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Counting Indias Tigers
Three factors that could impact oil prices
Behind maharashtra plan to treat seashore as land
Access denied

Counting Indias Tigers

The four-year tiger census report, Status of Tigers in India, 2018, released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, shows numbers of the big cat have increased across all landscapes.
The total count has risen to 2,967 from 2,226 in 2014 — an increase of 741 individuals (aged more than one year), or 33%, in four years.
This is by far the biggest increase in terms of both numbers and percentage since the four-yearly census using camera traps and the capture-mark-recapture method began in 2006.
The number that year was 1,411; it rose by 295 (21%) to 1,706 in 2010; and by 520 (30%) to 2,226 in 2014.

Why is a tiger census needed?

The tiger sits at the peak of the food chain, and its conservation is important to ensure the well-being of the forest ecosystem.
The tiger estimation exercise includes habitat assessment and prey estimation.
The numbers reflect the success or failure of conservation efforts.

Where has the tiger population increased the most?

The biggest increase has been in Madhya Pradesh — a massive 218 individuals (71%) from 308 in 2014 to 526.
In Maharashtra, the number has gone up from 190 to 312 (64%), and in Karnataka, from 406 to 524 (118, or 29%).
Uttarakhand has gained over 100 tigers (340 to 442; 30

Bad trend

Only one of the 20 tiger-bearing states has seen a fall in numbers — Chhattisgarh, where the census counted 19 tigers, significantly fewer than the 46 of 2014. The report has cited law and order as the reason — large parts of the state are hit by the Maoist insurgency.
Greater conservation efforts are needed in the “critically vulnerable” Northeast hills and Odisha.
No tiger has been found in the Buxa, Palamau and Dampa reserves.

How were the estimates reached?

The census was carried out in four phases. Phases 1 and 2 covered forest beats, generally spread over 15 sq km each, by Forest Departments, to collect signs of tiger presence like scat and pugmarks.
Enumerators walked paths called line transects to estimate the abundance of prey.
This was followed by sampling of plots along the transects to assess habitat characteristics, human impact, and prey dung density.

How were the estimates reached?

In phase 3, the information was plotted on the forest map prepared with remotesensing and GIS application. Sample areas were divided in 2-sq-km parcels, and trap cameras were laid in these grids.
In the last phase, data were extrapolated to areas where cameras could not be deployed.

So, why have the numbers gone up?

The success owes a lot to increased vigilance and conservation efforts by the Forest Department.
From 28 in 2006, the number of tiger reserves went up to 50 in 2018, extending protection to larger numbers of tigers over the years.
Healthy increases in core area populations eventually lead to migrations to areas outside the core; this is why the 2018 census has found tigers in newer areas.

Three factors that could impact oil prices

In the past six months, crude oil prices have steadily risen from the lows of December 2018 — from $50.1 per barrel on December 28 to $74.7 a barrel on May 16

OPEC

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a group of 14 including Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates.
It controls roughly 40% of the world’s overall oil supply and its exports account for 60% of all petroleum traded globally — as such, its decisions to cut or expand production have a huge impact on global oil prices.
HQ- Vienna, Austria

The new Iran Deal

In Vienna on Sunday, officials from Britain, France, Russia, Germany and China met their Iranian counterparts in an emergency meeting hoping to defuse rising geopolitical tensions in West Asia and to salvage the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The JCPOA is better known as the Iran nuclear deal and the US unilaterally pulled out of it in 2018.
Since then tensions have escalated between the US and Iran, even as the other countries involved have been trying to avoid the deal from becoming defunct

US-China talks

The second big factor is the trade impasse between the US and China.
Talks between the two biggest economies restarted in Shanghai Monday.
The key worry is that if the tussle carries on between the two economies, it will further slow down global growth (and hence oil demand).
The initial response from the talks is pessimistic and as such, here, too, the result has been that oil prices came down a bit, but only after they had first gone up in hope.

Federal Reserve rate cut

The third big factor is the decision of the US Federal Reserve later in the week.
The Fed, as it is often called, is widely expected to cut interest rates for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis.
The link between a cut in interest rates and oil prices is not clear.
However, if the rate cut leads to higher demand, chances are oil prices will move up.

Behind maharashtra plan to treat seashore as land

The Maharashtra government has decided to treat a part of the Arabian Sea shoreline at Mumbai’s Nepeansea Road as “revenue land” — that is, land that is utilisable and disposable, and which can generate revenues.

So where is this portion of the seashore that is proposed to be treated as “land”?

It is the part of the seashore lying between the low tide mark and the high tide mark in this particular part of South Mumbai.
Mumbai’s latest approved Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) categorises it as an inter-tidal zone or foreshore, and places it in the ecologically sensitive CRZ-1B category.
The CZMP shows it as lying to the seaward side of the high tide line

So where is this portion of the seashore that is proposed to be treated as “land”?

Officials of Maharashtra’s environment department have clarified that as per the CRZ notifications of both 2011 and 2019, no development or construction is permissible on this portion even if it is categorised as revenue land.
The 2019 notification allows only foreshore facilities such as jetties, harbours, and ports in such places.

Why then has the developer submitted a plan for this part of the shoreline?

Slum-dwellers on this illegally reclaimed portion of the shore have come together to form a “housing society”, and have authorised the developer to carry out in situ re-development.
Reached for a comment, the developer has told The Indian Express that he wants the land to build houses, if the laws permit.
According to the builder, the slum has existed on the reclaimed portion since 1985.

Why is a land survey of the kind authorised by the CM necessary in this case?

A cadastral survey is done to determine the land boundaries of a city, ward, or plot.
Since the foreshore area was under water when the last survey was carried out, and exists beyond the current boundaries, a survey is necessary to determine its boundaries.
The survey will also effectively increase the ward boundaries.

Why is there criticism of the decision to carry out the survey?

Critics say this amounts to recognising illegal reclamation of the seashore.
No policy framework exists for dealing with foreshore areas, and some senior officials fear this proposal might lead to similar demands at multiple places along the Mumbai Metropolitan Region shoreline, exposing the coastal areas to a fresh wave of construction.
Instead of treating such proposals on a case-to-case basis, a policy should be framed in consultation with affected groups, the various stakeholders, and after examining the impact on coastal livelihoods and the environment, the officials say.

Access denied

In a damning indictment of policies pursued till now, the UNESCO’s State of the Education Report for India 2019 Children with Disabilities, points out that “among 5 year-olds with disabilities, three-fourths do not go to any educational institution.
Nor do one-fourth of the CWD population aged between 5 and 19. The number of children enrolled in school drops significantly with each successive level of schooling…
The proportion of children with disabilities who are out of school is much higher than the overall proportion of out-of-school children at the national level”

Contrary to the understanding of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, (which the DNEP fails to even acknowledge), “access” in the Draft is still understood purely in traditional terms like provision of ramps, handrails and toilets.
That access for a person with visual impairment, hearing impairment or a wheelchair user connotes different things, seems to be lost.
The RPD Act confers the right to “reasonable accommodation” and support systems including individualised support: Essential for children with disabilities while accessing their right to education.
That the accommodation needs of a child with learning difficulty or a child with intellectual disability or autism are diverse, is not even recognised in the Draft.
“Access”, the Draft claims, is a key “guiding principle”. However, no text, Braille or audio version of the Draft has been made available, the “Accessible India” campaign notwithstanding.
The “Remedial Instructional Aids Programme” proposed in the Draft is also problematic: It is disparaging to a section of students, including the disabled, who for a variety of reasons may not be able to academically “perform” like their peers and will lead to segregation.
That “students who have fallen behind” can be “remedied” with the help of unqualified and untrained “local heroes” as proposed in the Draft, is baffling.
The Draft presumes that since the government has labelled the disabled as “divyang” and bestowed them with divine powers, its duty is over. The DNEP fails on all the three parameters of sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas.