In News:

• Recently, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a significant Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for civil nuclear cooperation.
• The agreement, established between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC)-led Barakah Nuclear Power Plant Operations and Maintenance, was formalized during the visit of Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, to New Delhi.

Background:

• This MoU marks the first formal agreement of its kind between NPCIL and ENEC. The collaboration aligns with the broader commitment made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE in August 2015, which focused on peaceful nuclear energy applications, including safety, health, agriculture, and science and technology.

Trilateral Cooperation:

• The agreement follows a series of discussions on nuclear cooperation between India and the UAE. On September 19, 2022, Foreign Ministers from France, India, and the UAE met in New York during the UN General Assembly and initiated a trilateral cooperation framework. This was further solidified by a phone call on February 4, 2023. The trilateral format aims to promote joint projects in energy, emphasizing solar and nuclear energy.

Additional Agreements:

During the Crown Prince’s visit, several other agreements were also signed:

• LNG Supply MoU: An agreement was reached between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited for long-term LNG supply.
• Production Concession Agreement: Urja Bharat and ADNOC signed an agreement for Abu Dhabi Onshore Block 1.
• Food Parks Development: The Government of Gujarat and Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company PJSC (ADQ) signed an MoU for developing food parks in India. This initiative aligns with the I2U2 grouping (including Israel and the United States), which envisions food parks in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Conclusion:

The visit of the Crown Prince and the signing of these agreements reflect the strengthening ties between India and the UAE. This dynamic development coincides with the first India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Foreign Ministers’ meeting held in Riyadh on September 8-9. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar highlighted India's growing energy demands and its significant role in future global energy markets during his remarks at the meeting.

In News:

The recent dissolution of the 14-member Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS) by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has sparked considerable controversy and debate. The committee, which was chaired by Pronab Sen, a renowned economist and former chief statistician of India, was reportedly disbanded after its members raised concerns about the delay in conducting the decennial census.

Key Points:

• Dissolution of the Committee:
  • The SCoS, formed in July 2023, was responsible for advising the Union government on survey methodology and statistical frameworks. According to the experts the decision to dissolve the SCoS was due to an overlap in functions with the newly formed Steering Committee for National Sample Surveys.
• Concerns and Criticism:
  • Dr. Pronab Sen and other committee members expressed concerns over the delay in conducting the census, which was due in 2021 but has yet to be carried out. The last census, conducted in 2011, is now outdated, impacting the accuracy of various statistical surveys.
  • Members of the SCoS reportedly questioned the delay in census operations during their meetings, leading to speculation that their concerns may have contributed to the committee's dissolution.
• Formation of the New Steering Committee:
  • The new Steering Committee for National Sample Surveys, chaired by Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar, was established following a recommendation by the National Statistical Commission (NSC). The roles of this new committee are said to overlap with those of the SCoS, which the Ministry cited as a reason for disbanding the latter.

Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS)

• The Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS) was established by renaming and expanding the scope of the Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES), which was originally formed in December 2019.
• The SCES, with 28 members, was tasked with reviewing economic indicators related to the industrial sector, services sector, and labor force statistics, including datasets like the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the Annual Survey of Industries, and the Economic Census.

Current Structure and Members: The newly formed SCoS comprises 14 members, including:

• Four Non-Official Members
• Nine Official Members
• One Member Secretary

The committee's total membership can be extended up to 16 based on requirements.

Functions:

1.       Review and Address Issues:

o   The SCoS reviews the existing frameworks and addresses issues related to all surveys as presented by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). This includes evaluating survey results and methodologies.

2.       Advisory Role:

o   It advises on various aspects of survey methodology, including sampling frames, sampling designs, and survey instruments. The committee is also responsible for finalizing the tabulation plans and results of surveys.

3.       Data Collection and Production:

o   The SCoS oversees the design and implementation of all data collection and production efforts. It ensures that data collected by MoSPI adheres to high standards of statistical quality and accuracy.

In News:

A devastating series of events unfolded in Vietnam, as a bridge collapsed and a bus was swept away by severe flooding, raising the death toll to at least 65. The fatalities are attributed to Typhoon Yagi and the subsequent heavy rains, which have wreaked havoc across the Southeast Asian country.

In Depth:

• The typhoon made landfall in Vietnam’s northern coastal provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong with wind speeds of up to 149 kilometers per hour (92 miles per hour) on Saturday afternoon.
• It raged for roughly 15 hours before gradually weakening into a tropical depression early Sunday morning.
• Vietnam’s meteorological department predicted heavy rain in northern and central provinces and warned of floods in low-lying areas, flash floods in streams and landslides on steep slopes.

What is a cyclone?

• The term 'Cyclone' is derived from the Greek word 'Cyclos' which means 'Coiling of the Snake'.
•  Cyclones are created by atmospheric disturbances around a low-pressure area and are usually accompanied by violent storms and severe weather conditions. Basically, a tropical cyclone is a deep low-pressure area.

In News:

Minister of State for Tourism and Thrissur MP Suresh Gopi pledged to replace a statue of Sakthan Thampuran that was knocked over by a state transport bus in June with a new bronze statue if the Kerala government did not do so within 14 days.

Who was Sakthan Thampuran?

• Raja Rama Varma Kunjipillai or Rama Varma IX, better known today as Sakthan Thampuran, ruled over the Cochin kingdom from 1790 to 1805.
• He was born in 1751 to Ambika Thampuran and Chendose Aniyan Namboodiri of the Cochin royal family, but was raised by an aunt who called him Sakthan, meaning ‘powerful’.
• The word thampuran is believed to be an appropriation of the Sanskrit samrat, meaning emperor.
• The Cochin kingdom, which was part of the Late Chera Empire, covered the regions between Ponnani in Malappuram and Thottappally in Alappuzha in today’s Kerala.

Strategist and ruler

• Sakthan Thampuran became heir apparent in 1769 as an 18-year-old. He advised his king to maintain friendly relations with both the Dutch and the English, who were vying for a larger share of trade in the region.
• Sakthan is said to have orchestrated Mysore’s attempt to invade the Travancore kingdom, which had established relations with the English East India Company. This would result in the Powney treaty which freed the Cochin kingdom from its allegiance to Mysore, and helped formalise its relations with the British.
• Sakthan Thampuran put an end to the institution of the Yogiatirippads — the erstwhile spiritual heads of the Vadakkumnathan and Perumanam temples, who had conspired against the previous Cochin king in his wars against the Calicut Zamorin — and entrusted temple management to the government.
• He built a fearsome reputation for himself, and is said to have largely freed his kingdom of crime.

Thrissur and Pooram

• Sakthan Thampuran transferred the seat of the Cochin kingdom from Thrippunithura to modern-day Thrissur.
• The Thekkinkadu Maidanam and the surrounding Swaraj Round became the basis for the city’s elaborate road system and infrastructure.
• The king encouraged merchants of all religions and British officials to relocate to the city. He also overhauled and firmed up the kingdom’s finances, personally overseeing revenue management.
• Sakthan Thampuran started the Thrissur Pooram in 1797 as an alternative to the Arattupuzha Pooram, then the largest temple festival in the state.
• The Thrissur Pooram was conceived as an opportunity for the major temples in Thrissur to come to pay their respects to Lord Shiva, the presiding deity at the Vadakkumnathan Temple.

In News:

• A critically endangered species, the elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata), was spotted in Haryana’s Damdama area during a research survey in the Aravallis.

Key Features:

• The tortoise is medium-sized with a yellowish brown or olive shell and distinct black blotches at the centre of each scute.
• The tortoise has on its nostril a pink ring, which appears in the breeding season.
• Mature individuals of both sexes develop a distinct pinkish colouration surrounding the nostrils and eyes during the season.
• Habitat:
  • The tortoise, found in the Sal deciduous and hilly evergreen forests, is distributed across Southeast Asia from northern India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh in the west, eastward through Myanmar, Thailand, and all of Indochina, north to Guangxi Province of China and south to Peninsular Malaysia.
  • A disjunct tortoise population exists in the Chota Nagpur plateau in eastern India. It also inhabits lowlands and foothills of up to 1,000 m above sea level.
  • There have not been enough surveys to ascertain its presence in Aravallis, but the tortoise is found in the foothills of the Himalayas.
  • It inhabits wetter areas and discovering it here is an aberration than a norm, adding it cannot be ruled out that the tortoise was brought by trade.

Conservation Status:

• International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Status: Critically Endangered, under criteria A2cd.

Threats:

• Currently, I. elongata is heavily exploited for food and traditional medicine throughout its range.
• Local people often opportunistically capture tortoises while farming or extracting other forest resources. However, deliberate hunting also occurs and dogs continue to be widely used for finding tortoises.