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Cracks in buildings and ‘sinking’ land in Joshimath, a hill town in Uttarakhand, made the headlines earlier this year.
A similar phenomenon has been playing out for years in the plains of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Faridabad. The unlikely culprit is excessive groundwater extraction.
Agricultural practices in northwest India are heavily dependent on groundwater withdrawal. With limited monsoon rain, the groundwater table is precariously low, show data gathered for years by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB).
In Punjab, for instance, 76% of the groundwater blocks are ‘over exploited’. In Chandigarh it is 64% and about 50% in Delhi. This means that more groundwater than can be recharged is extracted.
Over time, when the underlying aquifers (deep water channels that are stores of percolated water) aren’t recharged, they run dry and the layers of soil and rock above them start to sink
From here we surmised that if oil and gas extraction cause subduction (sinking), then surely groundwater also ought to be playing some role. We found such instances in several parts of the world and that motivated some of my students to assess the situation in India, particularly the National Capital Territory.
The CGWB, a subsidiary body of the Jal Shakti Ministry, is tasked with assessing the state of India’s groundwater resources.
It has a system of groundwater observation-wells and monitors water levels four times a year. It, however, does not analyse the consequences of ‘over exploitation.’
The link between excessive groundwater extraction and land subsidence only started to become clear thanks to data from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites that could measure minute changes in gravity on different parts of the earth’s surface.
Unlike land movement from landslips or earthquakes, subsidence from groundwater extraction was gradual and barely visible annually. So, it is harder to correlate with structural damage.
However, a wealth of studies in recent years, all of them obtained from satellite-based analysis of ground movement, from institutions and researchers that specialise in satellite-data analysis have correlated building deformities with groundwater withdrawals.
Kapil Malik, a research scholar who worked with Mr. Jain and runs the Noida-based Radar System and Services, used data from the Sentinel-1 satellite (different from GRACE) to show that from 2011-2017, the National Capital Region (NCR) sunk, on an average, 15 mm per year. Urbanisation and unplanned growth were major factors, said Mr. Malik and this exacerbated groundwater withdrawal.
Studies on migration patterns of Milkweed butterflies have potential to contribute for conservation of species (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Millions of Milkweed butterflies undertake a migration between the Eastern and Western Ghats in southern India, seeking refuge from the harsh summer.
This spectacular ecological phenomenon had been recorded more than a century ago but received little research and conservation attention until recently.
However, a recent study by a team of researchers shed light on the migration patterns of Milkweed butterflies in southern India, which has the potential to contribute to the conservation of these butterflies and their migration in the face of ongoing changes in land use, habitat degradation, and climate warming.
The study was published in the recent issue of the Journal of Insect Conservation. After southwest monsoon, Milkweed butterflies migrate westward from the Eastern Ghats and plains to the Western Ghats, becoming active for more than two months upon their arrival.
Most of the Milkweed butterflies in the Western Ghats congregate in large numbers at specific sites during winter and dry seasons. When the summer rain cools southern India, the butterflies migrate eastwards into the Eastern Ghats and the plains.
The studies reveal that the wings of the majority of butterflies during their eastward journey are battered than that in the westward migration.
Also, the researchers found that the dominant species involved in the migration, Dark blue tiger and Double-branded crow, are not found breeding in the mid and high-altitude evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of the Western Ghats.
However, further studies are needed to confirm the finding, says Mr. Vinayan, who is also the president of the Ferns Nature Conservation Society.
The migration of Milkweed butterflies also plays a vital ecological role during the migration. As pollinators, their movements can impact entire ecosystems.
Their migration is threatened by habitat destruction and climate change. Studying their migration patterns and feeding habits can impart the interconnectedness of plant and animal life.
By unravelling the mysteries of their migration, we can help protect these beautiful creatures and the ecosystems they inhabit.
News
Gaganyaan: parachutes for re-entry capsule sent to ISRO facility in Bengaluru (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Indigenously developed parachutes for the safe return of the capsule that will carry astronauts under the proposed Gaganyaan programme are set to undergo fitment tests at an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facility in Bengaluru.
The Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), the Agra-based laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has developed the parachutes for India’s manned space flight programme, Gaganyaan, which envisages putting a crew of three astronauts in low-earth orbit.
The flight unit of the parachutes was flagged off from ADRDE to the ISRO Satellite Integration and Testing Establishment in Bengaluru.
The first test demonstration is likely to take place in July this year, with the first unmanned mission to be undertaken only after the success of two such demonstrations. The Test Vehicle Demonstration (TVD-1) flight will be a significant milestone toward realising the nation’s ambitious Gaganyaan programme.
The parachute configuration consists of 10 parachutes. During flight the sequence starts with deployment of two parachutes of “apex cover separation parachute”, which is protection cover for the crew module parachute compartment, followed by two more of “drogue parachute deployment” to stabilise and bring down the velocity.
Upon the drogue parachute release, three parachutes of the “pilot parachute” system will be used to extract three parachutes of the “main parachute” individually, to reduce the speed of the crew module to safe levels during its landing, the statement explained.
Stating that each parachute’s performance must be evaluated by complex testing methods, the ADRDE said that individual parachutes have undergone sub-system level testing.
In December 2022, Minister of State in Space and Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh informed Parliament that India’s maiden human space flight ‘H1’ mission is targeted to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2024.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the Minister said that in view of the paramount importance of crew safety, two test vehicle missions are planned before the ‘G1’ mission to demonstrate the performance of crew escape system and parachute-based deceleration system for different flight conditions.
The uncrewed ‘G1’ mission is targeted to be launched in the last quarter of 2023 followed by the second uncrewed ‘G2’ mission in the second quarter of 2024, before the final human space flight ‘H1’ mission in the fourth quarter of 2024.
World
Myanmar, Bangladesh brace for Cyclone Mocha (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
Thousands fled Myanmar’s west coast and officials in neighbouring Bangladesh raced to evacuate Rohingya refugees on Saturday as the most powerful cyclone in the region for over a decade churned across the Bay of Bengal.
Cyclone Mocha was packing winds of up to 220 km per hour, according to India’s meteorological office, equivalent to a category four hurricane.
It is expected to weaken before making landfall on Sunday morning between Cox’s Bazar, where nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in camps largely made up of flimsy shelters, and Sittwe on Myanmar’s western Rakhine coast.
Sittwe residents piled possessions and pets into cars, trucks and tuk-tuks and headed for higher ground, according to reporters.
We have our grandma in our family and we have to take care of her,” Khine Min said from a truck packed with his relatives on a road out of the state capital.
Shops and markets in the town of about 1,50,000 people were shuttered, with many locals sheltering in monasteries.
Myanmar’s junta authorities were supervising evacuations from villages along the Rakhine coast, state media reported Friday. Myanmar Airways International said all its flights to Rakhine state had been suspended.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, officials moved to evacuate Rohingya refugees from “risky areas” to community centres, while hundreds of people fled a top resort island.
Cyclone Mocha is the most powerful storm since Cyclone Sidr,” Azizur Rahman, the head of Bangladesh’s Meteorological Department.
That cyclone hit Bangladesh’s southern coast in November 2007, killing more than 3,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damage.
Bangladeshi authorities have banned the Rohingya from constructing permanent concrete homes, fearing it may incentivise them to settle permanently rather than return to Myanmar, which they fled five years ago.
Forecasters expect the cyclone to bring a deluge of rain, which can trigger landslides. Most of the camps are built on hillsides, and landslips are a regular phenomenon in the region.
Science
U.K. sees success in mitochondrial replacement therapy (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Eight years after the U.K. became the first country in the world to approve a reproductive technique known as mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), “less than five” children have been born using the procedure, as of April 2023.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the U.K. fertility regulator that approves the IVF-based procedure on a case-by-case basis, recently confirmed this in response to a freedom of information request.
The fertility regulator refused to share more information about the birth details of the children as that “could lead to the identification of a person to whom the HFEA owes a duty of confidentiality”.
The mitochondrial replacements in “less than five” children were carried out by the Newcastle Fertility Centre, U.K., the only clinic that has been approved by the regulator to conduct this therapy.
Mitochondria replacement involves transferring nuclear genetic material from a mother’s egg into a donor egg that has had its nuclear DNA removed so the embryo does not inherit the mitochondrial disease.
This would allow a woman carrying mitochondrial diseases to have healthy children. The resulting IVF embryo combines sperm and egg from the biological parents, while the mitochondria is from the donor’s egg.
As a result, the baby has DNA from each of its parents, along with 37 genes from the donor. This is the reason why this technique is also called three-parent IVF (in vitro fertilisation).
According to the HFEA, one in 6,500 babies in the U.K. is born with a mitochondrial disorder which can lead to serious problems such as heart and liver disease, and respiratory problems, which can even lead to the death of the infant.
Mitochondria is the powerhouse of a cell, and any mutation that damages the mitochondria tends to affect energy-hungry organs the most.
As of 2013, about 12,000 people in the U.K. live with such conditions, the reason why the therapy was approved by the HFEA.
A break in the Western Ghats (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Often called as a significant discontinuity in the Western Ghats, the Palghat Gap is about 40 km wide, with the steep Nilgiris and Anamalai hills, both rising above 2,000 msl, on either side.
The Palghat Gap has historically been important as a significant gateway into the State of Kerala. It is a corridor for both roads and railways that connects Coimbatore with Palakkad.
The Bharathappuzha river flows through it. In contrast to the tropical rainforests of the Western Ghats, the vegetation in the Palghat Gap is classified as dry evergreen forest.
It also marks a divide in the flora and fauna of the region. For example, several species of frogs are found only on one side of the Gap.
The Gap is a geological shear zone that runs from east to west. Shear zones are weak regions in the earth’s crust — this is the reason why tremors are sometimes felt in the region Coimbatore.
The origin of the Palghat Gap also stems from the drift of continental shelves after Australia and Africa broke off from the Gondwana landmass.
India and Madagascar remained as one landmass until large-scale volcanic activity split the two, the split occurring where the Palghat Gap is located — this is mirrored in the Ranotsara Gap on the eastern face of Madagascar.
It has been speculated that one reason for the biogeographic distinctions in species in north and south of the Gap could be due to an ancient river or an incursion of the sea in the distant past.
Elephant populations on the Nilgiris side differ in their mitochondrial DNA from elephants in the Anamalai and the Periyar sanctuaries.
One study from IISc Bangalore has analysed DNA sequence divergence data in populations of the White-bellied Shortwing, an endemic and threatened bird. Birds found around Ooty and Baba Budan are called the Nilgiri blue robin; the Anamalai group differs slightly in appearance, and is called the White-bellied blue robin.
The biodiversity of a region is expressed in two ways: species richness, which relates to how many species are found in an ecosystem, and phylogenetic diversity, where you add up the evolutionary age of all the species you find.
Both these traits are abundant in the Western Ghats south of the Palghat Gap, as reported in a recent study by groups from the CCMB at Hyderabad and other institutions ( Proceedings of the Royal Society B, April 2023).
There are over 450 species of trees here, including some such as Magnolia champaca (Champa; Tamil: Sambagan) that have been around for over 130 million years.
Warm weather due to proximity to the equator, and moist air brings plenty of rain to the southern Western Ghats. Therefore, this region has been an island refuge for all forms of life, even as cycles of ice ages and droughts have reduced biodiversity in surrounding areas.
The Western Ghats in north of the Palghat Gap receive more rain annually, but the south gets rain more evenly throughout the year.
Profiles
Clash of clans in Manipur (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 1, Indian Society)
Multiple factors led to the ethnic conflict that erupted in Manipur on May 3 that left more than 60 dead, 231 injured, and 1,700 houses, many belonging to tribes of the Kuki group, destroyed.
The most recent was a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’, spurred by the Manipur High Court’s March 27 order (issued on April 19) that revived a decade-old demand of a section of the Meitei people that they be granted the Scheduled Tribe status for protecting their “ancestral land, traditions, culture and language”.
New Delhi rushed thousands of Central forces to the State as violence spread. An uneasy calm has prevailed over the State ever since, but the equations between communities remain tense.
Manipur, one of the eight northeastern States, covers an area of 22,327 sq. km and has a rich cultural, literary and administrative history.
The State’s territory, according to British-era maps in the 1850s, once extended up to the Ningthee or Chindwin river beyond the Kabaw or Kubo Valley in Myanmar.
The present-day Manipur can be broadly divided into two valleys that account for a little more than 10% of the landmass and the hills covering the rest.
About 60% of Manipur’s population, largely the non-tribal Meitei, live in the 1,864.44 sq.km Imphal Valley, comprising five districts, almost at the centre of the State.
The remaining 40% inhabit the surrounding hills divided into 10 districts besides the 232 sq.km valley of Jiribam, also a district, adjoining southern Assam’s Cachar. Jiribam is the access point of one of the two major National Highways and a railway (partially completed) linking the State’s capital Imphal.
The other arterial highway is via Nagaland to the north. Extremism-related and ethnic conflicts have often disrupted vehicular movement on these highways largely through tribal areas, resulting in a fuel, food and medicine scarcity in the Imphal Valley and elsewhere in Manipur.
Meiteis, the largest community in Manipur, account for about 53% of the State’s total population of 2.85 million(2011 census).
Also known as Meetei or Manipuri, the community is spread across the other northeastern States, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
Their language, Meiteilon, is one of 22 recognised tongues that has been included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Their ancient script, Meitei Mayek, of the sixth-century vintage, is undergoing a process of revival after King Pamheiba made the Vaishnav form of Hinduism the official language of the Manipuri kingdom and Bengali the official script in the early 18th century.
Business
G7 finance chiefs warn of global uncertainty as U.S. debt crisis looms (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Finance leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations warned of heightening global economic uncertainty, as they wrapped up a three-day meet overshadowed by a U.S. debt ceiling stalemate and fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Their gathering came as worries over a U.S. default fuelled uncertainty over the global outlook, already clouded by stubbornly high inflation and U.S. bank failures.
The global economy has shown resilience against multiple shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and associated inflationary pressures.
We need to remain vigilant and stay agile and flexible in our macroeconomic policy amid heightened uncertainty about the global economic outlook.”
The communique made no mention of the U.S. debt ceiling stalemate, which hits markets at a time when borrowing costs are rising because of aggressive monetary tightening by U.S. and European central banks.
On the banking troubles, policymakers said they would tackle “data, supervisory, and regulatory gaps in the banking system.
They retained their April assessment that the global financial system was “resilient”, thanks to regulatory reforms made after the 2008 global financial crisis.
Warning that inflation remains “elevated,” the G7 central banks stressed their commitment to price stability and ensure inflation expectations remained well-anchored, the communique showed.