December 10th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. BSNL, in partnership with Skylo, to introduce worlds' first, 
satellite-based narrowband-IoT network in India
2. A tough novel species of Muraingrass identified by scientists in the 
plateaus of Western Ghats of Goa
3. Aerosols in Indo-Gangetic Plain have led to increased incidents of high rainfall in the 
Himalayan foothills
4. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, addresses ASEAN 
Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus online
5. Union Jal Shakti Minister inaugurates 5th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS) with focus on 
Arth Ganga-River conservation synchronized development

1. BSNL, in partnership with Skylo, to introduce worlds’ first, satellite-based narrowband-IoT network in India

Context:

• BSNL, in partnership with Skylotech India, announced a breakthrough in satellite-based NB-IoT (Narrow Band-Internet of Things), in pursuance of Digital India starting with fishermen, farmers, construction, mining and logistics enterprises.
• With this solution, India will now have access to an omnipresent fabric of connectivity for millions of yet unconnected machines, sensors and industrial IoT devices.

Details

1. Narrowband IoT or NB-IoT.
   • Narrowband IoT or NB-IoT is a wireless communication standard for the Internet of Things (IoT). NB-IoT belongs to the category of low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN), enabling to connect devices that need small amounts of data, low bandwidth, and long battery life
   • NB-IoT (Narrowband-IoT) is a narrowband radio technology for the machine to machine and Internet of Things (IoT) devices and applications requiring wireless transmission over a more extended range at a relatively low cost and using little power for long battery lives.
2. What does it mean?
   • This new ‘Made in India’ Solution, which is indigenously developed by Skylo, will connect with BSNLs satellite- ground infrastructure and provide pan-India coverage, including Indian seas.
   • This is an attempt to leverage technology to provide affordable and innovative telecom services and products across customers segments.

Applications

• Industries, agriculture, railways and fisheries, have been operating offline, and have not had the opportunity to take full advantage of the latest advancements in AI & IoT until today. This is the worlds first satellite-based NB-IoT network.
• The coverage will be so vast that it will not leave any dark patch within the boundary of India, from Kashmir & Ladakh to Kanyakumari, and from Gujarat to the North East, including the Indian seas.
• Skylo would also help provide critical data for the logistics sector to enable effective distribution of COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 and will be a big contributor in service to the nation.
• This new technology is in line with the Department of Telecom and NITI Aayog‘s plan of bringing indigenous IoT connectivity to India’s core sectors. Examples of where this technology has already been tested successfully include, Indian Railways, fishing vessels, and enabling connected vehicles across India.
• The accompanying Data Platform provides an immersive, visual, experience for industry-specific applications on mobile or desktop. It gives users the ability to take immediate and appropriate action, no matter where they are.
• This new digital machine connectivity layer will serve as a complement to smartphone-centric mobile & Wi-Fi networks and covers India’s full geography to bring online new applications for the first time.

2. A tough novel species of Muraingrass identified by scientists in the plateaus of Western Ghats of Goa

Context:

A new species of Indian Muraingrasses known for their ecological and economic importance, such as fodder, have been spotted by scientists in Goa in the Western Ghats.

Details:

1. Characteristics
   • The species has adapted to survive harsh conditions, low nutrient availability, and blossoms every monsoon.

2. Taxonomy
   • The species was named Ischaemumjanarthanamii in honour of Prof. M. K. Janarthanam, Professor of Botany, Goa University, for his contribution to the Indian grass taxonomy and documentation of the floristic diversity of Goa state.
   • 2017 monsoon saw the first collection of this new species. The population was kept under observation for the following two years to ascertain the consistency of its characters.
   • The novelty of the species was confirmed by morphological and molecular data of the species.
3. Area of presence
   • Around the world, 85 species are known from Ischaemum, of which 61 species are exclusively found in India. The Western Ghats have 40 species with the highest concentration of the genus.
   • Ischaemumjanarthanamii grows on low altitude lateritic plateaus in the outskirts of Bhagwan Mahavir National Park, Goa.
   • The vegetation is exposed to extreme climatic conditions like desiccation in drier months and soils with low nutrient availability. However, withstanding these, the species has adapted to survive harsh conditions and blossom every monsoon
   • The Western Ghats is one of the four global biodiversity hotspots of India, is known for a wide diversity in flora and fauna.

3. Aerosols in Indo-Gangetic Plain have led to increased incidents of high rainfall in the Himalayan foothills

Context:

Scientists have found that aerosols like black carbon and dust, which makes the Indo-Gangetic Plain one of the most polluted regions of the world, have contributed to increase in the incidents of high rainfall events in the foothills of the Himalayan Region.

Details:

• A team of researchers from National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), University of Leipzig, Germany, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur supported by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India under DST Climate Change program have highlighted the crucial role of the aerosol direct radiative effect on high precipitation events over the Himalayan region.

Indo-Gangetic Plains

• The Indo-Gangetic Plain is also known as Indus-Ganga and the North Indian River Plain. It lies between the great northern mountain and peninsular plateau and is formed by three major rivers – the Ganges, the Indus, the Brahmaputra and their tributaries. It covers a large area of about 7, 00,000 sq. km in Northern and Eastern India.
• The region is known for high aerosol loading, a large part of it is black carbon and dust largely owing to stubble burning and vehicular emissions.
• This presents an opportunity for analysing how aerosol impacts extreme rainfall events, particularly when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain technically called orographic forcing.

Takeaway from the research

• The research concluded that particulate emissions have the potential to alter the physical and dynamical properties of cloud systems and, can amplify rainfall events over orographic regions downwind of highly polluted urban areas.
• The study made use of data between 2001 and 2017, data with regards to rainfall rate, aerosol measurements called Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), meteorological reanalysis fields such as pressure, temperature, and moisture content at different altitudes are used to compute the thermodynamic variable “moist static energy” and outgoing long-wave radiation from Indian region to explore high precipitation events on the foothills of the Himalayas.
• The team found a correlation between high precipitation events, high aerosol loading, and high Moist Static Energy (MSE) values (Moist static energy of an air mass includes the potential energy due to its height above the ground and the latent heat due to its moisture content).
• The findings also highlight the crucial role of the radiative effect of aerosol on high precipitation events over the Himalayan region.
• The results of the study indicate that aerosols can play a vital role in exciting High Precipitation (HP) events over the Himalayas during the monsoon season. Thus, aerosols, including chemistry, are essential to consider when forecasting HP events over the Himalayan region in regional modelling studies.

4. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, addresses ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus online

Context: Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, attended the 14^th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus organized online at Hanoi, Vietnam.

Details:

ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus

• ADMM Plus is an annual meeting of Defence Ministers of 10 ASEAN Countries and eight partner countries, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, ROK, Russian Federation, and the United States.
• This year marks the 10^th year of inception of ADMM Plus forum.

India’s participation was marked by

• Positives of ADMM plus
  • India highlighted the key role of ASEAN-centric forum in promoting dialogue and engagement towards a pluralistic, cooperative security order in Asia.
  • India’s Defence Minister in his speech was vocal about the collective achievements of ADMM Plus in the past decade in advancing multilateral cooperation through strategic dialogue and practical security engagements.
  • He complimented the achievements of the seven Expert Working Groups in sharing best practices in key domains including Maritime Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, Counter-terrorism and Peace Keeping Operations.
• Security
  • India emphasised that Indo-Pacific region, in particular, confronts numerous traditional and non-traditional security threats.
  • Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) launched in last year’s (2019) East Asia Summit can be seen as an open global initiative which draws on existing regional cooperation architecture and mechanism.
  • It focuses on seven central pillars conceived around Maritime Security, Maritime Ecology, Maritime Resources, Capacity Building and Resource Sharing, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Science, Technology and Academic Cooperation, and Trade Connectivity and Maritime Transport.
• Sea lanes of communication
  • India called for an open and inclusive order in Indo-Pacific based upon respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, peaceful resolutions of disputes through dialogue and adherence to international rules and laws.
  • India has always shown support to freedom of navigation and over-flight for all in International waters in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Conclusion:

• India has time and again stressed ASEAN-centrality in its approach towards South-east Asia, in line with the “5S” strategy laid down by India’s Prime Minister,i.e, Shanthi, Samman, Samvad, Sahyog, Samriddhi.

5. Union Jal Shakti Minister inaugurates 5th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS) with focus on Arth Ganga-River conservation synchronized development

Context:

• 5^th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS), organised by the National Mission for Clean Ganga and Center for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga)
• The theme being comprehensive analysis and holistic management of local rivers and water bodies with a focus on Arth Ganga – river conservation synchronised development.

Details:

• The India Water Impact Summit is an annual event where stakeholders get together to discuss, debate and develop model solutions for some of the biggest water-related problems in the country.
• 5^th IWIS will forge greater interaction between investors and stakeholders in the water sector and promote international cooperation between India and many foreign countries for water and river management.”
• It will bring together various stakeholders to discuss, debate and develop model solutions to some of the biggest water-related issues in the country.

Summit

• As part of Gyan Ganga initiative, engagement with scientists and researchers at the national and international level has been witnessed.
• Summit will try to discuss and address issues of Agriculture, Human Habitation, both urban and rural, on banks of rivers, Tourism, Energy and Flood Management.
• The summit has intentions to work towards implementation of the Prime Minister’s vision of Arth Ganga on the ground
• It was said that river conservation itself is an economic activity giving employment to many and is contributing to the GDP.

Need for water use efficiency.

• Two back to back weak monsoons has meant that 330 million people — a quarter of the country’s population — are affected by a severe drought. With nearly 50 per cent of India grappling with drought-like conditions, the situation has been particularly grim this year in western and southern states that received below-average rainfall.
• According to the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) report released by the NITI Aayog in 2018, 21 major cities (Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and others) are racing to reach zero groundwater levels by 2020, affecting access for 100 million people.
• There is a huge scope of water conservation both at the demand-side and supply-side management. The summit endorsed “5 R’s” for wastewater management which are recycled, reuse, reduce, recharge (groundwater) and respect (for water).

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December 10th, 2020, PIB:- Download PDF Here