The upgraded portal of Women Entrepreneurship Platform was recently launched by NITI Aayog.
The platform is a one-stop resource centre for future and budding women entrepreneurs.
It acts as a medium for various stakeholders and offer integrated services such as Incubator Support, Mentorship, Funding venues, Compliance etc.
It seeks to transform the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country.
Outcome of COP 24
The 24th Session of the of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 24) was held in Katowice, Poland on 02nd– 15th December 2018.
It focused on 3 key issues such as
Finalization of guidelines/ rules for the implementation of Paris Agreement,
The conclusion of 2018 Facilitative Talanoa Dialogue and
The stocktake of Pre-2020 actions implementation and ambition.
The guidance on adaptation recognizes the principle including equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC).
Parties have also agreed to initiate the work on setting up the new collective finance goals post-2020 from the floor of USD 100 billion.
The guidance on Nationally Determined Contributions provides for Parties to submit different types of contributions including adaptation.
The outcome on Talanoa dialogue also recalls the commitment of developed country Parties to a goal of mobilizing jointly USD 100 billion per year by 2020.
Talanoa Dialogue
The countries put in place a road-map for 'Talanoa Dialogue' in COP 23 which is a year-long process to assess the countries' progress on climate actions.
Under this, it was agreed that the next two climate conferences, in 2018 and 2019, will have special ‘stock-taking’ sessions.
This stock-take would focus on the ‘pre-2020 actions’ being taken by different countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It included the progress made by developed nations in their obligations to provide finance and technology support to the developing countries.
It reflected a strong message to developed countries that post-2020 climate action as part of the Paris Agreement cannot be divorced from pre-2020 commitments.
Task Force to protect Wildlife
India, Nepal and Bhutan are considering having a joint taskforce to protect wildlife across the Kanchenjunga Landscape, a trans-boundary region spread across Nepal, India and Bhutan.
It will allow free movement of wildlife across political boundaries and checking smuggling of wildlife across the landscape.
The landscape stretches along the southern side of Mount Kanchenjunga covers Nepal (21%), Bhutan (23%) and India (56%).
Deep Earth
It is the region that exists between 2 km and 3 km below the ocean-floor.
It consists of about 2-2.3 billion cubic km, which is about twice the volume of the oceans combined.
Its biosphere constitutes “Subterranean Galapagos” which includes members of all 3 domains of life – Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya.
Bacteria and archaea (microbes with no membrane-bound nucleus) dominate deep earth.
Eukarya, multicellular organisms with cells that contain a nucleus as well as membrane bound organelles, found less in numbers.
Scientists say about 70% of earth’s bacteria and archaea live in the subsurface.
