Goa Maritime Symposium (GMS) – 2021

In News: Towards fostering friendly relations with its maritime neighbours, Indian Navy hosted ‘GMS-21’ under the aegis of Naval War College, Goa.

Context:

  • Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event for the first time was hosted in virtual mode, with online participation of Naval representatives from 13 Indian Ocean Littoral countries, which included India, Bangladesh, Comoros, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
  • The theme for GMS-21 was focused on “Maritime Security and Emerging Non-Traditional Threats: A Case for Proactive Role for IOR Navies,” with emphasis on capacity building amongst the IOR Navies to tackle emerging common maritime threats.
  • With the Indian Ocean becoming the locus of 21st century strategic landscape, the symposium will play a constructive role in bringing together the stakeholders who have a role in evolving strategies, policies and implementation mechanisms on the issues of common interest in maritime domain.
  • In addition to presenting cooperative strategies for enhancing interoperability among partner maritime agencies, the event provided a forum for articulation of views on the crucial maritime issues, followed by theme based discussions.

IIT develops portable tech-traditional eco-friendly mobile cremation system

In News: Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has developed a prototype of a moveable electric cremation system which claims to be using first of its kind technology that involves smokeless cremation despite using wood.

Context:

  • It uses half of the wood otherwise required for the cremation and still is eco-friendly because of the technology that uses combustion air system.
  • It is based on wick-stove technology in which the wick when lighted glows yellow. This is converted into smokeless blue flame with the help of combustion air system installed over the wicks.
  • IIT Professor Dr Harpreet Singh said that the cremation system or incinerator heats up at 1044 degree Celsius which ensures complete sterilization.
  • The cart-shaped incinerator has wheels and can be transported anywhere without much efforts. The cart is equipped with combustion air for primary and secondary hot air system.
  • Use of less wood can also reduce the carbon footprint by half. It also requires less cooling time in the absence of refractory heat storage. It has stainless steel insulation on both sides of the cart for no heat loss and less wood consumption. It also has a tray beneath for easy removal of ashes.

Government of India’s Special Window Completes First Residential Project

In News:

  • Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman hands over possession to homebuyers through virtual meet.
  • Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman handed over possession to homebuyers virtually as Government of India’s Special Window for Affordable & Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) completes its first residential project.
  • The residential project – Rivali Park, located in suburban Mumbai, was the first housing project in India to have received funding under the SWAMIH Fund. Rivali Park Wintergreens is the first investment by the Fund and is also the first project to get completed. It is a large project spread over 7 acres consisting of 708 units of various configurations.

About SWAMIH:

  • The SWAMIH Fund was launched by Smt. Sitharaman in November 2019.
  • In a short time-span of 1.5 years since inception, the SWAMIH Investment Fund I today is one of the largest private equity teams in India and has done commendable work despite COVID-19 related restrictions.
  • The Fund so far has given its final approval to 72 projects that will complete 44,100 homes, while 132 projects have received preliminary approval, which will complete an additional 72,500 homes. Thus, the Fund is targeting to complete an aggregate of 1,16,600 homes.
  • This Fund is bridging the trust deficit between homebuyers and developers by completing construction and delivering homes without depending on any other source of finance.

FIRST BRICS Employment Working Group (EWG) Meeting

In News: Secretary of Labour and Employment chaired the 1st BRICS Employment Working Group (EWG) Meeting held in New Delhi in virtual format.

Context:

  • India has assumed BRICS Presidency this year. The prime agenda for the discussions were Promoting Social Security Agreements amongst BRICS Nations, Formalization of labour markets, Participation of women in labour force and Gig and platform workers – Role in labour market.
  • Apart from representatives of member Nations i.e Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the representatives of International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Social Security Agency (ISSA) also made valuable interventions and suggestions on the agenda issues.
  • It was resolved that Social Security Agreement would help the international workers to port their benefit to their home countries thereby preventing loss of their hard earned money. Further they will be exempted from contributing both in home as well as host countries.
  • On the issue of formalization of labour market, Member Nations discussed various initiatives taken by them towards formalization of jobs and how Covid-19 has enhanced informalization risk.
  • On participation of women in the labour force, the member countries resolved to promote participation of women in remunerative, productive and decent work and to extend social security cover to the women workers engaged in informal sector.
  • On the issue of Gig and Platform workers and their role in labour market, the member nations discussed how the proliferation of Digital Labour Platforms is transforming the labour processes in the world of work. Challenges faced by them and various measures being taken by member nations including extension of social protection system were also discussed.

World Bank report – “Migration and Development Brief”

In News: The World Bank, in its latest Migration and Development Brief, said despite COVID-19, remittance flows remained resilient in 2020, registering a smaller decline than previously projected.

Context:

  • Officially recorded remittance flows to low and middle-income countries reached $540 billion in 2020, just 1.6% below the 2019 total of $548 billion.
  • The relatively strong performance of remittance flows during the COVID-19 crisis has also highlighted the importance of timely availability of data. Given its growing significance as a source of external financing for low- and middle-income countries, there is a need for better collection of data on remittances, in terms of frequency, timely reporting, and granularity by corridor and channel.
  • India’s Position:
    • It received over $83 billion in remittances in 2020, a drop of just 0.2% from the previous year, despite a pandemic that devastated the world economy, according the report.
    • The report said India’s remittances fell by just 0.2% in 2020, with much of the decline due to a 17% drop in remittances from the United Arab Emirates, which offset resilient flows from the United States and other host countries.
    • Remittances outflow from India in 2020 was $7 billion, against $7.5 billion in 2019, according to the World Bank.
  • China, which received $59.5 billion in remittances in 2020 against $68.3 billion the previous year, is a distant second in terms of global remittances for the year gone by.
  • India and China are followed by Mexico ($42.8 billion), the Philippines ($34.9 billion), Egypt ($29.6 billion), Pakistan ($26 billion), France ($24.4 billion) and Bangladesh ($21 billion).
  • In Pakistan, remittances rose by about 17%, with the biggest growth coming from Saudi Arabia, followed by the European Union countries and the United Arab Emirates.
  • In Bangladesh, remittances also showed a brisk uptick in 2020 (18.4%).
  • Sri Lanka witnessed remittance growth of 5.8%.
  • In contrast, remittances to Nepal fell by about 2%, reflecting a 17% decline in the first quarter of 2020.
  • Remittance inflows rose in Latin America and the Caribbean (6.5%), South Asia (5.2%) and the Middle East and North Africa (2.3%).
  • However, it fell for East Asia and the Pacific (7.9%), for Europe and Central Asia (9.7%), and for Sub-Saharan Africa (12.5%), the report showed.
  • The decline in flows to Sub-Saharan Africa was almost entirely due to a 28% decline in remittance flows to Nigeria. Excluding flows to Nigeria, remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa increased by 2.3%, demonstrating resilience.
  • Remittance outflow was the maximum from the United States ($68 billion), followed by UAE ($43 billion), Saudi Arabia ($34.5 billion), Switzerland ($27.9 billion), Germany ($22 billion), and China ($18 billion).

China launches remote sensing satellite Yaogan-33

In News:

  • The satellite, Yaogan-33, was launched aboard a Long March-4C rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully.
  • It was the 357th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series, the report said.
  • The mission also sent a micro and nano technology experiment satellite into orbit.
  • The two satellites will be used for scientific experiments, land resources survey, crop yield estimation and disaster prevention and reduction.

Israel – Palestine Conflict

  • Background:
    • A source of major resentment in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the religious divide between the Israeli Jewish people and the Palestinian Muslims.
    • This resentment stems from the fact that Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites in both Judaism and Islam remains the bone of contention behind the conflict.
    • The Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism where Jews turn towards during prayer is in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Temple Mount complex is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews are allowed to worship, and the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine that is instantly recognizable because of its gold-plated dome.
    • However, before the construction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, there was a grand Jewish temple on the same location on the Temple Mount.
    • This Jewish Holy Temple, called the Second Temple, was the holiest Jewish site of worship until it was destroyed by the Roman Empire in the 70 A.D. as punishment for a Jewish revolt.
    • The Second Temple was constructed in 516 BCE after the First Temple or Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE.
    • The Foundation Stone, the holiest site for the Jews at present, is located on the floor of the Dome of the Rock. However, the Jews are not allowed to visit it as it located inside the Islamic shrine.
    • The Western Wall, which is now the holiest site Jews are allowed to worship due to the restrictions on entry to Temple Mount, is a remnant of the retaining wall erected by King Herod as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple.
    • There is extensive physical evidence confirming the existence of the Second Temple on Temple Mount.
  • UNESCO Status:
    • The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has classified the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls as a World Heritage Site, meaning it is regarded as “being of outstanding international importance and therefore as deserving special protection.”
  • Conflict’s Seed:
    • Under a delicate status quo arrangement, an Islamic trust known as the Waqf, funded and controlled by Jordan, continued to administer Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, as it had done for decades, a special role reaffirmed in Israel’s 1994 peace treaty with Jordan.
    • Israeli security forces maintain a presence on the site and they coordinate with the Waqf.
    • Jews and Christians are allowed to visit, but unlike Muslims, are prohibited from praying on the grounds under the status quo arrangement. (Jews pray just below the sacred plateau at the Western Wall, the remnants of a retaining wall that once surrounded the Temple Mount)
    • Tensions over what critics call the arrangement’s discrimination against non-Muslims have periodically boiled over into violence.
    • Adding to the tensions is Israel’s annual celebration of Jerusalem Day, an official holiday to commemorate its capture of the entire city.
    • The celebration, most recently held, is a provocation for many Palestinians, including residents of the eastern part of Jerusalem. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state — a prospect that seems increasingly remote.

Maharashtra launches Mission Oxygen to counter third wave of Covid-19

In News:

  • In a bid to counter the third wave of Covid, the Maharashtra Government is implementing Mission Oxygen, which will aim at achieving self-sufficiency in oxygen production by targeting a production of 3,000 metric tonnes, State Chief Minister said.
  • Industries in the State produce 1,200 tonnes of oxygen, against the current requirement of approximately 1,700 tonnes.
  • Under Mission Oxygen, the sugar industry should take the initiative in the field of oxygen production, he said.
  • In the wake of the Covid pandemic, several industries, including steel, sugar, dairy and power plants, have been producing oxygen in the state by modifying and retrofitting some of their industrial process units.
  • Various municipalities in the state are also making efforts to generate oxygen. The co-operative sector also needs to take the lead in this.

Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted wins World Food Prize 2021

In News:

  • Dr Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, a global nutrition expert of Indian descent has won the prestigious 2021 World Food Prize for her groundbreaking research in developing holistic, nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquaculture and food systems.
  • Thilsted’s research on small native fish species in Bangladesh led to the development of nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquatic food systems at all levels.
  • Thilsted expanded the evolution of food systems from “feeding” to nourishing” hundreds of millions of people who depend on fish and other aquatic foods as an integral part of their food and nutrition security, livelihoods and culture, it said.
  • Thilsted, who is a native of Trinidad and Tobago and a citizen of Denmark, was born in 1949 in the Caribbean island of Trinidad in the small village of Reform. Most of the inhabitants, including her family, were descendants of Indian Hindu migrants brought to Trinidad to engage in agricultural labour.