DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Nov. 1, 2021

G20 Summit & Climate Change

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Why in news?

 The G20 Summit 2021 was held, which was hosted by Italy in October 2021. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Objectives:

• The 2021 G20, under the Italian Presidency, will focus on three broad, interconnected pillars of action: People, Planet, and Prosperity.

Key points:

• Leaders committed to the key Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
• The leaders made a commitment to reach carbon neutrality by or around mid-century.
• They agreed to stop funding new dirty coal plants abroad by the end of 2021.
• They also pledged to reach a target of net zero carbon emissions “by or around mid-century”, instead of setting a clear 2050 date, as campaigners and summit host Italy were hoping for.
• They approved on an agreement that will subject multinationals to a minimum 15 percent tax, as part of an effort to build “a more stable and fairer international tax system”.
• Strengthen the WHO on Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Covid-19 vaccines.
• Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi led the Indian delegation at the Summit.
• India highlighted the need for resilient global supply chains and invited G-20 countries to make India their partner in economic recovery and supply chain diversification.
• India also lauded the G-20's decision to come up with a 15-percent minimum corporate tax to make the global financial architecture “more just and fair”.
• India welcomed the European Union's Indo-Pacific strategy and French leadership in it.

Carbon neutrality:

• Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal or by eliminating emissions from society.
• India’s Net Zero target of 2070 silences its critics but it is along expected lines

Additional Information:

What is G - 20?

• The G20 is the international forum that brings together the world's major economies.
• Its members account for more than 80% of world GDP, 75% of global trade and 60% of the population of the planet.
• The forum has met every year since 1999 and includes, since 2008, a yearly Summit, with the participation of the respective Heads of State and Government.
• The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union.

Members:

 The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

How G-20 Works?

• The G-20 does not have a permanent secretariat.
• Its agenda and activities are established by the rotating presidencies, in cooperation with the membership.
• A “Troika” represented by the country that holds the presidency, its predecessor and its successor works to ensure continuity within the G-20.

Exclusive Economic Zone:

• Each coastal state may claim an EEZ beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea that extends seaward up to 200nm from its baseline.
• Within it EEZ, a coastal state has: Soverign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, and managing natural resources.
• Rights to carry out activities like the production of energy from the water, currents and winds.
• It does not give a coastal state the right to prohibit or limit freedom of navigation or overflight.

'Uttam Seed Portal'

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Why in news?

In October, Haryana Government launched ‘Uttam seed portal’. It will benefit the farmers of Haryana by providing quality seeds with transparency. The portal has been launched by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar.

Key points:

• This seed portal has been linked with Meri Fasal Mera Byora Portal and Family Identity Card ID.
• Farmers will now get good high-quality seeds, which can improve their manufacturing and revenue. Along with authorities businesses, non-public visa businesses will even should register.

 Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal:

• It is an online portal launched by the Haryana Government to provide the farmers of the state with multiple services on a single portal.
• Meri Fasal Mera Byora Portal offers particulars to all these farmers who've land or who've given their land on contract and should promote their crop.
• The Government, through this portal, will directly benefit the farmers on every scheme introduced for the welfare of farmer.
• The farmers will be provided with an incentive of Rs.10 Per acre on registering under this portal.

Objectives:

• A unique effort to provide all government facilities and problem solving at one place for the farmers.
• Providing timely information related to agriculture.
• To make available subsidies of food, seeds, loans and agricultural equipment on time.
• Providing information related to sowing-harvesting time and market of the crop.

Providing assistance at the right time during natural calamity-disaster.

Human trafficking protocol:

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Why in news?

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in its 19th meet held in New Delhi, adopted a protocol to strengthen cooperation in preventing and combating growing menace of human trafficking, especially women and children.

Key highlights:

• The Experts Group discussed the issues pertaining to the growth of transnational organized crime on a global scale as well as the current experience of the SCO countries' efforts to tackle the most dangerous manifestations of transnational crime, including trafficking in persons.
• Human trafficking involves recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, for the purpose of exploitation.

 The salient features of the Protocol are as under:

• To strengthen cooperation in preventing and combating growing menace of trafficking in persons especially, women and children.
• To continue exchanging the national legislation to combat the menace of trafficking in persons, especially women and children.
• To provide protection and assistance in victims of trafficking within their competence.
• To develop cooperation between the educational (training) organizations (institutions) of the SCO member states in the field of training and advanced training of prosecutors, whose competence includes combating trafficking in persons especially, women and children.
• To conduct bilateral and multilateral activities, including thorough videoconferencing, on countering and combating the threat of trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

The next (20th) meeting of the Prosecutors General of the SCO Member States will be held in the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2022.

SCO:

• It is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai on 15 June 2001.
• The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan).
• Four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six "Dialogue Partners" (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey).
• In 2021, the decision was made to start the accession process of Iran to the SCO as a full member, and Egypt, Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia became dialogue partners.
• The SCO has been an observer in the UN General Assembly since 2005.

Related laws in India:

• Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956: to deal with this issue.
• Article 23 and 24: Right against Exploitation of the Constitution of India.
• The Juvenile Justice Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act and also the Prevention of Child Labor Act, the Bonded Labor (Abolition) Act, among others.

What are the Indis’s Efforts against Human Trafficking?

• The Ujjawala scheme was launched in 2007 to put an end to the trafficking of children and women.
• Anti-Trafficking Nodal Cell was set up in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in

UIDAI wants exemption from Data Protection Bill:

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Why in news?

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has asked for exemption from the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Law.

Why?

To avoid the duplicity of the laws

Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019:

• It aims to provide protection to personal data of individuals.
• It seeks to create a framework for processing personal data, by establishing a Data Protection Authority.
• It governs processing of personal data by government, companies included in India, as well as foreign companies that deals with personal data of individuals in India.
• It categories personal data like financial data, caste, religious & political beliefs, biometric data etc as sensitive personal data.

What are the provisions of the bill?

• Section 35 call on sovereignty & integrity of India, security of the state, public order and friendly relations with foreign states to provide powers to the Central government for suspend all or any provisions of the Act for government agencies.
• Section 12 of the Act gives UIDAI some leeway from the rights of the Bill as it enables for processing data for provision of a service or benefit to the data principal.
• THE AADHAAR (TARGETED DELIVERY OF FINANCIAL AND OTHER SUBSIDIES, BENEFITS AND SERVICES) ACT, 2016: An Act to provide for, as a good governance, efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of

UIDAI:

• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
• The UIDAI is mandated to assign a 12-digit unique identification (UID) number (Aadhaar) to all the residents of India.