Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 27th& 28th April 2022

 NEWS

A megalithic burial cluster close to a site of human habitation belonging to the Iron Age has been discovered near Kollegal in Chamarajanagar district

AT THE SITE

• Megaliths in India are generally dated from 1,500 BC or earlier to 5th century BC and are some of the earliest records of prehistoric society
• Discovered at Budipadaga in Hanur taluk abutting the BRT Tiger Reserve and M.M. Hills Wildlife Sanctuary this is one of the rare findings or examples of both human habitation and burial clusters in close proximity.
• As many as 40 burial sites were reported by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the 1960s
• When the team set out to survey the area it could locate some of the sites reported by the ASI and in the process it stumbled upon evidence of human habitation in Budipadaga. The team recovered broken fragments of pottery apart from animal bones and was led to the site of the burial cluster by the local villagers.
• The burials are in the form of cairn circles or stone circle with boulders. The largest megalith is 9 metres in diameter while another is 6 metres and the smallest is 4.5 metres in diameter
• The discovery of habitation site and burial cluster at the same place is interesting as it indicates continuity of a culture that existed since prehistoric times in the region
• It also raises questions as to how people lived in this landscape and whether the area was part of an ancient route connecting to other regions, according to the team excavating the site
• The current excavation is expected to find evidence to correlate the data from burial site with the habitation

WHAT ARE MEGALITHS?

• Earliest surviving man-made monuments
• Latin - mega (large) and lith (stone)
• Constructed either as burial sites or commemorative (non-sepulchral) memorials
• The urn or the sarcophagus containing the mortal remains was usually made of terracotta
• Non-sepulchral megaliths include memorial sites such as menhirs. (The line separating the two is a bit blurry, since remains have been discovered underneath otherwise non-sepulchral sites, and vice versa.)
• In India, archaeologists trace the majority of the megaliths to the Iron Age (1500 BC to 500 BC), though some sites precede the Iron Age, extending up to 2000 BC
• Spread across the Indian subcontinent, though the bulk of them are found in peninsular India, concentrated in the states of Maharashtra (mainly in Vidarbha), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
• A living megalithic culture endures among some tribes such as the Gonds of central India and the Khasis of Meghalaya.

Literary sources

• Megalithic culture finds several references in ancient Tamil Sangam literature. For instance, menhirs are referred to as nadukal.
• Ancient Sangam texts lay out, in detail, a step-by-step procedure for laying a memorial stone or nadukal in honour of a fallen hero.
• Manimekalai (5th century AD), the famous Sangam epic, refers to the various kinds of burials namely cremation (cuṭuvōr), post excarnation burial (iṭuvōr), burying the deceased in a pit (toṭukuḻip paṭuvōr), rock chamber or cist burial (tāḻvāyiṉ aṭaippōr), urn burial encapped with lid (tāḻiyiṟ kavippōr).
• Even in the Sangam age (when kingship and a well-ordained society had emerged) the above modes of burials survived

NEWS

Chief Minister of Karnataka recently said he signed a Cabinet decision to release 6.5 lakh acres of land from deemed forest tag and to submit an affidavit in this regard to the Supreme Court to end years of uncertainty of lakhs of farmers

DEEMED FOREST

• Deemed Forests - Land Tracts that appear to be a “forest”, but have not been notified so by the government or in historical records
• No law including the Forest Conservation Act 1980 does not properly define Deemed forest.
• In the T N Godavarman Thirumalpad case 1996, the Supreme Court (SC) accepted a wide definition of forests under the Act and held that the word ‘forest’ must be understood according to its dictionary meaning.
• The freedom to define which tracts of forest qualify as forest has been the prerogative of States since 1996

DEEMED FOREST IN KARNATAKA :

An expert committee constituted by the state government identified ‘deemed forests’ as:

• Land having the characteristic of forests irrespective of the ownership.
• Thickly wooded areas of the Revenue Department, not handed over to the Forest Department.
• Thickly wooded areas recommended to be handed over to the Forest Department.
• Thickly wooded land distributed to grantees but not cultivated.
• Thickly wooded plantations of the Forest Department.

Land Coverage: The expert committee reports in 1997 and 2002 identified 43.18 lakh hectares of forest land for conservation in Karnataka, which included 33.23 lakh hectares notified forest area as per forest records and 9.94 lakh hectares ‘deemed forests’.

NEWS

Government has urged insurance companies to conduct ‘Fasal Bima Pathshalas’

FASAL BIMA PATHSHALA

• All insurance Companies implementing Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) have to organise ‘PMFBY- Fasal Bima Pathshala’ at Block/GP/village with participation of at least 100 farmers under ‘Kisan Bhagidari Prathmikta Hamari Campaign’.
• At the Pathshalas-
  • Farmers will be informed on PMFBY basic scheme provisions, importance of insuring the crops and how to avail scheme benefits
  • Enlighten farmers as to how to intimate crop losses during calamities, how to track their applications and whom to approach for grievance redressal
  • How farmers can enroll under RWBCIS (Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme) and avail benefits
  • Contact details of district and block level functionaries and offices of implementing Insurance Companies, Toll-Free number, email, or any other mechanism developed by ICs like chatbot, separate App etc will be explained in elaborative manner.

PRADHAN MANTRI FASAL BIMA YOJANA

• Launched in February 2016
• Provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of natural calamities and was made voluntary since 2020
• Farmers have to pay a maximum 2% of premium amount for Kharif, 1.5% for Rabi food and oilseed crops and 5% for commercial/horticultural crops
• The balance of actuarial/bidded premium is shared by the Central and State Government on 50 : 50 basis and in case of North Eastern States on 90 : 10 basis from Kharif 2020.
• Been able to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable farmers, as around 85% of the farmers enrolled with the scheme are small and marginal farmers
• Farmers have to report crop loss within 72 hours of the occurrence of any event through Crop Insurance App , CSC Centre or to the nearest agriculture officer and claim benefit will be transferred electronically into the bank accounts of the eligible farmer.

NEWS

Maharashtra is experiencing fourth heatwave continuously in the second month

WHAT IS A HEATWAVE

• A region is considered to be under the grip of a heatwave if the maximum temperature reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius or more in the plains and at least 30 degrees Celsius or more in hilly regions
• When the maximum temperature departure ranges between 4.5 and 6 degrees, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) declares a heatwave
• A severe heatwave is declared when the recorded maximum temperature of a locality departure from normal is over 6.4 degrees Celsius
• Also, if an area records over 45 degrees and 47 degrees Celsius on any given day, then the IMD declares heatwave and severe heatwave conditions, respectively

WHAT IS HAPPPENING IN MAHARASHTRA

• The lack of pre-monsoon showers has also led to an increase in the overall maximum temperature
• Maharashtra recorded 63 per cent deficient rainfall from March 1 to April 26
• While maximum temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius are recorded mainly over Rajasthan and the Vidarbha region in May, the latter recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius starting in March, this season

NEWS

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the investment for 540 Megawatt (MW) Kwar Hydro Electric Project located on river Chenab of Union Territory of Jammy and Kashmir.

DETAILS OF THE PROJECT

• Implemented by Chenab Valley Power Projects Private Limited (CVPPL) - a joint venture company between National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC)
• The Power generated will help in balancing of Grid and will improve the power supply position

CHENAB RIVER

• Tributary of Indus
• Known as Chandrabhaga River in Pakistan
• Mouth - Baralacha Pass in Himachal Pradesh.
• Formed by the confluence of two streams, Chandra and Bhaga, in the western (Punjab) Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh.
• After receiving the Jhelum River near Trimmu, the Chenab empties into the Sutlej River

NEWS

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is hoping to have all three development flights planned for its ‘baby rocket’ — the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) — in 2022 itself

SMALL SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE (SSLV)

• Indigenously developed mini-rocket-launcher
• Specially designed to carry smaller commercial satellites into the low-earth orbit (LEO) from 200-2,000 km above the Earth’s surface
• Payload capacity of upto 500 kg
• Designed to bolster the agency’s partnership with the private sector for the launch of commercial satellites.
• Smallest vehicle at ISRO (110-ton mass)
• Takes only 72 hours to integrate
• Only six people will be required to do the job
• Best suited for launching multiple microsatellites at a time and supports multiple orbital drop-offs.

• Kerala has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Netherlands for a project that is named ‘Cosmos Malabaricus.’ The project deals with the 18th century Dutch documents on Malabar which are considered the most extensive source of information about the period in Kerala between 1643 and 1852.
• India and the United Kingdom have launched their Global Innovation Partnership (GIP) as both countries look to bolster their innovation ecosystem to benefit the start-ups. GIP is expected to provide a model for utilizing the Trilateral Development Corporation (TDC) Fund for projects with other countries like Germany, Japan, the European Union, France, etc that are willing to work with India on the field of development and innovation.