Current Affairs 06 October 2023
Today’s News
Equality and identity: Equitable distribution of resources must not be by accentuating caste identity
(Current Affairs 06 October 2023 | Relevant for GS paper-1, Society Caste)
- The significance of Bihar conducting a caste survey and publishing a caste wise count of its population is quite immense. The survey, which had all the trappings of a census, complete with a two stage process of house listing followed by the eliciting of information from the households, has shown that 63% of Bihar’s 13 crore population belong to castes listed under the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories.
- At the national level, it may give a boost to the political demand for a countrywide caste census and push the judicial discourse towards reconsidering the 50% legal ceiling on total reservation in education and government services.
- Bihar’s exercise marks a precedent on how a caste count should be conducted. The methodology included giving a code to each of the 214 castes in the State’s lists of castes. Sub castes and sects were identified in advance and subsumed under a broader caste name.
- A major reason for the Union government not releasing the caste related details of its 2011 ‘Socio Economic and Caste Census’ was that the data it yielded was too confusing and unwieldy.
- As many as 46 lakh castes were named by the people, presumably because they gave castes, sub castes, sects, clans, and surnames when asked to name their castes. While there are functional and practical advantages to knowing exact caste numbers, it is not to be forgotten that the larger goal of the Constitution remains the attainment of a casteless society.
Methane Emissions: Recent Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, titled “Methane Emissions in Livestock and Rice Systems
(Current Affairs 06 October 2023 | Relevant for GS paper-3, Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation)
A recent Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, titled “Methane Emissions in Livestock and Rice Systems,” highlights the significant climate impact of methane emissions from livestock and rice paddies.
Findings of report
Sources of Methane Emissions:
- Ruminant livestock and manure management contribute to approximately 32% of global anthropogenic methane emissions.
- Rice paddies account for an additional 8% of methane emissions.
- Besides agri food systems, other human activities that generate methane emissions include landfills, oil and natural gas systems, coal mines and more.
Impact of Ruminant Livestock:
- Among ruminants, cattle are the highest daily emitters of methane, followed by sheep, goats, and buffalo.
- Ruminant meat and milk are significant protein sources, and global demand for animal products is expected to rise by 60-70% by 2050.
Improving Feed Efficiency:
- Report focuses on improving feed to reduce methane emissions by enhancing feed efficiency.
- This involves increasing nutrient density, and feed digestibility, altering rumen microbial composition, and selectively breeding animals with negative residual feed intake and smaller metabolic body weight.
- Enhanced feed efficiency boosts animal productivity per unit of feed, potentially increasing farm profitability based on feed costs and meat/milk revenues.
Need for Regional Studies:
The report underscores the need for regional studies to quantify the effects of improved nutrition, health, reproduction, and genetics to increase animal production and decrease methane emission.Such studies would help assess the impact of mitigation strategies on net greenhouse gas emissions at a regional level.
Strategies for Mitigating Methane Emissions:
The study noted four broad strategies in mitigating methane emissions:
- Animal breeding and management.
- Feed management, diet formulation and precision feeding.
- Forages.
- Rumen manipulation.
Challenges and Research Gaps:
Challenges include the lack of regional information to calculate carbon footprints and limited economically affordable methane mitigation solutions.
Further research is needed to develop practical and cost-effective measures.
Refresh basics
What is methane?
- Methane is the simplest hydrocarbon, consisting of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms (CH4).
- It is flammable, and is used as a fuel worldwide.
- Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG), which has an atmospheric lifetime of around a decade and affects the climate for hundreds of years.
- Methane has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years of its lifetime in the atmosphere.
- The common sources of methane are oil and natural gas systems, agricultural activities, coal mining and wastes.
Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
(Current Affairs 06 October 2023 |Relevant for Prelims, International Relation)
- Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Artsakh by Armenians, is a landlocked mountainous area in the Caucasus region (the transcontinental region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea).
- It is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but its inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians.
- They have their own government which has enjoyed close links to Armenia’s but has not been officially recognised by Armenia or any other country.
- The conflict dates back to the late 1980s when the region declared its independence from Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed.
- The first war erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the territory, which ended with a ceasefire in 1994, leaving Nagorno-Karabakh and some surrounding areas under Armenian control.
- The ceasefire was frequently violated by both sides, and several attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement failed.
- In 2020, Azerbaijan launched the Second Karabakh War, winning a resounding victory and retaking seven surrounding districts and about a third of Nagorno-Karabakh.
- Russia brokered a peace deal after the Second Karabakh War in 2020 and provided for up to 1,960 Russian peacekeepers stationed in the region.
New Study Challenges Existence of Lightning on Venus
(Current Affairs 06 October 2023 | Relevant for Prelims, Science and Technology)
- A recent study, utilizing data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Parker Solar Probe, has raised doubts about the presence of lightning on Venus, a topic debated among scientists for decades.
- The study published in Geophysical Review Letters, suggests that the observed “lightning” near Venus may not be actual lightning but rather disturbances in the planet’s weak magnetic fields.
- Previous scientific belief suggested constant lightning on Venus, but signals collected by various instruments over time challenge this notion.
- Another study suggests that previous observations of lightning may have been misinterpreted meteor burn-ups in the atmosphere.
- Venus is known for its inhospitable conditions, including extreme temperatures that makes it the hottest planet in the solar system and atmospheric pressure.
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GS Related Practices Question…
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