Belum Caves Festival
Why in news?
- The Belum Caves Festival in Andhra Pradesh, which was to be organised in December 2019 will now be held this month (January 2020) to highlight the importance of the Balum Caves.
About:
- The Belum Caves are located near Belum Village in Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh.
- It is the second largest caves on the Indian Subcontinent after the Krem Liat Prah caves in Meghalaya.
- This cave system is known for its speleothems, such as stalactite and stalagmite formations. It has long passages, galleries, spacious caverns with fresh water and siphons. The caves consist of black limestone.
- This cave system was formed over the course of tens of thousands of years by the constant flow of underground water from the now-disappeared river Chitravathi.
BLCS (type A and B)
Why in news?
- The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India, Ltd. (DFCCIL) tasked with building the over ₹81,000 crore freight corridor in the country.
- It began testing a new wagon that will help boost the cargo carrying capacity by four times due to increased length of the train, use of double-stack containers and more payload carrying capability.
Crucial highlights:
- The new wagon — called BLCS (type A and B) — is currently a prototype. A total of three such wagons have been manufactured with inputs from the industry as to what their requirements are.
- The wagon — used for hauling freight — have been tested by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and are manufactured.
- The 1,504-km western freight corridor begins at Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, and goes up to India’s largest container port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, near Mumbai, passing vai Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
- The 1,856-km eastern corridor will run from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni near Kolkata, traversing Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.
- These wagons will be under trial till January 26, 2020. If approved by the RDSO, wagons will be manufactured commercially as per industry requirements.
- The corridor, touted as one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country, will cover a 3,360-km stretch consisting of eastern and western corridors.
EVALI
Why in news?
- In September 2019, the Indian government banned the production, import, distribution, and sale of electronic cigarettes, with penalties ranging from Rs 1-5 lakh fine and 1-3 years imprisonment.
- The CDC is tentatively referring to the disease as EVALI (e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury).
What are e-cigarettes, and what is the epidemic they have caused?
- E-cigarettes, also called ‘vapes’ or ‘electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS)’, are battery-run devices that were originally marketed as a safer alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes.
- In recent years, there has been a deadly rise in nicotine addiction in the US, allegedly due to aggressive marketing by manufacturers.
- Minors have been particularly affected, with a 2018 survey showing that as many one in five and one in 20 students going to high school and middle school respectively using e-cigarettes.
- The disease ‘EVALI’ is unknown to doctors, and a link between vaping and the lung illness is yet to be concretely established.
- Symptoms, according to the CDC, are those in common with other respiratory illnesses, including coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, extreme fever or fatigue.
Have there been calls for banning the products in the US?
- In September 2019, the Trump administration said that it would crackdown on flavoured e-cigarettes because of their appeal to the youth. The effort did not go through as lobbyists and advisors to the President told him that such a decision could cost him politically with voters who vape, Reuters said in a report.
- In November, health officials said that they had found Vitamin E acetate, a ‘cutting agent’ (a chemical used to dilute or adulterate recreational drugs), in illicit vaping products containing marijuana components in 29 out of 29 lung samples collected from patients.
- In December, the CDC recommended that patients diagnosed with EVALI who are discharged from hospital should have a follow up with a clinical provider within 48 hours, shorter than the previously recommended follow up time of within one to two weeks.
- On December 31, promising a new strategy, Trump said, “We’re going to protect our families, we’re going to protect our children, and we’re going to protect the industry.”
- Starting May 2020, all e-cigarettes would have to undergo a Food and Drug Authority (FDA) review, and only those that can demonstrate a benefit for public health would be allowed to stay on the market.
Forests prone to fires
Why in news?
- About 21.40% of forest cover in India is prone to fires, with forests in the north-eastern region and central India being the most vulnerable, the 2019 report by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) has said.
Important facts
- The finding has emerged from a study carried out by the FSI along forest fire points identified across the country from 2004 to 2017.
- The forest fire points (FFP) identified during the 13 years add up to 2,77,758. They were analysed using a moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) by overlaying the points coverage over the grid coverage of 5 km x 5 km.
- The analysis showed that extremely fire prone areas account for 3.89% of total forest cover, very highly fire prone areas account for 6.01% and highly fire prone areas for 11.50%. Together, the three categories come to 21.40 % of forest cover.
- The total number of alerts issued for each state based on MODIS data from November 2018 to June 2019 were 29,547 and interestingly, Mizoram, a small State, recorded the highest number of fire alerts (2,795).
- The seven States of the north-eastern region accounted for 10,210 fire alerts, which make up about one-third of alerts in the country.
Green cover
- The overall green cover has increased in the country, the forest cover in the north-east — particularly in Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland — has decreased.
- Central Indian States also recorded a high number of forest fire alerts, with Madhya Pradesh accounting for 2,723 alerts; Maharashtra 2,516; Odisha 2,213 and Chattisgarh 1,008 alerts between November 2018 to June 2019.