Tag: research

Changing dynamics of monsoon

On By rchennIn Newspaper, telangana todayLeave a comment

More lead time for forecasts is crucial for planning and strengthening capacity to respond effectively to disasters

With global warming, monsoon is changing, breaking well-established ‘rules’, and becoming more and more erratic and unpredictable. So the criteria of monsoon onset need to be refined accordingly. Climatological norms, which are a 30-year average of a weather variable, must be reconsidered in the context of climate change.

The Indian summer monsoon is likely to withdraw from the central part of India between October 14 and 24. This unique forecast, made for 70 days in advance, is the only available forecast for India from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, which has proved successful for three years in a row.

Long-term Forecast
The monsoon withdrawal date is of crucial importance for the Indian people. In a warming world, severe storms and floods during monsoon retreat are becoming frequent. Such a long-term forecast could help the government do strategic planning, consolidate resources and strengthen capacity to respond effectively to disasters.

The end of the season is shifted due to very high temperature on the periphery of monsoon in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It takes longer time when the whole continent cools down to the temperature of monsoon withdrawal. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) said, “we hope this alert in August will be taken into account at carrying out preventive measures in the system of dams in order to prevent its overfilling and floods in October.”

Crucial For Planning
Close to half of the global population depends on the monsoon rainfall. Floods in different States raise questions about the understanding of monsoon, preparedness to deal with rivers in spate to reduce the gap between climate research and its application in policy, business and societal decisions, particularly regarding agriculture, hydrology and water resources, and migration issues.

Prior knowledge of the date of monsoon onset is of vital importance in India. More lead time for monsoon forecasts is crucial for planning agriculture, water and energy resources management.

The southwest monsoon has left a trail of destruction this year. Nearly 500 people have reportedly lost their lives in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam and Bihar. In Kerala, which experienced its worst deluge in a century last year, over 80 people have lost their lives in five days since August 8. In neighbouring Karnataka, the toll stands at over 48. Northern Karnataka, which was facing drought-like conditions in May, is now under water and the State is witnessing its worst floods in 45 years. In Maharashtra, more than 40 people have lost their lives in Sangli and Kolhapur districts, while the Marathwada and Vidharbha regions are reeling under a drought.

Flood Fury
The floods this year have drawn attention to the changing dynamics of the southwest monsoon. Take the case of Kerala. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the State recorded over 25% deficit in rainfall between June 1 and August 7. But Kerala has nearly made up the deficit in the past five days. Similarly, on August 8, Karnataka received nearly five times the rainfall the State receives in a day. Kodagu, the State’s worst flood-hit district, received 460% cent above normal rainfall between August 5 and 11.

In fact, monsoon rains in the past five years have followed a pattern: A few days of intense rainfall sandwiched between dry spells. But this behaviour of monsoon has changed all over the Indian subcontinent.

The focus this year, as in the past, has been on providing relief to the flood-affected. But questions must also be asked about the ways States prepare for, and deal with, floods. The vagaries of weather, for example, demand cooperation between States that share a river basin. This year, Maharashtra and Karnataka bickered over opening the gates of the Almatti dam on the river Krishna. By the time the two States agreed over the amount of water to be discharged from the dam’s reservoirs, the damage was already done.

The floods also drive home the urgency of focusing on nature’s mechanisms of resilience against extreme weather events. Policymakers and planners have shown little inclination to place wetlands, natural sponges that soak up the rainwater, at the centre of flood control projects.

Misplaced Priorities
Flood governance in the country has placed inordinate emphasis on embankments. But the floods in Bihar and Assam showed — for the umpteenth time — that these structures are no security against swollen rivers. Of course, what is true for the Western Ghats States may not hold for Assam and Bihar. But the message from the floods this year is clear: there is a need to revisit the understanding of the monsoon, particularly under changing climatic conditions, and find ways to deal with its fury.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, July’s global average temperature matched (and maybe broken) the record for the warmest-ever logged month – July 2016. Global heat in July was replaced by torrential rains in August in Asia and North part of Europe. Heavy rainfall has also triggered flooding in central and northern parts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal leaving tens of thousands displaced and millions affected.

The summer monsoon rainfall is the most important source of water in India. About 80% of the river flow occurs during the four to five months of this season. India collects and stores rainwater in the system of dams in the monsoon season to sustain itself in the dry season. In particular, hydroelectric power plants are driven by the water collected during the monsoon.

Taking into account very intensive rainfall in August, dams are supposed to be full in September. It is very important to alert the management of the dams that monsoon is unlikely to stop at the beginning of October in the central part of India.

Looking back to 2018, the severe cyclonic storm Titli appeared unexpectedly around October 11, and it was still rainy until October 18. In 2017, monsoon withdrew from the region around October 15. It is now well-established that the monsoon is changing with climate change. In view of this, a new approach must be evolved.

Source: https://telanganatoday.com/changing-dynamics-of-monsoon

Go for holistic learning

On By rchennIn NewspaperLeave a comment

Get perspectives right and develop well-rounded citizens by facilitating linkages between science, social sciences and humanities

The concept of holistic academic education was an idea of Wilhelm von Humboldt, a Prussian philosopher, government functionary and diplomat of Germany. The Humboldtian model of higher education is a concept of academic education that emerged in the early 19th century, whose core idea was a holistic combination of research and studies.

Sometimes called simply the Humboldtian model, it integrates the arts and sciences with research to achieve both comprehensive general learning and cultural knowledge, and it is still followed today. Humboldt’s model was based on two ideas of the Enlightenment: the individual and the world citizen. Humboldt believed that the university should enable students to become autonomous individuals and world citizens by developing their own reasoning powers in an environment of academic freedom.

Academic Freedom
He envisaged an ideal education, which aimed not merely to provide professional skills through schooling along with a fixed path but rather to allow students build individual character by choosing their own way.

Humboldt believed that teaching should be guided by current research, and that research should be unbiased and independent from ideological, economic, political or religious influences. The Humboldtian model strives for unconditional academic freedom in the intellectual investigation of the world, both for teachers and students. The study should be guided by humanistic ideals and free thought, and knowledge should be formed on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism rather than authority, tradition or dogma.

In line with the basic concept of Science (Wissenschaft), Humboldt regarded philosophy as the link between the different academic disciplines, which include both humanities and natural sciences. Humboldt encouraged the University of Berlin to operate according to scientific, as opposed to market-driven, principles such as curiosity, freedom of research, and internal objectives. The University of Berlin, founded in 1810 under the influence of Wilhelm von Humboldt and renamed the Humboldt University of Berlin after World War II, is seen as the model institution of the 19th century.

Driven by Research
The above mentioned principles, in particular, the idea of the research-based university, rapidly made an impact both in Germany and abroad. The Humboldtian university concept profoundly influenced higher education throughout central, eastern, and northern Europe as well as in the US. This European brand of research-intensive universities became the role model for universities in the US such as Harvard (Cambridge, MA), Yale (New Haven, CT) and Cornell (Ithaca, NY).

In the 1970s, breakthrough discoveries in biotechnology and patent legislation favouring market-oriented research such as the Bayh–Dole Act in the US allowed for the creation of research partnerships between universities and industry with the objective of rapidly bringing innovations to market.

A similar development took place in all industrial countries, based on proposals of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. This innovation of the ‘market university’ as an economic engine, which first emerged in the US, diverges from Humboldt’s principles. Recent developments and changes like widening participation in and the marketisation of higher education related to the emergence of neoliberalism have challenged those old ideals.

However, outside the academic realm, the world has also changed markedly since Humboldt’s time. The ‘advanced’ nations have been moving away from the manufacturing-based economies that sustained them throughout the 20th century, towards so-called knowledge-based economies that rely heavily on scientific research and a trained workforce. As such, these nations no longer compete for industrial capacity or access to natural resources but rather for skilled workers, intellectual property and knowledge.

In this context, philosopher Julian Nida-Ruemelin criticised discrepancies between Humboldt’s ideals and the contemporary European education policy, which narrowly understands education as a preparation for the labour market, and argued that we need to decide between McKinsey and Humboldt.

Education is free in Germany and many European countries and these countries have been taking forward and reinventing novel teaching and research experiments based on Humboldt’s model where students would receive all-around education in natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, and where teaching and research are integrated.

Life Sciences Show Way
Life Sciences truly reflect the conceptual idea of Humboldt’s model. While biology remains the centerpiece of life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of specialisations and interdisciplinary fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology and economics.

It is about creating something new by thinking across boundaries. It is related to an interdiscipline or an interdisciplinary field, which is an organisational unit that crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions emerge.

For example, the faculty of Life Sciences aims to strengthen research and teaching in the Life Sciences at Humboldt University of Berlin and in the Berlin region, anchoring it as a pioneer in the regional, national and international research landscape.

The faculty is devoted to current and future-orientated scientific, technological and social topics across the entire spectrum of life forms: from molecular building blocks to microbial, vegetable, animal and human organisms, including how they interact with their experience realm and the environment.

It primarily follows a scientific approach and supplements this with an economic perspective, with additional connection to the humanities, social sciences and medicine. Agriculture, horticulture, biology, psychology are all integrated and students have excellent opportunities for integrated learning, research and an international orientation.

It is this ‘Life Sciences’, approach, which could open new perspectives for both the Telugu States, if a sincere effort is made to fundamentally reform and restructure higher education and research.

Source: https://telanganatoday.com/go-for-holistic-learning