India Water Week 2022 (GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- Recently, the President of India, inaugurated the 7th India Water Week at the India Expo Centre in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
- The 7th India Water Week will be celebrated from 1-5 November.
Stakeholders:
- The function is organised by the Ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation in an effort to raise awareness and conserve and use water resources in an integrated manner.
- The platform will be used to elicit ideas and opinions from global level decision makers, politicians, researchers, and entrepreneurs.
- The event will address the issues of sustainability of water resources development and management in line with the sustainable development goals.
Theme:
- The theme of the 7th India Water Week is ‘Water Security for Sustainable Development and Equity’.
Key Highlights of India Water Week 2022:
- 5 days long event to address issues of sustainable development of water resources.
- Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel & European Union are participating in 7th IWW.
- Plenary session held under chairmanship of Union Jal Shakti Minister.
- Deliberations held on water security, conservation & challenges due to climate change.
- Exhibition on state of the art water technologies and solutions also inaugurated.
Jan Aandolan:
- Ministry of Jal Shakti declared the vision of ensuring 100% water availability across the country by 2024 and urged the citizens to join the movement and make it a ‘Jan Aandolan’ for a water-secure India.
Way Forward:
- The deliberations emphasized the strategies for water development and its management in the evolutionary process, concern of water security, conducting serious reviews of water related security concerns after scientific analysis, implementation of action plan, so that water can be proved to be an agent for peace instead of water wars.
About IWW:
- India Water Week (IWW) is a regular forum organised by the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD & GR), the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India to promote awareness about the importance of available water.
Goa launched Purple Fest logo in Porvorim
(GS Paper 1, Culture)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Chief Minister of Goa launched logo of Purple Fest at a function held in Memorial Hall of Sanjay Centre for Education, Porvorim.
- The three-day event is to kick start in January, 2023.
What is Purple Fest?
- The Purple Fest - Celebrating Diversity, a first-of-its-kind inclusive festival that embraces, expresses and celebrates persons with disabilities.
- The state Government will try to work hard to make the important places as well as some beaches accessible to Divyangs during purple fest.
Way Forward:
Reinvigorating Indias Economic Engagements with Southern Africa
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Why in news?
- Recently, the India Exim Bank, released a report titled, ‘Reinvigorating India's Economic Engagements with Southern Africa’.
India's defence exports:
- Increased cooperation in areas of aerospace, defence, maritime equipment and vessels can ensure security and enhance technological capacity of Africa and at the same time accelerate India's defence export target of achieving USD 5 billion by 2025.
- Indian military vehicle manufacturers such as Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland are already part of the network.
- Going forward, indigenously developed new age technologies in the maritime segment, including unmanned underwater systems, unmanned aerial systems and drones could also be exported to Africa.
Indian Ocean Region:
- The report highlighted that India and African countries are important stakeholders in ensuring a safe and secure maritime environment in the Indian Ocean Region, especially among the nine Indian Ocean littoral countries (IOLC) in Africa.
- These are Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, and Tanzania.
- As a major shipping link for India, the Indian Ocean remains the common factor for these countries and is pivotal in terms of both security and commerce for India and Africa.
Maritime partnership:
- India and Africa share a robust maritime partnership, which is based on the cooperative framework of 'SAGAR' (Security and Growth for All in the Region).
- Ministry of Defence has been strengthening cooperation within the framework of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to undertake specific projects and has formalised frameworks of defence cooperation with South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Madagascar, it said, listing some figures.
- Within Africa, Mauritius accounted for 6.6 per cent of India's arms exports during 2017-2021, followed by Mozambique (five per cent) and Seychelles (2.3 per cent).
Cyber security:
- The cyber security is another potential area for cooperation.
- With exponential growth in mobile smart device ownership and increased use of social media, Africa's adoption of new technologies is expanding. India has advanced cyber security infrastructure, a dedicated National Cyber Security and a functional nodal agency, Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), could play a major role.
India’s approach:
- The suggested a shift from India's current approach to India's defence and security cooperation with Africa and other developing countries, which remains need-based and focuses on empowering through training, capacity building, and humanitarian assistance.
- Quoting the SIPRI International Arms Transfer Database, the report said India was the 23rd largest defence exporter during the period 2017 to 2021.
Invasive species over 800 hectares of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve buffer zone
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
Background:
- Introduced as an ornamental species and for use as firewood from South and Central America, the species has become highly invasive in the Sigur plateau in both the core and buffer zones of the MTR.
- Over the last few years, its bright yellow flowers have become more visible across the Tiger Reserve, with conservationists stating that the invasive weed has a negative effect on local biodiversity, crowding out native species and limiting food availability for wildlife.
How it will be contained?
- Senna spectabilis was spreading fastest in the Singara and Masinagudi forest ranges in the MTR buffer zone, as well as in Kargudi range in the core area of the reserve.
- The Forest Department is still demarcating areas where the species is spreading, but they were looking at ensuring that the removal of the trees begins before the problem becomes more difficult to manage.
- The policy-level discussions are under way on the Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (TNPL) plan to use wood from Senna spectabilis from the MTR for paper-making. The funds so raised would be used in eco-restoration to bring back native species.
Other invasive weeds:
- The Forest Department was also formulating a 10-year-plan to systematically remove Lantana camara, the other major weed that poses a threat to biodiversity in both the core and buffer zones of the Tiger Reserve.
- Senna spectabilis, along with Lantana camara, is among five major invasive weeds that had taken over vast swathes of the Nilgiris, with wattle being the other major invasive species.
- Eucalyptus and pine, though exotic, do not spread as quickly as the other species and are considered easier to manage.
What is an invasive species?
- An exotic species is the one that usually is not native and is introduced from its native land to a new land. These species cause negative effects on the environment of their new habitat and hence are called invasive.
- They are usually introduced for beneficial purposes but can lead to environmental, ecological, and economic damage. They pose a serious economic, social, and environmental threat.
