It’s 200 years since brave Rani Channamma fought the British at Kittur

Introduction:

• The two battles of Kittur of 1824 were among the earliest armed battles against the British East India Company in south India after the Anglo-Mysuru wars fought by Tipu Sultan.
• They were led by Rani Channamma, queen of Kittur, who rallied against the British agent in 1824.

About Channamma:

• Kittur Channamma (1778-1829) was the Indian Queen of Kittur, a former princely state in present-day Karnataka.
• Hailing from a Panchamasali Lingayat family, Channamma was married to King Mallasarja Desai.
• After his death, she opposed the British and waged a war.
• She died in the Bailhongal prison in 1829.
• Writer and scholar, the late M.M. Kalaburgi called Channamma ‘the pole star of the Indian freedom struggle’.

Princely State of Kittur:

• It was one of the first cases where the company tried to take over the reigns of the kingdom by dismissing attempts by the king to adopt a male heir.

Doctrine of Lapse and Kittur:

• The Doctrine of Lapse was enforced by James Ramsay of Dalhousie in 1848.
• But the company’s court of directors had informally enforced a similar policy in 1834.
• Rani Channamma adopted Shivalingappa Savai Sarja after her husband Mallasarja Desai and his son Shivalinga Sarja Desai died. But the company rejected the adoption deed. The queen’s letter to Mount Stuart Elphinstone was sent back.
• Company officers Mount Stuart Elphinstone, Lieutenant-Governor of the Bombay presidency, and St. John Thackeray, the agent at Dharwad, refused to accept an adoption deed submitted by the queen in 1823, claiming that it was either fake or forged.
• Thackeray suspected that it was not signed by the King Shivalinga Sarja Desai, the former ruler of Kittur, and was fudged by the courtiers.
• The company did not honour an 1818 agreement granting functional autonomy to the princely state of Kittur.
• Thackeray laid siege to the town and locked the State’s treasury. He also stationed troops around the town. This angered Channamma who declared war.

PM E-DRIVE Scheme

Context:

• Electric cars excluded from PM E-DRIVE Scheme

About PM E-DRIVE Scheme:

• The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) for implementation of scheme titled ‘PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme’ for promotion of electric mobility in the country.
• The scheme has an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore over a period of two years.
• Objective: The primary objective of the PM E-DRIVE scheme is to expedite the adoption of EVs by providing upfront incentives for their purchase, as well as by facilitating the establishment of essential charging infrastructure for EVs.
• The PM E-DRIVE scheme aims to promote EVs to reduce the environmental impact of transportation and improve air quality.

Major components of the scheme:

• Subsidies/Demand incentives worth Rs.3,679 crore have been provided to incentivize e-2Ws (2Wheelers), e-3Ws, e-ambulances, e-trucks and other emerging EVs.
• The scheme will support 24.79 lakh e-2Ws, 3.16 lakh e-3Ws, and 14,028 e-buses.
• MHI is introducing e-vouchers for EV buyers to avail demand incentives under the scheme.
• The signed e-voucher will be essential for OEM (Original equipment manufacturer) to claim reimbursement of demand incentives under the scheme.
• The scheme allocates Rs.500 crore for the deployment of e-ambulances.
• A sum of Rs.4,391 crore has been provided for procurement of 14,028 e-buses by STUs (State Transport Undertakings)/public transport agencies.
• The demand aggregation will be done by CESL (Convergence Energy Services Limited) in the nine cities with more than 40 lakh population namely Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad.
• Intercity and Interstate e-buses will also be supported in consultation with states.
• The trucks are a major contributor to air pollution. The scheme will promote the deployment of e-trucks in the country.
• 500 crore has been allocated for incentivising e-trucks.
• Incentives will be given to those who have a scrapping certificate from MoRTH approved vehicles scrapping centres (RVSF).
• The scheme addresses range anxiety of EV buyers by promoting in a big way the installation of electric vehicle public charging stations (EVPCS).
• In view of the growing EV ecosystem in the country, the test agencies of MHI will be modernized to deal with the new and emerging technologies to promote green mobility.

Benefits of PM E-DRIVE Scheme:

• The scheme promotes an efficient, competitive and resilient EV manufacturing industry thereby promoting Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
• This will be achieved by incorporating phased manufacturing programme (PMP) which encourages domestic manufacturing and strengthening of EV supply chain.
• The scheme aligns with the government’s broader push for e-mobility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependency on fuel imports.
• It is set to play a crucial role in reaching the ambitious target of 30 per cent electric vehicle penetration by 2030.
• This initiative of Govt. of India is poised to address concerns regarding environmental pollution and fuel security as well as to make significant progress in promoting sustainable transportation solutions.
• This scheme along with its PMP shall spur investment in the EV sector and associated supply chain.
• The scheme shall create significant employment opportunities along the value chain.
• There will also be employment generation through manufacturing and establishment of charging infrastructure.

‘Mission Mausam’ to boost radar network, tweak clouds

Context:

• Mission Mausam Unveiled: A 2,000 Crore initiative to Enhance India’s Weather and Climate Forecasting by 2026
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), the nodal body executing the exercise, hopes to procure and install up to 60 weather radars, 15 wind profilers, and 15 radiosondes

About ‘Mission Mausam’:

• The Union Cabinet approved Mission Mausam, with a budget outlay of 2,000 crores over two years.
• It aims to make India ‘Weather Ready’ and ‘Climate Smart’.
• The mission seeks to exponentially enhance the country’s weather and climate observations, understanding, modelling and forecasting, leading to better, more useful, accurate and timely services.
• Mission Mausam has the goal of making Bharat a “Weather-ready and Climate-smart” nation, so as to mitigate the impact of climate change and extreme weather events and strengthen the resilience of the communities.
• Currently the Mission Mausam will be implemented during 2024-26.
• The mission aims to establish 50 Doppler Weather Radars (DWR), 60 Radio Sonde/Radio Wind (RS/RW) stations, 100 disdrometers, 10 Wind Profilers, 25 radiometers, 1 Urban testbed, 1 Process testbed, 1 Ocean Research station and 10 Marine Automatic Weather Stations with upper air observation.
• Mission Mausam will improve forecasts on both spatial and temporal scales and air quality data and help strategize weather management/intervention in the long run.
• MoES Statement: By March 2026, we are looking at installing a wider network of radars, wind profilers, and radiometers for better observations.
• We also look forward to better understanding the physical processes and the science of weather forecasting.
• There will be improved data assimilation with increased ingestion of the observations.
• We will also fuse physics-based numerical models and data-driven AI/ML to improve the forecasts.
• We would witness more innovations, R&D and advancements in atmospheric sciences
• Three institutes of the MoES: IMD, NCMRWF (National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, will primarily implement Mission Mausam.
• These institutions will be supported by other MoES institutions (Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services and National Institute of Ocean Technology) along with collaborating national and international institutes, academia and industries, furthering India’s leadership in weather and climate sciences and services.

The objectives of the proposed “Mission Mausam” include:

• Develop Cutting Edge Weather Surveillance Technologies & Systems
• Implement Higher resolution atmospheric observations with better temporal and spatial sampling/coverage
• Implement Next-generation radars, and satellites with advanced instrument payloads
• Implement High-Performance Computers (HPC).
• Improve understanding of weather and climate processes and prediction capabilities
• Develop improved earth system models, and data-driven methods (use of AI/ML)
• Develop Technologies for weather management
• Develop state-of-art dissemination system for last mile connectivity
• Capacity building

Port Blair to be renamed as ‘Sri Vijaya Puram’, says Amit Shah

News:

• The central government renamed Port Blair as “Sri Vijaya Puram.”
• Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in our freedom struggle and the A&N Islands’ unique role in the same.
• The decision is taken to free the nation from the colonial imprints.

Historical significance of Andaman and Nicobar Islands:

• The Islands have an unparalleled place in our freedom struggle and history.
• The island territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire is today poised to be the critical base for our strategic and development aspirations.
• It is also the place that hosted the first unfurling of our Tiranga by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and also the cellular jail in which Veer Savarkar and other freedom fighters struggled for an independent nation.

About Andaman and Nicobar Islands:

• Location: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located in the south-east of the Indian mainland geographically, float in splendid isolation in the Bay of Bengal.
• Once a hill range extending from Myanmar to Indonesia, these picturesque undulating islands, islets numbering around 836 (only some 31 are permanently inhabited), are covered with dense rain-fed, damp and evergreen forests and endless varieties of exotic flora and fauna.
• The Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands has separated the Andaman Sea to the east from the Indian Ocean.
• These two groups are separated by the 10° N parallel, the Andamans lying to the north of this latitude, and the Nicobars to the south.
• The capital of this territory is the Andamanese town of Port Blair.
• Tribes in the Andaman: The indigenous tribes are distinguished in two groups: the Onge, Sentinelese, Jarawa and Andamanese of Negroid descent living on the Andaman Islands and the Shompen and Nicobarese of Mongoloid descent living in the Nicobar Islands.
• Andaman Wood Pigeon – State Bird
• Dugong – State Animal
• Andaman Padauk – State Tree
• Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) who have been identified in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands are:
• Great Andamanese of Strait Island
• Onges of Little Andaman
• Jarawas of South and Middle Andaman
• Sentinelese of Sentinel Islands
• Shompens of Great Nicobar

World Ozone Day 2024 celebrated in New Delhi with the theme: “Montreal Protocol – Advancing Climate Actions”

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer (16 September):

• In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 16 September the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commemorating the date of the signing, in 1987, of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

News:

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change organised an event to mark the 30th World Ozone Day.
• The theme for World Ozone Day 2024 is “Montreal Protocol: Advancing Climate Actions” reflecting the Montreal Protocol’s crucial role in both protecting the ozone layer and driving broader climate action initiatives globally.
• World Ozone Day reminds us that the ozone layer is essential for life on Earth and highlights the need for ongoing climate action to protect it for future generations.

Montreal Protocol and India:

• Rising temperatures are leading to increased use of cooling systems like refrigerators and air conditioners, which in turn worsen the temperature rise, creating a vicious cycle.
• Effectively implementing the Montreal Protocol is crucial and deeply intertwined with our broader efforts to combat climate change.
• India has been leader in the Montreal Protocol implementation, especially the reduction targets of controlled substances achieved ahead of schedule under the Protocol, which has not only shielded the ozone layer but has also been making substantial contributions to global efforts to combat climate change.
• India, as a Party to the Montreal Protocol since June 1992, has been successfully implementing the Montreal Protocol and its ozone-depleting substances phase-out projects and activities in line with the phase-out schedule of the Protocol.
• India has phased out Chlorofluorocarbons, Carbon tetrachloride, Halons, Methyl Bromide and Methyl Chloroform for controlled uses as on 1 January 2010, in line with the Montreal Protocol phase-out schedule.
• Currently, Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are being phased out as per the accelerated schedule of the Montreal Protocol.

Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment):

• A campaign to promote and encourage a sustainable and environmentally conscious way of living through mindful individual choices and decisions in daily life towards environment-conscious lifestyle.