Daily Current Capsules
16th November 2022

Taman Hutan Raya Ngurah Rai' Mangrove forests

 

What's the NEWS

 

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi along with other G-20 Leaders visited and planted Mangroves at the ‘Taman Hutan Raya Ngurah Rai' Mangrove forests on the sidelines of G-20 Summit in Bali
• Mangroves play an important role in global conservation efforts.
• India has joined the Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC), a joint initiative of Indonesia and UAE under the Indonesian G-20 Presidency.
• More than 50 mangrove species can be found spread over 5000 sq km in India. India is placing emphasis on the protection and restoration of mangroves, which are rich sites of biodiversity and serve as effective carbon sinks.

 

G20 summit 2022

What's the NEWS

 

• Indonesian President Joko Widodo opened the G20 summit in Bali

 

Summit Highlights

• The G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia is a two-day event beginning Tuesday where the member nations will gather to attend the annual conference of world's major economies.
• The leaders of the world's most advanced economies gathered in Bali, Indonesia for the 17th G20 summit.
• G20 countries represent 85% of global GDP, 75% of global trade and 66% of the world population.
• The conference will focus on dealing with the post-pandemic resurgence and the energy and food security crisis triggered by the Russian war in Ukraine.
• The motto of this G20 is "Recover Together, Recover Stronger". President Jokowi has made the summit a major focus on recovery from the pandemic, despite geopolitical tensions.
• The summit, held in Bali, included Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, U.K., Spain and U.S. leaders will participate.
• Permanent invitees and special invitees this year also include leaders from Cambodia, Fiji, Netherlands, Rwanda, Senegal, Singapore, Suriname and United Arab Emirates.
• In addition, heads of several international agencies such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), ASEAN, African Union will also participate in the G20 Summit 2022.

 

G20 in India

• The significance of the summit of the world's most advanced economies for India is that it is India's turn to host the next summit.
• India will assume the G20 presidency on 1 December.
• India's G20 presidency will be based on the concept of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'.

 

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing

 

 

What's the NEWS

 

• More than 200 Chinese fishing vessels have been monitored in the Indian Ocean in the first half of this year, according to the Indian Navy
• illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing continues to rise beyond India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
• Most of the illegal activity is found in the Northern Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• Chinese fishing vessels, fishing vessels from European Union countries and other countries from outside the region were observed to be fishing in the Indian Ocean.
• Chinese deep sea trawlers have been a matter of concern for countries in the region, including India, as they are operating far from the Chinese coast and impacting local marine ecology.
• IUU fishing depletes fish stocks, destroys marine habitats, puts fishermen at disadvantage and impacts coastal communities, especially in developing countries.

 

The role of IMAC, IFC-IOR and QUAD

 

 

• The presence of extra-regional distant water fishing fleets has been monitored by Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC).
• The Quad, comprising India, Australia, Japan and U.S., in May 2022 announced a major regional effort under the ambit of Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA).
• It aims to provide a more accurate maritime picture of "near-real-time" activities in the region.
• It is expected to catalyse joint efforts of India and other Quad partners towards addressing IUU in Indo-Pacific region.
• All vessel movements on the high seas are monitored by the Indian Navy's IMAC in Gurugram and the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR)which is co-located with it.
• IFC-IOR has been collaborating with other regional monitoring centres across the globe to enhance maritime safety and security, including efforts to monitor IUU.

 

 

Regional and Global organisations

 

• As per United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), coastal nations are responsible for addressing IUU fishing issues within their respective EEZ.
• There are regional fisheries management organisations such as the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement operating under the mandate of UNCLOS as regulatory bodies to monitor IUU fishing on the high seas.
• There are two main regulations globally on IUU fishing

1. the Cape Town Agreement and
2. the Agreement on Ports State Measures.

• India is not a signatory of either agreement.

 

Vehicle management systems:

 

• Fishing vessels across the world are supposed to have vehicle management systems installed which not only identify their position, but also requires them to record the volume and location of their catch, helping to tackle the issue of IUU fishing.
• For instance, the European Union has made it mandatory to provide this information for all fish imports.
• In India, while larger vessels, over 20 metres in length, have such Automatic Identification Systems installed, similar efforts for sub-20 metre vessels have been delayed.

 

Multimodal Logistics Park

 

What's the NEWS

 

• Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has been awarded the project to build India's first multimodal logistics park (MMLP) in Chennai.

 

Know! about MMLP

 

• To set up the country's first MMLP, the Centre and Tamil Nadu government have come together to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which is amongst National Highways Logistics Management, Rail Vikas Nigam, Chennai Port Authority and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.
• The estimated project cost is ₹1,424 crore and the total concession period is 45 years.
• The project would likely be monitored by the highest levels of the government, as it falls under the high-priority list of projects inaugurated by Prime Minister under the Centre's project monitoring system.
• These parks will also facilitate intermodal transportation - roads, railways, and inland waterways, with the aim of strengthening and diversifying the logistics system.

 

Benefits of MMPLs

 

• MMPLs will play a crucial role in reducing logistics costs.
• India's logistics cost as a percentage of GDP is very high at 16 per cent, while in developed countries such as the US and Europe, it is around 8 per cent. China's logistics costs are 10 per cent.
• The government wants to bring down the logistics cost to 10 per cent of GDP.
• Under the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP), launched in October 2021, the Road Ministry is developing 35 MMLPs, of which 15 MMLPs are being prioritised in the next three years.

 

Lavender Farming/Purple Revolution

 

What's the NEWS

 

• Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district would be recognised as a role model in lavender farming owing to farmers cultivating the plant on a commercial scale there.
• Bhaderwah, which is also known as ‘Chhota Kashmir', has a mild cold climate during summers that is ideal for Lavender.
• Bhaderwah is the birthplace of India's Purple Revolution.
• India's first National Institute of High Altitude Medicine is also being built in Bhaderwah.
• Bhaderwah (also Bhadarwah Valley) is a town, tehsil and sub-division in the district Doda of Jammu.

 

Know! about Lavender

 

• Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae.
• The flowers may be blue, violet or lilac in the wild species, occasionally blackish purple or yellowish.
• Lavender has been used over centuries in traditional medicine and cosmetics.
• These flowers grow in temperate areas and are drought-resistant crops.
• A single Lavender plant bears flowers for 15 years, needs low maintenance and can be used from the second year of plantation.

 

Know! about AROMA Mission

 

• CSIR-AROMA Mission, under the Ministry of Science & Technology aims to develop and disseminate the aroma-related science and technology to reach the end user/clients of CSIR: Farmers, industry and society.
• Under the Centre's ‘One District, One Product' scheme, Lavender has been designated as the Doda brand product.

 

3rd Ministerial ‘No Money for Terror' Conference

 

What's the NEWS

 

• 3rd Ministerial Conference on Countering Financing of Terrorism - No Money for Terror to be held in New Delhi on November 18 and 19.
• Conference will be focussed on global trends in terrorism and terrorist financing, use of formal and informal channels of funds for terrorism, emerging technologies and terrorist financing and requisite international co-operation to address related challenges.
• This year India hosted two global events in October, 2022 - the annual General Assembly of the Interpol in Delhi and a special session of the UN Counter Terrorism Committee in Mumbai and Delhi

 

Know! about the conference

 

• It is organised by Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
• It aims to progress the discussions on combating terrorist financing held by the international community in the previous two Conferences in Paris (2018) and Melbourne (2019).
• It also intends to include discussions on technical, legal, regulatory and cooperation aspects of all facets of terrorism financing.
• It attempts to also set the pace for other high level official and political deliberations, focused on countering terrorist financing.
• The Conference intends to bring together representatives of 75 countries and international bodies for extended deliberations over two days.

 

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