National Glacial Lake Outburst Floods Risk Mitigation Programme

Context:

• Government approves Rs 150 crore for glacial lake outburst flood risk mitigation programme for 4 states.
• NDMA to monitor 189 high-risk glacial lakes to prevent disasters.

National Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) Risk Mitigation Programme:

• Implementation: The programme is to be implemented by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Agencies involved: Various agencies, including the Central Water Commission, Geological Survey of India, North Eastern Space Application Centre, Indian Army, ITBP and an international agency are involved with the states in planning and implementing this programme.
• There is a separate programme envisaged on the same lines for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
• Aim: The programme aims at detailed technical hazard assessments, and installing automated weather and water level monitoring stations (AWWS) and early warning systems (EWS) at the lakes and in downstream areas.
• Objective: The primary objective of this programme is to attempt lake-lowering measures to reduce the risk of GLOF from such lakes.

Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF):

• Glacial lakes: They are common in the high elevation of glacierised basin, formed when glacial ice or moraines or natural depressions impound water.
• Varieties: There are varieties of such lakes, ranging from melt water ponds on the surface of glacier to large lakes inside valleys dammed by a glacier in the main valley.
• Mechanism: These lakes normally drain their water through seepage in front of the retreating glacier.
• The moraine creates topographic depression in which the melt water is generally accumulated leading to formation of glacial lake.
• When this lake is watertight, melt waters will accumulate in the basin until seepage or overflow limits the lake level.
• Such moraine-dammed lakes appear to be the most common type of glacial lakes.
• GLOF: The impoundment of the melt may sometimes be unstable, leading to sudden release of large quantities of stored water.
• Failure of these ice or moraine dams leading to disastrous destruction events has been documented throughout the world.
• Flash floods caused by the outburst of glacial lakes, called as Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), are well known in Himalaya where such lakes had often been formed by landslides.

Effect of GLOF:

• GLOFs have immense potential of flooding in downstream areas, causing disastrous consequences due to release of large volumes of water in very short interval of time.

Conclusion:

• Most often, the consequences arising out of such situations are highly unpredictable primarily due to lack of availability of sufficient data regarding rainfall intensity, location of landslide, impounded volume and area and physical conditions of lakes/ water bodies. Therefore, Glacial Lakes and Water Bodies in Himalayan Region need to be closely monitored.

A look at ongoing Indian space missions

Context:

• Prime Minister of India declared August 23 as India’s National Space Day.

Introduction:

• A lot has been happening in the Indian space sector since the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed the lander of its Chandrayaan 3 mission, Vikram, on the surface of the moon.
• Over the past year, ISRO has made significant strides with several key missions; the Aditya L1 spacecraft began studying solar radiation from the earth-Sun Lagrange point, while the Gaganyaan TV-D1 mission successfully demonstrated crew safety systems.

Highlights in the last year:

Aditya L1:

• India followed its lunar success with the successful launch of its solar science mission Aditya-L1, onboard ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
• The spacecraft executed a series of manoeuvres to move into an orbit around the first earth-Sun Lagrange point (L1). It completed its first orbit around L1 recently.
• It studied a solar storm in May 2024 together with observatories on the ground and spacecraft in lunar orbit.

Gaganyaan TV-D1:

• ISRO used a modified L-40 Vikas engine to build its Test Vehicle (TV) that it used to perform the first abort mission, as part of its ‘Gaganyaan’ human spaceflight mission.
• The mission demonstrated the ability of the Crew Escape System (CES) to separate from the TV, take the crew module to safety, and the crew module’s ability to decelerate before splashing down in the Bay of Bengal.
• The crew module at the test’s end was recovered by the Indian Navy vessel INS Shakthi.

XPoSat:

• ISRO celebrated the New Year with the launch of its X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) on January 1, 2024.
• The satellite will study how radiation from various celestial objects is polarised.
• It is the second such space-based observatory after NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IPEX), launched in 2021.
• The two instruments on board XPoSat, called XSPECT and POLIX.

INSAT-3DS:

• ISRO launched the meteorological satellite INSAT-3DS onboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
• This mission was important to prove the vehicle’s credibility before the critical NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, now expected to launch in early 2025.
• This version of the GSLV had previously successfully launched the NVS-01 satellite in 2023.

RLV-TD:

• ISRO used a downscale version of the Reusable Launch Vehicle, called Pushpak, to conduct two landing experiments, LEX-02 and LEX-03 at its Aeronautical Testing Range in Challakere, Karnataka.
• The tests simulated landing conditions from space by dropping the Pushpak vehicle from a Chinook helicopter, in LEX-02 along its landing path and in LEX-03 500 metres to one side.
• Successes in these tests gave ISRO the confidence to move on to the ‘Orbital Return Flight Experiment’.

SSLV:

• ISRO launched the third and final development flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), placing the EOS-08 and the SR-0 Demosat satellites in orbit.
• With two consecutively successful test flights, ISRO declared the SSLV’s development complete and green-lit its transfer to industry.
• EOS-08 carried three payloads:
• One for earth observation in the infrared range,
• One to demonstrate the use of reflections from a global satellite navigation system for earth observation, and
• One ultraviolet dosimeter and alarm to be tested ahead of their use in the Gaganyaan crew module.

ISRO roadmaps:

• After handing over operational responsibilities to New Space India, Ltd. (NSIL), ISRO has prioritised research.
• In 2023, ISRO announced a 25-year roadmap until 2047 for Gaganyaan.
• It intersects with the lunar exploration roadmap in the form of an Indian landing on the moon by 2040.
• Apart from a crewed lunar mission, lunar exploration roadmap includes a sample-return mission, a long-duration mission on the moon’s surface, docking with NASA’s Lunar Gateway (under the Artemis programme), and building moon habitats.

Gaganyaan:

• One of ISRO’s primary focus areas of late has been to train its astronaut-candidates, or Gaganyatris, for spaceflight.
• Prime Minister revealed the candidate’s names: Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla and Group Captains Prashanth Nair, Ajit Krishnan, and Angad Pratap.
• Their flight to International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled for 2025 (for training).
• ISRO has planned at least four more abort tests using its Test Vehicle before the historic crewed flight.
• The first uncrewed Gaganyaan flight is expected in late 2024.
• ISRO’s roadmap also includes plans to build an Indian space station called the ‘Bharatiya Antariksh Station’ (BAS) by 2035.

Next-generation Launch Vehicle:

• Since India is aspiring to both the BAS and a full-fledged lunar programme, it requires a new launch vehicle that can deliver heavier payloads per launch than its PSLV or GSLV rockets.
• This is set to be the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV).
• ISRO has planned for NGLV to be a three-stage launch vehicle powered by a semi-cryogenic engine, a liquid engine, and a cryogenic engine.
• ISRO doesn’t plan to continue the use of the GSLV once the NGLV is ready.
• The PSLV is already under production by a private consortium led by Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
• ISRO is developing a semi-cryogenic engine for the LVM-3 rocket (GSLV Mk III) to enhance its launch capability.
• Recently, it successfully tested the engine’s pre-burner ignition test article.

NSIL missions:

• ISRO is focusing on research because NSIL has been tasked with conducting missions and chaperoning commercial activities.
• Recently, ISRO transferred all commercial activities related to Indian Remote Sensing satellite data and products to NSIL.
• NSIL signed an agreement with SpaceX to launch the GSAT-20/GSAT-N2 satellite.
• LVM-3 currently can’t launch this 4,700-tonne machine. SpaceX is expected to launch it soon.
• Recently, NSIL released a request for qualification for the production of LVM-3 through a public-private partnership and signed a dedicated launch service agreement with an Australian private space company to launch the SSLV.

Private space missions:

• Agnikul Cosmos successfully launched its SoRTeD-01 vehicle from its launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.
• This was the first launch of a vehicle powered by a semi-cryogenic engine as its first stage from Indian soil.
• Skyroot Aerospace is progressing towards the launch of its Vikram 1 rocket.
• It had previously pressure-tested solid-fuel engines and launched a test vehicle called Vikram S from Sriharikota in 2022.
• Dhruva Space and Bellatrix Aerospace flew their experiments on the fourth and final stage of the PSLV-C58 mission.

IN-SPACe:

• In the last year, there have been several notable policy updates and licences issued by India’s new space regulator, IN-SPACe.
• Most importantly, it released the ‘Norms, Guidelines, and Procedures for Authorisation of Space Activities’.
• It also granted the country’s first satellite broadband licence to Eutelsat OneWeb, and the first licence for a ground station as a service to Dhruva Space.
• Finally, the Government of India amended its foreign direct investment (FDI) policy to allow 100% direct FDI in all space and spaceflight segments except for a 74% ceiling in satellite manufacturing and operations and 49% in launch infrastructure.
• New policies and licenses are boosting private sector participation and foreign investment in India’s space sector.

Lokayukta

Context:

• Lokayukta police questions D.K. Shivakumar in Disproportionate Assets case

Lokayukta:

• It is the Indian Parliamentary Ombudsman, executed into power, through and for, each of the State Governments of India.
• It is brought into effect in a state after passing the Lokayukta Act in the respective state legislature.
• Purpose: The post was created to quickly address the working of the government or its administration (public servants).
• ARC: The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) for Redressal of Citizen’s Grievances submitted its interim report to the Prime Minister in 1966, with recommendations to set up the Institution of Lokayukta in each of the States.
• Maharashtra was the first state to introduce the institution of Lokayukta through The Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act in 1971.
• The powers of Lokayukta in each state are different, and efforts are being made to make them uniform.

Appointment:

• The Lokayukta is appointed by the Governor of the State, through nomination by its Chief Minister (in consensus with Chief justice of the State High Court, Leaders of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Chairman of the Legislative Council).
• Removal: Once appointed, Lokayukta cannot be dismissed nor transferred by the government, and can only be removed by passing an impeachment motion by the state assembly.
• Eligibility: Any person who is a judge or a retired Chief Justice or a retired judge of the High Court is eligible to be appointed as Lokayukta.

Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013: 

• The Act makes it compulsory for each state to appoint Lokayukta, similar to Lokpal, at the central level for investigation into complaints of corruption against government officers in public offices.
• As per the Act, the institution should have both judicial and non-judicial members.
• Lokayukta investigates cases of corruption committed at the state level and, once proven, recommends action.
• To keep the powers of Lokayukta neutral and non-biased, provision for fixed tenure is made.

Constitutional Amendment for effectiveness:

• An amendment to the Constitution has been proposed to implement the Lokayukta uniformly across Indian states.
• The proposed changes will make the institution of Lokayukta uniform across the country as a three-member body, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or high court chief justice and comprising the state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator as other members.

Impact of the institution:

• The report of Retd. Justice Santosh Hegde, the then incumbent Lokayukta of Karnataka (2011), resulted in the unseating of the Chief Minister of Karnataka from his position.