VISION

 What is the issue?

• West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar made a visit to areas hit by post-poll violence in Cooch Behar.
• In this context, it is imperative to understand if this would constitute a transgression of the bounds of constitutional propriety.

What are the recent disagreements?

• Governor Dhankhar has been a habitual critic of the Mamata Banerjee (Chief Minister) regime in West Bengal.
• He has been seen ignoring the principle that constitutional heads should not air their differences with the elected regimes in public.
• As recently as December 2020, Ms. Banerjee had appealed to the President to recall the Governor.
• This was for political statements that she believed were being made by him at the behest of the BJP-led Union government.

What is the larger concern in this regard?

 What is the issue?

With increasing emphasis on achieving the net-zero emission target by 2050, here is an assessment of its suitability for India.

What is net-zero emissions?

• The net-zero emission target aims that by 2050, the net carbon emissions of the countries would be balanced by carbon sequestration and removal to the same extent.
• It should thus contribute net-zero carbon to the environment.
• This would help keep the rise in temperatures to within 1.5oC of the pre-Industrial Revolution temperature, thus preventing climate change.
• Europe, Japan and South Korea have announced net zero by 2050, and China before 2060.

How does it suit India’s case?

• The power generation capacity in India is about 380 GW.
• Of this, about 62% is thermal (mainly coal, 53% of total).
• The celebrated Hechsher-Ohlin theorem tells that a country’s competitive advantage should be based on its abundant resource.
• As known, India is abundant in coal.
• In this light, adopting a net-zero carbon goal by 2050 would be a sub-optimal strategy for India.

Why is net-zero by 2050 unfeasible for India?

• India is the third-largest carbon emitter in the world, after China and the US.
• However, Indian per-capita carbon emissions are an eighth of those of USA and less than a third of China.
• The developed countries have used the emissions route to development, while India is still developing.
• Also, any substantive compensation mechanism from the developed world to the developing world in terms of finances and technology has not materialised.
• So, any pre-mature adoption of the net-zero targets will mean that the vast proportion of India’s population remain in poverty for generations.

What alternatives does India have?

• India is already among the very few countries which are well on their path to achieving their voluntary Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• This is part of the Paris Accord (Conference of Parties 21, or COP 21, Paris, 2015).
• This includes decreasing the carbon intensity of its GDP by 33-35% compared to 2005 levels by 2030.
• Also, the non-fossil fuel capacity of the total electricity capacity of the country would have to go up to 40% by 2030.
• Also, the country has accordingly planned for renewable capacity of 450 MW by that year.
• There is progress in solar power sector such as grid parity and favourable auction prices.
• So, the renewable energy (RE) transition is already helping achieve India’s voluntary obligations aimed at preventing disastrous climate change.

What are the challenges though?

GS SCORE FACT FILE- Economic Financial Marketing PDF

 What is the issue?

• Air strikes and rocket attacks are witnessed from both sides in the recent Israel-Palestine conflict.
• Videos on social media showed rockets fired from Gaza being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome air defence system; here is a look at the features of an Iron dome.

What is the Iron Dome?

1)  4th India-Swiss Financial Dialogue held virtually

•The fourth India-Swiss Financial Dialogue was held here virtually through video conferencing. Ajay Seth, Secretary Economic Affairs led the Indian delegation. The delegation from the Swiss side was led by Daniela Stoffel, State Secretary, and State Secretariat for International Finance, Switzerland.

2)  India Chairs 1st BRICS Employment Working Group (EWG) Meeting Virtually

•The first BRICS Employment Working Group (EWG) Meeting was held in 2021 in virtual format. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of India, which has assumed the BRICS Presidency in 2021. The meeting was chaired by Shri Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Labour and Employment.

3)  World Bank report: India was largest recipient of remittances in 2020

•India was the largest recipient of remittances in 2020, as per the report, “Migration and Development Brief “ released by the World Bank. India has been the largest recipient of remittances since 2008. However, the remittance received by India in 2020 was over USD 83 billion, which is a drop of 0.2 per cent from 2019 (USD 83.3 billion). Globally, the remittance flow was USD 540 billion in 2020, which is 1.9% lower as compared to that of 2019, when it was USD 548 billion.

Top Five Countries

•The top five remittance recipient countries in 2020, in current US dollar terms, were India, China, Mexico, the Philippines, and Egypt.

•The top five recipients in 2020, as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), were, by contrast, smaller economies: Tonga, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and El Salvador.

Top Source Country For Remittance

•The largest remittance-sending country in 2020 was United States (USD68 billion).

•It was followed by the UAE (USD43 billion), Saudi Arabia (USD34.5 billion), Switzerland (USD27.9 billion), Germany (USD22 billion), and China (USD18 billion).

•From India, the Remittances outflow in 2020 was USD 7 billion, against USD 7.5 billion in 2019.

4)  Martin Griffiths appointed new UN Humanitarian Chief

•Veteran British diplomat Martin Griffiths has been appointed as the new Chief at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), for a period of five years. Griffiths will replace Mark Lowcock as the new Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (USG/ERC) of OCHA. He is currently serving as the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen.

5)  Manisha Kapoor joins executive committee of ICAS

•Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) announced that its general secretary Manisha Kapoor has been appointed to the executive committee of the International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation (ICAS). Until April, ASCI served on the executive committee as a member for a two-year term. Now, Kapoor will play a leadership role on the committee till 2023. She will be one of the four global vice-presidents on the executive committee.

•In her role as part of the ICAS leadership team, she will promote advertising self-regulation as an optimal mechanism for consumer protection, strengthen ICAS as a global alliance and facilitate knowledge sharing among SROs to establish best practices and monitor global trends in advertising ecosystem that impact self-regulation. She will also work closely with established and emerging digital platforms to make the online space more transparent and fair for consumers.

6)  Retail inflation eases to 4.29% in April

•The country’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), eased to 4.29 per cent in the month of April. Separately, India’s factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), witnessed a growth of 22.4 per cent in March, two separate data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

•The retail inflation during the month of March was at 5.52 per cent. This is the fifth consecutive month that the CPI data has come within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6 per cent. The government has asked the central bank to maintain retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side for a five-year period ending March 2026.

7)  RBI grants PPI authorisation to Eroute Technologies

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted authorisation to Eroute Technologies to operate as a prepaid payment instruments (PPI) company. The RBI issued authorisation to Eroute Technologies Pvt Ltd with perpetual validity to commence issuance and operations of semi-closed pre-paid instruments in the country.

•The company aims to serve the underserved segments that comprise almost 680 million people, by creating user-friendly payment solutions addressing the specific needs of various consumer segments of our society.

8)  Geojit sign an ink pact with PNB to offer three-in-one account

•Geojit Financial Services has entered into an agreement with Punjab National Bank to provide a three-in-one account to the latter’s customers. The new service gives customers who have a savings account with PNB, a PNB Demat account and a Geojit trading account. Saving and Demat accounts can be opened online in PNB with a hassle-free approach.

9)  Google Pay users in US can now transfer money to India, Singapore

•Alphabet Inc’s Google has launched international money transfer partnerships with remittances firms Wise and Western Union Co for users of its U.S. payments app. Google Pay users in the United States can now transfer money to app customers in India and Singapore, with plans to expand to the 80 countries available via Wise, and 200 via Western Union by the end of the year.

10)  Shakuntala Hark Singh of Indian origin receives World Food Award 2021

•Indian-origin global nutritionist, Dr Shakuntala Hark Singh Thilstad has received the “World Food Award” of the year 2021. She developed a holistic and nutritionally sensitive approach to seafood and food systems and has received an award for his research. The award is also known as the Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture. Every year, the committee selects a person who will be awarded the $ 250,000 title and prize money.

•The World Food Award stated on its website that research conducted by Dr Shakuntala on the small fish species of Bangladesh will prove helpful in developing a nutritionally sensitive approach to the seafood system at all levels. With this help, millions of poor people living in Asia and Africa will get a very nutritious diet.

11)  Manchester City crowned 2020-21 Premier League champions

•Manchester City has crowned Premier League champions for the third time in four seasons after Manchester United crashed to a 2-1 defeat against Leicester. United started the century dominating English football, now City is the force with five titles in 10 seasons and the biggest spenders on transfers and salaries.

•City has now won three Premier League titles and eight major trophies under Guardiola, who last year signed a new two-year contract to remain at the club until 2023.

 What is the issue?

• Official census data on China's population was released recently by its National Bureau of Statistics.
• It showed that in the decade up to 2020, China’s population grew at its slowest rate since the 1950s, indicating a falling population.

What are the highlights?

📰 Centre’s SC affidavit jars with TRIPS stand