Daily Current Affairs 24 February 2020 | UPSC 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Babhaniyav:  satellite town and feeding center for Varanasi-Sarnath region

• A nearly 4,000­year­old urban settlement has been unearthed by a team of surveyors from the Banaras Hindu University, which experts say could be one of the craft villages mentioned in ancient texts.
• The university’s Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture, and Archaeology, which did the preliminary survey of the site in Babhaniyav village, 13 km from Varanasi, said it found remnants of one of the settlements mentioned in ancient literature about the holy city
• The survey found a temple dating back to the 5th century through 8th century, potteries which are 4,000­year­old and walls which are 2,000­ year­-old
• Based on the surface materials, we can say the structure is anywhere between 3,500 to 4,000 year old
• The site gains significance because of its proximity to Varanasi, which is said to be 5,000 years old, though modern scholars believe it to be around 3,000 years old
• The site at Babhaniyav could be a small sub­centre of Varanasi which grew as an urban town
• The findings are important as Babhaniyav could have been a satellite town and feeding center for Varanasi-Sarnath region
• The team unearthed a 5-­metre cultural deposit like the ones found in Sarnath.
• While such crafts villages have been earlier unearthed in Sarnath, Tilmapur, Ramnagar and other areas, Babhaniyav is an addition. They have also found a pillar with a two-­line text in Kushan-Brahmi script which makes the findings at least 3,500­ 4,000 years old. 

Kushan Empire

• The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of Afghanistan, and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares), where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka the Great. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism. He played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent and its spread to Central Asia and China.
• The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European nomadic people of possible Tocharian origin, who migrated from Gansu and settled in ancient Bactria.
• The Kushans possibly used the Greek language initially for administrative purposes, but soon began to use the Bactrian language. Kanishka sent his armies north of the Karakoram mountains. A direct road from Gandhara to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraging travel across the Karakoram and facilitating the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China.
• The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, Sasanian Persia, the Aksumite Empire and the Han dynasty of China. The Kushan Empire was at the center of trade relations between the Roman Empire and China: according to Alain Daniélou, "for a time, the Kushana Empire was the CenterPoint of the major civilizations". While much philosophy, art, and science were created within its borders, the only textual record of the empire's history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages, particularly Chinese.
• The Kushan empire fragmented into semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, which fell to the Sasanians invading from the west, establishing the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom in the areas of Sogdiana, Bactria, and Gandhara. In the 4th century, the Guptas, an Indian dynasty also pressed from the east. The last of the Kushan and Kushano-Sasanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by invaders from the north, known as the Kidarites, and then the Hephthalites.

Brahmi script

• Brahmi is the modern name for a writing system of ancient India. The Brahmi writing system, or script, appeared as a fully developed universal one in South Asia in the third century BCE and is a forerunner of all writing systems that have found use in South Asia except the Indus script of the third millennium BCE, the Kharosthi script, which originated in what today is northwestern Pakistan in the fourth or possibly fifth century BCE, the Perso-Arabic Scripts of the medieval period, and the Latin scripts of the modern period. Its descendants, the Brahmic scripts, continue to be in use today not only in South Asia but also in Southeast Asia. Brahmi is an abugida that uses a system of diacritical marks to associate vowels with consonant symbols.
• Several divergent accounts of the origin of the name "Brahmi" appear in history and legend. Several Sutras of Jainism such as the Vyakhya Pragyapti Sutra, the Samvayanga Sutra and the Pragyapna Sutra of the Jain Agamas include a list of 18 writing scripts known to teachers before the Mahavira was born, with the Brahmi script (bambhī in the original Prakrit) leading all these lists. The Brahmi script is missing from the 18 script list in the surviving versions of two later Jaina Sutras, namely the Vishesha Avashyaka and the Kalpa Sutra. Jain legend recounts that 18 writing scripts were taught by their first Tirthankara Rishabhanatha to his daughter Brahmi, she emphasized Brahmi as the main script as she taught others, and therefore the name Brahmi for the script comes after her name.
• The earliest (indisputably dated) and best-known Brahmi inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dating to 250–232 BCE. Brahmi only went through relatively minor evolutionary changes from the Mauryan period (3rd century BCE) down to the early Gupta period (4th century CE), and it is thought that as late as the 4th century CE, a literate person could still read and understand Mauryan inscriptions.
• Later the script underwent important changes, and the capability to read the original Brahmi script was lost. The first successful attempts at deciphering Brahmi were made in 1836 by Norwegian scholar Christian Lassen, who used the bilingual Greek-Brahmi coins of Indo-Greek kings, Agathocles and Pantaleon, to correctly identify several Brahmi letters. The script was then fully deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, and official of the East India Company, with the help of Alexander Cunningham. The origin of the script is still much debated, with most scholars stating that Brahmi was derived from or at least influenced by one or more contemporary Semitic scripts, while others favor the idea of an indigenous origin or connection to the much older and as-yet undeciphered Indus script of the Indus Valley Civilization.
• Brahmi was at one time referred to in English as the "pin-man" script, which is a "stick-figure" script. It was known by a variety of other names until the 1880s when Albert Étienne Jean Baptiste Terrien de Lacouperie, based on an observation by Gabriel Devéria, associated it with the Brahmi script, the first in a list of scripts mentioned in the Lalitavistara Sūtra. Thence the name was adopted in the influential work of Georg Bühler, albeit in the variant form "Brahma". The Gupta script of the fifth century is sometimes called "Late Brahmi". The Brahmi script diversified into numerous local variants classified together as the Brahmic scripts. Dozens of modern scripts used across South Asia have descended from Brahmi, making it one of the world's most influential writing traditions. One survey found 198 scripts that ultimately derive from it.
• Among the inscriptions of Ashoka ca. 3rd-century BCE written in the Brahmi script a few numerals were found, which have come to be called the Brahmi numerals. The numerals are additive and multiplicative and, therefore, not place value; it is not known if their underlying system of numeration has a connection to the Brahmi script. But in the second half of the first millennium CE, some inscriptions in India and Southeast Asia written in scripts derived from the Brahmi did include numerals that are decimal place value and constitute the earliest existing material examples of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, now in use throughout the world. The underlying system of numeration, however, was older, as the earliest attested orally transmitted example dates to the middle of the 3rd century CE in a Sanskrit prose adaptation of lost Greek work on astrology.

Source: The Hindu, Wikipedia

2) Home gardens hit by climate change

A recent study of home gardens in the dry regions of West Bengal has revealed that they are facing the effects of climate change and that there is a need to provide agricultural extension services to these gardens for their sustenance

importance of home garden

• The paper ‘Biodiversity and Impacts of Climate Change in Home Gardens: Evidence From a Study in West Bengal’ authored by Joyashree Roy, professor at Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, and Sebak Kumar Jana,  Vidyasagar University, points out that home garden owners have reported pest attacks, insect and diseases. The studies were conducted in the arid areas at Garbeta block in Paschim Medinipur district
• Home gardens not only provide food security but also help in maintaining green cover, harbor rich biodiversity and help in poverty reduction in rural areas. “Unless agricultural extension service is given to these home gardens, there is no guarantee that people will continue the healthy practice
• Home gardens are a major land use pattern all over the world, and in rural areas can provide vegetables and fruits to the family throughout the year. 

Pest Attack on home garden

• The most common attack on the home garden is semi­looper (Leda poka in Bengali), almost 77%, affecting vegetables and tree
• The other pests are aphids affecting 33% of home gardens and whitefly 11% of home gardens. The common diseases in the home gardens studied are mosaic in 41%, downy mildew in 37% and foot row in 32%.
• The field survey pointed out that planting dates have been changed for some crops like chili (30%), brinjal (21%) and gourd (17%). The major reasons  are changes in the onset of rain, shortage of water and lack of timely irrigation

Climate Change

• The study also looked at the change in temperature in home gardens between 1965 and 2010. The minimum temperature during this time showed an increase from the 1960s to 2005. The minimum temperature increased from 20.5 degrees Celsius to over 22 degrees C. The maximum temperature decreased from about 32 degrees C in the mid-­1960 to almost 31 degrees in 2005
• While there was no hired labor, annual time allocated by households varied from 40.14 hours and  35 hours. “The households report that some species of plants, like eucalyptus and mango, are becoming extinct in home garden… the main reason is felling, water crisis, pests and deteriorating quality of the soil,” the paper said. 
• The paper, which is part of book  Current State and Future Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, highlights that there is a “need of extension services on the part of the government regarding crop planning, land management, providing irrigation and training for water and soil conservation, etc so that home garden owners can take different adaptation strategies”

About home gardens

• The household garden is a small-scale production system supplying plant and animal consumption and utilitarian items either not obtainable, affordable, or readily available through retail markets, field cultivation, hunting, gathering, fishing, and wage-earning. Household gardens tend to be located close to dwelling for security, convenience, and special care. They occupy land marginal to field production and labor marginal to major household economic activities. Featuring ecologically adapted and complementary species, household gardens are marked by low capital input and simple technology
• Generally, home gardening refers to the cultivation of a small portion of land which may be around the household or within walking distance from the family home. Home gardens can be described as a mixed cropping system that encompasses vegetables, fruits, plantation crops, spices, herbs, ornamental and medicinal plants as well as livestock that can serve as a supplementary source of food and income.

Social benefits of Home Garden

• Enhancing food and nutritional security: Reviews of studies from various countries reveal that the degree and combination of socio-cultural impacts on societies engaged in home gardening vary across the board. Multiple social benefits of home gardens include enhancing food and nutritional security in many socio-economic and political situations, improving family health and human capacity, empowering women, promoting social justice and equity, and preserving indigenous knowledge and culture 
• Improving health: Plants are an important source of medicine for humans and livestock and are used as biological pesticides to protect crops from diseases and pest infestations. Herbs and medicinal plants are grown in home gardens all over the world, and in developing countries, nearly 80% of the people use them to treat various illnesses, diseases, and also to improve their health conditions. A generous portion of the plants found in home gardens have some medicinal value and they can be used to treat many common health problems cost-effectively. 
• Uplifting the status of women: In many cultures, women play an important role in food production but at times their worth is somewhat undermined. They are also active in home gardening, though their involvement in the home garden tends to be determined by socio-cultural norms. Home gardens stimulate social change and development.
• Preserving indigenous knowledge and building integrated societies: Home gardens consist of a variety of components and species that represent social and traditional aspects of different societies. This rich indigenous culture and communal knowledge base is expressed through home gardening by the selection of plants and animal species as well as the farming practices used by the local community
• Economic benefits: The economic benefits of home gardens go beyond food and nutritional security and subsistence, especially for resource-poor families. Bibliographic evidence suggests that home gardens contribute to income generation, improved livelihoods, and household economic welfare as well as promoting entrepreneurship and rural development
• Environmental benefits: Home gardens provide multiple environmental and ecological benefits. They serve as the primary unit that initiates and utilizes ecologically friendly approaches for food production while conserving biodiversity and natural resources. Home gardens are usually diverse and contain a rich composition of plant and animal species. Hence they make interesting cases for ethnobotanical studies

Source: The Hindu

3) Rushikulya: olive ridley turtles

• Preparations are almost done at the Rushikulya rookery on the Odisha coast to welcome and protect olive ridley turtles during mass nesting, likely to begin in a week.
• Eggs from sporadic nesting that has been going on for the past two months, which were incubated at artificial hatcheries of the forest department, have also started to hatch, said Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer Amlan Nayak. 
• According to sources, till now around 23 turtles have laid over 2,400 eggs through sporadic nesting.
• To provide security to mother turtles as well as the eggs from human and predator intervention, the forest department is erecting an over 5­km­long fence of the metal net from Gokharkuda to Bateswar. This stretch is the most preferred location for mass nesting in the Rushikulya rookery. 
• The forest officials have already completed two to three rounds of awareness drive at all villages near the rookery. 
• Thousands of mother turtles are waiting in the sea near the coast where fishing in mechanized boats, including trawlers, has been banned. The forest department officials are also patrolling the region in two trawlers, two-speed boats, and a country boat.
• The whole stretch of the nesting beach has been cleaned four times in February.  Debris and plastic waste, like pieces of fishing net, are being removed with the help of locals. There will be regular monitoring of the beach.
• The department has set up 11 onshore camps. Personnel at these camps regularly document beach conditions, inform about the debris deposited by the sea, prevent the entry of predators like stray dogs and search for turtle carcasses.  Officials from all ranges of the  department have been mobilized

Olive ridley sea turtle

• The olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world. Lepidochelys olivacea is found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but also in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean
• This turtle and the related Kemps ridley turtle are best known for their unique mass nesting called arribada, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.

Source: The Hindu

4) Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary to be a tiger reserve 

• The decks have been cleared to notify the Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar district as a tiger reserve. The approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is expected at any time now. 
• A presentation of the final proposal was made before the NTCA early this month and the final notification will be made by the State government once the NTCA gives its formal approval.
• Once notified, the Chamarajanagar district will have a rare distinction in the country of having three tiger reserves. It already has Bandipur and Biligiri Ranganatha Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve within its territorial limits. Also, with this, Karnataka will have six tiger reserves, the others being Nagarahole, Bhadra, and AnshiDandeli, apart from Bandipur and BRT Tiger Reserves
• The sanctuary will be renamed Malai Mahadeshwara Hill Tiger Reserve with a core area of 670.95 sq km spread across Malai Mahadeshwara Reserve Forest, Hanur Reserve Forest and Yediyarahalli Reserve Forest. The sanctuary presently has about 20 tigers. 

Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary

• Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary or Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected Wildlife sanctuary in the Eastern Ghats and is located in the state of Karnataka in India. It is named after the presiding deity "Lord Male Mahadeshwara" of the famed Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Temple located within the sanctuary. The sanctuary lies in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. It is at a distance of 140 km (87 mi) from Mysuru and 210 km (130 mi) from Bengaluru.
• The sanctuary was established in 2013 with an area of 906.187 km2 (349.881 sq mi) out of the total area of 1,224 km2 (473 sq mi).
• The sanctuary is part of a contiguous tiger habitat, located very close to the tri-junction of the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The sanctuary has Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary (Karnataka) to its North and East, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (Tamil Nadu) to its South and Biligirirangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) to its West.

Source: The Hindu

5) A Future for the World’s Children?: Report by WHO-­UNICEF-­Lancet

• No single country is adequately protecting children’s health, their environment, and their future, according to a recently released report by a Commission of more than 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world. The Commission was convened by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and The Lancet. 
• The report, titled A Future for the World’s Children? finds that the health and future of every child and adolescent worldwide is under immediate threat from ecological degradation, climate change and exploitative marketing practices that push heavily processed fast food, sugary drinks, alcohol, and tobacco at them. 
• The index shows that children in Norway, the Republic of Korea and the Netherlands have the best chance at survival and well­being, while children in the Central African Republic, Chad, Somalia, Niger, and Mali face the worst odds
• In the report assessing the capacity of 180 countries, India stands 77th (sustainability index) and is at 131st position on a ranking that measures the best chance at survival and well­being for children
• The report says although India has improved in health and sanitation, it has to increase its spending on health. It also cautions that globally, the number of children and adolescents who are obese has increased from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016 an 11­fold increase.
• The only countries on track to beat the CO2 emission targets by 2030, while also performing fairly (within the top 70) on child flourishing measures are Albania, Armenia, Grenada, Jordan, Moldova, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uruguay, and Vietnam.
• An estimated 250 million children under five in low­ and middle­-income countries are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential. Moreover, every child worldwide now faces existential threats from climate change and commercial pressures.
• While the poorest countries need to do more to ensure healthy lives for children,  carbon emissions disproportionately from wealthier countries — threaten the future of all children, states the report. “This report shows that the world’s decision-makers are, too often, failing today’s children and youth: failing to protect their health, failing to protect their rights and failing to protect their planet

Source: The Hindu

6)  CSIR-CDRI Scientist Dr. Niti Kumar gets SERB Women Excellence Award-2020

• Dr. Niti Kumar, Senior Scientist from Division of Molecular Parasitology and Immunology, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow has received SERB Women Excellence Award-2020. Award will be conferred by the President of India during National Science Day Celebrations on February 28, 2020, in Vigyan Bhawan.
• This award is given to women scientist below 40 years of age who have received recognition from national academies. The women researchers will be supported by the research grant of 5 lakhs per annum for 3 years by Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India (SERB-DST).
• Her research group is trying to understand the protein quality control machinery in the human malaria parasite for the exploration of alternative drug targets for malaria intervention.
• Dr. Niti Kumar has many awards and recognitions in her credit including, Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (DBT-IYBA, 2015), INSA Medal for Young Scientist (2010) by Indian National Science Academy, Ramalingaswami Fellowship (2013-2018), EMBO Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2010-2012), Alexander von Humboldt Fellow (2010), Max Planck Post-doctoral fellowship at Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (2009) and Marie Curie Early Stage Research Fellowship by European Union under 6th Framework Programme (2005-2006)

Source: PIB

7) Earthquake near Iran border

Nine people died and hundreds of buildings collapsed in southeastern Turkey on Sunday after a magnitude­ 5.7 earthquake struck near the border with Iran, injuring dozens in villages and towns in both countries, government officials said.

Earthquake

Global plate tectonic movement

• An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in size from those that are so weak that they cannot be felt to those violent enough to propel objects (and people) into the air, and wreak destruction across entire cities. The seismicity, or seismic activity, of an area, is the frequency, type, and size of earthquakes experienced over some time. The word tremor is also used for non-earthquake seismic rumbling.
• At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and displacing or disrupting the ground. When the epicenter of a large earthquake is located offshore, the seabed may be displaced sufficiently to cause a tsunami. Earthquakes can also trigger landslides and occasionally, volcanic activity.
• In its most general sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—whether natural or caused by humans—that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The epicenter is the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter.

Effects of earthquakes

• Shaking and ground rupture: Shaking and ground rupture are the main effects created by earthquakes, principally resulting in more or less severe damage to buildings and other rigid structures. The severity of the local effects depends on the complex combination of the earthquake magnitude, the distance from the epicenter, and the local geological and geomorphological conditions, which may amplify or reduce wave propagation. The ground-shaking is measured by ground acceleration.
• Soil liquefaction: Soil liquefaction occurs when, because of the shaking, water-saturated granular material (such as sand) temporarily loses its strength and transforms from a solid to a liquid. Soil liquefaction may cause rigid structures, like buildings and bridges, to tilt or sink into the liquefied deposits. For example, in the 1964 Alaska earthquake, soil liquefaction caused many buildings to sink into the ground, eventually collapsing upon themselves.
• Human impacts: An earthquake may cause injury and loss of life, road and bridge damage, general property damage, and collapse or destabilization (potentially leading to future collapse) of buildings. The aftermath may bring disease, lack of basic necessities, mental consequences such as panic attacks, depression to survivors, and higher insurance premiums.
• Landslides: Earthquakes can produce slope instability leading to landslides, a major geological hazard. Landslide danger may persist while emergency personnel is attempting a rescue.
• Fires: Earthquakes can cause fires by damaging electrical power or gas lines. In the event of water mains rupturing and a loss of pressure, it may also become difficult to stop the spread of a fire once it has started. For example, more deaths in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake were caused by fire than by the earthquake itself.
• Tsunami: Tsunamis are long-wavelength, long-period sea waves produced by the sudden or abrupt movement of large volumes of water—including when an earthquake occurs at sea. In the open ocean, the distance between wave crests can surpass 100 kilometers (62 mi), and the wave periods can vary from five minutes to one hour. Such tsunamis travel 600–800 kilometers per hour (373–497 miles per hour), depending on water depth. Large waves produced by an earthquake or a submarine landslide can overrun nearby coastal areas in a matter of minutes. Tsunamis can also travel thousands of kilometers across open ocean and wreak destruction on far shores hours after the earthquake that generated them
• Floods: Floods may be secondary effects of earthquakes if dams are damaged. Earthquakes may cause landslips to dam rivers, which collapse and cause floods

Source: The Hindu

8) Ensemble Methods in Modelling and Data Assimilation’ (EMMDA)

• Although remarkable success has been achieved in improving forecast skill by employing state of the art numerical prediction systems and adopting latest data assimilation techniques, it is well known that some amount of uncertainty associated with numerical weather prediction is inevitable.  In order to quantify the forecast uncertainty, leading Weather forecasting centers of the world including India have developed the ‘Ensemble Prediction System’ (EPS) which provides probabilistic forecasting of weather. In an EPS, a number of similar models, called the ensemble members, are run from slightly different initial conditions.  It requires high computational resources and in turn, provides the flow-dependent forecast uncertainty in terms of probability. The probabilistic forecasts help the end-users in making decisions and plan their actions suitably.  The forecasts from high resolution global and regional EPS provide more accurate probabilistic forecasts of extreme weather events and help the planners and administrators in taking timely actions.  India has recently operationally implemented two global EPS which have the highest resolution in the world and also a regional EPS of horizontal resolution 4km which covers the Indian region. A well-coordinated collaborative research and development work between national and international centers are further required for progressively improving the skill of EPS.
• In order to provide a platform for discussions and deliberations on the present status, future prospects and optimum use of EPS, a three-day international conference on “Ensemble Methods in Modelling and Data Assimilation (EMMDA)” is being organized by NCMRWF, MoES from February 24, 2020, at NCMRWF, Noida, India. The major themes of the conference are:
• Ensemble methods in Global Weather Prediction
• Ensemble methods in Data Assimilation
• Ensemble methods in Monthly and Seasonal Forecasting
• Convection Permitting Ensemble Prediction Systems
• Verification of Ensemble weather forecasts
• Applications of Ensemble weather forecasts
• Leading International experts from ECMWF of UK, Met Office of UK, NOAA of USA, KMA of South Korea, BoM of Australia, NCAR of USA, University of Maryland of USA, Reading University of UK, NIWA of New Zealand, KAUST of Saudi Arabia, TMD of Thailand will present papers along with distinguished Indian scientists from different lead organizations on latest developments in the field of ensemble data assimilation and modeling. About twenty young scientists and researchers will present their research outcomes. Besides them, about 100 participants which include forecasters, stakeholders from various sectors and young research scholars will attend this conference.  
• The latest techniques used in Data Assimilation, Ensemble Methods and use of Probabilistic Forecasts for developing new applications from Ensemble Products will be discussed. The discussions will lead to the development of newer algorithms and will be useful for societal applications related to weather/climate.  

Source: PIB