National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 18th June 2019

UN meet on land degradation

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: India for the first time will host the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in September.

More on the Topic: 

• Ahead of the COP-14, Environment minister launched a flagship project, part of a larger international initiative called the Bonn Challenge, to enhance India’s capacity for forest landscape restoration (FLR).
• The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded land under restoration by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030.
• It will be implemented by India during a pilot phase of three-and-a-half years in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Karnataka.
• The project will aim to develop and adapt the best practices and monitoring protocols for the country, and build capacity within the five pilot States.
• This will eventually be scaled up across the country.

India and Land Degradation:

• India faces a severe problem of land degradation, or soil becoming unfit for cultivation.
• A 2016 report by the Indian Space Research Organisation found that about 29% of India’s land (in 2011-13) was degraded, this being a 0.57% increase from 2003-05.
• At the previous edition of the COP, India had committed to restore 13 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by the year 2020, and an additional 8 million hectares by 2030.

UN Bodies working on Land Degradation:

• The United Nations has three major Conventions: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
• Established in 1994, the UNCCD is the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development issues to the land agenda.

Model mains Question: What is land degradation? Discuss the consequences of land degradation and suggest measures to combat the same.

 Source: The Hindu

EU: Zero emissions by 2050

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: EU leaders will discuss setting a target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 following elections that highlighted climate change fears.

More on the Topic:

• The British government last week presented draft legislation to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.
• The World Wildlife Fund said Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Britain are “on board” for the 2050 goal.
• The growing stress on climate action comes after May 23-26 elections to the European Parliament where Green parties made substantial gains.
• Spurred by a wave of student strikes, voters in many countries highlighted climate concerns and the Parliament’s main political blocs for the first time adopted climate action as a rallying cry.

About Zero Emission:

• Zero Emissions represents a shift from the traditional industrial model in which wastes are considered the norm, to integrated systems in which everything has its use.
• It advocates an industrial transformation whereby businesses emulate the sustainable cycles found in nature and where society minimizes the load it imposes on the natural resource base and learns to do more with what the earth produces.
• The Zero Emissions concept envisages all industrial inputs being used in final products or converted into value-added inputs for other industries or processes.
• In this way, industries are reorganized into clusters such that each industry’s wastes / by-products are fully matched with the input requirements of another industry, and the integrated whole produces no waste of any kind. This technique is based on the well-established economic analysis tool known as the input/output approach.
• From an environmental perspective, the elimination of waste represents the ultimate solution to pollution problems that threaten ecosystems at global, national and local levels.
• In addition, full use of raw materials, accompanied by a shift towards renewable sources, means that utilization of the earth’s resources can be brought back to sustainable levels.
• For business, Zero Emissions can mean greater competitiveness and represents a continuation of its inevitable drive towards efficiency.
• First came productivity of labor and capital, and now comes the productivity of raw materials – producing more from less. Zero Emissions can therefore be understood as a new standard of efficiency and integration.

 Source: The Hindu

The World Food India

Topic: Economy

In News: The World Food India event will be held during November 1-4 in the national capital as part of the government’s effort to boost investment into this growing sector.

More on the topic:

• This will be the second edition of World Food India, with first one held in 2017 that saw the participation of 61 countries and signing of MoUs worth $14 billion.
• The grand event will be the biggest gathering of all global and domestic stakeholders in this sector.
• Tagline of WFI 2019 event will be- Forging Partnerships for Growth.
• The events will consist of many top level seminars, exhibitions, country sessions, investment opportunities, high level CEO roundtables, B2B (Business to Business) and B2G (Business-to-Government) networking etc….

Food Processing Industry in India:

• Food processing is one of the six superstar sectors under the GoI’s Make in India initiative and has the potential to transform India as a leading food processing destination of the World.
• It is critical to achieving the PM’s vision of doubling the farmers’ income in India and reducing food wastage.
• Indian Food Processing Industry has grown tremendously recording 11% growth rate, which is twice the pace of Global Industry.
• The sector has recorded double digit growth rate across all major sub-segments of the sectors both in terms of value and volume.
• Despite huge domestic market of 1.3 billion customers with the youngest population globally and an abundant agricultural base, the processing levels in India remain low at 7.7%.
• India lags behind several economies such as China, Malaysia and US. Its share in global exports of processed food is only 2%.
• Besides, India also has a high share of harvest and post-harvest losses from major agricultural produces on account of poor storage, transportation and logistics to the extent of $13 Billion,3 times the agricultural budget.

 Source: The Hindu

The Digital Communication Commission (DCC)

Topic: Regulatory Bodies

In News: The Digital Communication Commission (DCC), an inter-ministerial panel of Telecom Ministry, is likely to take up regulator Trai’s recommendation on upcoming spectrum auction, including radio waves for 5G services in its meeting on Thursday, besides deciding on phase-II of mobile telephony in the Naxal-affected areas by installing 3,465 towers at a cost of Rs 5,070 crores.

More on the Topic:

• The Telecom Commission was set up by the Government of India vide the Resolution in April, 1989 with administrative and financial powers of the Government of India to deal with various aspects of Telecommunications.
• The Government in October,2018, has re-designated the ‘Telecom Commission’ as the ‘Digital Communications Commission’.
• The Digital Communications Commission consists of a Chairman, four full time members, who are ex-officio Secretaries to the Government of India in the Department of Telecommunications and four part time members who are the Secretaries to the Government of India in the concerned Departments. The Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Telecommunications is the ex-officio Chairman of the Digital Communications Commission.
• The full-time Members of the Digital Communications Commission are Member (Finance), Member (Production), Member (Services) & Member (Technology).

The Digital Communications Commission is responsible for:

• Formulating the policy of Department of Telecommunications for approval of the Government;
• Preparing the budget for the Department of Telecommunications for each financial year and getting it approved by the Government; &
• Implementation of Government’s policy in all matters concerning telecommunication.

 Source: The Hindu

Catalhoyuk

Topic: Culture

In News: According to recent studies it is found that the ancient city has faced modern day urban problems like Overcrowding, Violence, Infectious diseases, and Environmental degradation.

More on the Topic:

• Catalhoyuk was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, Turkey.
• The city existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5700 BC, and flourished around 7000 BC.
• Catalhoyuk is the best example of an early Neolithic town where humans began to swap a nomadic hunter-gatherer existence for a lifestyle centered on farming, i.e. the transition to a fully settled existence has been satisfactorily achieved.
• In 2012, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Catalhoyuk’s residents lived in clay brick structures akin to apartments, entering and exiting through ladders that connected the living areas of houses to the roofs.
• After death, residents were buried in pits dug into the floors of the homes.

 Source: The Hindu

Yoga Locator app

Topic: e-Governance

In News: Ahead of International Yoga Day on June 21, the AYUSH Ministry launched an app that can help locate yoga events around the city.

More on the Topic:

• The Yoga Locator app also provides a list of Yoga training centres and instructors near your location.
• The location-based app is available for the Android OS and it can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. The app enables yoga instructors to register themselves and reach out to people who want to pursue a yoga course.

About Yoga:

• Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India.
• Yoga is one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophical traditions.
• There is a broad variety of yoga schools, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
• The term “yoga” in the Western world often denotes a modern form of Hatha yoga, consisting largely of the postures called asanas.

 Source: The Hindu

One Nation One Election

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: PM Modi calls for all-party meet on ‘one nation, one election’.

More on the Topic:

• Simultaneous elections refer to holding elections to Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, Panchayats and Urban local bodies simultaneously, once in five year.

Merits of Simultaneous elections:

• Governance and consistency: The ruling parties will be able to focus on legislation and governance rather than having to be in campaign mode forever.
• The entire State and District level administrative and security machinery will be busy with the conduct of elections twice in a period of five years as per the current practice. Expenditure can be reduced by conducting simultaneous elections.
• Continuity in policies and programmes.
• Simultaneous elections can bring the much-needed operational efficiency in this exercise. Populist measures by governments will reduce.
• Simultaneous elections can also be a means to curb corruption and build a more conducive socio-economic ecosystem.
• The impact of black money on the voters will be reduced as all elections are held at a time.

Concerns Related to Simultaneous election:

• The biggest challenge is achieving political consensus, which seems to be “chimerical”.
• Regional parties will be more opposed to the idea than national parties because there is always a tendency for voters to vote the same party in power in the state and at the Centre in case the Lok Sabha polls and the state elections are held together.
• Also, according to IDFC, there is a 77% chance that the Indian voter will vote for the same party for both the state and Centre when elections are held simultaneously.

 Source: The Hindu