Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Gender gap in labor market
Gender equality across the world remains a far-fetched goal and no country has achieved it so far, according to the 2020 edition of the United Nations report on the state of gender equality in the world.
Try this question for mains:
Q.Discuss how marriage age and women’s health are linked with each other?
About the Report
- The report titled “World’s Women: Trends and Statistics” was released by the UN-DESA.
- The report provided a reality-check on the global status of women 25 years since the world adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
- It presented the global state of gender equality in six critical areas: Population and families; health; education; economic empowerment and asset ownership; power and decision-making; and violence against women and the girl child as well as the impact of COVID-19.
Highlights on status of women
- The gender gap in the labour market, for example, has not budged a bit since 1995.
- While the status of women has improved with regard to education, early marriage, childbearing and maternal mortality, the progress has stagnated in other areas.
Participation in the labour market
- The gender gap in the labour market has remained as it was since 1995: The gap of 27 percentage points has barely changed since then, the report showed.
- Only 47 per cent women of working age participated in the labour market, compared to around 74 per cent men, according to the report.
- The largest gender gap in labour force participation was observed in the prime working age (25-54).
- This gap has remained unaddressed since 1995 and was at 32 percentage points as of 2020, according to the report. It was 31 percentage points in 1995.
- In India, the ratio of female-to-male labour force participation rate was 29.80 in 2019 as against the desired ratio of 50 per cent.
Working for free
- The data in the interactive UN report showed how women remained under the burden of unpaid domestic and care work.
- On an average day, women globally spent about three times (4.2 hours) as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (1.7 hours).
- Unpaid domestic work includes activities related to the maintenance of the household, including food preparation, upkeep of the home, caring for pets etc.
Family responsibilities
- Family responsibilities and unequal distribution of unpaid domestic and care workers were among the primary reasons for women not joining the labour force.
- Their participation depended on their liabilities and responsibilities in their household, noted UN. It found that women living alone were more likely to be in the labour market.
- On an average, 82 per cent women of prime working-age living alone were in the labour market, compared to 64 per cent women living with a partner and 48 per cent living with a partner and children.
- Their participation rates in the economy were found to improve in the latter part of their lives after their responsibilities reduced — when their children grew older.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Particulate Matter
Mains level: Pollution induced mortality in India
Air pollution now biggest health risk in India, says the State of Global Air 2020 Report.
State of Global Air Report
- The State of Global Air report brings into one place the latest information on air quality and health for countries around the globe.
- It is produced annually by the Health Effects Institute and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease project.
India’s exposure to pollution
- Long-term exposure to outdoor and household air pollution contributed to over 1.67 million annual deaths from stroke, heart attack, diabetes, lung cancer, chronic lung diseases and neonatal diseases in India in 2019.
- Overall, air pollution was now the largest risk factor for death among all health risks, the report noted.
- Outdoor and household particulate matter pollution also contributed to the deaths of more than 1,16,000 Indian infants in their first month of life last year.
- For the youngest infants, most deaths were related to complications from low birth weight and preterm birth.
A comparison with peers
- India faced the highest per capita pollution exposure — or 83.2 μg/cubic metre — in the world.
- It is followed by Nepal at 83.1 μg/cubic metre and Niger at 80.1.
- Countries with the least population exposure are below 8 micrograms (μg) per cubic metre.
Back2Basics: Particulate Matter
- PM is the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye.
- Others are so small they can only be detected using an electron microscope.
- Particle pollution includes:
- PM10 : inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 10 micrometres and smaller; and
- PM2.5: fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometres and smaller.
Sources of PM
- These particles come in many sizes and shapes and can be made up of hundreds of different chemicals.
- Some are emitted directly from a source, such as construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks or fires.
- Most particles form in the atmosphere as a result of complex reactions of chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are pollutants emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles.
Harmful effects of PM
- Particulate matter contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small that they can be inhaled and cause serious health problems.
- Some particles less than 10 micrometres in diameter can get deep into your lungs and some may even get into your bloodstream.
- Of these, particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, also known as fine particles or PM2.5, pose the greatest risk to health.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GHI
Mains level: Various facets of hunger and malnutrition in India
India has the highest prevalence of wasted children under five years in the world, which reflects acute undernutrition, according to the Global Hunger Index 2020.
Note the parameters over which the GHI is based and their weightage composition.
Global Hunger Index (GHI)
- The GHI has been brought out almost every year by Welthungerhilfe lately in partnerships with Concern Worldwide since 2000; this year’s report is the 14th one.
- The reason for mapping hunger is to ensure that the world achieves “Zero Hunger by 2030” — one of the SDGs laid out by the UN.
- A low score gets a country a higher ranking and implies better performance.
- It is for this reason that GHI scores are not calculated for certain high-income countries.
- Each country’s data are standardised on a 100-point scale and a final score is calculated after giving 33.33% weight each to components 1 and 4, and giving 16.66% weight each to components 2 and 3.
For each country in the list, the GHI looks at four indicators:
- Undernourishment (which reflects inadequate food availability): calculated by the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient)
- Child Wasting (which reflects acute undernutrition): calculated by the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, those who have low weight for their height)
- Child Stunting (which reflects chronic undernutrition): calculated by the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, those who have low height for their age)
- Child Mortality (which reflects both inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environment): calculated by the mortality rate of children under the age of five.
India’s performance this year
- In the 2020 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 94th out of the 107 countries with sufficient data to calculate 2020 GHI scores.
- With a score of 27.2, India has a level of hunger that is serious.
- The situation has worsened in the 2015-19 period, when the prevalence of child wasting was 17.3%, in comparison to 2010-14, when it was 15.1%.
- India fares worst in child wasting (low weight for height, reflecting acute undernutrition) and child stunting (low height for age, reflecting chronic undernutrition), which together make up a third of the total score.
Useful comparative data
- Overall, India ranks 94 out of 107 countries in the Index, lower than neighbours such as Bangladesh (75) and Pakistan (88).
- In the region of the south, east and south-eastern Asia, the only countries which fare worse than India are Timor-Leste, Afghanistan and North Korea.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OST, INF Treaty, New START policy
Mains level: US-Russia power tussle
Russian President Mr Putin has proposed a one-year extension without conditions of the last major nuclear arms reduction accord, the New START Treaty between Russia and the U.S.
The New START, INF and the Open Skies …. Be clear about the differences of these treaties. For example- to check if their inception was during cold war era etc.
New START Treaty
- The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) pact limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers and is due to expire in 2021 unless renewed.
- The treaty limits the US and Russia to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, well below Cold War caps.
- It was signed in 2010 by former US President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
- It is one of the key controls on superpower deployment of nuclear weapons.
- If it falls, it will be the second nuclear weapons treaty to collapse under the leadership of US President Donald Trump.
- In February, US withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), accusing Moscow of violating the agreement.
Also read:
https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/us-confirms-pull-out-from-inf-treaty/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO)
Mains level: Not Much
Russian Navy along with CSTO members has begun military exercises in the central waters of the Caspian Sea north of the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
Try this MCQ:
Q.The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) sometimes seen in news is an alliance led by:
(a) Russia (b) USA (c) India (d) European Union
Collective Security Treaty Organization
- CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance that was signed on 15 May 1992.
- In 1992, six post-Soviet states belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States—Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—signed the Collective Security Treaty
- This is also referred to as the “Tashkent Pact” or “Tashkent Treaty”.
- Three other post-Soviet states—Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Georgia—signed the next year and the treaty took effect in 1994.
- Five years later, six of the nine—all but Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan—agreed to renew the treaty for five more years, and in 2002 those six agreed to create the CSTO as a military alliance.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GDP, GNP, GVA etc.
Mains level: India's GDP related issues
In IMF’s latest Economic Outlook, Bangladesh has overtaken India in GDP per capita. This has caught everyone’s attention.
Do you know?
- In the 2019 edition of Transparency International’s rankings, Bangladesh ranks a low 146 out of 198 countries (India is at 80th rank; a lower rank is worse off).
- In the latest gender parity rankings, out of 154 countries mapped for it, Bangladesh is in the top 50 while India languishes at 112.
Bangladesh surpasses India
- Typically, countries are compared on the basis of GDP growth rate, or on absolute GDP.
- For the most part since Independence, on both these counts, India’s economy has been better than Bangladesh’s.
- This can be seen from Charts 1 and 2 that map GDP growth rates and absolute GDP — India’s economy has mostly been over 10 times the size of Bangladesh, and grown faster every year.
- However, per capita income also involves another variable — the overall population — and is arrived at by dividing the total GDP by the total population.
What made India lag behind?
There are three reasons why India’s per capita income has fallen below Bangladesh this year:
- The first thing to note is that Bangladesh’s economy has been clocking rapid GDP growth rates since 2004.
- Secondly, over the same 15-year period, India’s population grew faster (around 21%) than Bangladesh’s population (just under 18%).
- Lastly, the most immediate factor was the relative impact of Covid-19 on the two economies in 2020. While India’s GDP is set to reduce by 10%, Bangladesh’s is expected to grow by almost 4%.
How has Bangladesh managed to grow so fast and so robustly?
- Freshly start: In the initial years of its independence with Pakistan, Bangladesh struggled to grow fast. However, moving away from Pakistan also gave the country a chance to start afresh on its economic and political identity.
- Diverse labour participation: As such, its labour laws were not as stringent and its economy increasingly involved women in its labour force. This can be seen in higher female participation in the labour force.
- Textile boom: A key driver of growth was the garment industry where women workers gave Bangladesh the edge to corner the global export markets from which China retreated.
- Less dependence on Agriculture: It also helps that the structure of Bangladesh’s economy is such that its GDP is led by the industrial sector, followed by the services sector. Both of these sectors create a lot of jobs and are more remunerative than agriculture.
- Better social capital: Bangladesh improved a lot on several social and political metrics such as health, sanitation, financial inclusion, and women’s political representation.
Retaining the lead
- The IMF’s projections show that India is likely to grow faster next year and in all likelihood again surge ahead.
- But, given Bangladesh’s lower population growth and faster economic growth, India and Bangladesh are likely to be neck and neck for the foreseeable future in terms of per capita income.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Climate change induced disasters
The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) recently published its report titled “The Human Cost of Disasters”.
The report holds much significance for prelims as well as mains. Just for the sake of information, we must be aware of the report.
Highlights of the report
- 7,348 major disaster events had occurred between 2000 and 2019, claiming 1.23 lives, affecting 4.2 billion people and costing the global economy some $2.97 trillion.
- Of this, China (577 events) and the US (467 events) reported the highest number of disaster events followed by India (321 events).
- Climate change is to be blamed for the doubling of natural disasters in the past 20 years says the report.
- There had also been an increase in geophysical events like earthquakes and tsunamis that are not related to climate but are particularly deadly.
Back2Basics: UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
- The UNDRR was established in 1999 as a dedicated secretariat to facilitate the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).
- It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
- It is mandated to serve as the focal point in the UN system for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities.
- It has a vision to substantially reduce disaster risk and losses for a sustainable future with the mandate to act as the custodian of the Sendai Framework to which India is a signatory.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FAO
Mains level: India and FAO
On the occasion of 75th Anniversary of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 16th October 2020, PM has released a commemorative coin of Rs 75.
Try this MCQ:
Q.The FAO accords the status of ‘Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)’ to traditional agricultural systems. What is the overall goal of this initiative?
- To provide modern technology, training in modern farming methods and financial support to local communities of identified GIAHS so as to greatly enhance their agricultural productivity.
- To identify and safeguard eco-friendly traditional farm practices and their associated landscapes, agricultural biodiversity and knowledge systems of the local communities.
- To provide Geographical Indication status to all the varieties of agricultural produce in such identified GIAHS Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
About FAO
- It is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security.
- It was founded in October 1945 and is headquartered in Rome.
- It maintains regional and field offices around the world, operating in over 130 countries.
- It also conducts research, provides technical assistance to projects, operates educational and training programs, and collects data on agricultural output, production, and development.
- Composed of 197 member states, the FAO is governed by a biennial conference representing each member country and the European Union, which elects a 49-member executive council.
- The Director-General serves as the chief administrative officer.
India and FAO
- India has had a historic association with FAO.
- Indian Civil Service Officer Dr Binay Ranjan Sen was the Director-General of FAO during 1956-1967.
- The World Food Programme, which has won the Nobel Peace Prize 2020, was established during his time.
- India’s proposals for the International Year of Pulses in 2016 and the International Year of Millets 2023 have also been endorsed by FAO.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FATF
Mains level: Money laundering and terror financing
Pakistan is unlikely to exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF’s) greylist with this plenary session as well.
Practice question for mains:
Q.What is FATF? Discuss its role in combating global financial crimes and terror financing.
What is the FATF?
- FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
- The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
- It holds three Plenary meetings in the course of each of its 12-month rotating presidencies.
Why is Pakistan under its scanner?
- Pakistan has been under the FATF’s scanner since June 2018, when it was put on the Grey List for terror financing and money laundering risks.
- FATF and its partners such as the Asia Pacific Group (APG) are reviewing Pakistan’s processes, systems, and weaknesses on the basis of a standard matrix for anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime.
- In June 2018, Pakistan gave a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and APG to strengthen its AML/CFT regime, and to address its strategic counter-terrorism financing-related deficiencies.
- Pakistan and the FATF then agreed on the monitoring of 27 indicators under a 10-point action plan, with specific deadlines.
- The understanding was that the successful implementation of the action plan, and its physical verification by the APG, would lead the FATF to move Pakistan out of the Grey List.
- However, Islamabad managed to satisfy the global watchdog over just five of them.
B2BASICS
What are the Black List and Grey List of the FATF?
FATF has 2 types of lists;
1. Black List
2. Grey List
1. Meaning of Black List: Only those countries are included in this list that FATF considers as uncooperative tax havens for terror funding. These countries are known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs). In other words; countries that are supporting terror funding and money laundering activities are placed in the Blacklist.
The FATF blacklist or OECD blacklist has been issued by the Financial Action Task Force since 2000 and lists countries which it judges to be non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terror funding.
The FATF updates the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.
(This map shows the countries included in the Greylist)
2. Meaning of Grey List: Those countries which are not considered as the safe heaven for supporting terror funding and money laundering; included in this list. The inclusion in this list is not as severe as blacklisted.
Now Grey list is a warning given to the country that it might come in Black list (Just like a yellow card in a football match). If a country is unable to curb mushrooming of terror funding and money laundering; it is shifted from grey list to black list by the FATF.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Freedom of Navigation Operations
Mains level: Not Much
Indian Navy is scheduled to hold another Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with the US to undertake Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOP).
Try this question:
Q.What do you mean by Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs)? What are its legal backings? Discuss its significance.
Freedom of Navigation Operations
- FONOPs are closely linked to the concept of freedom of navigation, and in particular to the enforcement of relevant international law and customs regarding freedom of navigation.
- Freedom of navigation has been thoroughly practised and refined, and ultimately codified and accepted as international law under UNCLOS, in a legal process that was inclusive and consent-based.
- The drafting of UNCLOS was driven in part by states’ concerns that strong national maritime interests could lead to excessive maritime claims over coastal seas, which could threaten freedom of navigation.
- FONOPs are outgrowths of this development of international law, based on sovereign equality and international interdependence.
Significance of FONOPs
- FONOPs are a method of enforcing UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and avoiding these negative outcomes by reinforcing freedom of navigation through practice.
- It is exercised by sailing through all areas of the sea permitted under UNCLOS, and particularly those areas that states have attempted to close off to free navigation as defined under UNCLOS.
Back2Basics: UNCLOS
- The Law of the Sea Treaty formally known as the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was adopted in 1982 at Montego Bay, Jamaica. It entered into force in 1994.
- The convention establishes a comprehensive set of rules governing the oceans and to replace previous U.N. Conventions on the Law of the Sea
- The convention defines the distance of 12 nautical miles from the baseline as Territorial Sea limit and a distance of 200 nautical miles distance as Exclusive Economic Zone limit.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Quad Group
Mains level: Deterrence in Australia-China Ties
Australia and China’s cordial economic ties, established over the last three decades, have been soured this year over several points of friction.
Try this question
Q. Discuss the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or the Quad) and its purpose to establish “Asian Arc of Democracy”.
Various points of friction
(1) Australia’s Covid-19 inquiry
- Australia’s appeal for an independent global inquiry into the origins and initial response of Covid-19 created fury in Beijing.
- China alleged that Australia was teaming up with the US to spread “anti-China propaganda”.
(2) Tension over journalists
- The second diplomatic spat began with the detention of an Australian news anchor based in Beijing by the Chinese authorities after she was suspected of “criminal activities” that endangered China’s national security.
- The Australian government said the journalist was held under “residential surveillance” at an unknown location.
- Following this, the journalists sought refuge in Australian diplomatic missions, as they were not allowed to leave the country.
(3) Ideological issues
- The two countries have also been at loggerheads on other ideological issues previously too.
- After reports of China keeping Uighur Muslims in state-run detention camps surfaced, Australia was swift to respond and expressed “deep concern” over the “human rights situation.”
- Australia also supported Hong Kong’s autonomy cause. It decided to extend visas for Hong Kong residents.
- In both instances, China responded staunchly and asked Australia to not meddle in its “internal matters.”
(4) Economic dependence
- China is Australia’s largest trading partner in terms of both exports and imports.
- China’s share in Australia’s exports reached a record A$117 billion, or 38 per cent, in 2019, more than any other country.
- Australian sectors like mining, tourism, education benefit from trade with China. China even imports products such as milk, cheese, wine and meat.
- Over the years, it has been increasing its investment in Australian infrastructure and real estate products too.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: HCI, HDI
Mains level: Impact of coronovirus outbreak on Human Capital
India has been ranked at the 116th position in the latest edition of the World Bank’s annual Human Capital Index that benchmarks key components of human capital across countries.
Try this PYQ:
Q.As per UN-Habitat’s Global Report on Human Settlements 2009, which one among the following regions has shown the fastest growth rate of urbanization in the last three decades?
(a) Asia
(b) Europe
(c) Latin America and Caribbean
(d) North America
Highlights of the 2020 rankings
- The 2020 Human Capital Index update includes health and education data for 174 countries — covering 98 per cent of the world’s population — up to March 2020.
- It provides a pre-pandemic baseline on the health and education of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.
Impact of the pandemic
- The analysis shows that pre-pandemic, most countries had made steady progress in building the human capital of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.
- The pandemic puts at risk the decade’s progress in building human capital, including the improvements in health, survival rates, school enrollment, and reduced stunting.
- The economic impact of the pandemic has been particularly deep for women and for the most disadvantaged families, leaving many vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty.
- Due to the pandemic’s impact, most children — more than 1 billion — have been out of school and could lose out, on average, half a year of schooling, adjusted for learning, translating into considerable monetary losses.
- Data also shows significant disruptions to essential health services for women and children, with many children missing out on crucial vaccinations.
India’s performance
- India’s score increased to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018, as per the Human Capital Index report released by the World Bank.
- Last year, India had raised “serious reservations” over the Human Capital Index, wherein India was ranked 115 out of 157 countries.
- This year India finds itself at 116th from among 174 countries.
Back2Basics: Human Capital Project
- As part of this World Development Report (WDR), the World Bank has launched a Human Capital Project (HCP).
- The HCP programme is claimed to be a program of advocacy, measurement, and analytical work to raise awareness and increase demand for interventions to build human capital.
- There are three components of HCP:
- a cross-country human capital measurement metric called the Human Capital Index (HCI),
- a programme of measurement and research to inform policy action
- a programme of support for country strategies to accelerate investment in human capital.
Human Capital Index (HCI)
- The HCI has been constructed for 157 countries.
- It claims to seek to measure the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18.
- The HCI has three components:
- Survival: as measured by under-5 mortality rates
- Expected years of Quality-Adjusted School: which combines information on the quantity and quality of education
- Health environment: Using two proxies of (a) adult survival rates and (b) the rate of stunting for children under age 5.
HDI vs. HCI
- UNDP constructs Human Development Index (HDI) for several years.
- The HCI uses survival rates and stunting rate instead of life expectancy as a measure of health, and quality-adjusted learning instead of merely years of schooling as a measure of education.
- HCI also excludes per capita income whereas the HDI uses it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Smart City Index
Mains level: Success of the Smart City Mission
Four Indian cities -New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru – witnessed a significant drop in their rankings in the global listing of smart cities that was topped by Singapore.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which one of the following is not a sub-index of the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’?
(a) Maintenance of law and order
(b) Paying taxes
(c) Registering property
(d) Dealing with construction permits
Global Smart City Index
- The Institute for Management Development, in collaboration with Singapore University for Technology and Design, has released the 2020 Smart City Index.
- Its key findings rest on how technology is playing a role in the Covid-19 era.
- The 2020 Index was topped by Singapore, followed by Helsinki and Zurich in the second and the third place respectively.
- Others in the top 10 list include Auckland (4th), Oslo (5th), Copenhagen (6th), Geneva (7th), Taipei City (8th), Amsterdam (9th) and New York at the 10th place.
India’s performances
- In the 2020 Smart City Index, Hyderabad was placed at the 85th position (down from 67 in 2019), New Delhi at 86th rank (down from 68 in 2019), Mumbai was at 93rd place (in 2019 it was at 78) and Bengaluru at 95th (79 in 2019).
- This drop can be attributed to the detrimental effect that the pandemic has had where the technological advancement was not up to date.
- From 15 indicators that the respondents perceive as the priority areas for their city, all four cities highlighted air pollution as one of the key areas that they felt their city needed to prioritise on.
- For cities like Bangalore and Mumbai, this was closely followed by road congestion while for Delhi and Hyderabad it was basic amenities, the report said.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Djibouti Code of Conduct/ Jeddah Agreement
Mains level: Maritime Security of India
India has joined the Djibouti Code of Conduct/ Jeddah Amendment (DCOC/JA) as Observer, following the high-level virtual meeting.
Try this MCQ:
Q.The Djibouti Code of Conduct is related to:
(a) International trade in precious stones (b) Maritime Security (c) Data sharing on Terrorism related activities (d) Data Localization
Djibouti Code of Conduct
- DCOC/JA is a grouping on maritime matters comprising 18 member states adjoining the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, the East coast of Africa and Island countries in the IOR.
- The DCOC, established in January 2009, is aimed at the repression of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Western Indian Ocean Region, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
Provisions of the code
- The Code provides a framework for capacity building in the Gulf of Aden and Western Indian Ocean to combat the threat of piracy.
- It is a partnership of the willing and continues to both deliver against its aims as well as attract increasing membership.
- The Code was signed on January 29 by the representatives of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Seychelles, Somalia, the United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen.
- Since the meeting, further countries have signed bringing the total to 18 countries from the 21 eligible.
Significance for India
- India joins Japan, Norway, the UK and the US as Observers to the DCOC/JA.
- As an Observer at the DCOC/JA, India looks forward to working together with DCOC/JA member states towards coordinating and contributing to enhanced maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region.
- Delhi has been steadily increasing its strategic footprints in Western and Eastern Indian Ocean besides Eastern African coastal states.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UN Commission on Status of Women, ECOSOC
Mains level: Not Much
India has been elected as a member of the United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women (UN-CSW), a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Try this PYQ:
Q.Democracy’s superior virtue lies in the fact that it calls into activity:
(a) The intelligence and character of ordinary men and women
(b) The methods for strengthening executive leadership
(c) A superior individual with dynamism and vision
(d) A band of dedicated party workers
UN Commission on Status of Women
- The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW or UNCSW) is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the main organs within the United Nations.
- CSW has been described as the UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.
- Every year, representatives gather at UN Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.
- India will be a member of United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women for four years, 2021 to ‘25.
- This year is the 25th anniversary of the famous Beijing World Conference on Women (1995).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Biodiversity Outlook, CBD
Mains level: Biodiversity and its governance
The Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO) 5 report was leaked before its official release. Let’s look at the highlights of the report.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Terms sometimes seen in the news- Their origin
- Annex-I Countries- Cartagena Protocol
- Certified Emissions- Nagoya Protocol Reductions
- Clean Development- Kyoto Protocol Mechanism
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
About GBO report
- The GBO is the flagship publication of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
- It is a periodic report that summarizes the latest data on the status and trends of biodiversity and draws conclusions relevant to the further implementation of the Convention.
- It summarizes progress made towards achieving the objectives of the Convention, such as the Aichi Targets and identifies key actions to achieve these.
Highlights of the Report
- GBO-5 is an overview of the state of nature. It is a final report card on the progress made by countries in achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
- What the world needed was a shift from business-as-usual, the report said. This transformation needed to take place in all human activities that were interlinked with natural resources.
- This shift was crucial, the report added as natural resources would continue to decline and the world would not be able to meet the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals.
- The GBO-5 suggested some shifts that need to be implemented to achieve the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity. These include:
- Transition within land and forests: The report called the restoration of all forests that had been degraded. It also urged restoring local ecosystems.
- Sustainable agriculture: Farmers would have to reduce the use of chemicals and instead focus more on agroecological farming practices, the report said.
- Sustainable food systems: The report urged people to eat healthier, plant-based food and less meat. It also called for a focus on the problem of food wastage within the supply chain and household.
- Climate action: The report called for nature-based solutions to reduce climate change
- One health: Agricultural and urban ecosystems, as well as wildlife, should be managed in an integrated manner, it said.
Failure to meet the targets
None of the 20 ‘Aichi Biodiversity Targets’ agreed on by national governments through the CBD has been met, according to the report. The world was supposed to meet these targets by 2020. Whatever little progress has been made, has to do with the following:
- Aichi Biodiversity Target 1 (Creating awareness about the value of biodiversity)
- Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 (17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, to be effectively and equitably managed)
- Aichi Biodiversity Target 16 (Access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization)
- Aichi Biodiversity Target 17 (Creation, adoption and implementation of an effective, participatory and updated national biodiversity strategy and action plan)
- Aichi Biodiversity Target 19 (Improvement and dissemination of knowledge, the science base and technologies relating to biodiversity).
Back2Basics: Convention on Biological Diversity
- The CBD, known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty.
- The Convention has three main goals including the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
- It has two supplementary agreements:
- Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety- An international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another
- Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS)
- All UN member states—with the exception of the United States—have ratified the treaty.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Criminal Court
Mains level: Not Much
The U.S. has announced sanctions including asset freezes and visa bans against two officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.
International Criminal Court
- The ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague, Netherlands.
- It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
- It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals.
- The ICC lacks universal territorial jurisdiction, and may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed within member states, crimes committed by nationals of member states, or crimes in situations referred to the Court by the UNSC.
Issues with ICC
The ICC has faced a number of criticisms from states and society, including objections about-
- its jurisdiction, accusations of bias, questioning of the fairness of its case-selection and trial procedures, and doubts about its effectiveness
Implications of US sanction
- The US action is perceived as a setback to the international rules-based multilateral order, and the decision to sanction anybody assisting the ICC will deter victims of violence in Afghanistan from speaking out.
- The unilateral sanctions would encourage other regimes accused of war crimes to flout the ICC’s rulings.
B2BASICS
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Innovation Index
Mains level: Innovation ecosystem in India
India has climbed 4 spots and has been ranked 48thby the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the Global Innovation Index 2020 rankings.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2016:
Q.India’s ranking in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ is sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following has declared that ranking?
a) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
b) World Economic Forum
c) World Bank
d) World Trade Organization (WTO)
About the Global Innovation Index
- The GII is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business a British magazine.
- It is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the WIPO, in partnership with other organisations and institutions.
- It is based on both subjective and objective data derived from several sources, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
- The GII is commonly used by corporate and government officials to compare countries by their level of innovation.
- The theme of the 2019 GII is Creating Healthy Lives – The Future of Medical Innovation, which aims to explore the role of medical innovation as it shapes the future of healthcare.
Components of GII
Five input pillars capture elements of the national economy that enable innovative activities under GII are:
- Institutions,
- Human capital and research,
- Infrastructure,
- Market sophistication, and
- Business sophistication.
Two output pillars capture actual evidence of innovation outputs:
- Knowledge and technology outputs and
- Creative outputs
India’s performance this year
- In midst of the COVID -19 pandemic, it comes as uplifting news for India and is a testament of its robust R&D Ecosystem.
- India was at the 52nd position in 2019 and was ranked 81st in the year 2015.
- The WIPO had also accepted India as one of the leading innovation achievers of 2019 in the central and southern Asian region, as it has shown a consistent improvement in its innovation ranking for the last 5 years.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SCRI
Mains level: Global trade tensions with China and its repercussions
With COVID-19 and trade tensions between China and the US threatening supply chains or actually causing bottlenecks, Japan has mooted the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) as a trilateral approach to trade, with India and Australia as the other two partners.
Q.Discuss the efficacy of the idea of Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) initiaited by Japan.
What is Supply Chain Resilience (SCR)?
- In the context of international trade, SCR is an approach that helps a country to ensure that it has diversified its supply risk across a clutch of supplying nations instead of being dependent on just one or a few.
- Unanticipated events whether natural or man-made that disrupt supplies from a particular country or even intentional halts to trade, could adversely impact economic activity in the destination country.
What is Japan proposing?
- The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the assembly lines which are heavily dependent on supplies from one country.
- While Japan exported $135 billion worth of goods to China in 2019, it also imported $169 billion worth from the world’s second-largest economy, accounting for 24% of its total imports.
- So, any halt to supplies could potentially impair economic activity in Japan.
- In addition, the U.S.-China trade tensions have caused alarm in Japanese trade circles for a while now.
- If the world’s two largest economies do not resolve their differences, it could threaten globalisation as a whole and have a major impact on Japan.
- It is heavily reliant on international trade both for markets for its exports and for supplies of a range of primary goods from oil to iron ore.
Japan eyeing India as a partner for the SCRI
- Japan is the fourth-largest investor in India with cumulative FDIs touching $33.5 billion in the 2000-2020 periods.
- It accounts for 7.2% of inflows in that period, according to quasi-government agency India Invest.
- Imports from Japan into India more than doubled over 12 years to $12.8 billion in FY19. Exports from India to the world’s third-largest economy stood at $4.9 billion that year, data from the agency showed.
- It is a clear reflection that the two countries are unlikely to allow individual cases to cloud an otherwise long-standing and deepening trade relationship.
Where does Australia stand?
- Australia, Japan and India are already part of another informal grouping, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, which includes the U.S.
- Media reports indicate that China has been Australia’s largest trading partner and that it counts for 32.6% of Australia’s exports, with iron ore, coal and gas dominating the products shipped to Asia’s largest economy.
- But relations including trade ties between the two have been deteriorating for a while now.
- China banned beef imports from four Australian firms in May and levied import tariffs on Australian barley.
India’s stand to gain or lose
- Following the border tensions, partners such as Japan have sensed that India may be ready for dialogue on alternative supply chains.
- Earlier, India would have done little to overtly antagonize China. But an internal push to suddenly cut links with China would be impractical.
- China’s share of imports into India in 2018 stood at 14.5%. It supplies dominate segments of the Indian economy.
- Sectors that have been impacted by supply chain issues arising out of the pandemic include pharmaceuticals, automotive parts, electronics, shipping, chemicals and textiles.
- Over time, if India enhances self-reliance or works with exporting nations other than China, it could build resilience into the economy’s supply networks.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Rights of PWDs
The United Nations has released it’s first-ever guidelines on access to social justice for people with disabilities to make it easier for them to access justice systems around the world.
Note: These guidelines can be used in mains answer while substantiating their rights.
Defining a person with a disability
- The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted in 2007 as the first major instrument of human rights in the 21st century.
- It defines persons with disabilities as those “who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”.
Highlights of the Guidelines
The guidelines outline a set of 10 principles and detail the steps for implementation. The 10 principles are:
- Principle 1: All persons with disabilities have the legal capacity and, therefore, no one shall be denied access to justice on the basis of disability.
- Principle 2: Facilities and services must be universally accessible to ensure equal access to justice without discrimination of persons with disabilities.
- Principle 3: PWDS including children with disabilities, have the right to appropriate procedural accommodations.
- Principle 4: PWDS have the right to access legal notices and information in a timely and accessible manner on an equal basis with others.
- Principle 5: PWDS are entitled to all substantive and procedural safeguards recognized in international law on an equal basis with others, and States must provide the necessary accommodations to guarantee due process.
- Principle 6: PWDS have the right to free or affordable legal assistance.
- Principle 7: PWDS have the right to participate in the administration of justice on an equal basis with others.
- Principle 8: PWDS have the rights to report complaints and initiate legal proceedings concerning human rights violations and crimes, have their complaints investigated and be afforded effective remedies.
- Principle 9: Effective and robust monitoring mechanisms play a critical role in supporting access to justice for persons with disabilities.
- Principle 10: All those working in the justice system must be provided with awareness-raising and training programmes addressing the rights of persons with disabilities, in particular in the context of access to justice.
Significance for India
- As per statistics maintained by the UN, in India 2.4 per cent of males are disabled and two per cent of females from all age groups are disabled.
- Disabilities include psychological impairment, intellectual impairment, speaking, multiple impairments, hearing, seeing among others.
- In comparison, the disability prevalence in the US is 12.9 per cent among females and 12.7 per cent among males.
- Disability prevalence in the UK is at 22.7 per cent among females and 18.7 per cent among males.
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