Prelim Bits 30-11-2023 | UPSC Daily Current Affairs

IWIS and CITIS

Recently held 8th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS) & 1st Climate Investments and Technology Impact Summit (CITIS) were included in the G20 India events in 2023.

India Water Impact Summit (IWIS)

• Launch – Though started as a one-time event in 2012, it evolved as an annual event since 2^nd summit in 2017.
• Objective – To bring clarity to the scientific, technological, socio-cultural, legal, policy and governance issues pertaining to river basin management in India.
• Organised by
  • National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) – The implementation wing of National Ganga Council which was setup in 2016 under the River Ganga Authority order 2016 under the aegis of Ministry of Jal Shakti
  • Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga) – A think tank and a centre of excellence formed under the aegis of NMCG is headquartered at IIT Kanpur.
• 8^th IWIS 2023 – Its aims to unite various stakeholders to address dynamic challenges and opportunities in India's water sector.
• Theme – Development vis-à-vis Land, Water and Rivers.
• Focus - Samarth Ganga on lines of productive land and lifestyle for rivers.

Global Coalition for River Science and Management is a platform for hosting the best practices for monitoring and managing different aspects of river systems around the world.

Climate Investments and Technology Impact Summit (CITIS)

• Objectives – To bind potential investors with technology providers.
• To review, test and implement new technologies that will significantly improve India’s river and land management scenario.
• To adopt suitable financing mechanisms.
• To collaborate within multiple sectors that are intricately linked with climate, air, land, rivers and water management.

References

1. PIB| Launch of 8^th IWIS
2. IWIS| India Water India Summit

Fast Track Special Court (FTSCs)

The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of Fast Track Special Court (FTSCs) till March 2026.

• It is a dedicated court to strengthen the deterrence framework for sexual offenders and to ensure the swift disposal of cases related to rape and the POCSO Act.
• Launch– 2019
• Mandate – Exclusively handle pending cases of Rape and POCSO Act.
• Implemented by – Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice which has an online monitoring framework for monthly monitoring of case statistics.
• Financing- Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)
• Coverage – A total of 1023 Fast Track Special Courts will be set up all over the country
• Members – 1 Judicial Officer and 7 Staff Members in each court.
• FTSCs will be linked to National Judicial Data Grid.
• Evaluation – The Scheme will be evaluated by an independent external agency.

As on August 2023, 758 FTSCs including 411 exclusive POCSO Courts are functional in 29 States / UTs which have disposed of more than 1, 88,000 pending cases.

References

1. PIB| Continuation of FTSCs
2. DOJ.GOI| Fast Track Special Court

Climate Engineering

The UNESCO report has stressed for mandatory participation of the vulnerable, neglected and marginalised individuals in policy decisions related to climate engineering.

• It is the intentional large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system to counter climate change.
• It is also known as geoengineering which involves 2 techniques.
• Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) – It removes and stores the emitted carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It includes
  • Direct air capture
  • Land-use management (afforestation / reforestation)
  • Sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2)  
  • Increasing the uptake of CO2 by the ocean
  • Enhancing natural weathering processes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere

According to a report in the journal Nature, so far, new CDR technologies have removed only about 0.1% of carbon that is around 2.3 million tonnes per year.

• Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) – It reflects sunlight back to space to reduce the amount reaching the Earth’s surface and is also known as solar geoengineering.
• Techniques to increase surface reflectivity of Earth includes
  • Painting structures with reflective paints
  • Planting crops with high reflectivity
  • Enhancing the reflectivity of marine clouds
  • Injecting aerosols into the lower stratosphere to mimic the cooling induced by volcanic eruptions
  • Placing reflectors or shields in space
  • Removing infrared-absorbing clouds from the atmosphere to reduce trapped heat

• Challenges - CDR is expensive and is being developed by only a very small group of countries, firms and academics.

Reference

Down To Earth| Ethics of Climate Engineering

Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF)

According to experts, if Global Biodiversity Framework Funds (GBFF) fails to find adequate money, countries will have to find more funds domestically.

• Establishment – It was launched at the 7th Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Canada in 2023 where Canada and the United Kingdom made the initial contributions.
• Objectives
  • To help countries achieve the 23 targets set under the KMGBF (the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework).
  • To receive funding from all sources and quickly disburse through streamlined procedures.
  • To enhance the access for indigenous peoples and local communities, according to their own priorities.
• Finance - Private, philanthropic and government investments unlike GEF, which relied on just 40 donors for finance.
  • It has a cumulative budget of 5.25 billion USD for 2022-26, of which 36% is for biodiversity and the remaining is for projects on climate change, pollution, land and ocean health.
• Managed by – Global Environment Facility (GEF)
• Trustee of the GBFF – World Bank
• GBFF Council – More representations from developing countries than developed and decisions are to be taken by consensus.
• Activities – It will be used to approve projects until December 31, 2030, unless otherwise decided by the Council or the COP of UNFCC.

References

1. Down To Earth| Climate financing
2. CBD| Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF)

Quarterly Bulletin of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)

According to the recent quarterly bulletin of Periodic Labour Force Survey, unemployment rate in urban areas has come down.

• PLFS – It is published by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) since 2017.
• Objective – To estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (Worker Population Ratio, Labour Force Participation Rate, Unemployment Rate).

Current Weekly Status (CWS) is the activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of last 7 days preceding the date of survey is known as the current weekly status (CWS) of the person.

• Fieldwork – Data collection through 1st visit and revisit and since 2020 revisit data collection was also done through telephone mode.
• Sample Design – It uses a rotational panel scheme for each selected household in urban areas.
  • First visit schedule – 4 times
  • Revisit schedule – 3 times periodically

Findings of 20^th quarterly PLFS bulletins (July- Sep, 2023)

• The unemployment rate in urban areas of the country decreased from 7.2% to 6.6% in 1 year time period.
  • For persons of age 15 years and above, the unemployment rate was 6.6% while it was 6% for male category.

• The labour force participation rate in urban areas increased from 47.9% to 49.3% for persons of age 15 years and above in 1 year period.

References

1. The Hindu| Unemployment rate drops in Quarterly PLFS
2. PIB| 20^th Quarterly PLFS Bulletin