Translocation of Corals in Mumbai

Why in News

The National Institute of Oceanography will carry out the translocation of 18 coral colonies from the coast of Mumbai for the Mumbai Coastal Road Project.

Key Points

• Corals:
  
  • Corals exhibit characteristics of plants, but are marine animals that are related to jellyfish and anemones.
  • They are made up of genetically identical organisms called polyps, which are tiny, soft-bodied organisms.
    
    • At their base is a hard, protective limestone skeleton called a calicle, which forms the structure of coral reefs.
  • These polyps have microscopic algae called zooxanthellae living within their tissues. The corals and algae have a mutualistic (symbiotic) relationship. i.e.
    
    • The coral provides the zooxanthellae with the compounds necessary for photosynthesis.
    • In return, the zooxanthellae supply the coral with organic products of photosynthesis, like carbohydrates, which are utilized by the coral polyps for synthesis of their calcium carbonate skeletons.
    • Zooxanthellae are also responsible for the unique and beautiful colors of corals.
  • There are 2 types of corals:
    
    • Stony, shallow-water corals—the kind that build reefs.
    • Soft corals and deep water corals that live in dark cold waters.
• Coral Reefs:
  
  • Reefs begin when a polyp attaches itself to a rock on the seafloor, then divides, or buds, into thousands of clones. The polyp calicles connect to one another, creating a colony that acts as a single organism.
  • As colonies grow over hundreds and thousands of years, they join with other colonies, and become reefs.
  • Coral reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor but they are among the most productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth. They are referred to as the rainforests of the sea for their biodiversity.
  • Benefits: Coral reefs are like underwater cities that support marine life.
    
    • According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), they provide at least half a billion people around the world with food security and livelihoods.
    • Coral reefs also act as ‘wave breaks’ between the sea and the coastline and minimise the impact of sea erosion.
    • According to a recent study of University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, more life can be supported by dead coral remains than live corals.
  • Protection: In India, they are under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972.
  • Threats: Climate change remains one of the biggest threats to corals.
    
    • Around the world, this threat has been visible in the “bleaching” of corals.
• Coral Bleaching: It is a process during which corals, under stress from warm weather, expel the algae that give corals their brilliant colours and live in their tissues and produce their food.
  
  • The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia has suffered six mass bleaching events due to warmer than normal ocean temperatures in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2016, 2017, and now 2020.
  • The Great Barrier Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to one of the largest collections of coral reefs on the planet.
• Biorock Technology: It is a method to restore coral reefs using biorock or mineral accretion.
  
  • Under this low voltage electrical currents through seawater is applied, causing dissolved minerals to crystallize on structures, growing into a white limestone (CaCO₃) similar to that which naturally makes up coral reefs and tropical white sand beaches.
  • Biorock, also known as Seacrete or Seament, refers to the substance formed by electro-accumulation of minerals dissolved in seawater.
• Coral Translocation:
  
  • The translocation of corals is at a nascent stage along the Indian coastline. It is difficult and has not been very successful in India.
    
    • Pilot projects at various sites including, Lakshadweep islands and Andaman islands have been undertaken to study the survival rate, method and site of translocation, and creation of high heat-resistant coral colonies, etc.
  • Transplanted corals are more susceptible to storm surges and bleaching from warming ocean waters.
  • Experts are of the view that for a high survival rate, it is important to translocate corals in a place with similar environmental characteristics such as depth, current flow, amount of light, and pressure.

Source: IE

Sexual Harassment and the Code on Wages

Why in News

According to a provision in the Code on Wages 2019, ‘conviction for sexual harassment’ can be a ground for denying bonus payouts to employees.

• The Central government published the Draft Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2020 in July 2020 and placed it in the public domain inviting objections and suggestions.

Key Points

• The Code lays down norms for annual bonus dues that accrue to employees, replacing the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, which bars bonus dues only in case of fraud, violent conduct and theft or sabotage.
  
  • Payment of Bonus Act, 1965:
    
    • The minimum bonus payable is 8.33% of the salary or wage earned by the employee during the accounting year subject to a maximum of 20% of such salary or wage and is applicable to all employees earning a salary of up to Rs. 21,000 a month.
  • Section 29 of the Code states that “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code, an employee shall be disqualified from receiving bonus under this Code, if he is dismissed from service for fraud or riotous or violent behaviour while on the premises of the establishment or theft, misappropriation or sabotage of any property of the establishment or conviction for sexual harassment.”
    
    • The salary and bonus payment limits are yet to be notified under the Code on Wages.
• Other disqualification triggers are explicitly restricted to actions on an employer's premises, the trigger referring to conviction under sexual harassment does not include such a condition about the location of the incident.
  
  • As of now, it is not clear if sexual harassment incidents or related crimes against women outside the workplace could lead to dismissal of employees with loss of bonus payments but it should come under the purview irrespective of where it is done.
• Significance of the Move:
  
  • This is a huge step to get people to be on their best behaviour in the workplace as the prospect of losing one’s benefits may make employees more careful of their conduct.
  • This is also a step forward towards creating seriousness about instances of sexual harassment at the workplace and in general.
  • This move will serve as an additional deterrent apart from the Prevention Of Sexual Harassment (POSH) law of 2013.

Source: TH

Merger of Schools in Odisha: SATH Project

Why in News

The Odisha government has identified around 8,000 schools in 15 districts which will be merged with other schools due to low enrollment (less than 20 students).

• The merger is being carried out under the NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E) project, and has been termed Consolidation and Rationalisation of schools.

Key Points

• SATH-E Project:
  
  • Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital (SATH) focusses on two main sectors - Education and Health and to build three ‘Role Model’ States.
  • SATH-E aspires to be a ‘saathi’, to the educational system with the student and the teacher at its centre”.
    
    • In 2017, Odisha was among three states, along with Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, to be selected by NITI Aayog for the project.
  • The initiative aims to transform elementary and secondary school education through goal driven exercise and create role model states for education. The initiative culminates at the end of the 2020 academic year.
  • Critical interventions including school mergers, remediation program, training, monitoring teacher recruitment/rationalization, institutional reorganization at district and state level and proper utilization of Management Information System (MIS) are in execution mode since January, 2018.
    
    • Merger of schools is advocated to help consolidate resources such as teachers, libraries, laboratories and play equipment.
    • MIS can assist the school manager in determining the aims of the school, formulating strategic plans, distributing resources, and evaluating staff performance as well as organizational success.
  • Progress of the project is being monitored through a National Steering Group (NSG) and Central Project Monitoring Unit (CPMU) at national level and State Project Monitoring Unit (SPMU) at State level.
• Concerns with Merger of Schools:
  
  • Activists have argued that closure or merger of schools is in violation of section 3 and 8 of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009.
    
    • Section 3 provides to every child of the age of six to fourteen years the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till the completion of elementary education.
    • Section 8 assigns duties to the appropriate Government to ensure that it provides free and compulsory elementary education to every child, in a neighbourhood school.
  • Majority of these schools are from tribal belts on hilly terrains. Closure of schools in a village will only increase the dropout rate as it won’t be feasible for students to travel far to attend school.
  • Parents are also concerned that if their children fail to attend school, they will also be deprived of the midday meals.
• State Government’s Response:
  
  • Students who will have to travel to a distant school will be provided with a daily allowance of Rs. 20 and students from schools facing closure will also be provided a one-time facilitation allowance of Rs 3,000.
    
    • If the distance to school is more than 1 km, students will be provided travel allowance as per Right To Education (RTE) norms.
  • Further, the district collectors have been authorised to cancel the merger if genuine concerns arise.

Way Forward

• The merger would make schools aspirational for students and result in improvement of Pupil-Teacher Ratio. There would be better infrastructure facilities, better academic environment with additional e-Learning and co-curricular facilities. However, geographical constraints and other hurdles should be considered before closing/merging down schools.
• The entire process must be enabled through clear channels of communication, a rigorous grievance redressal system and thorough counseling.

Source: IE

National Unity Day 2020

Why in News

Every year, the National Unity Day (Rashtriya Ekta Diwas) is celebrated on 31^st October to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

• The Prime Minister launched the seaplane service from Ahmedabad to the Statue of Unity, Kevadia.

Key Points

• The day was celebrated for the first time in 2014, when the Government of India decided to celebrate Patel’s birthday as the National Unity Day to recognise his monumental contribution and service to the nation.
• On this day, several events like Run For Unity, a nationwide marathon to increase awareness about Patel’s contributions, National Unity pledge, Ekta Parade, etc. are organised.
• In 2018, the Government unveiled the Statue of Unity in Gujarat in Patel’s honour.
  
  • It is the tallest statue (182-meter) in the world.
  • In January 2020, it was added in the ‘Eight Wonders’ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

• Born: 31^st October 1875 in Nadiad, Gujarat.
• Achievements:
  
  • First Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India.
  • Headed various Committees of the Constituent Assembly of India, namely:
    
    • Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights.
    • Committee on Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas.
    • Provincial Constitution Committee.
  • Integrated the farmer’s cause in Kheda Satyagraha (1918) and Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) with the national freedom movement.
    
    • Women of Bardoli bestowed the title ‘Sardar’ on Vallabhbhai Patel, which means ‘a Chief or a Leader’.
  • Known as the “Iron Man of India” for playing an important role in unification and integration of Indian princely states into the Indian federation and for convincing princely states to align with the Indian Union.
  • Requested the people of India to live together by uniting (Ek Bharat) in order to create a foremost India (Shresth Bharat).
    
    • This ideology still reflects in the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative which seeks to make India self-reliant.
  • Remembered as the ‘Patron Saint of India’s Civil Servants’ as he established the modern all-India services system.
• Death: 15^th December 1950 in Bombay.

Source: IE

Shivalik Elephant Reserve: Uttarakhand

Why in News

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has asked the Uttarakhand government to consider avoiding sensitive areas of the Shivalik Elephant Reserve while exploring land suitable to use for the expansion of Dehradun’s Jolly Grant Airport.

Key Points

• Background: The area proposed for the expansion, is a part of the Shivalik Elephant Reserve and it falls within a 10-km radius of Rajaji National Park.
• Protests: Children and social activists have tied protective strings around the trees marked to be cut, similar to the Chipko movement of the 1970s, when villagers in Chamoli hugged trees to stop contractors from felling them.
• Concerns: The expansion will threaten hundreds of species of fauna in Thano (near Rajaji National Park) and the elephant corridor nearby.
  
  • The State also falls in seismic Zone IV and V, as per the Earthquake Zoning Map, and uprooting Thano will lead to soil erosion, a factor that exacerbated the 2013 Kedarnath floods, endangering countless lives.
  • Earlier, social activists had criticised Chardham Pariyojana on environmental grounds.
    
    • It is a programme taken up by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for connectivity improvement for Chardham (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri) in Uttrakhand.
  • Recently, the Supreme Court upheld the 2011 order of the Madras High Court (HC) on the Nilgiris elephant corridor, affirming the right of passage of the animals and the closure of resorts in the area.
• Shivalik Elephant Reserve:
  
  • It was notified in 2002 under the ‘Project Elephant’.
    
    • Project Elephant was launched by the Government of India in the year 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with following objectives:
      
      • To protect elephants, their habitat & corridors.
      • To address issues of man-animal conflict.
      • Welfare of captive elephants.
  • The Kansora-Barkot Elephant Corridor is located near to it.
  • It is considered to have one of the highest densities of elephants found in India.
  • The Indian elephant (Elephas maximus) occurs in the central and southern Western Ghats, North-east India, eastern India and northern India and in some parts of southern peninsular India. As per the Elephant Census, 2017, Karnataka has the highest population of Indian elephants.
    
    • It is included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES).
    • It is ‘Endangered’ as per the IUCN Red List.
• Rajaji National Park:
  
  • Location: Haridwar, along the foothills of the Shivalik range, spans 820 square kilometres.
  • Background: Three sanctuaries in the Uttarakhand i.e. Rajaji, Motichur and Chila were amalgamated into a large protected area and named Rajaji National Park in the year 1983 after the famous freedom fighter C. Rajgopalachari; popularly known as “Rajaji”.
  • Features:
    
    • This area is the North Western Limit of habitat of Asian elephants.
    • Forest types include sal forests, riverine forests, broad–leaved mixed forests, scrubland and grassy.
    • It possesses as many as 23 species of mammals and 315 bird species such as elephants, tigers, leopards, deers and ghorals, etc.
    • It was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2015.
    • It is home to the Van Gujjars in the winters. Van Gujjars are one of the few forest-dwelling nomadic communities in the country.
• Other Protected Areas in Uttarakhand:
  
  • Jim Corbett National Park (first National Park of India).
  • Valley of Flowers National Park and Nanda Devi National Park which together are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • Govind Pashu Vihar National Park and Sanctuary.
  • Gangotri National Park.
  • Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary.

Way Forward

• Though the expansion project is of strategic importance, the government needs to remember that the Shivalik Elephant Reserve is a biodiversity hub of Uttrakhand, home to elephants, leopards and endless other avian and mammals species.
• Government before passing laws should consider that India is on board global climate agreements like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, implying that it has some international commitments.

Source: IE

Habitat Loss of Himalayan Brown Bear

Why in News

Recently, a study conducted by scientists of the Zoological Survey of India on the Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) has predicted a significant reduction in suitable habitat and biological corridors of the Himalayan brown bear due to climate change.

Key Points

• The study titled ‘Adaptive spatial planning of protected area networks for conserving the Himalayan brown bear’ was carried out in the western Himalayas. It has predicted a decline of about 73% of the bear’s habitat by the year 2050.
• The total habitat loss can make 8 out of 13 PA completely uninhabitable by 2050.
• The western Himalaya where significant brown bear population is distributed is most vulnerable to global warming as this elevation belt is getting warmer faster than other elevation zones of Himalayas.
• To keep a check on this, scientists have recommended preemptive spatial planning of PAs in the Himalayan region for the long-term viability of the species.
  
  • The spatial planning of PAs is aimed at minimising the risks and uncertainty of climate change.
  • Spatial Planning is an activity centered on making decisions relating to the location and distribution of land use activities. It allows monitoring of changes, both in climate and socio-economic situations.

Himalayan Brown Bear

• Range: North-western and central Himalaya, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China and Bhutan.
• Habitat: High altitude open valleys and pastures.
• Status: IUCN Red List- Critically endangered.
  
  • CITES - Appendix I
  • Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 - Schedule 1
• Food: Omnivorous.
• Threat: Human-animal conflict, rapid habitat loss, poaching for fur, claws and organs and, in some rare cases, bear baiting.

Source:TH

International Press Institute

Why in News

Recently, the International Press Institute (IPI) has highlighted that the impunity with which crimes against journalists are committed continued to rise as governments had failed to probe the cases.

• This move comes ahead of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists which is celebrated on 2^nd November every year.
  
  • The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the day in the General Assembly Resolution of December 2013.
  • It urged the Member States to implement definite measures countering the culture of impunity.
  • The date was chosen in commemoration of the assassination of two French journalists in Mali on 2^nd November 2013.

Key Points

• IPI is a Vienna-based global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists who share a common dedication to quality, independent journalism.
• Formation:
  
  • In 1950, to promote and protect press freedom and to improve the practices of journalism, 34 editors from 15 countries gathered at Columbia University and formed the global organisation.
    
    • The year 2020 marks its 70^th anniversary.
  • The original Secretariat was set up in 1951 in Zürich (Switzerland), which was shifted to London in 1976 and then to Vienna in 1992.
• Objectives:
  
  • To promote conditions that allow journalism to fulfil its public function, the most important of which is the media’s ability to operate free from interference and without fear of retaliation.
  • To defend media freedom and the free flow of news wherever they are threatened.