National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 21-06-2019 Contact: 9632334466

1. India to host COP-14 of the UNCCD

Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation,

environmental impact assessment.

Context:
 India for the first time will host the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-
14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
in September 2019.

What is UNCCD?
 The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally
binding international agreement linking environment and development
to sustainable land management.
 It was established in 1994.
 It has 197 parties.

What are the objectives?

 UNCCD seeks to work towards maintaining and restoring land and soil productivity
and mitigating the effects of drought.
 The COP is the supreme decision-making body of a Convention.
 All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which
they review the implementation of the Convention.

What are India’s initiatives?

 India is reeling under severe problem of land degradation.
 A 2016 report by the Indian Space Research Organisation found that about 29% of
India’s land (in 2011-13) was degraded.
 Recently, the Environment Ministry has launched a flagship project on enhancing
capacity on forest landscape restoration (FLR) and Bonn Challenge in India.
 There will be a pilot phase of 3.5 years.
 It will be implemented in the States of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Nagaland and Karnataka.

What are the highlights?

 Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has partnered with
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for the project.
 It aims to develop and adapt best practices and monitoring protocols for the Indian
states and build capacity within the five pilot states on FLR and Bonn Challenge.
 Launched in 2015, the Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares
of the world’s deforested and degraded land into restoration by 2020, and 350
million hectares by 2030.
 India has joined the Bonn Challenge and pledged to bring into restoration 13 million
hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2020, and additional 8 million
hectares by 2030.

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National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 21-06-2019 Contact: 9632334466

2. Niti’s new road map: only electric vehicles to be sold after

2030

Topic: Indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Why in news?
 NITI Aayog has proposed that only electric vehicles should be sold after 2030.
 It has moved a cabinet note proposing that the road transport and highways
ministry should prepare a framework to phase out the sale of diesel and petrol
vehicles by 2030.

What is the background?

 The ministry has also been asked to pilot an e-highways programme.
 In electric highways, overhead electric cable is laid to allow trucks to operate as
electric vehicles when on the electrified road and as regular hybrid vehicles at other
times.
 Further, NITI Aayog has proposed radio cab services, such as Ola and Uber, should go
completely electric by 2030.
 Earlier, NITI Aayog had suggested that only electric- powered three-wheelers and
two-wheelers with engine capacity of up to 150 cc should be sold from 2025.

What are the plan of NITI Aayog?

 According to the Niti Aayog, as transport remains the most demanding sector for oil,
about 100% electric vehicle sale by 2030 may reduce India’s import dependence by
a substantial margin.
 Recently, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for implementation of ‘Faster
Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase II (FAME India Phase
II)’.
 The scheme will be implemented over the period of three years with effect from 1st
April 2019.

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What are the highlights?

 The main objectives of the scheme are
 a) encourage faster adoption of Electric and hybrid vehicle by way of offering upfront
Incentive on purchase of Electric vehicles and
 b) establish necessary charging Infrastructure for electric vehicles.
 The FAME II is an expanded version of FAME I, launched in 2015 which aimed to
support hybrid/electric vehicles market development and Manufacturing ecosystem.
 FAME scheme is under Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises.
 The FAME scheme is part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP).
 It aims to achieve national fuel security by promoting hybrid and electric vehicles in
the country.

3. By 2027, India population to cross China’s : UN

Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of

resources, growth, development and employment.

Why in news?
 According to ‘The World Population Prospects 2019’ published by the Population
Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, India is projected to
surpass China as the world’s most populous country by 2027.

What is the background?

 India is expected to add nearly 273 million people between 2019 and 2050 and will
remain the most populated country through the end of the current century.
 China, with 1.43 billion people in 2019, and India, with 1.37 billion, are the two most
populous countries of the world, comprising 19% and 18%, respectively, of the global
total in 2019.

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What does the report say?

 The report further states that the world’s population is expected to increase by two
billion people in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050.
 Half of the projected increase in the global population up to 2050 will be
concentrated in just nine countries.
 India is expected to remain the world’s most populous country with nearly 1.5 billion
inhabitants, followed by China (1.1 billion), Nigeria (733 million), the United
States (434 million), and Pakistan (403 million).

What are the highlights?

 The report has further said that in 2019, around 40% of the world’s population lives
in intermediate-fertility countries, where women have on average between 2.1
and four births over a lifetime. Examples: India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico, the
Philippines and Egypt.
 The report has confirmed that the world’s population is growing older due to
increasing life expectancy and falling fertility levels.
 It has projected that by 2050, one in six people in the world will be over age 65
(16%), up from one in 11 in 2019 (9%).

4. For better governance, government to rank police stations

now

Topic: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability,

e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential;
citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and
other measures.

Why in news?
 The Ministry of Home Affairs has launched an exercise to rank India’s best police
stations based on various parameters.
 The exercise seeks to promote competition for better governance at the grassroots
level.

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What is the background?

 The Home Ministry has suggested at least seven dimensions for assessment which
include crime prevention, proactive measures adopted, Crime and Criminal Tracking
Network Systems and other technology, citizen perception and feedback etc.

What is the evaluation process?

 The evaluation will be a two-stage process-
a) Objective short-listing of police stations based on crime data available with National
Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) and
b) Detailed evaluation based on valuation across seven parameters.
 In 2017, MHA had conducted a similar exercise and released “Ranking of Police
Stations for the Year 2017”. RS Puram police station, Coimbatore was designated as
the best police station in India.

What are the highlights?

 The criteria for ranking were
a) people’s feedback,
b) quality of investigation,
c) Response time (crime control),
d) hygiene at police station,
e) behaviour and attitude of cops,
f) community policing,
g) record keeping,
h) surveillance on criminals.
 There are 15, 579 sanctioned police stations in India with 10, 052 located in rural
areas and 4998 located in urban areas.
 Further, there are 529 railway police stations.
 In 2014, Indian Prime Minister announced the concept of SMART Police (S-Sensitive
and Strict; M-Modern with mobility; A- Alert and Accountable; R- Reliable
and Responsive; T- Trained and Techno-savvy).

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National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 21-06-2019 Contact: 9632334466

5. World Food India to be held from 1st to 4th November 2019 in

New Delhi

Topic: Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their

structure, mandate.

Why in news?
 The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has announced that the World Food India
2019 will be held from 1-4th November 2019 in New Delhi.

What is the background?

 The event seeks to position India as Food Processing Destination of the World.
 The tagline of the event will be “Forging Partnerships for Growth”.

What is the event all about?

 The event will consist of several top level seminars, investment opportunities,
exhibitions, high level CEO roundtables, country sessions, B2B and B2G
networking etc.
 The World Food India is a biennial event which aims to promote India’s food
processing sector at global level.
 The first event was conducted in 2017.

What are the highlights?

 According to the Ministry, Indian Food Processing Industry has grown at 11% growth
rate, which is twice the pace of Global Industry.
 The sector has recorded significant growth rate across all major sub-segments of the
sectors both in terms of value and volume.
 However, exports remain low, with India’s share in global exports of processed food
being only 2%.
 Besides, India also has a high share of harvest and post harvest losses from major
agricultural produces on account of poor storage, transportation and logistics.

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National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 21-06-2019 Contact: 9632334466

6. Facebook to unveil new cryptocurrency

Topic: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-

technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property
rights.

Why in news?
 Facebook has decided to launch a crypt currency called Libra.
 The currency is designed not to be a speculative asset, like Bitcoin, but a form of
digital money backed by a reserve of assets.

What is the background?

 Facebook has also formed the non-profit Libra Association with 27 other partners to
oversee Libra and its development.
 The partnership includes venture capital firms, non-profit organizations, crypto
firms, and massive corporate financial, telecommunications, and technology service
providers.
 In 2018, Venezuela launched Petro, becoming the first country to officially launch its
own crypto currency.

What are the highlights?

 The petro is intended to supplement Venezuela’s bolivar fuerte (VEF) currency and
help overcome US sanctions.
 Petros are “pre-mined”, meaning the government produces and controls it.
 The Marshall Islands has also decided to launch “Sovereign” (SOV), a cryptocurrency
which can be used as a legal tender.
 Crypto currency, is a digital currency.
 It uses strong cryptography to secure financial transactions, control the creation of
additional units, and verify the transfer of assets. E.g. Bitcoins, ethereum etc.

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National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 21-06-2019 Contact: 9632334466

Practise for Prelims

1. Consider the following statements:

1. TRAI is a statutory body set up by the Government of India under section 3 of
the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997.
2. It is the regulator of the telecommunications sector in India.
3. The Digital Communications Commission was earlier known as Telecom
Commission.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

a) 1 and 2 only
b) 2 and 3 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) All of the above

Solution: D

Explanation:
 The Digital Communications Commission has given its approval for imposing penalty on
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for denial of interconnection to Reliance Jio when the
latter had entered the market.
 However, the commission has asked the Telecom Regulatory authority of India (TRAI) to
review the penalty amount of ₹3,050 crore given the financial stress in the telecom
sector.
 In 2016, Reliance Jio had complained to TRAI that due to inadequate interconnection
points its subscribers were unable to make calls to other networks.
 TRAI held that Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea had violated licence norms by denying
adequate interconnection points to Reliance Jio.
 TRAI had stated that the act of these operators was against public interest and in
violation of their licence agreement.
 TRAI is a statutory body set up by the Government of of India Act, 1997.
 It is the regulator of the telecommunications sector in India.
 It consists of a Chairperson and not more than two full-time members and not more
than two part-time members.
 The Digital Communications Commission was earlier known as Telecom Commission.
 It was set up by the Government of India through a Resolution in 1989 to deal with
various aspects of Telecommunications.

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National IAS Academy Current Affairs: 21-06-2019 Contact: 9632334466

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