The ocean surface has highs and lows, similar to the hills and valleys of Earth’s land surface, called as ocean surface topography or dynamic topography. These are mapped using measurements of sea surface height relative to Earth’s geoid. Ocean surface topography is specifically the distance between the height of the ocean surface from the geoid. Ocean surface topography is caused by ocean waves, tides, currents, and the loading of atmospheric pressure. The main purpose to measure ocean surface topography is to understand the large-scale circulation of the ocean.
Submarine Relief
The submarine relief may be classified into following categories:
1. Continental Shelf
2. Continental Slope
3. Continental Rise
4. Deep-Ocean Basin (Abyssal Plains)
5. Submarine Ridges
6. Oceanic Trenches
7. Submarine Canyons
8. Island Arcs

1. Continental Shelf
– The submerged margins of continental mass extending from the shore to the first prominent break are sloped usually at a depth of about 120 m.
– Continental shelf occupies about 7.6% of the ocean floor.
– The width of the continental shelf varies considerably. The largest shelf – the Siberian Shelf in the Arctic Ocean – stretches to 1,500 kilometers in width.
– Continental shelves are well known for oil and natural gas and mineral deposits. Coral reefs and bio-classic materials are also common on continental shelves.
– The coastal states exercise sovereign rights over the continental shelf for the purpose of exploring it & exploiting its natural resources.

2. Continental Slope
– The slope that extends from a continental shelf down to the ocean deep is the continental slope.
– Continental slopes occupy about 8.5% of the total area of the oceans.
– The gradient of the slope is lowest off stable coasts without major rivers and highest off coasts with young mountain ranges and narrow continental shelves.
– The boundary between the continental slope and the continental shelf is known as the shelf break.
– These are characterized by submarine canyons.

3. Continental Rise
– The continental rise is found between the continental slope and the abyssal plain. It represents the final stage in the boundary between continents and the abyssal plain.
– Accumulated sediments can be found at the bottom of the continental rise.
– The general slope of the continental rise is between 0.5 degrees and 1.0 degrees. Deposition of sediments at the mouth of submarine canyons may form enormous fan-shaped accumulations called submarine fans.
– Submarine fans form part of the continental rise. Beyond the continental rise stretches the abyssal plain, an extremely deep and flat area of the sea floor.
– Together, the continental shelf, continental slope, and continental rise are called the continental margin. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area.

4. Abyssal Plains
– An abyssal plain is a deep ocean floor, usually found at depths between 3,000 metres and 6,000 metres. Abyssal plains cover more than 50% of the Earth’s surface. They are among the flattest, smoothest and least explored regions on Earth.
– The creation of the abyssal plain is the end result of spreading of the seafloor (plate tectonics) and melting of the lower oceanic crust.
– They result from the blanketing of an originally uneven surface of oceanic crust by fine-grained sediments, mainly clay and silt.
– In addition to their high biodiversity, abyssal plains are of great current and future commercial and strategic interest.
– Sediments of certain abyssal plains contain abundant mineral resources, notably polymetallic nodules. These potato-sized concretions of manganese, iron, nickel, cobalt, and copper, distributed on the seafloor at depths of greater than 4000 meters, are of significant commercial interest.

5. Submarine Ridges
– A mid-ocean ridge is an underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonics. The various mountains are linked in chains, typically having a valley known as a rift.
– This type of oceanic mountain ridge is characteristic of an oceanic spreading center, which is responsible for seafloor spreading.
– These ridges are either broad, like a plateau, gently sloping or in the form of steep-sided narrow mountains. Running for a total length of 75,000 km, these ridges form the largest mountain systems on the earth.
– A mid-ocean ridge demarcates the boundary between two tectonic plates, and consequently is termed a divergent plate boundary.
– The mid-ocean ridges of the world are connected and form the Ocean Ridge, a single global mid-oceanic ridge system that is part of every ocean, making it the longest mountain range in the world. The continuous mountain range is 65,000 km long (several times longer than the Andes, the longest continental mountain range), and the total length of the oceanic ridge system is 80,000 km.

6. Oceanic Trenches
– The oceanic trenches are hemispheric-scale long but narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor. They are also the deepest parts of the ocean floor.
– They are a distinctive morphological feature of convergent plate boundaries, along which lithospheric plates move towards each other at rates varying from a few mm to over ten cm per year. A trench marks the position at which the flexed, subducting slab begins to descend beneath another lithospheric slab.
– Trenches are generally parallel to a volcanic island arc.
– The bottom temperature of trenches is very cold (between 1° to 4°C).
– Great earthquakes and Tsunamis are born in the ocean trenches.

7. Submarine Canyons
– A submarine canyon is a steep-sided V-shaped valley cut into the seabed of the continental slope, sometimes extending well onto the continental shelf, having nearly vertical walls.
– These serve as channels for the flow of turbidity currents across the seafloor. Turbidity currents are flows of dense, sediment laden waters that are supplied by rivers, or generated on the seabed by storms, submarine landslides, earthquakes, and other soil disturbances. Turbidity currents finally deposit sediment onto the abyssal plain, where the particles settle out.
– The formation of submarine canyons occurs as the result of two main processes: 1) erosion by turbidity current erosion; and 2) slumping and mass wasting of the continental slope.
– Submarine canyons are more common on the steep slopes found on active margins compared to those on the gentler slopes found on passive margins. Canyons are steeper, shorter, more dendritic and more closely spaced on active than on passive continental margins.

8. Island Arcs
– An island arc is a type of archipelago, often composed of a chain of volcanoes, situated parallel and close to a boundary between two converging tectonic plates.
– Most island arcs consist of two parallel, arcuate rows of islands. The inner row of such a double arc is composed of a string of explosive volcanoes, while the outer row is made up of non-volcanic islands. In the case of single arcs, many of the constituent islands are volcanically active.
– An island arc typically has a land mass or a partially enclosed, unusually shallow sea on its concave side. Along the convex side there almost invariably exists a long, narrow deep-sea trench.
– Destructive earthquakes occur frequently at the site of island arcs.

QUALIFICATIONS
a) He is a citizen of India.
b) He is over 35 years of age.
c) He is otherwise qualified for election as a member of the Lok Sabha.
d) He must not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or any State or any other authority subject to the control of any of these governments.
e) However, the offices of the President or the Vice-President or the Governor of a State or a Minister for the union or for any state would not be deemed to be holding an office of profit.

ELECTION
Art. 54 provides for indirect election of the President through an Electoral College consisting of –
a) The elected member of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
b) The elected members of the legislative assembly of the States.
c) The members of the legislative assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and of the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Manner of election
a) The election of the President is held in accordance with the system of Proportional Representation by means of the single transferable vote.
b) The voting is done by secret ballot.
Value of a vote and securing parity
a) Art. 55 provides for uniformity in the scale of representation of different states at the election of the President.
b) Besides, there should also be parity between the states as a whole and the union.
c) For this purpose the value of votes of an MLA and an MP is counted under the following formula:

CONDITIONS OF OFFICE
a) The President shall not be a member of either house of Parliament or of a House of the legislature of any State.
b) If a person who is a member of the Parliament or of a State Legislature is elected President he shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in the house on the day he enters upon his office as President.
c) The emoluments and allowances of the president cannot be decreased during his term of office. He is entitled to such emoluments, allowances and privileges as may be determined by Parliament by law.

Term of office
a) The President holds office for a term of 5 years from the date on which he enters upon his office.
b) The President is eligible for re-election any number of times. The Constitution does not impose any limit regarding re-election.
c) Vacant Office – In case for any reason the successor to the President does not enter upon the office then the President shall continue to hold office even after expiration of his term for 5 years till his successor takes oath of office.
The office of the President may terminate before the expiry of the term of 5 years
• Resignation – The President submitting his resignation is addressed to the Vice-President.
• Impeachment – The President being removed from office by the process of impeachment in the manner provided in Art. 61.

Impeachment of the President
a) Article 61 – lays down the procedure for the impeachment of the President. The procedure is quasi judicial as well as political.
b) The only ground for impeachment is violation of the Constitution.
c) The charge against the President may be initiated in any house of the Parliament. The charge must be in the form of a proposal contained in a resolution.
d) The notice for moving the resolution must be signed by not less than one fourth of the total number of members of the House. 
e) Advance notice of 14 days is required.
f) The resolution must be passed by a majority of not less than two third of the total membership of the House.
g) After the change is so preferred it is investigated by the House. The President has the right to appear and be represented in such investigations.
h) If after investigation the House passes the resolution by 2/3 majority and if the other House also passes this resolution by the same majority, the effect of the resolution would be that the President shall be removed from his office the date on which the resolution is passed.

Disputes regarding Election
a) Article 71 – provides that all disputes in connection with the election of President or Vice-President shall be inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court.

Existence of vacancies
a) If there exist vacancies in the Electoral College which elects the President, the election cannot be called in question on the ground of such vacancy.
b) Election for the post of the President cannot be postponed on the ground that some legislative assemblies have been dissolved and elections are yet to take place because Article 62 mandates that the election to fill a vacancy must be completed before the expiration of the term of the President.

POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

A. Executive powers
a) The executive power of the Union is vested in the President. The executive power does not only mean the execution of laws passed by the legislative but also the powers to carry out the business of the Government.
b) However, it is evident that President is not free to use his powers; rather he acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers.
c) The executive powers of the President include administrative powers and military powers.
d) Administratively, the President may not discharge any function as there are ministries responsible for such an act. This way President becomes a formal head and action is taken in his name.
e) The administrative power also includes the power to appoint and remove the high dignitaries of the State. The President shall have the power to appoint –
– The Prime Minister of India.
– Other Ministers of the Union.
– The Attorney-General for India.
– The Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
– The judges of the Supreme Court.
– The judges of the High Courts of the States.
– The Governor of a State
– A commission to investigate interference with water-supplies.
– The Finance Commission.
– The Union Public Service Commission and joint Commissions for a group of States.
– The Chief Election Commissioner and other members of the Election Commission
– A Special Officer for the Schedule Castes and Tribes.
– A Commission to report on the administration of Scheduled Areas.
– A Commission to investigate into the condition of backward classes.
– A Commission on Official Language.
– Special Officer for linguistic minorities.
f) In making some of the appointments, the President is required to consult persons other than his ministers as well. Thus, in appointing the Judges of the Supreme Court, the President shall consult the Chief Justice as he may deem necessary [Art. 124(2)].
g) The President shall also have the power to remove
– His Ministers, individually;
– The Attorney-General of India;
– The Governor of a State;
– The Chairman or a member of the Public Service Commission of the Union or of a State, on the report of the Supreme Court;
– A Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court or the Election Commissioner, on an address of Parliament.

B. Legislative Powers
a) Summoning, Prorogation, Dissolution: Indian President shall have the power to summon or prorogue the Houses of Parliament and to dissolve the lower House. He shall also have the power to summon a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament in case of a deadlock between them. [Arts. 85, 108]

b) The Opening Address: The President shall address both Houses of Parliament assembled together, at the first session after each general election to the House of the People and at the commencement of the first session of each year, and “inform Parliament of the causes of its summons” [Art. 87].

c) The Right to send Messages: Apart from the right to address, the Indian President shall have the right to send messages to either House of Parliament either in regard to any pending Bill or to any other matter, and the House must then consider the message “with all convenient dispatch” [Art. 86(2)].

d) Nominating Members to the Houses: President has been given the power to nominate certain members to both the Houses upon the supposition that adequate representation of certain interests will not be possible through the competitive system of election. Thus,

I. In the Council of States, 12 members are to be nominated by the President from persons having special knowledge or practical experience of literature, science, art and social service [Art. 80(1)].
II. The President is also empowered to nominate not more than two members to the House of the People from the Anglo-Indian community, if he is of opinion that the Anglo-Indian community is not adequately represented in that House [Art. 331].

e) Laying Reports before Parliament: The President is brought into contact with Parliament also through his power and study to cause certain reports and statements to be laid before Parliament, so that Parliament may have the opportunity of taking action upon them.

f) Previous sanction to legislation: The Constitution requires the previous sanction or recommendation of the President for introducing legislation on some matters. These matters are:

I. Assent to legislation and Veto: A Bill will not be an Act of the Indian Parliament unless and until it receives the assent of the President. When a Bill is presented to the President, after its passage in both Houses of Parliament, the President shall be entitled to take any of the following three steps
1. His assent to the Bill;
2. He withholds his assent to the Bill; or
3. He may, in the case of Bills other than Money Bills, return the Bill for reconsideration of the Houses, with or without a message suggesting amendments. A Money Bill cannot be returned for reconsideration
4. In case of (c), if the Bill is passed again by both Houses of Parliament with or without amendment and again presented to the President, it would be obligatory upon him to declare his assent to it (Art. 111).

II. Types of ‘Veto power – From the standpoint of effect on the legislation, executive vetoes have been classified as absolute, qualified, suspensive and pocket veto.

1. Absolute Veto: Refusal of assent to any bill. The bill cannot become law, notwithstanding any vote of Parliament.
2. Qualified Veto: A veto is ‘qualified’ when it can be overridden by a higher majority of the Legislature and the Bill can be enacted as law with such majority vote, overriding the executive veto.
3. Suspensive Veto: A veto is suspensive when the executive veto can be overridden by the Legislature by an ordinary majority.
4. Pocket Veto: By simply withholding a Bill during the last few days of the session of the Legislature, the Executive can prevent the Bill to become law.

g) Disallowance of State Legislation:
I. Besides the power to veto Union Legislation, the President of India shall also have the power of disallowance or return for reconsideration of a Bill of the State Legislature, which may have been reserved for his consideration by the Governor of the State (Art. 201).

C. Ordinance Issuing Power (ART- 123)
a) The President has a very strong position in the sense that he has the power of issuing ordinance. In case there is a matter of urgency and a law is needed for a particular situation, the President can issue ordinance.
b) The 38th Amendment in this regard is a mile stone in the sense that his assent is important.
c) The ordinance can be promulgated by the President when the Houses of Parliament are not in session. The ordinance will have the same effect as of the law of the land.

D. Pardoning Power
a) Article 72 of the Constitution empowers the President to grant pardons to persons who have been tried and convicted of any offence in all cases where the:
– Punishment or sentence is for an offence against a Union Law, offence by a court martial (military court) and the sentence of death.
– The object of conferring this power on the President is to keep the door open for correcting any judicial errors in the operation of law and to afford relief from a sentence, which the President regards as unduly harsh.
b) The pardoning power of the President includes the following:
– Pardon It removes both the sentence and the conviction and completely absolves the convict from all sentences, punishments and disqualifications
– Commutation It denotes the substitution of one form of punishment for a lighter form. For example, a death sentence may be commuted to rigorous imprisonment, which in turn may be commuted to a simple imprisonment
– Remission It implies reducing the period of sentence without changing its character. For example, a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for two years may be remitted to rigorous imprisonment for one year.
– Respite It denotes awarding a lesser sentence in place of one originally awarded due to some special fact, such as the physical disability of a convict or the pregnancy of a woman offender.
– Reprieve It implies a stay of the execution of a sentence (especially that of death) for a temporary period. Its purpose is to enable the convict to have time to seek pardon or commutation from the President.

E. Emergency Powers
a) The President also enjoys emergency power. In a federal structure the grip of the Union on the State is not so tight and hence the Constitution framers did provide for the exigencies which may require a tighten grip of the Union on the State.
b) Article 356 gives powers to the President for the extension of his rule in the State. “If the President on receipt of report from the Governor of a State or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the Government of the State cannot be carried on; the President may extend his rule to the State.
c) Article 360 deals with financial emergency, “If the President is satisfied that a situation has arisen whereby the financial stability or credit of India or of any part of the territory is threatened … the President can declare financial emergency.”
The 38th Amendment (clause 5) has furthered the strength of the President in this regard as his decision is final and cannot be challenged in the Court of law.

The problems faced by the Indian farmer are special, small land holdings are the norm, a very small number of livestock which is often the primary source of livelihood and 15 different agro climatic zones. Solutions developed in the lab, primarily in the developed world do not necessarily address the problems faced by the Indian farmer.
There is a need for direct linkage between science laboratories and farms; it is now imperative that the Indian scientist understand the problems of the local farmer and provide solutions to those problems.
Biotech-Krishi Innovation Science Application Network (Biotech-KISAN)” will be implemented in 15 agro-climatic zones of India in phased manner with the objective:
• Linking available science and technology to the farm by first understanding the problem of the local farmer and provide solutions to those problems.
• The working together, in close conjunction, of scientists and farmers is the only way to improve the working conditions of small and marginal farmers.
• This programme aims to work with small and marginal farmers especially the woman farmer for better agriculture productivity through scientific intervention and evolving best farming practices in the Indian context.
The aim is to connect farmers, scientists and science institutions across the country using Biotech-KISAN hubs. These hubs will be a glue in the existing system allowing small farmers to identify and access scientific solutions to their problems.
Each Biotech-KISAN hub will have a small team led by a facilitator. The facilitator will connect with the farmers through visits by the team, meetings by phone and by using WhatsApp and other modern communication technology.

The “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030” (SFDRR) was adopted during the Third United Nations (UN) World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) held in Sendai, Japan on 14-18 March, 2015.
It is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda, with seven targets and four priorities for action. The Sendai Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters.
The Sendai Framework’s primary focus on risk reduction and resilience is a common element highlighted in all the 2030 development agendas adopted by all member states of the United Nations, such as the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Agenda for Humanity and New Urban Agenda.
The Sendai Framework introduces seven global targets to assess global progress toward the expected outcome. The seven global targets represent a means to quantify and qualify the “substantial reduction” indicated in the expected outcome.

Global Targets
• Substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030, aiming to lower average per 100,000 global mortality rate in the decade 2020-2030 compared to the period 2005-2015.
• Substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by 2030, aiming to lower average global figure per 100,000 in the decade 2020 -2030 compared to the period 2005-2015.
• Reduce direct disaster economic loss in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.
• Substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services, among them health and educational facilities, including through developing their resilience by 2030.
• Substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020.
• Substantially enhance international cooperation to developing countries through adequate and sustainable support to complement their national actions for implementation of this Framework by 2030.
• Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to the people by 2030.

Priorities Areas for Action
SFDRR defined four priorities areas where action is needed:
• Understanding disaster risk.
• Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk.
• Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience.
• Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The  government has launched Progress Panchayat, a campaign to reach out to the minorities, particularly Muslims, to create awareness in these communities about the government’s policies and programmes and remove “fears and misconceptions” about the government.
The Progress Panchayat would educate people of the area about the government’s efforts in social, educational, health and infrastructure sectors and in creating job opportunities.
The panchayats would analyse the level of progress reached by the communities.

Schemes of the Minority Affairs Ministry
• “Seekho aur Kamao” – Under “Seekho Aur Kamao” (Learn and Earn) schemes, about 2200 people had been provided training from 2014.
• “Nai Manzil” – Nai Manzil aims to engage constructively with poor Minority youth and help them obtain sustainable and gainful employment opportunities that can facilitate them to be integrated with mainstream economic activities.
• “Nai Raushni” – Under “Nai Raushni” scheme, 3300 people had been provided job-oriented training.
• “Ustaad” – Initiative to preserve, protect and promote ancient art, culture of the Minority communities
• “Nai Udaan” – The Nai Udaan- Scheme for Support for Minority Students is for the support to the minority community students/candidates clearing Prelims conducted by Union Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission, State Public Service Commissions etc. It expects proactive measures for those communities that lag behind and become increasingly marginalized. It encourages the students/candidates by earmarking of targets on Self- employment and Wage employment and Recruitment to State and Central Services. It provides pre-examination coaching for competitive examinations in government and private institutions for candidates from minority communities.
• “Pradhanmantri Jan Vikas Karykram” (MsDP) – has been providing basic amenities such as school, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure in Minority concentrated areas.
• Employment oriented schemes are our priority. “Employment to every hand” is our commitment.