07 August 2023

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Assessment of Climate Change in the Indian Region: GS III – Environmental Conservation

Context:

• The Lok Sabha was notified about the 2020 evaluation by the Union Minister for Earth Sciences.

Important details:

• It provides an in-depth examination of the effects of climate change on the Indian subcontinent.

About the report:

• India’s average temperature has risen by roughly 0.7 degrees Celsius. C between 1901 and 2018.
• The frequency of daily precipitation extremes (rainfall intensities more than 150 mm per day) increased by nearly 75% between 1950 and 2015.
• Drought frequency and spatial extent have increased considerably in India between 1951 and 2015.
• Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Indian Ocean increased by about 1°C between 1951 and 2015.
• The frequency of Severe Cyclonic Storms over the Arabian Sea increased throughout the post-monsoon seasons of 1998-2018.

Attempts by India to combat climate change:

• The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol (KP), and the Paris Agreement (PA) are all signed by India.
• Independent studies have deemed India’s efforts to be laudable and consistent with the PA’s requirements.

The Indian government is committed to combating climate change through a number of initiatives and policies, including the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), which includes missions in the following areas:

• solar energy
• conserving energy
• Agriculture and aquifers
• The Himalayan environment
• habitat protection
• green India
• Climate change requires a strategic understanding.
• The NAPCC creates a framework for all climate-related actions.
• Thirty-three states/union territories have created their own State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) in accordance with the NAPCC, taking into account the state’s unique climate change challenges.

Source The Hindu

2 – About the Safe City Project: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions

Context:

• The Minister of State for Home Affairs updated the Rajya Sabha on the implementation of the Safe City Project.

Important details:

• To begin, the Ministry of Home Affairs has approved Safe City Projects with government funding in eight cities:

The projects entail the following:

• locating hotspots for female-on-female violence
• Infrastructure deployment, technological uptake, and other factors
• Women will be safe if community capacity is built through awareness activities.
• The Safe City Project is a project supported by the federal government.
• The project’s purpose is to eliminate violence against women while also addressing safety issues sympathetically.
• It plans to use technology and ensure the prompt availability of highly trained police officers to assist women in need.
• CCTV cameras will be installed in public spaces where women congregate.
• A command and control centre will be created at police headquarters, district headquarters, and police stations.
• Integration of location-based services, crime and criminal databases, and CCTV feeds to address women’s safety issues in public places quickly and effectively.
• Analysis of video and creation of actionable warnings or alerts for preventive and therapeutic measures.

Source The Hind

3 – Details of the Iberian Wolf: GS III – Environmental Conservation

Context:

• The Iberian wolf has been declared extinct in Spain’s Andalusia region since 2020.

Important details:

• Andalusia is a Spanish ‘autonomous territory’ that consists of eight provinces.
• The territorial, hierarchical packs of the Iberian wolf are led by a dominant breeding pair.
• They are home to the greatest number of wolves in Western Europe.
• Iberian wolves were the only Western European wolf subspecies that could still be hunted, and only in Spain.

Source The Hindu

4 – About the Peace Talks in Jeddah: GS II – International Relations

Context:

• Saudi Arabia will host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the US, certain European countries, and significant developing countries such as India and Brazil, in Jeddah.

Important details:

• While both Ukraine and Russia have expressed willingness to engage in conversation on global platforms, they both absolutely reject what peace would imply for the other.

The situation in Ukraine:

• The Ukrainian President insists that peace discussions cannot take place unless Russian troops withdraw.
• Ukraine has been advocating a 10-point peace proposal since last year’s G-20 Summit, which includes:
• Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine’s territorial integrity was restored to its 1991 boundaries.
• In conformity with the United Nations Charter, it asserts its territorial integrity.
• Russia’s war crimes must be investigated and prosecuted.

Russia’s position:

• Russia has rejected the offer and would not transfer any of Ukraine’s newly acquired land.
• Any negotiations, according to Russia, should take “new realities” into account, referring to revised borders that include regions seized by Russia.

Recent negotiating:

• The two sides negotiated brief ceasefires in the early phases of the battle in order to build humanitarian corridors.
• As evidence of war crimes in Ukraine and Russian attacks on people emerged, the discussions broke down.
• Since then, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
• Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Deal brokered by Turkey and the UN after a year.
• The arrangement enabled the safe transit of 32.9 million metric tonnes of Ukrainian foodgrains.
• Despite the fact that a considerable volume of grain was transferred to China and other high-income countries, it was regarded as a reasonable bargain.
• While neither Russia nor Ukraine have yet adopted the concept, it has drawn attention to strategic attempts at mediation by prominent people in other parts of the world.

China’s envisioned peace plan:

• China has presented a 12-point agenda for political resolution of the Ukraine crisis.
• The proposal restated China’s support for state territorial integrity and the UN Charter, condemned the use of nuclear weapons in war, and urged a pause of hostilities and resumption of talks.
• It also argued for “abandoning the cold war mentality,” arguing that extending military alliances, referring to NATO and the West, would not provide security.
• The policy was viewed as pro-Russian since it urged countries to refrain from imposing unilateral sanctions.

Africa’s proposed peace measures include the following:

• Seven African leaders, led by South Africa’s President, visited Russia and Ukraine with a 10-point plan that included recognition of Russia and Ukraine’s sovereignty as well as prisoner release.

It also asked for:

• sustaining unfettered foodgrain exports;
• for a decrease in violence, and
• for both sides to start peace talks as soon as possible.
• Several African countries that import grain and fertiliser from Ukraine and Russia have experienced increasing inflation and scarcity as a result of the war.
• The conflict is directly responsible for an estimated 30 million tonnes of grain scarcity across Africa.
• African countries that have not directly condemned Russia and have abstained from voting against it at the UN perceived the effort as a peace endeavour.

Peace Talks in Brazil:

• The Brazilian President proposed leading a “peace club” of non-combatant and non-aligned countries to arbitrate discussions between the two sides.
• He further stated that by arming Kyiv, the West was prolonging the conflict.

The following are the scheduled discussions in Jeddah:

• The participation of the United Kingdom, the European Union, South Africa, and Poland has been confirmed.
• The National Security Advisor of the United States is also slated to attend.
• Saudi Arabia maintains close ties with Moscow and is a member of the powerful OPEC+ oil cartel.
• It has also been blasted for lowering oil output and driving up prices at a time when Russian supplies are under threat of sanctions.

Source The Hindu

5 – Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act of 2023: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions

Important details:

In 2015, the MMDR Act of 1957 was totally updated to execute numerous mineral sector changes, including:

• instituting an auction mechanism for the issuance of mining concessions in order to promote transparency in natural resource distribution,
• supports the establishment of the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) for the benefit of mining-affected persons and communities
• supports developing National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) to lend momentum to exploration and for enforcing stringent penalty for criminal mining.

The Act was changed again in 2016, 2020, and 2021 to implement more industry reforms, including:

• by abolishing the distinction between prisoner and commercial mines
• Transferring statutory clearances to ensure that mining operations can continue even if the lessee changes.
• removing restrictions on mineral concession transfers,
• In order to ensure that concessions to the private sector are exclusively awarded through auction, rights of non-auctioned concession holders that have not resulted in mining leases are lapsed, and so on.

Among the most recent changes are:

Six minerals were omitted from the original list of twelve atomic minerals:

• Lithium-containing minerals
• Titanium-containing minerals and ores
• Beryl and other beryllium-containing minerals
• Niobium and Tantalum-containing minerals
• Minerals that contain zirconium.
• After these minerals are removed off the list of atomic minerals, they will be available for private sector discovery and mining.

Allowing the Central Government to primarily sell mining concessions for certain critical minerals:

• Another key change authorised by Parliament is the Central Government’s right to solely auction mining leases and composite licences for certain critical minerals, specifically:

Introducing deep-rooted and critical mineral exploration permits:

• Despite the fact that under the automated system, 100% FDI is permitted in the mining and exploration industries, no major FDI has been received in these areas.
• The Act includes provisions in the Bill for issuing a new mining concession known as an Exploration Licence (EL).
• With the exploration licence obtained through auction, the licensee will be permitted to conduct reconnaissance and prospecting operations for critical and deep-seated minerals covered in the newly proposed Seventh Schedule to the Act.

Conclusion:

• In compared to surficial/bulk minerals, the country’s resource identification for these minerals is extremely limited.
• Deep-seated minerals represent for a modest share of total mineral production, and the economy is strongly reliant on mineral imports.
• As a result, there is a pressing need to speed up the finding and extraction of deep-seated minerals.
• The proposed exploration licence will encourage, enable, and incentivise private sector participation in all phases of critical and deep-seated mineral exploration.
• Private sector participation in exploration would provide cutting-edge technology, capital, and knowledge in the search for deep-seated and critical minerals.

The proposed exploration licencing system aims to provide an enabling structure in which exploration agencies will:

• bring in geological data collectors from all across the world
• processing and interpretation of the value chain
• By applying talents and technologies, you can use your risk-taking ability to find mineral deposits.

Source The Hindu