UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 31-08-2020

India-UN Development Partnership Fund

• It is a dedicated facility within the United Nations Fund for South-South Cooperation established in 2017.

1. It is supported and led by the Government of India.
2. It is managed by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation.
3. It is implemented in collaboration with the United Nations system.

• The Fund project portfolio aims to contribute to the efforts of developing countries towards the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• The Fund now encompasses 36 projects, approved in partnership with 9 United Nations agencies in 37 countries.
• It has made significant strides in advancing the national development goals and commitments of the 2030 Agenda by enlisting the global presence and operational capabilities of the United Nations system in the following areas  

1. Least developed countries (LDCs),
2. landlocked developing countries (LLDCs)
3. Small Island developing States (SIDS)

• Recently India has contributed $15.46 million to the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, to support developing nations in their developmental priorities across all the Sustainable Development Goals.
• The tranche of $15.46 million includes $6 million to the overall fund, in which all the developing countries are eligible for partnership, and $9.46 million dedicated to the Commonwealth countries.

Human African Trypanosomiasis

• Human African Trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness, is a disease caused by parasites transmitted through infected tsetse flies.
• According to the WHO, Sleeping sickness is currently found in 36 sub-Saharan African countries.
•  If untreated, it can become fatal.
• There are two types of sleeping sickness.
• Trypanosoma brucei gambiense – This occurs due to the parasite found in 24 countries in west and central Africa.
• It caused more than 88% of reported cases of sleeping sickness in 2019, according to updated estimates made available by the WHO.
• Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense - This parasite found in 13 countries in eastern and southern Africa.
• This type accounted for the remaining 12% of reported cases in 2019.
• Recently Togo has become the first country in Africa to eliminate human African Trypanosomiasis.
• Togo is a West African nation on the Gulf of Guinea and it did not report any cases in the past 10 years.
• WHO on August 27, 2020 certified after country applied for it in 2018.

Next Generation Incubation Services

• Next Generation Incubation Services (NGIS) initiative has been brought by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).
• The aim is to develop and build an ecosystem for startups in tier-2 locations in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and IT.
• NGIS program is created and aligned with the vision of National Policy on Software Products (NPSP 2019) and it will create a robust ecosystem for software product development in the country.
• It will be implemented in 12 STPI centers across the country over a period of 3 years.
• The local startup ecosystem will be nurtured and supported.
• As part of NGIS, quarterly challenge programmes will be conducted in association with industry partners and central government departments that can provide mentorship as well as funding support.
• MeitY has approved Rs 60 crore to be spent in three years for the 12 locations to nurture about 300 start-ups and all the state governments too have been extending matching grants.
• STPI also announced the launch of ‘CHUNAUTI’ - Challenge Hunt under NGIS for Advanced Uninhibited Technology Intervention.

Indian Depository Receipt

• India Depository Receipt is an instrument in the form of a depository receipt (DR) created by the underlying equity shares of the issuing company.
• In an IDR, foreign companies would issue shares to an Indian Depository and thus can mobilize funds from India by selling shares.
• IDR is an opposite case of Global depositary receipt (GDR) or American depositary receipt (ADR).
• Standard charter recently delisted its IDRs from domestic exchange.

• Standard Chartered Bank decided to delist, as the issue failed to convince both the bank and investors.
• The IDRs had made a debut on the Indian bourses exactly 10 years back on June 11, 2010.
• Domestic bourses were not able to attract any other company to raise funds from India through the IDR route. Reasons behind lack of interest in IDRs are

1. Initial entry barrier,
2. Lack of fungibility awareness,
3. Tax issues
4. Failure to popularize the product across the globe.

Methane Budget

• Methane is emitted from a range of anthropogenic sources like landfills, agriculture, and fossil fuels, as well as natural systems like wetlands.
• It is the second most important greenhouse gas that humans are contributing to.
• Since pre-industrial times, increases in atmospheric methane have contributed to a quarter of the climate-warming effect from greenhouse gases.
• But unlike carbon dioxide, methane has a shorter lifetime in the atmosphere.
• If big changes are brought in our emissions, methane can be removed relatively quickly.
• Recently international team of scientists has published an update on the global methane budget as part of the Global Carbon Project.
• They estimated annual global methane emissions at nearly 570 million tons for the 2008 to 2017 decade which is 5% higher than emissions recorded in the early 2000s.
• It estimated that wetlands made up for the largest natural source of methane and other sources like agriculture, waste and fossil fuels contributed to 60%.
• Wetlands are estimated to make up 20% to 30% of the global methane budget, but emissions vary by latitude.
• The fluxes are larger in the tropics than in the high latitudes and temperate zones.

Global Carbon Project

• The Global Carbon Project (GCP) is an organization seeks to quantify global greenhouse gas emissions and their causes.
• Established in 2001, its projects include global budgets for three dominant greenhouse gases

1. Carbon dioxide,
2. Methane,
3. Nitrous oxide

• GCP’s complementary efforts are in areas of urban, regional, cumulative, and negative emissions.
• The main object of the group has been to fully understand the carbon cycle.
• The project has brought together emissions experts, earth scientists, and economists to tackle the problem of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases.
• It is currently chaired by Rob Jackson of Stanford University.

International Women's trade Centre

• Kerala will set up India's first international women's trade Centre (WTC) at Angamaly.
• This project has been established in collaboration with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a part of Gender Park initiative of the state government.
• This initiative aims to accelerate women entrepreneurship and secure gender parity while providing women with a safe place away from home to start new businesses, set up or expand, and get their products marketed globally.  
• WTC will enable women entrepreneurs to

1. Participate in international trade,
2. Enjoy greater economic benefits
3. Enhance their competitiveness to tap market opportunities.
4. Reduced dependency on the informal channels to get access to finances and expertise

• Along with WTC, REACH or Resource Enhancement Academy for Career Heights is also aimed at empowering women with the required life-skills to ensure success in life. 

Source:  Down To Earth, Business Line, Economic Times

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