Daily Current Affairs: 13 Aug 2021

Quality of Life for Elderly Index

(Topic- GS Paper II– Governance, Source- PIB)

Why in the news?

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has released the Quality of Life for Elderly Index.

About the Quality of Life for Elderly Index

The Index has been created by the Institute for Competitiveness at the request of EAC-PM.
The report identifies the regional patterns of ageing across the Indian States and assesses the overall ageing situation in India.
It presents a deeper insight into how well India is doing to support the well-being of its ageing population.
The Index framework includes four pillars:

Financial Well-being,
Social Well-being,
Health System
Income Security, and

Index framework also has eight sub-pillars

Economic Empowerment,
Educational Attainment & Employment,
Social Status,
Physical Security,
Basic Health,
Psychological Wellbeing,
Social Security
Enabling Environment.

Key Highlights from the Report:

Pillar-wise analyses

The Health System pillar observes the highest national average, 66.97 at an all-India level, followed by 62.34 in Social Well-being.
Financial Well-being observes a score of 44.7, which is lowered by the low performance of 21 States across the Education Attainment & Employment pillar, which showcases scope for improvement
States have performed particularly worse in the Income Security pillar because over half of the States have a score below the national average, i.e., 33.03 in Income Security, which is the lowest across all pillars.

Top Scoring states

Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are top-scoring regions in Aged and Relatively Aged States.

Top Scoring in Union Territory and the North-East States category

Chandigarh and Mizoram are top-scoring regions in Union Territory and North-East States category.

Note:

The Aged States refer to States with an elderly population of more than 5 million, whereas Relatively Aged States refer to States with an Elderly population of less than 5 million.

Significance

It helps to measures the core domains of Economic, health, and social well-being of older people and provides the in-depth situation of elderly people in India.
The index can thus help the nation identify areas that need improvement and grab the current opportunity to start putting positive changes in motion for the next decades.
It also promotes healthy competition among States through fair rankings and highlights the pillars and indicators they can improve.
Using this index as a tool, the State governments and the stakeholders can identify the areas they need to work upon to provide their older generation with a comfortable life.

Agriculture Ministers of SCO Member States

(Topic- GS Paper II–International Organization, Source- DD News)

Why in the news?

Recently, Agriculture Minister addresses the 6th meeting of Agriculture Ministers of SCO Member States virtually in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Key highlights

The Minister stated that the agriculture sector in India performed well even during the severe Covid-19 pandemic.
The Government is determined to attain sustainable development goals to end hunger, achieve food security and nutrition.
It was expressed that the Government to double farmer's income by 2022 has launched several programs to:

Enhance optimal utilization of water resources;
Create new infrastructure for irrigation;
Conserve soil fertility with balanced use of fertilizers;
Provide connectivity from farm to market; and
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) linkage besides building infrastructure, organic farming.

About Shanghai Cooperation Organization

It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation established in 2001.
It was formed in Shanghai (China) by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter was signed during the Petersburg SCO Heads of State meeting in 2002 and came into force in 2003.
India and Pakistan were granted full member status of the SCO in 2017 at Astana.

India achieves 100 GW Milestone of Installed Renewable Energy Capacity

(Topic- GS Paper III–Environment, Source- The Hindu)

Why in the news?

The total installed renewable energy capacity in India, excluding large hydro, has crossed the milestone of 100 GW.

More in the news

The achievement of an installed RE capacity of 100 GW is an important milestone in India's journey towards its target of 450 GW by 2030.

India Position in Renewable Energy Capacity

India stands at 4th position in the world in terms of installed RE capacity, 5th in solar and 4th in wind in terms of installed capacity.
India has set ambitious targets for itself in the area of Renewable Energy, which the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is committed to achieving.

Achievement of India NDC Targets

The government of India informed that India has already achieved an emission reduction of 28% over 2005 levels against the targeted emission reduction of 33-35 % by 2030.
India plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 33-35% from its 2005 levels by 2030, as part of its commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted by 195 countries in Paris in 2015.
India has also committed to having 40% of its total installed power generation capacity renewable by 2030.
India already has achieved 38.5 % installed capacity from renewable and when the renewable capacity under construction is also accounted for, the share of renewable in the installed capacity goes well over 48%, which is way above the commitments made under the Paris Agreement.
This assumes significance in a country that is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China and is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

About Paris Agreement

It is also known as the Conference of Parties 21 or COP 21 which is a landmark environmental accord that was adopted in 2015 to address climate change and its negative impacts.
It replaced the Kyoto Protocol which was an earlier agreement to deal with climate change.

Aims

To reduce global GHG emissions to limit the global temperature increase in this century to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing means to limit the increase to 1.5°C by 2100.

It includes:

Addressing the financial losses vulnerable countries face from climate impacts such as extreme weather.
Raising money to help developing countries adapt to climate change and transition to clean energy.
This part of the deal has been made non-legally binding on developed countries.
Before the conference started, more than 180 countries had submitted pledges to cut their carbon emissions (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs).

Intended Nationally determined contributions

The Paris Agreement requires all Parties to put forward their best efforts through nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead.
This includes requirements that all Parties report regularly on their emissions and their implementation efforts.
It is not legally binding.
India also reaffirmed its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions commitments to meeting the goals under the Agreement to combat climate change.

India's INDC, to be achieved primarily, by 2030

India promised to reduce the “emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 % by 2030 from 2005 level.
It will achieve about "40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources (mainly renewables like wind and solar power) by 2030" with the help of the transfer of technology and low-cost international finance, including from the Green Climate Fund.
India also promised an additional carbon sink (a means to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere) of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest

Herpes virus

(Topic- GS Paper III–Science and technology, Source- Down to Earth)

Why in the news?

Recently, a male elephant in an Odisha forest tested positive for the herpes virus.
The autopsy report revealed that the death was due to acute haemorrhagic disease caused by the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV).

About Endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV)

It is a fatal infection found in captive as well as wild elephants.
EEHV is a type of herpes virus that can cause fatal haemorrhagic disease in elephants.
It is one of the most deadly viral infections in elephants worldwide but is most commonly found in Asian elephants.
The disease is usually fatal, with a short course of 28-35 hours.
There is no cure for herpes viruses in animals or humans

About Herpes virus

The herpes simplex virus is categorized into 2 types:

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)
Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2).

Transmission

HSV-1 is mainly transmitted by oral-to-oral contact to cause oral herpes (which can include symptoms known as “cold sores”), but can also cause genital herpes.
HSV-2 is a sexually transmitted infection that causes genital herpes.

Common survey to count elephants and tigers

(Topic- GS Paper III–Environment, Source- The Hindu)

Why in the news?

Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recently released the population estimation protocol to be adopted in the exercise to be taken up for the All India elephant and tiger population estimation in 2022.

More in the news

The protocol was released on the occasion of World Elephant Day which is celebrated on 12 August every year.
The tiger survey is usually held once in four years and elephants are counted once in five years.
According to the most recent 2018-19 survey, there were 2,997 tigers in India. According to the last count in 2017, there were 29,964 elephants in India.

About Elephant

There are three subspecies of Asian elephants – the Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan.

The Indian has the widest range and accounts for the majority of the remaining elephants on the continent.

Conservation Status

According to the IUCN Red List of threatened species status the African elephants are listed as “vulnerable” and Asian elephants as “endangered”.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) status- Appendix I.
Appendix I lists species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed animals and plants.
Indian Elephant has also been listed in Appendix I of the Convention of the Migratory species in the recently concluded Conference of Parties of CMS 13 at Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat in February 2020.

Conservation Efforts

SURAKHSYA Portal for “Project Elephant”

The Union Environment Minister has recently launched National Portal on Human-Elephant conflict called "SURAKHSYA".
The portal aims to collect real-time information and will also manage conflicts on a real time basis.
The portal will help to set data collection protocols, data visualization tools and data transmission pipelines.

Other initiatives

The Project Elephant was launched by the Government of India in the year 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
‘Gaj Yatra’, a nationwide campaign to protect elephants, was launched on the occasion of World Elephant Day in 2017 which highlight the necessity of securing elephant corridors.
The campaign is planned to cover 12 elephant range states.
The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), had come out with a publication on the right of passage in 101 elephant corridors of the country in 2017, stressed the need for greater surveillance and protection of elephant corridors.
The Monitoring the Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme launched in 2003 is an international collaboration that tracks trends in information related to the illegal killing of elephants from across Africa and Asia, to monitor the effectiveness of field conservation efforts.

Vrushka Bandhan Project

(Topic- GS Paper III–Environment, Source- PIB)

Why in the news?

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs in partnership with The Art of Living Foundation has launched the Vrushka Bandhan Project in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

About Vrushka Bandhan Project

Under the Project, tribal women are making Rakhis for Raksha Bandhan with seeds of indigenous trees.
This is a unique contribution to increasing forest cover & combating climate change.

Key Features

The Rakhis are made of indigenous seeds, stuck on naturally dyed, soft indigenous, non-toxic, biodegradable cotton.
Once used, the seeds can be sown in the soil, thereby benefiting the environment.
It is expected that thousands of trees would be planted under this project and the project will provide employment to tribal women associated with the project.

Significance of the Project

The project is based on Gauadharitparamparagatkheti or Go-Adharith farming techniques.
This technique seeks to preserve and revive the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of tribal communities and protect them from the negative effects of chemical agriculture.

Sovereign right to taxation

(Topic- GS Paper III–Economics, Source- Indian Express)

Why in the news?

Finance Minister has recently said in Raja Sabha that the sovereign right of India to tax is intact.
This statement came after the taxation Laws amendment bill 2021 presented in Lok Sabha to nullify the relevant retrospective tax clauses that were introduced in 2012.

About the Sovereign right to taxation’ in India

In India, the Constitution gives the government the right to levy taxes on individuals and organisations but makes it clear that no one has the right to levy or charge taxes except by the authority of law.
Any tax being charged has to be backed by a law passed by the legislature or Parliament.
Taxes in India come under a three-tier system based on the Central, State and local governments, and the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution puts separate heads of taxation under the Union and State list.
There is no separate head under the Concurrent list, meaning Union and the States have no concurrent power of taxation, as per the document.

Definition of tax

A document on the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation website quotes the definition of tax as a "pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government, a payment exacted by legislative authority", and that a tax "is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution exacted according to legislative authority".

For Further Reading: Refer DCA on 06 August 2021.