Gold deposits found in Sonbhadra (Uttar Pradesh)

Syllabus subtopic: Distribution of Key Natural Resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent)

Prelims and Mains focus: on the details of the findings; on India’s gold reserves

News: The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has discovered gold deposits to the tune of around 3,000 tonnes in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh,

Details

• The gold deposits were found in the Son Pahadi and Hardi areas of the Sonbhadra district.

• Work on finding gold reserves in Sonbhadra was started almost two decades back in 1992-93 by the Geological Survey of India. The auctioning of these blocks through e-tendering would start soon. The deposits in Son Pahadi is estimated to be around 2,943.26 tonnes, while that at Hardi block is around 646.16 kilogram, the official said.

• It is estimated to be almost five times India’s current reserve of yellow metal. Besides gold, some other minerals have also been found in the area.

India’s Gold reserves

• As per the World Gold Council, India currently has 626 tonnes of gold reserves. The new reserves are almost five times that amount and are estimated to be worth nearly Rs 12 lakh crore.

• The British reportedly were the first to initiate the process of finding gold reserves in the Sonbhadra region, which is more in news for being a Naxalism-hit area.

• Interestingly, Sonbhadra – the second largest district of Uttar Pradesh – is the only district in the country which shares borders with four states — Madhya Pradesh to the west, Chhattishgarh to the south, Jharkhand to the south-east and Bihar to the east.

• Currently, India has only three producing gold mines Hutti, Utti mines (both in Karnataka) and Hirabuddini mines (Jharkhand) and the domestic production has almost stagnated at about 2.8 tonnes annually.

• Karnataka has an estimated 17 to 18 tonnes of gold reserves and the state is the major gold producer state in India i.e 88.7% of total gold production in India.

• After the closure of Kolar Gold Fields Mines of BGML in 2001, the Hutti Gold Mines Limited (HGML), a government of Karnataka enterprise has become the sole producer of primary gold in the country.

• The main problem with the Hutti mines is the low grade of ore. The mine reopened in 1948 and has been operating irregularly since then. The principal mine, Hutti and two other units viz Hira Buddini and Utti are all underground mines located in Raichur district of Karnataka.

Thal Sena Bhawan

Syllabus subtopic: Various Security Forces and Agencies and their Mandate.

Prelims and Mains focus: on the details of the new structure and its significance; about GRIHA

News: Defence Minister performed the stone-laying ceremony for the proposed ‘Thal Sena Bhawan’ of the Army in the Delhi cantonment.

About Thal Sena Bhawan

• The building spread over 39 acres opposite Manekshaw centre in Delhi cantonment will bring together Army headquarters split into eight pockets across Delhi. Presently, the Army Headquarters is split into eight pockets across South Block, Sena Bhawan, Hutments Area, R.K. Puram, Shankar Vihar and other places, the Army said. The work was sanctioned to make up the existing deficiency of 44% and also to accommodate the Army Headquarters in one place.

• The ‘Thal Sena Bhawan’ is conceptualised as a multi-storey green building adopting Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) norms and will house offices, a residential area for security personnel and basic amenities.

• Approximately 7.5 lakh sq.m. of the area will be constructed to house the office complex and parking. A total of 6,014 offices will be constructed, which will house offices for 1,684 officers — both military and civilian — and 4,330 sub-staff.

• It is proposed to construct this structure in five years. The Army chief would continue to sit in South Block in close proximity to the Defence Minister and the present Army HQ ‘Sena Bhawan’ will continue to exist, though some functions would be shifted to the new complex.

Significance

• The new structure will bring together various pockets of the Army headquarters spread across Delhi under one roof thereby improving the working efficiency while reducing the carbon footprint and logistics requirements. It would also allow more family time for all personnel at peace posting in Delhi.

• Earlier there was a movement of about 3,000-4,000 vehicles every day from the various Army establishments in the city. This would be not required once the ‘Thal Sena Bhawan’ comes up.

• The newly created Department of Military Affairs (DMA) headed by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) will work from here. This will help in jointness.

About Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA)

• GRIHA is a rating tool that helps people assess the performance of their building against certain nationally acceptable benchmarks. It evaluates the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life cycle, thereby providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’. The rating system, based on accepted energy and environmental principles, will seek to strike a balance between the established practices and emerging concepts, both national and international.

• GRIHA attempts to minimize a building’s resource consumption, waste generation, and overall ecological impact within certain nationally acceptable limits/benchmarks. It attempts to quantify aspects such as energy consumption, waste generation, renewable energy adoption, etc. so as to manage, control and reduce the same to the best possible extent.

• With over two decades of experience in green and energy-efficient buildings, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has developed GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment), which was adopted as the national rating system for green buildings by the Government of India in 2007.

• This tool has been adopted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. This tool, by its qualitative and quantitative assessment criteria, is able to ‘rate’ a building on the degree of its ‘greenness’.

Syllabus subtopic: Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.

Prelims and Mains focus: about the findings of the report; challenges and steps taken

News: The latest telemetry report by the Bihar Minor Water Resources Department was released recently.

Key findings of the report

• The Water table has dipped alarmingly across Bihar between August 2019 and February 2020.

• The dips in water table range from 13 feet to 25 feet. The situation is particularly alarming in the Seemanchal and the southern part of the state.

• About 10 districts, including Katihar and Begusarai, reported a dip of 17 feet to 25 feet in its water table and Patna too reported a 17-feet dip. The report also says the water table in the state has gone down from 10 to 200 feet in the last 10 years.

• According to the report, the groundwater level in Bihar earlier ranged from 40 feet to 200 feet, but the recent dips have brought down the range to between 60 and 250 feet. While this could lead to water crisis during summers, a drought could aggravate the problem.

Why water table is dipping in Bihar?

Uneven distribution of rains, lack of water-harvesting measures and encroachment upon water bodies are being cited as the major reasons for the alarming dip in water table across Bihar. A recent survey by the state government showed that 34,559 water bodies had been encroached upon. So far, temporary encroachment has been cleared from 20,432 water bodies and permanent encroachment from 2,123 water bodies.

Challeneges and their remedies

• The depleting groundwater level is a crisis that is emerging worldwide, but in Bihar it is getting acute due to

1. loss of forest and vegetation,
2. dependency on groundwater and depletion in surface water resources,
3. overexploitation of groundwater with the coming of powerful pumps, and
4. cultivation of high water-consuming crops.

• There is an urgent need to check soil erosion, revive traditional water management practices and more efficient use of water in agriculture. Also, roof rainwater harvesting system should be used to take care of urban needs.

• The State govt. have initiated several measures under the Jal, Jeevan, Hariyali mission to improve the water table. An exercise to remove encroachment from water bodies and clear them of silt is being conducted on a mass scale and the results could start showing from next year. Under the mission, about 3,000 ponds are being cleaned and over 2,000 checkdams have been planned in small rivers. All these measures are part of the project due for completion by 2022.