1. SOVEREIGN GREEN BONDS (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Economy)

Context: India is likely to skip selling sovereign green bonds this fiscal year as investors demand higher yields despite their eco friendly label

• The earlier plans to issue ₹15,000-16,000 crore in green bonds during the second half of FY24 have been put on hold.

Sovereign green bonds

• Green Bonds: These are like any other debt instrument except for the fact that the issuer of the green bond pledges to use its proceeds to finance projects that will have a positive impact on the climate and environment.

• Origin: The first green bond was issued in 2007 by the European Investment Bank, the EU’s lending arm. 

• This was followed a year later by the World Bank. 

• Different from standard bonds: Standard bonds proceeds can be used for various purposes as per the choice of the issuer, whereas proceeds of green bonds are earmarked for green projects or projects that benefit the environment. 

• Issuer: Green bonds can be issued by countries, companies and multilateral organisations to only fund projects that have positive impacts on the climate and environment and provide investors with fixed income payments.

• Green Bonds vs Climate Bonds

• The term ‘labelled’ green bonds refers to bonds marketed by the issuer as ‘green’, where the proceeds are for climate / green assets or projects.

• ‘Climate-themed bonds’ are represented by a broader category of bonds whose proceeds are for climate projects but that are not labelled as green. It is much wider than the ‘labelled green bonds market’.

• Budget 2022-23: The Finance Minister in the Budget 2022 announced that the government proposes to issue sovereign green bonds to mobilise resources for green infrastructure.

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2. INDIAN-UK FTA (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Economy)

Context: Negotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the United Kingdom (UK), which commenced 19 months ago, are now in their final stages.

Key Points

• In 2022, India and the UK had launched the formal Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. Until then, both countries are contemplating an interim free trade area, which will result in reducing tariffs on most of the items.
• Both countries agreed to an early harvest scheme or a limited trade agreement to lower tariffs on a small set of goods apart from easing rules for select services.
• Further, they agreed to avoid “sensitive issues” and focus on areas where there is more complementarity.
• The agriculture and dairy sectors are considered sensitive sectors for India in trade talks.
• Also, a target of doubling the trade between India and the United Kingdom (UK) by 2030 was also set.

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3. SANKALP PROGRAMME (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Economy)

Context: The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), in collaboration with Generation India Foundation (GIF) and Amazon Web Services India Private Limited (AWS India) is providing ‘cloud’ skills training to 1,500 learners and connecting them to employment opportunities, under project AMBER. 

• The initiative has been undertaken under the SANKALP programme of MSDE with a focus on women to improve gender diversification in the tech industry and underprivileged groups.

SANKALP programme

• About: The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) launched the Sankalp programme in 2018, in alignment with the overall objectives of the National Skill Development Mission (NSDM). Here are its key initiatives.

• It is a World Bank loan assisted project and aligned with the overall objectives of the National Skill Development Mission (NSDM). 

• Objectives: The project focuses on transforming the overall skilling ecosystem of India, covering both central and state-level agencies for improved outcomes. SANKALP has three result areas namely:

• Institutional Strengthening at National, State and District level;

• Quality Assurance of skill development programmes; and 

• Inclusion of marginalized population in skill development programmes.

• Eligibility:

• The Sankalp scheme is exclusively available to Indian citizens, and candidates must be at least 18 years old to begin vocational training.
• To grasp the training program, candidates must have a basic education. 
• The program is also open to those from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and people with impairments. 

• Women, like males, are eligible to participate in the scheme and get vocational training.

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4. FAST TRACK SPECIAL COURTS (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Polity)

Context:  Under  Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Department of Justice,Ministry of Law &  Justice, Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) disposed of 1.74 lakhs cases of Rape & POCSO Act as on 30.06.2023, providing speedy justice to the victims.

Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs)

• These are setup as a part of the National Mission for Safety of Women (NMSW).
• The scheme was started in October 2019.
• Implemented by the Department of Justice of the Ministry of Law and Justice.
• It is a Centrally sponsored scheme for expeditious trial and disposal of pending cases of rape and offences against children under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012.

• Features of the FTSCs scheme:

• The decision on extension of the scheme beyond one year will depend on the recommendations in the external evaluation.
• The scheme does not intend to create any permanent infrastructure. The courts will be made functional in suitable premises taken on lease or as decided by the States/UTs and respective High Courts.

• Composition: Each FTSC will have one Judicial Officer and seven staff members. States/UTs may engage judicial officers and court staff on contractual basis where sufficient manpower is not available. Services of retired judicial officers with relevant experience may also be engaged to dispose of cases in the FTSCs.

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5. MICRONUTRIENTS DEFICIENCY (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Health)

Context: There is a strong relationship between soil micronutrients and nutritional outcomes of people, with nutrient deficient soil contributing to nutritional deficiency in especially children and adult women, a new study has highlighted.

Key Points

• Soil zinc availability is associated with an increase in the height of women.

• A strong relationship between soil iron availability and anaemia among women and haemoglobin levels among children and women.
• Over 35 percent of the soil in the country was estimated to be deficient in zinc and about 11 per cent estimated to be deficient in iron. 
• In terms of nutrition deficiency in humans, India has roughly a third of the global population suffering from micronutrient deficiency, as per Global Nutrition report 2018. 

• Iron deficiency is also the primary cause of anaemia in India. 

• While the rate of child stunting was about 39 per cent, malnutrition was one of the leading risk factors for loss of Disability-Adjusted Life-Years in 2017.

• India has one of the highest prevalence of anaemia - 53.1 percent of women (age 15-49 years) and 58.5 percent of children under the age of five were anaemic. 

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6. BRICS NEW MEMBER (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - IR)

Context: In a landmark decision, members of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) declared expansion of the grouping by welcoming six new countries into the fold. 

• Announcing the decision at the end of the 15th BRICS summit at Johannesburg, Prime Minister said addition of new members would strengthen the outfit and increase confidence in the idea of multipolar world order.
• The decision to expand BRICS was taken 13 years after the organisation was last expanded with the addition of South Africa in 2010. 
• Originally consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, BRICS was envisioned as a global-level outfit of major economies that are playing an increasingly important role in the post-Cold War world order.

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7. UNSC REFORMS (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - IR)

Context: BRICS leaders called for comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, so that it can adequately respond to prevailing global challenges and support the three legitimate aspirations of emerging and developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including Brazil, India and South Africa.

United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and approving any changes to the UN Charter.
• The UNSC is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions on member states.
• India has been advocating for the need to expand the P5 for some time now. Over the years, other countries have also been pushing for India to be included in a reformed, expanded UN Security Council.
• The argument of many critics of the United Nations Security Council is that it isn’t effective and that it needs to be fundamentally reformed. The loudest calls for reform come from those who believe that the inclusion of a host of new permanent members is the answer to the effectiveness deficit. 
• Others argue that it is folly to suggest that the addition of new permanent members would amount to meaningful reform.
• Since the end of the cold war, these reform debates, contorted by politics, have circled endlessly without any prospect of conclusion. With the creation of the ‘Open-ended Working Group on the Question of the Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Security Council’ (the UN committee with the longest title), the debate became formalized and plans for reform subsequently proliferated.

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8. EL NINO-SOUTHERN OSCILLATION (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Env & Eco)

Context: The world could see more multi-year El Nino and La Nina events due to human activities, according to a new study published in Nature journal.

• El Nino and La Nina are the warm phase and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern across the tropical Pacific Ocean called the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). 

• In 2023, La Nina ended its three-year run and El Nino announced its arrival. 
• The atmospheric component of ENSO driving weather patterns across the world, has changed its behaviour since the industrial era.

El Nino

• About: It is the name given to the occasional development of warm ocean surface waters along the coast of Ecuador and Peru. El Niño events occur irregularly at intervals of 2–7 years, although the average is about once every 3-4 years.

• After El Nino event weather conditions usually return back to normal.
• However, in some years the trade winds can become extremely strong and an abnormal accumulation of cold water can occur in the central and eastern Pacific. This event is called a La Niña.

• Impact on monsoon rainfall in across the globe: El Nino impacts ocean temperatures, the speed and strength of ocean currents, the health of coastal fisheries, and local weather from Australia to South America and beyond.

• Rainfall increases drastically in South America, contributing to coastal flooding and erosion.

• Impacts on monsoon rainfall in India: El Nino and Indian monsoons are inversely related.

• The most prominent droughts in India – six of them – since 1871 have been El Nino droughts, including the recent ones in 2002 and 2009
• However, not all El Nino years led to a drought in India. For instance, 1997/98 was a strong El Nino year but there was no drought (Because of IOD).
• On the other hand, a moderate El Nino in 2002 resulted in one of the worst droughts.

• El Nino directly impacts India’s agrarian economy as it tends to lower the production of summer crops such as rice, sugarcane, cotton, and oilseeds.

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9. DISENGAGEMENT ALONG LAC (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Security)

Context: India and China have agreed to step up efforts for the disengagement of troops and de-escalation of tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after a conversation on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa.

Line of Actual Control (LAC)

• The LAC traverses three areas -
• Western (Ladakh, Kashmir),
• middle (Uttarakhand, Himachal) and
• eastern (Sikkim, Arunachal).
• As LAC is not fully and officially demarcated, it has led to differing perceptions regarding the alignment, with China making territorial claims in at following areas.
• The countries disagree on the exact location of the LAC in various areas, so much so that India claims that the LAC is 3,488 km long while the Chinese believe it to be around 2,000 km long.
• The two armies try and dominate by patrolling the areas up to their respective perceptions of the LAC, often bringing them into conflict.

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10. ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTERS (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Sci & Tech)

Context: A newly designed prototypes in the Next-Generation Photonic Analog-to-Digital Converters (NG-PADC) project which can carry out instantaneous frequency measurement, generation and transport of Radio Frequency (RF) through optical methods could revolutionize various sectors, enabling faster digital communication, improved satellite communication, better medical imaging, and Photonic radars.

• An NG-PADC developed by IIT Madras with support from the IMPRINT programme of Science, Engineering, Research Board (SERB), is equipped with a time-stretched photonic ADC whose effective bandwidth is 12 times higher than a corresponding EADC, which enables sampling of higher bandwidth signal with effectively lower bandwidth EADCs.

Key Points

• Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are critical components for developing the next generation of advanced digital receivers. 

• The limitation of electronic ADCs (EADCs) is that their vertical resolution is compromised at high bandwidths. There are two possible approaches to solve this problem through Photonics.

• RF, when modulated on a spectrally rich optical pulsed source, can be stretched in the optical domain through a dispersive medium, thus converting high-frequency RF signals into effectively low-frequency signals. 

• This reduces the input bandwidth requirements of the back-end ADC as many times as the stretch factor of the optical pulse. 
• The other Photonic approach is to use an optical clock whose fluctuations in timing (timing jitter) is much smaller an electronic clock; which is possible with a short pulsed laser. High bandwidth RF signals, when sampled with stable optical clocks, can provide a much higher effective number of bits (ENOB) compared to electronic clocks. 
• It has time-stretched photonic ADC with effective bandwidth 12 times higher than EADC, which enables digitisation of signals with a much larger precision.

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