GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

Recently a report highlighted the events of occurrence of Cyclones in the Arabian Sea has increased as compared to the Bay of Bengal over several years due to Climate Change.

What are Cyclones?

• A cyclone is a huge strong wind system that blows around the center of an intense low-pressure area.
• Cyclones are the local name of the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean, but in the northwest Pacific Ocean they are known as typhoons, and in the northeast Pacific Ocean and North Atlantic, they are known as
• Since the cyclones form in the tropical region, they are also known as tropical storms, tropical revolving storms, or tropical cyclones.
• In the northern hemisphere, cyclone winds blow anticlockwise and they reverse in the southern hemisphere.
  
  

How are they formed?

• Tropical storms are those that form between the latitudes Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and rotate in the anti-clockwise direction.
• The surface of oceanic waters heats up due to the sun and as warm air and moisture rise up from the surface of the warm waters, more air rushes to fill the space in.
• This air in turn rises with humidity, creating a cycle of warm, moist air rising up. This system grows in height and size, spreading out and causing a tropical cyclone.

What is the general trend of cyclones?

• Generally, India gets 5 cyclones on average in a year.
  • 4 in the Bay of Bengal
  • 1 in the Arabian Sea
• Cyclones occur in the pre-monsoon months of May-June and the post-monsoon months of October- November.
• Among the cyclones that formed in the waters of the Bay of Bengal, over 58 percent approached the coast during the October-November post-monsoon season, while 30 percent did so during the pre-monsoon season.
• On the other side, only about 25 percent of the cyclones that formed in the Arabian Sea approached the coast during both pre and post-monsoons.

Bay of Bengal vs. Arabian Sea

• Factors affecting cyclones in the Bay of Bengal: Near India, cyclones form on either side of the country, but the ones in the Bay of Bengal are more frequent and more intense than in the Arabian Sea.
• The Bay of Bengal is fed by a constant source of freshwater in the form of giant rivers like the Ganga and the Brahmaputra.
• The river water that empties into the Bay of Bengal warms up at the surface and rises up as moisture.
• This makes it difficult for the warm layers of water to mix properly with the cooler layers of water below, keeping the surface always warm and ready to feed any potential cyclone over it.
• Furthermore, because of the shape of the land around the Bay of Bengal, the winds are slower and weaker over the ocean, ready to spin.
• Factors affecting cyclones over the Arabian Sea: Conversely, the northern, central, and western parts of the Arabian Sea have a much cooler temperatures. The mountains in east Africa direct winds toward the Arabian Peninsula, dissipating heat much more efficiently throughout the Arabian Sea.
• As a result, this region is not favorable to feed potential cyclones and about half the cyclones that move into this area typically lose energy and dissipate.
• However, this year, the sea surface temperatures continue to remain abnormally high, in the 30s, feeding cyclonic conditions.

The changing trend of cyclone frequency:

• In recent years, the frequency of cyclones has increased and more than this, there is a decrease in monsoon season as well as post-monsoon season.
• However, in the particular case of the Arabian Sea, in the last 30 years, from 1990 onwards, there is a significantly increasing trend of extremely severe cyclones. And as a result, the most intense cyclones in the region are causing a lot of devastation over the western coast of India.
• Not only is the Arabian Sea, but the Bay of Bengal also witnessing many severe cyclones in recent times.

How climate change is contributing to the increased frequency of cyclones?

• Climate change is increasing the damage that cyclones, cause in several ways;
  • increasing sea surface temperatures that can make cyclones more powerful,
  • increasing the rainfall intensity during the storm and
  • Rising sea levels, increase the distance inland that storm surges reach.
• The strongest cyclones have become more common across the world and scientists project that climate change will continue to make the strongest cyclones more powerful.
• The strength of cyclones affecting the countries bordering the North Indian Ocean has been increasing as the planet has warmed.
• Climate change is increasing the danger from cyclones in several ways cyclones are fuelled by available heat.

The Scientist and researchers have alarmed the residents of Hawaii Island as the world’s largest active volcano ‘Mauna Loa’ indicates to get erupted.

• • According to recent observations, it has been noted that the number of Hawaii Island summit earthquakes jumped from 10 to 20 per day to 40 to 50 per day.
  • Scientists believe more earthquakes are occurring because more magma is flowing into Mauna Loa’s summit reservoir system from the hot spot under the earth’s surface that feeds molten rock to Hawaii’s volcanoes.
  • This stance can give rise to the volcanic eruption of Mauna Loa.

  Geographic location:

The Mauna Loa volcano:

• It is the World’s largest active Volcano on the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii.i in the Pacific Ocean. 
• The volcano makes up 51% of the Hawaii Island landmass.
• It is an active shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes, with a volume estimated at 18,000 cubic miles (75,000 km3).
• Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, and they tend to be non-explosive.
• It last erupted in 1984 which led to destruction on the Island.

Volcano Mitigation strategies:

• Because of the potential hazards, it poses to population centers, Mauna Loa is part of the Decade Volcanoes program, which encourages studies of the world's most dangerous volcanoes.
• Mauna Loa has been monitored intensively by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory since 1912.
• Observations of the atmosphere are undertaken at the Mauna Loa Observatory, and of the Sun at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, both located near the mountain's summit. 
• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park covers the summit and portions of the south-eastern and south-western flanks of the volcano.
• It also incorporates K?lauea, a separate volcano in the ambit of Hawaii Volcano Summit.

Some Active volcanoes on earth:

With Pakistan’s Prime Minister's Visit to China for the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting, both countries have agreed to go ahead with the USD 10 billion Karachi to Peshawar rail line agreement as a key part of the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Linking Karachi to Peshawar Rail line:

• The Karachi-Peshawar rail line is one of four main railway lines in Pakistan, operated and maintained by Pakistan Railways.
• The line begins from Karachi City station or Kiamari station and ends at Peshawar Cantonment Station.
• The total length of this railway line is 1,687 kilometers (1,048 mi).
• There are 184 railway stations from Kamari to Peshawar Cantonment on this line.
• The line serves as the main passenger and freight line of the country. 75% of the country's cargo and passenger traffic uses the line.
• The line is currently undergoing a six-year 1286.68 billion (US$5.6 billion) upgrade and renovation as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, with average rail speeds expected to be doubled to 160 kilometers per hour upon completion.
  

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC):

• It was launched in 2013 with the aim to build a corridor linking Pakistan's Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport, and industrial cooperation.

• CPEC is part of China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• The CPEC was planned to be completed in three phases. The first phase of CPEC was to remove key economic bottlenecks namely energy and infrastructure.
• The current phase is about industrialization, socio-economic and agricultural cooperation, and promoting business and consolidating developments.

Future aspirations of Pakistan with China:

• The Pakistani government has made a number of new proposals that include post-disaster reconstruction, strengthening of digital investment in the economy, initiatives for global development, and an agreement between geological survey institutions of the two countries and cooperation to develop the export potential of Pakistan.

India’s Sovereignty Argument:

• India has repeatedly registered its protests over CPEC, saying it is in violation of its sovereignty as it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) - an Indian Territory illegally occupied by Pakistan.
• It also violates the Party agreement and used the conflicted region of any other country’s territory to build infrastructure without its consent.
  

While addressing the State Home Ministers’ conference in Haryana, he flagged the idea of “one nation, one police uniform” to have a brand recall just like the red-and-black post boxes in the country.

• While police personnel in India are often associated with the color khaki, their uniforms do differ in varying degrees in different regions.
• Since state governments and even an individual force can decide the uniform of their personnel, there are at times inconsistencies in their official attire.
• For example:
  • The Kolkata Police wear white
  • Puducherry Police constables wear bright red caps with their khaki uniforms.
  • Delhi Traffic Police personnel wear a white and blue uniform
    

Provisions for Police forces in India:

• The Indian Constitution puts ‘police forces’ under the jurisdiction of state governments, and each of the 28 states has its own police force.
• Both ‘public order and the ‘police’ are placed in List II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, which deals with the division of powers between the Union and States.

Several Attempts for reforms:

Over the years, police departments of various states have made various attempts to reform uniforms for their personnel.

• In February 2018, in a bid to prevent color variation in the uniform of its personnel, the Maharashtra police decided to provide dope-dyed khaki fabric for its staff.
  • Members of the force buying khaki cloth on their own led to inconsistencies in the shade of the uniform.
• In October 2018, the Karnataka Police announced that women personnel would no longer wear khaki saris, but rather khaki shirts and trousers while on duty.
• This would make it easier for policewomen to do their job and improve their effectiveness in dealing with crime.
• In February 2022, the Maharashtra DGP issued a circular discontinuing the practice of wearing a “tunic uniform” for officers from the rank of Police Sub-Inspectors (PSI) to Deputy Superintendent (DySP).

• The Delhi Police had asked the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) to design fresh uniforms, with an immediate focus on clothing that would be more comfortable.

Significance of One Nation, One police uniform:

• Reduction in the cost of Uniform production.
• Uniformity in Police forces uniform will bring a sense of collectivism among police forces of different states.

As per the released 'Statista report, a Germany-based private organization that provides data and statistics has mentioned that India's Defence Ministry is the world's biggest employer with around 2.92 million people in the year 2021-22.

Key highlights of the Report:

• A report said that India's Ministry of Defence is the world's biggest employer with 2.92 million people which includes combined active service personnel, reservists, and civilian staff.
• According to the report, no company in the world has more employees than Walmart, a US retail giant which is around 2.3 million employees.
• India's military spending of USD 76.6 billion ranked third highest in the world.

India’s Defence Expenditure:

• The overall defense expenditure planned for FY 2021-2022 is 3,62,345.62 Crore (US$ 49.6 billion), an increase of Rs.24,792.62 Crore (US$ 3.4 billion) over the Budget Estimates of FY 2020-2021.
• India is spending 7 percent of its GDP on defense. In the list of top ten defense spenders, only the US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia spend a larger share of their GDP on defense.

What does the Military Budget mean?

• The military budget or defense budget of India is the portion of the overall budget of the Union budget of India that is allocated for the funding of the Indian Armed Forces.
• The military budget finances;
• Employee salaries and training costs,
• maintenance of equipment and facilities,
• support of new or ongoing operations, &development and
• Procurement of new technologies, weapons, equipment, and vehicles.
• Indian Army accounts for more than half of the total defense budget of India, with most of the expenditure going to the maintenance of cantonments, salaries, and pensions, instead of critical arms and ammunition.

After the clearance for GM-Mustard crops for field trials, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is going to recommend an ‘environmental release’ of genetically modified (GM) cotton. 

• Nearly two decades ago, a genetically modified type of cotton, known as Bt cotton, was introduced to India to reduce farmers’ insecticide use.
• Using advanced statistical methods, Professor Ian Plewis from the University of Manchester investigates the effect of Bt cotton on farmers’ expenditure on insecticides, cotton yield, and profits, across Indian states.
• The findings of the research show that the effects of Bt cotton on farmers’ yield vary across Indian states, but most states show a decrease in insecticide use since the introduction of Bt cotton.
• A reduction in insecticide use may be beneficial for farmers’ health and the environment by reducing pollutants.

Recent GM-Cotton alterations:

• A German multinational company ‘Bayer AG’ is going to introduce the modification in cotton plant which will allow farmers to spray the herbicide ‘glyphosate’.
• The transgenic cotton — Bollgard II Roundup Ready Flex (BG-II RRF) contains three alien genes;
  • the first two (‘cry1Ac’ and ‘cry2Ab’) being isolated from a soil bacterium,
  • Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt, and coding for proteins toxic to the American bollworm, spotted bollworm and tobacco caterpillar insect pests.
  • The third gene, ‘cp4-epsps’, is sourced from another soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumafaciens.
• Significance:
  • Its incorporation into cotton makes the crop “tolerant” to glyphosate.
  • This herbicide cannot be applied on normal cotton, as the chemical does not distinguish between the crops and weeds.