POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                        

1. Breast Milk Banks                                                                            

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS                                                   

1. BRICS’ NDB pledges $100  million to NIIF’s Fund of Funds                 

ECONOMY                                                                                          

1. Year End Review -2019 of Ministry of Corporate Affairs                     

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY                                                

1. Sustainable Development Cell for Environmental Mitigation Measures 

2. No deal as longest climate talks end in Madrid                                   

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY                                                    

1. Government testing GIMs, its secure messaging app                       

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Breast Milk Banks

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• Union Minister for Health and Family welfare has informed that Breast Milk Banks have been established under “National Guidelines on Establishment of Lactation Management Centres in Public Health Facilities”.

Need :

• It is universally accepted that breast milk is the optimum exclusive source of nutrition for the first six months of life, and may remain part of the healthy infant diet for the first two years of life and beyond.

• Unicef India mentions mothers, both in high- and low-income countries, face challenges such as poor healthcare and nutrition. Sometimes, families end up giving babies honey or sugared water as their first oral feed, referred to as prelacteal feed.

• Milk banks have a dedicated set of counsellors to answer such queries about lactation management and convince new mothers about the benefits of donating milk.

Breast Milk Banks:

•  Breast Milk Banks in India consists of:

  • Comprehensive Lactation Management Centre:It is established for the purpose of collecting, screening, processing, storing and distributing donor human milk at Government Medical Colleges or District Hospitals with high delivery load and availability of newborn treatment units.

  • Lactation Management Unit:It has a collection and storage facility of mother’s own milk in District Hospital/Sub-district Hospital with at least 12 beds.

  • Lactation Support Units:These are established at all delivery points to provide breastfeeding support, lactation counselling and Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) support to mothers.

Significance :

• It prevents infections like diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections in early infancy and thus reduce infant mortality and

• It decreases the risk of mothers developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

                                                                                                                               Source :- PIB

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

BRICS’ NDB pledges $100  million to NIIF’s Fund of Funds

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

•  New Development Bank (NDB), earlier known as the BRICS Development Bank, has committed $100 million to India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund’s (NIIF) Fund of Funds

New Development Bank(NDB) :

•  The New Development Bank(NDB) formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

• The bank was founded in 2014 but was was launched in 2015 with an initial authorized capital of $100 billion.The bank is headquartered in Shanghai,China.

• The bank aims to contribute to development plans established nationally through projects that are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.

Objective :

• Promote infrastructure and sustainable development projects with a significant development impact in member countries.

• Establish an extensive network of global partnerships with other multilateral development institutions and national development banks.

• Build a balanced project portfolio giving a proper respect to their geographic location, financing requirements and other factors.

Membership :

• The bank functions on a consultative mechanism among the BRICS members with all the BRICS member countries possessing equal rights.

• The bank’s agreement specifies that all members of the United Nations could be members of the bank.However,the share of the BRICS nations can never be less than 55% of the voting power.         

                                                                                                                             Source :- Livemint

ECONOMY

Year End Review -2019 of Ministry of Corporate Affairs

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ year-end review for 2019 is briefly given below.

More in the news :

•  Ease of Doing Business:

  • India has improved its ranking on the World Bank’s “Doing Business” 2020 report. As per the report, India has moved up 14 positions to 63rd position as compared to 77th position in 2018.

  • India’s leap of 14 ranks in the Ease of Doing Business ranking is significant considering that there has been continuous improvement since 2015 and for the third consecutive year India is amongst the top 10 improvers.

  • Steps taken for improving ‘Ease of Doing Business’:

    • Integrated Incorporation Form – Simplified Proforma for Incorporating Company Electronically (SPICe) introduced which extends 8 services (CIN, PAN, TIN, DIN, Name, EPFO, ESIC and GSTN) from three Ministries through a single form.

    • De-criminalization of technical & procedural violations under Companies Act and reducing the burden on criminal courts & NCLT.

    • RUN – Reserve Unique Name: Web service for name reservation for companies & LLPs, re-engineering the process of allotment of Director Identification Number (DIN), Zero MCA fee for company incorporation up to Rs 15 lakh authorized capital.

    • Mergers and acquisitions process made faster.

    • The Competition Commission of India (CCI) introduced an automatic system of approval for combinations under Green Channel.

    • Exemptions from various provisions of Companies Act to Private companies, Government Companies, Charitable companies, Nidhis and IFSC (GIFT city) companies.

    • Provisions relating to the issue of shares with Differential Voting Rights (DVRs) modified with the objective of enabling promoters of Indian companies to retain control of their companies in their pursuit of growth and creation of long-term value for shareholders, even as they raise equity capital from global investors.

    • Enabling provisions with regard to Mediation and Conciliation under the Companies Act, 2013 enforced.

    • Harmonising norms with SEBI by reducing the time limits of public offers so that investors get securities within three days of application instead of the earlier six days.

    • Launched Independent Director’s Databank to provide an easy to access & navigate platform for the registration of existing Independent Directors as well as individuals aspiring to become independent directors.

    • Setting up a Central Registration Centre for name reservation and incorporation of companies & LLPs within 1-2 days as opposed to an average of at least 15 days earlier.

    • During the last three years, more than 1,25,000 companies have been incorporated every year in the country in this manner, as compared to 50-60,000 companies in earlier years.

•  Resolving Insolvency Index :-

  • India’s ranking jumped 56 places to 52 in 2019 from 108 in 2018.

  • Recovery rate increased from 26.5% in 2018 to 71.6% in 2019.

  • Time taken in recovery improved from 4.3 years in 2018 to 1.6 years in 2019.

                                                                                                                                       Source :- PIB

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

Sustainable Development Cell for Environmental Mitigation Measures

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• The Ministry of Coal has decided to establish a ‘Sustainable Development Cell’ for environmental mitigation measures.

Key Reason for establishment of Sustainable Development Cell :

• To address environmental concerns during the decommissioning or closure of mines.

• This move gains significance as new private entities are now going to form a significant part of the future and a set of guidelines for proper rehabilitation of mines need to be evolved in tune with the global best practices.

Role of Sustainable Development Cell: 

• The SDC will advise, mentor, plan and monitor the mitigation measures taken by the coal companies for maximising the utilisation of available resources in a sustainable way,  minimising the adverse impact of mining and mitigating it for further ecosystem services.

• It will act as a nodal point at the Ministry of Coal level in this matter.

• This cell will also formulate the future policy framework for the environmental mitigation measures including the Mine Closure Fund.

Tasks of the SDC:

• Land amelioration and afforestation: In India, approximately 2,550 sq. km of area is under different coal mines and there are also plans to bring more areas under it. These land masses require both extensive and intensive amelioration measures.

• Air quality, emission and noise management:

  • To advice coal companies for effective implementation of environmental mitigation measures (water sprinkling, dust suppression methods, noise barriers, etc.) related to air and noise pollution generated due to mine activities, heavy earth moving machines (HEMMs), transport of coal, etc.

  • It will also work towards energy efficiency in the mining operation, noise and emission reduction in the case of HEMMs.

  • Analysis of Environment Management Plans (EMP) of different companies and advising coal companies to make them more effective.

• Mine water management: The plan will suggest ways and also have innovative planning for storage, treatment and re-use of such water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries, tourism, industrial or any other sustainable purpose.

• Sustainable overburden management:

  • The cell will also check feasibility and suggest measures for the reuse, recycling and rehabilitation of over-burdened dumps in a sustainable manner.

  • The SDC will also examine and plan out use of overburdened material for use in different infrastructure projects, earthen bunds, etc.

• Sustainable mine tourism: To explore and conceptualise a plan for the beautification & creation of eco-parks in the reclaimed areas (which will also include water bodies) for recreation activities and tourism purposes. It will also explore tourism potential and plan it out in a few underground mines.

• Planning and monitoring: To conduct analysis of mine closure activities, help coal companies finalise a time-frame for mine closure and formulate guidelines for the same.

• Policy, research, education, and dissemination:

  • Hiring experts/institutions/organisations to conduct specific studies for establishing a robust knowledge base.

  • Organising consultative meetings, workshops, field visits, exposure study tours, etc. to enrich the knowledge base, identify the best global ideas for environmental mitigation planning and monitoring.

  • Conducting regular workshops and seminars for company level officials to educate them in new methods, technologies, approaches and also global practices.

                                                                                                                                 Source :- PIB

No deal as longest climate talks end in Madrid

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• The 25th Conference of Parties (CoP 25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Madrid, the longest in history, ended in deadlock and disappointment over most of the contentious issues.

More in the news :

• COP 25 ended without any outcome on the creation of a system of credits for reduction of emissions for the second year in a row.

• Earlier, COP24 at Katowice (Poland) 2019 also couldn’t decide on issues like the creation of new carbon markets, emission reduction targets, etc.

• This was the longest climate COP meeting ever in 25 nearly annual editions.

Key Highlights of the CoP 25 :

• The summit passed the declaration calling on countries to improve their current pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• It also endorsed to help poor countries that are suffering the effects of climate change, although any new funds were not allocated for the purpose.

• It called on the “urgent need” to cut planet-heating greenhouse gases in line with the goals of the 2015 Paris climate change accord.
   

  • The Paris Accord established the common goal of avoiding a temperature increase of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

  • So far, the world is on course for a 3 to 4 degree Celsius rise, with potentially dramatic consequences for many countries, including rising sea levels and fiercer storms.

Concern :

• The Summit couldn’t reach a final agreement on Carbon markets.
   

  • Carbon markets allow for buying and selling of carbon emissions with the objective of reducing global emissions.

• On the definition and composition of Climate finances.
   

  • Climate finances refer to local, national or transnational financing—drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change.

•  The voluntary commitments to be made by nations towards emission reductions.

  • The key polluting countries responsible for 80% of the world’s emissions did not make any substantial announcement while smaller countries announced their targets to reduce emissions in the coming years.
     

    • It backtracks on a principle of the 1992 convention of the Earth Summit (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) that states that rich countries have the biggest historical responsibility for emissions and should pay to help the poor to fix the problem.

Way Forward :

• The next Climate Summit will be held in Glasgow (Scotland) in 2020 which will decide about the liability for damages caused by rising temperatures.

                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu ; Down To Earth

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Government testing GIMs, its secure messaging app

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology

Context :

• The government is testing a prototype of an Indian equivalent of popular messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, for secure internal use.

Government Instant Messaging System (GIMS) :

• GIMS is designed and developed by the Kerala unit of National Informatics Centre (NIC).

• GIMS seeks to replace existing platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal which are being used by a majority of government departments and organisations.

• It will be used by employees of Central and state government departments and organisations for secure intra and inter organisation communications.
   

  • It employs end-to-end encryption for one-to-one messaging.

  • The server hosting GIMS is installed within the country and the information stored would be in the government-based cloud — NIC-operated data centres that are only meant for use by the government and its departments.

  • GIMS Portal will administer and monitor the working of an app.

  • Besides, one-to-one messaging and group messaging, it also provides for documents and media sharing in keeping with the hierarchies in the government system.

Need :

• The launch of the new app comes amid the recent controversy over the WhatsApp breach. Some Indian users’ mobile devices were targeted through a spyware called Pegasus recently.

• GIMS is being touted as a safer bet as the platform has been developed in India, the server hosting it is installed within the country and the information stored would be in  government-based cloud — NIC-operated data centres that are only meant for captive use by the government and its departments.

                                                                                                                    Source :- Indian Express

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