May

31,
2018
MAHANADI RIVER DISPUTE
In May 2018, Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal issued notice under Rule 4 of the Inter-
State River Water Disputes Rules, 1959 to the State Governments of Odisha, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, MP and Maharashtra to nominate their representatives for adjudication of
Mahanadi Dispute.
Mahanadi River:

 The Mahanadi rises in a pool in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district, and travels 851 km to fall into the
Bay of Bengal in Odisha’s Puri.
 The river basin is spread largely over Chhattisgarh and Odisha and partly over MP, Jharkhand and
Maharashtra.

Dispute:

 After attaining statehood in 2000, Chhattisgarh started construction of six barrages on the
Mahanadi. Until then, according to a decision taken in 1983, Odisha and undivided Madhya Pradesh
had agreed to resolve water disputes through a Joint Control Board.
 Objecting to Chhattisgarh’s barrages, Odisha filed a suit in the Supreme Court (SC) under Article 131
of the Constitution in 2016, demanding a tribunal be set up under Section 3 of Inter-State River
Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956.
 In March 2018, on the request of Government of Odisha, the Union Government constituted a
three-member Mahanadi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT), following an SC order.

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MISSION RAFTAR
In May 2018, Ministry of Railways organized a one day workshop on ‘Mission Raftar’.
About:

 Origin: ‘Mission Raftaar’ was announced in the Railway Budget 2016-17.

 Target: In the next 5 years (from the date of announcement) following targets have to be achieved –
o Doubling of average speed of freight trains.
o Increasing the average speed of all non-suburban passenger trains by 25 kmph.
 Routes covered:
o Six Principal routes have been identified for raising of speed.
o These are Golden Quadrilateral and diagonals namely, Delhi – Mumbai, Delhi – Howrah,
Howrah- Chennai, Chennai – Mumbai, Delhi – Chennai and Howrah – Mumbai.
 Strategy: Loco hauled short distance passenger trains will be replaced by Mainline Electric Multiple
Unit(MEMU)/Diesel Multiple unit (DEMU) coaches which have better acceleration and deceleration
characteristics for fast pickup and braking.

Do you know?
Average freight train speeds are ~24kmph and average passenger train speeds (excluding suburban
trains) is ~44kmph.

ALGINATE
In May 2018, a UK-based company, Atelerix claimed to have a technique that helps store
and move cells at room temperature by packing them into an Alginate Gel.
About:

 Alginate is a naturally occuring polymer obtained from brown seaweed. It has increasing
applications in food, chemical and biomedical areas.
 The new method helps in storing and transporting viable cells, including stem cells thus giving hope
for increasing the use of cell therapies for a wide range of uses in human healthcare.
 At present cryoshipping (using sub zero or very low temperatures) is necessary to preserve and move
the cells to different locations.

ROSE-RINGED PARAKEET
In May 2018, the Andhra Pradesh government notified Rose-ringed parakeet as the official
State bird.
About:

 Scientific name: Psittacula krameri.

 Common name: Rama Chiluka; Ring-necked parakeet.

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 Distribution: It has a very wide range. Four subspecies are recognized, though they differ little:
o African rose-ringed parakeet: Distributed in Western Africa, east to western Uganda,
southern Sudan and Egypt.
o Abyssinian rose-ringed parakeet: Distributed in northwest Somalia, west across northern
Ethiopia to Sennar district, Sudan.
o Indian rose-ringed parakeet: Distributed in southern Indian subcontinent.
o Boreal rose-ringed parakeet: Distributed in Bangladesh, Pakistan, northern India and Nepal
to central Burma.
o The Indian subspecies are both than the African subspecies.
 Feral parrot: It has established feral populations in a number of European cities, South Africa and
Japan. A feral parrot is a parrot that has adapted to life in an ecosystem to which it is not native.
 Colour: Both sexes have a distinctive green colour. The adult male sports a red and black neck ring
and the hen and immature birds of both sexes either show no neck rings.
 Diet: It is herbivorous.
 IUCN status: Since the population appears to be increasing, the species was evaluated as being of
least concern by the IUCN in 2012.
 Mimicry: Both males and females have the ability to mimic human speech.

Do you know?
 Official Tree of AP: Neem (Azadirachta indica).
 Official Animal of AP: Black-Buck (Antilope cervicapra).
 Official flower of AP: Jasmine (Jasminum officinale).
INDIAN LEOPARD
According to a report released in May 2018 by Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), 238
Leopards have died in Rajasthan from January 2012 to May 21, 2018, thus averaging 34 leopard
deaths every year.

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About:

 The Indian leopard is one of the big cats occurring

on the Indian subcontinent, apart from the Asiatic
lion, Bengal tiger, snow leopard and clouded
leopard.
 Scientific Name: Panthera pardus.
 Common Name: Indian leopard or Common
leopard.
 Characteristics:
o The leopard is the smallest of the big cats,
and is known for its black-spotted coat.
o A nocturnal animal, the leopard hunts by night.
o An extremely agile creature, it spends most of its resting time on top of trees, using land
only to move locations, but rarely to rest or nap.
o It is known to carry its prey up on trees. This is especially common in leopards that share
their habitat with tiger.
 Melanism:
o Melanism is a common occurrence in leopards, wherein the entire skin of the animal is black
in colour, including its spots.
o A melanistic leopard is often called black panther or jaguar, and mistakenly thought to be a
different species.
 Habitat: In India, the leopard is found in all forest types, from tropical rainforests to temperate
deciduous and alpine coniferous forests. It is also found in dry scrubs and grasslands, the only
exception being desert and the mangroves of Sundarbans.
 Distribution: It shares its territory with the tiger in 17 states. Its range stretches from the Indus river
in the west, the Himalayas in the north, and all the way to the lower course of the Brahmaputra in
the east.
 Population: In 2014, a national census of leopards around tiger habitats was carried out in India
except the northeast. 7,910 individuals were estimated in surveyed areas and a national total of
12,000-14,000 was speculated.
 Status:
o Listed on a par with Tigers under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972.
o Listed in Appendix I of CITES.
o Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
 Conservation Issues: Major threats are man-animal conflicts, availability of prey base and road/train
accidents.

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