Table of Contents
Urban visions
- Budget 2021 – expansion of Metro Rail and bus services
- Comfortable, safe and affordable commuting
- Covid – safety of personal car and two-wheeler bubbles
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement of Central funding of ₹1,957 crore, ₹63,246 crore and ₹14,788 crore for the Kochi, Chennai and Bengaluru Metro projects, respectively.
- Less certain, however, is the impact of the proposed ₹18,000 crore plan to augment public bus transport using a PPP model that will enable private sector players to finance, acquire, operate and maintain over 20,000 buses.
- NITI Aayog data: India’s ratio of buses to population is a low 1.2:1000 people
- Thailand – 8.6:1000
- South Africa – 6.5:1000
- State governments, which retain effective control over urban development rather than city administrations, have failed to operationalise the umbrella authorities to regulate transport.
- Common mobility cards
- Census 2011 showed that the number of Census Towns, which are urban for census purposes but not named urban local bodies, grew tremendously over a decade.
- Only integration can bring about inclusive urbanisation.
Smart walls’ for Indian borders
- The ‘smart wall’ technology could solve border security issues without the need for a physical barrier.
- Along with surveillance towers and cameras, thermal imaging would be used, which would help in the detection of objects.
- The system would even be capable of distinguishing between animals, humans, and vehicles, and then sending updates to handheld mobile devices of the U.S. patrol agents.
- Can we secure Indian borders using such tech?
- The terrain in the region is rugged, and, furthermore, not even clearly defined.
- Some other benefits of smart wall
- cost-effectiveness
- less damage to the environment
- fewer land seizures
- speedier deployment
Towards sustainable growth
- Lessons from Covid-19
- It made us realise that we are a part of nature
- Protect ecological functions of biosphere
- Globally, the GDP is expected to contract 2.4% to 8% in 2020.
- WEF: the global cost of dealing with the pandemic could be from $8.1 trillion to $15.8 trillion
- Preventing such pandemics will cost only a fraction of this amount, estimated at $22.2 billion to $30.7 billion a year, and this is without factoring in the human suffering.
- No natural environment – no economy
- India is placed on the list of countries experiencing the highest rates of negative change.
- Additionally, there is a strong correlation between human density, richness of biodiversity, and the emergence of zoonotic pathogens of wild origin, which renders India particularly vulnerable.
- The WEF’s Global Risks report for 2021 states that environmental risks continue to threaten the global economy.
- The top 5 risks are extreme weather, climate action failure, human environmental damage, infectious diseases and biodiversity loss.
- Destructing environment in the name of development is not acceptable anymore.
- A study by Swiss Re Institute published in 2020 introduces a new biodiversity and ecosystem services index.
- It found that globally, 20% of countries, including India, have fragile ecosystems.
- It also states that 55% of the global GDP depends on high-functioning biodiversity and ecosystem services.
- Economic decision-making must have biodiversity and ecosystems
- Come up with a form of national accounting that is different from the GDP model
- A National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being has been approved by the Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council.
No to vaccine nationalism, yes to global cooperation
- Vaccine diplomacy has become a hot topic
- Global South countries, India and China, which have provided a ray of hope to most countries.
- Duke University: the European Union, two times, the United States and the United Kingdom, four times, and Canada, six times.
- And, 82% of Pfizer’s production in 2021 and 78% of Moderna’s have already been advance purchased by rich countries.
- India has displayed empathy
- India has taken a position that a significant percentage of the approved doses will be permitted for exports.
- Brazil has received 2 million doses of vaccine from India (as of January 23).
- The COVAX project is a global risk-sharing mechanism for pooled procurement and fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines
- The intranasal version of Covaxin, which has been approved for phase I could further facilitate vaccinating the global population.
NEWS
- PM to inaugurate Chauri Chaura centenary celebrations in UP’s Gorakhpur district at 11 AM today
- India can be net security provider in Indian Ocean Region says Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
- Prominent Indians including Lata Mangeshkar & Sachin Tendulkar support govt’s stand on farmers protest
- US extends New START Nuclear Arms Control Treaty with Russia for five years
- Finance Ministry releases 14th weekly instalment of Rs 6000 crore to states to meet GST compensation shortfall
- HM Amit Shah says no propaganda can deter India’s unity
- No proposal to launch new pension policy for central civil pensioners: Govt
- India to host Indian Ocean Region Defence Ministers’ Conclave today
- Myanmar police file case against Aung San Suu Kyi
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