DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

A recent book has looked into the diets of Soligas and Yeravas communities, who have been living in the Cauvery Basin and the surrounding hills of peninsular India for thousands of years.

The book Forgotten Trails: Foraging Wild Edibles was authored by Malemleima Ningombi and Harisha RP.

Soligas – They are an indigenous tribe of Biligiri Rangan Hills (B.R. Hills) in Karnataka who have been dependent on the forests for their livelihood traditionally.They are also called as Children of bamboo.

Food – Honey is an important part of their diet.

Language – Sholaga, which belongs to the Dravidian family.

Occupation – Shifting cultivation and their main source of income is harvesting and sale of Non-timber Forest Produce (NTFP).

Culture – They follow naturism and animism along with following Hindu practices and their main deities are Madeshwara.

Yeravas

They came to Karnataka from Wayanad district in Kerala and settled in Kodagu district of the state whose settlements are called 'Kunju'.

Language – Revula language.

• Occupation – Most of them are agricultural workers in coffee plantations and tea estates.
• Culture – There are many customs and rituals practiced among the Adiyas who believe in witchcraft.
• They perform a ritual dance to cure disease, ward off miseries and evil eye, and safe delivery of child.
• Food – They use more tubers than Soligas.Mushrooms are part of their diet during monsoons while in winters, they depend on the wild berries and edible ferns.

The Western Ghats are one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, with over 5,000 flowering plants, 139 mammals, 508 birds and 179 amphibian species.

Scientists recently stumbled upon a lost forest in the Panama Canal, dating back around 22 million years.

Panama Canal

It is an artificial waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade.It was cut through one of the narrowest saddles of the isthmus that joins North and South America.

• It is one of the two most strategic artificial waterways in the world, the other being the Suez Canal.
• It is approximately 80 kilometers long.
• It consists of a series of locks that raise and lower the water level to facilitate the passage of ships through the continental divide.

History:

• • France began work on the canal in 1881, but financial troubles and diseases made the initiative fail.
  • The United States took over the project on May 4, 1904, and opened the canal on August 15, 1914, and then managed the waterway until 1999.
  • On December 31, 1999, Panama took over full operation, administration, and maintenance of the Canal, in compliance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties negotiated with the United States in 1977.

The 9th edition of the Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival (PPHF), a state festival of Arunachal Pradesh, will take place at Seijosa in the Pakke Kessang district from January 18-20, 2024.

Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival

• The first-ever PPHF was held in 2015.
• The aim was to recognise the role played by the Nyishi tribal group in conserving hornbills in Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR).
• Other objectives were to raise alternative sources of income for the region and to create awareness in the rest of India about the wonders of PTR and its surrounding areas.
• This year, the festival’s theme is Domutoh Domutoh, Paga hum Domutoh. It translates to ‘Let Our Hornbills Remain’ in the Nyishi language.
• This year’s festival aims to underscore the critical need for preserving these iconic birds.

Pakke Tiger Reserve

• It is located in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• It is surrounded by the Tenga Reserve Forest to the North, Doimara Reserve Forest on the West, Nameri National Park and Tiger Reserve (Assam) on the South.
• The landscape has high species diversity and endemicity as it forms the transition zone between the Indian and Malayan eco-regions.
• It is situated North of the river Brahmaputra in the transition zone between the Assam plains and the hilly forests of Arunachal Pradesh.
• Vegetation: It consists of tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forest.
• Flora: Polyalthia simiarum, Pterospermum acerifolium, Sterculia alata, Stereospermum chelonioides, Ailanthus grandis and Duabanga grandiflor. About eight species of bamboo occur in the area.
• Fauna: Tiger, Elephant, predators like Leopard and Clouded leopard etc.

Nyishi tribal people?

They are people of eastern Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, a mountainous state in northeastern India. They speak the Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan family. The Nyishi support themselves with slash-and-burn agriculture and with hunting and fishing.

Ministry of Power, has achieved a significant milestone by issuing its inaugural Japanese Yen (JPY) 61.1 billion green bonds under Global Medium Term Notes Programme.

Yen Denominated Green Bonds

• It is REC Limited’s eleventh venture into the international bond market and inaugural Yen Bond issuance, which is also the first Yen Green Bonds issuance by any Indian PSU
• Time period: 5-year, 5.25-year and 10-year bonds issued at yield of 1.76%, 1.79% and 2.20% respectivelya
• It is the largest ever Euro-Yen issuance in South and South East Asia
• It is the largest Yen-denominated issuance from India.
• Largest non-sovereign Yen-denominated issuance ever from South and South East Asia
• The transaction witnessed interest from both Japanese and international accounts, with number of orders from each at 50%, international allocation being one of the highest for any other Indian Yen deal.
• These bonds will be rated Baa3/BBB–/BBB+ (Moody's/Fitch/JCR) and will be listed exclusively on Global Securities Market of India International Exchange (India INX) and NSE IFSC in GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

REC Limited (formerly Rural Electrification Corporation Limited) is a Central Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Power involved in financing projects in the complete power sector value chain from generation to distribution.It is registered with the RBI as a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC), a Public Financial Institution (PFI) and an Infrastructure Financing Company (IFC).

Green bonds?

A green bond is a fixed-income instrument designed to support specific climate-related or environmental projects.Green bonds may come with tax incentives to enhance their attractiveness to some investors. The phrase “green bond” is sometimes used interchangeably with “climate bonds” or “sustainable bonds.”

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) succeed the incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lamps of previous centuries as the world’s light-source of choice.

About Light-Emitting Diodes

• A diode is an electronic component which has two points of contact, or terminals, called its anode and cathode.
• A diode’s primary purpose is to allow current to flow in only one direction.
• An LED is a semiconductor device which emits light when electric current flows through it.
• It can produce all three primary colours – red, green, and blue – different LEDs can be combined on a display board to produce a large variety of colours.

Advantages of LED

• Energy Efficiency: It requires far less electricity to produce the same light as incandescent bulbs. LEDs use approximately 75-80% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs
• Durability: LED bulbs are highly durable and resistant to shocks, vibrations, and temperature fluctuations.
• Instant Illumination: It provides instant illumination without the warm-up period required by incandescent bulbs.
• Heat Generation: LED bulbs generate very little heat, making them safer to handle and more efficient in terms of energy utilization.
• Environmental Impact: LEDs have a significantly lower environmental impact compared to incandescent. The energy efficiency and longer lifespan result in reduced greenhouse gas emissions and less waste.

What are the Applications of LEDs?

• LEDs have several applications in industry, consumer electronics, and household appliances: from smartphones to TV screens, from signboards to ‘feeding’ plants light in greenhouses, from barcode scanners to monitoring air quality.

Semiconductor?

It is a substance that has specific electrical properties that enable it to serve as a foundation for computers and other electronic devices. It is typically a solid chemical element or compound that conducts electricity under certain conditions but not others.

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently released “The Detect Adulteration with Rapid Test (DART) Book” & Food Safety on Wheels (FSW).
• DART booklet is a compilation of common quick tests for detection of food adulterants by the citizens themselves so as to induce awareness among the consumers about food safety.

A mobile food testing van called Food Safety on Wheels (FSW) was launched to reach remote areas and conduct training and awareness activities & to promote awareness campaigns.

• The Union Health Minister and the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh jointly launched the Mannhit app recently.

It is an initiative facilitating screening for mental health.

• 2 Telugu inscriptions of 16^th century found in Nallamala forest in Andhra Pradesh recently.
• One of the inscriptions records the construction of cradle pillars (uyyala-kambalu) to Goddess Poleramma.

The other inscription seems to refer to a hero fighting with a tiger.