Relevance IN - Prelims (about Global Hunger Index and its findings) + Mains ( GS II Social issues and social justice + Issues relating to poverty and hunger.- to quote the report findings in social issues related questions and in essay)
What's the NEWS

• India slipped to 102 position in the 2019 Global Hunger Index featuring 117 countries, behind Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• Over one in every five children in India is "wasted" (low weight for height), the highest for any country in the report.
• The share of wasting (or low weight for height) among children in India rose from 16.5 per cent in the 2008-2012 period to 20.8 per cent in 2014-2018. Just 9.6 per cent of all children between 6 and 23 months of age are fed a "minimum acceptable diet"

• The Global Hunger Index measures countries on a 100 points scale, where a score of 0 (zero) is considered as best performing countries and 100 is the worst.
• India suffers from a level of hunger that is "serious", at the very end of the category with a 30.1 GHI score.
• The Global Hunger Index report, prepared and published jointly by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organization Welt Hunger Hilfewas
• The major focus of the index was on the relation between climate change and hunger. The report also explains the impact of extreme weather on food production and food security.
• The GHI score is calculated on four indicators - undernourishment; child wasting, the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition); child stunting, children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition; and child mortality, the mortality rate of children under the age of five.

• In 2000, India was ranked 83 out of 113 countries. Now, with 117 countries in the fray, it has dropped to 102 rank.
• Its GHI score has also decelerated - from 38.9 in 2005 to 32 in 2010 and then from 32 to 30.3 between 2010 and 2019.
• Seventeen countries, including Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI scores of less than five
• Neighbouring countries like Nepal (73), Sri Lanka (66), Bangladesh (88), Myanmar (69) and Pakistan (94) are also in the ‘serious' hunger category, but have fared better at feeding its citizens than India, according to the report. China (25) has moved to a ‘low' severity category and Sri Lanka is in the ‘moderate' severity category.
• However, India has shown improvement in other indicators such as the under-5 mortality rate, prevalence of stunting among children and prevalence of undernourishment owing to inadequate food

Relevance IN - Prelims (about India Innovation Index) + Mains ( GS II Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

What's the NEWS

• NITI Aayog with Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner released the India Innovation Index (III) 2019.
• Karnataka is the most innovative major state in India. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh form the remaining top ten major states respectively.
• The top ten major states are majorly concentrated in southern and western India.
• Sikkim and Delhi take the top spots among the north- eastern & hill states, and union territories/city states/small states respectively. Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh are the most efficient states in translating inputs into output.

Know! about the index objectives

• The India Innovation Index would create synergies between different stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem and India would shift to competitive good governance.
• The index is a great beginning to improve the environment of innovation in the country as it focuses on both the input and output components of the idea
• The index is a good effort to benchmark the performance of the state with each other and promote competitive federalism.
• The aim is to create a holistic tool which can be used by policymakers across the country to identify the challenges to be addressed and strengths to build on when designing the economic growth policies for their regions.
• The states have been bifurcated into three categories: major states, north-east, and hill states, and union territories/city states/small states.

Know! more about Innovation Index 2019

• The aim is to create a holistic tool which can be used by policymakers across the country to identify the challenges to be addressed and strengths to build on when designing the economic growth policies for their regions.
• The index attempts to create an extensive framework for the continual evaluation of the innovation environment of 29 states and seven union territories in India and intends to perform the following three functions-

1. ranking of states and UTs based on their index scores,
2. recognizing opportunities and challenges, and
3. assisting in tailoring governmental policies to foster innovation.

Know! the process of India Innovation Index

• The India Innovation Index 2019 is calculated as the average of the scores of its two dimensions - Enablers and Performance.

Enablers

• The Enablers are the factors that underpin innovative capacities, grouped in five pillars: (1) Human Capital, (2) Investment, (3) Knowledge Workers, (4) Business Environment, and (5) Safety and Legal Environment.

Performance

• The Performance dimension captures benefits that a nation derives from the inputs, divided in two pillars: (6) Knowledge Output and (7) Knowledge Diffusion.

Some other findings

• The Report offers a comprehensive snapshot of the innovation ecosystem of 29 states and seven union territories.
• The index shows that the innovation ecosystem of the country is strong in south and western parts of India.
• The states have been bifurcated into three categories: major states, north-east and hill states, and union territories / city states / small states.
• Karnataka is the leader in the overall rankings in the category of major states.
• Among the category of major states, Maharashtra performs the best in the dimension of Enablers.

Suggestions

• There is a need for greater coordination and collaboration between the industry and educational institutions for enhancing innovation capability.
• A collaborative platform consisting of all the stakeholders of innovation - innovators, researchers, and investors from the industry should be developed.
• This will help in strengthening the industry-academia linkages and will ease the process of technology transfer by providing a platform for innovators to showcase their inventions.
• At the state level, broad level key learning includes forming policies at the state level that seek to improve the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Cluster development programs are also an area in need of greater coordination and can benefit from a more open collaborative approach.

Defence
EX EASTERN BRIDGE-V

Relevance IN - Prelims (about EX EASTERN BRIDGE -V)
What's the NEWS

• Indian Air Force is participating in a Bilateral Joint exercise with Royal Air Force Oman (RAFO), named EX EASTERN BRIDGE-V, scheduled from 17-26 Oct 19, at Air Force Base Masirah.
• The last exercise, EX EASTERN BRIDGE-IV was held in 2017 at Jamnagar.

Know! more about the exercise

• For the first time, MiG-29 fighter aircraft will be participating in an International Exercise outside India.
• IAF contingent comprises of MiG-29 and C-17 aircraft. MiG-29 will be exercising with Royal Air Force Oman's Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16 and Hawk.
• The exercise will enhance inter-operability during mutual operations between the two Air Forces and will provide an opportunity to learn from each other's best practices.
• The participation of Indian Air Force in the exercise will also promote professional interaction, exchange of experience and operational knowledge.
• Besides strengthening bilateral relations, it will also provide a good opportunity to the air-warriors to operate in an international environment.

Bilateral Relations
2^nd Indo-French Knowledge Summit
Relevance IN - Prelims (about Indo - French knowledge summit) + Mains (GS II Bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The second edition of Indo-French Knowledge Summit is being held from17-18 October 2019 at University of Lyon in France.

Know! more about the summit

• The summit is dedicated to higher education, research and innovation.
• The two-day summit is being organised by Embassy of France in India in association with Union Ministry of Science and Technology and Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry.
• The summit will launch concrete initiatives as well as will allow participants to deepen academic and scientific cooperation between two countries.
• This summit is an essential step to develop and structure India-France collaborations in fields of education and research, stimulate connections between research and industry, and encourage the mobility of students and scholars.
• The first edition of Indo-French Knowledge Summit was held during 2018 state visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to India.
• After the success of first edition in India, the second edition of Knowledge Summit is taking place in France.
  
  

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