WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The well-known Kung Fu Nuns of the Drukpa order of Buddhism has won the inaugural UNESCO’s Martial Arts Education Prize 2021, for their brave and heroic acts of service and championing of gender equality across the Himalayas.
• The Nuns empower young girls through martial arts, to defend themselves, build confidence, and take on leadership roles in their communities.
• The award has been launched by UNESCO ICM (International Centre of Martial Arts for Youth Development and Engagement), to collect and promote good practices of martial arts education (MA Edu.)

WHY IN NEWS?

According to a new report, Global agricultural productivity is not growing as fast as the demand for food, amid the impact of climate change.

• The report was released in conjunction with the World Food Prize Foundation’s annual conference.

Findings of the Report:

TFP Growth:

• Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is growing at an annual rate of 1.36% (2020-2019).
  • This is below the Global Agricultural Productivity Index that has set an annual target of 1.73% growth to sustainably meet the needs of consumers for food and bioenergy in 2050.

Difference between TFP and Yield

Yield:

• Yield measures output per unit of a single input, for example, the amount of crops harvested on a hectare of land. Yields can increase through productivity growth, but they can also increase by applying more inputs, called input intensification. Therefore, an increase in yield may or may not represent improvements in sustainability.

TFP:

• Total factor productivity captures the interaction between multiple agricultural inputs and outputs.
• TFP growth indicates that more farmers generate more crops, livestock, and aquaculture products with the same amount or less land, labor, fertilizer, feed, machinery, and livestock. As a result, TFP is a powerful metric for evaluating and monitoring the sustainability of agricultural systems.

Factors Responsible for Low TFP Growth:

• TFP growth is influenced by climate change, weather events, changes in fiscal policy, market conditions, investments in infrastructure and agricultural research and development.

Situation in Different Regions:

• Drier Regions (Africa and Latin America): Climate change has slowed productivity growth by as much as 34%.
• High-Income Countries (in North America and Europe): Modest TFP growth.
• Middle Income Countries (India, China, Brazil and erstwhile Soviet republics): Strong TFP growth rates.
• Low-Income Countries (Sub-Saharan Africa): TFP is contracting by an average of 0.31% per year.

Significance of Productivity Growth:

• Destruction of Forest Areas: 36% of the world’s land is used for agriculture. Forests and biodiverse areas will be destroyed for planting or pasture.
• Diet-Related Diseases: USD 2T in economic losses and 4 million deaths are attributed to diet-related diseases each year.
• Soil Degradation: 90% of the earth’s soils could be degraded by erosion by 2050.
• Methane Emissions: 37% of methane emissions from humans influenced activity come from cattle and other ruminants.
• Loss of Irrigation Water: 40% of irrigation water is lost due to inefficient irrigation.
  • Water sources will be depleted, making prime agricultural land unusable.

Suggestions:

• Invest in agricultural research and development
• Embrace science-and-information-based technologies
• Improve infrastructure for transportation, information and finance
• Cultivate partnerships for sustainable agriculture, economic growth and improved nutrition
• Expand and improve local, regional and global trade
• Reduce post-harvest loss and food waste

Indian Scenario

About:

• Strong TFP Growth:
  • India has seen strong TFP and output growth this century.
  • The most recent data shows an average annual TFP growth rate of 2.81% and output growth of 3.17% (2010–2019.)
• Impact of Climate Change:
  • By the end of the century, the mean summer temperature in India could increase by five degrees Celsius.
  • This rapidly rising temperature, combined with changes in rainfall patterns, could cut yields for India’s major food crops by 10% by 2035.
• Other Challenges:
  • In addition to the challenges for environmental sustainability, India’s small-scale farmers face significant obstacles to economic and social sustainability.
  • Of the 147 million landholdings in India, 100 million are less than two hectares in size. Nearly 90% of farmers farming less than two hectares participate in a government food ration program.

WHY IN NEWS?

The 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is going to held in Goa from November 20 to November 28, 2021 in which Hungarian filmmaker Istvan Szabo and Hollywood icon Martin Scorsese will be honoured with “Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award”.

Istvan Szabo

• Istvan Szabo is the most notable Hungarian filmmakers. He has been known outside the Hungarian-speaking world since 1960s.
• He achieved his greatest international success with movie called Mephisto (1981). For this, he was awarded with an Oscar in the best foreign language film category.

Martin Scorsese

He is one of the greatest and most influential directors in film history. He established filmmaking history in nine films made with Robert De Niro, such as biographical sports drama Raging Bull (1980) and psychological thriller Taxi Driver (1976). He has also been known for his collaborations with actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Scorsese directed Leonardo in five films namely, Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).

52nd International Film Festival of India

52^nd International film Festival of India is scheduled to organise from November 20 to November 28, 2021 in Goa. It will be held in hybrid form like its 51st edition. In the year 2021, to mark the birth centenary of Satyajit Rai, Directorate of Film Festivals will pay tribute to him by means of a ‘Special Retrospective’. An award named “Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Cinema, will be given on the occasion to recognise auteur’s legacy.

Satyajit Ray

He was an Indian film director, documentary filmmaker, scriptwriter, essayist, author, illustrator, lyricist, magazine editor, calligrapher, and music composer. He is considered as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

WHY IN NEWS?

We Protect Global Alliance recently released its Global Threat Assessment report 2021.

About:

• The report notes that, Child sexual abuse is a chronically underfunded issue.
• Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of child sexual exploitation and abuse online have increased.
• In the last two years, reporting of child sexual exploitation and online abuse cases has reached its highest level.
• According to “The Internet Watch Foundation”, there is an increase of 77% in child ‘self-generated’ sexual material in between 2019 to 2020. Such instances arose without any apparent external cause.
• As per report, currently, 37% children use tools to detect online grooming.

Online Grooming

Online grooming is the situation, in which someone befriends a child online, and builds up their trust in order to exploit them and cause them harm.

Recommendations made by report

Report suggests following measures to tackle the instances of sexual exploitation and abuse online:

1. Prioritise prevention activities against abuse online
2. Create safe online environments for children
3. Stakeholders, who are having a key role in protecting the children, should work together to improve the response.

We Protect Global Alliance

We Protect Global Alliance is a global movement of around 200 governments, private sector companies as well as civil society organisations who are working together to transform the global response to child sexual exploitation as well as abuse online.

WHY IN NEWS?

Fourth general assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) was held virtually between October 18 to October 21, 2021.

About:

• Assembly was presided by Union Minister of power, new & renewable energy, R.K. Singh and President of ISA Assembly.
• 108 countries participated in the ISA Assembly, including 34 observer & prospective countries and 74 Member Countries.
• It was also participated by 23 Partner Organizations and 33 Special Invitee Organisations.
• During the meeting countries discussed that how MSME clusters can replace diesel gensets with hydrogen.
• Discussion was focused on how ISA’s waste management programme will be significant for the growing volume of waste & toxic materials, high cost of waste treatment and lack of waste specific legislation.
• They also discussed an update on One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative. This concept of a single global grid for solar was proposed at First Assembly of the ISA in 2018.

Two New programme

During the assembly, countries launched two new programmes namely- Management of Solar PV panels & battery usage waste and Solar Hydrogen programme.

1. Solar Hydrogen Programme: Solar Hydrogen Programme was launched with the aim of enabling the use of solar electricity in order produce hydrogen at more affordable rate as compared to what is available currently that is USD 5 per KG. This aim will be achieved by reducing it to USD 2 per KG.

Partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies

The ISA also announced a partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies in order to mobilize $1 trillion in global investments for solar energy among the member countries of ISA. The two organizations will work with World Resources Institute (WRI) in a bid to develop a “Solar Investment Action Agenda” as well as a “Solar Investment Roadmap”. Both will be launched at COP26.

WHY IN NEWS?

India has handed over 34.9 km long cross-border rail link to Nepal government that connects Jayanagar in Bihar to Kurtha in Nepal.

About:

The ceremony took place on October 22, 2021 in the presence of Indian ambassador to Nepal Vinay M. Kwatra and Nepal minister for physical Infrastructure & transport Renu Kumari Yadav.

About Jaynagar-Kurtha Section of rail link

The Jaynagar – Kurtha section of rail link is the part of 68.7 km Jaynagar – Bijalpura- Bardidas rail link. It was built under the grant assistance programme of Indian government. Under the grant assistance of India, gauge conversion of 34.9 km narrow gauge has been completed. The project has completed at a cost of Rs 619 crore. It has five stations in the section namely, Jayanagar, Khajuri, Inarwa, Baidehi and Kurtha near Janakpur in Nepal. The highest fare will likely be Rs 70 for general class and Rs 300 for AC for the entire journey. The train will run at 115 km per hour and the distance will be covered in 23 minutes.

Significance of the rail link

This operationalised cross-border rail link is likely to enhance trade and commerce activities. It will also enhance people to people linkage between both the countries.

Jainagar or Jaynagar

It is a town and a notified area in the Madhubani district of Bihar. As per 2011 census, Jainagar had a population of 1,77,556. Males account for 53% of the population while females account for 47%. The town has an average literacy rate of 58%.

WHY IN NEWS?

Indian state of Karnataka is celebrating “Kittur Rani Chennamma Jayanthi” on October 23, 2021.

About:

• On the occasion, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai garlanded the statue of Queen in Hubbali in Dharwad district.
• A sum of 50 crore rupees will be sanctioned in the year 2021 for the Kittur Development Authority.

Kittur Chennamma

Kittur Chennamma was born on October 23, 1778. She belonged to the Lingayat community. She married Raja Mallasarja from the Desai family when she was 15. She was Indian Queen of Kittur which was a princely state in Karnataka. She led an armed rebellion in the year 1824, against the British East India Company (BEIC). She rebelled in confrontation of the doctrine of lapse in a bid to maintain Indian control over the region. In the fight, she defeated the British. However, she was dead in the imprisonment of second rebellion by BEIC. She was one of the first female rulers who rebel against British rule. She became a folk hero in Karnataka. She also became a symbol of independence movement in India.

About Kittur

Kittur is a taluka in Belagavi district of Karnataka. It was the part of Bailhongal taluka. On October 23, 2012 it was declared as an independent taluka by the Chief Minister of Karnataka. It is 177th Taluk of the State

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Recently, Indian Railways (IR) has announced that it is likely to become the world’s first ‘net-zero’ carbon emitter by 2030.

• IR is taking a multi-pronged approach to go green and decarbonise – from increasing its sourcing of Renewable Energy (RE) to electrifying its traction network and reducing its energy consumption.

About:

• Indian Railways: IR is the world’s fourth-largest railway network in terms of size. It is one of the largest electricity consumers in the country.
  • Passenger Services: Transports 24 million passengers every day across the subcontinent on 13,000 trains covering approximately 67,956 km.
  • Freight Services: 3.3 million tonnes of freight per day, and thus the fuel requirements are massive.
• Contribution in Total Emissions: India’s transport sector contributes to 12% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions with the railways accounting for about 4% of these emissions.
• Potential of Emissions Reduction: The Indian Railways can raise the official target of 50% freight share by 2030, up from its current share of 33%.
  • By shifting freight to rail and optimising truck use, India can reduce logistics costs from 14-10% of Gross Domestic Product and carbon dioxide emissions by 70% by 2050 compared to a business-as-usual scenario.

Initiatives taken by Indian Railways:

• Increased the Amount of Freight: Indian Railways to increase the amount of freight moved by it from about 35% in 2015 to 45% by 2030 to reduce overall emissions from transportation.
• Complete Electrification: Complete electrification of Indian Railways is targeted by financial year 2024. It will be the world’s largest 100% electrified rail transportation system by then.
• Use of Solar Power: Plans to install 20 GigaWatts (GW) of solar for both traction loads and non-traction loads.
  • Built a 1.7-MW solar power plant in Bina, Madhya Pradesh, in July 2020. It is the first solar energy plant in the world to directly power railway overhead lines, from which locomotives draw traction power.
  • A 2.5-MW solar project in Diwana, Haryana.
  • Work on a third pilot with a capacity of 50 MW has begun in Bhilai (Chhattisgarh).
  • A 16-kW solar power plant has been installed as platform shelter at the Sahibabad Railway Station.
  • The railways ministry has installed solar panels at over 960 stations and is using solar power to meet railway station energy needs.
• Participation of Private Sector: The ministry has included provisions for a Letter of Credit (LC) in the event of railway payment default, as well as a penalty for late payment in the model bidding document for solar power developers.
  • This is to encourage the private sector to participate in the project.

Challenges:

• No-objection certificate for open access: The No objection Certificate (NoC) for open access to electricity flow for railways in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana has not been operationalised due to regulatory challenges that the railways are vigorously pursuing.
  • If approval for procuring power through open access is granted in these states, solar deployment may increase.
• Wheeling and banking provision: Full deployment of solar potential will become more feasible if states provide wheeling and banking arrangements.
• Merger of solar purchase obligation and non-solar purchase obligation: The consolidation of solar and non-solar obligations will allow the railways to meet their Renewable Purchase Obligations.
• Unrestricted net metering regulations: Unrestricted net metering for rooftop solar projects would hasten the deployment of railway solar plants.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The proposal for Indian regulators to consider a new gene-editing technique has been pending with the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee for almost two years.

About:

• The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has now moved to newer technologies such as Site-Directed Nuclease (SDN) 1 and 2.
• New technique aims to bring precision and efficiency into the breeding process using gene-editing tools such as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), whose developers won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2020.
• SDN genome editing involves the use of different DNA-cutting enzymes (nucleases) that are directed to cut the DNA at a predetermined location by a range of different DNA binding systems.
• After the cut is made, the cell’s own DNA repair mechanism recognizes the break and repairs the damage, using one of two pathways that are naturally present in cells.
• It involves the use of gene-editing tools to directly tweak (improve\change) the plant’s own genes instead.
• It would allow plants to be genetically modified without the need for conventional transgenic technology.

Current Application:

• A research coalition under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which includes the IARI, is using these techniques to develop rice varieties which are drought-tolerant, salinity-tolerant and high-yielding. They could potentially be ready for commercial cultivation within three years.
  • The IARI has previously worked on golden rice, a traditional GM variety which inserted genes from other organisms into the rice plant, but ended trials over five years ago due to agronomic issues.

Significance of New Techniques:

Safe:

• In this case, you are just tweaking a gene that is already there in the plant, without bringing in any gene from outside.
• When a protein comes from an outside organism, then you need to test for safety. But in this case, this protein is right there in the plant, and is being changed a little bit, just as nature does through mutation.

Fast:

• It is much faster and far more precise than natural mutation or conventional breeding methods which involve trial and error and multiple breeding cycles. It is potentially a new Green Revolution.

• Status of New Techniques Globally:

• The U.S, Canada, Australia and Japan are among the countries which have already approved the SDN 1 and 2 technologies as not akin to GM, so such varieties of rice can be exported without any problem.
• The European Food Safety Authority has also submitted its opinion that these technologies do not need the same level of safety assessment as conventional gene mutation, though the European Union is yet to accept the recommendation.

Related Laws in India:

• In India, several rules, guidelines, and policies backed by the “Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989” notified under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, regulate genetically modified organisms.
• Apart from it, the National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research involving human participants, 2017, by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Biomedical and Health Research Regulation Bill implies regulation of the gene-editing process.
  • This is especially so in the usage of its language “modification, deletion or removal of parts of heritable material”.
  • However, there is no explicit mention of the term gene editing.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Ministry of Rural Development launched 152 SAKSHAM centres under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). These centres were launched as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

About:

• About 152 Centre for Financial Literacy & Service Delivery (or SAKSHAM Centres) were launched across 77 districts in 13 states, during October 4 to 8, 2021.
• These centres would act as one stop solution or single window system for the basic financial needs of Self-Help Group (SHG) households across the rural areas.

Objectives of the centre

These centres were launched with the objective of providing financial literacy and facilitating the delivery of financial services like credit, savings, pensions, insurance, etc. These facilities will be provided to SHG members and rural poor.

Who will manage these centres?

These centres will be managed by SHG network, at the level of “Cluster Level Federations (CLFs)”. Trained Community Resource Persons (CRPs) will also help in maintaining the centres.

Trained Community Resource Persons (CRPs)

Trained CRPs are given six days residential training at the Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs), which are established by the Lead Bank of the district.

SAKSHAM App

This mobile & web-based application has been launched by Ministry of Rural Development. The community resource person of the Centre will use this application for knowing the penetration of several financial services for each SHG & village, identifying major gaps as well as for providing training & delivering the required financial services. Application will also measure the impact of the programme for mid-course correction in the strategy on regular interval.