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19th Aug 2021
GLOBAL GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION COMMUNITY SENSITIZED ABOUT UNWGIC TO BE ORGANIZED IN INDIA
Recently, Global Geospatial Information Community was sensitized about the second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC) to be organized by India in October 2022.
- The curtain raiser event was organized on the margins of the Eleventh Session of the United Nation Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) to be held during the end of August 2021.
- It is organized by United Nation Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) every four years.
- The first United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress held in Deqing, Zhejiang Province, China in October 2018.
- The UNGGIM has entrusted the responsibility of organizing the second UNWGIC to India during October 2022.
- It follows from the mandate of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to convene global forums to promote comprehensive dialogue on global geospatial information management.
- Its objective is enhancing international collaboration among the Member States and relevant stakeholders in Geospatial information management and capacities.
- It is aimed at working towards implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to keep the promise to leave no one behind.
- It will reflect the importance of geospatial information to support technological development, address the development and strengthening of geospatial information management systems and capacities.
- It aims to demonstrate the importance of international coordination and cooperation for building a human data and geography community.
- It is aimed to provide a convening, participatory and inclusive environment to enhance the communication, understanding, knowledge and application of geospatial information management.
- The Government of India had published the National Map Policy in 2005 and subsequently, SOI published certain guidelines for its implementation.
- In 2021, the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India (DST) issued “Guidelines for acquiring and producing geospatial data and geospatial data services including Maps”.
- Under these Guidelines, the Government has recognized the crucial role played by Geospatial Data / Maps in the digital economy as well as traditional sectors and also significantly liberalized the erstwhile licensing regime.
- The Guidelines classify entities which are engaged in the Processing of Geospatial Data into “Indian Entity (ies)” and others (Restricted Entities).
- It is joint programme of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and La Fondation Dassault Systems in India.
- The theme of SEP 3.0 is based on the ‘Made in 3D - Seed the Future Entrepreneurs Program’.
- It is conceptualized and rolled out in France by La Main à la Pate Foundation and La Fondation Dassault Systèmes Europe in 2017.
- As part of this program, a team from each school (6 students and a teacher) will be allocated seed funding towards:
- Creating their own start-up;
- Design and prototype their innovation using 3D printing;
- Prepare marketing campaign;
- Define product pricing; and
- Create expansion strategy
- It consists of 14 courses that enable the participants to:
- Understand India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem;
- Introduces the basic functional areas of management;
- Familiarizes the nuances of creativity and innovation;
- Explains the process of executing a business idea into a successful business model;
- Acquaints them with the regulatory frameworks; and
- The scaling up challenges faced by an entrepreneur
- A total of 50 teams from 26 states are selected for the SEP 3.0.
- Top 20 teams of ATL Marathon 2019, 10 teams selected by Dassault, 10 teams from Aspirational Districts and 10 teams from Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and North east regions are selected.
- It will allow student innovators to work closely with Dassault volunteers and gain:
- Mentor support, Prototyping and testing support, End-User feedback, Intellectual Property registration and Patenting of ideas/processes/products, Manufacturing support, and launch of the product in the market.
- It will be interaction opportunities for students and teachers, between French and Indian schools.
- The school students and teachers will have a unique opportunity to interact and collaborate with French schools and French students for cultural and technical interactions.
- It seeks to provide opportunity to school children to develop an entrepreneurial and inventive mind set, as well as suitable exposure through activities-based learning, exploration and challenges.
- The school students and teachers will have a unique opportunity to connect and interact with French schools and students for cultural and technical knowledge sharing.
- It came into limelight after a division bench of the Supreme Court referred writ petitions filed by banks to a bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao.
- The legal battle for the disclosure of inspection reports and defaulters list started when RTI activist Jayantilal Mistry sought information under RTI Act, 2005 from the RBI.
- The matter went up to the Supreme Court as Mistry’s appeals were not entertained by several layers of the RTI process.
- In 2015, the Supreme Court had come down on the RBI for trying to keep the inspection reports and defaulters list confidential.
- The SC had said the RBI has no legal duty to maximize the benefit of any public sector or private sector bank, and thus there is no relationship of ‘trust’ between them.
- It added that the RBI was duty-bound to uphold the public interest by revealing these details under RTI.
- The central bank then allowed making such reports public following the Supreme Court order.
- The SC had wanted full disclosure of the inspection report but the court agreed that only some portions on bad loans and borrowers would be made public.
- The banks fear that any adverse remarks, especially from the regulator RBI, will affect their performance and keep customers away.
- Banks led by SBI argued that banks are driven by the “trust and faith” of their clients that should not be made public.
- The private banks insisted that the RTI Act does not apply to private banks.
- The banks also argued that privacy is a fundamental right, and therefore should not be violated by making clients’ information public.
- Many feel that the RBI’s inspection reports on various banks, with details on alleged malpractices and mismanagement, can open up a can of worms.
- The banks want to keep them under wraps as these reports have details about how the banks were manipulated by rogue borrowers and officials.
- The banks do not want inspection reports and defaulters’ lists to be made public as it affects their image.
- The transparency and maximum disclosure are the immutable cornerstones of an effective democracy.
- The absolute and uncontrolled information flow may sometimes be antithetical to the objective this proposition seeks to achieve.
- The legislation requires judicial intervention to balance the conflict between the expectation of the information seeker and the right of the information owner.
- It is fed by snowmelt from the Rocky and Wasatch mountains and flows a distance of over 2,250 km across seven states and into Mexico.
- It is originally known as the Grand grows from a cold mountain trout stream into a classic Western waterway slicing through jagged gorges between sweeping, pastoral ranchlands on the upper leg.
- It is about 1,450 miles long, with headwaters in Colorado and Wyoming, and eventually flows across the international border into Mexico.
- The drainage basin area of about 246,000 square miles includes all of Arizona, and parts of California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.
- The Colorado River is an important water resource for areas outside of the basin, including Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
- The Colorado River Water Compact drafted in 1922 to divide water between upper and lower basin states was based on analysis of one of the wettest 10-year periods in history.
- Its basin is divided into the Upper (Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and northern Arizona) and Lower Basins (parts of Nevada, Arizona, California, southwestern Utah and western New Mexico).
- The entire Colorado River system is managed with a series of dams and canals to regulate flood control, water conservation and hydropower benefits.
- In the Lower Basin, the Hoover Dam controls floods and regulates water delivery and storage.
- There are two reservoirs at the centre of this water shortage i.e. Lake Mead and Lake Powell
- Lake Mead located in the state of Nevada just a few miles from Las Vegas.
- Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of volume.
- It was formed in the 1930s by the Hoover Dam in Southern Nevada.
- It provides water storage in the lower basin of the Colorado River.
- Its main source of water is obtained from the Rocky Mountain snowmelt and run off.
- Lake Powell is created by the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona.
- It is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona.
- It was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the Glen Canyon Dam, which also led to the 1972 creation of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
- It is a precious metals dealer with an established reputation as a trusted and dedicated resource for people wanting to diversify their holdings with intelligent precious metals and diamond investments.
- It offers investors multiple possibilities for investing in precious metals.
- Through International Bullion Exchange, a person can:
- Purchase gold or other precious metals for immediate personal delivery;
- Open or rollover an existing IRA into a Precious Metals IRA; or
- Arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository
- The holding company India International Bullion Holding IFSC Limited has been created for setting up and operationalising International Bullion Exchange, Bullion Clearing Corporation and Bullion Depository in IFSC.
- It shall be the “Gateway for Bullion Imports into India”, wherein all the bullion imports for domestic consumption shall be channelized through the exchange.
- It is expected to bring all the market participants at a common transparent platform for bullion trading.
- It provides an efficient price discovery, assurance in the quality of gold, enable greater integration with other segments of financial markets and help establish India’s position as a dominant trading hub in the World.
- It is the general name for pure gold or silver (at least 99.5%) which have been transformed into bars or minted into coins for investment purposes.
- The examples of gold bullion include gold bars and gold non-numismatic coins.
- It refers to physical gold and silver of high purity that is often kept in the form of bars, ingots, or coins.
- It can sometimes be considered legal tender, most often held in reserves by central banks or used by institutional investors to hedge against inflationary effects on their portfolios.
- The MoU would promote collaboration between academicians, practitioners, jurists, policy makers, and students from India, Switzerland and other countries.
- It would help create a technical and nuanced understanding of emerging and new areas of international trade and investment law and related disciplines.
- The MoU will remain in force for three years.
- It will provide valuable academic and research opportunities to the employees of CTIL and the Department of Commerce in the field of international trade and investment law.
- It aims to enhance the understanding of the DOC officials, CTIL researchers and academics on contemporary issues of international trade.
- It will build support for India’s positions in international trade and investment law.
- It would be beneficial to formulating India’s positions on various issues on international trade negotiations and dispute settlement.
- The Permanent Mission of India (PMI) in Geneva has three separate wings namely:
- The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva;
- The Permanent Mission of India to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva; and
- The Permanent Mission of India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva
- The Consulate General of India in Geneva is housed in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in Geneva.
- Interested Indian citizens and OCI card holders may apply for internship at the Permanent Mission of India to WTO (PMI to WTO).
- The PMI to WTO shall not undertake any responsibility or facilitate issue of visa/ permission to work and stay in Switzerland for internship.
- The applicant should possess a Graduate or higher degree, preferably in the field of economics or law or in a field related to any other area of WTO work.
- Internship shall be available for a period of upto 12 months maximum, to be decided by the PMI to WTO.
- Interns shall report to and work under the close supervision of the concerned Indian delegate/delegates.
- National strategy for phase down of Hydro fluro carbons as per the applicable phase down schedule for India will be developed after required consultation with all the industry stakeholders by 2023.
- The Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules to allow appropriate control of the production and consumption of Hydroflurocarbons to ensure compliance with the Kigali Amendment will be done by mid-2024.
- HFC phasedown is expected to prevent the greenhouse gas emissions, helping prevent climate change and would benefit the people.
- The industry producing and consuming Hydroflurocarbons will be phasing out Hydroflurocarbons as per the agreed schedule under and transition to non-HFC and low global warming potential technologies.
- Hydroflurocarbons phasedown is expected to prevent the emission of up to 105 million tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases, helping to avoid up to 0.5 degree Celsius of global temperature rise by 2100, while continuing to protect the ozone layer.
- Implementation of HFC phase down under the Kigali Amendment through the adoption of low-global warming potential and energy-efficient technologies will achieve energy efficiency gains and carbon dioxide emissions reduction.
- HFCs phrase down implementation will involve synergies with on-going government programmes and schemes of the Government of India with the objective to maximize the economic arid social co-benefits, besides environmental gains.
- There would be scope for domestic manufacturing of equipment as well as alternative non-HFC and low-global warming potential chemicals to enable the industry to transition to the low global warming potential alternatives as per the agreed HFC phase down schedule.
- Under the Kigali Amendment; Parties to the Montreal Protocol will phase down production and consumption of Hydroflurocarbons, commonly known as HFCs.
- While HFCs do not deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, they have high global warming potential ranging from 12 to 14,000, which have adverse impact on climate.
- The parties reached agreement at their 28th Meeting of the Parties (MOP) held in October 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda to add HFCs to the list of controlled substances and approved a timeline for their gradual reduction by 80-85 per cent by the late 2040s.
- India will complete its phase down of HFCs in 4 steps from 2032 onwards with cumulative reduction of 10% in 2032, 20% in 2037, 30% in 2042 and 80% in 2047.
- All amendments and adjustments of the Montreal Protocol, prior to the Kigali Amendment have Universal support.
- It is a Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
- It is an international environmental treaty for protection of the Ozone Layer by phasing out the production and consumption of man-made chemicals referred to as ozone depleting substances (ODS).
- The stratospheric ozone\ layer protects humans and the environment from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
- India became a Party to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on 19 June 1992 and since then has ratified the amendments to the Montreal Protocol.
- India has successfully met the phase out targets of all the Ozone Depleting Substances as per the Montreal Protocol Schedule.
- It is to date the only UN treaty ever that has been ratified every country on Earth - all 198 UN Member States.
- The Parties are assisted by the Ozone Secretariat, which is based at UN Environment Programme headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
POSTED ON 19-08-2021 BY ADMIN
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