Daily Current Affairs 10 June 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs of Today Are

1) Efforts to enhance cultivation of Heeng and Saffron

Saffron and Heeng (asafoetida) is the most valuable spices of the world and widely used in Indian cuisine since time immemorial. In India, the annual demand for Saffron spice is 100 tons per year but its average production is about 6-7 tons per year. Hence a large amount of Saffron is being imported. Similarly, there is no production of heeng in India and currently about 1200 tons of raw heeng worth Rs 600 crore is being imported from Afghanistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan.
To increase the production of these two spices in India, the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) and the Department of Agriculture, Government of Himachal Pradesh, have forged strategic and implementation partnership based on their mutual strengths. This partnership is expected to provide immense benefits to Himachal Pradesh by way of increased farm income, livelihood promotion, and rural development. To facilitate this development, several steps will be undertaken such as transfer of innovations using a capacity building, skill development, and other extension activities of prospective farmers and officers of the Department of Agriculture.
“The introduction of these crops will reduce imports. CSIR-IHBT will provide technical know-how to the farmers, impart training to state agriculture department officers and farmers, and set up corm and seed production centers of Saffron and heeng, respectively, in the state,”
At present, about 2825 hectares of land are under cultivation of Saffron in Jammu and Kashmir. IHBT has developed the production technology for Saffron and introduced its cultivation in non-traditional areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The Institute has also developed a tissue-culture protocol for the production of disease-free corms.
The Palampur-located Institute has introduced six accessions of heeng from Iran through the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi, and standardized its production protocols under Indian conditions. Heeng is a perennial plant and it produces oleo-gum resin from the roots after five years of plantation. It can be grown in unutilized sloppy land of the cold desert region.
“Besides providing technical support for the achievement of physical targets of the project, we will also undertake technical supervision of Saffron production areas. Exposure visits to farmers will also be done. A total of 750 acres of land will be covered under these crops in the state in the next five years
this project will enhance the livelihood of the farmers and will benefit the state and country. “This program will improve the farmer well-being of the farmers by providing better income prospects and the state will be benefited by the cultivation of these high-value crops
A state-of-the-art tissue-culture lab will be established for large-scale production of quality planting material of these crops.

Source: PIB

2) JNCASR signs MoU with the incubated company for scaling up the technology for reducing CO2 to methanol & other useful chemicals

An agreement has been signed between Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Breath Applied Sciences, a company incubated at JNCASR for transfer of technology based on lab-scale research on reducing CO2 to methanol and other useful chemicals and fuels.
In the pilot mode, the current capacity of CO2 conversion is 300 kg per day, which can be scaled upto 500 tons on an industrial scale. It will take almost a year to reach the level of industrial production. Companies like Tata Steel and Coal India Limited are in discussion with us for the potential use of our developed technology soon,
The MOU will help in smooth translation of the research in the area of CO2 reduction to useful chemicals and fuels from the laboratory scale to pilot scale economically. It will highlight the scientific contribution of a research institute translating to the industry to solve the problems associated with renewable energy and environmental pollution. It will also help in developing an indigenous technology in line with government policy.
Conversion of CO2 to clean fuels such as methanol and other useful chemicals on a scale with cost-effectiveness is the holy grail of science to address sustainable development, environmental, and climate. The development at JNCASR is an extraordinary example of converting cutting-edge science into technological opportunities
The scientific activities which have been agreed upon as part of the MoU are the development of efficient catalysts for the conversion of CO2 to methanol and other chemicals, improvisation of the process engineering to enhance the production of chemicals and fuels from anthropogenic CO2 generated from various sources including coal and natural gas power generation sectors, steel industry, cement industry, and chemical industries and integrating multiple components involved in the CCUS (Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration) to develop a complete solution for the environmental issues due to global warming.

Source: PIB

3) Rising forex reserves and its importance

Amid pandemic, India’s foreign exchange reserves are rising and are slated to hit the $500 billion mark soon.
In the month of May, forex reserves jumped by $12.4 billion to an all-time high of $493.48 billion (around Rs 37.30 lakh crore) for the week ended May 29.

An important fact for Prelims:

The level of foreign exchange reserves has steadily increased by 8,400 percent from $5.8 billion as of March 1991 to the current level.

What are forex reserves?

Forex reserves are external assets in the form of gold, SDRs (special drawing rights of the IMF), and foreign currency assets (capital inflows to the capital markets, FDI, and external commercial borrowings) accumulated by India and controlled by the Reserve Bank of India.

Why they are important?

Official foreign exchange reserves are held in support of a range of objectives like supporting and maintaining confidence in the policies for monetary and exchange rate management including the capacity to intervene in support of the national or union currency.
It will also limit external vulnerability by maintaining foreign currency liquidity to absorb shocks during times of crisis or when access to borrowing is curtailed.

Why are forex reserves rising despite the slowdown in the economy?

The rise in investment in foreign portfolio investors in Indian stocks and foreign direct investments (FDIs).
Fall in crude oil prices has brought down the oil import bill, saving the precious foreign exchange.
Overseas remittances and foreign travels have fallen steeply – down 61 percent in April from $12.87 billion.

What’s the significance of rising forex reserves?

The rising forex reserves give a lot of comfort to the government and the Reserve Bank of India in managing India’s external and internal financial issues at a time when the economic growth is set to contract by 1.5 percent in 2020-21.
It’s a big cushion in the event of any crisis on the economic front and enough to cover the import bill of the country for a year.
The rising reserves have also helped the rupee to strengthen against the dollar.
Reserves will provide a level of confidence to markets that a country can meet its external obligations, demonstrate the backing of domestic currency by external assets, assist the government in meeting its foreign exchange needs and external debt obligations and maintain a reserve for national disasters or emergencies.

Where are India’s forex reserves kept?

The RBI Act, 1934 provides the overarching legal framework for the deployment of reserves in different foreign currency assets and gold within the broad parameters of currencies, instruments, issuers, and counterparties.
As much as 64 percent of the foreign currency reserves are held in securities like Treasury bills of foreign countries, mainly the US.
28 percent is deposited in foreign central banks.
7.4 percent is also deposited in commercial banks abroad.
India also held 653.01 tonnes of gold as of March 2020, with 360.71 tonnes being held overseas in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements, while the remaining gold is held domestically.

Source: Indian Express

4) Microplastics in Deep Oceans

Recently, researchers have observed that deep-sea hotspots of biodiversity are also likely to be microplastic hotspots.

Although microplastics are known to spread on the global seafloor, the processes that control their dispersal and concentration in the deep sea remain largely unknown.
The researchers have studied the spatial distribution and ultimate settling position of the microplastics and its effects on the biodiversity hotspots in the deep oceans.
There are above-ground biodiversity hotspots like the tropical rain forests, alpine tundra, etc. Likewise, there are landforms beneath the sea that provide rich marine diversity which include Coral reefs, Seamounts, etc.

Key Findings

Role of Thermohaline Circulations:

It has been observed that thermohaline-driven circulations can control the distribution of microplastics by creating hotspots of accumulation, analogous to the current’s role in depositing seafloor sediments.

The ocean currents are usually driven by the winds in the upper 100 meters of the ocean’s surface. However, ocean currents also flow thousands of meters below the surface.
The ocean currents may be classified based on their depth as

Surface Currents: The surface currents constitute about 10 % of all the water in the ocean, these waters are the upper 400 m of the ocean.
Deep Ocean Currents: These currents make up the other 90 % of the ocean water. These currents are driven by differences in the water’s density, which is controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). This process is known as thermohaline circulation.

In the Earth's polar regions ocean water gets very cold, forming sea ice. As a consequence, the surrounding seawater gets saltier, because when sea ice forms, the salt is left behind.
As the seawater gets saltier, its density increases, and it starts to sink. Surface water is pulled in to replace the sinking water, which in turn eventually becomes cold and salty enough to sink. This initiates the deep-ocean currents driving the global conveyor belt.

The vulnerability of Benthos:

Further, these thermohaline currents supply oxygen and nutrients to deep-sea benthos, so deepsea biodiversity hotspots are also likely to be microplastic hotspots.

Benthos is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the seabed, river, lake, or stream bottom, also known as the benthic zone.

Way Forward

There is a need to prioritize the reduction of single-use plastic such as multi-layer packaging, bread bags, food wrap, and protective packaging which are major and dangerous sources for plastic pollution.
The economical support including tax rebates, research and development funds, technology incubation, public-private partnerships, and support to projects that recycle single-use items and turn waste into a resource can be enforced.
Also, the expansion of the use of biodegradable plastics or even edible plastics made from various materials such as bagasse (the residue after extracting juice from sugarcane), corn starch, and grain flour should be encouraged.

Microplastics

Microplastics are small plastic pieces of less than five millimeters in size.
It includes microbeads (solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension) that are used in cosmetics and personal care products, industrial scrubbers that are used for aggressive blast cleaning, microfibers used in textiles and virgin resin pellets used in plastic manufacturing processes.
Apart from cosmetics and personal care products, most of the microplastics result from the breakdown of larger pieces of plastic that were not recycled and broke up due to exposure to the sun or physical wear.
Microplastics damage aquatic creatures including turtles and birds. It blocks digestive tracts and alters feeding behavior. Subsequently, it reduces the growth and reproductive output in marine animals.

Deep-Sea

The deep-sea or deep layer is the lowest layer in the ocean, existing below the thermocline and above the seabed, at a depth of 1000 fathoms or more.
Fathom is a unit of length equal to six feet (1.8 meters).
A thermocline is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid in which temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below.
In the ocean, the thermocline divides the upper mixed layer from the calm deep water below.

5) Gross Value Added

According to the provisional data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the Gross Value Added (GVA) estimates for the first three quarters of the financial year 2019-20, revealed significant revisions from what the NSO had shared back in February 2020.

Key Points

In February, the NSO had pegged year-on-year GVA growth rates in the first three quarters at 5.4%, 4.8%, and 4.5%, respectively.
However, the latest estimates saw significant downward revisions in the GVA data pertaining to the first three quarters to 4.8%, 4.3%, and 3.5% respectively.
The revisions combined with dull performance in the fourth quarter ultimately lowered the overall annual GVA growth estimate for 2019-20 by as much as 1% point to 3.9%, from the 4.9% forecast in February.
The significant revisions in GVA data point to a deeper weakness in the service sectors.

The growth estimates for the largest services sector, Financial, Real Estate, and Professional Services, have been reduced sharply.

Q1, Q2, and Q3 growth have been cut from 6.9%, 7.1%, and 7.3%, respectively to 6%, 6%, and 3.3%, respectively.
Financial, Real Estate, and Professional Services contribute almost one-fourth of the overall GVA.

Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communications, and services related to Broadcasting also saw a significant reduction in estimates.

Q1, Q2, and Q3 growth have been cut from 5.7%, 5.8%, and 5.9%, respectively to 3.5%, 4.1%, and 4.3%, respectively.
These services contribute almost 20% to GVA and are the second-largest component of GVA.

However, the revisions show two other key sectors, Agriculture and Public Administration in a positive light.

The Public Administration sector’s Q1, Q2, and Q3 growth have been revised from 8.7%, 10.1%, and 9.7%, respectively, to 7.7%, 10.9%, and 10.9%.

Gross Value Added

In 2015, India opted to make major changes to its compilation of national accounts and decided to bring the whole process into conformity with the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA) of 2008.

The SNA is the internationally agreed standard set of recommendations on how to compile measures of economic activity.
It describes a coherent, consistent, and integrated set of macroeconomic accounts in the context of a set of internationally agreed concepts, definitions, classifications, and accounting rules.

As per the SNA, GVA is defined as the value of output minus the value of intermediate consumption and is a measure of the contribution to growth made by an individual producer, industry, or sector.

It provides the rupee value for the number of goods and services produced in an economy after deducting the cost of inputs and raw materials that have gone into the production of those goods and services.

It can be described as the main entry on the income side of the nation’s accounting balance sheet, and from economics, perspective it represents the supply side.
At the macro level, from a national accounting perspective, GVA is the sum of a country’s GDP and net of subsidies and taxes in the economy.

Gross Value Added = GDP + subsidies on products - taxes on products

Earlier, India had been measuring GVA at ‘factor cost’ till the new methodology was adopted in which GVA at ‘basic prices’ became the primary measure of economic output.

GVA at basic prices will include production taxes and exclude production subsidies.
GVA at factor cost included no taxes and excluded no subsidies.

The base year has also been shifted to 2011-12 from the earlier 2004-05.
The NSO provides both quarterly and annual estimates of output of GVA. It provides sectoral classification data on eight broad categories that include both goods produced and services provided in the economy. These are:

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing.
Mining and Quarrying.
Manufacturing.
Electricity, Gas, Water Supply, and other Utility Services.
Construction.
Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication, and Services related to Broadcasting.
Financial, Real Estate, and Professional Services.
Public Administration, Defence, and other Services.

Importance of GVA

While GVA gives a picture of the state of economic activity from the producers’ side or supply side, the GDP gives the picture from the consumers’ side or demand perspective.

Both measures need not match because of the difference in the treatment of net taxes.
GDP is the sum of private consumption, gross investment in the economy, government investment, government spending, and net foreign trade (the difference between exports and imports).
GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government investment + government spending + (exports-imports)

GVA is considered a better gauge of the economy. GDP fails to gauge the real economic scenario because a sharp increase in the output can be due to higher tax collections which could be on account of better compliance or coverage, rather than the real output situation.
A sector-wise breakdown provided by the GVA measure helps policymakers decide which sectors need incentives or stimulus and accordingly formulate sector-specific policies.

But GDP is a key measure when it comes to making cross-country analyses and comparing the incomes of different economies.

From global data standards and uniformity perspective, GVA is an integral and necessary parameter in measuring a nation’s economic performance.

Any country which seeks to attract capital and investment from overseas does need to conform to the global best practices in national income accounting.

Issues with GVA

The accuracy of GVA is heavily dependent on the sourcing of data and the accuracy of the various data sources.
GVA is as susceptible to vulnerabilities from the use of inappropriate or flawed methodologies as any other measure.

Source: The Hindu

6) BEML’s internal data, staff email IDs hacked, leaked on the dark web

In what is prima facie suspected to be an act of cyber terrorism from Pakistan, the official email ids of seven employees of an Indian Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) working in the defense industry were found to be hacked, and internal data dumped on the darknet.

Cyber terrorism:

When a threat of extortion or any kind of harm is being subjected towards a person, organization, group, or state, it is known as the crime of Cyber Terrorism.
Generally, it includes well-planned attack strategies on the Government and corporate computer systems.

Details:

The company targeted, BEML, previously known as Bharat Earth Movers Limited, is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
BEML has several crucial business verticals such as defense products, high mobility vehicles, Indian railway products, and Metro rail cars.
The leak was discovered by Cyble Inc, a global cyber intelligence agency.
Cyble said that the actor had targeted the part of the BEML website detailing about their Indigenisation Levels, which seem to be a warning for the government of India that they would face in the near future for their actions.
The leaked data includes several email conversations, records, internal memos, and invoices.

Way forward:

According to the officials, the information contained in the files was non-classified and has no adverse impact on the company.
Vulnerabilities are being further analyzed and immediate action is being undertaken with regards to security posture and further steps are being planned to strengthen people's level security awareness.
Steps are being taken on recommendations on the basis of internal review. A Cyber Security Audit is also being undertaken.

Source: The Hindu

7) Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme:

While public sector banks (PSBs) have started sanctioning loans under the credit guarantee scheme for micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs), the government now wants to know if private lenders are also participating in the scheme.

Details:

The decision to review the performance of private-sector lenders in the credit guarantee scheme comes amid tightening of credit norms by these banks in view of the disruptions caused by the pandemic, denting borrowers’ ability to service loans.
This is because the private sector banks have significant exposure to MSME credit.
The total loan outstanding to the MSMEs is at ₹17.75 lakh crore.
Of this, India’s largest private lender, the HDFC Bank’s share is about 13%.
The balance is shared between other private lenders, PSBs and NBFCs.
The State Bank of India — the country’s largest lender — has a share of about 23% in MSME loans.
The issue was discussed during a meeting convened to review the status of the emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS) and extended partial credit guarantee scheme, according to a communication by the Finance Ministry to the PSBs.

Way forward:

While the RBI had cut the repo rate by 115 bps since March 2020, banks’ response to the cut has not been proportionate.
For the ₹3-lakh crore credit guarantee scheme to be successful, the private sector banks should also play an important role.
The Finance Minister also indicated that banks need to drop their lending rates to revive economic activity.

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme:

In May 2020, the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, gave the approval to enable additional funding of up to Rs. three lakh crore to eligible MSMEs and interested MUDRA borrowers by way of “Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.”
Under the Scheme, 100% guarantee coverage is to be provided by National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited (NCGTC) for additional funding of up to Rs. three lakh crore to eligible MSMEs and interested MUDRA borrowers, in the form of a Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) facility.
The Scheme would be applicable to all loans sanctioned under the GECL Facility during the period from the date of announcement of the Scheme to 31.10.2020, or till an amount of Rs 3,00,000 crore is sanctioned under the GECL, whichever is earlier.
The Scheme aims at mitigating the economic distress being faced by MSMEs by providing them additional funding of up to Rs. 3 lakh crore in the form of a fully guaranteed emergency credit line.
The entire funding provided under GECL shall be provided with a 100% credit guarantee by NCGTC to MLIs under ECLGS.
The tenor of the loan under the scheme shall be four years with a moratorium period of one year on the principal amount.

The objective of the Scheme:

The main objective of the Scheme is to provide an incentive to Member Lending Institutions (MLIs), i.e., Banks, Financial Institutions (FIs) and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to increase access to, and enable the availability of additional funding facility to MSME borrowers, in view of the economic distress caused by the COVID-19 crisis, by providing them 100 percent guarantee for any losses suffered by them due to non-repayment of the GECL funding by borrowers.

Source: The Hindu

8) Environmental Performance Index

India secured 168th rank in the 12th edition of the Environment Performance Index (EPI) 2020.
India’s rank was 177th in 2018.

Environmental Performance Index

EPI is a biennial index prepared by Yale University and Columbia University in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
It offers a scorecard that highlights leaders and laggards in environmental performance and provides practical guidance for countries that aspire to move toward a sustainable future.
This index was first published in 2002 designed to supplement the environmental targets set forth in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Key Points

EPI 2020:

EPI Index of 2020 measured the environmental performance of 180 countries.
The index considered 32 indicators of environmental performance and included 10-year trends in environmental performance at the national and global levels.
Denmark topped the index with a score of 82.5.

India’ Performance:

India scored 27.6 out of 100 in the 2020 EPI index and its performance was worse than all South Asian countries, except Afghanistan.
India scored below the regional (South-Asia) average score on all five key parameters on environmental health, including air quality, sanitation, and drinking water, heavy metals, and waste management.

These findings resonated with the concerns raised by the ‘State of India’s Environment 2020 in Figures’, published by the Centre for Science and Environment.

It has also scored below the regional average on parameters related to biodiversity and ecosystem services too.
India was in the second position after Pakistan on ‘climate change’ among the South-Asia countries.

Pakistan’s score (50.6) was the highest under the climate change category.

A ten-year comparison progress report in the index showed that India slipped on climate-related parameters.

The report indicated that black carbon, carbon dioxide emissions, and greenhouse emissions per capita increased in ten years.

Environmental Conservation Programmes in India

Climate Change: National Action Plan on Climate Change
Desertification: National Action Programme to Combat Desertification
Pollution Control: National Clean Air Program
Environmental Impact Assessment: Environment Management Plan
Forest Protection: National Afforestation Programme
Animal Conservation: Project Elephant, Project Tiger

Way Forward

India needs to re-double national sustainability efforts on all fronts.
It needs to focus on a wide spectrum of sustainability issues, with a high-priority to critical issues such as air and water quality, biodiversity, and climate change.

Source: Down To Earth

9) Assam Gas Leak

Recently, a gas leak has occurred at Baghjan well in the Tinsukia district of Assam following a blowout.

The Baghjan well is a purely gas-producing well in Tinsukia district and is at an aerial distance of 900 meters from the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

It has been drilled by Oil India Limited (OIL) since 2006.

Natural gas is a mix of propane, methane, propylene, and other gases.

Key Points

Gas Leak:

The gas well at Baghjan was under maintenance, for which it was temporarily shut. The Blowout Preventer (BOP) was also removed.
However, the gas started to ooze out of the well during the maintenance. The reason behind the blowout (a sudden/uncontrolled release of gas/oil) is not clear.

Possible Reasons:

It may have occurred due to lack of attention, poor workmanship, bad maintenance, old age, sabotage to morpho-tectonic factors.
Sometimes, the disturbance of pressure balance in a well may also lead to sudden blowouts.

Steps Taken: The authorities have built a temporary water reservoir through pipelines from the Dangori river nearby the well to control the blowout.

To control a blowout, a huge quantity of water is required so that the gas does not catch fire.
The control of a blowout depends on two things: the size of the reservoir and the pressure at which the gas is flowing out. Many blowouts also automatically collapse on their own.

Challenges: The gas leak at the Baghjan is still not under control and it is continuously leaking.

The limited space and non-availability of open space above the wellhead pose a huge challenge in the placement of BOP.
The BOP placement involves a huge risk since Baghjan is a gas well and runs the risk of catching fire at any point.

Impact:

The gas is flowing with the wind in the radius of up to 5 km and condensate (the residue from gas) is falling on bamboo, tea gardens, banana trees, betel nut trees among others.
While the well is outside the Eco-Sensitive Zone of the park, there are reports that the condensate is falling into Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Maguri-Motapung wetland too.
The gas leak has also caused deaths of Gangetic dolphins and a variety of fish. The number of birds has also decreased because they have flown away.

Assessment of the Impact: To safeguard the environment, OIL has engaged a National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET) accredited consultant to carry out an Environment Impact Assessment study to assess the effects of a blowout on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and to work on a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment.

NABET is a constituent Board of Quality Council of India.
It offers accreditation to educational organizations, vocational training organizations, and skill certification bodies.

Dibru-Saikhowa National Park

Dibru-Saikhowa is a National Park as well as a Biosphere Reserve situated in the south bank of the river Brahmaputra in Assam.
It is one of the 19 biodiversity hotspots in the world.
The forest type of Dibru-Saikhowa comprises semi-evergreen forests, deciduous forests, littoral and swamp forests and patches of wet evergreen forests.
It is the largest swamp forest in north-eastern India.
It is an identified Important Bird Area (IBA) notified by the Bombay Natural History Society. It is most famous for the rare white-winged wood ducks as well as feral horses.

Maguri-Motapung Wetland

Maguri Motapung Beel is less than 10 km from Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and part of the Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere Reserve.
The wetland derives its name from “Magur”, the local word for the catfish ‘Clarius batrachus’.
It is an Important Bird Area notified by the Bombay Natural History Society.

Source: Indian Express

10) Dropping Water levels in Germany’s Rhine River

Recently, a part of the Rhine River flowing through Germany has been experiencing its lowest water levels in two decades.

The lowest water levels have prompted fears of shipping disruption on Europe’s most important inland waterway.
Rhine waters in Germany have dropped 40% since April 2020.

Key Points

Reduced Water Levels:

Germany has not received the spring showers and subsequently, the water level dropped to around 1 meter in the month of June which is the lowest for the time of year in at least two decades.

Usually, a mix of glacial run-off and rain feeds the river, but contributions from glaciers have been disturbed in recent years due to global warming.

Germany had experienced dropped water levels in 2018 which had disrupted industrial ships, severing downriver factories from North Sea ports.

Impacts:

The water drop levels in 2018 were severe enough to affect German economic growth.
Further, groundwater levels have reduced after record-breaking heat waves recorded in 2019 which have consequently dried out soil and wilted vegetation from consecutive years of drought.
Additionally, if the low water levels are sustained, refineries using the river’s water will have reduced output compared to 2018.

Rhine River

The Rhine River is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe after the Danube and originates in the Swiss Alps (in Switzerland).
The Rhine river is called by different names depending on the country it flows through. It is called Rhein in Germany; the Rhine in France and Rijn in the Netherlands.
The Rhine flows through six countries -Switzerland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France, and the Netherlands before flowing into the North Sea at Rotterdam.

Source: Indian Express

11) Aditya: India's First Solar Ferry

Recently, India’s first solar-powered ferry, Aditya has been shortlisted for the Gustave Trouvé Award as the only entrant from Asia.

Aditya is among 12 such ferries that have been shortlisted for the award across the world.

Gustave Trouvé Awards

Gussie's Electric Boat Awards were instituted in memory of Gustave Trouvé, a French electrical engineer and pioneer in electric cars and boats.
Trouvé was a prolific inventor with over 75 patents. He had also developed a 5-m-long prototype electric boat in 1881.

Key Points

Description:

Aditya is operating between Vaikkom and Thavanakkadavu in Kerala. It was launched in November 2016 and started its services in 2017.
It is India's first solar-powered ferry and the largest solar-powered boat.

It is operated by the Kerala State Water Transport Department (KSWTD) and built by Navalt Solar and Electric Boats, Kochi.

It is powered by a motor that can source energy from solar panels, batteries, and generators.

Solar vessels do not create air and noise pollution.

Significance:

Aditya has a very low per km energy cost and it operates 22 trips a day, covering a total of 66 km, carrying 75 passengers per trip.
It needs just Rs. 180 per day in energy cost, compared to about Rs. 8,000 for a diesel-run ferry of similar size, which is unusual for a high technology product to have such a low energy cost.
It has high financial viability with zero pollution vessels.

Source: The Hindu

12) Vamsadhara River Water Dispute

The Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will hold talks to clear out all differences with regard to the sharing of Vamsadhara river waters.

Andhra Pradesh wants to build the Neradi bridge across the river which will be possible only after Odisha’s consent.

Key Points

Andhra Pradesh also wants to complete the inter-linking of its Nagavali river with the Vamsadhara and expand the Madduvalasa Reservoir project soon.

Madduvalasa Project is a Medium Irrigation Project with a reservoir across the Suvarnamukhi river, a tributary of the Nagavali river.

Agriculture is the only assured economic activity for the people living in the backward region and in the absence of rapid industrialization, there is a need to concentrate on irrigation projects to make agriculture a viable activity.
Background:

In February 2006, Odisha sent a complaint to the Central Government under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956 regarding its water disputes with Andhra Pradesh pertaining to Inter-State River Vamsadhara. It demanded the constitution of an Inter-State Water Disputes Tribunal for adjudication.
Grievances of Orissa:

The adverse effect of undertaking the construction of a canal (called a flood flow canal at Katragada, Andhra Pradesh) taking off from the river Vamsadhara.

The flood flow canal would result in drying up the existing river bed and consequent shifting of the river affecting the groundwater table.

Failure of Andhra Pradesh to implement the terms of the inter-state agreement relating to use, distribution, and control of waters of Vasundhara and its valley.
Odisha also raised the issue of scientific assessment of available water in Vamsadhara at Katragada and Gotta Barrage, Andhra Pradesh, and the basis for sharing the available water.