‘New Delhi Declaration’:-
For the first time, under the impetus of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French Space Agency (CNES), space agencies of more than 60 countries agreed to engage their satellites, to coordinate their methods and their data to monitor human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
The COP21 climate conference held in Paris last December acted as a wake-up call in this context. Without satellites, the reality of global warming would not have been recognised and the subsequent historic agreement at the United Nations headquarters in New York on April 22, 2016 would not have been signed.
Out of the 50 essential climate variables being monitored today, 26 – including rising sea level, sea ice extent and greenhouse gas concentrations in all layers of the atmosphere – can be measured only from space.
The key to effectively implementing the Paris Agreement lies in the ability to verify that nations are fulfilling their commitments to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Only satellites can do that.
Invited to New Delhi by ISRO and CNES on April 3, 2016, the world’s space agencies decided to establish “an independent, international system” to centralise data from their Earth-observing satellites through the ‘New Delhi Declaration’ that officially came into effect on May 16, 2016.
The goal now will be to inter-calibrate these satellite data so that they can be combined and compared over time. In other words, it is to make the transition to closely coordinated and easily accessible ‘big space data’.
Earth observation satellites provide a vital means of obtaining measurements of the climate system from a global perspective. ISRO is committed for the continuity of earth observation data, through the thematic series of satellites, with improvements en-route, to meet contemporary as well as future needs.
ISRO is also engaging with CNES, JAXA and NASA for realising joint missions for global climate observation with advanced instruments.
With this consensus among space agencies from more than 60 nations, including the world’s leading space powers, the international space community and scientists now have the tools they need to put their talent, intelligence and optimism to work for the good of humankind and our planet.
India becomes co-chair of Working Group on Maritime Situational Awareness under Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia
The 19th Plenary Session of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) took place in Mahe, Seychelles during 31 May – 3 June 2016. India was chosen to co-chair the important Working Group on Improving Maritime Situational Awareness (MSA) in the Region through consensus. The session was chaired by Mr. Joel Morgan, the Foreign Minister of the Seychelles and more than 60 countries and organisations participated in the four-day meeting.
Seychelles is the current chairman of the CGPCS for the biennium 2016-17. An Indian delegation led by the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping and comprising of officers of the Indian Navy, Ministry of External Affairs and Directorate General of Shipping represented India in this important meeting that discussed the actions taken and their results in combating piracy in the Indian Ocean across the coast of Somalia.
Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS)
It may be recalled that the CGPCS was set up as a group of interested and affected nations, industry associations and multilateral agencies to take pro-active steps for checking piracy in the Indian Ocean region through a UN Security Council resolution.
In its 7 year of working the Contact Group has been able to effectively deal with the issues relating to piracy off the coast of Somalia. The CGPCS has been spearheading its efforts through four Working Groups (WGs) focused on Capacity Building on legal, judicial framework and processes, and poverty alleviation in Somalia, Improving Maritime Situational Awareness in Indian Ocean Region and coordinating efforts for Disrupting Piracy Networks.
The Indian Navy and Coast Guard have played a very important role by enhanced patrolling in the high seas and providing armed naval escorts to ships moving in the area. Other countries and organisations such as EU, US-led Combined Maritime Forces, NATO, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea have also significantly contributed to increased alertness and patrolling in the region due to which the piracy problem has been largely contained.
To protect Indian ships and Indian citizens employed in sea-faring duties, Indian Navy commenced anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden from 23 October 2008. In addition to escorting Indian-flagged ships, ships of other countries have also been escorted by the Indian Navy.
Merchant ships are currently being escorted along the entire length (490 nm long and 20 nm wide) of the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) which is heavily patrolled by Indian Navy vessels. According to information received more than 25 IN ships are deployed for patrolling, escorting ships and in anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. To maintain high degree of alertness in the region, around 19 coastal security operations and exercises have been undertaken over the past year.
During the height of piracy all the ships calling on and leaving Indian ports passing through the High Risk Area (HRA), which was drawn at the Indian Ocean area west of 78 degrees E longitude and therefore which affected almost 22000 ships calling on and leaving from Indian ports, to pay an additional premium to insurance companies most of whom were based outside India.
It is estimated that this premium, called Additional War Risk Premium (AWRP) amounted to around Rupees 8500 crores during the years 2010 to 2015. This premium amount was added in the overall freight charges and therefore the Indian consumer had to bear the burden of this extra premium amount.
Therefore, the Ministry of Shipping took up the issue of redrawal of the High Risk Area Line back to 65 Degrees E (from 78 deg E) in the International Maritime Organization and CGPCS in 2015 and as a result the HRA was redrawn at 65 deg E. Thereby the ships coming to or leaving Indian ports do not have to pay AWRP now.
Thus India’s taking over as co-chair of Working Group on Maritime Situational Awareness is in recognition of its pro-active role in combating the problem of piracy off the Somalian Coast and in the Indian Ocean Region.
PM inaugurates Afghan-India Friendship Dam wapcos executes landmark infrastructure project
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated the Afghan-India Friendship Dam (Salma Dam) with President of Afghanistan Dr. Ashraf Ghani at Chist-e-Sharif in Herat province in Western Afghanistan today.
Afghan-India Friendship Dam is a Multipurpose project planned for generating 42 MW of power, irrigating 75000 hectares of land, water supply and other benefits to the people of Afghanistan.
Salma Dam is a landmark infrastructure project undertaken by Government of India on river Hari Rud , in Herat province of Afghanistan. The project was executed and implemented by WAPCOS Ltd., a Government of India Undertaking under Mministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
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- In the Large States category (overall), Chhattisgarh ranks 1st, followed by Odisha and Telangana, whereas, towards the bottom are Maharashtra at 16th, Assam at 17th and Gujarat at 18th. Gujarat is one State that has seen startling performance ranking 5th in the PAI 2021 Index outperforming traditionally good performing States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but ranks last in terms of Delta
- In the Small States category (overall), Nagaland tops, followed by Mizoram and Tripura. Towards the tail end of the overall Delta ranking is Uttarakhand (9th), Arunachal Pradesh (10th) and Meghalaya (11th). Nagaland despite being a poor performer in the PAI 2021 Index has come out to be the top performer in Delta, similarly, Mizoram’s performance in Delta is also reflected in it’s ranking in the PAI 2021 Index
- In terms of Equity, in the Large States category, Chhattisgarh has the best Delta rate on Equity indicators, this is also reflected in the performance of Chhattisgarh in the Equity Pillar where it ranks 4th. Following Chhattisgarh is Odisha ranking 2nd in Delta-Equity ranking, but ranks 17th in the Equity Pillar of PAI 2021. Telangana ranks 3rd in Delta-Equity ranking even though it is not a top performer in this Pillar in the overall PAI 2021 Index. Jharkhand (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Assam (18th) rank at the bottom with Uttar Pradesh’s performance in line with the PAI 2021 Index
- Odisha and Nagaland have shown the best year-on-year improvement under 12 Key Development indicators.
- In the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu and, the bottom three performers are Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers were Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram; and, the bottom three performers are Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya.
- Among the 60:40 division States, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are the top three performers and Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Delhi appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland; and, the bottom three performers are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
- Among the 60:40 division States, Goa, West Bengal and Delhi appear as the top three performers and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were the top three performers and Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were the bottom three performers
- West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were the top three States amongst the 60:40 division States; while Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan appeared as the bottom three performers
- In the case of 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura were the top three performers and Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand featured as the bottom three
- Among the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and the bottom three performers are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Goa
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland and the bottom three performers are Manipur and Assam
In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)