Daily Current Affairs 5th October -2021

Topics

Chola-era inscriptions
The Early Warning System-Landslide and Flood
Mahatma Gandhi- 152nd birthday
The Andhra Pradesh government: Polavaram Project
Shyamji Krishna Varma

1.Chola-era inscriptions

#GS1-Art and Culture

Context

The credentials necessary for members of the village administrative council (‘perumkurisabai’) in Tamil Nadu are documented in certain Chola-era inscriptions.

In depth information

Inscriptions from the Chola period discuss the qualities needed for members of the village governing council.
Thenneri inscriptions establishing requirements for candidates to village administration bodies called as “perumkurisabai” are less well-known.
It also elucidates the taxation of farm produce.
Inscriptions at Thenneri village, Kancheepuram district: These inscriptions are well-known for their discussion of ‘Kudavolai,’ a method for electing members to the yearly committee, garden committee, tank committee, and other committees for 30 wards.
Variyam is the name given to the yearly committee.
The inscriptions may be seen on the Kanthaleeswarar temple’s walls.

Inscriptions from the Chola Empire

The Chola rulers’ inscriptions have been discovered in several locations of the former Madras state. They provide proof of the Cholas’ assault on Kerala.
Inscriptions unearthed in temples at Cholapuram, Kanyakumari, DarsanamKoppu, Thirunanthikarai, and Sucheendra describe attacks on southern Kerala.

Chola Dynasty Facts

The Cholas are known as one of the longest-ruling dynasties in India’s southern regions.
Inscriptions left by Ashoka of the Maurya Empire in the 3rd century BC are the oldest evidence of their authority.
Rajendra Chola I, Rajadhiraja Chola, Virarajendra Chola, and Kulothunga Chola I transformed South Asia and South-East India into military, economic, and cultural powerhouses.

The Chola Dynasty has a long and illustrious history.

When the Cholas overcame the Pallavas to gain control in the 9th century, they began their rule. Until the 13th century, this rule lasted for more than five centuries.
The Sangam literature emerged during the Chola rule’s early periods. Kantaman was a powerful king during this time period.
For the Cholas, the mediaeval period was a time of absolute dominance and growth. This is when Aditya I and Parantaka I reigned.

Administration and Governance:

The Cholas governed under a Monarchy that lasted for generations. The king would continue to be the dominant power, making key decisions and overseeing governance.
The Chola Empire included the present-day Tamil Nadu districts of Tiruchirapalli, Tiruvarur, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Pudukkottai, Vridhachalam, Pichvaram, and Thanjavur.
The vast kingdom was split into mandalams, which were provinces.
Each mandalam was governed by a different governor. These were further subdivided into nadus, which were made up of tehsils. During the Chola era, the structure of government was such that each village operated as a self-governing entity.
The Cholas were passionate supporters of art, poetry, literature, and theatre, and the administration was seen building temples and complexes adorned with sculptures and paintings.

Culture and Origins:

During this time period, the temple served as the focal point for all social and religious gatherings.
The area around this location became a school for the people, where pupils were taught the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Vedas.
At the period, society was split into two groups: Brahmins and Non-Brahmins.
Shiva, a famous source of power for the devoted, was one of the gods and goddesses adored.
During this time, art, religion, and literature benefitted immensely.
Several Shiva temples have been erected along the Kaveri river’s banks.
Thanjavur is remains the largest and tallest of all the temples built in India at the period. Even now, the Tanjore Brihadeeswara temple is decorated with natural colour paintings that are a visual feast.
UNESCO has designated many of these sites as World Heritage Sites. The Brihadeshavara, Gangaikondacholisvaram, and Airavatesvara temples are among them

2. The Early Warning System-Landslide and Flood

# GS1 & GS2- Disaster management

Context

The National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has formed a ‘Environmental Seismology’ group to build a ‘Landslide and Flood Early Warning System’ for the Himalayan area.
This method was developed by scientists at the NGRI in conjunction with German scientists at the GFZ in Potsdam.

The Early Warning System is comprised of the following components:

It will be based on real-time seismological network monitoring, as well as satellite data, numerical modelling, and geomorphic analysis.
The broadband seismic network’s main strength is that it allows for comprehensive spatiotemporal tracking of the whole disaster sequence utilisingpolarisation and back-trapping.
By providing information that allows people and communities to protect their lives and property, early warning systems assist to decrease economic losses and the number of injuries or deaths caused by disasters.

Landslides and floods are caused by climate change.

In India’s northern Himalayan area, landslides are widespread, especially during the current monsoon season, when heavy rains cause soil and rock to collapse.
Climate change is exacerbating the problem by making the monsoon more unpredictable and melting glaciers higher in the mountains.
In addition, the region’s roads are frequently in disrepair.

Landslide:

It’s described as the downslope movement of a pile of rock, rubble, or soil.
an incline
They are a form of mass waste that refers to any downward movement.
Under the direct impact of gravity, soil and rock move.
The phrase landslide refers to five different types of slope movement: falls,topples, slides, spreads, and flows are all examples of topples.

Slope movement is caused by downhill forces (mostly owing to gravity).

The strength of the earth elements that make up the slope is greater than gravity.
Landslides are caused by three main factors: geology, morphology, and topography as well as human activities.

Landslide-prone locations include the whole Himalayan tract, hills/mountains in North-east India’s sub-Himalayan terrains, the Western Ghats, and the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu’s Konkan districts.

Steps taken:

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has initiated and is implementing a nationwide programme on landslide susceptibility mapping at a macro scale (1:50,000) with the goal of covering the country’s 0.42 million square kilometres of landslide-prone regions.

Floods:

Floods are the most common form of natural catastrophe, and they occur when a large amount of water overflows and submerges normally dry terrain.
In coastal locations, it is frequently triggered by heavy rainfall, fast snowmelt, or a storm surge from a tropical cyclone or tsunami.

Types: Floods may be classified into three categories:

Rapid and heavy rainfall causes flash floods, which raise water levels fast and cause rivers, streams, channels, and roadways to be overwhelmed.
These are short-duration, extremely confined occurrences with a very high peak, with fewer than six hours between the onset of the rainfall and the peak flood.
River floods occur when a river’s capacity is exceeded due to heavy rain or snowmelt.
Storm surges linked with tropical cyclones and tsunamis create coastal flooding.

Vulnerability:

Punjab, Haryana, much of the Gangetic plains, including Uttar Pradesh, North Bihar, and West Bengal, the Brahmaputra valley, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, and southern Gujarat are the most flood-prone areas in India.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu are currently experiencing the effects of the floods.

Next Steps

Because climate change is a major factor in increasing ice loss through glacier melt and flash floods produced by glacier retreat, significant measures are required to protect the Himalayan environment’s vulnerable ecology.
This has significant consequences for government planning of infrastructure development, such as dams, power plants, and other projects, which are critical to the country’s strategic and social interests.

3.Mahatma Gandhi- 152nd birthday

#GS1-Important Personalities

Context

Mahatma Gandhi celebrated his 152nd birthday on October 2, 2021.
Every year on the same day, India pays tribute to Lal Bahadur Shastri.

In depth information

Porbandar, India, 2nd October 1869 (Gujarat)
Brief Bio: He was a lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who rose to prominence as the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule.
Satyagraha: He successfully fought the racist regime in South Africa (1893-1915) with a novel method of mass agitation he called satyagraha.
The International Day of Nonviolence is commemorated on October 2nd, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.
The Gandhi Peace Prize is awarded for nonviolent and other Gandhian means of social, economic, and political reform.
On the 9th of January 1915, he returned to India from South Africa.
Every year on January 9th, PravasiBharatiya Divas (PBD) commemorates the contribution of the Overseas Indian community to India’s progress.
India’s Satyagraha Movements: Mahatma Gandhi believed that the nonviolent dharma could bring all Indians together.
He travelled to Champaran, Bihar, in 1916 to encourage peasants to fight the oppressive plantation system.
He organised a satyagraha in 1917 to defend the peasants of Gujarat’s Kheda area. Crop failure and a plague epidemic had rendered the peasants of Kheda unable to pay their taxes, and they demanded that revenue collection be reduced.
In 1918, he travelled to Ahmedabad to organise a cotton mill workers’ satyagraha movement.
In 1919, he decided to launch a nationwide satyagraha against the proposed Rowlatt Act (1919).
The Act gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities, and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22):

At the Congress’s Calcutta session in September 1920, he persuaded other leaders of the importance of launching a non-cooperation movement in favour of Khilafat and swaraj.
The Non-Cooperation programme was endorsed at the Congress session in Nagpur in December 1920.
After the Chauri-Chaura incident in February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to call off the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Gandhiji announced in 1930 that he would organise a march to overturn the salt ban.
He marched from Gandhi’s ashram at Sabarmati to the Gujarati coastal town of Dandi, where they disobeyed the law by harvesting natural salt from the shoreline and boiling sea water to make salt, in violation of official regulations.

The Civil Disobedience Movement began with this event.

Gandhi accepted a truce (the Gandhi-Irwin Pact) in 1931, calling off civil disobedience and agreeing to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London as the Indian National Congress’ only delegate.
Mahatma Gandhi resumed the Civil Disobedience Movement after his return from London. The movement lasted for almost a year, but by 1934, it had lost steam.

With the onset of World War II (1939-1945), the nationalist struggle in India entered its final critical phase.

The failure of Stafford Cripps’ mission to India in March 1942 with an unacceptable offer, British ambiguity on the transfer of power to Indian hands, and high British officials’ encouragement of conservative and communal forces promoting discord between Muslims and Hindus prompted Gandhi to demand in the summer of 194 that the British transfer power to Indian hands.

Social Work:

He campaigned for the upliftment of untouchables, renaming them ‘Harijan,’ which means “God’s children.”
R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi negotiated the Poona Pact in September 1932.
The spinning wheel, which he used as a symbol of self-reliance, became a popular symbol of the Indian Independence Movement.
He was instrumental in calming the populace and preventing Hindu-Muslim riots as tensions rose prior to and during the country’s partition.
He founded the Hindustani Prachar Sabha in 1942 at Wardha in Maharashtra. The aim of the organisation was to promote Hindustani, a link language between Hindi and Urdu.

4.The Andhra Pradesh government: Polavaram Project

#GS3- Environmental Pollution & Degradation Environmental Impact Assessment

Context

The Andhra Pradesh government has requested Rs 2,033 crore in reimbursement from the Centre for work undertaken on the Polavaram project, which is nearing completion.
Bills have been pending for six months, according to officials.
Before the Union Ministry of Finance (MoF) gets its approval for payment, the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) and the Central Water Commission (CWC) must approve the bills.

The rationale for the change

The Centre’s reimbursement is required to begin land acquisition, relief and rehabilitation (R&R), and other project-related activities such as irrigation canals.
After designating the Polavaram project as a “National Project” in April 2014, the Centre has so far reimbursed the Andhra Pradesh government for Rs 11,181.36 crore, including land acquisition and relief and rehabilitation (R&R) costs.

Polavaram Project Information

It is a multi-purpose irrigation national project on the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh that is currently under construction.
Through its Right canal, it will permit an inter-basin water transfer from the Godavari River to the Krishna River.
Its reservoir also extends into sections of the states of Chhattisgarh and Orissa.
The project is a large multipurpose terminal reservoir that will be used for irrigation, hydro power, and drinking water development.
The initiative began in 2008 and was given national status by the Andhra Pradesh Bifurcation Act in 2014.
The Andhra Pradesh government has extended the deadline to the Kharif season of 2022.

The project’s importance

Domestic and industrial water supplies to cities, towns, and villages along the route, as well as a steel plant and other companies in the area.
Hydroelectric power is being used.
Pisciculture, navigation for mineral and forest produce, and urbanisation, as well as tourism with new picnic areas, are all being developed.

Flood Control:

Floods in the Godavari are destroying standing crops and causing property and cattle losses of millions of rupees in the lowlands. The Polavaram Irrigation Project can assist moderate the river’s flow.

Navigation:

The Polavaram Project permits cheap and quick delivery of forest produce and food grains to marketing centres, as well as diverse ores and coal to industries, thanks to the development of the shoreline lake and the Left Canal intended for navigation.

Concerns Rehabilitation:

It has the potential to have a significant impact on the region’s social, cultural, and economic structure. Forcing individuals to migrate, especially those whose settlement areas and fields are still under water, has a bad psychological impact.
It could result in the submergence of a large portion of its territory, including tribal regions that are protected.

Destruction of Nature:

As a result of the destruction of nature, the water regime may shift, unexpected floods may occur, and plants and natural structures along riverbanks may be damaged.
Affects Fauna: Territorial animals’ normal passage routes may be hampered.

Next Steps

Environmental compliances must be met, as well as a thorough environmental impact assessment.
The money must be released on schedule in order for the project to be completed.
At the same time, the principles of cooperative federalism must be safeguarded by avoiding any inter-state conflicts.

5. Shyamji Krishna Varma

#GS1- Modern Indian History

Context

On Shyamji Krishna Varma’s Jayanti, India’s Prime Minister paid respect to him.
In 2003, the Prime Minister brought Shyamji Krishna Varma’s ashes back to India from Switzerland, and in 2015, he received his reinstatement certificate from the United Kingdom.

Shyamji Krishna Varma’s Biography

He was one of the most influential revolutionaries in the Indian independence struggle.
He was a lawyer and a journalist by profession, as well as a Sanskrit language expert.
Early Years: He was born on October 4, 1857, in the Gujarati city of Mandvi, in the Kutch district.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Herbert Spencer were his main inspirations on the path to revolution in 1883, when he became a member of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Contribution:

In 1877, he travelled India to spread the Vedic philosophy, earning the title of “Pandit” from the Kashi pundits.
The first issue of “The Indian Sociologist” was published in 1905, and the “Indian Home Rule Society” was created.
“India House” at 65 Cromwell Avenue, High gate, was officially opened as a residential space for Indian students in England.