Daily Current Capsules - 21^th August 2019

Government Schemes
Textiles Ministry partners with 16 states for skilling 4 lakh under ‘Samarth' scheme

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Samarth scheme) + GS II government policies and interventions for development in various sectors+ GS III economic development)
What's the NEWS

• Sixteen states have signed pacts with the Ministry of Textiles to partner with it for skilling about four lakh workers as part of the 'Samarth' scheme.
• Jammu & Kashmir and Odisha, which were among the eighteen states that had earlier agreed to be on board, did not participate.
• Once the agencies that are nominated by the states provide training to the workers, they would be provided jobs in the textiles industry

Know! more about the agreement and about the scheme

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval for the ‘Samarth' Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS) from 2017-18 to 2019-20 to meet the skill requirements of textiles industry.
• The scheme aims at skill development of 10 lakh youth up to 2020 with a projected outlay of Rs 1300 crore.
• About three-fourths of workers in the textiles sector are women and 70 per cent of the beneficiaries of the Mudra loan are women
• With the exception of spinning and weaving, beneficiaries will be provided training in the entire value chain such as apparel and garments, knitwear, metal handicraft, handloom, textiles, handicraft and carpet.
• The sixteen states that signed the MoUs include Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Karnataka,Manipur, Haryana, Meghalaya, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.
• 16 states out of 18 selected states have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Union Ministry of Textiles for skilling about 4 lakh workers as part of Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SAMARTH).

Know! about Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SAMARTH)

• It is skill development scheme of Union Ministry of Textiles, covering the entire value chain of the textile sector excluding Spinning & Weaving in organized Sector. It was approved by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in December 2017.
• Provide demand driven, placement oriented NSQF (National Skills Qualification Framework) Compliant skilling programme to incentivize organized textile and related sectors excluding Spinning and Weaving.
• Through Samarth skill gap and skilling requirements will be assessed and skills will be imparted accordingly.

Bilateral Relations
PM Modi inaugurates Mangdechhu hydroelectric power plant in Bhutan
Relevance IN - Prelims ( facts related to the Mangdechhu hydroelectric power plant) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations - India and its neighbourhood-relations)
What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Mangdechhu hydroelectric power plant, one of the major projects under Bhutan's initiative to generate 10,000 MW hydropower by 2020 with the Indian government's support.
• The Rs 4,500-crore hydroelectric plant, touted as a Bhutan-India friendship project, is a 720MW run-of-river power plant built on the Mangdechhu River in Trongsa Dzongkhag district of central Bhutan.
• It was developed by the Mangdechhu Hydroelectric Project Authority (MHPA), which was jointly constituted by the Indian and the Bhutanese governments.

Know! more about the project and about the agreement signed

• The Mangdechhu project is funded by India through a 70 per cent loan and a 30 per cent grant. It is estimated to generate 2,923 GWh of electricity.
• Most of the electricity generated by the Mangdechhu hydropower project will meet the energy requirements of Bhutan and the surplus electricity will be exported to India.
• Modi also launched stamps to commemorate five decades of India-Bhutan Hydropower cooperation.

India to purchase surplus electricity from Bhutan's state-run Druk Green Power

• PTC India Ltd, India's largest electricity trader, will buy surplus power from Bhutan government-run Druk Green Power Corp. Ltd, which runs the 720 megawatts (MW) Mangdechhu hydropower project.
• PTC India Ltd (PTC) signed power purchase agreement (PPA) with Druk Green Power Corp. Ltd (DGPC, A Royal Bhutan Govt. Company) for purchase of surplus power from 720MW Mangdechhu hydro electric project in Bhutan for 35 years. Government of India has designated PTC as the nodal agency from Indian side to purchase this power from Bhutan
• Electricity from the run-of-river power plant built on the Mangdechhu River in Trongsa Dzongkhag district of central Bhutan will be supplied to Assam, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal.

India's neighbourhood first policy

• Cross-border energy trade is a key part of Modi's South Asia-focused, neighbourhood-first policy.
• India has also been playing a key role in creating a new energy security architecture for its neighbours to counter China's Belt and Road initiative aimed at connecting countries across Asia, Africa and Europe.
• Bhutan, strategically located between India and China, has the potential to generate 30,000MW of hydropower, but has a capacity of just 1,490MW.
• According to the Indian embassy in Thimphu, hydropower exports provide more than 40% of Bhutan's domestic revenues, and constitute 25% of its gross domestic product (GDP).
• India has been supplying electricity to Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. India is also pitching for a global electricity grid at the first general assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), and has also been championing for a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) electricity grid, which would meet electricity demand in the region.

Environment Conservation
India emits the most sulphur dioxide in the world
Relevance IN - Prelims ( all about SO2 - the anthropogenic factors and mitigation efforts , findings of the report) + Mains ( GS II environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• India is the largest emitter of sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the world, contributing more than 15 per cent of global anthropogenic emissions, according to a new report by Greenpeace.

Know! more about the findings of the report

• The primary reason for India's high emission output is the expansion of coal-based electricity generation over the past decade, the report added.
• India is the largest emitter of anthropogenic sulphur dioxide in the world, as per data released by Greenpeace.
• Anthropogenic sulphur dioxide is produced from burning of coal and it is known to largely contribute to air pollution.
• Five of the top 10 SO2 emission hotspots from coal/power generation industry across the world are in India, read the Greenpeace report.
• The analysis is based on hotspots detected by NASA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite data that captured more than 500 major source points of SO2 emissions across the globe including natural sources such as volcanoes.

How it affects human heath

• SO2 emissions are a significant contributor to air pollution. Its direct exposure and exposure to particulate matter PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) produced when SO2 reacts with other air pollutants to form sulphate particles both affect human health.

Sources of SO2

• The greatest source of SO2 in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and other industrial facilities. Other sources include industrial processes such as extracting metal from ore, natural sources such as volcanoes, and locomotives, ships and other vehicles and heavy equipment that burn fuel with high sulphur content.
• The study found the thermal power plants or clusters at Singrauli, Neyveli, Talcher, Jharsuguda, Korba, Kutch, Chennai, Ramagundam, Chandrapur, and Koradi to be the major emission hotspots in the country. The vast majority of plants in India lack flue-gas desulfurisation (FGD) technology to reduce air pollution, according to the report.
• When it comes to individual hotspots, the Norilsk smelter site in Russia continues to be the largest anthropogenic SO2 emission hotspot in the world, followed by the Kriel area in Mpumalanga province of South Africa, Zagroz in Iran, and Rabigh in Saudi Arabia. Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh is at number five

What are the steps taken by the government

• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had, for the first time, introduced SO2 emission limits for coal-fired power plants in December 2015. But a Supreme Court order changed the deadline for installation of FGD technology in power plants from 2017 to December 2019 in Delhi-NCR and till 2022 for other parts of the country.

China's case study

• Rising emissions have made India overtake China whose success in reducing emissions has also made Russia the number two emitter. China reduced their SO2 emissions through stringent emission norms and implementation of technologies like FGD.

Environment Conservation
New climate targets to limit emissions from 28 companies
Relevance IN - Prelims ( steps taken by the government to combat climate change + NDC) + Mains ( GS III environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• Twenty-eight companies from across the world, with a combined market capitalisation of $1.3 trillion, have set new climate targets aligned with the ambition of limiting the global rise of temperatures to below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
• The companies include Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Levi Strauss and Co, Unilever, Vodafone Plc and Mahindra Group.
• These companies will motivate more countries to come up with enhanced nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in line with the 1.5°C target instead of 2°C at the climate summit,

Know! the role of NDC, targets of emission control and the role of UN Global Compact

• NDCs are voluntary commitments on reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions made by countries as mentioned in the Paris Agreement.
• According to the new target, the world will have to cut its GHG emissions by 45 per cent in the next 11 years and bring it to zero by 2050.
• Companies can set their own targets through the science-based targets initiative (SBTi) which independently assesses corporate emissions reduction targets against the latest climate science.
• The companies will also be responsible to share their work on implementation with the UN Global Compact and they will be monitored regularly though there will be no penalties or sanctions for non-compliance
• The UN Global Compact is a special initiative of the UN secretary general that works with companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
• Till now countries like Norway, United Kingdom, Chile and Costa Rica have publicly announced that they will revise their NDCs

India's participation in combating climate change

• While India is expected to attend the summit, it has not yet made public its intention to enhance its NDC.
• Leaders from over a 100 countries along with representatives from corporations, civil society and other international organisations are expected to attend the summit.
• India is taking leadership position in achieving the NDCs. India has already created 80 GW of renewable power and has set a target of achieving 175 GW by 2022. It already reduced energy intensity by 21 per cent and are on track.

Clean Air Initiative

• Ahead of the summit, the UN, on July 23, also announced the Clean Air Initiative and called on governments to commit to achieving air quality that is safe for citizens and align the issues of climate change and air pollution by 2030.
• Clean air is a major problem, as according to the World Health Organization, air pollution annually kills 7 million people all over the world, 600,000 of them being children.

Prelims Factoids
World Humanitarian Day 2019
What's the NEWS

• The world humanitarian day 2019 was observed on August 19, 2019. The day is observed annually to pay tribute to the humanitarian aid workers who endanger their lives for humanitarian service as well as to rally support for the people affected by crisis across the world.
• The world humanitarian day 2019 theme is ‘Women Humanitarians'.
• The world humanitarian day 2019 campaign aims to celebrate the unsung women humanitarians who have been working on the front lines for the survival, well-being and dignity of people affected by crises in their own communities in some of the most difficult regions including Afghanistan, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen and hundreds of those who lost their lives while serving humanity.
• Women make up a large number of people who endanger their own lives to save others. Women humanitarians are often known to be the first to respond to a crisis and last to leave. Hence, such women deserve a mention and celebration. Women Humanitarians are crucial for today's time to strengthen the global humanitarian response.
• Women form more than half of the Red Cross or Red Crescent volunteers around the world and are among the first to respond in case of disasters, epidemics and conflicts.
• Women involve themselves in every aspect of crisis response including search and rescue, assessing needs, looking after the elderly and using social media to convey relevant information.
• The world humanitarian day is observed annually on August 19, as on the same day in 2003, a terrorist attack at the UN headquarters in Baghdad led to the killing of UN's top representative to Iraq, Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 of his colleagues. Five years later, the UN General Assembly officially adopted a resolution designating 19th August as the world humanitarian day.
  
  

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