Second state in recognising forest rights claims
Chhattisgarh has become the second state in the country after Odisha to recognise the forest rights claims as well as the forest lands acquired by Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21216-second-state-in-recognising-forest-rights-claims
#forest #recognising #Odisha #BhupeshBaghel #STs #NationalForestPolicy

Swachh Survekshan 2020
The Government has launched the Swachh Survekshan 2020 (SS 2020), the fifth edition of the annual cleanliness survey conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21215-swachh-survekshan-2022
#SwachhSurvekshan2020 #MoHUA #ULBs #NIC #ODF #IHHL

India’s first overseas debt bond sale is failing
India’s foray into international debt markets may consist of little more than sound and fury, as the nation struggles to shed decades of trepidation about borrowing in foreign currencies.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21214-india-s-first-overseas-debt-bond-sale-is-failing
#India #NirmalaSitharaman #IMF #NarendraModi #budget #Bloomberg #GDP

Sgr A* emits mysterious radiation
Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), which is a supermassive Black Hole at the heart of the Milky Way, suddenly glowed way too brighter than its normal state becoming 75 times more luminescent before going back to its normal state.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21213-sgr-a-emits-mysterious-radiation
#SagittariusA* #BlackHole #astronomers #cosmicfizzle #MilkyWay

First Indian to claim a world title in motorsports
Aishwarya Pissay became the first Indian to claim a world title in motorsports, annexing the FIM World Cup in the women’s category after the final round of the championship. The 23-year old from Bengaluru also finished second in the FIM Junior category.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21212-first-indian-to-claim-a-world-title-in-motorsports
#FirstIndian #motorsports #AishwaryaPissay #Dubai #WorldCup #FIM

PM at EEF
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Plenary Session at the 5th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), said India will give a line of credit worth USD 1 billion for the development of the Far East.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21402-pm-at-eef
#PM #EEF #NarendraModi #ActEast #FEFU #Gandhi #Russia

IoE status to 5 public institutions
The HRD Ministry on 5 September 2019, awarded Institution of Eminence (IoE) status to five public institutions including Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University, University of Hyderabad, IIT-Madras and IIT-Kharagpur.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21401-ioe-status-to-5-public-institutions
#IoE #IITMadras #budget #Hyderabad #InstitutionsofEminence

Mysterious colourful lights spotted
NASA’s NuSTAR space observatory has captured extremely bright sources of X-ray light that appeared as bright blue and green spots. However, these colourful blobs disappeared days later.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21400-mysterious-colourful-lights-spotted
#Mysterious #NuSTAR #NASA #ULX #LEOStar #brightblue #greenspots

India's Position in gold reserves
India has pipped the Netherlands to move into the list of top ten countries in terms of total gold reserves.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21399-india-s-position-in-gold-reserves
#India #Netherlands #WorldGoldCouncil #IMF #GoldPrices

Peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan
India and Russia supported all efforts for an inclusive peace and reconciliation in war-torn Afghanistan. Addressing a joint press meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India wants to see a Afghanistan which is safe, stable, peaceful, independent, undivided and democratic.”
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21398-peace-and-reconciliation-in-afghanistan
#Afghanistan #NarendraModi #JCPOA #VladimirPutin #Russia

Global Liveability Ranking 2019
One of Pakistan’s cities — Karachi — has been ranked among one of the least liveable cities on the earth. On the other hand, national capital Delhi does not even feature in the top 100 cities to live in, according to a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit titled Global Liveability Ranking 2019.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21397-global-liveability-ranking-2019
#Karachi #GlobalLiveability #Ranking2019 #Pakistan #EIU

Black hole is ‘physically impossible’
Space scientists are analysing the signals provided by Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo interferometer that provide details of a big black hole which is so huge that until now has been thought to be physically impossible.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21396-black-hole-is-physically-impossible
#Blackhole #LIGO #physicallyimpossible #Virgo

India slips in GHI 2019
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.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21718-india-slips-in-ghi-2019.html
#India #GHI2019 #GlobalHungerIndex #Pakistan #WeltHungerHilfe

WIPO report on patent
China accounted for nearly half of global patent filings last year, with a record 1.54 million applications, led by telecoms and computer technology, the U.N.'s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said on 16 October 2019.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21717-wipo-report-on-patent.html
#WIPO #IP #China #Organization #telecoms

India halved its poverty rate
India has halved its poverty rate since the 1990s and achieved a seven plus growth rate over the last 15 years, the World Bank said.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21716-india-halved-its-poverty-rate.html
#India #IMF #WorldBank #GDP #InternationalMonetaryFund

India’s rising role in Indo-Pacific region
In a significant indication of India’s rising profile, the 10-nation ASEAN on 3 November 2019 clearly appreciated New Delhi’s growing role in the Indo-Pacific region as the two sides, with a combined GDP of USD 5 trillion, vowed to further broadbase strategic ties and deal with major challenges like of terrorism collectively.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21879-india-s-rising-role-in-indo-pacific-region.html
#IndoPacificregion #nationASEAN #ASEANOutlook #NarendraModi

India, Uzbekistan sign three defence MoUs
India and Uzbekistan on November 3 signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to enhance cooperation in military medicine and military education during the ongoing visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21878-india-uzbekistan-sign-three-defence-mous.html
#Uzbekistansign #MoUs #RajnathSingh #BNKurbanov

IMF research for South Asia
Led by India, South Asia is moving towards becoming center of global growth and could contribute about one-third of the world's growth by 2040, according to a latest research by the International Monetary Fund.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21877-imf-research-for-south-asia.html
#IMFresearch #SouthAsia #FDI #globalgrowth #IMF


New map of J&K
Following the official bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into the two Union Territories (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Survey of India has come out with new maps of India and Jammu and Kashmir region.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21876-new-map-of-j-k.html
#Newmap #UT #UnionTerritories #RemovalofDifficulties

DRDO indigenous tech
The DRDO installations at the DefExpo 2020 in Lucknow have proven to be among the largest crowd-pullers. The Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile — successfully tested last year, making India the fourth country to successfully attack satellites — is attracting a lot of attention.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22810-drdo-indigenous-tech.html
#DRDO #DefExpo2020 #satellites #ROV #IEDs #ASAT

Coronavirus conundrum
Keen to avoid stigmatising the city of Wuhan, the World Health Organization is treading carefully on naming the new virus. The UN health agency's official temporary name for the disease, which it has designated as a global health emergency, is "2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease".
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22809-coronavirus-conundrum.html
#Coronavirus #ICTV #MERS #SARS #WHO #nCoV

India's fiscal gap
At around 7.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), the revenue-to-expenditure gap in India is one of the highest among major emerging markets. According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), total government expenditure was equivalent to around 27.1 per cent of GDP while total government revenue was around 19.6 percent of GDP in the last calendar year.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22808-india-s-fiscal-gap.html
#India #GDP #IMF #SriLanka #ASEAN

G-20 finance chiefs meet
Finance chiefs and central bankers from the world’s 20 largest economies say they see downside risks to global economic growth persisting and have agreed on a “menu of policy options” amid a viral outbreak that’s disrupted supply chains worldwide.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22944-g-20-finance-chiefs-meet.html
#G20 #finance #OECD #COVID19 #Riyadh #IMF

India to block EU’s WTO panel request
India will block the European Union’s request for a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against New Delhi’s customs duties on imports of certain information and communications technology (ICT) products.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22943-india-to-block-eu-s-wto-panel-request.html
#India #WTO #ICT #EU #NewDelhi #EuropeanUnion

Mystery even scientists can’t crack
The amount of water in the atmosphere of Jupiter has been a mystery scientists have been unable to crack. U.S space agency NASA recently had sent a mission to the planet which has found results contrary to the findings of an earlier mission sent by NASA in 1995.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22942-mystery-even-scientists-can-t-crack.html
#Mystery #NASA #telescope #Junoprobe #planet

Archaeological discovery in Haryana
Sirsa, a district in Haryana, houses a mound which is believed to unravel some clues about the ancient city ‘Sarishika’. In order to study the ancient ruins, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has to relocate nearly 50,000 people residing on around 82 acres of land.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22941-archaeological-discovery-in-haryana.html
#Archaeological #Haryana #ASI #Sarishika #FY19 #Sirsa

IMF’s Covid policy response group
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has been inducted into IMF MD’s special advisory board for policy responses to Covid-19-induced challenges.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/23371-imf-s-covid-policy-response-group.html
#IMF #RBI #Covidpolicy #Raghuramrajan #ReserveBank

India’s forex reserves drop
India’s foreign exchange reservesretreated from a life-time high to touch USD 505.566 billion in the week ended June 19, down by USD 2.078 billion from the previous week.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/24128-india-s-forex-reserves-drop.html
#Indiasforex #forexreserves #IMF #FCA

Watch SDRs - Special Drawing Rights IMF | International Monetary Fund | News Explainer #prelims #upsc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQeCxORDZEI

Today's Headlines - 24 August 2023
Poor nations forced to rely on fossil fuels
GS Paper - 3 (Energy)

Poor countries with heavy debts have been forced to continue to rely on fossil fuels for generating revenue to return the loans taken from richer countries and private lenders to meet various economic exigencies like the pandemic three years ago, a new report said. These countries, mostly in the global south, may find it impossible to phase out fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy as revenues from fossil fuel projects “are often overinflated and require huge investments to reach expected returns, leading to further debt”.

What is the “debt-fossil fuel trap”?

The report, ‘The Debt-Fossil Fuel Trap’, published on 21 August 2023 by the anti-debt campaigners Debt Justice and partners in affected countries.
The global south — a term used for developing, less developing and underdeveloped countries, located in Africa, Latin America, and Asia — countries are increasingly being burdened by enormous debts in recent years.
Their “external debt payments (money borrowed from richer countries, or multilateral creditors like the World Bank and IMF, or private lenders such as banks) has gone up by 150% between 2011 and 2023, reaching their highest levels in 25 years”, said the report.
Moreover, 54 countries are in a debt crisis — they had to cut their public sending budgets during the pandemic to repay the loans, the analysis found.
The situation is worsened by extreme weather events, which force these countries to borrow more money as they lack adequate finances and resources for adaptation, mitigation and tackling loss and damage.
For instance, Dominica’s debt as a percentage of GDP rose from 68% to 78% after Hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017.
To deal with the mounting debts, these countries have turned to extracting more fossil fuels.
The country’s strategy to reduce debt may end up adding to debt levels without generating adequate revenue to repay, which could force Argentia to further expand its fossil fuel projects, the report added. This is known as the “debt-fossil fuel trap”.
Ending the high debt burdens

The report has laid out a few recommendations to help global south countries exit the “debt-fossil fuel trap”.
It said clean energy, wealthy governments and institutions must implement “ambitious debt cancellation for all countries that need it, across all creditors, free from economic conditions.
They should also stop accepting repayments made through fossil fuel projects’ revenue.
Meanwhile, “Bilateral and multilateral finance should be aligned with a 1.5 degree warming scenario and fair shares calculations, and not be used to finance fossil fuels.

#upsc #news #headline #nations #fossilfuels #energy #countries #revenue #pandemic #globalsouth #fuel #trap #africa #latin #worldbank #IMF #payments #GDP #island #dominica #strategy #projects #warming #bilateral #multilateral #finance #fairshares #america #asia #justice #renewable #poornations #forced