WHY IN THE NEWS?

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved an increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for all the mandated Rabi crops on September 8, 2021.

About:

MSP was increased for the Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2022-23 with the aim of realigning MSPs in favour of pulses, oilseeds, and coarse cereals. The Differential remuneration aims to encourage crop diversification.

Benefits of increased MSP

• This move will encourage farmers to shift to larger area under these crops and adopt best technologies & farm practices in order to correct the demand-supply imbalance.
• With this step, government seeks to ensure remunerative prices for the growers for farmer’s produce.

MSP rate

Highest absolute increase in MSP has been recommended. MSP has been increased by Rs 400 per quintal on each of lentil, rapeseeds and mustard. On gram, it was increased by Rs 130 per quintal while in case of safflower, it was increased by Rs 114 per quintal as compared to MSP in 2020.

Background

MSP for Rabi crops for RMS 2022-23 was increased in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement. In budget it was announced to fix the MSPs at the level of at least 1.5 times of the all-India weighted average cost of production.

Other Steps by Government

• 1.   National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)

Government announced this centrally sponsored scheme recently to help in increasing the domestic production of edible oils and reduce imports dependency. It was announced with a total outlay of Rs 11,040 crore. Scheme will aid farmers in expanding area and productivity of the sector and benefit them by increasing their income and generation of additional employment.

• 2.   Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA)

This scheme was announced in 2018 to aid farmers in providing remunerative return for their produce. It has three sub-schemes namely, Price Support Scheme (PSS), Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPSS) and Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS).

WHY IN THE NEWS?

International Literacy Day is observed on September 8 every year in a bid to remind the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies.

About:

The day was proclaimed by UNESCO on October 26, 1966 at the 14th session of UNESCO’s General Conference. First International Literacy Day was celebrated in 1967.  This tradition is being held annually for more than 50 years now.

The objective of the day

The day was proclaimed with the objective of reminding the international community about the importance of literacy for individuals, communities & societies and the need for intensified efforts to make more literate societies.

International Literacy Day 2021

International Literacy Day 2021 was celebrated to explore how literacy can contribute in building a solid foundation for a human-cantered recovery. It specially focused on interplay of literacy and digital skills needed by non-literate youth and adults. It also explored what makes technology-enabled literacy learning inclusive and meaningful in order to not leave anyone behind. It provided an opportunity to reimagine future literacy teaching and learning, keeping covid-19 pandemic in mind.

Theme 2021

The theme of the day for 2021 is “Literacy for a human-centred recovery: Narrowing the digital divide”.

Literacy and SDGs

Literacy goals are a significant part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as well as its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Target 4 of the SDGs seeks to ensure that all youth and substantial proportion of adults including men and women, achieve literacy & numeracy by 2030.

Literacy in India

According to census 2011, a total of 74.04 per cent are literate in India. It increased by 9.2 per cent as compared to last decade (2001-11). UNESCO highlights that, India will take another 50 years to achieve universal literacy that is by 2060

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The Supreme Court of Mexico has decriminalised abortion and has ruled that criminal penalties on terminating pregnancies are unconstitutional, in the state of Coahuila.

About:

• This ruling was meant for northern state of Coahuila. It now prevents women from being prosecuted for abortion.
• Currently, abortion is severely restricted in four of the states in Mexico. It is also legal in cases of rape or where mother’s life is in danger.
• Thus, this decision could pave way to decriminalise abortion across Mexico.
• Under Mexican law, this ruling will now apply to all the other states in the country.
• With this ruling, women who were jailed for having abortions will now be released, with immediate effect.

Campaign for abortion rights

Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE) was campaigning for abortion rights in the country.  High profile protests by feminist and women’s rights campaigners have highlighted the need for greater reproductive rights.

Background

Before this ruling, the state of Coahuila used to punish women, who have illegal abortions, with jail terms of up to three years.

Abortion in Mexico

Abortion was a legal demand in country. Its legal status varied with respective state. However, Mexican Supreme court ruled on September 7, 2021 that penalizing abortion is unconstitutional and ordered to decriminalize it across the entire country. Procedure of abortion is available on request to any woman up to twelve weeks into a pregnancy in Mexico City as well as in states of Oaxaca, Veracruz and Hidalgo.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• PRANA Portal will be used to track the progress of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in order to comply with India’s commitment to ensure clean air and blue skies to everybody.
• This portal was launched on the occasion of ‘International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies’ in non-attainment cities (NAC).
• Non-attainment cities are those cities that failed to meet the National air quality standards in a five-year period.
• With India’s efforts, 86 cities showed a better air quality in 2019 and it increased to 104 cities in 2020.

India’s target

Environment ministry and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) seeks to achieve 20-30 percent reduction in particulate matter (PM10 as well as PM2.5) concentrations in India by 2024.

How India will achieve its target?

In order to achieve the target, India has prepared and is implementing city-specific action plans to improve air quality in 132 NACs/Million Plus Cities. It targets city-specific air polluting sources like soil & road dust, vehicles, MSW burning, domestic fuel, construction material and industries.

About PRANA Portal

PRANA portal will help in tracking physical and financial status of city air action plan implementation. It will also disseminate information on air quality to the public.

India–Japan High Level Policy Dialogue

Indian Environment minister and Japanese Environment Minister Koizumi Shinjiro also held first ever India-Japan High level policy dialogue. They discussed issues related to air pollution, climate change, sustainable technologies & transport, marine litter, fluorocarbons and COP-26. India and Japan are also strengthening bilateral cooperation on circular economy & resource efficiency, green hydrogen, low carbon technology etc.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

According to a new red list by IUCN, world’s sharks and rays have been witnessing declines in their populations since 2014 and are now threatened with extinction.

About:

• New red list was released by IUCN at global conference with the aim of protecting dwindling species.
• It notes that, there are signs of hope as fishing quotas have allowed several tuna species to be put on their path to recovery.
• About 37% of sharks and rays across the world are considered endangered as of 2021. In 2014, this amounted to 33%.
• This upward trend was the result of overfishing, loss of habitat and climate change,
• Oceanic shark populations have also decreased by 71% since 1970.

Can we recover their population?

IUCN highlighted that, progress can be made towards reviving tuna populations and other species, if states and other actors take right actions.

IUCN Red List Unit

The red list by IUCN reassesses hundreds of species each year. Out of 138,000 species that were tracked, more than 38,000 are threatened with extinction. Many of the planet’s ecosystems are mainly strained by global warming, deforestation, pollution, habitat degradation and other threats.

Declining bird population

More than half of the bird of prey species are reducing in population worldwide.  18 species are critically endangered. Warming temperatures and melting ice will reduce the emperor penguin colonies by 70 % by 2050 and 98% by 2100.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

IUCN is an international organization that works in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, field projects research, advocacy, field projects, and education. It was established in 1948.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Tamil Nadu government has decided to celebrate the birth anniversary of reformist leader E V Ramasamy Periyar “Social Justice Day”.

About:

• E V Ramasamy Periyar was born on September 17. This day will now be celebrated as ‘Social Justice Day’ every year.
• Periyar’s ideology was all about social justice, equality, self-respect, and rationalism. This laid the foundation stone for Tamil society’s growth during the last century. These ideologies would also pave way for the future. Thus, the government decided to celebrate his birth anniversary every year to celebrate the symbolic reinforcement of his egalitarian principles.

How this day will be celebrated?

Every year, on September 17, employees in all government offices and State Secretariat will take pledges to follow values on the basis of such lofty ideals comprising of equality, brotherhood, self-respect and rationalism.

Contribution of E V Periyar

According to the Chief Minister, services of Periyar to the Tamil society were significant and instrumental in the enactment of first Constitutional Amendment Act, which safeguarded reservation for backward classes.

Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy Periyar (EV Ramasamy Periyar)

He was commonly known as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar. He was an Indian social activist and politician. He started Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam and is known as the ‘Father of the Dravidian movement’. He rebelled against the Brahmanical dominance as well as gender & caste inequality in Tamil Nadu.

Periyar and INC

E.V. Ramasamy joined the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1919, but resigned in 1925 after he realised that INC was only serving the interests of Brahmins. In 1924, he participated in non-violent agitation (satyagraha) at Vaikom, Travancore. He became the head of the Justice Party in 1939 and changed its name to Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft of India has completed more than 9,000 orbits around the Moon. Imaging and other scientific instruments on the aircraft have been providing excellent useful data since then

Lunar Science Workshop 2021

Lunar Science Workshop 2021 is a two-day workshop, organised by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The workshop started on September 6, 2021. It was organised to commemorate the completion of two years of operation of Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft across the moon’s orbit. The workshop was live-streamed on ISRO’s website and Facebook page to effectively reach the students, academia and institutes.

Two Years of Chandrayaan-2

• According to Chairman of ISRO, K Sivan, Chandrayaan-2 comprises of eight payloads and are conducting remote sensing and in-situ observations of the Moon at 100 km altitude from the lunar surface.
• On the occasion, K Sivan also released data product and science documents besides the data from Chandrayaan-2 orbiter payloads.
• Science data are being made available to academia and institutes in order to analyse them. It will also help in bringing more science from Chandrayaan-2 mission.

Chandrayaan-2 Mission

It is the second lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after Chandrayaan-1. It comprises of indigenously developed lunar orbiter, Vikram lander and Pragyan lunar rover. Mission was launched with the objective of mapping and study the variations in lunar surface composition, location and abundance of lunar water.

Launch of Chandrayaan-2

Chandrayaan-2 was launched to the Moon on July 22, 2019 by a GSLV Mark III-M1. It reached to the Moon’s orbit on August 20, 2019. It started the orbital positioning manoeuvres to land the Vikram lander. The lander and rover were scheduled to land on near side of the Moon, in the south polar region and conduct research for one lunar day. However, lander crashed after deviating from its intended trajectory. Its successful soft landing would have made India the fourth country to do so following the successful launch of Luna 9 by Soviet Union, Surveyor 1 by United States and Chang’e 3 by China.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970-2019) was released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

About:

• According to the atlas, developed nations incurred the bulk of $3.6tn in economic losses because of severe weather events in past five decades.
• High death tolls in poorer countries have been partly reduced by better evacuation.
• According to scientists of UN’s world meteorological organisation, in past 50 years, number of weather-related disasters had increased fivefold across the globe.
• In this period, death toll of 115 people and more than $200m was lost every day. The death toll was the result of climate change, more extreme weather and improved reporting.
• In this period, total losses amounted to $3.6tn and 2m deaths.
• For instance, estimated cost of Hurricane Ida, fifth-largest hurricane to make landfall in US, could be about $80bn.
• Three out of 10 world’s costliest disasters occurred in 2017 alone namely- hurricanes Harvey (cost-$96.9bn), Maria (cost-$69.4bn) and Irma (cost-$58.2bn).

Wider economic cost

As per catastrophe and risk modelling group AIR, wider economic cost comprises of an estimated hit to insurers of between $17bn and $25bn. This will cover the damage from wind & storm surge and it will pay out to repair cars, residential property, and commercial as well as industrial property. However, it does not include insurance claims that will come from the heavy rains and flooding caused by Ida.

What has led to increase in frequency of extreme weather events?

Frequency and severity of extreme weather events, including wildfires, across southern Europe, Siberia & the US and flooding in northern Europe, has increased due to global warming.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Chandigarh has got its first pollen calendar. This can identify potential allergy triggers and provide a clear understanding for clinicians as well as allergy sufferers about their causes to help limit their exposure during high pollen loads.

What is Pollen?

Pollen is a fine yellowish powder released by plants. They are essential for the sexual reproduction of flowering plants and plants that produce cones. Each pollen grain contains male gametes necessary for fertilisation. 

Pollen and Allergies

Pollen produced by plants are considered major outdoor airborne allergens responsible for allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis in humans.

In India, about 20-30% of the population suffers from allergic rhinitis/hay fever and approximately 15% develop asthma.

What are Pollen Calendars?

Pollen calendars represent the time dynamics of airborne pollen taxa in graphical form in a particular geographical area. 

They yield readily accessible visual details about various airborne pollen taxa present throughout the year, with their seasonality in a single picture. They are also location-specific, with concentrations closely related to locally distributed flora.

What is the significance of Pollen Calendars?

Pollen Calendars will help prepare early advisories and disseminate them through media channels to the citizens so that they can use protective gear during the period when the concentration of allergic pollen will be high. 

It is also a preventive tool for sensitive people to diminish exposure when the levels of aero-pollen are high during specific periods

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The Navies from Australia and India have commenced the bilateral maritime exercise named Exercise

AUSINDEX 2021.

About Exercise AUSINDEX

AUSINDEX is a bilateral maritime exercise between India and Australian Navies. It was started in the year 2015. This is the fourth edition of the exercise.

Aim: To provide an opportunity for both Navies to further bolster interoperability, gain from best practices and develop a common understanding of procedures for Maritime Security Operations.

From India, Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt are participating in the exercise.