Ecological flow notification
- Hydropower projects that do not comply with the Centre’s ecological flow notification, which mandates that project developers ensure a minimum supply of water all through the year, could face closure.
News in detail
- The Centre’s ecological flow notification, as it is called, came into effect last October and gave companies three years to modify their design plans.
- If required, to ensure that a minimum amount of water flowed during all seasons.
- Power producers generally hoard water to create reserves to increase power production.
- In September, the government advanced this deadline, from October 2021 to December 2019.
- This was after it tasked the Central Water Commission (CWC) to ascertain actual flows and the amount of water present in the river through 2019.
- There are 19 power projects along the river and of the 11 sites studied, eight were fully compliant.
Norms for minimum environmental flow (e-flow) for Ganga:
- Power project proponents will be assessed by the CWC quarterly for compliance after December 2019.
- The e-flow notification specifies that the upper stretches of the Ganga from its origins in the glaciers and until Haridwar would have to maintain.
- 20% of the monthly average flow of the preceding 10-days between November and March, which is the dry season;
- 25% of the average during the ‘lean season’ of October, April and May; and 30% of monthly average during the monsoon months of June-September.
Two-child norm
- why in news?
Assam Cabinet has decided that no government jobs will be given to persons having more than two children after January 1, 2021 as per the small family norm.
Background
- The move comes two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged the issue of “population explosion” in his Independence Day speech. In 2013, Assam recorded a Total Fertility Rate of 2.3 (source: SRS) against a target for replacement level fertility rate of 2.1.
- In 2017, the Assam Assembly had passed the ‘Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam’ that specified that job candidates with two children only would be eligible for government employment and the existing government staff were to strictly follow the two children family norm.
- Rajasthan, MP and Maharashtra already have a two-child norm in place for government jobs.
Two child norm for panchayat elections:
- Assam is also among the states that have a similar norm in place for panchayat elections.
- Last year, Assam had passed the Assam Panchayat (Amendment) Act, 2018, according to which those contesting panchayat polls cannot have more than two children.
- Other states with similar norms for local body polls include Uttarakhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
White bellbird
About:
- Bellbirds have the loudest bird calls yet documented in the world, according to a study which found that their mating songs pack more decibels than the screams of howler monkeys and the bellows of bisons.
What does the study say?
- According to the study the male white bellbird’s mating call is about three times louder than screaming phias — the previously loudest bird singer.
- The researchers said that the bellbird’s calls were so loud that they wondered how the females of the species listened to them at close range without permanent damage to their hearing.
- The researchers said that the females could be trying to assess the males up close, though at the risk of some damage to their hearing systems.
- The well-studied howls of howler monkeys and the bellows of bisons were both pretty loud, but were not as loud as the male bellbirds.
- The birds had some intriguing anatomical features like unusually thick and developed abdominal muscles and ribs, which the researchers suspected might be related to their singing.
- The loud singing ability also came with a trade-off, according to the researchers, who said that as the songs of bellbirds became louder, they also got shorter in duration.
- The discovery offers another example of the consequences of sexual selection.
- Sexual selection happens when males compete for mates, driving the evolution of truly bizarre and exaggerated traits such as the peacock’s tail, and the now found loud singing abilities of the male bellbirds, the study noted.
About Kittur Utsav
Why in news?
- Recently, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa inaugurated Kittur Utsav in Kittur. The three-day festivities included sports, cultural programmes and lectures on the kingdom of Rani Channamma.
Key highlights
- Kittur Chennamma (1778 – 1829) was an Indian freedom fighter and Rani of the Kittur, a former princely state in Karnataka.
- She is one of the first women freedom fighters to have fought against the British rule in India.
- She led an armed force against the British East India Company in 1824 in defiance of the doctrine of lapse in an attempt to maintain Indian control over the region. She was defeated in the third war and was imprisoned at Bailhongal Fort where she died in 1829.
- Chennamma’s legacy and first victory are still commemorated in Kittur, during the Kittur Utsava annually held on 22–24 October.
BSNL and MTNL to be merged
- Union Cabinet has approved the revival plan of BSNL and MTNL and in-principle merger of the two.
Highlights of the following were approved by the Union cabinet:
- Administrative allotment of spectrum for 4G services to BSNL and MTNL. This will be funded by the Government of India by capital infusion in these PSUs at a value of over Rs 20,000 Crore,
- BSNL and MTNL will also raise long-term bonds of Rs 15,000 Cr for which sovereign guarantee will be provided by the Government of India (GoI).
With this, BSNL and MTNL will restructure their existing debt.
- BSNL and MTNL will also offer Voluntary Retirement to their employees, aged 50 years and above through attractive Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), the cost of which will be borne by the Government of India through budgetary support.
- BSNL and MTNL will monetise their assets so as to raise resources for retiring debt, servicing of bonds, network upgradation, expansion and meeting the operational fund requirements.
- In-principle merger of BSNL and MTNL. An immediate merger will not be feasible, given that MTNL is a listed entity. Till the time the process is completed, MTNL will work as a subsidiary of BSNL.
Test flights of VT-NMD
- Test flights of VT-NMD (Narendra Modi Devendra), India’s first experimental aircraft will finally be carried out in December 2019 so that it can be certified as airworthy after getting a go-ahead from the civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
About:
- Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given a conditional permit to Yadav to first fly for 10 hours out of the required 40, below 10,000 ft. He has to take the flight test in the presence of flight test experts (FTE).
Guidelines for peritoneal dialysis
- The union Health Ministry has released guidelines for establishing peritoneal dialysis services under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Program (PMNDP).
Key highlights
- Peritoneal dialysis is a treatment for kidney failure that uses the lining of your abdomen, or belly, to filter your blood inside your body. Health care providers call this lining the peritoneum.
- Peritoneal dialysis is a process to remove excess fluid, correct electrolyte problems and remove toxins using the lining of the abdomen, or peritoneum, in patients suffering from renal failure.
- This process does away with the substantial costs of infrastructure, maintenance and staffing, reduces the demand on the healthcare system and offers patient autonomy.
Recent Guidelines:
- The Ministry has requested all States to include proposals for establishing peritoneal dialysis under their respective programme implementation plans.
- The guidelines also envisage providing training to community health workers to provide support to persons for peritoneal dialysis at home or in primary healthcare settings.
- This move will instantly benefit the 2 lakh Indians who develop end-stage kidney failure every year in India.
- The Health Ministry had announced the National Dialysis Programme in 2016 and the first phase of the programme envisaged setting up of haemodialysis centres in all districts.