28 Feb 2022: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Operation Ganga
2. Moong Dal reported a drop of 3.86 % in All India Average Retail Price
3. Op Demo And International City Parade
4. International Monsoons Project Office launched
5. IPCC

1. Operation Ganga

Syllabus: GS2: International Relations: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests. 

Prelims: Operation Ganga

Context: Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting to review the ongoing efforts under Operation Ganga to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine.

Operation Ganga

• India evacuated its stranded citizens from Ukraine via Romania and Hungary through “Operation Ganga”.
• The risky evacuation is taking place in the middle of a war, where Indian professionals are currently stranded in an underground bunker in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.
• Indian citizens entered Hungary from the Ukrainian border at the Zahony crossing and reached Budapest for the Air India flight.

2. Moong Dal reported a drop of 3.86 % in All India Average Retail Price

Syllabus: GS3: Economy: Major crops-cropping patterns 

Prelims: Reasons for the decline of Moong dal prices

Context: The Government measures to augment domestic availability and stabilize prices of essential food commodities has led to a sharp decline in the price of Moong Dal.

Reasons for the decline of Moong dal prices:

• In 2021 advisories were issued to States/UTs to monitor prices of essential food commodities and to ensure disclosure of pulses stocks held by millers, importers, and traders under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. 
• Imposition of a stock limit on all pulses except Moong was notified. 
• To improve availability and stabilize the prices of pulses, the Government has allowed the import of Tur, Urad, and Moong under the ‘Free category’.
• The import policy measures have resulted in a substantial increase in import of Tur, Urad, and Moong as compared to the corresponding period for the past two years.

3. Op Demo And International City Parade

Syllabus: GS2:Polity and Governance: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. 

Prelims: Operational Demonstration

Context: Visakhapatnam witnessed an Operational Demonstration by the Indian Navy and a colourful International City Parade.

Operational Demonstration:

• The Operational Demonstration showcased various operations by the Indian Navy including special operations and sky diving by Marine Commandos, rescue operations by naval helicopters and fly-past by naval aircraft. 
• The International City Parade included smart marching contingents from the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, NCC, SCC, Sainik School Korukonda, etc.
• The theme: ‘Global Peace’ 

4. International Monsoons Project Office launched

Syllabus: GS2: Polity and Governance: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. 

Prelims: International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO)

Context: Union Minister of State Science & Technology launched the International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO).

International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO):

• The International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO) will be hosted at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, an institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt of India, initially for five years. 
• Both the World Climate Research Programme and World Weather Research Programme are international programmes coordinated by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
• The IMPO would support activities of the Monsoons Panel, jointly established by the World Climate Research Programme’s CLIVAR (Climate and Ocean Variability, Predictability, and Change) and GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Exchanges) projects.
• The launch of IMPO is aligned with this year’s theme of the National Science Day – ‘Integrated Approach in Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future’. 
• It also precedes the 7th WMO International Workshop on Monsoons.
  • It is being organized in India jointly by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, World Climate Research Programme, and World Weather Research Programme in March 2022.

Significance of IMPO:

• Setting up the IMPO in India would mean
  • expanding an integrated scientific approach to solve the seasonal variability of monsoons, 
  • enhancing the prediction skill of monsoons and cyclones, strengthening monsoon research for better support operations and services, 
  • promoting knowledge sharing 
  • capacity building in areas of monsoon research crucial for agriculture, water resources

• The IMPO is a step towards making India a global hub for monsoon research and coordination in a seamless manner for addressing common and region-specific aspects of the monsoons around the world.

5. IPCC

Syllabus: GS3: Environment and Ecology: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Mains: Key findings of the Report and its Summary for Policymakers; Indian Efforts to Combat Climate Change

Context: India welcomes the release of the Working Group II (WG2) contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Key findings of the Report and its Summary for Policymakers:

• The Report affirms that climate change due to historical emissions is leading to serious impacts which are already being felt globally.
• The Report emphasizes that action on adaptation is urgently needed – as urgently as action on mitigation.
• The Summary for Policymakers (SPM) underlines the need for climate action on the basis of equity and climate justice to ensure the well-being of humanity and the planet. 
• The science of climate resilience now fully acknowledges the importance of equity and climate justice that India has always championed and had brought into the Paris Agreement. 
• Further, the SPM clearly acknowledges the importance of Indigenous and Local Knowledge in adaptation to climate change.
• Vulnerable and marginalized communities, regions and populations face rising exposure to hazards. 
• The Report is a clarion call for the world to abandon their unsustainable production and consumption and move urgently to climate resilient development. 
• The Report notes that the impacts and the consequent limitations to adaptation would rise beyond 1.5 degree warming above pre-industrial levels. 
• Provision of finance is critical for helping developing countries and vulnerable populations act quickly and effectively. Public finance is the key enabler for adaptation. 
• Rapid progress on achieving the SDGs will help in enhancing adaptive capacity and resilience.
• The Report re-affirms that the balance between adaptation and mitigation in climate resilient development depends on national circumstances.
• The Report fully acknowledges the importance of losses and damages arising from climate change. 
• Adaptation suffers from a tremendous lack of finance, with only a small proportion of climate finance devoted to it, while the overwhelming proportion goes to mitigation.
• The Report recognizes the key role of agriculture and the great importance of food security in adaptation.
• India faces multiple climate hazards and has high vulnerability to climate change. 
• The Report notes that future climate-resilient development pathways depend on climate risks, adaptation measures and the remaining carbon budget.

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February 28th, 2022, PIB:- Download PDF Here