Labor Force Growth: India has a renewable energy labor force that has now grown to 1.02 million, mostly from the hydropower and solar photovoltaic sectors.
Installation Capacity: India put in 9.7 GW of solar PV capacity in 2023. Therefore, this country is ranked fifth when it comes to total installed capacity, which stands at 72.7 GW.
Ranking in the World: India ranks fourth globally in terms of wind power capacity by standing at 44.7 GW. It installed 2.8 GW in 2023 alone.
Outlook Future: The renewable energy capacity of India has increased to a sum of 165% in the last ten years, thus marketing it as one of the front-runners in renewable installations.
Business-Ready (B-Ready) Index Launch by World Bank
Index Description: The B-Ready Index, by the World Bank, is an all-encompassing, quantitate measure of the business environment, it heavily focuses on private sector development.
Detailed Analysis: B-Ready is rather an upgrade compared to EoDB as it encompasses most facets connected with the business, from statutory law to practical information.
Policy Implications: This index will enhance the business environment to actualize the World Bank Group’s objective of poverty eradication and rising shared prosperity.
Cross-Border South Asian Energy Cooperation
Regional Dynamics: The India-Bangladesh electricity corridor and India-Nepal hydroelectric projects point to the growing energy cooperation in South Asia
Strategic Importance: This cooperation is crucial for regional energy security and to counter external pressures such as China’s infrastructural projects.
Barriers Ahead: Environmental issues and structural grid barriers continue to be considerable inhibitors to the full realization of cross-border energy trade.
UK Hands Sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius
Historical Context: The transfer ends a decades-long debate and rectifies the colonial legacy issue of the Indian Ocean Region
Security Implications: Despite the transfer of sovereignty, the US-UK base remains operational on Diego Garcia, which underscores its strategic significance.
International Consequential Legal and Regional Impact: It is in tandem with the judgments of international law as well as impacts regional security dynamics, India is hosting the claim of Mauritius.
Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC) Fund Launch
Fund Objectives: The GFC Fund assists low-and middle-income countries in managing chemicals and waste in an environmentally sound manner.
Financial Allocation: Projects up to three years can be received to stretch from $300,000 to $800,000 to reduce adverse environmental health impacts due to chemicals.
Global Cooperation: This endeavor supports existing institutions such as the Global Environment Facility for integrated chemicals management.
Monetary Policy and Labor Market Dynamics
Research by RBI Study: A recent study by RBI reveals the effect of labor market formality on the effectiveness of monetary policy.
Policy Enhancements: The findings suggest that more formal labor markets enhance monetary policy effectiveness in the transmission of monetary policy policies affecting other critical indicators, such as unemployment and inflation.
Strategic Recommendations: Building up Labor Market Institutions would also contribute to achieving greater monetary policy effects, which in turn is a necessary condition for sustainability.
Key Concepts and Policies:
Renewable Energy Certificate or REC: A market-based tool that certifies that the bearer owns one megawatt-hour of electricity generated from a renewable energy source
Public-Private Partnership or PPP: A cooperative arrangement between one or more public and private sectors, of a long-term nature, used in infrastructure projects and other services.
B-Ready Index: The new index of the World Bank serves as a measure for the evaluation of the improvement of business environments in all countries, rather than being replaced by the Ease of Doing Business Index.
