1. EL NINO
TAG: GS 1: GEOGRAPHY
THE CONTEXT: NOAA flags dramatic warming in Pacific Ocean after 7 years. It is important to note that El Niño has no one-on-one links India’s summer monsoon. However, it is true that practically all drought years in India since Independence have witnessed El Niño events of varying intensity.
EXPLANATION:
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States federal administration, announced El Niño is back in the Pacific Ocean after seven years.
What is El Niño?
- El Niño, which in Spanish means “little boy”, is a climate pattern that develops along the equatorial Pacific Ocean after intervals of a few years ranging between 2 and 7 years.
- Essentially, water on the surface of the ocean sees an unusual warming in a band straddling the equator in the central and east-central pacific broadly extending from the International Date line and 120°W longitude, i.e., off the Pacific coast of South America, west of the Galapagos islands.
How and why does El Niño happen?
- When the so-called El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is in its neutral phase, the trade winds blow west along the equator and take the warm water from South America towards Asia.
- However, during an event of El Niño, these trade winds weaken (or may even reverse) and instead of blowing from the east (South America) to the west (Indonesia), they could turn into westerlies.
- In this situation, as the winds blow from the west to east, they cause masses of warm water to move into the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, and reach the coast of western America.
- During such years, there prevails warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures along the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
And what is the impact of El Niño conditions?
- Globally, El Niño has been associated with severe heatwaves, floods, and droughts in the past.
- Depending on its strength, El Niño can cause a range of impacts such as increasing the risk of heavy rainfall and droughts in certain locations around the world.
How severe are this year’s El Niño conditions?
- The 2023 event is the fifth since 2000 — which means they develop every 4-5 years on average.
- Sea surface temperatures along the equatorial Pacific Ocean, especially along the various Niño regions, have been showing signs of much more rapid warming than had been predicted by the weather models.
- The Niño 3.4 index value the vital indicator confirming an event of El Niño jumped from minus 0.2 degrees Celsius to 0.8 degrees Celsius between March and June this year. Whereas, the threshold value of this index is 0.5 degrees Celsius.
How worried should India be about this development?
- In the Indian context, over the last hundred years, there have been 18 drought years.
- Of these, 13 years were associated with El Niño. Thus, there seems to be a correlation between an El Niño event and a year of poor rainfall in India.
- Also, between 1900 and 1950, there were 7 El Niño years but during the 1951-2021 period, there were 15 El Niño years ( 2015, 2009, 2004, 2002, 1997, 1991, 1987, 1982, 1972, 1969, 1965, 1963, 1957, 1953 and 1951). This suggests that the frequency of El Niño events has been increasing over time.
- Of the 15 El Niño years in the 1951-2021 period, nine summer monsoon seasons over the country recorded deficient rain by more than 90 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA).
- Climate change can exacerbate or mitigate certain impacts related to El Niño.
- It could lead to new records for temperatures, particularly in areas that already experience above-average temperatures.
2. KAZIRANGA MAHOUTS CAUGHT FOR CONSUMING RARE TURTLES
TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT
THE CONTEXT: Three persons engaged as mahouts in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve have been arrested for capturing and consuming a rare species of a freshwater turtle i.e spotted pond turtles inside the one-horned rhino habitat. Action against the trio was taken under relevant sections of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.
EXPLANATION:
Spotted pond turtles
- Spotted pond turtles are named for the yellow or white spots on their black heads, legs and tails. They have large heads and short snouts, and their webbed feet help them swim.
- The pond turtle’s carapace, or upper shell, is generally black with bright patterns that fade with age. Males have concave carapaces and larger, thicker tails than females.
- Pond turtles bask in the sun to regulate their body temperature.
- Spotted pond turtles are found in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent in the Indus and Ganges river drainages. Their range includes parts of Pakistan, northern India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
- They are semi-aquatic and can typically be found in shallow, standing waters, such as oxbow lakes, ponds and marshes.
- They prefer water with thick vegetation that provides cover, as well as places to lie and bask.
- Communication : When they retreat into their shells, spotted pond turtles make a soft croak.
- Spotted pond turtles are primarily carnivorous and eat aquatic invertebrates. They use the bony surfaces of their strong jaws to crush the shells of snails, prawns, crabs and other crustaceans. They also eat mollusks, fish, amphibians and cereal grains, and will sometimes graze on grasses.
- Spotted pond turtles reach sexual maturity between 6 and 8 years old. Females dig a bowl-shaped nest for their eggs that is about 6-10 centimeters (2-4 inches) deep. The nest is dug into loamy soil (soil with sand, silt and clay) in a spot where it will be concealed by bushes and other vegetation.
- Spotted pond turtles are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at twilight (dusk and dawn).
Kaziranga national park
- Kaziranga National park’s 430 square kilometer area sprinkled with elephant-grass meadows, swampy lagoons, and dense forests is home to more than 2200 Indian one-horned rhinoceros, approximately 2/3rd of their total world population.
- The park is located in the edge of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspots Golaghat and Nagaon district.
- In the year 1985, the park was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Along with the iconic Greater one-horned rhinoceros, the park is the breeding ground of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer.
- Over the time, the tiger population has also increased in Kaziranga, and that’s the reason why Kaziranga was declared as Tiger Reserve in 2006. Also, the park is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for the conservation of avifaunal species. Birds like lesser white-fronted goose, ferruginous duck, Baer’s pochard duck and lesser adjutant, greater adjutant, black-necked stork, and Asian Openbill stork specially migrate from the Central Asia during the winter season..
- There are mainly four types of vegetation’ like alluvial inundated grasslands, alluvial savanna woodlands, tropical moist mixed deciduous forests, and tropical semi-evergreen forests.
3. UNIFIED PAYMENTS INTERFACE (UPI)
TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: As transactions facilitated by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) breach record highs, banks have opted for daily limits. These are over and above the already imposed ceilings mandated by the facilitator, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), in 2021. The idea is to sustain the smoother functioning of the payments interface as it continues to acquire popularity in our daily lives.
EXPLANATION:
- At present, users can make up to 20 transactions or ₹1 lakh in a single day either all at once or through the day.
- For certain specific categories of transactions such as the capital markets, collections (such as bills, among others), insurance and forward inward remittances, the limit is ₹2 lakh.
- In December 2021, the limit for the UPI-based ASBA (Application Supported by Blocked Amount) IPO and retail direct schemes was increased to ₹5 lakh for each transaction.
- As the payments interface looks to expand its footprint (recall the boarding of non-resident accounts having international numbers into the ecosystem) and its growing utility in daily lives, limits would help maintain an essential security infrastructure and its seamless functioning.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
- Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
- It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience. Each Bank provides its own UPI App for Android, Windows and iOS mobile platform(s).
- The Unified Payment Interface is a way to make payments that work in real-time.
- The Reserve Bank of India, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and the Indian Banks Association started UPI (IBA).
How the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) works?
- UPI uses technologies like the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and the Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System (AEPS) to ensure that payments between accounts go smoothly.
- It can handle push (pay) and pull (receive) transactions, over-the-counter or barcode payments and many recurring payments, like utility bills, school fees, and other subscriptions.
- Once a single identifier is set up, the method lets mobile payments be made without using credit or debit cards, online banking, or entering account information.
- This will make sensitive information safer, and people with bank accounts will be able to link their phones to their accounts to easily make transactions.
4. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ARCTIC SEA ICE?
TAGS: GS 1: GEOGRAPHY
THE CONTEXT: A recent study in the Nature journal says that the loss of Arctic sea ice is inevitable in the decades ahead, even if the world somehow gets its act together and sharply reduces carbon emissions.
EXPLANATION:
Why is the Arctic sea ice important?
- The massive sheets of ice that pad the Arctic region play a major role in influencing global climate and the rise and fall in Arctic sea temperatures.
- During winter, the sea ice envelops most of the Arctic Ocean and in summer, a portion of it melts due to being exposed to longer periods of sunlight and elevated temperatures.
- Sea ice normally melts and is at its thinnest and most sparse in mid-September, when the area covered by ice is roughly half the size of the winter maximum.
- The United States’ Environment Protection Agency (EPA) explains the importance of sea ice thus: “Sea ice is light-coloured and therefore reflects more sunlight back to space than liquid water, thus playing a vital role in keeping polar regions cool and maintaining the earth’s energy balance. Sea ice also keeps the air cool by forming a barrier between the cold air above and the relatively warmer water below.
- As the amount of sea ice decreases, the Arctic region’s cooling effect is reduced, and this may initiate a ‘feedback loop’ whereby ocean warming caused by more absorption of solar energy leads to an even greater loss of sea ice and further warming.
- Changes in sea ice can affect biodiversity and impact mammals such as polar bears and walruses, which rely on the presence of sea ice for hunting, breeding, and migrating. The reduction in ice cover also affects the traditional subsistence hunting lifestyle of indigenous Arctic populations such as the Yup’ik, Iñupiat, and Inuit.
- On the other hand, reduced ice can present “commercial and economic opportunities” with the opening up of shipping lanes and increased access to natural resources in the Arctic region. This has already provoked global competition with several countries, including India, vying for greater influence in groups such as the Arctic Council that governs access to Arctic resources
What does the new study say?
- Arctic sea ice is decreasing is well-known and acknowledged in several reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and it is widely expected that the world will see its first ‘sea-ice free summer’ before 2050.
- This, however is under the assumption that global emissions will drive temperatures to beyond 4.5°C making the Arctic ice-free by 2081-2100.
- There was uncertainty on whether this sea-ice-free scenario applied to situations where carbon emissions were curbed enough to ensure that temperature-rise was restricted to say 1.5°C or 2°C, as envisaged in the Paris Agreement.
- The recent Nature study confirms that there is no scenario under which the Arctic sea ice can be saved in summer.
- Moreover, if drastic reductions in emissions aren’t undertaken, we could very well be seeing the first such summer in the 2030s. Satellites monitoring the Arctic have shown the rate of loss to be 13% every year.
Effects:
- The diminished sea ice while warming the Arctic also leads to a weakening of the polar jet streams, which are currents of air that form when warm and cold air meet.
- This weakening has been linked to rising temperatures and heatwaves in Europe as well as unseasonal showers in northwest India.
- While the ice-free summer may be inevitable, reducing carbon emissions might mean being better able to adapt to climate ‘tipping points.’
5. POWER TRADING AND CERC
TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE
THE CONTEXT: The power ministry has asked Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC) to initiate the process of coupling multiple power exchanges, a mechanism which seeks to ensure uniformity in price discovery of energy at trading platforms.
EXPLANATION:
- At present India has three power exchanges — Indian Electricity Exchange (IEX), Power Exchange of India (PXIL) and Hindustan Power Exchange (HPX). The IEX has the largest market share of 88% in total power trade at multiple exchanges in India
- In the present scenario, buyers and sellers at each exchange do trading of electricity and discover spot price separately at these exchanges. After coupling of exchanges, the price discovery would be uniform.
- This will give a fillip to the service levels in the power market, and ensure better transparency and uniform prices discovery across exchanges.
- The move is also expected to bring down the power tariff in the country significantly.
Central Electricity Regulatory Authority
- CERC is a statutory body functioning under sec – 76 of the Electricity Act 2003 (CERC was initially constituted under the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998 on 24th July, 1998).
- The Commission intends to promote competition, efficiency and economy in bulk power markets, improve the quality of supply, promote investments and advise government on the removal of institutional barriers to bridge the demand supply gap and thus foster the interests of consumers.
In pursuit of these objectives the Commission aims to –
- Improve the operations and management of the regional transmission systems through Indian Electricity Grid Code (IEGC), Availability Based Tariff (ABT), etc.
- Formulate an efficient tariff setting mechanism, which ensures speedy and time bound disposal of tariff petitions, promotes competition, economy and efficiency in the pricing of bulk power and transmission services and ensures least cost investments.
- Facilitate open access in inter-state transmission
- Facilitate inter-state trading
- Promote development of power market
- Improve access to information for all stakeholders
- Facilitate technological and institutional changes required for the development of competitive markets in bulk power and transmission services.
- Advise on the removal of barriers to entry and exit for capital and management, within the limits of environmental, safety and security concerns and the existing legislative requirements, as the first step to the creation of competitive markets.
