Current Affairs

A push for reform

• UN General Assembly 75th session
• Need for internal reforms to suit the 21st century
• Structure of the 15-member Security Council
• UNSC’s five permanent members’ veto powers
• G4 countries - Brazil, Germany, India and Japan
• Unilateral declaration of war by USA & UK
• India’s election in June as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, obtaining 184 votes
• The General Assembly’s 122nd plenary meeting in 2008 decided to facilitate the reform process through the Inter-Governmental Negotiations framework (IGN) on equitable representation as well as expansion of the UNSC.
• Though the General Assembly’s adoption of a 2015 resolution to allow the IGN on the basis of a framework document generated some enthusiasm, it was dampened by the U.S., Russia and China being opposed to serious reform of the Council.
• The UN remains unreflective of the current trajectory, especially in the strategic and economic arenas.

Reject this inequitable climate proposal

• The UN Secretary General _____________ call for India to give up coal immediately and reduce emissions by 45% by 2030.
• De-industrialise the country and abandon the population to a permanent low-development trap.
• Make no new investment in coal after 2020
• Foundational principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• China and India - reduce their emissions by 45% by 2030
• UN Secretary General is quite aware that India, by any yardstick of reckoning, is punching at least on a par, if not above, its weight in responsibility and economic capacity in climate action.
• India’s track record –
  • Renewable energy programme is ambitious
  • Energy efficiency programme is delivering
  • At least 2° Celsius warming compliant climate action
  • On track to fulfilling their Paris Agreement commitments
  • India’s annual emissions, at 0.5 tonnes per capita, are well below the global average of 1.3 tonnes
• Cumulative emissions: India’s contribution by 2017 was only 4% for a population of 1.3 billion, whereas the European Union, with a population of only 448 million, was responsible for 20%.
• UNFCCC - 1990 and 2017 - developed nations (excluding Russia and east Europe) have reduced their annual emissions by only 1.3%.
• First World strategy - pressure the developing countries to bear the brunt of climate mitigation
• Multilateral or First World financial and development institutions – are forcing their agenda on to developing countries.
• UN Secretary General risks unravelling even the Paris Accord
• Manufacturing growth powered by fossil fuel-based energy is itself a necessity.
• Lacking production capacity in renewable energy technologies.

Need for caution

• The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is piloting the Sputnik V vaccine, has announced a partnership with the Hyderabad-based Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to conduct a Phase-3 trial, or large multi-location human trials here.
• RDIF would supply 100 million doses through its partnership with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
• Sputnik V is being developed as a two-dose vaccine on a human adenovirus vaccine platform.
• Results of the Phase-1 and Phase-2 trials - The Lancet - proven safe and efficacious enough to progress to the next stage of trials.
• Controversially, Sputnik V has been granted a pre-approval by Russia’s regulators even before Phase-3 trials have been completed.
• Immense political pressure on regulatory agencies
• Good practices and necessary protocols
• The Serum Institute has committed to producing 100 million doses of its vaccine for India and other ‘Low and Middle Income Countries’ at less than $3 per dose.
• All in all, there seems to be a guarantee for only about 150 million doses for India.
• India has the capabilities for vaccine manufacture, cold chain storage and distribution to ensure access to citizens — and the world — in reasonable time.
• But INDIA must not forget that vaccines must go through their inevitably long gestation to ensure that only those that are safe and efficacious make their way to the market.

For the welfare of animals

• For a country that claims adherence to ahimsa, India’s treatment of its animals betrays a moral failure.
• Over the past year alone, there have been reports of animals being subjected to sexual abuse, acid attacks, being thrown off rooftops, and being burnt alive.
• A major factor that enables such violence is an inept legal framework.
• The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 punishes the most serious forms of animal violence with a paltry fine of ₹50.
• Section 11 lists a series of offences, which vary from abandoning an animal to kicking it, mutilating it or killing it, and prescribes the same punishment for all these offences.
• Severe offences are treated on a par with less severe ones.
• This is a clear departure from established principles of penology.
• At present, a majority of the offences under the Act are non-cognisable, which means the police cannot investigate the offence or arrest the accused without the permission of a Magistrate.
• Though Section 11 criminalises several forms of animal cruelty, sub-section (3) carves out exceptions for animal husbandry procedures such as dehorning, castration, nose-roping, and branding.
• These procedures cause tremendous physical and psychological pain to animals.
• The law does not provide any guidelines for these procedures.
• In the absence of a clear statutory definition, we are leaving crucial questions of animal welfare to the subjective moral compass of judges.

NEWS

• Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigns in protest of Farmers' Produce Trade & Commerce Bill 2020
• Narendra Singh Tomar moves two farm sector legislations in Lok Sabha
• Covid-19 recovery rate improves to 78.64 per cent
• Need to focus on creating effective health systems for improved pandemic preparedness: Dr Harsh Vardhan
• New Delhi hopes that Chinese side will strictly respect & observe LAC: MEA
• India welcomes Abraham Accord between Israel, UAE, Bahrain & US
• 14.6 lakh Indians repatriated through different modes under VBM
• Nations need to come together to provide vital treatment to suppress Covid-19 transmission: UN Chief
• Trump Administration reveals plans to offer COVID-19 vaccine to all US citizen free of cost
• China again parries questions related to restoration of status quo of April 2020 along LAC in Eastern Ladakh
• Bangladesh gives special permission for export of Hilsa fish to India