Veeranam Lake

• Veeranam Lake, Chennai’s primary supply of drinking water, evaporates.
• The absence of input from the Mettur dam, which is situated across the Kaveri River, caused its supply to be stopped.

About Veeranam Lake

• Veeranam Lake, also called Veeranarayanapuram Lake, is an essential source of water for Chennai.
• It is an artificial lake with a 16-kilometer dam. It measured roughly 20 km in length and 7 km in width in the tenth century.
• It is located in the Tamil Nadu district of Cuddalore, about 235 kilometers distant.
• With a storage capacity of about 1,465 million cubic feet (mcft), the lake is close to Kattumannarkoil and is essential to Chennai’s water supply.

Agroforestry

• Agroforestry adoption is still limited to farmers with medium-sized or larger land holdings.Agroforestry has not yet been adopted by small-scale farmers.Since smallholders own the majority of India’s agricultural land, they must be involved in the widespread adoption of agroforestry in the country.

Context:

• India has long used varied land-use agriculture that integrates cattle, trees, and crops. This method, known as agroforestry in general, is gradually gaining popularity following decades of the Green Revolution-inspired monocropping paradigm. It can improve farmer lives and the environment.

Agroforestry and small farmers

• The National Agroforestry Policy (2014) was established over ten years ago, which gave India’s attempts to promote agroforestry a boost.However, agroforestry adoption is still limited to farmers with medium-sized or larger land holdings.
• Smallholder farmers rarely produce trees due to their lengthy gestation period, lack of investment-based funds or incentives, and poor market connections, therefore this pattern is not surprising.

Challenges:

• When the Ministry of Agriculture created the National Agroforestry Policy in 2014, it acknowledged that access to water was a problem.
• However, the issue still exists and is particularly serious for smallholders, who either require more money or incur more debt in order to get water. Furthermore, water availability is crucial for sapling development but continues to be a worry if the trees compete with crops for water in areas with limited water supplies.
• Agroforestry’s capacity to improve the sustainability of livelihoods depends critically on selecting the appropriate species for the suitable environment and purpose.
• Fast-growing tree species that ward off herbivores, however, are attractive to farmers; nonetheless, these species are typically non-native and pose a risk to human health and the health of the soil.
• Government programs and policies, both new and old, that can help with the shift to agroforestry are standardized and do not take into consideration the size of the land holding or, crucially, the biophysical variations that vary by location.

Dubai floods and Cloud Seeding

After the floods, there was discussion on whether the UAE’s regular practice of cloud seeding might have contributed to the intense rainfall.

Context:

• This week, a storm that brought record-breaking rainfall to the United Arab Emirates and Oman swamped residences, gridlocked transportation, and trapped people inside their homes.

Did cloud seeding cause the storm?

• In the UAE and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula, which is generally recognized for its arid desert climate, rainfall is uncommon. Temperatures in the summer might rise above 50 degrees Celsius.
• Following Tuesday’s occurrences, speculation arose as to whether the massive rains were caused by cloud seeding, a procedure that the UAE regularly uses.
• Chemicals are inserted into clouds through a procedure called “cloud seeding” in order to enhance precipitation in areas where water scarcity is a problem.
• The UAE has been spearheading efforts to seed clouds and boost precipitation because of its location in one of the warmest and driest parts of the planet.
• However, before to the storm, no such efforts were reported by the meteorological department in the United Arab Emirates.
• Experts suggest that the massive downpour was most likely caused by a typical weather pattern that was made worse by climate change.
• According to climate experts, increased global temperatures brought on by human-caused climate change are causing more extreme weather events, such as heavy rainstorms, to occur globally.
• Thunderstorm rainfall, such as that which has been observed recently in the United Arab Emirates, increases significantly with rising temperatures. This is a result of convection, the powerful updraft that occurs during thunderstorms, intensifying in a climate that is warmer.
• Due to the atmosphere’s increased capacity to hold moisture, global temperatures are causing an increase in the amount of rainfall. Experts claim that discussing cloud seeding as the reason for the intense downpour was inaccurate.

IMPORTED INFLATION

A new paper from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) highlights India’s susceptibility to imported inflation.

Context:

• The ADB’s caution highlights the necessity of exercising caution while handling interest rate dynamics and currency fluctuations in order to lessen the possible impact of imported inflation on India’s economy.

About IMPORTED INFLATION

• When a country’s overall price level rises as a result of rising import costs, this is referred to as imported inflation.

The factors behind the Imported Inflation:

• Currency rates: Variations in exchange rates are important. Import costs increase as a nation’s currency weakens in relation to other currencies. Basically, buying goods and services from outside requires more money.
• Commodity Prices: Imported goods like metals, energy, and agricultural items are vital to the economies of many nations. An increase in the price of commodities globally has a direct effect on import costs and may cause inflation in the country of importation to rise.
• Trade Policies and International Supply Chains: Modifications to trade regulations (such as tariffs and quotas) may have an impact on the price of imports. Furthermore, interruptions in international supply chains have an impact on transportation expenses, which subsequently influence the ultimate cost of imported goods.
• Impact on Production Costs: The cost of production for businesses is impacted by imported inflation. These businesses frequently raise prices on customers in order to cover their increasing costs, which causes inflation in the economy as a whole.

Recent Scenario in India:

• Concerns of imported inflation have been raised by the Indian rupee’s recent decline.
• The decline of the rupee has been caused by a number of factors, including shifting monetary policy, geopolitical concerns, and an increase in investor risk aversion.
• India is vulnerable to changes in the prices of both commodities due to its reliance on imports of gold and crude oil. Increases in the cost of these goods have a direct bearing on the nation’s import expenditure and general inflation.

TIGER TRIUMPH-24 EXERCISE

Recently, the Tiger Triumph-24 exercise came to an end.

Context:

• The strong strategic alliance between the United States and India in disaster relief and humanitarian aid is strengthened by this exercise.

About TIGER TRIUMPH-24 EXERCISE:

• India and the United States are conducting a bilateral tri-service humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) exercise called TIGER TRIUMPH-24.
• The goal of the exercise was to improve Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for quick and easy coordination between the troops of the two nations and to build interoperability for carrying out Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations.
• Among the exercises’ many activities were amphibious landings, field hospitals, and camps for internally displaced people.
• It stands for the two countries’ strategic alliance and dedication to exchanging best practices in international HADR operations.
• Along with the US Navy and Marine Corps, participating units included the Indian Army, Air Force, Navy, and Solar Force.