Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Forum for Decarbonizing Transport' in India +NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) project + WRI) + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development + GS II government policies and interventions)
What's the NEWS

• NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute(WRI), India, jointly launched the ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport' in India as part of the NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) project
• The project aims at bringing down the peak level of GHG emissions (transport sector) in Asia (in line with a well below 2-degree pathway), resulting in problems like congestion and air pollution.

Decarbonizing Transport (need of the hour)

• India has a massive and diverse transport sector, which is also the third most CO2 emitting sector.
• Data from (IEA, 2020; Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, 2018) suggests that within the transport sector, road transport contributes to more than 90% of the total CO2 emissions.

Policy measures and Initiatives

• Through various policy measures and initiatives, the Government of India is continuously working towards the decarbonisation of road transport, with a major focus on the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country.
• NITI Aayog has been at the helm of the promotion of EVs and sustainable mobility through the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage.
• However, to leverage and streamline EVs across the country, there is a need is to create a favourable ecosystem for different stakeholders.
• These stakeholders include Central/state Governments, state-designated agencies, financial institutions, businesses, OEMs, research and technical institutes, private bodies and think tanks.
• A coordinated effort between these stakeholders will help enable investment, encourage adoption, and ensure fair operation in the industry.

Know! about the Forum

• Through this forum, the WRI India team, along with NITI Aayog and other project partners, will work in close coordination with all these stakeholders to formulate strategies and develop appropriate business models to accelerate electric mobility in India.
• The forum will also provide a platform to initiate dialogues for the development of uniform policies and help achieve specific results in reducing emissions from the transport sector.
• It will bring together CEOs, reserachers, academics, multilateral agencies, financial institutions as well as the Central and state government on a common platform.

NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA 2020-2023)

• The NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA 2020-2023) is a joint programme of seven organisations that will engage China, India, and Vietnam in promoting a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transport in their respective countries.
• The project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI).
• The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) support the initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.
• NITI Aayog is the implementing partner for the India component of the project.
• The NDC-TIA India component focuses on developing a coherent strategy of effective policies and the formation of a multi-stakeholder platform for decarbonizing transport in the country.

International Climate Initiative (IKI)

• It is one of the most important instruments of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) for the international financing of climate change mitigation and biodiversity.
• IKI operates within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), financing climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation in developing, emerging and transition countries.
• Since 2008 to 2019, IKI approved more than 730 climate and biodiversity projects with a total funding volume of EUR 3.9 billion in more than 60 countries.
• The partner countries are supported with IKI funding to help them implement and ambitiously develop their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) anchored in the Paris Agreement.
• The NDCs include measures to adapt to the impacts of climate change and increase resilience to its unavoidable impacts.
• In the field of biodiversity, IKI supports partner countries in achieving the goals of the CBD to counteract the dramatic global loss of natural resources.
• The activities of IKI also contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Projects that are implemented in one of the following four funding areas are eligible for support:

• Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions
• Adapting to the impacts of climate change
• Conserving natural carbon sinks with a focus on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+)
• Conserving biological diversity

Know! about WRI

• The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global research non-profit organization established in 1982
• WRI works with governments, businesses, multilateral institutions and civil society groups to develop practical solutions that improve people's lives and protect nature.
• WPI organizes work around seven global challenges: Food, Forests, Water, Energy, Climate, the Ocean and Cities.
• WPI analyze these issues through the lenses of its four Centers of Excellence: Business, Economics, Finance and Equity.

NITI Aayog
The first edition of North Eastern Region District SDG Index & Dashboard ,2021-22

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the first edition of the North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG Index Report -highlights) + Mains ( GS II Governance)
What's the NEWS

• NITI Aayog and Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (M/DoNER) will be launching the first edition of the North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG Index Report and Dashboard 2021-22
• This inaugural edition is the first of its kind region-wide district SDG index in the country and a milestone in the efforts towards localising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the 120 Districts of the 8 States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
• The NER District SDG Index and Dashboard is a collaborative effort by NITI Aayog and Ministry of DoNER, with technical support from UNDP.
• It measures the performance of the districts of the eight States of the North Eastern Region on the SDGs and their corresponding targets and ranks the districts based on the same.
• The index is based on NITI Aayog's SDG India Index -the principal and official tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs at the national and State/ Union Territory levels and shares the common ethos of benchmarking performance and ranking on the SDGs to foster competition among the districts.

NER District SDG Index and Dashboard 2021-22: A Brief Introduction

• The NER District SDG Index and Dashboard: Baseline Report 2021-22 has been constructed by NITI Aayog, the nodal agency for SDGs in India, utilising 84 indicators which cover 15 of the Global Goals across 50 targets.
• The construction of the index and the ensuing methodology embody the central objectives of measuring the performance of districts on the SDGs and ranking them; supporting States in identifying areas which require more attention; and promoting healthy competition among them.
• All aspects related to the selection of indicators and computation methodology of the NER District SDG Index and Dashboard followed extensive consultation with all the eight States of the region.
• States played a crucial role in shaping the index by enriching the feedback process with localised insights and field experience.
• The index will facilitate in identifying crucial gaps and inform interventions to fast track progress towards achieving the SDGs in the region and act as a ready reckoner for gauging progress of districts on the expansive set of the Global Goals on health, education, gender, economic growth, institutions, climate change and environment, among others.
• The North Eastern Region District SDG Index is another milestone in NITI Aayog's efforts in localising the SDGs from ‘global to national to local'.

Social Issues
Government to launch e-Shram portal - National Database on Unorganized Workers (NDUW)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about The National Database of Unorganised workers(E-Shram portal) + Mains ( GS II government policies and interventions for the welfare vulnerable section of population)
What's the NEWS

• The government will launch the e-SHRAM portal to maintain a database of workers in the unorganised sector on August 26
• The Minister for Labour and Employment launched the logo of the e-SHRAM portal, through which the government aims to register 38 crore unorganised workers such as construction labourers, migrant workforce, street vendors, and domestic workers, among others.

The National Database of Unorganised workers(E-Shram portal)

• Following the launch of the portal, the workers from the unorganised sector can begin their registration from the same day
• The portal will be launched on August 26 and on the same day, a national toll free number 14434 will also be launched to assist and address the queries of the workers seeking registration on the portal.
• As part of the initiative, the workers will be issued an e-SHRAM card containing a 12 digit unique number
• The objective behind the move is integration of social security schemes of the government.
• The details of the workers will also be shared by state governments and departments.
• A worker can register using his/her Aadhaar card number and bank account details, apart from filling other necessary details like date of birth, home town, mobile number, and social category
• The launch of the portal will be a major milestone for the unorganized workers, the domestic workers, the construction workers, the migrant workers, Gig & Platform workers etc. and will ensure that welfare schemes reach the right beneficiary at the right time across the length and breadth of the country.

Prelims Factoids
SMOG TOWER
What's the NEWS

• Delhi Chief Minister inaugurated the country's first 'smog tower', an experimental set up worth Rs 20 crore to purify air in a 1-km radius around the struct

Know! about the Smog tower

• The tower uses a ‘downdraft air cleaning system'.
• Polluted air is sucked in at a height of 24 m, and filtered air is released at the bottom of the tower, at a height of about 10 m from the ground.
• When the fans at the bottom of the tower operate, the negative pressure created sucks in air from the top.
• The ‘macro' layer in the filter traps particles of 10 microns and larger, while the ‘micro' layer filters smaller particles of around 0.3 microns.
• The downdraft method is different from the system used in China, where a 60-metre smog tower in Xian city uses an ‘updraft' system - air is sucked in from near the ground, and is propelled upwards by heating and convection. Filtered air is released at the top of the tower.

Defence
First batch of Multi-Mode Hand Grenades handed over to Indian Army

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Multi-Mode Hand Grenades (MMHG)
What's the NEWS

• The first batch of Multi-Mode Hand Grenades (MMHG), manufactured by Economic Explosives Limited (EEL) following Transfer of Technology from Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), was handed over to the Indian Army in the presence of Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh
• The handing over of MMHG as a shining example of the increasing collaboration between the public & private sectors and a big step towards self-reliance in defence manufacturing.
• The Raksha Mantri lauded DRDO & EEL for the speedy delivery of the order amidst COVID-19 restrictions and hoped of a faster delivery of the next lot.

Know! about MMHG

• The grenade is not just more lethal, but is safer to use.
• It has a distinctive design that gives flexibility of employment in both defensive (fragmentation) and offensive (stun) modes.
• It has a highly accurate delay time, very high reliability in usage and safe for carriage.
• These new grenades will replace Grenade No 36 of World War I vintage design, which had been continuing in service till date.

The agreement between DRDO & EEL

• The EEL had signed a contract with Ministry of Defence on October 01, 2020 to supply 10 lakh modern hand grenades for Indian Army and Indian Air Force.
• The deliveries would be spread over two years from the bulk production clearance, which was accorded to EEL in March 2021.
• The first order has been delivered within five months.
• The EEL had taken the technology from DRDO in 2016, absorbed it successfully while maintaining very high quality in detonics.
• Extensive trials were successfully undertaken by the Indian Army and Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) in 2017-18 in plains, deserts and high altitude over summer & winter.

Know! also about
Measures undertaken by the Government to transform the defence sector into a self-reliant industry

• setting up of Defence Industrial Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
• formulation of draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020 earmarking around 64 per cent of its modernisation funds under capital acquisition budget for 2021-22 for procurement from domestic companies;
• notifying two Positive Indigenisation Lists of over 200 defence items to promote self-reliance & defence exports;
• Corporatisation of Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)
• increasing FDI limit from 49 to 74 per cent under automatic route and beyond 74 per cent through government route
• top priority to 'Buy {Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)} category for capital procurement.
• Technology Transfer to Industries by DRDO.
• Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) - Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC)

Indigenously developed defence products

• Multi-Mode Grenade
• Arjun-Mark-1' tank
• Unmanned Surface Vehicle
• See Through Armor
  
  

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