiracy Case (1924)— British government started the case against four communists-Muzaffar Ahmed, S.A.Dange, Shaukat Usmani and Nalni Gupta. The government alleged that the Communists wanted to deprive the British King of the sovereignty of British India.

5-Kakori Conspiracy Case— On August 9, 1925, ten revolutionaries held up the 8-Down train from Saharanpur to Lucknow ai Kakori and looted its official railway cash. Asfaqullah Khan, Ramprasad Bismil and Roshan Lehri were hanged.

6-Lahore Conspiracy Case— Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Raj Guru assassinated Saunders, a police official, al Lahore to avenge Lala Lajpat Rai’s death. (December 1928)

7-Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929)— The Meerut Conspiracy case started with the issuing of arrest warrants against 31 Communists and other persons on 15th March 1929. The charges were that these persons conspired to overthrow the British Government of India through strikes and other militant methods. By 20th of March almost all were arrested. The arrested included almost all the known communists including Muzafr Ahamed, S.A.Dange, S.V.Ghate, Dr.G.Adhikari, P.C.Joshi, S.S.Mirajkar, Shaukat Usmani, Philip Stratt and others.

#9 Negative Income Tax rate

DEFINITION of 'Negative Income Tax - NIT'

A guaranteed minimum income plan advocated by economist Milton Friedman in 1962 where federal income subsidies are provided to persons or families whose income falls below a certain level. 

Negative income tax (NIT) would allow claimants to receive income through the simple filing of tax returns rather than through the claiming of welfare benefits, ideally eliminating the need for a complex welfare bureaucracy.

BREAKING DOWN 'Negative Income Tax - NIT'

The primary criticism of the negative income tax is that it discourages some low-income individuals from working. If one can receive $2,500 from the government for not working at all versus $5,000 for dozens of hours of work, some people will choose to not work because they would rather have more leisure time even if it means less money and an inability to meet basic living expenses.

Another criticism is that a negative income tax system cannot eliminate the complexities associated with the welfare system because the taxpayers who fund the subsidies demand accountability from the taxpayers who receive the subsidies. This demand necessitates a complex system of rules and oversight intended to prevent abuse of the system.

# 10 Islands in India

Andaman & Nicobar Islands	Lakshadweep Islands
Volcanic islands representing submarine volcanism Represent the surfaces of submerged folds viz. extension of Himalaya, precisely Arakan yoma fold mountains of Myanmar Formed of Granite rocks & have high hills &l peaks for ex. Saddle peak Equatorial climate with tropical rain-forests	a union of coral islands, entirely different from A & N islands comprises of large number of dead corals, fringing, barrier and atoll coral reefs Have calcium rich soils filled with organic limestone Have scattered vegetation of palm species

Famous Islands in India

A & N Islands	Continuation of Arakan Yoma mountain range of Myanmar
Nicobar Islands	Just 147 km from Sumatra island (Indonesia)
Mazuli Island	Largest riverrine island of the world, located on Brahamaputra in Assam
New Moore Island	On Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta region & a disputed site b/w India & Bangladesh
Sagar Island	W.B – on the continental shelf of Bay of Bengal
Wheeler Island	Odisha, Integrated Missile Test Range facility
Hope Island	On coast of Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh — Houses Satish Dhawan Space Centre
Sriharikota Island	Andhra Pradesh – Satellite launch center
Narcondam Island	Extinct Volcano island – Andaman Sea
Barren Island	Dormant Volcano island – Andaman Sea
Katchatheevu Island	forcibly given to Srilanka by India in 1974
Salasette Island	Group of 7 islands, known as Mumbai today
Wellington Island	Naval Station → Kerala