National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 17th December 2019

UN climate change conference

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The 25th edition of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or COP25 ended in Madrid (Spain).

More on the Topic:

• The UN conference in Madrid failed miserably in galvanising action to address the climate change as the defining issue of the century.
• This year’s outcome is all the more depressing because nearly 200 delegates representing rich and poor countries had the benefit of new scientific reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning of near-certain catastrophic consequences of inaction, and an analysis from the UN Environment Programme on the gap between current greenhouse gas emissions and the limit over the coming decade.
• Eventually, in Spain, the Conference of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, degenerated into an unproductive wrangle over establishing a market system to trade in carbon credits earned through reductions in emissions, with some countries eager to cash in on poorly audited emissions savings from the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol that preceded the Paris pact.
• Such horse trading stands in contrast to the real losses from extreme weather events that climate-vulnerable countries, India included, are facing with frightening regularity: even insured losses worldwide during 2017 and 2018 together stood at a record $225 billion, while the bulk of destruction had no such risk cover.
• These dire data should have imbued the climate negotiations with urgency and purpose, but the final declaration was desultory (lacking of plan, purpose and enthusiasm), merely expressing serious concern at the emissions gap in seeking to limit temperature increase to 1.5° C.

What should have been the preferable outcomes?

• Climate negotiators might have tossed the more intractable questions raising $100 billion a year from 2020 for developing countries, creating a strong framework to address loss and damage from climate events and transferring technology to poorer countries on reasonable terms to the next conference a year later, but they cannot avoid rising pressure from civil society in several countries for concrete action.
• One of the models that will be closely studied is the Green Deal that has been announced by the European Commission, with binding targets for member nations to cut emissions by at least 50% by 2030 and go net zero by 2050.
• This approach could potentially make the EU the leader in global climate action, a position that the U.S. never adopted, and China will take longer to aspire for.

India’s Position:

• India’s own status as a low per capita carbon emitter offers little comfort as its overall emissions are bound to grow. With a low base compared to other major nations, it may well achieve its initial voluntary targets under the Paris Agreement, but a shift away from fossil fuels is inevitable in the longer term.
• As it prepares to face calls for higher ambition in 2020 and beyond, India has to involve its States in mitigation and adaptation efforts. Death and destruction by frequent storms, floods and droughts should lead to urgent cohesive action.

Kyoto Protocol · The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the UNFCCC, which commits its parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets. · The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 and entered into force in 2005. · It recognized that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity. · The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP-7 in Marrakesh, in 2001 and are referred to as the Marrakesh Accords. · Kyoto Protocol Phase-1 (2005-12) gave the target of cutting down emissions by 5%. · Phase- 2 (2013-20) gave the target of reducing emissions by at least 18% by the industrialized countries.

Source: Hindu

National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT)

Topic: Economy

In News: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has operationalised round-the-clock (24 X 7) availability of the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT).

More on the Topic:

• The RBI has also asked banks not to levy any charges from savings bank account holders for funds transfers done through NEFT system which are initiated online (internet banking and/ or mobile apps of the banks).
• Through this move, the RBI has joined an elite club of countries having payment systems which enable round-the-clock fund transfer and settlement of any value.
• Customers can now transfer money through NEFT without paying any charges any time of the day whereas banks charge a fee for fund transfer through cheques and Demand Draft (DD).

About National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT):

• National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) is a nation-wide payment system facilitating one-to-one funds transfer. Under this Scheme, individuals, firms and corporates can electronically transfer funds from any bank branch to any individual, firm or corporate having an account with any other bank branch in the country participating in the Scheme.
• NEFT is different from Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS). RTGS can be explained as a system where there is continuous and real-time settlement of fund-transfers, individually on a transaction by transaction basis.
• NEFT settlements happen in batches, so there might be a slight delay for the actual transfer to take place RTGS transactions, on the other hand, happen in real time.

Source: PIB

Breast Milk Banks

Topic: Health

In News: The minister of Health said that the Breast Milk Banks in India are known as Comprehensive Lactation Management Centres (CLMC) and Lactation Management Unit (LMU), depending on the level of health facilities where these units are established.

More on the Topic:

• They are established under the “National Guidelines on Establishment of Lactation Management Centres in Public Health Facilities”.
• Lactation Management Centres are in no way intended to lessen the importance of mother’s own milk or the practice of breastfeeding.
• If mother’s own milk is insufficient or not available for any unavoidable reason, Donor Human Milk (DHM) is the next best alternative to bridge the gap.

Significance of Breast Feeding:

• It promotes better health for mothers and children alike
• It prevents infections like diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections in early infancy and thus reduce infant mortality
• It decreases the risk of mothers developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease and
• It protects infants from obesity-related illnesses, diabetes and increases the IQ.
• Unicef India mentions mothers, both in high- and low-income countries, face challenges such as poor healthcare and nutrition. Sometimes, families end up giving babies honey or sugared water as their first oral feed, referred to as prelacteal feed.
• Milk banks have a dedicated set of counsellors to answer such queries about lactation management and convince new mothers about the benefits of donating milk.

“Mothers Absolute Affection” · It is a nationwide programme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to promote breastfeeding and provision of counselling services for supporting breastfeeding through health systems. · The programme has been named ‘MAA’ to signify the support a lactating mother requires from family members and at health facilities to breastfeed successfully.

Source: Hindu

World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index

Topic: Reports and Indices

In News: World Economic Forum has released its gender gap report.

More on the Topic:

• Iceland remains the world’s most gender-neutral country.
• India has moved down the ladder from its 108th position last year on the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report to rank below countries like China (106th), Sri Lanka (102nd), Nepal (101st), Brazil (92nd), Indonesia (85th) and Bangladesh (50th).
• Yemen is ranked the worst (153rd), while Iraq is 152nd and Pakistan 151st.

India Specific Finding:

• India has slipped four places to rank 112th globally in terms of gender gap amid widening disparity in terms of women’s health and survival and economic participation — the two areas where the country is now ranked in the bottom-five.
• The WEF had published its first gender gap report in 2006, when India was ranked relatively higher at 98th place.
• Since then, India’s rank has worsened on three of four metrics used for the overall ranking. While India has improved to 18th place on political empowerment, it has slipped to 150th on health and survival, to 149th in terms of economic participation and opportunity and to 112th place for educational attainment.
• As per the report economic opportunities for women are extremely limited in India (35.4 per cent), Pakistan (32.7 per cent), Yemen (27.3 per cent), Syria (24.9 per cent) and Iraq (22.7 per cent).
• It also named India among countries with very low women representation on company boards (13.8 per cent), while it was even worse in China (9.7 per cent).
• It also flagged abnormally low sex ratios at birth in India (91 girls for every 100 boys) and Pakistan (92/100).
• The WEF said India has closed two-thirds of its overall gender gap, but the condition of women in large fringes of India’s society is precarious and the economic gender gap runs particularly deep.
• Since 2006, the gap has significantly widened and India is the only country among the 153 countries studied where the economic gender gap is larger than the political one.
• Only one-quarter of women, compared with 82 per cent of men, engage actively in the labour market — one of the lowest rates globally (145th).
• Furthermore, the female estimated earned income is mere one-fifth of the male income, again among the world’s lowest (144th).
• Women account for only 14 per cent of leadership roles (136th) and 30 per cent of professional and technical workers.
• Violence, forced marriage and discrimination in access to health remain pervasive. The situation and the trend are more positive in terms of gender gaps in education. But a large difference persists for literacy rate; only two-thirds of women are literate compared with 82 per cent of men.
• India ranks high on the political empowerment sub-index, largely because the country was headed by a woman for 20 of the past 50 years. But, female political representation today is low as women make up only 14.4 per cent of Parliament (122nd rank globally) and 23 per cent of the cabinet (69th).

Global Scenario:

• The time it will take to close the gender gap narrowed to 5 years in 2019. While an improvement on 2018 — when the gap was calculated to take 108 years to close — it still means parity between men and women across health, education, work and politics will take more than a lifetime to achieve.
• The political gender gap will take 95 years to close, compared to 107 years last year. Worldwide, women now hold 25.2 per cent of parliamentary lower-house seats and 21.2 per cent of ministerial positions, compared to 24.1 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively last year.
• The economic opportunity gap has worsened, widening to 257 years, compared to 202 years last year. The report said one of the greatest challenges to closing this gap is women’s under-representation in emerging roles, such as cloud computing, engineering and data and AI.

Significance of Gender parity:

• Supporting gender parity is critical to ensuring strong, cohesive and resilient societies around the world. For business, too, diversity will be an essential element to demonstrate that stakeholder capitalism is the guiding principle.

Source: Hindu

Namami Gange

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Review meeting of the National Ganga Council was recently held.

More on the Topic:

• Namami Gange approaches Ganga Rejuvenation by consolidating the existing ongoing efforts and planning for a concrete action plan for future. The interventions at Ghats and River fronts will facilitate better citizen connect and set the tone for river centric urban planning process.
• Following are proposed actions to be taken up under Namami Gange:
• Ensuring sustainable municipal sewage management, Managing sewage from Rural Areas, Managing Industrial discharge, Ensuring ecological rejuvenation by conservation of aquatic life and biodiversity, Promotion of Tourism and Shipping in a rational and sustainable manner ,Knowledge Management on Ganga through Ganga Knowledge Centre
• Central government will fund 100 per cent expenses for various activities and projects.
• Centre to take care of the assets for a minimum 10 year period, and adopt a PPP/SPV approach for pollution hotspots. After this assets, will be handed over to state.
• The ministry is also contemplating to promote organic farming in villages adjacent to the Ganga in coordination with the Agriculture Ministry, in a bid to control river pollution caused by chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
• The government is also looking at adopting suitable technology and financial models for treatment of sewage and other effluents that are flowing directly into the river.
• Further Clean Ganga Fund has been formed to finance the activities related to Rejuvenation of Ganga.

The following broad activities will be financed from the Fund:

• Activities outlined under the ‘Namami Gange’ programme for cleaning of river Ganga.
• Control of non-point pollution from agricultural runoff, human defecation, cattle wallowing, etc.
• Setting up of waste treatment and disposal plants along the river around the cities.
• Conservation of the biotic diversity of the river.
• Community based activities to reduce polluting human interface with the river.
• Development of public amenities including activities such as Ghat redevelopment.
• Research and Development and innovative projects.
• Research and Development projects and innovative projects for new technology and processes for cleaning the river.

Source: Hindu

Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Several cases of wild elephants dying of electrocution near the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka have been reported recently.

More on the Topic:

• The Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area located in the Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Ramanagar districts of Karnataka, The Cauvery River passes through its midst.
• It was constituted in 1987 under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1973 for the purpose of Protecting, Propagating or developing Wildlife and its environment.
• Cauvery supports a diversified aquatic fauna, predominant species being Crocodiles (listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act), Otters and Hump-backed Mahseer Fish.

Source: Hindu