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Aligning higher education with the United Nations SDGs

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Aligning higher education with the United Nations SDGs

NEP 2020 and SDGs:

  1. SDGs are a matter of urgency that requires actions by all countries, both developed and developing, to end poverty and other socio-economic and environmental problems.
  2. It requires aligning of strategies that will improve the standard of life and education, reduce inequality, and harness economic growth.
  3. The SDG Report 2023 has flagged slow progress in the achievement of the set targets and expects the similar trend due to prolonged effects of COVID-19, impacts of the climate crisis, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and a weak global economy. 
  4. SDG4 pertains to access to quality education, which acts as a prerequisite for the achievement of other goals. 
  5. the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was India’s accelerated efforts to ensure the achievement of SDGs for equitable and inclusive education.
  6. Though NEP 2020 calls for changes at all levels of education, priority should be given to higher education as it leads to
    1. Accelerates social mobility
    2. Empowers people through creativity and critical thinking,
    3. Grants employment skills.

 

  1. According to OECD data: People with a higher education degree are more employable and earn an average of 54% more than those who only have completed senior secondary education. 
  2. Thus, university-inclusive education can:
    1. Protects people against poverty (SDG1)
    2. Prevents them from hunger (SDG2)
    3. Supports them for good health and well-being (SDG3)
    4. Promotes gender equality (SDG5)
    5. Provides them decent work, which in turn drives economic growth (SDG 8)
    6. Reduces inequalities (SDG10).

Areas requiring improvement:

  1. Improving research-teaching nexus in universities
    1. This can enable students to become direct benefactors of the knowledge generated from research.
  2. Need for Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary systems of education
    1. This will produce multitalented people who can pursue research
    2. They can also find innovative solutions to global challenges such as
      1. affordable and clean energy (SDG7)
      2. sustainable cities and communities (SDG11)
      3. climate change and global warming (SDG13)
      4. studying their impact on an economy and the earth.
  3. Development of innovative solutions and start-ups (SDG 9) in collaboration with private companies.
  4. Introduction of Value-Based Education (VBE) which shall help citizens to become responsible towards self, society, and the planet and help our nation achieve “Life on Land” (SDG15).
  5. Besides ranking universities according to the achievement of SDGs, efforts have to be made to educate and orient stakeholders of higher education towards SDG agenda.
  6. Creating a culture in universities that focuses on
    1. Community health
    2. Energy-saving measures
    3. Efficient resource allocation
    4. Waste reduction
    5. Development of local skills
    6. Sharing of services, infrastructure, and facilities with other universities or external partners 

Press Freedom in India

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Press Freedom in India

Press, the fourth pillar of democracy:

  1. India’s rank at the World Press Freedom index (published by Reporters Without Borders) has been continually declining which now stands at 161 out of 180 (In 2014, it was at 140; in 2022, it was at 150).
  2. freedom of the press is considered a part of the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
  3. However, freedom of the media is not an absolute freedom as it is subject to reasonable restrictions as mentioned in Article 19(2) of the constitution.
    1. Such reasonable restrictions include, interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence. 
  4. freedom of the press is essential to rationality and intelligent self-governance, that is, democracy as people can receive free flow of information and ideas.
  5. Media has a great responsibility to fight backward ideas such as casteism and communalism, and help people in their struggle against poverty and other social evils. 

Problems faced by the Indian media companies:

  1. Declining interest in news
  2. Lower trust
  3. Falling revenues
  4. Journalists’ security
  5. Undue political influence.
  6. Provisions such as IT rules allows centre to set up a fact-check unit under it, to identify ‘fake, false, or misleading’ information concerning the government and remove it. It has been criticised for overreach and endangering freedom of speech.

Why media needs regulation?

  1. Concerns of propaganda fake news, further increased with the rise of artificial intelligence technology.
  2. Media moving towards sensationalism and yellow journalism (publishing sensational news to attract readers and increase circulation).
  3. Issue of paid news (someone paying a newspaper and getting something favourable to him published)

Regulation of media in India:

  1. Press Council of India (PCI) established under the PCI Act of 1978, acts for preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and news agencies in India.
  2. Code of Ethics for self-regulation of news channels has been devised by the News Broadcasters Association.
  • The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), of the NBA, is empowered to warn, admonish, censure, express disapproval and fine the broadcaster a sum up to Rs. 1 lakh for violation of the Code.  
  1. The IT act and IT rules regulates digital media such as online news publications, online curated content publishers including OTTs and social media platforms

Observations by the Judiciary:

  1. Being critical of the government cannot be considered ‘anti-establishment’ and refusing security clearance to operate will create a ‘chilling effect’ on press freedom.
  2.  Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India case (2020)
    1. The case dealt with suspension of mobile phone networks, internet services, and landline connectivity in the valley by the govt in J&K.
    2. The court held that freedom of speech and expression includes the right to disseminate information. 
    3. The wider range of circulation of information or its greater impact cannot restrict the content of the right, nor can it justify its denial.
    4. Right to carry on any trade or business under 19(1)(g), using the medium of internet, is constitutionally protected.

TRAI can’t regulate OTT platforms

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TRAI can’t regulate OTT platforms

Why in the News?

India’s telecom appellate panel has held that Over the top (OTT) platforms like Hotstar are not in the jurisdiction of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

  • This was passed as an interim order by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).
  • They shall be governed by the Information Technology Rules, 2021, notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

In what context did TDSAT pass this order?

  1. A petition was filed by the All-India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), which alleged that free streaming of matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup on mobile devices by Star India through its platform Disney+Hotstar is discriminatory under TRAI regulations.
  2. Such allegation was made as the matches can be watched on Star Sports TV channel only if the viewer has subscribed by making a monthly payment.
  3. In this context, such an order was passed.

Why is this order significant?

  1. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal’s (TDSAT)  rejection of AIDC’s plea is significant as it has kept OTT from outside the purview of TRAI.
  2. The order comes on the background that TRAI, the statutory telecom regulator, and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Union Ministry of Communications, are attempting to regulate OTT services, which has been challenged by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
  3. The DoT had released a draft telecom Bill which classified OTT platforms as telecommunications services, and sought to regulate them like telecom operators.
  4. The TRAI, separately, has issued a consultation paper on how to regulate OTT platforms.

Why is the IT Ministry disagreeing with DoT over OTT regulation?

 

  1. The IT Ministry believes that under the Allocation of Business Rules, Internet-based communications services are not part of DoT’s jurisdiction, with specific focus on OTT communications.
  2. DoT has also been made clear by MeiTY that it can only regulate the telephony, wireless communications, and private sector licences.

What is TRAI’s attempt at regulating OTT services?

  1. It formerly recommended against creating a specific regulatory framework for OTT communication services like WhatsApp, Zoom, and Google Meet.
  2. TRAI has revisited its stance, and started consultations on how these services can be regulated.
  3. It has sent suggestions that whether a selective banning of OTT services could be done as opposed to entirely shutting down the Internet.
  4. TRAI had recommended against regulatory intervention for OTT platforms, saying that it should be left to market forces. However, it had also said that the sector should be monitored, and intervention should be done at an “appropriate time”.

Left-Wing Extremism in India

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Left-Wing Extremism in India

Why in the News?

The Home Minister has said that Left Wing Extremism (LWE) will be totally eliminated from the country in two years, in a meeting to review the security situation in LWE-affected States.

Incidence of LWE in India:

  1. The lowest number of incidents of violence and deaths in Naxal-hit areas in last four decades was recorded in 2022.
  2. The violent incidents in Naxal-affected States have come down by 77% in 2022 in comparison to the high of 2010.
    1. Between 2004 and 2014:  17,679 LWE-related incidents and 6,984 deaths were reported.
    2. In contrast, only 7,649 LWE-related incidents and 2,020 deaths occurred from 2014 to 2023.
  3. Steadfast implementation of the National Policy and Action Plan to address LWE in 2015 can be attributed to the consistent decline in LWE violence across the nation.
  4. The no. of deaths of security forces and civilians in LWE violence has reduced by 90% in 2022 as compared to the high of 2010.

LWE affected regions in India:

  1. The States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala are considered LWE affected, although in varying degrees.

 

 

  1. Left Wing Extremist outfits operate in certain remote and poorly connected pockets of the country.
  2. In 2004, the People’s War (PW), then operating in Andhra Pradesh, and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), then operating in Bihar merged to form the CPI (Maoist) Party.
  3. The CPI (Maoist) Party, the major Left Wing Extremist outfit has carried out majority of incidents of violence and killing of civilians and security forces and is categorised as a Terrorist Organization.
  4. The CPI (Maoist) philosophy advocates armed insurgency to overthrow the Government, which is unacceptable under the Indian Constitution and the founding principles of the Indian State. 

The dynamics of Maoist insurgency:

  1. The central theme of Maoist ideology is violence which shall serve as the primary means to overwhelm the existing socio-economic and political structures. 
  2. The Peoples Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), the armed wing of CPI (Maoist) resorts to violence in different stages:
    1. 1st stage: guerrilla warfare to create a vacuum at the grass-roots level of the existing governance structures by killing lower-level government officials, police-personnel of the local police stations, the workers of mainstream political parties and the people's representatives of the Panchayati Raj system.
    2. 2nd stage: coercion of the local population to join the movement on the background of political and governance vacuum created through insurgency.
    3. Creation of many Front Organisations to facilitate mass-mobilisation in semi-urban and urban areas through ostensibly democratic means. Their activities include:
      1. Propaganda of issues like ‘displacement of tribals’, ‘corporate exploitation’ and ‘human rights violations’ by security forces.
      2. Recruitment of ‘professional revolutionaries’
      3. Raising funds for the insurgency
      4. Creating urban shelters for underground cadres
      5. Providing legal assistance to arrested cadres
      6. Mass- mobilisation by agitating over issues of relevance/ convenience.

 

Initiatives taken by the govt:

  1. National Policy and Action Plan to address LWE, 2015:
    1. It provides for a multi-pronged strategy that involves security-related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities
  2. Construction of 17462 km roads is approved for LWE affected areas.
  3. 2343 mobile towers are installed in phase-I of the Mobile Tower Project which are upgraded to 4G to improve telecom connectivity.
  4. For financial inclusion of the local populace, 1258 Bank Branches, 1348 ATMs and 4903 new Post Offices in 90 districts have been made functional during last 08 years.
  5. 43 ITIs and 38 Skill Development Centres (SDCs) have been made functional in LWE affected districts for skill development.
  6. Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) have been made functional for quality education in tribal blocks of LWE affected districts.
  7. ‘Special Central Assistance (SCA)’ has been provided to the States for carrying out development activities in the most LWE affected districts.
  8. A dedicated division in the MoHA called Left Wing Extremism division has been set up which implements security related schemes aimed at capacity building in the LWE affected States. Its roles and functions include:
  1. Capacity building of States to combat LWE though schemes of Ministry of Home Affairs like Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme, Special Infrastructure Scheme, Special Central Assistance etc.
  2. Deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in LWE affected States.
  3. Providing assistance to State Governments for initiatives to combat LWE in the form of funds for items of emergent nature.
  1. Setting up of Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorism (CIAT) schools
  2. Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme: training and operational needs of security forces, ex-gratia payment to the family of civilians/security forces killed/injured in LWE violence, rehabilitation of surrendered LWE cadres, community policing, village defence committees and publicity materials.
  3. Aspirational District Programme

The Money Bill issue

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The Money Bill issue

Why in the News?

The Supreme Court has constituted a 7-judge bench to hear a challenge to the Centre’s use of money bills for passing important laws.

What is a money bill issue?

  1. The plea was filed for challenging set of amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
  2. A three-judge bench upheld the PMLA and the vast powers of the ED in 2022, but left the validity of amendments to the PMLA through the Money Bill route open for a larger Constitution bench to hear.
  3. Significant amendments to the PMLA were brought through Finance Acts passed in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.
  4. Other challenges include:
    1. Aadhar case:
      1. The Supreme Court in 2018 in a 4:1 majority ruled in favour of the government that Aadhaar Act is a valid money bill under Article 110 of the Constitution.
    2. Tribunal reform
      1. In Roger Matthew vs Union of India, a challenge involved changes in the service conditions of tribunal members which was also introduced as a money bill in the Finance Act, 2017.
      2. The law was struck down by the judiciary as unconstitutional for interfering with judicial independence, it referred the money bill aspect to a larger constitution bench.

About:

Money Bill:

  1. Under Article 110(1), a Bill is deemed to be a money Bill if it deals only with matters specified in Article 110 (1) (a) to (g)
    1. Taxation
    2. Borrowing by the government
    3. Appropriation of money from the Consolidated Fund of India among others.
  2. A money Bill can only be introduced in Lok Sabha and does not need the consent of Rajya Sabha (it can neither reject nor amend the Bill, and must return it within 14 days).
  3. Article 110 (3) of the Constitution: If any question arises whether a Bill is a Money Bill or not, the decision of the Speaker of the House of the People thereon shall be final. This means that once the Speaker has certified a Bill as a Money Bill, its nature cannot be questioned in a court of law, in the Houses of Parliament, or even by the President.
  4. However, in the Aadhaar case the Supreme Court held that the Speaker’s decision will be subject to judicial scrutiny.
  5. A Bill shall not be deemed to be a Money Bill by reason only that it provides for the,
    1. Imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties
    2. Demand or payment of fees for licences or fees for services rendered
    3. Imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes.

Financial Bill:

  1. Any Bill that relates to revenue or expenditure is called as a Financial Bill.
  2. A Money Bill is a specific kind of Financial Bill which deals only with matters specified in Article 110 (1) (a) to (g). 
  3. Only those Financial Bills that carry the Speaker’s certification are Money Bills.
  4. Financial Bills not certified by the Speaker are of 2 kinds:
    1. Bills that contain any of the matters specified in Article 110, but do not contain only those matters [Article 117 (1)]
      1. It can be introduced only in Lok Sabha, and only with the recommendation of the President.
      2. Other restrictions that apply to Money Bills do not apply to these Bills.
    2. Ordinary Bills that contain provisions involving expenditure from the Consolidated Fund [Article 117 (3)].
      1. It can be introduced in either House of the Parliament.
      2. President’s recommendation is essential for their consideration, and therefore, passage.

RBI’s Monetary Policy

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RBI’s Monetary Policy

 

 

Why in the News?

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained the status quo on interest rates during its review meeting in October.

The RBI prefers higher rates for longer periods for both domestic and external reasons:

  1. External factors include:
    1. Higher US inflation rates (they had to ease monetary policy rapidly to fight an economic collapse, and then hike repeatedly to tame inflation)
    2. Disruption in global supply chain
    3. Russia-Ukraine War
    4. Weakening global economy
    5. Rise in crude oil prices 
  2. Domestic factors include:
    1. Inflation in food items
      1. Tomato-led surge in vegetable inflation spiked the consumer price index to 7.4% in July.
    2. Volatile and rising crude oil prices
    3. The past rate hikes of 250 basis points since May 2022 to bank lending and deposit rates remains incomplete.

About:

Surge in Retail Inflation:

  1. Caused due to rise in food prices particularly cereals, pulses, milk and tomato.
  2. Rice prices on rise has led to export restrictions being announced by the central Government, caused due to extreme flooding and deficit rainfall in different parts of the country affecting the yield.
  3. The rise in inflation shall push RBI to adopt a hawkish stance and delay on interest rate cuts that have been put on place.

What is Inflation?

It is defined as the ‘Persistent rise in general price levels in an economy over a period of time’.

Factors causing Inflation:

Demand pull Inflation

Cyclic factors causing Inflation

  1. Increase in purchasing power of the people
  2. Rise in population
  3. Change in tastes and preferences of the consumers.

 

Cost-push inflation

Structural factors causing inflation

  1. Lack of Factors of Production (Land, Labour, capital and entrepreneurship)
  2. Government policies like Labour laws making prices costly.
  3. Natural Disasters
  4. Devaluation of Currency
  5. Lack of Infrastructure.

 

Types of Inflation indexes:

 

Wholesale Price Index (WPI)

Consumer price Index (CPI)

1.

Tracks inflation at producer level

Tracks inflation at Consumer level

2.

Doesn’t capture changes in prices of services (only goods)

Captures changes in prices of goods and services

3.

More weightage given to manufactured goods

More weightage given to food items

4. 4.

Published by the Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

 

Four types of CPI are as follows:

  • CPI for Industrial Workers (IW).
  • CPI for Agricultural Labourer (AL).
  • CPI for Rural Labourer (RL).
  • CPI (Rural/Urban/Combined).

first three are compiled by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the fourth is compiled by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO)

 

5.

Base year: 2011-12

Base year: 2012

6.

Calculated monthly and weekly for primary goods, fuel and electricity

Calculating monthly.

 

How is Inflation calculated in India:

  1. The Monetary policy Committee of India uses CPI data to fix the inflation rate in India.
  2. RBI adopted CPI as its key measure of inflation in 2014 based on Urjit Patel Committee recommendation.
  3. The MPC is a statutory and institutionalized framework under the RBI Act, 1934 for maintaining the price stability and growth.
  4. The MPC Committee consists of:
    1. Governor of RBI – Ex-officio chairman
    2. Three other officials of RBI
    3. Three external members nominated by the Government of India.
  5. The MPI determines the policy interest rate (repo rate) required to attain the Inflation target of 4% with an upper tolerance limit of 6% and a lower limit of 2%.

RBI measures to control Inflation:

  1. Contractionary monetary policy to decrease the money supply and resultant demand in the economy.
  2. Increase in
    1. Cash Reserve Ratio
    2. Statutory Liquidity Ratio
    3. Repo rate
    4. Reverse Repo rate

Freebies ahead of polls

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Freebies ahead of polls

Why in the News?

A PIL has been filed at the Supreme Court alleging that tax payers’ money are misused by the governments of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to lure voters which amounts to bribery under the law, ahead of the state elections.

  • Distribution of irrational freebies is analogous to the offences of bribery and undue influence under Section 171B and 171C of the Indian Penal Code.

What is a freebie?

Freebies refers to transfer of goods or services to people without any payment and may contain an element of allurement of voters for electoral benefits or/and acts as a positive step towards inclusive economic growth.

Status of Freebie culture in India:

  1. The expenditure of State Governments on subsidies has grown from 11.2% to 12.9% during 2020-21 and 2021-22.

 

 

  1. RBI (2022): The top five states with the largest rise in subsidies over the last three years includes Jharkhand, Kerala, Odisha, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh
  2. Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have announced the maximum freebies as a percentage of revenue receipts in the financial year 2023.
  3. Freebies have exceeded 2% of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for the highly indebted states of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab.

What are the benefits associated with freebies?

  1. It acts as a redistributive mechanism in which governments provide welfare measures to its citizens for their socio-economic upliftment.
  2. It majorly benefits the poor upon targeted implementation of subsidies with minimal leakages involved.
  3. Many crucial welfare schemes today were once started out as so-called freebies.

For instance, the Tamil Nadu government scheme of free mid-day meals to children in government schools was a change-maker in increasing the enrolment of children at schools. This was later expanded to other states and finally pan-India after seeing its success.

 

Why is there a lot of opposition for freebies?

  1. The Freebie culture amounts to bribing voters using public money solely for gaining advantage in electoral politics.
  2. RBI says that ‘provision of free’ for electricity, water, public transportation, waiver of pending utility bills and farm loan waivers are freebies which causes:
    1. Destabilize credit culture
    2. Distort prices through cross-subsidisation eroding incentives for private investment
    3. Disincentivise work at the current wage rate leading to a drop in labour force participation
  3. Freebies “Crowd out resources” that can otherwise be used for developmental activities of the country.
  4. Large fiscal costs and inefficiencies can lead to distortion of prices and misallocation of resources.
  5. The provisions of free electricity and water can
    1. Accelerate environmental degradation
    2. Deplete the water tables.
    3. Lead to irrational use and wastage of resources.
  6. Multitude of social welfare schemes at the face of Centre’s GST compensation payout that ended in June 2022, large social sector expenditure in the form of subsidies can put a heavy burden on the exchequer and also exert upward pressures on yields if they are financed through market borrowing.
  7. Freebies are likely to expand contingent liabilities, and the ballooning overdue of DISCOMs.
  8. Freebies an also lead to
    1. abetment to corruption and erosion in governance ethics
    2. undermining of ‘equity’ and ‘fairness’
    3. Devastating effect on the financial health of the state.
  9. Can lead to inequitable consequences
    1. For instance, in free bus ride, women falling in high income bracket who can afford to pay also travel. This leads to inequitable element in the distribution of subsidies.
    2. This can also cause non-compliance amongst tax payers and eventually lead to lower revenue to the government.

Rules governing freebies in India:

  1. Providing voters with incentives before or after voting is not illegal in India
  2. SC (2014) Direction: The Election Commission added a new chapter to its Model Code of Conduct which authorized the commission to censure a party if,
    1. its manifesto failed to give a rationale for a particular promise
    2. it failed to explain how the resources would be mobilised for it.

Challenges that remain:

  1. Distinction between which are legitimate welfare measures and which are freebies is a difficult task.
  • Distributing bicycles may seem to be an electoral temptingness but for millions of young girls in India's rural hinterland, where public transport is a huge problem, it could be a vital means of attending school or college.
  1. Freebies are neither a recognised policy/custom nor it is sanctioned in a court of law. There are also no legislation or Election commission’s stringent protocol in place to check the ‘Freebie culture’. This poses barrier to its regulation.

How should governments strike a balance between fiscal deficit and welfare spending?

  1. The state governments should reprioritise its expenditure to achieve optimum long-term welfare advantage of empowered of beneficiaries permanently and forego such benefits.
  2. There shall be a “sunset clause” for each social sector scheme devised the state governments.
  3. Targeting beneficiaries shall help to reducing the quantum of subsidies by ensuring that remaining resources can be invested in areas of health, education, agriculture, R&D and rural infrastructure, that has large potential to create more jobs and reduce poverty on a sustainable basis
  4. The Supreme Court recommendation: To constitute an apex body for suggestions on how to control freebies by political parties during election campaigns can act as a beam light for regulating the “subsidies culture’ in India.
  5. It is necessary to distinguish them from public/merit goods, expenditure on which brings economic benefits, such as the public distribution system, employment guarantee schemes, states’ support for education and health 

Global amphibian assessment

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Global amphibian assessment

 

 

  1. The assessment is coordinated by the Amphibian Red List Authority, a branch of the Amphibian Specialist Group of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission.
  2. The assessment has revealed that,
    1. 2 out of every 5 amphibians are threatened with extinction. 
    2. Between 2004 and 2022, a few critical threats have pushed more than 300 amphibians closer to extinction.
    3. Climate change was the primary threat for 39% of these species, as particularly sensitive to changes in their environment
    4.  41% of all amphibian species that have been assessed are currently globally threatened
    5. Other common threats include:
      1. Habitat destruction and degradation due to agriculture, infrastructure development and other industries, affect 93% of all threatened amphibian species.
      2. Disease caused by the chytrid fungus has decimated amphibian species in Latin America, Australia, and the United States.
      3. overexploitation 
    6. 3 out of every 5 salamander species are threatened with extinction due to habitat destruction and climate change, making them the world’s most threatened group of amphibians. 
    7. Four amphibian species have gone extinct since 2004:
      1. Chiriquí harlequin toad (Atelopus chiriquiensis)
      2. sharp-snouted day frog (Taudactylus acutirostris)
      3. Craugastor myllomyllon
      4. Jalpa false brook salamander (Pseudoeurycea exspectata)

India Steel

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India Steel

 

 

  1. Indian steel companies plan to raise prices of various grades of the alloy due to rising import costs of coking coal.
    1.  Australia accounts for over 50% of its coking coal imports of around 55-60 million metric tonne a year.
    2. India also meets its coking coal requirements by importing from Russia and the United States.
  2. India surpassed Japan as the second largest steel producer in 2019 and is the 2nd largest consumer of finished steel (China is the largest producer of steel accounting for 54% of the world steel production in 2022).
  3. There are two types of steel plants - mini steel plants and integrated steel plants.
  4. About 50% of the country's steel is produced by medium and small enterprises.
  5. In the year 2022-23, India witnessed the export of 72 million tonnes (MT) of finished steel, while importing around 6 MT.
  6. Green steel: it is the steel manufactured by using renewable sources such as renewable or low-carbon energy sources such as hydrogen, coal gasification or electricity instead of traditional carbon-intensive manufacturing route of coal-fired plants.