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In further sign of growing consensus on the issue, over 110 countries signed on to a pledge agreeing to triple the installed capacity of global renewable energy by 2030, a goal that is being seen as crucial to keeping the rise in global temperatures within 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times.
In a separate announcement made at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, the United States pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, the main financial instrument that channels climate money to developing countries.
The new commitment, by Vice-President Kamala Harris, comes two days after the US promised to put in a paltry $ 17.5 million in the newly created Loss and Damage Fund, drawing a lot of criticism.
Tripling of renewable energy, from the current installed capacity of about 3,400 GW to about 11,000 GW by 2030, has the potential to avoid greenhouse gas emissions by about 7 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, or about one billion tonnes every year on an average, according to an estimate by the International Energy Agency. That would be more than the effect of all the other climate actions currently being taken by the countries.
Opinion
In Arunachal, remnants from a WWII battlefield (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Earlier this week, the US Ambassador to India visited Pasighat and the small Arunachal Pradesh town became home to a memorial of perhaps one of the most dangerous air transport routes ever — the Hump.
In his memoir, Over the Hump, American Air Force officer William Tunner, the last commander of operations over this route, wrote that during World War II, flying ‘the Hump’ — a military aerial supply route between Assam and Yunnan province in China, across northern Burma — “was considered as hazardous as flying a combat mission over Germany.
The Hump had become an essential part of the American war effort after Japan invaded Burma — a British colony at that time — in January 1942 and blocked off Burma Road.
The road was the overland supply route through which strategic supplies were being transferred to Allied forces in China fighting the Japanese, who were part of the Axis forces, in the China Burma India (CBI) theatre of World War II.
With the Burma Road blocked, between 1942 and 1945, the Hump route was the only channel through which supplies from outside could have reached Chiang Kai Shek’s army in China.
Economy
Andhra’s semi guaranteed pension with add on could set the template (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
The Andhra Pradesh government’s new model for government employees’ pension, which marks a calibrated shift from the YSRCP (Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party) government’s poll promise of reverting to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to now a semi-guaranteed pension topped with additional benefits, is being viewed as a template that offers a fiscally viable solution and could be replicated by other states.
It is learnt that a hybrid model along the lines of the Andhra pension model is now being viewed favourably among policymakers for central government employees as well.
The Andhra Pradesh Guaranteed Pension System (APGPS) Act, 2023, which got notified as an ordinance on October 20, is applicable to the employees who had been recruited on or after September 1, 2004, and whose pay and allowances are drawn from the Consolidated Fund of the State and have opted to subscribe to the APGPS.
Govt. bans misleading dark patterns on e-commerce platforms; notifies guidelines (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In order to protect consumers' interest, the government has banned use of "dark patterns" on e-commerce platforms which intend to deceive customers or manipulate their choices.
A gazette notification in this regard as "Guidelines for prevention and regulation of dark patterns" was issued on November 30 by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) which is applicable to all platforms offering goods and services in India, and even advertisers and sellers.
Resorting to dark patterns will amount to misleading advertisement or unfair trade practice or violation of consumer rights. The penalty will be imposed as per the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act.
"In the emerging digital commerce, dark patterns are increasingly being used by the platforms to mislead the consumers by manipulating their buying choices and behaviour," Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh.