TAG: GS 3: ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the COP28 climate conference in Dubai marked the official launch of a significant loss and damage fund aimed at assisting developing nations vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

EXPLANATION:

• While an initial funding of $475 million has been allocated, the broader financial requirements, estimated to be in the trillions, remain a critical concern.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LOSS AND DAMAGE FUND:

• Purpose:
  • The fund is intended to aid vulnerable countries coping with the consequences of climate change, addressing issues like rising sea levels, floods, droughts, and cyclones.
• Financial Need:
  • Economists highlight the urgent requirement for trillions of dollars to effectively address the challenges posed by climate change.
• Launch:
  • The fund was officially announced during COP27 but saw resolution and agreement on key aspects only shortly before COP28.
• Contributions:
  • The UAE pledged $100 million, the European Union committed $275 million, the US offered $17.5 million, and Japan contributed $10 million towards the initial funding.

UNDERSTANDING THE LOSS AND DAMAGE FUND:

• Global Financial Package:
  • Designed to support countries facing the impacts of climate change by providing compensation from wealthier nations responsible for higher emissions.
• Definition Complexity:
  • Different interpretations of “loss and damage” exist; there’s no universally agreed definition within the UNFCCC, categorized broadly as economic and non-economic impacts.

IMPACTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE:

• Historical Context:
  • The Industrial Era since 1850 disrupted natural greenhouse gas mechanisms, with the US, UK, EU, and a few others contributing significantly to global emissions.
• Responsibility for Emissions:
  • Developed countries account for a significant portion of historical emissions, with India responsible for a small percentage, while China is the world’s largest emitter in recent years.

EXTENT OF LOSS AND DAMAGE:

• Financial Impact:
  • Vulnerable countries have collectively faced $525 billion in climate crisis-related losses over 20 years, projected to rise to $580 billion annually by 2030.
• Impact on Vulnerable Communities:
  • Global warming has profoundly affected vulnerable communities, with projections indicating worsening conditions, especially in developing nations.

OPERATION AND SIZE OF THE FUND:

• Fund Management:
  • Initially overseen by the World Bank, funded by wealthier nations and some developing countries, though the scale and replenishment cycle remain uncertain.
• Concerns and Acceptance:
  • Developing nations initially hesitated to involve the World Bank, fearing greater control by richer nations, but have since acquiesced to this arrangement.

CONCLUSION:

• The establishment of the loss and damage fund at COP28 represents a crucial step towards assisting vulnerable nations affected by climate change.
• However, the disparity between the initial funding and the colossal financial requirement underscores the monumental challenge ahead in effectively mitigating and addressing the consequences of climate change globally.

SOURCE: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-climate/loss-and-damage-fund-approved-cop-28-9049082/

TAG: GS 3: INTERNAL SECURITY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Union Home Minister announced the signing of a peace agreement with the Meitei separatist group United National Liberation Front (UNLF) in Manipur, terming it a “historic milestone.”

EXPLANATION:

UNITED NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT (UNLF):

• The United National Liberation Front (UNLF) was established on November 24, 1964.
• It was established as the oldest valley-based insurgent group in Manipur.
• It stands apart from insurgent groups active in the state’s Naga-dominated and Kuki-Zomi dominated hills.
• It was formed under the leadership of Arembam Samarendra Singh, the group demanded secession from India.
• Notably, top central committee leaders included individuals from diverse backgrounds like Khalalung Kamei (Naga) and Thangkhopao Singsit (Kuki).

EVOLUTION :

• The UNLF underwent changes and established its armed wing, the Manipur People’s Army, in 1990.
• Over time, it executed numerous attacks targeting Indian security personnel, operating mainly in the valley areas of Manipur and certain villages in the Kuki-Zomi hill districts.
• Currently divided into two factions, the UNLF has an estimated cadre strength of 400-500 individuals.
• It largely operated from camps in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region, Chin state, and Rakhine state with Myanmar military patronage.
• However, recent unrest and attacks by Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) and People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) in Myanmar have weakened its position across the border.

Concerns and Activity Surge:

• Despite a decline and retreat to Myanmar, concerns arose over increased activity, including recruitment of around 500 new members, coinciding with the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur.

Peace Agreement:

• The recent peace agreement signed with UNLF is a significant milestone in Manipur’s history.
• It marks the first time a valley-based insurgent group has engaged in such an agreement with the Centre.

Previous Splintering and Leadership Changes:

• The group experienced internal divisions leading to formal splits, with N Oken forming the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and later, Khundongbam Pambei breaking away from the central committee in 2021.
• Consequently, two factions emerged under Pambei and NC Koireng.

Other Meitei Insurgent Groups and Dynamics:

• The UNLF is one of several Meitei insurgent groups in Manipur.
• It is among the seven “Meitei Extremist Organisations” banned by the Union government.
• While one faction is open to talks, another continues to oppose negotiations.

Tripartite Agreement and Recent Developments:

• In 2008, a Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement was reached between the Centre, Manipur state, and Kuki-Zomi insurgent groups.
• However, in March of the current year, the Manipur government withdrew from the agreement with Zomi Revolutionary Army and Kuki National Army due to their alleged influence on forest encroachment agitation.

Conclusion:

• The history of UNLF is marked by its long-standing demand for secession and armed resistance.
• The recent peace agreement with the Centre signifies a significant development in the region’s complex insurgency landscape.
• Despite this milestone, challenges persist due to internal factionalism, differing stances among insurgent groups, and regional dynamics, requiring sustained efforts for lasting peace and stability in Manipur.

SOURCE: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/history-of-unlf-meitei-insurgent-group-that-signed-peace-deal-with-centre-9047846/lite/

TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation has released the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) – Quarterly Bulletin for July – September 2023.

PLFS AND OBJECTIVES:

• The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) was initiated in April 2017 with the aim of providing frequent and timely labour force data.
• The survey serves two primary purposes:
  • estimating key employment and unemployment indicators every three months for urban areas and
  • conducting an annual assessment in both rural and urban areas.
• The recent PLFS report for July – September 2023 was the twentieth quarterly bulletin in the series.
• The fieldwork for this period was completed timely, except for a few samples in Manipur and Telangana, which were considered casualties.
• Notably, the revisit schedules were primarily conducted via telephone (about 96.2% of the time) since June 2020.

SAMPLE DESIGN AND SIZE:

• The PLFS employs a rotational panel sampling design in urban areas where selected households are visited four times, ensuring continuity in data collection.
• For the quarter July – September 2023, 5,706 first-stage sampling units (FSUs) were surveyed, comprising 44,738 urban households and 1,70,004 individuals.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF KEY INDICATORS:

• The PLFS provides estimates for significant employment and unemployment indicators:
  • Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), and Unemployment Rate (UR).
• These indicators are based on the ‘Current Weekly Status’ (CWS), evaluating activity status in the preceding seven days before the survey.
• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR):
  • LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in labour force (i.e., working or seeking or available for work) in the population.
• Worker Population Ratio (WPR):
  • WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
• Unemployment Rate (UR):
  • UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.
• Current Weekly Status (CWS):
  • The activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of last 7 days preceding the date of survey is known as the current weekly status (CWS) of the person.

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN – JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2023:

• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) Increase:
  • LFPR in urban areas for individuals aged 15 years and above rose from 47.9% in July – September 2022 to 49.3% in the same period of 2023.
  • Notably, LFPR increased for both males and females during this period.
• Worker Population Ratio (WPR) Growth:
  • WPR in urban areas for individuals aged 15 years and above increased from 44.5% in July – September 2022 to 46.0% in the same period of 2023.
  • Similar to LFPR, WPR exhibited growth for both males and females.
• Unemployment Rate (UR) Decline:
  • UR in urban areas for individuals aged 15 years and above decreased from 7.2% in July – September 2022 to 6.6% in the same period of 2023.
  • While male UR was at 6.0% in 2023, female UR declined from 9.4% to 8.6% during this period.

CONCLUSION AND ACCESS TO DETAILED DATA:

• The PLFS Quarterly Bulletin – July to September 2023 highlights positive trends in LFPR, WPR, and a decline in UR in urban areas for individuals aged 15 years and above. (can refer to ministry website for the data in tabular form).
• These indicators provide crucial insights into the labour market dynamics, aiding in policy formulation and interventions for economic growth and employment generation.

SOURCE: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1980887#:~:text=UR%20in%20urban%20areas%20decreased,%25%20in%20July%20%E2%80%93%20September%202023

THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. SRI LANKA TO SET UP SPECIAL NORTH-EAST FUND

THE CONTEXT: The Sri Lankan government will set up a ‘North-East Development Fund’ to increase investments in the war-affected areas, while probing cases of enforced disappearances and land grabs that remain chief concerns of the Tamil people 13 years after the war ended.

THE EXPLANATION:

• It was first meeting with the country’s Tamil political leadership since his election to office in November 2019.
• The TNA has been demanding that the government deliver the long-pending political solution to Sri Lanka’s national question, through a new constitutional settlement.
• The President agreed to focus on four key areas, including
  • possibly releasing long-term detainees under the country’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act — which the government recently amended but critics want repealed — and suspects held without being charged.
  • ending the incessant land grabs in the north and east by different state agencies to allegedly change the demographics of the region.
  • inquiring into cases of enforced disappearances.
  • establishing a special development fund for the north and east.
• The initiative to set up a development fund exclusively for the war-affected areas comes nearly three years after his election, amid widespread joblessness, indebtedness, and poverty in the region that the pandemic and Sri Lanka’s current economic crisis have only aggravated.

2. INDIA, U.K. END ROUND TWO TALKS ON FTA

THE CONTEXT: India and the United Kingdom concluded a second round of negotiations towards a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in London, with a draft treaty text discussed across most chapters that will make up the pact.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The FTA is expected to facilitate the target of doubling bilateral trade between India and the United Kingdom by 2030, set by the Prime Ministers of both nations.
• According to the agreements, the Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) on Pharma could provide additional market access. There is also great potential for increasing exports in service sectors like IT/ITES, Nursing, education, healthcare, including AYUSH and audio-visual services. India would also be seeking special arrangements for the movement of its people.
• India-UK FTA will also contribute to integrating value chains and help augment our mutual efforts to strengthen the resilience of supply chains. Reminding that the leaders of both nations had envisioned launching the FTA Negotiations in early 2022.

What is a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?

A free trade agreement is a pact between two or more nations to reduce barriers to imports and exports among them. Under a free trade policy, goods and services can be bought and sold across international borders with little or no government tariffs, quotas, subsidies, or prohibitions to inhibit their exchange.

Key features of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs):

1. The member nations of FTAs explicitly identify the duties and tariffs that are to be imposed on member countries when it comes to imports and exports.
2. FTAs typically cover trades in (a) merchandise — such as agricultural or industrial products (b) services — such as banking, construction, trading and so forth (c) intellectual property rights (IPRs), (d) investment (e) government procurement (f) competition policy and so on.
3. FTAs additionally, for the most part, provide a criterion called the ‘Rules of Origin (RoO)’, required for the determination of the product’s country of origin for the imposition of the preferential tariff on international trade.
4. FTAs act as an exception to the Most Favored Nation principle adopted by WTO (World Trade Organization).

Value Addition:

India-UK bilateral trade

• Bilateral trade between India and UK stood at 18.3 billion in the year 2020. It was lesser than the trade of 3 billion pounds in 2019. India and UK have also launched a new Enhanced Trade Partnership. It opened ways for future Free Trade Agreements.
• Currently, India is the largest market with which the UK has committed to negotiating any trade deal. India is the second-largest investor in the UK economy.
• About 842 Indian companies in the UK, are employing more than 110,000 people. The combined revenue of Indian companies has increased by 87% in the last five years.

3.  THE HOUTHI ATTACK ON THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

THE CONTEXT: A Yemeni rebel attack on a Saudi oil plant set off a huge fire near Jeddah’s Formula One circuit, part of a wave of assaults on Aramco facilities.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The Shia Houthi rebels of Yemen, who have been controlling the northern parts of the country, including the capital Sana’a, for almost seven years, have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Who are the Houthis?

Founded in the 1990s by Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s Shia majority, the Houthi movement has a pretty straightforward slogan or sarkha: “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, the curse on the Jews, victory to Islam.” After Yemeni soldiers killed Hussein in 2004, his brother Abdul Malik took over.

How did Saudi Arabia get involved?

The rise of the Houth is sent alarm bells ringing across Sunni Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition — backed by the US, UK and France — then launched an air campaign in Yemen, with the aim of defeating the rebel group.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

4. RBI SETS GEO-TAGGING RULES FOR PAYMENT TOUCH POINTS

THE CONTEXT: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a framework for geo-tagging of payment system touch points, issuing instructions to bank and non-bank payment system operators to maintain and submit to it the geographical locations of their touch points on a regular basis.

THE EXPLANATION:

According to the central bank, this framework is intended to ensure that there is a robust payment acceptance infrastructure with multiple types of touch points across India, available and accessible at all times.

According to RBI, the banks and non-bank payment system operators need to capture and maintain geographical coordinates for all payment touch points.

Both banks and non-banks need to maintain a registry with accurate location of all payment touch points across the country that should include merchant-related information and payment acceptance infrastructure details.

Besides, banks and non-banks need to report information on payment touch points to the RBI through the Centralised Information Management System (CIMS) of RBI, the framework said.

How does it work?

• In a geo-tagging infrastructure, the geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) of payment touch points deployed by merchants to receive payments from their customers are captured. According to the RBI, geo-tagging has several benefits including providing insights on regional penetration of digital payments, monitoring infrastructure density across different locations, identifying scope for deploying additional payment touch points, facilitating focused digital literacy programmes.
• The central bank had focussed on the setting up of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) to encourage deployment of acceptance infrastructure, and creating additional touch points is a step in this direction.

 5. ‘GUJARAT TOPS AGAIN IN EXPORT PREPAREDNESS INDEX’

THE CONTEXT: Gujarat has been named India’s top State in terms of export preparedness for the second year in a row as per an index released by the NITI Aayog.

THE EXPLANATION:

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu were ranked second, third and fourth in the index, as coastal States with higher industrial activity and access to seaports account for a majority of India’s exports.

Framework: The 4 pillars and the rationale behind their selection is given below: Policy: A comprehensive trade policy provides a strategic direction for exports and imports. Business Ecosystem: An efficient business ecosystem can help attract investments and create an enabling infrastructure for businesses to grow. Export Ecosystem: This pillar aims to assess the business environment, which is specific to exports. Export Performance: This is the only output-based pillar and examines the reach of export footprints of states and union territories.

Challenges:

The index identifies three major challenges to India’s export promotion efforts.

• “These are intra- and inter-regional differences in export infrastructure.
• Weak trade support and growth orientation across States and
• Lack of R&D infrastructure to promote complex and unique exports,”

EPI 2021 – Key Goals

The EPI’s primary goal is to instill competition among all Indian states (‘Coastal’, ‘Landlocked’, ‘Himalayan’, and ‘UTs/City-States’) to bring about favourable export-promotion policies, ease the regulatory framework to prompt sub national export promotion, create the necessary infrastructure for exports, and assist in identifying strategic recommendations for improving export competitiveness. It promotes competitive federalism and a fair contest among States/UTs.

THE GOVERNMENT SCHEMES/INITIATIVES IN NEWS

6. ‘PROJECT UDAAN’ GIVES GIRLS WINGS TO A BETTER FUTURE IN RURAL RAJASTHAN

THE CONTEXT: The Udaan project, launched by the Rajasthan government in collaboration with a development consulting group ‘IPE Global’, has made attempts to keep girls in schools through their enrollment at the secondary level while ensuring that the eligible ones among them get their scholarships. While generating awareness about scholarship schemes, the programme has also mobilised rural communities to support girls’ education and facilitate their attendance in school without a break.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Project Udaan seeks to reduce adolescent pregnancies in Rajasthan by leveraging existing government platforms and programmes across the Health and Education Departments, for scale up and sustainability.
• It adopts a multi-sectoral approach to prevent adolescent pregnancy, layering interventions beyond sexual health, to fundamentally change the way adolescent programming is carried on.
• Udaan attempts to keep girls in school through their enrollment (school-going and dropout girls) at secondary school level while ensuring that the eligible girls receive their scholarship through collective efforts.
• School and community-level interventions have been designed to increase girls’ enrollment at secondary level school by generating wide public awareness on the scholarship schemes and mobilising communities to support girls’ education and facilitate their going back to school. It works towards strengthening scholarship delivery systems (IT enabled) and builds capacities of government functionaries for effective state-wide scale up to ensure sustainability and stability.
• It is an integrated intervention which seeks to prevent adolescent pregnancies in Rajasthan by leveraging existing government programmes and platforms for realizing girl’s potential and reducing the number of babies born low birth weight from teenager mothers.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY 26^th MARCH 2022

Q1. Which of the following statement is incorrect about Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC)?

a) It was established in 1969.

b) It has total 57 member countries.

c) Its headquarter is located in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

d) India is not a member of OIC.

ANSWER FOR 25^TH MARCH 2022

Answer: C

Explanation:

Statement 1 is correct: National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) seeks to create an enabling environment to ensure universal acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy, so that every child achieves the desired learning competencies in reading, writing and numeracy by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Although the National Education Policy had included a 2025 deadline to achieve the goal, the Centre has pushed back the target date to 2026-27, given that COVID-19 has already disrupted two academic years.