Ease of Living Index 2020 and Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020:

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

• The rankings 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.
• Bengaluru emerged as the top performer in the Million+ category, followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, and Greater Mumbai.
• In the Less than Million category, Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere, and Tiruchirappalli.

• The assessment framework 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)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 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.

QS World University Rankings 2021.

• As many as 25 courses by Indian universities have figured in the top 100 globally, according to QS World University Rankings by Subject.

• MIT, USA has retained top position.
• Three Indian Institutes of Technology have entered the top 100 engineering institutes.
• IIT-Bombay grabbing the best-ever 49th position in the engineering and technology category followed by IIT Delhi (54) and IIT Madras (94).
• Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore, is placed at the 92nd spot for natural sciences, followed by IIT Bombay (114), IIT Madras (187), and IIT Delhi (210).
• IIT-Madras is at number 30 for its petroleum engineering programme, IIT-Bombay and IIT-Kharagpur have grabbed 41 and 44 positions, respectively, in the subject ranking for mineral and mining engineering.
• In the life sciences and medicine category, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) bagged 248th spot.
• Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been ranked 159th for arts and humanities, followed by the University of Delhi (252).
• Delhi University bagged 208th spot worldwide in the social sciences and management category.

• QS World University Rankings by subject calculate performance based on four parameters:
• Academic reputation.
• Employer reputation.
• Research impact (citations per paper).
• The productivity of an institution’s research faculty.

Similipal Biosphere Reserve.

• The Simlipal forest reserve (Mayurbhanj, Odisha) area frequently witnesses forest fires during dry weather conditions.

• The Government of India declared Simlipal to be a biosphere reserve in 1994 and UNESCO added the national park to its list of biosphere reserves in 2009.
• It is in the Mayurbhanj district in the Indian state of Odisha.
• Similipal National Park is part of the Mayurbhanj Elephant Reserve, which includes three protected areas - Similipal Tiger Reserve, Hadgarh Wildlife Sanctuary and Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Similipal derives its name from ‘Simul’ (silk cotton) tree.
• Two tribes, the Erenga Kharias and the Mankirdias, inhabit the reserve’s forests and practise traditional agricultural activities (the collection of seeds and timber).
• Similipal is the abode of 94 species of orchids and about 3,000 species of plants.
• The identified species of fauna include 12 species of amphibians, 29 species of reptiles, 264 species of birds and 42 species of mammals, all of which collectively highlight the biodiversity richness of Similipal. Sal is a dominant tree species.

• Forest Survey of India (FSI), founded in June 1981 in (Dehradun in Uttarakhand)  is a Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change organisation for conducting forest surveys, forest resources and present the data for national planning.
• The Forest Survey of India released a report last year, analysing areas in India prone to fires. Out of the total 7,12,249 square km of forest cover, 1,52,421 square km (21.40 percent) is either highly or extremely fire prone.
• The forests of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh are most vulnerable.

Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

• The implications of the government’s new rules to regulate digital media.

• These rules seek to provide a grievance redressal mechanism for users of social media platforms, messaging applications, streaming services as also digital news publishers. These are much stricter and broader in scope compared to the existing rules. These rules aim to regulate social media, digital media and OTT Platforms (Over The Top).
• The grievance mechanism which the government-mandated will be a three-tier mechanism:
• 1st Tier- Grievance Redressal Mechanism
• 2nd Tier- Self Regulatory Body
• 3rd Tier- Over Sight Mechanism

• The said rules are neither under parliament scrutiny nor are they statutory but it still provides broad powers to the government for regulating and censoring social media intermediaries including the online news media.
• The new rule empowers the Information & Broadcasting Secretary to directly block the content for public access for specific content in case of an emergency.
• According to the newly unveiled rules, an intermediary refers to portals of the social media network, media sharing sites, portals, blogs, websites, apps, online discussion forums, and "other such functional intermediaries".
• The online platform will be following the program code mentioned under the cable television network regulation act and should also fulfill the norms of journalistic conduct prescribed by the press council of India which regulates the content produced on television and print media.
• Over The Top platform (OTT) will not be allowed to produce and stream any content which is against the sovereignty and integrity of India, which is hurtful and damages our country friendly relations with other countries, and any content, which is likely to stir up and encourage any kind of violence or disturb public order in the state or country.
• As per the rules, the platform will also have to consider India's diverse racial and religious nature and take proper precautions while streaming activities, practices, beliefs, or acts of any religious or racial groups.

• While streaming any content the Platform will be required to follow the law of the land and will have to mandatorily set up the three-tier grievance redressal structure like the digital media platforms.
• In cases of online content, the 2nd tier which is the self-regulatory body will be empowered to direct the publisher to relook into the ratings of specific content, make relevant changes and modifications in content, age classification, and edit the synopsis of the content in question.
• The rule also makes it mandatory for the content creators to differentiate their content into 5 age-based categories which are U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult), and must also execute parental lock feature for content coming under U/A 13+ or higher with a dependable and authentic age verification machinery for content coming under the category of "A".
• Also, both the OTT Platform and the online news media will have to inform the ministry and publish a monthly report which will mention all the details of the grievance received and the action taken to address those grievances.

Inflation target.

• The government is expected to retain the medium-term inflation target at 4 per cent, with inflation band at 2-6 per cent, for the next five years.

• Under India’s flexible inflation targeting (FIT) approach, the central bank is expected to work to maintain retail inflation at 4%, with an upper tolerance limit of 6% and a lower limit of 2%.
• The government may reset the rate at 5% to provide the central bank more leeway to cut policy rates and support growth in the pandemic-struck economy.

• Inflation targeted based on monetary policy system wherein the central bank (RBI) of a country has a specific target inflation rate for the medium-term and publicizes this rate.
• The Central Government has notified 4 per cent Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation as the target for the period from August 5, 2016, to March 31, 2021, with the upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent and the lower tolerance limit of 2 per cent.