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the disruptive nature of restrictions under Stage-III of GRAP impacting a large number of stakeholders and public as well as considering the significant improvement in the average AQI of Delhi
Today, Delhi’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) clocked 346 as per the daily AQI Bulletin provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). In view of significant improvement in the average air quality of Delhi, the Sub-Committee for operationalization of actions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR & Adjoining Areas (CAQM) met today to review the current air quality scenario in the region as well as the forecasts for meteorological conditions and air quality index made available by IMD/ IITM and accordingly take an appropriate call on the preventive/ restrictive actions under Stage-III of GRAP already in place in the entire National Capital Region (NCR) since 22.12.2023. While comprehensively reviewing the overall air quality parameters of Delhi-NCR, the Sub-Committee observed as under:
- AQI of Delhi has been progressively improving and has been recorded as 346 at 4:00 P.M. which is about 55 AQI points below the threshold for invoking the GRAP Stage-III actions (Delhi AQI 401-450) and there is a likelihood of sustaining the improvement in AQI. The forecast by IMD/ IITM also do not indicate any deterioration further and there is a likelihood of the AQI improving while remaining in Very Poor/ Poor category in next few days.
Therefore, keeping in view the disruptive nature of restrictions under Stage-III of GRAP impacting a large number of stakeholders and public as well as considering the significant improvement in the average AQI of Delhi and also the forecasts by IMD/ IITM not indicating the average air quality of Delhi to move to ‘Severe’ category in the coming days, the Sub-Committee for operationalization of actions under GRAP unanimously decided to revoke Stage-III of GRAP in the entire NCR with immediate effect. Actions under Stage-I to Stage-II of the GRAP shall however remain invoked and be implemented, monitored and reviewed by all agencies concerned in the entire NCR and agencies shall keep strict vigil and especially intensify measures under Stage-I & II of GRAP in order to obviate the implementation of Stage-III of GRAP actions owing to AQI level further slipping into ‘Severe’ category.
Further, C&D project sites and industrial units which have been issued specific closure orders on account of violations/ non-compliances of various statutory directions, rules, guidelines etc. under no circumstances shall resume their operations without any specific order to this effect from the Commission.
CAQM Sub-Committee for operationalization of actions under GRAP in its earlier meetings had invoked actions under Stage-I, Stage-II, Stage-III and Stage-IV of revised GRAP on 06.10.2023, 21.10.2023, 02.11.2023 and 05.11.2023 respectively, and on periodic review of the air quality of Delhi and forecast provided by IMD/ IITM, the Sub-Committee had revoked actions under Stage-IV and Stage-III of GRAP on 18.11.2023 and 28.11.2023 respectively and invoked actions under Stage-III of GRAP again on 22.12.2023.
Human modified food distribution affects aggressive behaviour among elephants
Elephant herds compete more for food in anthropogenically created grasslands than in forests even if the former has abundance of food, according to a new study which highlights how human activities can have ecological effects and impact the social lives of animals.
Asian elephants exhibit female-bonded groups (while males are largely solitary) with the most inclusive social unit being the clan—equivalent to a social group, band, troop, clan or community. Females within clans show fission–fusion dynamics, in which clan-members are usually distributed across multiple groups (or parties), whose group sizes and compositions can change across hours.
Asian elephants show many traits which are thought to be associated with low agonistic competition. First, their primary food is low-quality, dispersed resource (grass and vegetative plant parts,) and thus not expected to cause contests. Their fission–fusion dynamics allow them to flexibly split into small groups and mitigate competition. They are not territorial, and their home ranges may overlap extensively, a trait that was expected to relate to infrequent aggression during between-group encounters.
Scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institution under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, investigated the influence of food distribution within and between group interactions in female-bonded animals such as elephants.
Dr. Hansraj Gautam and Prof. T. N. C. Vidya tracked data of elephant behaviour from the long-term Kabini Elephant Project set up in 2009 to identify and study individual elephants and explored whether within-clan hostile interactions (agonism), and between-clan agonistic encounters, its rate and distribution in the elephants is dependent on variation in grass abundance, grass dispersion and group size of the elephants.
They assessed data of elephant behaviour from Kabini Grassland and its neighbouring forest and found that competition between elephant herds is greater in grasslands which has an abundance of food as compared to forests.
The findings of their study partly support the predictions of a socio-ecological model, the ecological model of female social relationships (EMFSR) which states that food distribution primarily determines competition (and physical conflict) between and within groups. Increased conflict is expected over abundant and clumped food resources that can be monopolised by groups or individuals.
The study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science which shows that increasing resource availability can have opposite effects than intended, has a lot of relevance in the context of rapid anthropogenic changes in natural habitats, such as human interference in the social systems of wild populations
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