Top News Highlights-5 November 2024

G20’s Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRRWG) Meeting in Brazil

• The G20 ministers who participated adopted a declaration that was along the framework of Sendai on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) to reduce risks from disasters globally.
• The framework, agreed upon in 2015, focuses on risk understanding, improving risk governance, and building resilience.
• The G20 DRRWG’s priority areas include early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, financing for DRR, and nature-based solutions.
• Increased financial support and an eco-system approach were the way forward in executing DRR.

ILO Report: Gender Gap in Labour Force Participation

• A staggering 24 percent gap exists between world male labor force participation of 73 percent and females 48.7%.
• Care responsibilities are holding back 748 million people out of work globally, and this includes 708 million women.
• Investment in early childhood care and promoting the 5R framework; recognizing, reducing, redistributing, rewarding, and representing will improve the rate of women’s participation.
• India has been offering support to the women workforce through the Maternity Benefit Act of 2017 and the Social Security Code of 2020.

Namo Drone Didi Scheme: Empowering Women SHGs in Agriculture

• Ministry of Agriculture has launched this scheme where 15,000 women SHGs will be equipped with drones to be let to farmers for agricultural activities by 2025-26.
• The funding of 80% on the costs of drones and up to ₹8 lacks, rest amount shall be availed with a 3% interest subsidy for SHGs
• Lead fertilizer companies would provide their support to the SHGs in procurement and maintenance as well as the marketing of nano fertilizers.
• A dedicated Drone Portal would be operated to track in real-time the operational activities, keeping it open and transparent with efficient management.

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) CoP-16 Outcomes

• Major deliverables include the operationalization of the Cali Fund for Indigenous People and the Kunming Biodiversity Fund (KBF) towards the achievement of 2030 biodiversity goals.
• Achieving a 30% global conservation target by 2030 and cutting invasive species introduction by half are included in CBD’s aims.
• Other key topics included in the discussion were synthetic biology, significant marine areas, and benefit-sharing from digital sequence information.
• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is characterized by sustainable biodiversity management and protecting vulnerable ecosystems.

India’s Analog Space Mission in Leh

• India’s first-ever analog space mission, under the leadership of ISRO, which will be launched in Ladakh, tests out equipment in simulated lunar environments, studying the behavioral effects of isolation.
• The mission is being partnered with ISRO’s Human Spaceflight Center, AAKA Space Studio, and University of Ladakh, and IIT Bombay.
• A location like Leh provides perfect analog conditions to lunar Martian terrains.
• Analog missions like NASA’s NEEMO enable the testing of robotic tools, psychological responses, and mission protocols in extreme conditions.

Global TB Report 2024: India’s TB Burden and Initiatives

• India accounted for the highest 26% of the global TB burden in 2023, and TB surpassed COVID-19 as the leading global infectious killer.
• TB treatment coverage in India reached 75%, close to the 90% target by 2027.
• Some of the landmark initiatives are Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, Universal Drug Susceptibility Testing, and a new drug added that is Bedaquiline.
• All these notwithstanding, fund flows for TB prevention, just 26% for Global Target, are well under the required funding stream.

Key Concepts and Policies

• Sendai Framework for DRR – An initiative developed globally to reduce risks emanating from disasters through its resilience enhancement while there should be an understanding to have control over the happening disasters.
• 5R Framework: The decent work policy within the care sector on matters of recognition, reduction, redistribution, reward, and representation.
• KMGBF – International accord aimed at providing global coverage with 30% of the world’s land and water areas covered in 2030.
• Analog Space Mission – a set of simulations meant for mimicking extreme conditions of extreme equipment testing as well as studying how human responses might be.
• Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan – The program through which India aims to control and eliminate tuberculosis with help from access to treatment, drug-resistant TB management, and community engagement.