Relevance IN - Prelims ( all about EoLI 2020 + MPI 2020) + Mains ( GS II government policies and interventions + good governance + GS III infrastructure development)
What's the NEWS

• The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs announced the release of the final rankings of Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020 and the Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020

• The rankings under Ease of Living Index 2020 were announced for cities with a population of more than a million, and cities with less than a million people.
• 111 cities participated in the assessment exercise that was conducted in 2020.
• The analysis categorises them into Million+ populated cities (those with a population of more than a million) and Less than Million populated cites (those with a population of less than a million) along with all the cities under the Smart Cities Program.
• Bengaluru emerged as the top performer in the Million+ category, followed by Pune, Ahmedabad
• In the Less than Million category, Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa

• The assessment framework under MPI 2020 has classified municipalities based on their population- Million+ (municipalities having over a million population) and Less than Million Population.
• In the Million+ category, Indore has emerged as the highest ranked municipality, followed by Surat and Bhopal.
• In the Less than Million category, New Delhi Municipal Council has emerged as the leader, followed by Tirupati and Gandhinagar.
• The MPI examined the sectoral performance of 111 municipalities (with Delhi being assessed separately for NDMC, and the three Municipal Corporations) across five verticals which comprise of 20 sectors and 100 indicators in all totality.
• The five verticals under MPI are Services, Finance, Policy, Technology and Governance.

• The Ease of Living Index (EoLI) is an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development.
• It provides a comprehensive understanding of participating cities across India based on quality of life, economic-ability of a city, and its sustainability and resilience.
• The assessment also incorporates the residents' view on the services provided by city administration through a Citizen Perception Survey.

• The Municipal Performance Index (MPI) was launched as an accompaniment to the Ease of Living Index.
• It seeks to examine local government practice in municipalities across areas of services, finance, policy, technology and governance.
• It seeks to simplify and evaluate the complexities in local governance practice and promote the ethos of transparency and accountability.

• The Ease of Living Index encapsulates the outcome indicators while the Municipal Performance Index captures the enabling input parameters.
• These indices provide a holistic assessment of cities based on their efforts to cultivate better quality of life, create infrastructure, and address challenges of urbanization.
• Learnings gathered from these indices can help the government identify gaps, tap into potential opportunities, and increase efficiency in local governance to improve lives of citizens and fulfil broader development outcomes.
• The framework for these assessments were prepared by MoHUA with the Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner.

• The EoLI 2020 strengthens its scope by consolidating the framework with the addition of a Citizen Perception Survey in the index, holding a weightage of 30%.
• It, therefore, examines the outcomes that lead to existing living conditions through pillars of Quality of Life, Economic Ability, Sustainability, spanning across 13 categories of -Education, Health, Housing and Shelter, WASH and SWM, Mobility, Safety and Security, Recreation, Level of Economic Development, Economic Opportunities, Environment, Green Spaces, and Buildings, Energy Consumption, and City Resilience, that account for 70% of the overall outcome.
• The Citizen Perception Survey (CPS) was undertaken to help validate citizens' experience of their city in terms of service delivery.
• The assessment was conducted from 16th January 2020 till 20thMarch 2020. A total of 32.2 lakh citizens from 111 cities participated in the survey. Bhubaneshwar had the highest CPS score, followed by Silvassa, Davangere, Kakinada, Bilaspur and Bhagalpur.

• The Ease of Living Index measures an outcome of the indicator, Municipal Performance Index focuses on the factors that produce those outcomes.
• The latter serves in determining elements that prevent efficient local governance in service delivery mechanisms, planning, financial systems, and governance practice.
• The Municipal Performance Index is an effort to assess and analyse the performance of Indian municipalities based on their defined set of functions.
• The responsibilities of a municipality span across a range of verticals that include provision of basic pubic services to more complex domains like urban planning.

• The Municipal Performance Index provides a granular understanding of a municipalities' functionalities and the extent of their development and capabilities.

• Through the index, citizens can better understand their local government administration, which in turn builds transparency and generates trust among key stakeholders.
• The framework covers 20 varied sectors vis. Education, Health, Water & Wastewater, SWM & Sanitation, Registration & Permits, Infrastructure, Revenue Management, Expenditure Management, Fiscal Responsibility, Fiscal Decentralisation, Digital Governance, Digital Access, Digital Literacy, Plan Preparation, Plan Implementation, Plan Enforcement, Transparency & Accountability, Human Resource, Participation and Effectiveness.

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021) + Mains ( GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
What's the NEWS

• Union Education Minister addressed at the unveiling of QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021
• 12 Indian institutions have made it to the top 100 of the world - IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IISC Bangalore, IIT Guwahati,, IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, JNU, Anna University, University of Delhi, and O.P Jindal University .

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021 - highlights

• The Indian Institute of Science broke into the top 100 in the natural sciences category of the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021
• With regard to subject rankings, there are two new entrants in the top 100 list: JNU's anthropology programme and O.P. Jindal Global University's law programme, which is also the only private institution in the list.
• In the broad engineering and technology category, only three institutions made it to the top 100 - the Bombay, Delhi and Madras IITs - in comparison to five institutions last year.
• The Kharagpur and Kanpur IITs dropped out of the top 100 though the former is one of the government's Institutes of Eminence (IoEs).
• The Bombay, Delhi and Madras IITs, which are also IoEs getting extra Central funding with the specific aim of rising in global rankings, have all dropped several places this year as well.
• Overall, 25 Indian programmes from 12 institutions made it to the top 100 in their specific subject areas, two fewer than in 2020.
• Two programmes from the IIT Bombay and one each from the Madras and Kharagpur IITs slipped out of the list.
• Only two of the IoE programmes in the top 100 subject-specific list improved their rankings this year.
• The top-ranked Indian programme globally is the IIT Madras petroleum engineering programme which dropped one place to the 30^th rank, followed by mineral and mining engineering at Bombay and Kharagpur IITs, which are ranked at 41st and 44th place in their field.
• The University of Delhi's development studies programme is the only other one in the top 50, sliding in at the 50th rank.
• India had a good performance in COVID-19 research, ranking fifth in the world in terms of the number of published research papers on the pandemic.
• The Government's continuous focus on improvement and reform in Indian higher education has resulted in significant improvement in the representation of Indian institutions in globally acclaimed and reputed rankings like QS.
• These rankings and ratings have fostered healthy competition amongst Indian Institutions motivating them towards global excellence

Prelims Factoids
U.S. democracy watchdog downgrades India from ‘free' to ‘partly free' status

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Freedom House )
What's the NEWS

• U.S.-based human rights watchdog Freedom House has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of "driving India toward authoritarianism" with a "hamfisted lockdown", scapegoating of Muslims, and a crackdown on critics, and downgraded India's status from ‘Free' to ‘Partly Free', in its annual report.

Freedom in the World 2021 report Highlights

• India appears to have abandoned its potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests at the expense of its founding values of inclusion and equal rights for all
• India's freedom score, calculated using indicators of political rights and civil liberties, dropped four points to 67 this year, pulling the country down into the ‘Partly Free' category.
• In a year when social media censorship has been hotly seated, while the government shut down Internet connectivity in Kashmir as well as on Delhi's borders, India's Internet freedom score dropped to just 51.
• The report traced a deterioration in political rights and civil liberties since Mr. Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, adding that the decline only accelerated after his re-election in 2019.
• It noted that judicial independence had also come under strain, pointing to the case of a Delhi High Court judge who was transferred immediately after reprimanding the police for taking no action during riots in the capital
• Freedom House, which is largely funded through U.S. government grants, has been tracking the course of democracy since 1941.
• Pointing to a decline in global democracy over the last 15 years, it said that nearly 75 percent of the world's population lived in a country that faced deterioration over the last year.

Prelims Factoids
First export consignments of ‘red rice' from Assam to the USA flagged off
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about red rice)
What's the NEWS

• In a major boost to India's rice exports potential, the first consignment of ‘red rice' was flagged off today to the USA.
• Iron rich ‘red rice' is grown in Brahmaputra valley of Assam, without the use of any chemical fertilizer.
• The rice variety is referred as ‘Bao-dhaan', which is an integral part of the Assamese food.

• APEDA has promoting rice exports through collaborations with various stakeholders in the value chains.
• The government had set up the Rice Export Promotion Forum (REPF), under the aegis of the APEDA.
• REPF has representations from rice industry, exporters, officials from APEDA, ministry of commerce and directors of agriculture from major rice producing states including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
• During the April - January period of 2020-21, the shipment of non-Basmati rice witnessed an impressive spike.
• The exports of non-Basmati witnessed a growth of 125 % in Rupeeterm and 115 % Dollar terms.

Bao-dhaan

• It is a deep-water paddy that produces a particular type of iron-rich red rice, is an integral part of Assam's food habits.
• A large section of farmers in the state depend more on rich alluvium left behind by the Brahmaputra every year rather than on chemical fertilisers.
• Bao-dhaan is generally grown in areas having higher land submergence that are unsuitable for other varieties of paddy.
• Interesting characteristic of bao-dhaan is that unlike other rice varieties, its seeds do not fall off easily.
• Red colour is conferred by anthocyanin pigments. They are rich in micronutrients like iron and zinc, Vitamin A and antioxidants.

Prelims Factoids
CERAWeek Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award
Relevance IN - Prelims (about CERAWeek + CERAWeek Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award
What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister will receive the CERAWeek Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award and deliver keynote address at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates Week (CERAWeek) 2021 on 5^th March

Know! about CERAWeek

• CERAWeek was founded in 1983 by Dr. Daniel Yergin. It has been organized in Houston in March every year since 1983 and is considered the world's premier annual energy platform.
• CERAWeek 2021 is being convened virtually from 1^st March to 5^th March, 2021.
• CERAWeek Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award was instituted in 2016.
• It recognizes the commitment of leadership on the future of global energy & environment and for offering solutions and policies for energy access, affordability & environmental stewardship.

Prelims Factoids
Special Forces Training School (SFTS)

Relevance IN - Prelims (about SFTS + training of paratroopers from Turkmenistan)
What's the NEWS

• Based on a request from the Turkmenistan Special Forces, the Special Forces Training School (SFTS) of the Indian Army, which is a unique institution providing training to the Indian Army's Special Forces, has commenced training of paratroopers from the Turkmenistan Special Forces in Combat Free Fall as a precursor to a series of other customised professional courses which will assist in capability enhancement of Turkmenistan Special Forces.

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS