Dalhousie Policy of Annexation - HIMALAI IAS - General Studies

HIMALAI IAS - GS - HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA & CULTURE

Brief notes on Lord Dalhousie and the Policy of Annexation (1848—56)

Lord Dalhousie came out to India as the Governor-General in 1848. He was from the beginning determined to extend direct British rule over as large an area as possible. He had declared that "the extinction of all native states of India is just a question of time".

The underlying motive of this policy was the expansion of British exports to India. Dalhousie, like other aggressive imperialists, believed that British exports to the native states of India were suffering because of the maladministration of these states by their Indian rulers.

Moreover, they thought that their 'Indian allies' had already served the purpose of facilitating British conquest of India and could now be got rid of profitably.

The chief instrument through which Lord Dalhousie implemented his policy of annexation was the 'Doctrine of Lapse'. Under this Doctrine, when the ruler of a protected state died without a natural heir, his state was not to pass to an adopted heir as sanctioned by the age-old tradition of the country.

Instead, it was to be annexed to British India, unless the adoption had been clearly approved earlier by the British authorities. Many states, including Satara in 1848 and Nagpur and Jhansi in 1854, were annexed by applying this doctrine.

Dalhousie also refused to recognise the titles of many ex-rulers or pay their pensions. Thus, the titles of the Nawabs of Carnatic and of Surat, and the Raja of Tanjore were cancelled.

Similarly, after the death of the ex-Peshwa Baji Rao II, who had been made the Raja of Bithur, Dalhousie refused to extend his pay or pension to his adopted son, Nana Saheb.

Dalhousie was keen on annexing the kingdom of Awadh. But the task presented certain difficulties. For one, the Nawabs of Awadh had been British allies since the Battle of Buxar. Moreover, they had been most obedient to the British over the years.

The Nawab of Awadh had many heirs and could not therefore be covered by the Doctrine of Lapse. Some other pretext had to be found for depriving him of his dominions. Finally, Lord Dalhousie hit upon the idea of alleviating the plight of the people of Awadh.

Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was accused of having misgoverned his state and of refusing to introduce reforms. His state was therefore annexed in 1856.

Undoubtedly, the degeneration of the administration of Awadh was a painful reality for its people. The Nawabs of Awadh, like other princes of the day, were selfish rulers absorbed in self-indulgence who cared little for good administration or for the welfare of the people.

But the responsibility for this state of affairs was in part that of the British who had, at least since 1801, controlled and indirectly governed Awadh.

In reality, it was the immense potential of Awadh as a market for Manchester goods which excited Dalhousie's greed and aroused his 'philanthropic' feelings.

And for similar reasons, to satisfy Britain's growing demand for raw cotton, Dalhousie took away the cotton-producing province of Berar from the Nizam in 1853.

It needs to be clearly understood that the question of the maintenance or annexation of native states was of no great relevance at this time.

In fact, there were no Indian states in existence at that time. The protected native states were as much a part of the British Empire as the territories ruled directly by the Company.

If the form of British control over some of these states was changed, it was to suit British convenience. The interests of their people had little to do with the change.

Environment Global Efforts to Reduce Deforestaion gaining momentum - General Studies - HIMALAI IAS

HIMALAI IAS- Global Efforts to Reduce Deforestation Gaining Momentum

19 February — International efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation are gaining as more countries and companies are moving to curtail activities that contribute to the loss of natural forests.

UNDP Deputy Assistant Administrator Magdy Martinez-Soliman, in a briefing to UN member states, said he was hopeful that a number of the presidents and prime ministers attending UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Climate Summit this September may announce ambitious new initiatives to reduce deforestation or restore degraded forest lands.

“We stand at a unique and critical moment in time in terms of the potential to achieve real and tangible reductions in emissions,” Martinez-Soliman said. He added that major multilateral initiatives were already making progress in supporting forest countries to get ready for REDD+, an initiative to reduce deforestation and land degradation undertaken by governments supported by many UN agencies and international organizations.

More recently, he said, there have been very promising private sector commitments to deforestation-free supply chains and public-private partnerships to facilitate these commitments. Martinez-Soliman said hundreds of companies have made groundbreaking commitments, led by the Consumer Goods Forum’s pledge, announced in November 2010, to achieve zero deforestation by 2020. This involves addressing critically important elements of supply chains that are significant drivers of deforestation, such as palm oil, beef, soy, paper and pulp. The Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 is another growing public-private alliance working to reduce deforestation.

In December, Wilmar International, one of the world’s biggest palm oil companies, committed to “sustainable” sourcing of the commodity. It said it would “establish mechanisms to ensure that both Wilmar’s own plantations and companies from which Wilmar sources will only provide products that are free from links to deforestation or abuse of human rights and local communities.”

And on Friday 14 February, Kellogg, the world’s leading cereal company, announced a global commitment “to work with palm oil suppliers to source fully traceable palm oil, produced in a manner that’s environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “I welcome these announcements to buy palm oil from deforestation-free, peat-free and exploitation-free sources. Such actions have the potential to transform the entire palm oil industry, with considerable positive implications for our efforts to combat climate change, protect biodiversity and promote social justice. I encourage other companies to make similar commitments ahead of the 2014 Climate Summit in September. Let us turn problems into solutions, and challenges into opportunity.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that deforestation represents a net 10 per cent of the climate challenge. Martinez-Soliman said the combined potential of forest restoration and reduced deforestation could constitute an even larger proportion of the available mitigation potential. “There is indeed ample evidence today from all parts of the world that addressing land use and climate change has enormous potential for socioeconomic and environmental co-benefits,” he said. “This includes improving livelihoods and food security, climate resilience, water and biodiversity conservation, and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. In other words, it advances sustainable development.”

Plate Tectonics Movement World Geography - General Studies - HIMALI IAS

HIMALAI IAS-PLATE TECTONICS MOVEMENT 

There are a few handfuls of major plates and dozens of smaller, or minor, plates. Six of the majors are named for the continents embedded within them, such as the North American, African, and Antarctic plates. Though smaller in size, the minors are no less important when it comes to shaping the Earth. The tiny Juan de Fuca plate is largely responsible for the volcanoes that dot the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

The plates make up Earth's outer shell, called the lithosphere. (This includes the crust and uppermost part of the mantle.) Churning currents in the molten rocks below propel them along like a jumble of conveyor belts in disrepair. Most geologic activity stems from the interplay where the plates meet or divide.

The movement of the plates creates three types of tectonic boundaries:convergent, where plates move into one another; divergent, where plates move apart; and transform, where plates move sideways in relation to each other.

Convergent Boundaries

Where plates serving landmasses collide, the crust crumples and buckles into mountain ranges. India and Asia crashed about 55 million years ago, slowly giving rise to the Himalaya, the highest mountain system on Earth. As the mash-up continues, the mountains get higher. Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth, may be a tiny bit taller tomorrow than it is today.

These convergent boundaries also occur where a plate of ocean dives, in a process called subduction, under a landmass. As the overlying plate lifts up, it also forms mountain ranges. In addition, the diving plate melts and is often spewed out in volcanic eruptions such as those that formed some of the mountains in the Andes of South America.

At ocean-ocean convergences, one plate usually dives beneath the other, forming deep trenches like the Mariana Trench in the North Pacific Ocean, the deepest point on Earth. These types of collisions can also lead to underwater volcanoes that eventually build up into island arcs like Japan.

Divergent Boundaries

At divergent boundaries in the oceans, magma from deep in the Earth's mantle rises toward the surface and pushes apart two or more plates. Mountains and volcanoes rise along the seam. The process renews the ocean floor and widens the giant basins. A single mid-ocean ridge system connects the world's oceans, making the ridge the longest mountain range in the world.

On land, giant troughs such as the Great Rift Valley in Africa form where plates are tugged apart. If the plates there continue to diverge, millions of years from now eastern Africa will split from the continent to form a new landmass. A mid-ocean ridge would then mark the boundary between the plates.

Transform Boundaries

The San Andreas Fault in California is an example of a transform boundary, where two plates grind past each other along what are called strike-slip faults. These boundaries don't produce spectacular features like mountains or oceans, but the halting motion often triggers large earthquakes, such as the 1906 one that devastated San Francisco.

World History - French Revolution - General Studies-HIMALAI IAS

HIMALAI IAS - FRENCH REVOLUTION

PRELUDE TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: MONARCHY IN CRISIS

As the 18th century drew to a close, France’s costly involvement in the American Revolution and extravagant spending by King Louis XVI (1754-1793) and his predecessor had left the country on the brink of bankruptcy. Not only were the royal coffers depleted, but two decades of poor cereal harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor. Many expressed their desperation and resentment toward a regime that imposed heavy taxes yet failed to provide relief by rioting, looting and striking.

In the fall of 1786, Louis XVI’s controller general, Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802), proposed a financial reform package that included a universal land tax from which the privileged classes would no longer be exempt. To garner support for these measures and forestall a growing aristocratic revolt, the king summoned the Estates-General (“les états généraux”)–an assembly representing France’s clergy, nobility and middle class–for the first time since 1614. The meeting was scheduled for May 5, 1789; in the meantime, delegates of the three estates from each locality would compile lists of grievances (“cahiers de doléances”) to present to the king.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AT VERSAILLES: RISE OF THE THIRD ESTATE

France’s population had changed considerably since 1614. The non-aristocratic members of the Third Estate now represented 98 percent of the people but could still be outvoted by the other two bodies. In the lead-up to the May 5 meeting, the Third Estate began to mobilize support for equal representation and the abolishment of the noble veto–in other words, they wanted voting by head and not by status. While all of the orders shared a common desire for fiscal and judicial reform as well as a more representative form of government, the nobles in particular were loath to give up the privileges they enjoyed under the traditional system.

By the time the Estates-General convened at Versailles, the highly public debate over its voting process had erupted into hostility between the three orders, eclipsing the original purpose of the meeting and the authority of the man who had convened it. On June 17, with talks over procedure stalled, the Third Estate met alone and formally adopted the title of National Assembly; three days later, they met in a nearby indoor tennis court and took the so-called Tennis Court Oath (“serment du jeu de paume”), vowing not to disperse until constitutional reform had been achieved. Within a week, most of the clerical deputies and 47 liberal nobles had joined them, and on June 27 Louis XVI grudgingly absorbed all three orders into the new assembly.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION HITS THE STREETS: THE BASTILLE AND THE GREAT FEAR

On June 12, as the National Assembly (known as the National Constituent Assembly during its work on a constitution) continued to meet at Versailles, fear and violence consumed the capital. Though enthusiastic about the recent breakdown of royal power, Parisians grew panicked as rumors of an impending military coup began to circulate. A popular insurgency culminated on July 14 when rioters stormed the Bastille fortress in an attempt to secure gunpowder and weapons; many consider this event, now commemorated in France as a national holiday, as the start of the French Revolution.

The wave of revolutionary fervor and widespread hysteria quickly swept the countryside. Revolting against years of exploitation, peasants looted and burned the homes of tax collectors, landlords and the seigniorial elite. Known as the Great Fear (“la Grande peur”), the agrarian insurrection hastened the growing exodus of nobles from the country and inspired the National Constituent Assembly to abolish feudalism on August 4, 1789, signing what the historian Georges Lefebvre later called the “death certificate of the old order.”

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION’S POLITICAL CULTURE: DRAFTING A CONSTITUTION

On August 4, the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (“Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen”), a statement of democratic principles grounded in the philosophical and political ideas ofEnlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). The document proclaimed the Assembly’s commitment to replace the ancien régime with a system based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty and representative government.

Drafting a formal constitution proved much more of a challenge for the National Constituent Assembly, which had the added burden of functioning as a legislature during harsh economic times. For months, its members wrestled with fundamental questions about the shape and expanse of France’s new political landscape. For instance, who would be responsible for electing delegates? Would the clergy owe allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church or the French government? Perhaps most importantly, how much authority would the king, his public image further weakened after a failed attempt to flee in June 1791, retain? Adopted on September 3, 1791, France’s first written constitution echoed the more moderate voices in the Assembly, establishing a constitutional monarchy in which the king enjoyed royal veto power and the ability to appoint ministers. This compromise did not sit well with influential radicals like Maximilien de Robespierre (1758-1794), Camille Desmoulins (1760-1794) and Georges Danton (1759-1794), who began drumming up popular support for a more republican form of government and the trial of Louis XVI.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TURNS RADICAL: TERROR AND REVOLT

In April 1792, the newly elected Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia, where it believed that French émigrés were building counterrevolutionary alliances; it also hoped to spread its revolutionary ideals across Europe through warfare. On the domestic front, meanwhile, the political crisis took a radical turn when a group of insurgents led by the extremist Jacobins attacked the royal residence in Paris and arrested the king on August 10, 1792. The following month, amid a wave of violence in which Parisian insurrectionists massacred hundreds of accused counterrevolutionaries, the Legislative Assembly was replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the French republic. On January 21, 1793, it sent King Louis XVI, condemned to death for high treason and crimes against the state, to the guillotine; his wife Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793) suffered the same fate nine months later.

Following the king’s execution, war with various European powers and intense divisions within the National Convention ushered the French Revolution into its most violent and turbulent phase. In June 1793, the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and instituted a series of radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and the eradication of Christianity. They also unleashed the bloody Reign of Terror (“la Terreur”), a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands. Many of the killings were carried out under orders from Robespierre, who dominated the draconian Committee of Public Safety until his own execution on July 28, 1794. His death marked the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction, a moderate phase in which the French people revolted against the Reign of Terror’s excesses.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ENDS: NAPOLEON’S RISE

On August 22, 1795, the National Convention, composed largely of Girondins who had survived the Reign of Terror, approved a new constitution that created France’s first bicameral legislature. Executive power would lie in the hands of a five-member Directory (“Directoire”) appointed by parliament. Royalists and Jacobins protested the new regime but were swiftly silenced by the army, now led by a young and successful general named Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).

The Directory’s four years in power were riddled with financial crises, popular discontent, inefficiency and, above all, political corruption. By the late 1790s, the directors relied almost entirely on the military to maintain their authority and had ceded much of their power to the generals in the field. On November 9, 1799, as frustration with their leadership reached a fever pitch, Bonaparte staged a coup d’état, abolishing the Directory and appointing himself France’s “first consul.” The event marked the end of the French Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic era, in which France would come to dominate much of continental Europe.

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Science & Technology - Stem Cells - General Studies -HIMALAI IAS

HIMALAI IAS- Stem cell advance yields mature heart muscle cells

A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers has induced human embryonic stem cells (hESC) to differentiate toward pure-population, mature heart muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes.

Wendy Crone

A substrate patterned with a precisely sized series of channels played a critical role in the advance.

Researchers currently can differentiate hESC into immature heart muscle cells. Those cells, however, don't develop the robust internal structures — repeating sections of muscle cells called sarcomeres — that enable cardiomyocytes to produce the contracting force that allows the heart to pump blood. Other cell components that allow heart muscle cells to communicate and work together also are less developed in immature cardiomyocytes.

One barrier to efforts to produce more mature cells is the culture surface itself; hESC are notoriously finicky. "It's really hard to culture stem cells effectively and to provide them with an environment that's going to help them to thrive and differentiate in the way you want," says lead author Wendy Crone, a professor of engineering physics, biomedical engineering and materials science and engineering at UW-Madison.

Recently, three-dimensional and micropatterned substrates have emerged as more accurately mimicking the cells' physiological environment. However, the majority of previous research studies using patterning were conducted using cells from rats, says Max Salick, a Ph.D. student in materials science at UW-Madison and first author on the paper.

"One of the unique aspects of our research is that it observes human cardiomyocytes' response to micropatterning geometries," he says.

Working in laboratories in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, the UW-Madison researchers focused on finding the pattern, including the right size scale, that suits the human stem cells.

"Our hypothesis was that if we could control the cell shape and how they bind to their surroundings using this micropatterning, we could coax them into forming more aligned, structurally sound fibrous structures that are more relevant in the heart," says Salick.

The researchers' micropatterned substrate consists of a series of lanes, or channels. When they put the cells into the lanes, they saw a clear differences in how the cells responded to various lane sizes-and identifying the optimal size scale was key.

"If the lane was too wide, the cells weren't really able to 'feel' their lane, so they didn't align as well," says Salick. "But with lanes less than 100 microns wide, we really started to see the alignment, a stronger sarcomere structure and a more mature phenotype."

The substrate method is more effective and easy to control than others the researchers have explored in the past. And now that they know lane width is critical, the researchers can make the lanes infinitely long, which enables individual cells to link and communicate with neighboring cells.

"This not only gets them to look like sarcomeres, and their internal structure starts to look like what it's supposed to and behave like what it's supposed to, but the cells also communicate with their neighbors," says Crone. "It's the closest we've gotten to pure-population adult cardiomyocytes."

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Submarine Functions - General Studies -HIMALAI IAS

SUBMARINE- FUNCTIONS & HISTORY BY HIMALAI IAS

To function underwater, submarines are built a bit differently than surface ships that float on the water's surface. In order to travel underwater, submarines must function in agreement with some key laws of nature, including Archimedes' Principle and Boyles' Law.

Submarines are completely enclosed vessels with cylindrical shapes, narrowed ends and two hulls: the inner hull and the outer hull. The inner hull protects the crew from the immense water pressure of the ocean depths and insulates the sub from the freezing temperatures. This hull is called the pressure hull. The outer hull shapes the submarine's body. The ballast tanks, which control the sub's buoyancy, are located between the inner and outer hulls.

To stay in control and stable, a submerged submarine must maintain a condition called trim. This means its weight must be perfectly balanced throughout the whole ship. It cannot be too light or too heavy aft or too light or too heavy forward. The submarine's crew must continually work to keep the submarine trim because burning fuel and using supplies affect the sub's distribution. Tanks called trim tanks, one forward (front half of boat) and one aft (back half of boat), help keep trim by allowing water to be added or expelled from them as needed.

Once the submarine is underwater, it has two controls used for steering. The rudder controls side-to-side turning, or yaw, and diving planes, control the sub's rise and descent, or pitch. There are two sets of diving planes, the sail planes, which are located on the sail, and the stern planes, which are located at the stern (back) of the boat with the rudder and propeller. Some submarines, including the new Virginia class, make use of bow planes (diving planes located at the bow, or front of the boat) rather than sail planes.

As you will notice on the above diagram of a submarine, it has a tall sail that rises out of the submarine's hull. Inside this fin-shaped sail is the conning tower ("conn" means to direct the steering of a vessel). The periscope and radio and radar antennas are usually extended through the conning tower. In the past, many of the controls used to operate submarine while on the surface were located here.

A periscope enables a submarine to see what is happening on the surface while remaining underwater. Only the end of the periscope must break the water. The periscope is made with mirrors and lenses that reflect and bend images down a long tube to the eye of a Sailor. A submarine operating at periscope depth is completely submerged, but at a depth where the periscope is still able to break the surface.

As advances in technology are made, the look and operation of submarines change. A major breakthrough in the new Virginia-class submarines is the use of Photonics Masts, eliminating the need for a conventional periscope. Instead of a Sailor on a Virginia-class boat using a series of mirrors and lens to view above the surface, several high-resolution, color cameras will send visual images to large screen displays in the ship's control room via fiber optics.

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Physical Features of Western Ghats - General Studies -HIMALAI IAS

Physical Features  of Western Ghats- HIMALAI IAS

The river Pamba rises at an altitude of 1650 m in the Peermade Plateau in the Idukki district of Kerala and after traversing a distance of 176 km joins the Arabian Sea branching into a number of channels. The basin extends over an area of 2235 km2. The entire catchment area lies in Kerala state. The basin is bounded on the east by Western Ghats and on the west by Arabian Sea. Manimala basin forms the northern boundary of the basin while Achankovil basin forms southern boundary.

The river Achankovil rises south of Devarmalai in the Western Ghats in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala at an elevation of 700 m. The Achankovil River after flowing for 128 km joins the Pamba River at Veeyapuram. The basin extends over an area of 1484 km2 and lies entirely in Kerala State. The basin is bounded on the north by Pamba basin and on the south by Kallada and Pallikkal basin. The Western Ghats form eastern boundary of the basin while the Arabian Sea forms the western boundary.

Major portion of the command area lies in Vaippar basin. The total drainage area of Vaippar basin is 5255 km2. The basin is bounded on the west by the Western Ghats, on the east by the Bay of Bengal, on the north by the Vaigai basin and on the south by the ridge line separating the Vaippar and other streams south of Vaippar. The river Vaippar rises from the eastern slopes of the Varushanad hill range of the Western Ghats at an elevation of about 1500 m near Sivagiri in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu and flows generally in the easterly and south easterly direction for a length of 140 km before joining

the Gulf of Mannar.

Topography of the basins, reservoirs and command area

Like all the river basins in Kerala, the Pamba and the Achankovil basins also can be divided into three natural zones based on elevation, consisting of low land or sea-board, midland and high land. The coast for a short distance along the borders of lakes is flat, retreating from it the surface roughens up into slopes which gradually combine and swell into mountains on the east. The low land area along sea coast is generally swampy and liable to be flooded during monsoon inundation. The plains/midlands succeed low land in gentle ascents and valleys interspersed with isolated low hills. The high land on the eastern portion is broken by long spurs, dense forests, extensive  1ravines and tangled jungles. Towering above all their slopes are Western

Ghats that form eastern boundary of the basins.

The Punnamedu dam lies in high land region while the Achankovil Kal Ar and Achankovil dams are located in midland regions. The main canal taking off from the exit of tunnel from Achankovil Kal Ar reservoir pass through generally gently sloping land, the slope generally lying in the range of 1 in 500 in the initial reaches followed by more or less plains.

Geology of the basins, reservoirs and command area

(i) Pamba Kal Ar

As per the Geological Survey of India publication No. 30 the most prominent rock formation at the Punnamedu dam site is of Archaean age Charnockites.Their colour varies from bluish to dark. They are granulitic in texture. Charnockites with narrow bands of pyroxene granulities, magnetite, magnetite quartz rock are the most wide spread group of rocks in the area. The bed and banks of the river are of rocky formation.

The Geological Survey of India has conducted preliminary geo-technical investigation of Pamba Kal Ar dam site. Fresh Charnockite gneiss with thin weathered layer is exposed in the riverbed with the hill slopes on either banks covered by soil and scree material. The riverbed is exposed with rock in blocky to massive, moderately foliated joints.

(ii) Achankovil Kal Ar

The Achankovil Kal Ar dam site is of Archaean aged Charnockites. Fresh magnetite with granulite / amphilbolite rafts, Charnockites and intrusives of granite and pegmatite are exposed in the riverbed at the dam axis. The rock exposures are confined to the riverbed and the flanks and uphill side slopes are covered with soil and boulders. The preliminary study indicates that the thickness of the overburden is around 10-15 m at the lower levels and upto 25 m at higher levels.

(iii) Achankvoil river

Moderately weathered to fresh garnetiferous biotite gneiss is exposed in the bed of Achankovil river on the right bank. Some foliation joints are also noticed along east-west direction.

(iv) Interconnecting tunnel

The inlet of the Pamba Kal Ar - Achankovil Kal Ar interconnecting tunnel is located on the left bank of Chellikkal Ar, a tributary of Pamba Kal Ar. Moderately weathered to fresh Charnockites are exposed in the riverbed at the site. Foliations in north-east and south-west direction are noticed at the site. The tunnel traverses across the ridge between Pamba and Achankovil basins. Outlet of the tunnel is located on the right flank of Muthuvantodu, tributary of Achankovil Kal Ar. At the outlet point soil and scree material and weathered charnockite exposures are existing nearby.

(v) Achankovil Kal Ar – Tamil Nadu tunnel

The inlet point of the tunnel is located on the left bank of Achankovil Kal Ar River near Pulikkayam. Massive charnockite gneiss is exposed at the inlet location. Foliation is trending in northeast to southwest direction with vertical dip and is near normal to sub-normal to the tunnel alignment. The tunnel outlet is located near Mundal Ar in Tamil Nadu side. The site is exposed with massive Charnockites and have sufficient rock cover above the tunnel.

(vi) Command area

The command area lying in the Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar and Tuticorin districts is predominantly covered by Peninsular gneisses, granites and other sedimentary and metamorphic rocks with two third area comprising rocks of Archaean origin of igneous metamorphic/ other intruded rocks and remaining area covered by rocks of sedimentary origin. There are two main groups of rocks in the area viz. Charnockites and the Khondalites. Charnockites and associated migmatites occupy the western parts of Sankarankovil taluk but occur only as thin bands and lenses in the other parts of the basin. The Khondalite group with ferrous zilmanite graphite gneiss with the associated migmatite exists in the southern and western parts of the Tirunelveli district and garnetiferrous biotite gneisses and quartz feldspathic gneisses with their migmatitic derivatives exist in the Tuticorin district, southern parts of Virudhunagar district and northern parts of the Tirunelveli district. Thin bands of quartzite and crystalline limestone are associated with the Tirunelveli and Kovilpatti taluks.

The soils in the command area can be broadly classified as Grayish brown clayey soils, Yellowish brown to reddish brown soil and grayish brown to light brownish grey soils. Grayish brown soil extends over 65% area of the project command and are developed from weathered classic gneiss and schist’s. Texture of this soil varies from sandy loam to sandy clay loam and sandy clay  3loam to clay loam in surface, clay loam to clay in sub-surface horizon. Yellowish brown to reddish brown soils are derived from weathered quartzite

gneisses. Texture of the soil is mostly coarse loam in surface and sub-surface is sandy clay to gravely clay. Grayish brown to light brownish grey soils are developed from calcareous quartzite gneiss and cover 16% area of command.

River system and Basin characteristics:

Basins

(i) The Pamba

The Pamba is the third longest river in Kerala. It is formed by the confluence of Pamba Ar, Kakki Ar, Arudai Ar, Kakkad Ar and Kall Ar. The Pamba Ar in turn is formed by several streams having their origin in the Pullichimalai, Nagamalai and Sundaramalai in the Peermade plateau at an altitude of +1650 m. The river flows downwards in a north-westerly direction till it receives some more streams from Maruvattapara Malai. It then flows in southwesterly direction till its confluence with Kakki Ar. The Pamba after receiving Kakki Ar

flows in a westerly direction till Arudai Ar joins it near Udumpara Malai. The river then flows in a southwesterly direction till Ponachi and in southeasterly course until the Kakkad Ar joins the river near Perunad. The river then flows in a southern direction upto Vadasserikkara where it is joined by the Kall Ar.

It then flows in northwest upto Panni before taking southwestern course. The river is known as Panni Ar here. The river flows in western course upto Kuriannur and in southern direction upto Kozhencherry and takes a westerly direction upto Pandanad. The river splits into two branches near Pandanad. One branch flows in southwesterly direction and is joined by a branch of Achankovil River. The Manimala River joins the Pamba near Nirettupuram. The river thereafter flows northward and falls into Vembanad lake. The Pamba Kal Ar on which the Punnamedu dam is located originates from Peermade plateau in Idukki district at an altitude of +1050 m. The river flows for about 67 km in northwesterly direction before joining Pamba near

Vadasserikkara.

(ii) The Achankvoil

The Achankvoil River is formed by joining of several small streams originating from the Pasukida Mettu, Pamakkal Teri and Rishi Malai at altitudes ranging between +700 m and +160 m. The river follows a north westerly course till Kumbazha and in this portion it is joined by Kal Ar about 1 km upstream of Turai forests. The river follows a generally western direction till Idappamon. Here it turns northwest upto Thazakkara and thereafter flows westwards. At Tharaimukku, the Kuttenperoor canal branches from the main river and joins

 4Pamba. The river then splits up in several branches and the main branch flows in a north westerly direction to join Pamba river near Veeyapuram.

The Achankovil Kal Ar on which the Achankovil Kal Ar dam is located rises in Western Ghats near Devarmalai at an elevation of +1200 m and flows for 30 km in generally east-west direction before taking southern turn to join Achankovil river.

Basin characteristics

(i) Rainfall

Like many parts of India, the Pamba and Achankovil basins receive major portion of rainfall during south-west monsoon period (June – September). The south-west monsoon forms around 80 per cent of annual rainfall. The north-east monsoon constituting remaining portion of rainfall strikes in October and continues till November.

The rainfall distribution in the Pamba basin is mainly influenced by the geographical disposition and the physical features of the area within the basin. The Western Ghats forming eastern boundary of the basin receives fairly high rainfall ranging from 4307 mm to 3659 mm. The areas west of Western Ghats receive lesser rainfall with the increasing distance from Western Ghats. The average annual rainfall down of Western Ghats ranges from 3324 mm in the reaches near Western Ghats to 2900 mm near coast. The rainfall in Achankovil basin on the other hand is distributed fairly uniformly through out the basin varying from 3346 mm to 2317 mm except for an isolated case of 6556 mm. The average annual rainfall of the Pamba Kal Ar and Achankovil Kal Ar catchments is around 2600 mm.

The command area receives major portion of the rainfall during north-east monsoon i.e., during October-December. The average rainfall in the command area is 772 mm. This area experiences a maximum and minimum of 184 mm and 14.5 mm so far during November and June in monsoon period.

(ii) Climate

Both the Pamba and Achankovil basins enjoy tropical climate without much  variation in temperature. Good rainfall, moderate temperature and a humid atmosphere throughout the year are the characteristic features of these basins. The climate along the coastal areas of the basin is generally hot with a high degree of humidity. The temperatures in the mountainous regions are generally low. The south-west monsoon which is dependable, sets in June  and lasts till September. The north-east monsoon which is uncertain sets in October and continues till November.

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