1. INDIA-UK RELATIONS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his UK counterpart Boris Johnson in Glasgow on the sidelines of COP26.
About:
- During the meeting, the two Prime Ministers reviewed the implementation of the Roadmap 2030 priorities particularly in the trade and economy, people-to-people, health, defence and security areas.
- They expressed satisfaction at the progress in delivering the Enhanced Trade Partnership including steps taken towards the launch of Free Trade Agreement negotiations.
- Modi reiterated India's commitment to closely working with the UK on climate finance, technology, innovation and adaptation of green hydrogen, renewables and clean technologies.
- Both the leaders also discussed regional and global challenges including Afghanistan, Counter-Terrorism, Indo-Pacific, supply chain resilience and post-Covid global economic recovery.
- Prime Minister Modi also reiterated his desire to welcome the British Prime Minister in India soon.
Source : All India Radio
2. COP26 SUMMIT: INDIA
India will achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 and reduce one billion tonnes of carbon emissions from the total projected emissions by 2030.
About:
- The country will bring down the carbon intensity of its economy by more than 45 percent by 2030.
- Delivering the National Statement at the World Leaders' Summit of COP26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, India will bring its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 and it will fulfill 50 percent of its energy requirement through renewable energy by 2030.
- Mr Modi said the country constitutes 17 percent of the global population and its contribution to the emission has remained only five percent. But today, the entire world admits that India is the only major economy that has delivered on the Paris Agreement in letter and spirit.
- The Prime Minister added that the climate finance and transfer of low-cost technology become even more important when India has resolved to move forward with a new commitment and new energy.
- Talking about climate finance, the Prime Minister stressed the need to put pressure on those countries that have failed to deliver on their promises about climate finance.
Source: All India Radio
3. BAN ON FIRECRACKERS
The Supreme Court said a blanket ban on firecrackers may not be possible, but measures ought to be in place to prevent the use of toxic chemicals in firecrackers.
About:
- This is the second time in the past few days that the court had accepted the improbability of imposing a total ban on firecrackers. On October 29, the court had made it clear that there was no total ban on use of firecrackers.
- “Only those firecrackers are banned which are found to be injurious to health and affecting the health of citizens,” the court had noted in an order.
- The firecracker industry had moved the top court after the Calcutta High Court “prohibited the sale, purchase, use, display or bursting of firecrackers of any type at all during the upcoming festivals.
- The Special Bench was setting aside a Calcutta High Court order which had ordered a complete ban on firecrackers on October 29, coincidentally the very same day on which the top court had said such a measure was not advisable.
- The Bench said the High Court order was “extreme”. The HC should have heard the industry, which employs thousands of workers, before passing any such order.
Source: The Hindu
4. HAR GHAR DASTAK
The Centre has launched a mega vaccination campaign- 'Har Ghar Dastak' with a view to speed up Covid -19 vaccination drive.
About:
- NITI Aayog Member ( Health) Dr V K Paul said that Under the campaign, healthcare workers in all the States will visit door-to-door to vaccinate people eligible for second dose and also those who have not taken the first dose.
- More than 106 crore 34 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.
- Out of the total vaccination, more than 73 crore 39 lakh vaccine doses have been given as first dose, while over 32 crore 95 lakh doses have been administered as second dose.
- The Health Ministry said, the recovery rate is currently at 98.20 per cent.
Source: All India Radio
5. PM GATI SHAKTI NMP
The Centre has constituted a 20-member Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS), which will be a monitoring mechanism for the development and implementation of the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP).
About:
- The Cabinet Secretary will be its Chairperson.
- The Members of this Empowered Group include Chairman, Railway Board, Secretaries of Road, Transport and Highways, Civil Aviation; Petroleum and Natural Gas, Power; Telecommunications; Coal, Mines, Chemicals and Fertilizers and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
- The terms of reference of Empowered Group of Secretaries is to review and monitor implementation of the Plan to ascertain the logistics efficiency and adopt framework and norms for undertaking any amendments in the Plan.
- It will also coordinate for any changes in the projects already included in the Plan, within the prescribed framework and norms and to set out a procedure and a definitive time frame for synchronisation of various activities for construction of roads, rail.
- Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that the Logistics Division will act as Secretariat to the Empowered Group of Secretaries for its Terms of Reference.
Source: All India Radio
6. BHASHA SANGAM INITIATIVE
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched Bhasha Sangam initiative for schools, Bhasha Sangam Mobile App and Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Mobile Quiz.
About:
- Bhasha Sangam is an initiative of the Ministry of Education under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, to teach basic sentences of everyday usage in 22 Indian languages.
- The idea is that people should acquire basic conversational skills in an Indian language other than their mother tongue.
- Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Quiz game is targeted towards children and youngsters for helping them learn more about different regions, states, culture, national Heroes, monuments, traditions, tourist locations, languages, geography, history and
- The Quiz is currently available in English and Hindi and in the next 3 months it will be also available in 12 other different regional languages.
Source: All India Radio
7. US-EU DISPUTE OVER STEEL AND ALUMINIUM TARIFFS
The United States and the European Union ended a dispute over steel and aluminium tariffs and said they would work on a global arrangement on steel and aluminium to combat “dirty” production and overcapacity in the industry.
Following are some key details about the deal:
- The United States will not apply Section 232 duties imposed by former president Donald Trump and will allow duty-free importation of steel and aluminium from the EU at a historical-based volume.
- The EU will suspend tariffs on US products like whiskey, powerboats and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, imposed in retaliation for the steel and aluminium tariffs.
- The EU and the United States will negotiate what they call the world’s first carbon-based sectoral arrangement on steel and aluminium trade by 2024, with their arrangement aiming to address carbon intensity and global overcapacity.
- The two sides said they will work to restrict access to their markets for “dirty steel” and limit access to “countries that dump steel” in their markets, both of which contribute to worldwide oversupply.
- The United States also published a consultation that brought on board what it called “like-minded nations” like Japan and Britain on issues related to steel and aluminium, with a focus on the impacts of overcapacity on the global steel and aluminium markets.
Source: Indian Express
8. CLIMATE RECOVERY
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently warned that the average global temperatures would breach the two degrees Celsius mark by 2100 compared to pre-industrial times.
About:
- To understand how quickly the climate can recover from this warming, an international team studied a global temperature rise that occurred 56 million years ago.
- Their findings show that it took about 20,000 to 50,000 years for the climate to stabilise after the rise of five to eight degrees Celsius. The results were published recently in the journal Science Advances.
- About 56 million years ago, our Earth experienced a natural period of global warming triggered by a volcanic eruption. This period was known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and there were huge amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
- This caused about 8°C surface ocean warming in the high latitudes. Several studies have shown that during this period ocean acidification caused mass extinctions in the deep ocean and there were changes in the biota in the surface ocean.
Source: Indian Express
9. LAMKHAGA PASS
The death of 21 trekkers in four mountaineering and trekking expeditions in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh this month once again puts the spotlight on the risky nature of this adventure sport and the safeguards that need to be followed.
What happened during the Lamkhaga Pass trek?
- Seven of the 11 members of the trekking team, mostly from West Bengal, were killed and two were reported missing after the team trekked from Harshil in Uttarakhand to Chitkul in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur.
- The Lamkhaga Pass (5,282 m / 17,320 ft) is one of the toughest pass which connects Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh with Harshil in Uttrakhand.
- The Lamkhaga Pass trek starts from Chitkul the last Village of sangla valley in Himachal, though it can be done from Harshil side also.
- This pass is located near Indo - Tibetan border and to cross the pass one needs to obtain inner line permit from the district administration of Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh.
Source: Indian Express
10. MATRILINY IN MEGHALAYA
Last week, a district autonomous council in Meghalaya announced that it would introduce the ‘Khasi Inheritance of Property Bill, 2021, aimed at “equitable distribution” of parental property among siblings in the Khasi community. If implemented, the proposed Bill would modify an age-old customary practice of inheritance of the matrilineal Khasi tribe.
What does matriliny in Meghalaya entail?
- The three tribes of Meghalaya — Khasis, Jaintias, and Garos — practise a matrilineal system of inheritance. In this system, lineage and descent are traced through the mother’s clan.
- In other words, children take the mother’s surname, the husband moves into his wife’s house, and the youngest daughter (khatduh) of the family is bequeathed the full share of the ancestral — or the clan’s — property.
- The khatduh becomes the “custodian” of the land, and assumes all responsibility associated with the land, including taking care of aged parents, unmarried or destitute siblings.
- Custom also dictates that the khatduh cannot sell the property, without permission of her mother’s brother (maternal uncle) — since he technically belongs to the mother’s clan, through which descent is traced.
Important Info :
Does it really empower women?
- Women activists have often pointed out that the matrilineal system in Meghalaya rarely empowers women. For one, custodianship is often misconstrued as ownership vested in just one person, that is the youngest daughter,
- Moreover, the custodian cannot buy or sell the land, without taking permission from her maternal uncle.
Source: Indian Express