Why in news?

• Recently, at the GeoSmart India 2022 conference, the Geospatial Strategy for National Development report was released.

 Key Findings of the Report

• India’s Geospatial Economy is currently valued at around INR 41600 crore employing, 5,45,000 people which is poised to grow to INR 61,000 crores by the end of 2025.
• The report highlights that the Indian geospatial industry is transitioning to become a solutions industry instead of a services industry.
• Key areas to drive growth: Defence and Intelligence, Utilities, Urban Development, Infrastructure Development, Agriculture, Utilities, and Land Administration.
• Issue raised: True objectives of the Guidelines – easy and open access to geospatial data, and enhanced use across sectoral workflows, is still not happening at the rate as could have been expected.

Challenges of GeoSpatial Sector

• Absence of sizeable geospatial market in India with no/less demand of geospatial services
• Lack of awareness
• Lack of skilled manpower
• Collaboration Issues and Lack of clarity on data sharing
• Lack of strata of core professionals

Way Forward

• Increasing awareness by publishing the entire policy document and report and make government and private users aware of things.
• Create a geo-portal to provide free or low-cost access to all publicly sponsored data using a data as a service paradigm.
• To create solution templates for diverse business processes across departments, solution developers and start-ups should be contacted.
• The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) should launch a geospatial bachelor's program. In addition to these, there needs to be a dedicated geospatial university.

Content Source Link:

• https://www.geospatialworld.net/prime/indias-geospatial-economy-61000-crores-2025/#:~:text=India's%20Geospatial%20Economy%20which%20is,India%202022%20conference%2C%20in%20Hyderabad
• https://groups.google.com/a/co.larimer.co.us/g/commissioner_kefalas_public/c/RmjW_JkD_Gw?pli=1

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In News:

• India was recently handed over the presidency of G20 presidency for a year at the end of the 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Beyond News:

• It will assume chair at the end of 2022 and is expected to hold a slew of meetings aimed at securing global economic growth and prosperity.
• Together, the G20 members represent more than 80% of the world's GDP, 75% of international trade and 60% of the world’s population.
• G20 presidency year for India is expected to be inclusive, ambitious, decisive, and action-oriented, noting that the country is taking the charge at a time when the world is grappling with geopolitical tensions, economic slowdown and rising food and energy prices.

 G20 presidency implications for India:

• Ukraine war: It is one of the foremost challenges for India as it will involve India continuing to walk a tightrope in view of its traditional close diplomatic and strategic ties with Russia and its rapidly growing partnerships with the US and key Western
• Food security: With domestic food price inflation remaining high across the world coupled with disruptions in exports from Russia or Ukraine, inflation increases, adverse weather patterns the prices are expected to further increase.
• Energy security: Within days of India assuming the G20 presidency, the G7 is expected to put in place a long-awaited price cap for Russian oil with bans on using western insurance, finance and maritime services for transporting Russian crude which will have significant implications for the post-pandemic economy recovery.
• Climate Crisis: Vulnerable and developing countries are expected to need between $160 billion and $340 billion a year by 2030 to adapt to the climate emergency and this figure comes at a time when differences between the developed and developing countries for this funding are growing with India among the voices calling on Western nations to do more for climate transition.
• Digital Divide: India will have to strike a balance between the G7 and Russia as well as needs and expectations of developing countries in the G20 for ensuring inclusive benefits from digital technologies and transformation.
• Security: India will also have work with influential G20 member China at a time when relations between the two countries have plummeted to their lowest in six decades because of the dragging standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Source:

• https://www.livemint.com/news/world/india-takes-over-g20-presidency-from-indonesia-11668596604560.html

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In news

The Global Methane Assessment: 2030 Baseline Report, was launched at the Climate and Clean Air Ministerial Meeting at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

About Methane Emissions

• Methane (CH4) is a hydrocarbon that is a primary component of natural gas.
• Methane is generated when organic matter decomposes in an environment with little to no oxygen, for example underwater, or in an animal’s intestine as food is digested, a process known as enteric fermentation.
  • Also, Methane is also released through the exploitation of fossil fuels, during the process of oil, coal and gas exploration, extraction and processing.
• Methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG), so its presence in the atmosphere affects earth’s temperature and its implications for Climate Change include:
  • It has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime than CO2 (around 12 years compared with centuries for CO2), but it is a much more potent greenhouse gas, absorbing much more energy while it exists in the atmosphere.
  • It is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
  • Further, methane affects air quality because it is an ingredient in the formation of ground-level (tropospheric) ozone, a dangerous air pollutant.

Report Findings

• The year 2021 saw the largest annual increase in Methane since global monitoring began four decades ago.
• IPCC’s Sixth Assessment shows that human-driven methane emissions are responsible for nearly 45% of current net warming.
• Methane levels in the atmosphere in 2021 reached a record high of 1908 parts per billion, which is 262% of the preindustrial era levels.

• • Agriculture, fossil fuels as well as solid waste and wastewater are the three major sources of methane.
• Achieving methane emissions reductions in the next decade will keep the planet significantly cooler, than attempts to cut carbon dioxide emissions alone, largely because CO2 emission reductions also remove cooling aerosols.

Mitigation pathways in report include:

• Least-cost scenarios for limiting warming to 1.5°C require methane emissions reductions of about 60% from fossil fuels, 30-35% from waste, and 20-25% from agriculture by 2030, relative to 2020 emissions.
• The Global Methane Pledge (Announced in CoP 26) target is within the range of reductions needed. Hence, the world must implement methane reduction policies, covering all main anthropogenic sectors immediately to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Measures to limit Methane Emissions

• The United Nations convened a Food Systems Summit in 2021, which aimed at launching bold new actions to transform the way the world produces and consumes food, as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
• The UN’s Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture initiative supports the transformation of agricultural and food systems, focusing on how to maintain productivity amid a changing climate.
• The Global Methane Pledge, launched in 2021 at CoP 26 , aims to keep alive the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal.
  • Under this, over 100 countries have committed to reducing global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels. This reduction could eliminate over 0.2˚C warming by 2050.
• Further, the Global Methane Hub, a philanthropic fund to support methane mitigation, has raised $70 million to support critical research on reducing methane emissions from enteric fermentation.

Source:

• Methane emissions to rise 5-13% by 2030 from 2020 levels under business-as-usual scenario: Report

Image source:

• https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/41108/methane_2030_SPM.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

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In News

At the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, loss and damage fund was approved by the assembly to compensate some of the countries bearing the brunt of climate change-linked natural disasters.

What is Loss and Damage Fund?

• The term ‘Loss and Damage’ refers to the economic and non-economic impacts of climate change that cannot be avoided either by mitigation or adaptation. They also include not only economic damage to property but also loss of livelihoods, and the destruction of biodiversity and sites that have cultural importance.
• The term was brought up as a demand in 1991 by the island country of Vanuatu, which was representing the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
• It was proposed by the G77 and China (India is part of this group), least developed countries and small island states during COP 27.

Where will the money be used?

• Loss and damage: Money would be used to help developing countries recover from the effects of climate change they are already suffering. Ex Flooding in Pakistan or Drought in East Africa.
• Mitigation: Money would be used to help developing nations move away from fossil fuels and other polluting activities. Ex Switching from coal-based power plants.
• Adaptation: This is money to help developing nations prepare for the future impacts of climate change. It includes building stronger flood defence, developing stormproof houses, and distributing crops that are more resilient to dry spells.

What are the concerns?

• The approved text only commits to a fund being created. It leaves ambiguity regarding the procedure to set up the funds and contribution commitments by different nations to the funds.
• While there have been nominal commitments by Scotland and Belgium to donate to such a fund, the estimated L&D is already over $500 billion.
• Failure of similar climate financing agreements in the past. During Copenhagen COP in 2009, 100 billon$ were to be mobilized each year by 2020 for developing countries which is yet to be fulfilled.
• Stalling of negotiation process over claims that large, developing countries (including India) being large emitters and hence should contribute to the funds. This could cause L&D funds to take years before it could meaningfully be operational.
• Calculating monetary value losses due to climate change has been difficult.

Source: 

• https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/incremental-win-the-hindu-editorial-on-loss-and-damage-fund-commitment-at-cop27/article66160851.ece/amp/
• https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-63478446

Image Source:

• https://unfccc.int/files/adaptation/cancun_adaptation_framework/loss_and_damage/application/pdf/online_guide_ld_nov_2016.pdf

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• Context: Recently, the Great Knot from Russia migrated to the Kerala coast in a move to escape frosty winter.

• The great Knot is a trans-migratory bird that moves across the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere using the Central Asian Flyway (CAF).
• Scientific Name: Great Knot belongs to the endangered Calidris tenuirostris.
• Location: It is distributed in far northeast Russia (Kamchatka peninsula), coastal Australia, southeast Asia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and eastern Arabian Peninsula. In India, it is found in Kerala and Gujrat (Jamnagar).
• IUCN Red List: Endangered specie

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/russian-bird-comes-calling-on-keralas-coast-for-a-winter-sojourn/article66160235.ece/amp/

Image Source: https://ebird.org/india/species/grekno/IN-KL-KZ

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• Context: The migratory bird, Great Knot, traversed the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) to reach India from Russia.

• Migration happens twice a year, and birds typically follow a predominantly north-south axis, linking breeding grounds in arctic and temperate regions with non-breeding sites in temperate and tropical areas.
• Many species migrate along broadly similar, well-established routes known as flyways (also described as areas used by groups of birds during their annual cycle which include sites for breeding, stop-overs, and to spend the winters.) and eight such pathways are:
  • the East Atlantic,
  • the Mediterranean/Black Sea,
  • East Asia/East Africa,
  • Central Asia,
  • East Asia/Australasia, and
  • three flyways in the Americas and the Neotropics.
• The Central Asian Flyway (CAF) covers a large continental area of Eurasia between the Arctic and Indian Oceans and the associated island chains.The flyway is also important for migratory waders, with arctic-breeding species travelling from northern and central Siberia to winter in South Asia, principally along the east coast of India. Some species, such as the “Great Knot” Calidris tenuirostris (VU), even migrate to the subcontinent from far eastern Siberia.
• More than 300 species travel along the Central Asian Flyway.

Image Source :

• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-unveils-five-year-action-plan-to-remain-a-paradise-of-migratory-birds/articleshow/65963111.cms

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• Context: Recently first National Centre of Excellence for Green Port & Shipping (NCoEGPS) was launched by GOI.

• Green shipping in simple terms is mode of transportation that does not impact the environment negatively and maintains ecological balance at the same time.
• Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is the nodal ministry. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is the knowledge and implementation partner for this project.
• Key Highlights:
  • It is to foster carbon neutrality and circular economy (CE) in the shipping sector in India.
  • India intends to increase the share of renewable energy to 60% of the total power demand of the major ports (presently less than 10%). This will be through solar and wind-generated power.
  • The ports have also aimed to reduce Carbon emissions per ton of cargo handled by 30% by 2030.
• The Maritime Vision Document 2030 is a 10 Year blueprint of India’s vision of a sustainable Maritime sector and vibrant blue economy.
• India has been selected as the first country under the IMO Green Voyage 2050 project to conduct a pilot project related to Green Shipping.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/

Image source: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/shipping-ministry-launches-corridor-from-cochin-port-to-improve-coastal-connectivity-7383663/

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Exam View: Vulnerable sections of society, Laws, institutions, and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of vulnerable sections of society etc.

In News: Ten years after the enactment of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, an analysis of POCSO cases across India has found gaps in its implementation including:

• Increasing pendency of cases
• High rate of acquittals.

POCSO Act was enacted by the Parliament in 2012 to prevent children aged less than 18 from offences like sexual harassment, sexual assault, and child pornography. The Act was passed in 2012 under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Key features of the Act:

Constitutional Provisions:

• Article 21: The Constitution guarantees every child the right to live with dignity, the right to personal liberty, and the right to privacy
• Article 14: the right to equality
• Article 15: right against discrimination
• Article 23 & 24: right against exploitation
• Article 21A: Right to free and compulsory elementary education for all children in the 6–14-year age group.
• Article 39(f): Obligation on the State to ensure that:
  • Children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity
  • Childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.

Issues related to Child Sexual Abuse:

Government Initiative:

• Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao: It was launched to address the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of women’s empowerment over a life-cycle continuum.
• Child Abuse Prevention and Investigation Unit: It will collect and disseminate information on online child sexual abuse and exploitation.
• Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act, 2016: The Amendment Act completely prohibits the employment of children below 14 years.
• Child Marriage Prohibition Act (2006): It provides that the minimum age of marriage is 21 years in the case of males, and 18 years in the case of females.
• Juvenile Justice Act/Care and Protection Act, 2000: This Act provides for the establishment of the Juvenile Justice Board for giving justice to the juvenile in conflict with the law.

Way Forward:

Comprehensive Framework: The report calls for prioritising prevention activities against abuse, creating safe online environments for children, besides calling on all with a role to protect children to work together to dramatically improve the response.

Multi Stakeholder Approach: Developing a comprehensive outreach system to engage parents, schools, communities, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) partners and local governments as well as police and lawyers to ensure better implementation of the legal framework, policies, national strategies, and standards.

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Why in news? Precision medicine has been successful in treating rare genetic diseases.

About:

• Precision Medicine is "an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person."
• It is often referred to as Personalized Medicine.
• Pharmacogenomics (a study of how genes affect a person’s response to drugs) is part of PM.
• PM may be considered an extension of traditional approaches to understanding and treating disease but with greater precision.
• This approach will allow doctors and researchers to predict more accurately for a particular disease.

https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/precisionmedicine/definition/

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Why in news? India has opposed the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture that sought to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector.

About:

• KJWA is a landmark decision under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that recognizes the unique potential of agriculture in tackling climate change.
• It addresses six interrelated topics on soils, nutrient use, water, livestock, methods for assessing adaptation, and socio-economic and food security dimensions of climate change across agricultural sectors.
• Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use cause almost one-quarter of human greenhouse gas emissions.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/climate-summit-india-flags-concerns-over-rich-nations-efforts-to-extend-mitigation-to-agriculture/article66150635.ece

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Why in news? Recently, India has put forward a proposal to better protect the red-crowned roofed turtle (Batagur kachuga) under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

About:

• Red Crowned Roofed Turtle is one of the 24 species endemic to India.
• A freshwater turtle species, found in deep-flowing rivers with terrestrial nesting sites.
• Distribution: Native to India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
• Major Threats: Loss or degradation of habitat, Sand mining and growing of seasonal crops along Ganga River, Poaching and illegal trade etc.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN: Critically Endangered,
  • Wildlife Protection Act (WPA): Schedule I,
  • CITES: Appendix II

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/cites-cop19-india-s-freshwater-turtle-in-danger-of-extinction-86025

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Why in news? Recently, the 5th meeting of the Governing Council (GC) of NIIF was held.

About:

• NIIF is India’s first infrastructure-specific investment fund or a sovereign wealth fund that was set up in February 2015.
• It was registered with SEBI as Category II Alternative Investment Fund.
• The objective is to maximize economic impact mainly through infrastructure investment in commercially viable projects, both Greenfield and Brownfield.
• NIIF manages three funds: Master Fund, Fund of Funds and Strategic Fund.
• Funds were set up to make investments in India by raising capital from domestic and international institutional investors.
• NIIF’s first bilateral fund - an India-Japan Fund has been proposed recently.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/infrastructure/finance-minister-nirmala-sitharaman-chairs-5th-meeting-of-governing-council-of-niif/articleshow/95582024.cms

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Why in news? Recently, the central government has sanctioned ₹60,000 crore of long-term capital expenditure (CAPEX) funds to states.

About:

• Capital expenditure is the money spent by the government on the development of machinery, equipment, building, health facilities, education, etc.

• It also includes the expenditure incurred on acquiring fixed assets such as land and investment by the government, which will give profits or dividends in the future.
• Capital expenditure includes money spent on the following:
  • Acquiring fixed and intangible assets
  • Upgrading an existing asset
  • Repairing an existing asset
  • Repayment of loan

https://www.livemint.com/politics/policy/centre-sanctions-60-000-cr-long-term-capex-funds-to-states-11668711305402.html

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Why in news? Recently, while hearing a matter in Hindi, a division bench of Justice K M Joseph and Justice Hrishikesh Roy observed that they don't understand Hindi.

About:

• Article 348(1) of the Constitution of India provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High Court shall be in English language until Parliament by law otherwise provides.
• Article 348 (2) provides that the Governor of the State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of the Hindi language or any other language used for any official purpose, in proceedings in the High Court.
• No law has been made in this regard by the Parliament so far.
• Therefore, English continues to be the language for all the proceedings of the Supreme Court.

https://doj.gov.in/use-of-hindi-and-regional-languages/#:~:text=Article%20348(1)%20of%20the,Parliament%20by%20law%20otherwise%20provides

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Background

Madhya Pradesh has notified Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA Act) Rules on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on 15^th November 2022.

About PESA Act

• Article 243M(4)(b) of the Constitution empowered Parliament to enact “the Provisions of the PESA Act, 1996” to extend Part IX of the Constitution, relating to Panchayats, to the Fifth Schedule areas, with certain modifications and exceptions.
• State Legislatures have been empowered to frame all laws concerning the extension of the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution relating to the Panchayats in Fifth Scheduled Areas.
• Presently, 10 States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana, have Fifth Schedule Areas in their respective States.
• Except for Jharkhand and Odisha, the rest of the eight states have framed and notified their State PESA Rules under their respective State Panchayati Raj Acts.

Significance of PESA rules in Madhya Pradesh

• It will empower the Gram Sabhas to take decisions on the rules and regulations with regard to all natural resources in the forest area.
• It will give more constitutional rights to the tribal people to reap the benefits of natural resources from the forest areas where they live.
• PESA allows gram panchayats to decide matters related to minor forest produce, land and small water bodies along with implementation of government schemes and maintaining records of migrant laborers for curbing bonded labour in these scheduled areas.

Source: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1876869

Image source: https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2022/02/pesa-act-explained-in-detail/

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