Green Credit Program (GCP) and Ecomark scheme
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has introduced GCP and Ecomark scheme to take ahead the LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) movement.
- Objective – Both initiatives promotes
- Sustainable living
- Environmental conservation
- Embody eco-friendly practices in India through individual and collective choice.
- They align with global sustainability goals.
- They reflect the India’s commitment to conservation and protection of the environment.
To know more about LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), click here
Green Credit Program (GCP)
- It is an innovative market-based mechanism.
- Objective – Incentivize voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors by various stakeholders like individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies.
- GCP's governance framework – Inter-ministerial Steering Committee and GCP administrator.
- GCP Administrator – Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE).
- It implements, manage, monitor and operate the program.
- Focus – Water conservation and afforestation.
- Digital platform – It will streamline registration of projects, its verification, and issuance of Green Credits.
- Green Credit Registry and trading platform – It allows buying and selling of Green Credits.
- Condition to obtain Green Credits
Ecomark Scheme:
- Objective
- To promote eco-friendly products.
- To build consumer awareness of environmental issues.
- To motivate manufacturers to shift towards environmentally friendly production.
- To ensure accurate labelling and prevent misleading information about products.
- Accreditation – It accredits products that meet specific environmental criteria with minimal environmental impact.
- It also maintains quality standards as per Indian norms.
- Administration – The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
BIS is the national body for standards and certification.
References
PIB| Green Credit Program and Ecomark Scheme
Kawar Lake
Bihar’s only wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention lies neglected and is on the brink of drying up.
- It is also known as Gokhur lake.
- Geographical location – Begusarai in Bihar
- Ramsar Status – 2020
There are a total of 75 Ramsar sites in India.
- Source of water – It draws water from the confluence of the Gandak, the Bia and the Kareh river.
- Ecosystem – Plenty of aquatic vegetation around the lake that attracts thousands of birds during the winter season.
- Current water level – It is significantly low due to a deficit rainfall this monsoon.
- It has been drying up since 2010 and if the situation continues, the entire lake will dry up.
- Challenges
- Increased demand of fishing by the ‘Nishad’ community.
- Dominance of rich farmers and unsustainable farm land disputes between the fisher folks and farmers.
- Deforestation by the local and not a single one in the forest near the lake is over 50 years old.
- Silt accumulation in the lake has been increasing for year and reducing the depth of the waterbody.
- Impacts
- The fishing community will have to give up their work.
- Migratory birds will stop coming.
- It affects tourism potential of the lake.
The major obstacles for wetland conservation in Bihar
- Hunting of migratory birds.
- Agriculture around wetland areas.
- Insufficient government policies for wetland management and conservation.
- No timely actions.
- Encroachments over wetlands with increasing urbanisationand land acquisitions.
Vikramshila Dolphin Sanctuary in Bihar serves as a haven for endangered dolphins which has the issue of illegal dredging of the Ganga River on its banks along with hunting of dolphins for many purposes.
References
Down To Earth| Kawar Lake
P20 Summit
9th G20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit (P20) was held recently in New Delhi.
- Set up – 2010
- Objective – To deepen efforts and methods of international collaboration upon emerging issues faced by the global community.
- 2023 Theme – Parliaments for One Earth, One Family, One Future.
- It draws inspiration from the ancient Indian philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is one Family).
- 2023 Presidency – India
- Participants – Speakers of Parliaments of G20 members and invitee countries.
- Pan-African Parliament – It participated for the 1st time
African Union became a member of G20 at the New Delhi G20 Leaders Summit in 2023.
Focus on 4 high level sessions
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- Transformation in People’s Lives through Public Digital Platforms.
- Women-led development.
- Accelerating SDGs.
- Sustainable Energy Transition.
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- A Parliamentary Forum on ‘LiFE’ (Lifestyle for Environment) – It was conducted as a pre-Summit event.
- It is to promote adoption of sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of production and consumption.
- Indian PM had invited all P20 delegates to visit again next year to witness the polls of 17th General elections.
Key points delivered at P20 Summit
- To promote peace and brotherhood, a time to move together.
- To overcome the global trust crisis and move forward with human-centric thinking.
- To look at the world in the spirit of One Earth, One Family, One Future.
- To take a tough approach in dealing with terrorism.
- Encourage public participation to deal with the world’s challenges.
References
- PIB| P20 Summit 2023
- The Hindu Business Line| Key highlights of P20 Summit
Cricket in Olympics
International Olympic Committee approves cricket among other 5 sports for 2028 Los Angeles Olympics whose final voting will be held soon.
- 5 new sports under consideration were Twenty20 cricket, baseball/softball, flag football (non-contact American football), squash and lacrosse.
T20 cricket is the sport’s shortest international format.
- 1900 Paris Olympics – Cricket last featured at this event.
- Britain beat a side representing France.
- Significance – Adding cricket to the Olympic programme is an obvious move in term of financial advantages.
- It would tap into the lucrative south Asian market, attracting fans in countries such as India and Pakistan.
India hosts the men’s 50-over Cricket World Cup.
Roadmap of Cricket in Global stage
- In 2019, International Cricket Council (ICC) took a decisive move to make cricket a global sport.
- In 2022, it returned to the Commonwealth Games 2022, when women's T20s team played.
- BCCI agreed to come under the ambit of India's National Anti-Doping Agency, an affiliate of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
IOC mandates that every global sport body must be WADA compliant.
References
The Hindu| Cricket in Olympics
G20 FMCBG meeting
Recently, G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the Indian Presidency was held in Marrakech, Morocco.
- It is the 4th and final meeting of the G20 FMCBG.
- It is on the side-lines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG).
- Presidency – India
- Objective – To enhancing global economic cooperation to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.
- Important discussions and adaptations
- Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR)
- 2nd meeting of GSDR held before this meeting.
- Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI)
- It advised to continue the work of GPFI.
- To advancing financial inclusions in all 3 dimensions viz. access, usage, and quality, for individuals and MSMEs.
- G20 Sustainable Finance Technical Assistance Action Plan
- It proposed implementation mechanisms for this.
- To scaling up capacity building efforts in sustainable finance, especially in EMDEs and SMEs.
- IMF-FSB synthesis paper on Crypto assets
- It adopted the proposed Roadmap to achieve common goals of macro-economic and financial stability.
- Enablers of Inclusive Cities: Enhancing Access to Services and Opportunities
- It endorsed this G20 - World Bank report.
FMCBG meetings under Indian Presidency
- 1st meet – Bengaluru
- 2nd meet – Washington DC
- 3rd meet – Gandhinagar, Gujarat
- 4th meet – Marrakech, Morocco
Key achievements under India presidency
- Strengthened Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to address the shared global challenges of the 21st century.
- Advanced financial inclusion and productivity gains through Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)
- Financing cities of tomorrow.
- Mobilising climate finance and enabling finance for Sustainable Development Goals.
- Managing global debt vulnerabilities.
- Enhancing tax transparency and capacity-building.
- Advancing the work on the two-pillar solution for addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy.
References
PIB| G20 FMCBG Meeting
Other important news
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Karaavali skittering frog
- Scientific name - Euphlyctis karaavali
- Habitat - It is endemic to the southwestern coast of India and found along the coastal regions of Karnataka and Kerala.
- The frog belongs to a group known as “skittering frogs”, because of their habit of floating on water and skittering away when disturbed.
- IUCN Status - Near Threatened.
Other recently discovered amphibians:
- Amolops siju - A Cascade frog found living deep inside a cave in Meghalaya.
- Gracixalus Patkaiensis - Green tree frog spotted in the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh.
- Amolops Mahabharatensis - Mahabharat Torrent frog found in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal.
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Bharathiyar
- Indian PM has mentioned the great poet Subramania Bharati’s song ‘Sindhu Nadhiyin Misai’ at the launch of ferry services between Nagapattinam in India and Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka.
- Subramania Bharati is regarded as the father of the modern Tamil literary style.
- Born - He was born on 11th December 1882, in a village called Ettayapuram in Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu.
- Works - Kaṇṇan paṭṭu, Panchali Sapatham, and Kuyil Paṭṭu.
- His English works were collected in Agni and Other Poems and Translations and Essays and Other Prose Fragments (1937).
- Journals - India, Vijaya, Bala Bharatham, Suryodayam, Swadesa mitran
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Anti-money laundering guidelines
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) recently amended the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules.
- According to it, partners holding a 10% stake in a firm will come under the definition of beneficial owners. Earlier, the requirement was 15%.
- A beneficial owner is an individual who gets to enjoy ownership benefits even though the title to some form of the property is in the name of another individual.
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Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP)
- The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) has offered 8 blocks for exploration and production (E&P) of hydrocarbons under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).
- OALP provides a single, uniform license for exploration and production of conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources.
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BrahMos missiles
- Philippines is contemplating to acquire more BrahMos missile.
- The BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile, named after the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva of Russia.
- Developed by - Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroyeniya.
- The BrahMos is primarily an anti-ship missile, but it can be launched from the sea, under the sea, on land, and in the air.
- It works on the Fire and Forget principle.
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World Thrombosis Day 2023
- World Thrombosis Day is observed on October 13 across the globe.
- Founded by - The International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) in 2014.
- Aim - To create awareness against Thrombosis which occurs when blood clots clog blood vessels.
- 2023 Theme - “Move Against Thrombosis".
- Impact - On a worldwide scale, one in every four people dies as a result of thrombosis-related illnesses.
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