Presenting the Monthly Newsletter of

International Relations Committee

GlobeTrotter
November
Issue,
2021

Spotlight Section

Travel Diaries

International News Snippets

Partner University:
Denmark and
Emlyon Business School India Relations

Blog: To the Moon!

 GLOBETROTTER NOVEMBER ISSUE

SPOTLIGHT
COP 26
COP stands for Conference of the Parties; it is an annual summit attended
by the countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), an accord that came into action in 1994. The
United Nations Climate Change Conferences are annual discussions held on
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
They function as the official meeting of the UNFCCC Parties (Conference of
the Parties, COP) to assess advancement in dealing with climate change
and negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to establish legally binding obligations for
industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The 26th COP summit was held in Glasgow from 1-12 November 2021, hosted
in partnership between the UK and Italy. It was delayed by a year due to
adjournments caused by the COVID pandemic. With around 30,000
attendees and an entirely physical event, COP26 is the most prominent
summit the UK has ever hosted.
More than 100 global leaders attended the conference, with President of the
United States Joe Biden, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canada's Justin
Trudeau, Israel's Naftali, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Prince
Charles, and India's Narendra Modi. Some other famous faces also
participated in the climate change conference, including climate activists
and cultural leaders.
China's President Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin were notable
exceptions. They did not attend COP26 in being but instead talked with 26TH COP SUMMIT WAS
global leaders via video link.
As of now, a draft deal has been published. Countries are being urged to HELD IN GLASGOW
strengthen their carbon-cutting targets by the end of 2022 in a draft
agreement. The document says susceptible nations must get more aid to FROM 1-12 NOVEMBER
cope with the terminal impacts of global warming. It also states that
countries should submit sustainable strategies for reaching net-zero by the
2021
end of next year. Researchers warned if the temperature rises to 1.5C, UNEP(United Nations Environment
beyond which the worst impacts of climate change will be felt. It requires Programme) hopes that COP26 will increase
global emissions to be cut by 45% by 2030 and to zero overall by mid- global action on three core policy areas:
century. mitigation, adaption and finance. This means
a reliable political commitment that leads to
With the world adrift to meet the goal, the draft document urges countries
more significant efforts by each country to
to "revisit and strengthen" the purposes for cutting emissions by 2030 in
reduce countrywide emissions and adapt to
their national plans to bring into line with the Paris Agreement goal of well climate change known as Nationally
below 2C or 1.5C by the end of 2022. The proposal aims specifically to Determined Contributions (NDCs), along with
update the timeframe for resed targets for countries, known as Nationally agreement on critical technical issues and
Determined Contributions, or NDCs, to next year – much sooner than the financial commitments by the public and
requirement of every five years as laid out in the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. private financial institutions.
 GLOBETROTTER NOVEMBER ISSUE

"I was enchanted by the air of the place; the peace that
prevailed around, the mildly cold weather, the work
culture, the people around me."

TRAVEL DIARIES
It was a new land for me- barely did I know where the European continent was
positioned on the world map when I landed on the shores of this new nation –
Germany. I spent my summer vacation in Europe that year. My father had bagged the
DAAD fellowship in Germany – we would spend two months in Europe.
The place was different- even at the age of eight, the beauty of the landscape- the
roads laid in bricks, the beautiful flowers carefully laid in the baskets of bicycles, the
open-air restaurants, the trams, the local trains- double-decker ones- everything that
I couldn’t see in India caught my eyes- I was enchanted by the air of the place; the
peace that prevailed around, the mild cold weather, the work culture, the people
around me.
It was a beautiful summer evening- I was walking around, playing with the scooter
that my uncle, Mr. Meyer had gifted to me. The sky was clad with clouds- a storm was
expected in the evening, and it did come by- quite unexpectedly. It was then that I
made my first friend in Germany- Eureka. The storm was fierce- her mother swiftly
pulled us indoors. We spent a great evening together. Eureka had been in Germany
for a while- her father was pursuing a doctoral programme in Germany back then. Her
mother belonged to Japan- she was a beautiful blend of two diverse cultures-
everything in her house was maintained and designed on the lines of a Japanese
house- quite similar to the ones that we saw in animation films. She used to travel
back and forth to Japan with her mother quite often. The fact that we could watch
Maruko Chan together, and she could translate the Japanese version for me made me
enjoy the show even more. We bonded over many things- the kimono, her Japanese
Written by:
school, the cartoons, the long travel down the corn fields nearby, the bicycle rides, Shreeya Saxena
badminton- treasures that I still hold today. It’s been fifteen years and both of us have
grown up now, but I treasure this pen-friend of mine as we cherish beautiful XIM-BM, 2021-23
memories from childhood.
 GLOBETROTTER NOVEMBER ISSUE

Next, I visited Amsterdam- the capital city of

Netherlands- the windmills stood tall; in Paris- the
Eiffel tower was of great appeal. It was a
challenge of its own kind to bring the entire tower
within one picture frame. Struck with wanderlust,
I spent my days appreciating the beauty of the
unexplored territory – sauntering along the Lake
Flower Clock in Zurich, breezing through the
captivating landscape in Zermatt, playing
alongside the tulip gardens and windmills in
Amsterdam, collecting pine corns in the heart of
Mount Titlis, Switzerland, strolling through the
Shanzelize street in Paris, silently saluting the
leaders at the EU headquarters in Brussels.
My commute wasn’t confined to
Now it was time to leave. The parting was hard-
Germany- we travelled around over
the attachments grew stronger over time, but it
the weekend. The connectivity of
was time to leave. As I landed on the shores of the
the places was particularly
Indian territory, I felt a sudden sense of familiarity
appealing to me; I could never
with the nation, and guess what prompted this
imagine travelling so easily and so
emotion- our very own native language ‘Hindi’. It
often in India back then. Bonn, the
was the linguistic familiarity that pulled me back-
city where I lived was close to
I heard people conversing in the language after a
Frankfurt- the doorway to the rest
fairly long time, and it brought in solace. The trip
of the continent. My trip to Venice
remains entwined in my heart as a beautiful
was specifically memorable. Venice,
childhood memory- the place is far off now but the
a place that was just confined to
spirit – the nostalgia and enthusiasm remains.
Shakespearean drama till then,
came alive. I could see masks,
chandeliers, souvenirs all around-
the artists painting the landscape at
the shores of the city, the famous
bridges – the famous Rialto bridge
was of immense pride to the city.
More appealing were the Gondolas-
something that we see only in films,
but as we touched upon the reality-
the authentic Italian pizzas and
lasagne, the carvings and glass
paintings in famous churches, the
traditional European designs- an
excellent blend of modernity and
the ancient times – I could feel the
ancient fairytales of the past come
alive.
 GLOBETROTTER NOVEMBER ISSUE

INTERNATIONAL NEWS SNIPPETS

DENMARK PM VISIT TO INDIA During their bilateral meetings, the two

presidents are scheduled to talk about
regional challenges, such as Afghanistan.
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will visit
After the two countries' relations were
India this week, making her the first head of state or
suspended in 2010 due to India's demand
government to visit Delhi since the epidemic began in
for the extradition of Danish national Kim
February 2020.
Davy, it was the first state visit of the
Ms. Frederiksen, who last held a summit with Prime
Danish Prime Minister. In connection with
Minister Narendra Modi in September 2020 where they
the 1995 Purulia weapons drop, he wanted
had announced the first “Green Strategic partnership,” is
to drop the case, to which Denmark has yet
expected to discuss investments in Indian renewable
to agree.
technology, supply of green technology and outline their
climate positions on reducing carbon emissions ahead of
the upcoming COP26 UN summit on Climate Change in
Glasgow this November.
On Saturday, Ms. Frederiksen will attend bilateral
meetings with PM Modi after receiving a ceremonial
welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. According to the MEA,
she would also "interact with think tanks, students, and
members of civil society."
Along with other announcements, Danish financing &
technological support for various projects would be
announced. This will also include an “Energy Island” in the
Gulf of Mannar, where there will be a discussion on the
proposal of producing 4-10 GW of wind power energy.
"PM Frederiksen's visit will connect the dots between how
India is developing and how Denmark can assist India in
doing so in a more sustainable manner, according to its
needs," Danish Ambassador to India Freddy Svane told The
Hindu, citing the Green Strategic Partnership's agenda
areas of energy, water, climate financing, and climate
goals.
 GLOBETROTTER NOVEMBER ISSUE

SOCIAL MEDIA OUTAGE

For around six hours on the 4th of October, billions of users worldwide were
unable to access social media giants Facebook and its family of applications
WhatsApp and Instagram. The outage impacted users all over the world, and
according to some sources, even Facebook personnel were affected because
the company's internal systems were down, preventing them from using
internal e-mail clients and other services. "Configuration modifications on
the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data
centers produced issues that disrupted this communication," said Santosh
Janardhan, Facebook's vice president of infrastructure. Facebook's stock
dropped about 5% as a result of the outage, although the company claims
there is "no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this
disruption."

GLOBAL minimum corporate tax rate

In a move that could increase tax revenues globally by over $150 Billion,
136 countries have decided on a Global Minimum Corporate Tax Rate of
15%. They all aim to eliminate creatively named tax loopholes like the
“Double Irish” and “Dutch Sandwich” by making tax havens less attractive
investment destinations. Certain equalisation levies on digital goods
imposed by India will also be removed as they would be illegal under the
agreement. However, critics of the move have termed the tax rate too
low, and it remains to be seen if many tax havens will accept the deal and
possibly lose their competitive advantage

KUNMING DECLARATION
On October 13th, 2021, 100 nations committed to adopt and implement a
global biodiversity framework to help in the recovery of lost flora and fauna
by 2030 in the Chinese city of Kunming. The critical elements of the
framework will include phasing out harmful subsidies, recognising
indigenous people’s way of life and their role in nature, establishing the rule
of law in some places and constructing a monitoring process for it. The
Kunming Biodiversity Fund was also established, with an initial contribution
of $230 million by China, and Japan followed suit by extending the Japan
Biodiversity Fund by $17 million. There were also significant announcements
from many European nations.

INDIA COMPLETES VACCINE CENTURY

India celebrated the achievement of one billion Covid vaccinations in just over
nine months on Thursday, hoisting the national flag at the Red Fort to mark the
occasion. India has delivered the second-highest number of doses globally,
after only China, which is claimed to have given its population approximately
2.2 billion doses. Since the vaccination program began, India has approved a
number of vaccinations. The AstraZeneca shot, locally called Covishield and
made by the Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, and Russia's Sputnik-V.
The Serum Institute of India (SII), which produces a licensed version of the
AstraZeneca medication, is responsible for about 90% of the vaccines delivered
in India.
 GLOBETROTTER NOVEMBER ISSUE

At the summit, the G20 leaders

agreed to limit global warming
to 1.5 degrees, carbon
neutrality by or around the
mid-century, and a fairer
international tax system,
amongst other agendas.
The leaders noted that the
global economy has recovered
at a solid pace in 2021, thanks
to the roll-out of vaccines and
continued policy support.
However, recovery has

G20 significantly
and within
varied between
countries. To
20 leaders met for a two-day summit accommodated address persisting vaccination
by the Italian G20 presidency in Rome on 30 and 31
gaps, the G20 leaders
October 2021. Leaders from all the member countries
committed to substantially
were present, like Australia's Scott Morrison, India's
Narendra Modi and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro. Charles
increasing the provision of and
Michel, President of the European Council, and Ursula access to vaccines,
von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, therapeutics and diagnostics,
represented the EU. particularly the needs of low-
and middle-income countries.
The G20 leaders committed to
strengthening actions to halt
and reverse biodiversity loss by
2030.

"At the summit, the

G20 leaders agreed
to limit global
warming to 1.5
degrees"
 GLOBETROTTER NOVEMBER ISSUE

PARTNER UNIVERSITY
EMLYON BUSINESS SCHOOL

FACULTY : 160 Professors

FIRST CAMPUS: Lyon,
ABOUT
Founded in 1872 by the Lyon CCI, Emlyon Business School has an
France
DIVERSITY: 47% enrollment of 8,900 students of 121 nationalities. The school operates on
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RESEARCH CENTERS: 7 and Bhubaneswar and Mumbai), draws on a network of 190
NUMBER OF CAMPUSES: 7
international academic partners and runs a community of 37,500
RESEARCH CENTERS alumni spread out in 130 countries.
AIM Research Center on
Artificial Intelligence in
Governance
Value Creation
Research Center For Emlyon Business School is a public limited company with an Executive
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Organization
body of the School, which formulates and execute the strategy. The
Organizations, Critical &
Ethnographic Supervisory Board ensure its proper implementation.
Perspectives Research
Center (OCE) The Teaching Model: Early Makers since 1872
Entrepreneurship and
Emlyon's distinctive academic signature early makers molds learning
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 GLOBETROTTER
BLOG
TO THE MOON!
The International Space Station recently surpassed its 20-year
milestone of continuous human presence, providing opportunities
for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. Meanwhile Russia,
well known for its historic space missions, has forayed into another
intriguing arena in space.
The Soviets have made massive feats in the space arena- the first
satellite ‘Sputnik’; the first animal in space, ‘Laika’; the first man,
Gagarin, and the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova. Here comes
another one! The International Space Station is a filming site now-
Russia has become the first nation to shoot a feature film in space.
The film is named ‘Challenge’ – a name which seems quite plausible
to the film crew post the shooting in space. The mission added to a
long list of firsts for Russia's space industry.
The plot of "The Challenge" has been concealed for long- the movie
narrates the story of a surgeon who is bound to operate on a sick
cosmonaut in space who cannot be taken back to Earth for
treatment owing to his medical condition. The film defines a
commercial agreement between Roscosmos and Moscow-based
media entities Channel One and studio Yellow, Black and White.
According to Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, the film is a large-
scale scientific and educational project, with
documentaries to be shot about the space industry enterprises and
specialists who have toiled to make it work. The project would
exemplify the fact that spaceflights are gradually becoming
available for a vast array of activities – commercial
opportunities and feature filmmaking.
Peresild and Shipenko – the two civilians who made the final cut,
were selected through a competition conducted by Roscosmos,
post which they underwent rigorous training-
centrifuge and vibration stand tests, training flights in zero gravity,
and parachute training. The crew had to learn photography and
using equipment in the novel environment. Shipenko, the director
of the film, seconded that the making of the film was a "huge
challenge". The shoot was often put on hold - the props floated
around, the ISS tilted after experiencing a technical issue, pausing
filming for a while.
NOVEMBER ISSUE
Nevertheless, he said that he would never
have been able to shoot on Earth what he
had shot in space. The crew had recorded
about 30 hours of material, about 30 minutes
of which is expected to be a part of the final
film.The movie has forayed into a crucial
space race against another film being shot
as a part of a Hollywood project involving
Nasa, Tom Cruise and Elon Musk's SpaceX, as
revealed in 2020. However, no definitive
date for the release of the film has been
shared yet.
This achievement in space gives us a glimpse
of the future that lies ahead- we are bound
to make immense progress. India’s first
manned space mission is due soon, along
with other nations making similar cuts. As
countries continue to collaborate in the
arena of space, we may hope to cherish and
fulfil a travel dream to the ISS in our
an array of lifetime.
space
understudies,