News 1: FM urges World Bank arm IFC to raise lending to India
Background:
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged the World Bank’s private sector investment arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), to increase lending to India to more than $2 billion in the next two years and to $3-3.5 billion over the next three-four years.
World Bank:
- Established: 1945 (Bretton Woods institution)
- Headquarters: Washington DC
- Type: International financial institution
- Members: 189 countries (India is a member)
- The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA), two of five international organizations owned by the World Bank Group.
- The World Bank provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects.
- Mission:
- End extreme poverty within a generation and boost shared prosperity
- To end extreme poverty, the Bank’s goal is to decrease the percentage of people living with less than $1.90 a day to no more than 3 percent by 2030.
- To promote shared prosperity, the goal is to promote income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population in each country.
- Reports and Indexes: Ease of Doing business index (Shelved after corruption charges), Human Capital Index, World Development Report
IFC:
-
- Established: 1956
- Headquarter: Washington DC
- Type: Development Financial Institution
- Member: 185 countries
- Mission: Advance economic development by encouraging the growth of private enterprise in developing countries.
- IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries.
-
- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, advances economic development and improves the lives of people by encouraging the growth of the private sector in developing countries.
- How IFC leads the way in private sector development?
-
- Investing in companies through loans, equity investments, debt securities and guarantees.
- Mobilizing capital from other lenders and investors through loan participations, parallel loans and other means.
- Advising businesses and governments to encourage private investment and improve the investment climate.
News 2: No negotiations at the cost of food security
Background:
No negotiation is possible at the cost of food security, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said at the ninth session of the governing body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) on Monday.
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA):
- Signed in 2001 and came in force in 2004
Aim of the treaty:
- recognizing the enormous contribution of farmers to the diversity of crops that feed the world;
- establishing a global system to provide farmers, plant breeders and scientists with access to plant genetic materials;
- ensuring that recipients share benefits they derive from the use of these genetic materials with the countries where they have been originated.
- The ITPGRFA was signed during the 31st session of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome in November 2001.
Food and Agriculture Organization:
- Established: 1945
- Headquarter: Rome, Italy
- Type: UN specialized agency
- Aim: Leading international efforts to defeat hunger. Achieve food security for all, Ensuring people have regular access to enough high quality food to lead active, healthy lives
- It helps governments and development agencies coordinate their activities to improve and develop agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and land and water resources.
- It also conducts research, provides technical assistance to projects, operates educational and training programs, and collects data on agricultural output, production, and development.
- Members: 194 countries and the European Union
Programmes:
Codex Alimentarius:
- FAO and the World Health Organization created the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1961 to develop food standards, guidelines and texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme.
- The main aims of the programme are protecting consumer health, ensuring fair trade and promoting co-ordination of all food standards work undertaken by intergovernmental and non-governmental organization.
Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems:
- A GIAHS is a living, evolving system of human communities in an intricate relationship with their territory, cultural or agricultural landscape or biophysical and wider social environment.
- Located in specific sites around the world, they sustainably provide multiple goods and services, food and livelihood security for millions of small-scale farmers.
GIAHS in India:
- Koraput traditional agriculture, Odisha
- Kuttanad below sea level farming system, Kerala
The overall goal of the GIAHS Programme is:
- to identify and safeguard Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems and their associated landscapes, agricultural biodiversity, knowledge systems and culture.
- Publications: State of the World’s forests, The state of food security and nutrition in the world
News 3: India-Egypt
Background:
- India and Egypt agreed to further develop military cooperation and focus on joint training, defence co-production and maintenance of equipment. This was agreed as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo on Monday.
- They emphasised the need for coproduction and to discuss specific proposals in that regard, the Defence Ministry said. Mr. Singh is on a two-day visit to Egypt.
India – Egypt cooperation:
- India and Egypt to exchange expertise and best practices in countering the threat of terrorism.
- The two countries are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation. Egypt has expressed interest in acquiring military platforms from India. Among other things, the Egypt government is considering the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) for its fighter requirement. Defence acquisition by Egypt will give a fillip to exports, increase in revenues and Make in India.
- India and Egypt are founding members of Non-Aligned Movement.
- The year 2022 is of particular significance since it marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relation between India and Egypt.
- Wheat export from India: Russia-Ukraine conflict has threatened Egypt with a shortage for wheat, 80% of which is imported from Russia and Ukraine. On 14 April 2022, Egyptian Cabinet announced inclusion of India in the list of accredited countries which can supply wheat to Egypt, thus ending a long pending Non-Tariff Barrier.
- Bilateral trade has expanded rapidly in 2021-22, amounting to 7.26 billion registering a 75% increase compared to FY 2020-21. India’s exports to Egypt during this period amounted to US$ 3.74 billion.
News 4: Death penalty: SC moots fair hearing
Background:
- The Supreme Court on Monday referred to a Constitution Bench the question of how to provide accused in death penalty cases a “meaningful, real and effective” hearing of their mitigating circumstances before a trial judge.
- A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit said the presentation of mitigating factors by an accused to avoid the “extreme penalty of death” was a “valuable right”.
Death penalty case:
- While the state is given a chance to present aggravating circumstances against the accused throughout the duration of a trial, the accused is given a chance to show mitigating circumstances only after conviction, the court noted.
- “The accused can scarcely be expected to place mitigating circumstances on the record, for the reason that the stage for doing so is after conviction… This places the convict at a hopeless disadvantage, tilting the scales heavily against him,” Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, who authored the verdict, said.
- The three-judge Bench said a uniform approach has to be moulded to afford the accused a fair opportunity to present mitigating circumstances at the trial stage before their crime is declared “rarest of rare” and they are sentenced to death.
- The reference to a larger Bench to examine an issue which has affected the fundamental rights of accused in death penalty cases may signal a move from the top court to veer criminal justice system away from death penalty itself.
- The judgment is significant as it identifies and seeks to resolve a debate on whether the death penalty, though considered a rarest of rare punishment, is being administered casually by the trial courts.
News 5: IBBI amends norms: Maximum value of co, market linked solutions
Background:
- Aiming to provide better market-linked solutions for stressed companies, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India has amended its regulations to allow sale of one or more assets of an entity undergoing insolvency proceedings, besides other charges.
- The company’s committee of creditors can now examine whether a compromise or an arrangement can be explored for a corporate debtor during the liquidation period.
IBBI (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India):
- Established: 2016 under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code)
- Headquarter: New Delhi
- It is a key pillar of the ecosystem responsible for implementation of the Code that consolidates and amends the laws relating to reorganization and insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time bound manner for maximization of the value of assets of such persons, to promote entrepreneurship, availability of credit and balance the interests of all the stakeholders.
- Regulation: It is a unique regulator: regulates a profession as well as processes. It has regulatory oversight over the Insolvency Professionals, Insolvency Professional Agencies, Insolvency Professional Entities and Information Utilities.
- It has recently been tasked to promote the development of, and regulate, the working and practices of, insolvency professionals, insolvency professional agencies and information utilities and other institutions, in furtherance of the purposes of the Code.
Receive Daily Updates
Recent Posts
- Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund.
- LEAF is supported by transnational corporations (TNCs) like Unilever plc, Amazon.com, Inc, Nestle, Airbnb, Inc as well as Emergent, a US-based non-profit.
- The world lost more than 10 million hectares of primary tropical forest cover last year, an area roughly the size of Switzerland.
- Ending tropical and subtropical forest loss by 2030 is a crucial part of meeting global climate, biodiversity and sustainable development goals. Protecting tropical forests offers one of the biggest opportunities for climate action in the coming decade.
- Tropical forests are massive carbon sinks and by investing in their protection, public and private players are likely to stock up on their carbon credits.
- The LEAF coalition initiative is a step towards concretising the aims and objectives of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism.
- REDD+ was created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It monetised the value of carbon locked up in the tropical forests of most developing countries, thereby propelling these countries to help mitigate climate change.
- It is a unique initiative as it seeks to help developing countries in battling the double-edged sword of development versus ecological commitment.
- The initiative comes at a crucial time. The tropics have lost close to 12.2 million hectares (mha) of tree cover last year according to global estimates released by Global Forest Watch.
- Of this, a loss of 4.2 mha occurred within humid tropical primary forests alone. It should come as no surprise that most of these lost forests were located in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa and South Asia.
- Brazil has fared dismally on the parameter of ‘annual primary forest loss’ among all countries. It has lost 1.7 mha of primary forests that are rich storehouse of carbon. India’s estimated loss in 2020 stands at 20.8 kilo hectares.
- Between 2002-2020, Brazil’s total area of humid primary forest reduced by 7.7 per cent while India’s reduced by 3.4 per cent.
- Although the loss in India is not as drastic as in Brazil, its position is nevertheless precarious. For India, this loss is equivalent to 951 metric tonnes worth carbon dioxide emissions released in the atmosphere.
- It is important to draw comparisons between Brazil and India as both countries have adopted a rather lackadaisical attitude towards deforestation-induced climate change. The Brazilian government hardly did anything to control the massive fires that gutted the Amazon rainforest in 2019.
- It is mostly around May that forest fires peak in India. However, this year India, witnessed massive forest fires in early March in states like Odisha, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram among others.
- The European Union’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service claimed that 0.2 metric tonnes of carbon was emitted in the Uttarakhand forest fires.
- Implementation of the LEAF Coalition plan will help pump in fresh rigour among developing countries like India, that are reluctant to recognise the contributions of their forest dwelling populations in mitigating climate change.
- With the deadline for proposal submission fast approaching, India needs to act swiftly on a revised strategy.
- Although India has pledged to carry out its REDD+ commitments, it is impossible to do so without seeking knowledge from its forest dwelling population.
Context:-
At the recently concluded Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund plan that shall be offered to countries committed to arrest the decline of their tropical forests by 2030.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]What is LEAF Coalition?
Why LEAF Coalition?
Brazil & India
According to the UN-REDD programme, after the energy sector, deforestation accounts for massive carbon emissions — close to 11 per cent — in the atmosphere. Rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of forest produce are the main causes behind rampant deforestation across tropical forests.
Tribes, Forests and Government
Disregarding climate change as a valid excuse for the fires, Indian government officials were quick to lay the blame for deforestation on activities of forest dwellers and even labelled them “mischievous elements” and “unwanted elements”.
Policy makers around the world have emphasised the role of indigenous tribes and local communities in checking deforestation. These communities depend on forests for their survival as well as livelihood. Hence, they understand the need to protect forests. However, by posing legitimate environmental concerns as obstacles to real development, governments of developing countries swiftly avoid protection of forests and rights of forest dwellers.
For instance, the Government of India has not been forthcoming in recognising the socio-economic, civil, political or even cultural rights of forest dwellers. According to data from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs in December, 2020 over 55 per cent of this population has still not been granted either individual or community ownership of their lands.
To make matters worse, the government has undertaken systematic and sustained measures to render the landmark Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 ineffective in its implementation. The Act had sought to legitimise claims of forest dwellers on occupied forest land.
Various government decisions have seriously undermined the position of indigenous people within India. These include proposing amendments to the obsolete Indian Forest Act, 1927 that give forest officials the power to take away forest dwellers’ rights and to even use firearms with impunity.
There is also the Supreme Court’s order of February, 2019 directing state governments to evict illegal encroachers of forest land or millions of forest dwellers inhabiting forests since generations as a measure to conserve wildlife. Finally, there is the lack of data on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths among the forest dwelling population;
Tardy administration, insufficient supervision, apathetic attitude and a lack of political intent defeat the cause of forest dwelling populations in India, thereby directly affecting efforts at arresting deforestation.
Way Forward
Tuntiak Katan, a global indigenous leader from Ecuador and general coordinator of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, aptly indicated the next steps at the Climate Summit:
“The first step is recognition of land rights. The second step is the recognition of the contributions of local communities and indigenous communities, meaning the contributions of indigenous peoples.We also need recognition of traditional knowledge practices in order to fight climate change”
Perhaps India can begin by taking the first step.