Most Important CA for UPSC Prelims 2021 April-July Set-9

Table of Contents

GLOBAL REPORT ON INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT (GRID) 2021

Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
The total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) across the world has reached 55 million people
Role of climate change in disaster displacement: Extreme weather events like floods, storms and droughts etc. were responsible for 98 per cent of all disaster displacement recorded in 2020.
The Covid-19 pandemic has delayed humanitarian assistance and intensified the financial difficulties of the displaced people

ITAT-E-DWAR

e-filing portal of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) launched by Ministry of Law.

- Transforming country into digital medium.
- Enhance the accessibility, accountability and transparency in the day to day working of the ITAT.
- economization of the use of paper, savings in costs,
- rationalization of the fixation of cases leading to quicker disposal of cases.

MISSION INNOVATION CLEANTECH EXCHANGE

India launched Mission Innovation (MI) – CleanTech Exchange under the Innovation Platform of Mission Innovation.
- launched virtually at the Innovating to Net Zero Summit hosted by Chile this year.
CleanTech Exchange is a global initiative to create a network of incubators across member countries to accelerate clean energy innovation.
provide access to the expertise and market insights needed to support new technologies to access new markets globally.

About Mission Innovation (MI)

MI is an action-oriented global initiative to pioneer clean energy solutions through domestic innovation and international cooperation.
It consists of 24 countries and EU.
India is a founding member.
The first phase of Mission Innovation was launched along the Paris Climate Change Agreement at the 2015 UN Climate
Innovation Platform : member countries can track innovation progress, exchange knowledge and work with investors, innovators and end-users to accelerate technologies to market.
Mission Innovation 2.0, the second phase of MI, launched in the above summit.
It aims to catalyze increased investment in clean energy research, development and demonstrations to deliver affordable clean energy solutions by 2030.
This will accelerate progress towards the Paris Agreement goals.

AIM-ILEAP (INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL AGILITY AND PROFITABILITY) INITIATIVE

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) concludes first fintech cohort of ‘AIM-iLEAP’ as major step to accelerate Tech Start-ups across India.
AIM (by NITI Aayog) is a flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
Objective of the AIM-iLEAP program is to invite technology start-ups across a broad range of functions and present their solutions to the corporate leadership and innovation team for enabling market access and industry partnerships.

ENFORCING CONTRACTS PORTAL

The Enforcing Contracts Portal, launched by Department of Justice, aims to promote ease of doing business and improve Contract Enforcement Regime in country.
source of information pertaining to legislative and policy reforms being undertaken on “Enforcing Contracts” parameters (was ranked 163 in 2019 Ease of doing business (EoDB) rankings).
It will provide easy access to latest information on commercial cases in Dedicated Commercial Courts of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.
Portal to also provide access to repository of commercial laws for ready reference.

INDIA’S FIRST INTERNATIONAL MARITIME SERVICES CLUSTER (IMSC)

Gujarat Maritime Board will set up the first IMSC at GIFT City.
- GIFT City is India’s only approved IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
- Dedicated ecosystem comprising ports, shipping, logistics services providers and pertinent government regulators
- Enhance competitiveness, ease of doing business and self-sufficiency in the sector

GLOBAL CYBER SECURITY INDEX (GCI)

India is ranked 10th (among 194 countries) in the GCI 2020 ahead of China and Pakistan.
GCI is released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations (UN) agency for information and communication technologies (ICT).
The ranking is based on five pillars: legal measures, technical measures, capacity building measures, organisational measures and cooperation.
In the Asia-Pacific region India secured the 4th spot.
US is ranked first, followed by UK.

AGNI PRIME

DRDO will soon test the new missile Agni Prime, advanced version of the ‘Agni-1’ missile.
Agni Prime’ is a short-range (surface to a surface) ballistic missile that will have a range of 1000 km to 1500 km and will have advanced features in agility and road mobility.
- It can carry a payload of around 1,000 Kg or a nuclear warhead.
The double stage missile will be lighter and much sleeker than its predecessor ‘Agni-1’.
Agni-1 is a short-range (surface to a surface) nuclear capable ballistic missile. It has a strike range of 700 km 1,200 km.

MILLITARTY EXERCISES

Indo-Thai coordinated Patrol (Indo-Thai CORPAT): Indian Navy and Royal Thai Navy conducted the 31st edition of India-Thailand Coordinated Patrol (Indo-Thai CORPAT) in the Andaman Sea.
It is a bi-annual exercise, carried since 2005, to strengthen maritime links between two nations and to keep the vital part of the Indian Ocean safe and secure for global trade.

IN – EUNAVFOR:

Indian Navy (IN) and European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) will participate in the maiden Joint Naval Exercise in the Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden also known as the Gulf of Berbera is a deepwater gulf between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and Somalia to the south.

Operation Sagar Aaraksha II

Coordinated joint operation between India and Sri Lanka undertaken to respond to potential environmental danger due a major fire onboard the Chemical laden container vessel MV X-Press Pearl anchored off Colombo.

WORLD ENERGY INVESTMENT REPORT 2021

Renewables will dominate investment in new power generation and are expected to account for 70% of 2021’s total of USD 530 billion spent on all new generation
Upstream investment in oil and gas is expected to grow 10 percent.
Global emission is set to grow by 1.5 billion

DIHING PATKAI NATIONAL PARK

The Assam government has notified Dihing Patkai as the 7th National Park (NP) of the state.
Under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, both the State (section 35) and Central (section 38) government can declare an area as National Park.
The Dihing Patkai NP forms the “last remaining stretches” of the Assam Valley tropical wet evergreen forests.
It is located across eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
It encompasses erstwhile Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary, the Jeypore Reserve Forest and the western block of the Upper Dihing Reserve Forest including stretches of the Dirak and Buri Dihing rivers.
- Besides being part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve, the park is home to important species like Tiger, Chinese pangolin, Slow loris, Clouded leopard etc.
- It also has the highest concentration of the rare endangered White Winged Wood Duck.
Earlier, the State government has also notified Raimona Reserve Forest (422-sq. km) as the 6^th National Park in western Assam’s Kokrajhar
- With Phipsoo wildlife sanctuary in Bhutan to its north, Buxa tiger reserve in West Bengal to its west and Manas national park in Assam to its east.
- It is home to the Golden langur, Clouded leopard and Indian gaur.
- Assam has five older National Parks- Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri, Orang and Dibru-Saikhowa.
- Kaziranga and Manas are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
- They are also tiger reserves along with Nameri and Orang.
- Assam (7) now has the third most National Parks after Madhya Pradesh (12) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (9).

THE LEAF COALITION

The LEAF Coalition was launched by an initial group of governments (Norway, UK, US) and
leading companies (like Amazon, Nestle etc.) to mobilise finance for protection of tropical forest.
The LEAF (Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance) coalition aims to mobilize at least $1 billion in finance to support tropical
and subtropical forest countries to move rapidly towards reducing emissions from deforestation.
It is expected to become one of the largest public private efforts that support countries in achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement and the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism.
Reductions in emissions are to be made through programs that involve all key stakeholders, including Indigenous peoples and local communities.
China has issued its first batch of forest carbon credit stamps to use market mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions.

FOREST CARBON CREDIT STAMPS

Forest carbon credits stamps are permits for companies to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide.
They are converted from added forest areas and the amount of carbon they can capture.
China has issued its first batch of forest carbon credit stamps to use market mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions.
Forest carbon credits stamps are permits for companies to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide.
They are converted from added forest areas and the amount of carbon they can capture.
These credits can also serve as collateral for bank credit and loans.
Have great potential amid China’s pursuit of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM) RUBBER

Recently, world’s first GM rubber plant was planted in Assam.
GM rubber plant, which is the first of its kind developed specifically for the northeast and is expected to flourish in the region’s climatic conditions.
With additional copies of the gene MnSOD (manganese-containing superoxide dismutase) inserted in it,
GM rubber plant is expected to tide over the severe cold conditions during winter which is a major factor affecting the growth of young rubber plants.
Natural rubber is a native of warm humid Amazon forests and is not naturally suited for the colder conditions.
It is developed by the Kerala-based Rubber Research Institute of India.