KSG Podcast | Tibetan Democracy Day #upsc #prelims #currentaffairs #podcast #dailycurrentaffairs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raiOksRDc_4
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KSG Podcast | Tibetan Democracy Day #upsc #prelims #currentaffairs #podcast #dailycurrentaffairs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raiOksRDc_4&list=PLCUwtp5IghZmJBi1h7xiAhsORKmmumVsR&index=14
#UPSCOnlineClasses #OnlineClassses #IASOnlineclasses

Today's Headlines - 01 August 2023
Key takeaways of WMO report
GS Paper - 3 (Environment)

According to a new report, released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Asia is the world’s most disaster-prone region and it experienced 81 weather, climate and water-related disasters in 2022. These events directly affected more than 50 million people with about 5,000 getting killed and economic damage worth $ 36 billion, the report added. Although, in 2021, the continent had been affected by around 100 natural disasters, the extent of these hazards was more prominent in 2022 — the number of people and facilities affected, and economic damage has increased.

What are the key takeaways from the report?

According to the report, while the mean temperature over Asia in 2022 was about 0.72 degree Celsius above the 1991–2020 average, it was about 1.68 degree Celsius above the 1961–1990 average.
This rise in temperatures has had some severe fallouts, including an uptick in the occurrence of extreme weather events.
For instance, droughts ravaged numerous parts of Asia in 2022. China particularly suffered the most as last year, the Yangtze River Basin, located in the country’s southwest, experienced the worst drought in the last six decades.
This not only affected crops and vegetation, as well as the drinking water supply but also caused an economic loss of about $ 7.6 billion.
Many other regions were hit by severe floods and extreme monsoon rainfalls. Pakistan is the most notable example – it received 60 percent of normal total monsoon rainfall within just three weeks of the start of the 2022 monsoon season, and the heavy rains resulted in urban and flash floods, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods across the country.
More than 33 million people were affected, over 1,730 people died and almost eight million people were displaced, according to the report.
Apart from natural disasters, climate change has exacerbated glaciers melting in Asia due to high temperatures and dry conditions.
Four glaciers in the High Mountain Asia region, centred on the Tibetan Plateau, have recorded significant mass losses, with an accelerating trend since the mid-1990s.
At the same time, these four glaciers show an overall weaker cumulative mass loss than the average for the global reference glaciers during the period 1980–2022.
Even thesea surface temperatures in Asia are getting warmer than ever before. The report pointed out that in the north-western Arabian Sea, the Philippine Sea and the seas east of Japan, the warming rates have exceeded 0.5 degree Celsius per decade since the 1980s. It is about three times faster than the global average surface ocean warming rate.

India in report

In India, heavy rainfalls “lasting from May to September triggered multiple landslides and river overflows and floods, resulting in casualties and damage”.
In total, this flooding resulted in over 2,000 deaths and affected 1.3 million people — the disaster event caused the highest number of casualties of any disaster event in 2022 in India.
The report also said economic loss due to disasters relating to floods exceeded the average for the 2002–2021 period. Pakistan incurred a loss of over $ 15 billion, followed by China, over $ 5 billion, and India, over $ 4.2 billion.
Another extreme weather event that became a mainstay in Asia last year was heat waves.
The report noted that India and Pakistan experienced “abnormally warm conditions” in the pre-monsoon season (March–May), the report mentioned. China, Hong Kong and Japan also saw the mercury rising to record high levels in 2022.

#upsc #news #headline #WMO #report #enviroment #world #meteorological #organization #disasters #economic #temperature #asia #china #yangtze #river #basin #country #rainfalls #monsoon #pakistan #tibetan #plateau #mountain #celsius #arabian #sea #philippine #japan #glaciers

Today's Headlines - 11 August 2023
Manipur Police have filed an FIR against AR
GS Paper - 2 (Polity)

Police in Manipur have registered an FIR accusing the Assam Rifles (AR) of preventing police from doing their duty, including blocking their way with armoured vehicles, which allegedly allowed Kuki militants suspected of killing Meiteis to escape.

Who are the Assam Rifles, and what is their role?

The AR is one of the six central armed police forces (CAPFs) under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The other five forces are the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
The AR is tasked with maintaining law and order in the Northeast along with the Indian Army. It also guards the Indo-Myanmar border.
The AR have a sanctioned strength of more than 63,000 personnel, organised in 46 battalions, apart from administrative and training staff.

The AR is unique

It is the only paramilitary force with a dual control structure. While the administrative control of the force is with the MHA, its operational control is with the Indian Army, which is under the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
This means that salaries and infrastructure for the force is provided by the MHA, but the deployment, posting, transfers, and deputation of AR personnel is decided by the Army.
All its senior ranks, from DG to IG and sector headquarters are manned by officers from the Army. The force is commanded by a Lieutenant General of the Indian Army.
The AR is in effect a central paramilitary force (CPMF) — its operational duties and regimentation are on the lines of the Indian Army.
However, being a CAPF under the MHA, the recruitment, perks, and promotion of AR personnel, and their retirement policies are governed according to rules framed for CAPFs by the MHA.
There are demands within the AR that only one Ministry should have full control over the force.
A large section within the AR wants to be under the administrative control of the MoD, as that would mean perks and retirement benefits that are far better than those enjoyed by the CAPFs under MHA.
However, Army personnel retire early — at age 35 — while the retirement age of CAPFs is 60 years.
Also, CAPF officers have recently been granted non-functional financial upgradation (NFFU) to at least financially address the issue of stagnation in their careers due to lack of avenues for promotions.
But Army personnel also get‘one rank, one pension’ (OROP) which is not available to CAPFs.

#upsc #news #headline #manipur #FIR #polity #police #AR #CAPF #ministryofhome #affairs #MHA #CRPF #BSF #CISF #SSB #tibetan #border #CISF #ITBP #myanmar #indian #army #MoD #OROP