Upper Bhadra Lift Irrigation Project

In Budget 2023-2024, Union Government has announced that the central assistance will be given to Upper Bhadra Project for irrigation and drinking water in the central Karnataka.

• Objective – To provide sustainable irrigation facility during kharif season.
  • 1st stage – Lifting water from Tunga River to existing Bhadra reservoir.
  • 2nd stage – Lifting water from Bhadra reservoir to Tunnel near Ajjampura, in Tungabhadra sub-basin of Krishna basin.

Tungabhadra River

• It is a tributary of River Krishna
• It is formed by the confluence of 2 rivers, the Tunga River and the Bhadra.
• It flows through the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and was also known by its ancient name was Pampa.
• Both Tunga & Bhadra Rivers originate on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats.

UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD)

India has been elected as the Chair of the 62nd Session of the Commission for Social Development in 2023.

• Along with India as the Chair, the commission also elected North Macedonia, Dominican Republic, and Luxembourg as Vice-Chairs.

CSocD

• It is a Commission within the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
• Its main responsibility is to provide advice to the UN on social development issues.
• The CSocD meets every year at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
• Role – It is tasked with monitoring and carrying out the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action adopted in World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995.
• Members are elected based on equitable geographical distribution for four-year terms.

Article 112

• A budget is an estimation of revenue and expenses over a specified future period of time.
• In the Constitution of India, the budget is referred as the Annual Financial Statement (Article 112).
• Article 112 - The President shall in respect of every financial year cause to be laid before both the Houses of Parliament a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government of India.

Seven priorities of Budget 2023-24

• The seven priorities, termed Saptarishi, were adopted in the Union Budget for FY 2023-24 to guide the country towards 'Amrit Kaal', thus providing a blueprint for an empowered and inclusive economy.

Mahila Samman Savings Certificate

• It is a one-time new small savings scheme for women and girl child available for two years, from April 2023-March 2025.
• It was announced by the Union government in the Budget 2023- 24.
• The minimum deposit amount under the scheme is Rs.1,000 in multiples of rupees one hundred and the maximum deposit amount is Rs.2 lakh.
• This scheme has a fixed interest rate of 7.5% p.a. compounded quarterly.
• It also has partial withdrawal options wherein an account holder can withdraw up to 40% of the account balance after one year from the account opening date.

Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF)

• Union Budget 2023-24 has announced the setting up of the UIDF through use of priority sector lending shortfall for creating urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
• It aims to supplement the efforts of the State Governments for urban infrastructure development works implemented through Public/State Agencies, Municipal Corporations and Urban Local Bodies, by providing a stable and predictable source of financing.
• The Fund will be managed by the National Housing Bank.
• It has been operationalized with an initial corpus of Rs.10,000 crore.

BharatSHRI

An announcement was made in Union Budget Speech 2023-2024 to setup Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (BharatSHRI).

• It is a digital epigraphy museum, with digitization of 1 lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage.
• It was setup by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Hyderabad.
• No separate budget has been allocated for the project and the expenditure is incurred through the allocated funds to ASI.
• ASI under the Ministry of Culture is the custodian of the epigraphic wealth of the nation.
• PM SHRI is a centrally sponsored scheme of Ministry of Education to establish over 14,500 schools in India.

Sickle cell anaemia

• Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited group of blood disorders that is genetic in nature.
• Transmission - Usually transferred from the parents to the child during birth i.e. both parents can be carriers of SCDs.
• Characteristics - A modification in the shape of the red blood cell into a crescent shape.
• The sickle cells die prematurely, resulting in a chronic lack of red blood cells (anaemia), often called sickle-cell anaemia.
• Effects - This condition leads to poor blood oxygen levels and blood vessel blockages.
• Treatment - Medication, blood transfusions and rarely a bone-marrow transplant are done.
• In the Union Budget 2023-24, National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission was announced to eliminate Sickle Cell Anaemia by 2047.
• Casgevy, the 1st therapy based on gene editing technology Crispr-Cas9 for sickle cell disease and thalassaemia has been approved in UK.

Dams in Indus River

• India has already constructed several storages works along the eastern rivers of Indus River system.
  • Bhakra Dam on the Sutlej River
  • Pong and Pandoh Dam on the Beas River
  • Thein (Ranjitsagar) on the river Ravi.

Circuit Breakers

• It is a regulatory measure that temporarily suspends trading on an exchange.
• Circuit breakers are pre-defined percentage values that check for uncontrolled movement in a security or index in either direction.
• It can cap how much the value of a stock can fall in a single day/trading session and in doing so, create a more stable market overall.
• In India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is responsible for the formulation and monitoring of the circuit breaker mechanism.

Otters

• Otters are regarded as ‘Tigers of Rivers’.
• Their presence indicates good water quality and ecosystem balance.
• In the rivers, otters are what the tigers are in forests. When they return, it means that there is enough to eat in the river and the ecosystem health is improving.

• Diversity – Of the 13 species of otters, 3 are in India and 5 are present in Asia.

Otters in India (IUCN Status)

• Asian Small clawed otter - Vulnerable
• Smooth coated otter - Vulnerable
• Eurasian Otter - Near Threatened

Gross Domestic Climate Risk Report

• Index – It calculates the physical climate risk to build environments such as buildings and properties.
• Physical risk refers to vulnerability from 8 climate change events like heat waves, coastal flooding, extreme wind, etc.
• Released by - Cross Dependency Initiative (XDI), a global organisation specialising in climate risk analysis for regions, banks and companies.
• Aggregated Damage Ratio (ADR) signifies the total amount of damage a region’s-built environment would sustain in 2050 and a high ADR signifies more peril.
• Assam, Bihar and Tamil Nadu had the highest ADR among Indian States.
• Assam, in particular, would witness the maximum increase of climate risk, rising up to 330% by 2050 as compared to 1990.

• Siang Unying Festival – It is an important festival of Adi community was celebrated in Arunachal Pradesh.
• It is celebrated to mark beginning of Adi community’s new year i.e., arrival of spring season and to strengthen the bond among community.
• Padams, Milangs, Komkars, Minyongs and Pasis collectively call themselves as Adi meaning hill people.
• Attukal Pongala – It is held in Attukal Temple, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
• It is the largest congregation of women for a festival in the world.
• ‘Phool Walon ki Sair’ or Sair-e-Gulfaroshan (walk of the flowers) – It is an annual community celebration in Mehrauli, New Delhi.
• Mehrauli is considered to be the oldest city of Delhi and is the oldest area of the metropolis to be continuously inhabited.

Earth Quake

A major earthquake struck Turkey and Syria killing more than 2600 people and flattening thousands of buildings.

Important terminologies

• Fault - A fracture in the rocks that make up the Earth’s crust
• Epicenter - The point at the surface of the Earth above the focus
• Plates - Massive rocks that make up the outer layer of the Earth’s surface and whose movement along faults triggers earthquakes
• Seismic waves - Waves that transmit the energy released by an earthquake
• Focus (Hypocenter) - The point within the Earth where an earthquake rupture starts

Types of energy waves

• P waves or primary waves – They are the first waves to be detected.
• These are compressional waves that push and pull as they move through Solids and fluids.
• S waves or secondary waves - They are the next waves to be detected.
• These waves move only through solids.
• They move up and down or side to side, perpendicular to the direction in which the wave is moving.
• Surface waves - It follow P and S waves and travel along the surface of the earth and thus cause the most damage.
• Surface waves can be characterized as
  • Love waves - Faster and move the ground from side to side, and
  • Rayleigh waves - Roll like waves on the surface of oceans and lakes

Common law

• It is the body of law that is created by judges through their written opinions, rather than through statutes or constitutions (statutory law).
• UK and the Commonwealth countries, including India, are common law countries.
• In Civil law countries, codified legislation prevails but these distinctions are not as obvious as they appear.
• In reality, many countries combine elements of common and civil law systems.

Climate Tipping Points

• According to IPCC, tipping points are ‘critical thresholds in a system that, when exceeded, can lead to a significant change in the state of the system, often with an understanding that the change is irreversible.’
• In essence, climate tipping points are elements of the Earth system in which small changes can kick off reinforcing loops that ‘tip’ a system from one stable state into a profoundly different state.
• Example - A rise in global temperatures because of fossil fuel burning, further down the line, triggers a change like a rainforest becoming a dry savannah.
• This change is propelled by self-perpetuating feedback loops, even if what was driving the change in the system stops.
• The system – in this case the forest – may remain ‘tipped’ even if the temperature falls below the threshold again.
• Categories - These elements broadly fall into three categories

1. Cryosphere
2. Ocean-atmosphere and
3. Biosphere

• Over the years, scientists have identified a host of different climate tipping points across the Earth system. They are:
• The threshold would be reached in the event of increase in global temperatures ranging from 2 degree to 4 degree Celsius.

Operation Sadbhavana

• Operation Sadbhavana (Goodwill) is unique humane initiative undertaken by Indian Army.
• The operation is taking place in the State of Jammu & Kashmir.
• The operation aims to address aspirations of people affected by scrooge of terrorism, sponsored and abetted by Pakistan.
• The key focus areas of the operation include: infrastructure development, health & sanitation, woman & youth empowerment, community development projects, and education among others.

Roche Limit

• Roche limit is the minimum distance to which a large satellite (like moon) can approach its primary body (like Earth) without being torn apart by tidal forces.
• Inside Roche limit, the large satellite (moon here) will disperse and form rings around the primary body (Earth here).
• The Roche limit is not a sharp boundary.
• The Roche limit doesn’t just exist between the Earth and the moon and it is applicable to any planet and the celestial bodies around it.
• For instance, in Saturn, the beautiful rings that you see around the planet are within the Roche limit and therefore, there are no moons in that area.

Economic Survey

• The Economic Survey is a detailed annual report of the state of the national economy in the financial year that is coming to a close.
• It is prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) under the guidance of the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA).
• Once prepared, the Survey is approved by the Union Finance Minister.
• The first Economic Survey was presented for 1950-51 and until 1964, it was presented along with the Budget.

Chitwan Declaration for Asian Rhinos Conservation 2023

The 3rd Asian Rhino Range Countries Meeting held in Chitwan, Nepal adopted the Chitwan declaration.

• It is an agreement to manage the population of greater one-horned, Javan, and Sumatran rhinos.
• The countries that signed the declaration are India, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nepal (Rhino range countries).
• The participants agreed to achieve at least a 3% annual growth rate of Greater One?Horned, Javan and Sumatran Rhinos.