Glacial Lake Atlas of Ganga River Basin released

• The present glacial lake atlas is based on the inventoried glacial lakes in part of the Ganga River basin from its origin to the foothills of the Himalayas covering a catchment area of 2,47,109 sq. km.
• The study portion of the Ganga River basin covers part of India and the transboundary region.
• The Atlas is available on the Bhuvan portal of NRSC, ISRO (https://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/nhp/ ), India WRIS Portal (www.indiawris.gov.in ) and the NHP website of DoWR, RD & GR (www.nhp.mowr.gov.in).
• This is an initiative under NHP, a Central Sector Scheme implemented by the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (DOWR, RD & GR).
• The National Hydrology Project or NHP-Bhuvan Portal is a repository of information on the initiatives undertaken by NRSC under NHP with a facility to download the reports and knowledge products being developed by NRSC. Link for the portal: https://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/nhp/
• National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Hyderabad as one of the Implementing Agencies under the National Hydrology Project (NHP), is carrying out hydrological studies using satellite data and geospatial techniques.
• As a part of the responsibilities entrusted to NRSC under NHP, detailed glacial lake inventory, prioritization for Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) risk, and simulation of GLOF for selected lakes have been taken up for all the catchments of Indian Himalayan Rivers.
• Under this activity, an updated inventory of glacial lakes using high-resolution satellite data was prepared for the Indus River basin and published in December 2020, and currently, an updated inventory of glacial lakes has been prepared for the Ganga River basin.
• In the present study, glacial lakes with a water spread area greater than 0.25 ha have been mapped using Resources at-2 (RS-2) Linear Imaging Self Scanning Sensor-IV (LISS-IV) satellite data using visual interpretation techniques.
• A total of 4,707 glacial lakes have been mapped in the Ganga River basin with a total lake water spread area of 20,685 ha.

Benefits of Glacial Lake Atlas

• The possible uses of the Glacial Lake Atlas for the water resources professionals, researchers, disaster management authorities and other stakeholders for managing the glacial lakes as well as to mitigate the possible adverse impacts of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) and climate change.
• The atlas provides a comprehensive and systematic glacial lake database for the Ganga River basin with a size > 0.25 ha
• In the context of climate change impact analysis, the atlas can be used as reference data for carrying out change analysis, both with respect to historical and future time periods
• The atlas also provides an authentic database for regular or periodic monitoring changes in spatial extent (expansion/shrinkage), and the formation of new lakes
• The atlas can also be used in conjunction with glacier information for their retreat and climate impact studies.
• The information on glacial lakes like their type, hydrological, topographical, and associated glaciers are useful in identifying the potential critical glacial lakes and consequent GLOF risk.
• Central and State Disaster Management Authorities can make use of the atlas for disaster mitigation planning and related program.

Pilot Scheme on Fortification of Rice & its distribution under PDS

• To address anemia and micro-nutrient deficiency in the country, the Centre has expedited capacity of the fortification of rice to increase from 15,000 MT to 3.5 lakh MT by incentivising and creating awareness among rice millers.
• This scheme is for a period of 3 years beginning in 2019-20 with a total outlay of Rs 174.64 Crore.
• NITI Aayog also in its “Strategy for new INDIA @75” has put suggested a mandatory fortification of staples and incorporating fortified food grains in Government programmes, TPDS (NFSA) ICDS, Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDM) etc.
• The Department of Food & Public Distribution along with Food Corporation of India started distributing Fortified Rice under ICDS/MDM from April, 2021. FCI has procured nearly 6.07 LMT of Fortified rice (FCI & DCP) so far all over the country to distribute under ICDS/MDM in the States/UTs. A proposal of further scaling up of rice fortification is under process.
• Expediting the fortification of rice to increase the capacity from 15,000 MT to 3.5 lakh MT by incentivizing and creating awareness among rice millers.
• Presently, there is no scheme available for connecting rice millers with banks.
• The Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme on "Fortification of Rice & its Distribution under Public Distribution System currently implemented in 6 States, - Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have started the distribution of fortified rice under pilot scheme.
• The State of Kerala and Odisha are likely to start the distribution shortly.
• Approximately 1.73 Lakh MT of fortified rice is distributed till May, 2021 under the pilot scheme.
• Fortification of rice is a cost-effective and complementary strategy to increase vitamin and mineral content in diets and a step towards nutritional security and to fight anemia and malnutrition in the country. This strategy has a proven track record across many geographies in the world.
• It may be noted that in India, 58.5% of young children aged 6-59 months, 53% of women within the reproductive age group and 22.7% of all men aged 15-49 years of age suffer from anemia.

OPEC and OPEC+ Countries

About OPEC

• It is an intergovernmental organization of 13 nations, founded in 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela). HQ is in Vienna, Austria.
• It aims to manage the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil in the world market, in order to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing countries.
• The current OPEC members are the following:
  1. South America: Venezuela (Ecuador left).
  2. Africa: Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, DRC Congo (joined in 2018).
  3. Asia: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia (the De facto leader).
  4. Former OPEC members are Ecuador, Indonesia and Qatar.
• OPEC membership is open to any country that is a substantial exporter of oil and which shares the ideals of the organization.
• They have an estimated 44% of global oil production and 81.5% of the world's "proven" oil reserves. India sources about 86 % of crude oil, 75 % of natural gas and 95 % of LPG from OPEC member nations.
• A larger group called OPEC+ was formed in late 2016 to have more control on global crude oil market. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the demand for OPEC oil has fallen to a 30-year low in second quarter of 2020.

OPEC+

• The non-OPEC countries which export crude oil along with the 14 OPECs are termed as OPEC plus countries.
• OPEC plus countries = Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
• India is not a member of OPEC + countries.
• OPEC member countries produce about 40 percent of the world’s crude oil.
• Equally important to global prices, OPEC’s oil exports represent about 60 percent of the total petroleum traded internationally.
• Saudi and Russia, had three-year alliance of oil producers known as OPEC Plus — which now includes 11 OPEC members and 10 non-OPEC nations — that aims to shore up oil prices with production cuts.

COVID and Malnourishment

• The pandemic has worsened the problem of Malnutrition.
• While malnutrition already remains the predominant risk factor for child deaths and total disability-adjusted life years (DALY), COVID-19 has pushed back our efforts on ending malnutrition, which plagues India's children.
• There is a real risk that, as nations strive to control the virus, the gains made in reducing hunger and malnutrition will be lost. The need for more equitable, resilient and sustainable food and health systems has never been more urgent.

What is Malnutrition ?

Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. The term malnutrition addresses 3 broad groups of conditions:

1. Undernutrition, which includes wasting (low weight-for-height), stunting (low height-for-age) and underweight (low weight-for-age).
2. Micronutrient-related malnutrition, which includes micronutrient deficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals) or micronutrient excess;
3. Overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers).

Globally, at least 1 in 3 children under 5 is undernourished or overweight and at least 1 in 2 children suffer from hidden hunger.

Hidden Hunger

• Hidden hunger is a lack of vitamins and minerals.
• It occurs when the quality of food people eat does not meet the nutrient requirements.
• The food is deficient in micronutrients such as the vitamins and minerals that are needed for their growth and development.

Causes of Malnutrition

• Food & nutrition insecurity: Increased food and nutrition insecurity has severely weakened the immune system of people contributing to poor growth & intellectual impairment and has lowered human capital and development prospects
• Inequity: Inequity is a cause of malnutrition — both under-nutrition and overweight, obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases.
• Inadequate Dietary Intake: Inadequate dietary intake and disease are directly responsible for undernutrition, but multiple indirect determinants exacerbate these causes.
• Major causes:
  • Food insecurity
  • Inadequate childcare practices
  • Low maternal education
  • Poor access to health services
  • Lack of access to clean water and sanitation
  • Poor hygiene practices

Covid-19 and Malnutrition

• The nationwide lockdown has disrupted access to essential services, including Mid-Day Meals, which are not only a nutritional measure to supplement some portion of a child’s calorie needs but is also a tool to access education.
• Through a concurrent rapid needs assessment, Save the Children found that around 40% of eligible children have not received mid-day meal during the lockdown.

India’s position

• Global Nutrition Report-2020: As per the Global Nutrition Report 2020, India is among 88 countries that are likely to miss global nutrition targets by 2025.
• Malnourished children in India: Malnutrition in India accounts for 68% of total under-five deaths and 17% of the total disability- adjusted life years.
• India is home to about 30% of the world’s stunted children and nearly 50 per cent of severely wasted children under the age of five.

Other data

• FAO estimates: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 194.4 million people in India (about 14.5% of the total population) are undernourished.
• Global Hunger Index-2019: India ranks 102 out of 117 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2019.
• Wasting rate: India’s wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8% — the highest wasting rate of any country.
• Nutrition interventions: They are not sufficient to tackle the problem of undernutrition: Even at 90% coverage, the core set of proven nutrition-specific interventions would only decrease stunting by 20 per cent.
• Covid-19: Covid-19 has posed serious threats to children and their health and nutritional rights.
• According to recent estimates, even in the best possible scenario and accounting for changes in the provision of essential health and nutrition services due to COVID-19, India could have around additional 60,000 child deaths (around 3,00,000 in the worst-case scenario) in the next six months.

Measures Taken

• World Food Day: it is observed annually on October 16 to address the problem of global hunger.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan: The government of India had launched the National Nutrition Mission (NNM) or POSHAN Abhiyaan to ensure a “Malnutrition Free India” by 2022.
• Anaemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyan: Launched in 2018, the mission aims at accelerating the annual rate of decline of anaemia from one to three percentage points.
• Mid-day Meal (MDM) scheme: aims to improve nutritional levels among school children which also has a direct and positive impact on enrolment, retention and attendance in schools.
• The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013: aims to ensure food and nutrition security for the most vulnerables through its associated schemes and programmes, making access to food a legal right.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY): Rs.6,000 is transferred directly to the bank accounts of pregnant women for availing better facilities for their delivery.
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme: launched in 1975, the scheme aims at providing food, preschool education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.

Way forward

• There is a need to explore possible solutions and put forward key policy and programme proposals for the integrated management of acute malnutrition and mitigating the impact of Covid-19.
• For easy and sustained access to nutritious food, the spotlight back should be brought back on locally-available, low-cost nutritious food.
• More encouragement should be given to maternal, infant and young child nutrition actions.
• Strategies like ‘take-home ration’ and ‘mid-day meal service’ to ensure the continuation of services and coverage of the most vulnerable communities, especially in urban areas. Child-sensitive social protection schemes, like Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna (PMMVY), need to be implemented in a way so that they reach the last child.
• Strict measures are needed to ensure that the Public Distribution System (PDS) is accessible to all, especially the vulnerable population.
• The use of newer technologies in service delivery, data management, evidence generation and real-time monitoring should be encouraged for maximum use in these processes.