Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 November 2021

::NATIONAL::

The Tamil Nadu government has taken a big leap in climate action by setting up the first ever Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company – to professionally manage three critical natural conservation missions – Tamil Nadu Climate Change, Tamil Nadu Green and Tamil Nadu Wetlands.
The development comes three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to India achieving net-zero carbon emission by 2070.

Key highlights:

The SPV’s mission includes planning, execution and monitoring of the State-wide programme for the climate change adaptation and mitigation, wetlands mapping and restoration, enhancing the forest and tree cover of the State to 33 per cent front the present 23.27 per cent over the next ten years.
It will create strong policy support for climate change, cutting across all sectors of governance.
It will devise strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, benchmarking of industries to move towards green manufacturing and promote eco-friendly technologies towards a sustainable future.
It will also develop collaborations and strengthen community engagement to build long term commitment for a net zero carbon future for Tamil Nadu.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) formed a 22 member technology innovation group on 6G headed by K Rajaraman.
It will create a roadmap for Research and Development and an action plan for the path-breaking 6G technology.

About 6G Technology:

It is the successor of 5G technology to use even higher frequencies to offer substantially higher capacity, greater network reliability, very high speeds and almost non-existent latency.
Expected to be launched commercially before 2030, 6G will lead to massive advancements in the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, is among the 49 cities selected worldwide to join the UNESCO creative cities network (UCCN).
The 49 cities were added to the network of 246 cities following their designation by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, in recognition of “their commitment to placing culture and creativity at the heart of their development and to sharing knowledge and good practices”.

About:

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
The 246 cities which currently make up this network work together towards a common objective: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.
As per an official release posted on the UNESCO site, the network now numbers 295 cities reaching 90 countries that invest in culture and creativity – crafts and folk art, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts, and music – to advance sustainable urban development.

The inaugural Global Drug Policy Index, by the Harm Reduction Consortium, ranks Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, the UK and Australia as the five leading countries on humane and health-driven drug policies.
The five lowest-ranking countries are Brazil, Uganda, Indonesia, Kenya, and Mexico. India’s rank is 18 out of 30 countries

About the index:

It is a data-driven global analysis of drug policies and their implementation. It is composed of 75 indicators running across five broad dimensions of drug policy:

Rankings of selected countries:

Norway, despite topping the Index, only managed a score of 74/100. And the median score across all 30 countries and dimensions is just 48/100.
India has an overall score of 46/100.
On the criteria of use of extreme sentencing and responses, it has a score of 63/100, on health and harm reduction, 49/100; on proportionality of criminal justice response, 38/100; on availability and access of internationally controlled substances for the relief of pain and suffering, 33 /100.

The government’s e-shram portal crossed 80 million registrations. However, the government still has a long way to go as it has only attracted only a fifth of the total workforce.

As per data from the portal:

More than 70% registered workers belonged to Other Backward Classes (40.5%), ScheduledCastes (23.7%) and Scheduled Tribes (8.3%).
Occupation-wise registration data: Agriculture sector (53.6%), construction (12.2%) and domestic and household workers (8.71%).
Women workers account for 51.61% of the total registrations.

Seventeen scientists from scientific institutions across India have been awarded the Swarnajayanti Fellowships for their innovative research ideas and the potential of creating impact on R&D in different disciplines.

About:

The Swanajayanti Fellowship scheme was instituted by Govt. of India to commemorate India’s fiftieth year of Independence.
Under the scheme the awardees are facilitated by the Department of Science & Technology, GOI with support for all the requirements for performing the research including a fellowship of Rs. 25,000/- per month for five years.
In addition, DST supports the awardees by giving them a research grant of 5 lakh Rupees for 5 years.
The fellowship is provided in addition to the salary they draw from their parent Institution.
In addition to fellowship, grants for equipment, computational facilities, consumables, contingencies, national and international travel and other special requirements, are covered based on merit.