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Nations took a small but decisive step towards ridding the world of fossil fuels, after negotiators in Dubai on Wednesday adopted a resolution, called the Dubai Consensus.
The standout clause in the 21-page text is the one that “calls on Parties to be Transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science”.
However, this language of “transitioning” has been diluted from earlier drafts that had called for an actual “phase-out” of all fossil fuels.
Creating a path to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is humanity’s best shot at keeping global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, according to scientific assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
This implies cutting emissions to 43% of 2019 levels by 2030 and 60% by 2035, an onerous ask given that just seven years remain for the first target, while emissions keep rising, year on year.
India votes in favour of immediate ceasefire in Gaza by Israel (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India on Tuesday voted in favour of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that called on Israel for an immediate ceasefire, the protection of civilians in accordance with international law and the release of all hostages. India was among 153 countries that made up a massive 4/5th majority in the Assembly who voted in favour of the resolution, where only 10 countries, including the U.S. and Israel, voted against the resolution, and 23 abstained.
Despite being “unsatisfied” with the resolution, Israel said it appreciated India’s support and votes in favour of two proposed amendments.
Thanking India, the Palestinian Ambassador to India said that all countries must say “enough is enough”. “153 countries have voted for ceasefire but the U.S. has opposed it and by doing so, the U.S. has once again proved that they are partner of Israel in this continuing massacre of Palestinian people.
House passes Bill to set up Central tribal university in Telangana (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Rajya Sabha passed the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, and the Repealing and Amending Bill. While the first Bill is to establish a tribal university in Telangana, as promised in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, the latter is to repeal 76 “redundant and obsolete” laws.
The Central Universities Bill was discussed amid the Opposition walkout over the security breach in the Lok Sabha. The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 4 and passed on December 7, paved the way for establishing Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University in Telangana.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “Had the Telangana government cooperated, this university would have come up by now. It took a long time to provide land, so there was a delay in the implementation.”
The Repealing and Amending Bill, cleared by the Lok Sabha on July 27, proposes to repeal outdated laws like the Land Acquisition (Mines) Act, 1885 and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.
Editorial
Gaza, a new pointer to India’s changed world view (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India’s tortuous stand on the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict reveals a fascinating portrait of the recent evolution of its foreign policy.
For decades after Independence, India’s approach to the world was guided by its historical experience of western colonialism.
After 200 years of a foreign country speaking for it on the world stage, newly-independent Indians, led by the fiercely anti-colonial Jawaharlal Nehru, were not willing to surrender their freedom to make their own decisions by joining either alliance in the Cold War. “Strategic autonomy” thus became an obsession, leading to the birth of “non-alignment”, or equidistance between the superpowers.
It was a complicated stance. As a leading voice for decolonisation, Indian moralism against imperialism and apartheid often manifested itself as anti-westernism, and indeed on such matters it often found itself ranged alongside the USSR and against the West, even while the country’s steadfast adherence to democracy and diversity at home endeared it to liberals in the West.
Opinion
Indians vulnerable to climate change-induced health issues (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
More than half of India’s population, living in 344 districts, face high or very high health vulnerability induced by climate change.
People are increasingly being exposed to the effects of climate change, such as prolonged summers, heavy and unpredictable rains, floods and droughts, and rising sea levels and melting glaciers.
As a result, they fall ill more often, face a greater risk of future ailments, lose livelihoods, get pushed into poverty, and are forced to migrate.
People fight and try to adapt to these changes and prepare themselves better for future events. Vulnerability is a vector produced out of the dynamics between exposure and sensitivity on the one hand and people’s ability to adapt or fight on the other.
However, the same exposure may not have the same health consequences for everyone. People who are exposed to higher green cover, have better living conditions, education, secured work, better social safety nets and resilient health systems would be able to adapt to the changes and mitigate the consequences better.
People who live on the margins, whose livelihoods are not secured, and who have to pay when someone in the family falls ill will be more vulnerable to these changes.
News
Road fatalities rise in India, despite global drop: WHO (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Road traffic deaths fell by 5% to 1.19 million annually worldwide between 2010 and 2021, with 108 United Nations member countries reporting a drop, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report. India, however, registered a 15% increase in fatalities.
The total number of road traffic fatalities in India went up to 1.54 lakh in 2021 from 1.34 lakh in 2010, the ‘Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023’.
Ten countries succeeded in reducing road traffic deaths by over 50%. These are Belarus, Brunei Darussalam, Denmark, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Russian Federation, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Thirty-five countries made notable progress, reducing road traffic deaths by 30% to 50%.
‘New Delhi Declaration’ on artificial intelligence adopted (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Following several hours of deliberations, representatives from 28 countries and the European Union adopted the “New Delhi Declaration” of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI, pronounced g-pay).
India is hosting the summit, and will chair the GPAI grouping in 2024. The ministerial declaration affirms the countries’ commitment to “principles for responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI rooted in democratic values and human rights … and promoting trustworthy, responsible, sustainable and human-centred use of AI”.
GPAI is a grouping of countries in North and South America, Europe, and East Asia, which strive to work towards “trustworthy development, deployment, and use of AI”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the first day of the summit.
SC holds arbitration deals in unstamped contracts to be valid (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
A seven-judge Constitution Bench on Wednesday held that arbitration agreements embedded in unstamped or insufficiently-stamped substantive commercial contracts or instruments are not invalid, unenforceable or even non-existent.
The Supreme Court judgment gives a significant shot in the arm for India’s ambition to become an international arbitration hub to quickly resolve commercial disputes.
Earlier, arbitrations on such disputes had struck a roadblock owing to non-payment of the required stamp duty for or insufficient stamping of contracts by the parties.
Arbitration aims to provide speedy, efficient, and binding resolution of disputes that have arisen between the parties in regard to their substantive obligations.
Business
FM moves legislation to hasten setting up GST appellate bodies (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Setting the stage to clear the final hurdle holding up the formation of GST Appellate Tribunals, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced amendments to the Central Goods and Services Tax Act of 2017 in the Lok Sabha to align its provisions with the Tribunal Reforms Act of 2021.
The proposed changes which relate to the eligibility criteria for members and the President of the tribunals, once approved by Parliament, will facilitate the initiation of “the administrative process for operationalisation of the GST Appellate Tribunals at the earliest.
The GST regime, launched in July 2017, had provisions for setting up the Appellate tribunals as the second appellate authority for hearing appeals against orders passed by the Appellate Authority under the Central and State GST laws.
World
IMF clears second tranche of $337 mn for Sri Lanka (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cleared the second tranche — about $337 million — of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to Sri Lanka, based on the debt treatment plan drawn up by the crisis-battered island nation and its bilateral creditors.
Sri Lanka’s agreements-in-principle with the Official Creditors Committee and Export-Import Bank of China on debt treatments are consistent with the EFF targets. They are an important milestone putting Sri Lanka’s debt on the path towards sustainability.
With the second tranche coming in, Sri Lanka has received about $670 million of the total $3 billion it hopes to receive from the Fund, to recover from last year’s historic financial crash that put citizens through acute shortages and long power cuts, while pushing the country into bankruptcy.
Science
The limitations of CCS and CDR and their grip on future climate (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
At the COP28 climate talks underway in Dubai, draft decisions thus far have referred to the abatement and removal of carbon emissions using carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon-dioxide removal (CDR) technologies.
Considering the meaning of the word ‘abatement’ has become an important bone of contention, understanding the meaning and limitations of CCS is important – as also those of CDR.
CCS refers to technologies that can capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) at a source of emissions before it is released into the atmosphere.
These sources include the fossil fuel industry (where coal, oil and gas are combusted to generate power) and industrial processes like steel and cement production.
CDR takes the forms of both natural means like afforestation or reforestation and technologies like direct air capture, where machines mimic trees by absorbing CO₂ from their surroundings and storing it underground.
There are also more complex CDR technologies like enhanced rock weathering, where rocks are broken down chemically; the resulting rock particles can remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.
Other technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) capture and store CO₂ from burning biomass, like wood.