Top News Highlights- 7 October 2024

India’s Renewable Energy Progress

• 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.