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Newspaper Terms Simplified for IAS Prelims

Part 5

1.       Sloth Bear

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has declared October 12 as 'World Sloth Bear Day'.

About Sloth Bear

·         They have long, shaggy dark brown or black fur and curved claws, which are the longest out of any of the bear species.

·         They have a keen sense of smell, as well as near-sight similar to that of humans.

·         Sloth bears live in a variety of dry and moist forests and in some tall grasslands, where boulders, scattered shrubs and trees provide shelter. Their range includes India, Sri Lanka and southern Nepal.

·          Sloth bears are myrmecophagous, meaning, they eat bugs and termites. Sloth bears climb trees and knock down honeycombs, later collecting the honey from the forest floor. 

·         In India, sloth bears breed in late spring to early summer. In Sri Lanka, however, there is no seasonality to sloth bear breeding. 

·         Sloth bears are considered solitary, although they are occasionally seen in groups when resources are plentiful.

·         Sloth bears do not actually hibernate.

·         The sloth bear is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List.

World Sloth Bear Day will provide an opportunity for this species to be highlighted and for organisations, institutions, rescue centres and zoos across the world to promote the conservation of sloth bears and their habitats, accelerate research and raise public awareness about this lesser-known species around the world. Sloth bears are often confused for the slow-moving arboreal South American sloths.

Today, 90% of the global sloth bear population is found in India. According to several reports, their population has dropped by 40 to 50% over the last three decades mainly due to habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, poaching and increasing human-bear conflict.

The Agra Bear Rescue Facility is the largest Sloth bear rescue facility in the world. Established in 2002 by Wildlife SOS in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department, it currently houses nearly 200 Sloth bears in large forested enclosures with ponds and shady trees. The facility undertakes advanced research, disease management and provides specialised veterinary as well as geriatric care for Sloth bears.

2.       Sugar Industry in India

Sugar industry is an important agro-based industry that impacts rural livelihood of about 50 million sugarcane farmers and around 5 lakh workers directly employed in sugar mills

Localization Factors

The following are the factors for the localization of sugar industry –

1)      Sugarcane is the main raw material for making sugar. Sugar mills can be set up only in the sugarcane producing areas. Sugarcane gets dry soon after harvesting. It can neither be stored nor kept for long period of time. Sugarcane should be taken immediately to the sugar mills after harvesting.

2)      Transportation cost of sugarcane is high. Generally, sugarcane is transported through bullock carts which can carry it upto 20-25 kilometers. Recently tractor trolleys and trucks have been used to carry sugarcane to the sugar mills.

3)      Beside these factors, capital, market, labour and power also play significant role in localization of this industry.

Distribution

Most of the sugar mills are concentrated in six states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

·         Uttar Pradesh – It holds a significant position in the production of sugar. The sugar mills are highly concentrated in the western Uttar Pradesh in the districts of Meerut, Muzaffar Nagar, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad and Bulandshahar. In the eastern Uttar Pradesh Deoria, Basti, Gonda and Gorakhpur are important centers.

·         Maharashtra – Maharashtra is the most important state in the peninsular India producing about one fourth of the total sugar production in India. Major centers of sugar production are Nasik, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Sholapur.

·         Andhra Pradesh – East and West Godawari, Visakha-pattnam, Nizamabad, Medak and Chittoor districts are the centres of sugar mills in this state.

·         Tamil Nadu – In Tamil Nadu North and South Arcot, Madurai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli are the important districts for sugar production.

·         Karnataka – It is also an important sugar producing state. Belgaum, Mandya, Bijapur, Bellary, Shimonga and Chitradurga are sugar producing districts.

Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan are other states where sugar mills are located.

Reasons for growth of industry

·         The success story of sugar industry is the outcome of synchronous and collaborative efforts of Central and State Governments, farmers, sugar mills, ethanol distilleries with very supportive overall ecosystem for business in the country. 

·         Government has been encouraging sugar mills to divert sugar to ethanol and also to export surplus sugar so that sugar mills may make payment of cane dues to farmers in time and also mills may have better financial conditions to continue their operations.

·         Growth of ethanol as biofuel sector in last 5 years has amply supported the sugar sector as use of sugar to ethanol has led to better financial positions of sugar mills due to faster payments, reduced working capital requirements and less blockage of funds due to less surplus sugar with mills. 

3.       Green Energy Corridor

The Union Cabinet has recently approved for investing Rs 12,031 crore for laying transmission lines to evacuate electricity generated from renewable power projects in seven states -- Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

The scheme's total estimated cost is Rs 12,031.33 crore, including Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of 33 per cent of the project cost (about Rs 3970.34 crore).

Objectives:

·         The scheme will help in achieving the target of 450 GW installed RE capacity by 2030.

·         It aims at synchronizing the electricity produced from renewable resources, such as wind and solar, with the conventional power stations in the grid.

Benefits:

·         It will also contribute to the long-term energy security of the country and promote ecologically sustainable growth by reducing the carbon footprint.

·         The project will generate large direct and indirect employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled personnel in power and other related sectors, it said.

This scheme is in addition to GEC Phase-I which is already under implementation in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu for grid integration and power evacuation of about 24 GW of RE.

4.       Green hydrogen microgrid project

National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd has awarded the country’s first green hydrogen microgrid project at its Simhadri (near Visakhapatnam) plant in Andhra Pradesh.

About the Project

The hydrogen would be produced using the advanced 240 kW Solid Oxide Electrolyser by taking input power from the nearby Floating Solar project. The hydrogen produced during the day will then be stored at high pressure and would be electrified using a 50 kW Solid Oxide Fuel Cell.

What is Green Hydrogen?

Green hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced using renewable energy through electrolysis. This method uses an electrical current to separate hydrogen from oxygen in water. If the electricity needed for electrolysis is generated from renewable sources such as solar or wind, the production of hydrogen in this way emits no greenhouse gasses.

How can Hydrogen fuel help?

·         Hydrogen being the most abundant element in the universe, is found in complex molecules such as water or hydrocarbons on earth. Hydrogen is an energy carrier, which means it has to be produced, or extracted, and stored before it can be used.

·         Combusting one kilo of hydrogen releases three times more energy than a kilo of gasoline and produces only water. Then, there are hydrogen fuel cells, which is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, whose waste product, again, is water. Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as hydrogen and oxygen are supplied.

5.       Amar Jawan Jyoti

The government has put out the eternal flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti underneath India Gate and merged it with the one instituted at the National War Memorial in 2019

About Amar Jawan Jyoti

The eternal flame at the Amar Jawan Jyoti underneath India Gate in central Delhi was an iconic symbol of the nation’s tributes to the soldiers who have died for the country in various wars and conflicts since Independence.

When and Why established?

Established in 1972, it was to mark India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 War, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated it on Republic Day 1972, after India defeated Pakistan in December 1971.

The India Gate, All India War Memorial, as it was known earlier, was built by the British in 1931. It was erected as a memorial to around 90,000 Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army, who had died in several wars and campaigns till then. 

Structure

The key elements of the Amar Jawan Jyoti included a black marble plinth, a cenotaph, which acted as a tomb of the unknown soldier. The plinth had an inverted L1A1 self-loading rifle with a bayonet, on top of which was a soldier’s war helmet. The installation had four urns on it, with four burners. On normal days one of the four burners were kept alive, but on important days like the Republic Day, all four burners were lit. These burners were what is called the eternal flame, and it was never allowed to be extinguished.

About National War Memorial

It was built to commemorate all the soldiers who have laid down their lives in the various battles, wars, operations and conflicts of Independent India. There are many independent memorials for such soldiers, but no memorial existed commemorating them all at the national level.