GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

Kerala is preparing to commemorate the grand and vibrant Thrissur Pooramtemple festival, which lasts for 36 hours or simply 3 days. 

• This festival is considered the mother of all poorams.
• It is an impressive exhibition of cultural customs and traditions, featuring adorned elephants, colourful umbrellas, and percussion music. 
• The festival is a splendid blend of Kerala's spiritual and cultural heritage and is held in the Thekkinkadu Maidanam in Thrissur during the Malayalam month of medam, which falls in April-May.

Fifteen years after it was approved, the waterway component of the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport project (KMTTP) is set to become operational.

• The deep-water port at Sittwe is part of the Rs 3,200 crore Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP). 

• Piloted by the Ministry of External Affairs and first approved in 2008, the project is aimed at boosting trade and commerce between India and Myanmar and easing access to other South Asian countries. 
• Once ready, it will also provide a strategic alternate link connecting the landlocked northeastern states to the rest of India and easing the pressure on the existing narrow Siliguri corridor. 
• Developed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) — an autonomous organisation under the Union shipping ministry — the construction of the Sittwe port was completed way back in 2018. 
• But it could not be operationalised because of several obstacles, including delays in getting approvals and licenses because of the political turmoil in Myanmar and intense conflict in the Chin and Rakhine state.
  
  

At least 11 people have died following a gas leak in Ludhiana, Punjab. The death is due to the inhalation of neurotoxic gas.

What is Neurotoxicity?

• Neuro-toxicity occurs when exposure to natural or manmade toxic substances (neurotoxicants) alters the normal activity of the nervous system that includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. 
• Nerve cells, or neurons, communicate with each other through a series of electrical and chemical signals and are at the greatest risk of damage from neurotoxins because of their high metabolic rate.
• Neuro-toxic substances can damage nerve cell function by modifying the structure of the cell membrane, which controls the passage of ions into and out of the neuron. 
• As a result, the electrical activity of the neuron may change. 
• Furthermore, neurotoxins can prevent neurotransmitters from being released or taken up by other neurons, thereby preventing their production or release. 
• Neurotransmitters are responsible for signal transmission between neurons.

Industrial gas leaks in India

• Industrial gas leaks are not rare in India.
• Three years ago a gas leak at a chemical plant killed at least 12 people in the city of Visakhapatnam, in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
• In 1984 a chemical leak in a pesticide plant in the central city of Bhopal killed thousands of people, in what is acknowledged to be the world's worst industrial disaster.

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has now flagged alleged discrepancies with respect to the forest clearance granted for the Rs 72,000-crore Great Nicobar Island (GNI) Project. 

What are the issues?

• No recognition of rights of tribals: Months after the project was granted forest clearance, implementation reports prepared by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs show that the island administration neither recognised nor granted ownership of any forest land to local tribespeople as per FRA, a requisite step under the Forest Conservation Rules, 2017 before Stage-I clearance is granted.
• The Stage-1 clearance for the project was granted in October 2022, two years after the application was received.  

Claims made by the government

• The government has said that the project intends to use about 7.114 sq. km of tribal reserve forest land, where the Shompen, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), and the Nicobarese reside. 
• It insisted that locals will not be displaced by the project.