Current Affair 1:

Electoral Bonds

News is: CIC says revealing names of donors not in public interest, violates RTI

During the latest 14th Phase, electoral bonds were purchased in 9 different cities. Among them, the greatest purchase – both in terms of number as well as the value was in Mumbai.

We will see few details of Electoral Bonds:

The electoral bond scheme, which was notified by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs in 2018, allows citizens and corporates to buy monetary instruments from the SBI and donate them to a political party, which is then free to redeem it for money. Electoral Bond is a bearer Banking Instrument to be used for funding eligible Political Parties.

 

Current Affair 2:

23rd Meeting of Financial Stability and Development Council

 

We will learn about Financial Stability and Development Council.

 

 

 

             

Working Groups/Technical Groups under FSDC Sub-Committee: Just remember the names.

1. Inter Regulatory Technical Group (IR-TG)
2. Technical Group on Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy (TGFIFL)
3. Inter Regulatory Forum for monitoring Financial Conglomerates (IRF-FC)
4. Macro Financial Monitoring Group (MFMG)
5. Crisis Prevention and Monitoring Framework (CPMF)

Current Affair 3:

New Ramsar site designated in Bihar

You might have covered this news before, but today once again it appeared in news. So, see again. A brief introduction to site from RAMSAR Portal.

The wetland is situated in Begusarai district in the state of Bihar.

The Convention on Wetlands is the only international legal treaty with a primary focus on wetlands, signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar and known as the Ramsar Convention. It came into force in 1975 and to date 170 countries have joined as Contracting Parties.

The wise use framework developed by the Convention provides a mechanism for ensuring that wetlands are incorporated into the global agenda for sustainable development, supporting initiatives relating to biodiversity, climate change, disaster risk reduction and land degradation.

The Convention defines wetlands rather broadly as “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres”.

Another key Ramsar concept is the ecological character of wetlands: “the combination of the ecosystem components, processes and benefits/ services that characterize a wetland at a given point in time”

The secretariat: It is based at the headquarters of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Gland, Switzerland.

Montreux Record

The Montreux Record is a register of wetland sites on the List of Wetlands of international importance where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference and therefore in need of priority conservation attention.

It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List.

TWO MONTREUX RECORD SITES IN INDIA

Loktak Lake (Manipur): Due to deforestation in the catchment area, infestation of water hyacinth and pollution. The construction of a hydroelectric power plant has caused the local extinction of several native fish species.

Keoladeo National Park: Water shortage and unbalanced grazing regime around it. The invasive growth of the grass and reducing its suitability for certain water-bird species, notably the Siberian Crane.

Current Affair 4:

Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS)

The ninth edition of the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) commenced on December 12 in Dehradun. This year, the summit was held under the following theme

Theme: Emerging Pathways for Building Resilient Post COVID-19 Mountain Economy, Adoption, Innovation and Acceleration.

Sustainable Mountain Development Summit is Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI)’s annual flagship event where we bring mountain concerns at the regional and national level as a part of our sustained effort to highlight priorities of Indian Himalayan Region in the development discourse of our country.

Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) is a civil society led network platform with the mission to mainstream concerns of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) and its people in the development dialogue of India.   It functions as a platform to integrate the knowledge and experiences of multiple stakeholders working across the IHR, and uses this to inform and influence policy at the national and state level.

 

Mountain Ecosystems in India and their significance

Himalayas are the major mountain ecosystem in India. Himalayas is one of the thirty-six world biodiversity hotspots. The report International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development says that the region encompassing Hindu Kush Himalayas holds more than 240 million people. It also says that more than 1.9 billion people depend on the Hindukush Himalayan region for food, water and energy. The region is also called “The Third Pole” as it stores more snow and ice as compared to any other region in the world.  Above all, more than 25% of world population are directly or indirectly dependent on Hindukush Himalayan region. Therefore, it is essential to conserve these mountains.

Current Affair 5:

What is ‘the great conjunction’?

Saturn and Jupiter have appeared fairly close together in our sky throughout the year. But on December 21, Saturn and Jupiter will appear so close together that some folks may have a difficult time seeing them as two objects.

If you have a pair of binoculars, you’ll easily be able to spot both planets. In even a small telescope, you’d see both planets at the same time in the same field of view, which is really unheard of. That’s what makes this conjunction so rare. Jupiter and Saturn appear to meet up about every 20 years. Most of the time, however, they’re not nearly as close together as we’re going to see them on Monday, December 21.

For a comparison, there was a great conjunction back in 2000, but the two planets were separated by about two full-Moon widths. This year, the orbits will bring them to where they appear to be about one-fifth of a full-Moon diameter.

The next time they will get this close together in our sky won’t be for another 60 years, so this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for many people.

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