21-22.05.23 Daily [Assam] APSC Current Affairs

Assam has been in the crosshair of natures fury from time immemorial. The state falls in seismic zone V making it prone to moderate to high-intensity Earthquakes. Floods in the state are nearly annual events. In the post-independence period, in the years 1954, 1962, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1988, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012, 2019, 2020 and 2022, floods caused much devastation and havoc. The frequency has increased in the last two decades and the state incurs a loss of more than INR 200 crore every year due to this disaster.

In 2022, Assam was ravaged by the first wave of flood due to extensive pre-monsoon showers in May, killing scores of people. In the month of December 2022, a freakish hailstorm covered Moran town in the upper Assam region in a layer of white sheets. Uncharacteristically blistering summers and short winters are now a norm in the state. Another atypical drift is the fluctuating character of weather within the same monsoon period. Rain falls in rapid bursts, bringing moderate to extreme flooding, in different geographical regions of the state; this is then followed by long periods of dry spells creating a drought-like situation. These extremities are a result of a wider global phenomenon- <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change.

In the list of Indias most vulnerable 25 districts to climate change, 15 are in Assam with Karinganj at the top. Climate change projections in the state indicate an increase of about 2 degrees Celsius by 2050 with extreme events of rainfall up by more than 35% with respect to the baseline period of 1971-2000. On the other end of the spectrum, drought weeks will rise by 75% for the same baseline. These extremities of temperature and rainfall along with the emergence of new pests and diseases will reduce the food crop productivity in a predominantly rural state along with yields of Cash Crops like tea, fish, milk and bamboo. With less than 30% area in the state under assured Irrigation, persistent dry spells due to climate change may have multiple ramifications including food insecurity and distress Migration.

Groundwater should not be used for farming purposes to prevent arsenic (As)exposure for farm products, especially in the case of rice, a team of researchers has said citing the case of West Bengal where arsenic has been found in high content in groundwater. Large-scale arsenic (As) poisoning, mainly through food chain contamination, is deemed to be a lethal problem in the rice-growing areas of the Bengal Delta Plain (BDP) and other parts of the world.

The study paper by scholars and researchers from the School of Environmental Studies, the National Institute of Biological Genomics and Australias University Of Newcastle pointed out that since groundwater is more prone to arsenic exposure, farm products produced by using that water also become prone to the same exposure.

To prevent this, the report has suggested stressing on rainy season farming so that rainwater can be used. This remedy is extremely important considering that West Bengal is among those states which have extremely high arsenic concentration in groundwater. Historically as many as 83 blocks scattered over seven districts in West Bengal have arsenic levels in groundwater higher than the permissible limits.

The report, published in science magazine Environmental Science & Pollution Research, suggests if rice is cooked using arsenic-free water equivalent to three times of the quantity of rice being cooked, the level of arsenic exposure in that cooked rice comes down substantially.

For this, the Railways will need to create a installed capacity of 30,000 MW as solar and Wind Energy is not available round the clock and the generation varies region to region. Till August 2022, the installed renewable energy capacity of the Indian Railways was only 245 MW.

Myanmars military has imported at least USD 1 billion worth of weapons and related material from Russia, China and other countries since its February 2021 coup, some of which it has used to carry out atrocities against civilians, according to a UN report released on Wednesday. The weapons continue to flow to the military despite overwhelming evidence of its responsibility for the atrocities, including some that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, said Tom Andrews, the UN independent investigator on Human Rights in Myanmar.

Myanmar is mired in strife because of a political crisis unleashed when the military took power. Its takeover prompted widespread peaceful protests that security forces suppressed with deadly force, triggering armed resistance throughout the country that the army has been unable to quell. Andrews said at least 22,000 political prisoners have been detained since the coup, at least 3.500 civilians have been killed and 1.5 million people have been forcibly displaced.