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Lonar Lake Turned Pink due to Salt-loving ‘HALOARCHAEA’ Microbes

IN NEWS

• The colour of Lonar lake water in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district turned pink due to a large presence of the salt-loving ‘Haloarchaea’ microbes.

ABOUT

• Haloarchaea or halophilic archaea is a bacteria culture which produces pink pigment and is found in water saturated with salt.Initially, we thought it was because of the red- pigmented Dunaliella algae due to which the water might have turned pink.
• The oval-shaped Lonar Lake, formed after a meteorite hit the earth some 50,000 years ago, is a popular tourist hub.
• The increased salinity and pH facilitated the growth of halophilic microbes, mainly Haloarchae.At Lonar Lake alkaline (pH) levels were 9.8 as opposed to 7 which is neutral. Salinity was over 6%, whereas over 3% is considered a high-saline environment.

LONAR LAKE

• Lonar Lake, also known as Lonar crater, is a notified National Geo-heritage monument,saline, soda lake, located at Lonar in Buldhana district, Maharashtra, India.
• Lonar Lake was created by an asteroid collision with earth impact during the Pleistocene Epoch.
• It is one of the four known, hyper-velocity, impact craters in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth. The other three basaltic impact structures are in southern Brazil.
• The lake was first mentioned in ancient scriptures such as the Skanda Purana and the Padma Purana, Ain-i-Akbari.

REASON FOR THIS SALINATION

• Use of fertilizers, pesticides and toxic materials in the agriculture field around the lake results in pollution of lake water.
• "Dhara” and "Sita Nahani" are perennial streams that are one of the water sources for the lake. They are used for bathing, washing clothes and cattle, and other domestic purposes
• Deforestation is illegally carried out.
• Excavation activities are often carried out illegally.
• During local festivals - Kamala Devi, large numbers of pilgrims enter the crater.
• Sewage dumps in the lake.
• Commercial activities, including illegal construction, within the vicinity of lake has damaged the lake's natural topography.
• Study found out that reduction in water level is a combined result of drying up of (nearby) percolation dam and the closure of streams (which flow) into the lake.

Kakrapar-3 Achieves First Criticality

IN NEWS

• The indigenously built Gujarat based Kakrapar Atomic Power Station or KAPS –3 has achieved criticality, thus giving a boost to the `Make in India’ initiative in the reactors sector.

ABOUT

• Unit 3 of the Kakrapar nuclear power plant in the Surat district of the Indian state of Gujarat has attained a sustained chain reaction for the first time. It is the country's first indigenously-designed 700 MWe pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) to reach the commissioning milestone.
• This unit is India's 23rd reactor to enter operation.

WHAT DOES ACHIEVING CRITICALITY MEAN?

• It means the 700 MW power plant in Gujarat has now achieved the regular operating condition of a reactor. And, the plant is now ready to generate power.

KAKRAPAR ATOMIC POWER STATION

• Kakrapar Atomic Power Station is a nuclear power station in India, which lies in the proximity of the city of Vyara in the state of Gujarat.It was commissioned on 6th May 1993.

CONCLUSION

• Nuclear power is the fifth-largest source of electricity in India after coal, gas, hydroelectricity and wind power. As of March 2018, India has 22 nuclear reactors in operation in 7 nuclear power plants, with a total installed capacity of 6,780 MW.

National Green Tribunal (NGT)

Why in NEWS ?

• NGT has directed the Environment Ministry, Oil India Limited (OIL) and two other entities to explain how the proposed drilling of seven oil wells in an eastern Assam national park was permitted as Oil India Ltd (OIL) leak in Assam has contaminated water bodies that flow into the Maguri Motapung Beel, a large wetland, and the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

About

• The NGT directive was based on a petition against the environment clearance to OIL Drilling in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, after Baghjan accident, in violation of a Supreme Court order of September 2017.
• NGT had also ordered the formation of a committee to probe allegations of large-scale illegal coal mining by North Eastern Coalfields inside Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve in Assam’s Tinsukia district.

NGT

• It has been established in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010.
• It draws inspiration from India’s constitutional provision of Article 21, which assures the citizens of India the right to a healthy environment.
• It is a specialised body that was formed under the NGT Act, 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases that are related to protection and conservation of the environmental, forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to the environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
• It has Original Jurisdiction on matters of “substantial question relating to environment” and & “damage to the environment due to specific activity”.

Dibru-Saikhowa National Park

• It is both national park and was designated a Biosphere Reserve in July 1997 with an area of 765 sq.km in Assam located in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
• It is bounded by the Brahmaputra and Lohit Rivers in the north and Dibru river in the south.
• It is one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world.
• It mainly consists of moist mixed semi-evergreen forests, moist mixed deciduous forests, canebrakes and grasslands.
• It is the largest Salix swamp forest in north-eastern India and a safe haven for many extremely rare and endangered species of Wildlife with a tropical monsoon climate with a hot and wet summer and cool and usually dry winter.

National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL)

Why in NEWS ?

• National Dope Testing Laboratory in India suspended for another 6 months by The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

About

• WADA had first suspended India's NDTL in August last year for a period of six months.
• The suspension, which prohibits the NDTL from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including all analyses of urine and blood samples, was imposed due to non-conformities with the International Standard for Laboratories as identified during a WADA site visit, including about the laboratory’s Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS) analytical method.

WADA

• It is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Montreal, Canada to promote, coordinate and monitor the fight against drugs in sports.
• It was established in 1999 as an international independent agency composed and funded equally by the sport movement and governments of the world
• The agency’s key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities, and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code, whose provisions are enforced by the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport.
• India is one of the Foundation Members of World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) (1999-2002).
• Integrity, Accountability and Excellence are the core values of the agency.

NDTL

• It is a premier analytical testing & research organization established as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.
• It is the only laboratory in the country responsible for human sports dope testing.
• It was established in 2008 with an aim to get permanently accredited by International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Anti Doping Agency to do the testing for the banned drugs in human sports.
• It is one of the modern & state of the art laboratory in the country equipped with latest analytical instrumentation.