Daily Current Affairs : 8th and 9th December

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Eco Bridges
2. Foundation-laying ceremony for new Parliament building
3. Revised height of Mount Everest

1 . Eco Bridges

Context : Ramnagar Forest Division in Nainital district, Uttarakhand, recently built its first eco-bridge for reptiles and smaller mammals.

About eco-bridges matter

• Eco-ducts or eco-bridges aim to enhance wildlife connectivity that can be disrupted because of highways or logging.
• These include canopy bridges (usually for monkeys, squirrels and other arboreal species); concrete underpasses or overpass tunnels or viaducts (usually for larger animals); and amphibian tunnels or culverts. Usually these bridges are overlaid with planting from the area to give it a contiguous look with the landscape.
• A 2020 study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) noted that nearly 50,000 km of road projects have been identified for construction in India over the next five to six years, while many highways are being upgraded to four lanes. The National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi, had identified three major sites that were cutting across animal corridors, including National Highway 37 through the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape in Assam, and State Highway 33 through the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka.

2 . Central Vista Project

Context : The Central Vista project, which was halted by the Supreme Court, is a redevelopment of the “power corridor of India”. While the apex court has directed the Centre to stop all work on the project until further order, it has allowed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone for the new Parliament building on December 10.

What is the Centra Vista project?

• The Central Vista project is a redevelopment project aimed at giving a new spatial identity to the power corridor of India.
• Under the project, a new Parliament building and a common secretariat among others will be constructed along the Rajpath, i.e., the stretch between the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the India Gate in New Delhi.
• The plan involves shifting the Prime Minister’s residence near the South Block where the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is located, while the Vice-President’s house will be constructed closer to the North Block. Notably, the Vice President’s current residence is among the buildings that have been marked for demolition. Meanwhile, the North and South blocks, located on either side of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, will be converted into museums.
• The new state-of-the-art Parliament Building Complex will be spread over 64,500 square metres; it will be located at the centre of the “revamped” power corridor of India. The building is expected to be remarkably bigger than the current Parliament building, which is a heritage structure. The building will be so large it will be able to seat 888 MPs in the Lok Sabha chamber and 384 MPs in the Rajya Sabha chamber. Additionally, all parliamentarians will get separate offices in the new complex.
• Work on the Central Vista project is expected to be completed by 2024 when the next general elections take place in India.

Why has Supreme Court interfered in the Central Vista project?

• A series of petitions have sought the quashing of a notification issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on March 20 authorising the change of land use at the Central Vista.
• They have objected to the proposed change in land usage of Central Vista, the historical boulevard of approximately 3.5 km from Rashtrapati Bhawan to India Gate, and further to the National Stadium, saying it is a symbol of India’s historic past, its nationhood, its vibrant democracy.
• The Bench had, on November 5, reserved its judgment on the petitions challenging the redevelopment project of Central Vista area in the National Capital.
• The court would be considering whether the project complied with land use and environmental regulations peculiar to the area which houses the Parliament and Central Secretariat buildings.
• The government had defended its multi-crore Central Vista redevelopment plan, saying the existing Parliament building which is nearly a 100 years old is under tremendous pressure and not a brick of the heritage structures will be touched while constructing the new Parliament, Central Secretariat and various Ministries.

3 . Revised height of Mount Everest

Context : Foreign Ministers of Nepal and China jointly certified the elevation of Mount Everest at 8,848.86 metres above sea level — 86 cm higher than what was recognised since 1954.

Importance of the declaration

• The common declaration meant that the two countries have shed their long-standing difference in opinion about the mountain’s height — 29,017 feet (8,844 m) claimed by China and 29,028 ft (8,848 m) by Nepal.
• In feet, the new elevation is about 29,031 ft, or about 3 ft higher than Nepal’s previous claim.
• Over the years, there have been debates on issues like whether it should be “rock height”, or whether the snow cladding it, too, should be accounted for

How and when was the earlier measurement of 8,848 m done?

• This was determined by the Survey of India in 1954, using instruments like theodolites and chains, with GPS still decades away.
• The elevation of 8,848 m came to be accepted in all references worldwide — except by China. Mount Everest rises from the border between Nepal and China.
• There was also a third estimate, even higher. In 1999, a US team put the elevation at 29,035 feet (nearly 8,850 m). This survey was sponsored by the National Geographic Society, US. The Society uses this measurement, while the rest of the world, except China, had accepted 8,848 m so far.

When was the new measurement done?

• Until the devastating earthquake of April 2015, Nepal’s Survey Department had perhaps never considered the idea of measuring Mt Everest. But the earthquake triggered a debate among scientists on whether it had affected the height of the mountain.
• The government subsequently declared that it would measure the mountain on its own, instead of continuing to follow the Survey of India findings of 1954.
• New Zealand, which shares a bond with Nepal over the mountain, provided technical assistance. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first climber on the peak along with Nepal’s Tenzing Norgay in May 1953, worked as the mountain’s undeclared brand ambassador to the world. In May 2019, the New Zealand government provided Nepal’s Survey Department (Napi Bibhag) with a Global Navigation Satellite, and trained technicians. Christopher Pearson, a scientist from University of Otago, travelled to Nepal on a special assignment.

What was the methodology used?

• Used the previous methods applied in ascertaining the height as well as the latest data as well Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS).