24th November, 2021 Current Affairs

Sakshi Education

NATIONAL
NITI Aayog launches Sustainable Development Goals Urban Index and Dashboard 2021-22

NITI Aayog under the Indo-German Cooperation has released the inaugural Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Urban Index and Dashboard 2021-22. In its journey towards localizing the SDGs and instituting robust SDG progress monitoring systems at the national, State and UT and local levels, NITI Aayog has achieved yet another milestone with the launch of the inaugural SDG Urban Index and Dashboard (2021-22).
The index and dashboard are a result of the NITI Aayog-GIZ and BMZ collaboration focused on driving SDG localization in cities, under the umbrella of Indo-German Development Cooperation. Total fifty six urban areas were considered for computation.
Shimla tops the Index followed by Coimbatore and Chandigarh.
The index and dashboard will further strengthen SDG localization and institute robust SDG monitoring at the city level.

Nitin Gadkari to lay foundation stones for 25 National Highway Projects in Jammu

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will lay Foundation Stones for 25 National Highway Projects of total Length of 257 kilometres with an investment of 11,721 crore rupees in Jammu.
These projects will provide all-weather connectivity between Jammu and Kashmir valleys. These are strategically important for swift movement of defence forces alongwith agricultural, industrial and socio-economic progress of the region. The projects will connect all major roads leading to various district headquarters and will help in generation of employment and self- employment opportunities.
The projects will involve Rehabilitation and upgradation of some sections, construction of viaduct and tunnel and rectification of black spots.
The primary function will be held in Doda district.

INTERNATIONAL
Kuwait reappoints Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid as Prime Minister: State news agency

Kuwait's Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid has been reappointed Prime Minister and tasked with forming a cabinet that would be the Gulf OPEC oil producer's third this year in a domestic political standoff.
State news agency KUNA said Sheikh Sabah, prime minister since late 2019, was reappointed by an Emiri order issued by Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah. The government had resigned on Nov. 8 in the standoff with the elected parliament.
Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmed al-Sabah last week temporarily handed over some of his main constitutional duties to the crown prince, his designated successor, including naming the prime minister and swearing in the cabinet.

China for the first time agrees to the 'concept of Indo-Pacific' under ASEAN framework, says it has noted India’s Indo-Pacific initiative

China and ASEAN have agreed to advance cooperation under the framework of 'ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP)' as China for the first time agreed to the 'concept of Indo-Pacific'.
The joint statement of ASEAN-China special virtual Summit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations said AOIP is aimed to develop enhanced strategic trust and win-win cooperation between countries in the region. Chinese President Xi Jinping also mentioned AOIP in his speech while addressing the summit as co-chair via video link.
Experts consider it a big leap forward for China with respect to the concept of Indo-Pacific which has opposed this concept so far.
There are several Indo-Pacific constructs by different countries complementing each other with a broad geostrategic idea of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision came into being in 2016 proposed by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Later, U.S. President Donald Trump also announced U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) at the East Asia Summit in November 2019, which is an open, non-treaty-based initiative for countries to work together for cooperative and collaborative solutions to common challenges in the region.

ECONOMY
India agrees to release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves

India has agreed to release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves. This release will happen in parallel and in consultation with other major global energy consumers including the USA, China, Japan, and South Korea.
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in a statement said that India strongly believes that the pricing of liquid hydrocarbons should be reasonable, responsible, and be determined by market forces. India has repeatedly expressed concern about the supply of oil being artificially adjusted below demand levels by oil-producing countries, leading to rising prices and negative attendant consequences.

The Ministry said that Prime Minister Modi has been consistently reviewing the high petroleum and diesel prices domestically.
It said, in a bid to control inflationary pressures, the Government of India had reduced the ‘central excise duty' on petrol by 5 rupees and diesel by 10 rupees on 3rd of this month. It was followed by reduction in VAT on fuel by many state governments.
The Ministry said that these difficult steps, despite the high fiscal burden on the Government, were taken in order to provide relief to citizens.

Centre releases two instalments of tax devolution to State Governments

The Centre has released two instalments of tax devolution to State Governments amounting to 95,082 crore as against normal monthly devolution of 47,541crore rupees.
The released amount of tax devolution will strengthen fiscal space of States.
Out of the total amount, the highest amount of nearly 17,056 crore rupees has been released to Uttar Pradesh followed by around 9,563crore rupees to Bihar, 7,463 crore rupees to Madhya Pradesh while West Bengal has received around 7,152 crore rupees.
After the virtual meeting with Chief Ministers, State Finance Ministers, and Lt. Governors of UTs to step up investment, infrastructure, and growth which was held on 15th of this month, Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharamanhad promised to release the amounts to the States.

All India Survey on Domestic Workers kick-started

Union Labour Minister, Bhupender Yadav, started India’s first survey of domestic workers on November 22, 2021.
The survey of domestic workers is latest among a group of five national jobs enumeration campaigns, launched with the aim of discerning data on vast informal workforce in India.
India’s informal workforce will feed a forthcoming national employment policy in the third-largest economy in Asia.
Domestic workers are considered to be a million strong. However, there is little official information available on their actual numbers & parameters, such as their work conditions and average pay. Lack of these data leaves them out from any formal policy that governs India’s informal workers. Thus, this survey was launched to fill this gap and offer “time-series data on domestic workers. This survey will be conducted periodically to provide crucial data for national employment policy, which is being planned by government.

ENVIRONEMENT

IQAir: 94 of 100 most polluted cities in India, China & Pakistan

According to air quality tracker “IQAir”, air pollution continues to present one of the biggest health hazards to people across the world.
Air Pollution contributes to around 7 million premature deaths per annum. Out of these deaths, 600000 are children.
Air pollution is also estimated to cost global economy upwards of $2.9 trillion each year because of fossil fuel emissions alone.
It will also contribute to a range of severe environmental problems.
Air quality is determined by looking after the levels of air pollutants like PM2.5, PM10, ozone, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide.
According to IQAir Data, India had 46 of the world’s 100 most polluted cities in 2020.
India is followed by China (with 42 cities), Pakistan (with 6 cities), Bangladesh (with 4 cities), Indonesia (with 1 city), and Thailand (with 1 city).
All these cities had PM2.5 air-quality rating of more than 50.
India accounts for 9 of the top 10 most polluted cities worldwide.
In 2020, Hotan city in China’s Xinjiang province had the worst average air quality with 110.2.