7 April 2024

• Elections: Campaigning reaches peak intensity with Phase 1 (19 April) twelve days away. The IMD warns of heatwave conditions across central and northern India during the polling period.
• Economy: The IMD forecast of ten to twenty heatwave days against a normal four to eight days raises concerns about voter turnout and outdoor worker safety.
• Science: World Health Day (7 April) focuses on the theme "My Health, My Right" highlighting healthcare access as a fundamental right.
• Environment: A Supreme Court bench is hearing petitions on the conservation of the Great Indian Bustard, balancing habitat protection with renewable energy infrastructure in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
• Defence: India's DRDO continues development of the ROCKS air-launched ballistic missile, an Israeli-derived system with a strike range exceeding 250 km.

GS area: Disaster Management, Polity (elections)

The India Meteorological Department warned that the 2024 Lok Sabha election season (April to June) would coincide with an unusually severe heatwave.

Key facts:

• IMD forecast: Ten to twenty heatwave days during the election period, against a normal of four to eight days.
• Most at-risk zones: Gujarat, central Maharashtra, north Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, north Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.
• Election Commission response: The ECI formed a heat task force to coordinate shade, water, and cooling measures at polling stations. It also pressed state administrations to post election-day heat advisories.
• Definition of heatwave: The IMD defines a heatwave when the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius (plains) or 30 degrees Celsius (hilly regions) and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 degrees Celsius.
• Voter turnout risk: Analysts noted that high temperatures in the afternoons could suppress turnout in rural constituencies where shaded transport to booths is scarce.
• UPSC Prelims postponed: The UPSC postponed the Civil Services Preliminary Examination from 26 May to 16 June 2024 to avoid overlap with Lok Sabha polling.

Static linkage: Disaster management, elections, climate and India.

GS area: Environment, Polity (judiciary)

The Supreme Court is hearing petitions on overhead power lines in the Great Indian Bustard habitat in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The GIB is among India's most critically endangered birds.

Key facts:

• Great Indian Bustard (GIB): IUCN status: Critically Endangered. Population estimate in 2024: fewer than 150. Found primarily in the Thar Desert region of Rajasthan and the Kachchh grasslands of Gujarat.
• The threat: GIBs collide with overhead high-tension power transmission lines. Their poor frontal vision makes them unable to spot wires while flying.
• April 2021 SC order: Ordered conversion of overhead transmission lines in the GIB habitat to underground cables.
• March 2024 modification: The Court modified that order after renewable energy developers argued that underground cabling would cost several times more and delay India's solar and wind targets. The Court balanced conservation with energy transition goals.
• Expert committee: A nine-member committee was formed with a July 2024 deadline to submit a feasibility report on underground cables.
• Constitutional anchors: Article 48A directs the state to protect the environment. Article 51A(g) makes it a fundamental duty of citizens to protect wildlife.

Static linkage: environment, biodiversity, judiciary, renewable energy.

GS area: Health, Social Justice

World Health Day is observed every year on 7 April, marking the founding of the World Health Organisation in 1948. The 2024 theme is "My Health, My Right."

Key facts:

• WHO: Established 1948, headquartered in Geneva. Specialised agency of the United Nations with 194 member states.
• Right to health: Not explicitly a fundamental right in the Indian Constitution, but the Supreme Court has derived it from Article 21 (right to life) through a series of judgments including Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity v State of West Bengal (1996).
• National Health Policy 2017: Aims to achieve universal health coverage. Target: increase public health expenditure to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
• India's current health expenditure: Approximately 1.84 per cent of GDP as public spending on health (2022).
• Ayushman Bharat: India's flagship health scheme covers up to five lakh rupees per family per year for hospitalisation at empanelled hospitals. It targets the bottom 40 per cent of the population by socio-economic status.

Static linkage: health policy, fundamental rights, social justice.

GS area: Environment, Disaster Management

The India Meteorological Department issues seasonal outlooks and district-level heatwave warnings under the National Action Plan for Heat-Related Illnesses.

Key facts:

• IMD structure: Under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. Headquartered in New Delhi with six Regional Meteorological Centres across the country.
• Heat Action Plans (HAPs): State-level heat emergency frameworks coordinated by the National Disaster Management Authority. Ahmedabad's 2013 HAP was the first in Asia after a 2010 heatwave killed over 1,000 people.
• El Nino contribution: The 2023-24 El Nino strengthened warm sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean, contributing to higher land temperatures across South Asia.
• NDMA role: The National Disaster Management Authority under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 issues guidelines on heat action planning. The Act also mandates state-level SDMAs.

Static linkage: disaster management, geography, climate.

GS area: Environment, Geography

The Central Ground Water Board's latest assessment shows critical overexploitation in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Key facts:

• Central Ground Water Board (CGWB): Statutory body under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Monitors and assesses groundwater resources across India.
• Over-extracted states: Punjab and Haryana rely on groundwater for over 70 per cent of irrigation. Extraction exceeds recharge in most districts.
• Jal Jeevan Mission: Aims to provide piped water supply to all rural households by 2024. The mission targets tap water connections for 19 crore households. Progress has been uneven, with southern states ahead of the north.
• Atal Bhujal Yojana: Scheme for participatory groundwater management in overexploited areas. Covers 8,350 gram panchayats across seven states.

Static linkage: environment, water resources, schemes.

• Indian Science Congress postponed: The annual Indian Science Congress was postponed due to election schedule conflicts. The Congress is organised by the Indian Science Congress Association, founded in 1914.
• Sittwe Port operational: India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) obtained operational rights to Sittwe Port in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Part of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, the port is India's second overseas port venture after Chabahar.
• Kala-azar elimination: India reached its elimination target in 2023. The disease (caused by Leishmania donovani, transmitted by sandflies) reported only 520 cases in 2023. The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme has managed the response since 2003.