News in Short

• India ranks seventh among countries most affected in 2019 by climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index, 2021, released by Germanwatch.
• In 2019, monsoon continued for a month longer than normal in India. From June to the end of September 2019, 110% of the long-period average was recorded.
• Flooding caused by heavy rain was responsible for 1,800 deaths across 14 states and led to the displacement of 1.8 million people.
• Globally, 11.8 million people were affected by intense monsoon with the economic damage estimated to be US $10 billion.
• Global warming is leading to an increase in the frequency of cyclones, melting of glaciers at much faster rates, and heatwaves.
• A majority of the Indian population is dependent on agriculture, which is being severely affected by the impact of climate change.

• Over a thousand large dams in India will be roughly 50 years old in 2025 and such aging structures across the world pose a growing threat, according to a UN report.
• Ageing signs include increasing cases of dam failures, progressively increasing costs of dam repair and maintenance, increasing reservoir sedimentation, and loss of a dam's functionality and effectiveness.
• The analysis includes dam decommissioning or ageing case studies from the USA, France, Canada, India, Japan, and Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
• The world is unlikely to witness another large dam-building revolution as in the mid-20th century, but dams constructed then will inevitably be showing their age.

• Late singer and music composer S.P. Balasubramaniam, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan have been conferred India’s second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan.
• The list includes singer K.S Chithra, former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Nripendra Misra, who are among the 10 recipients of the Padma Bhushan.
• The Padma Bhushan will be conferred posthumously to former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel, and Shia cleric Kalbe Sadiq.

• Colonel B. Santhosh Babu, Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar deployed in Galwan during Operation Snow Leopard and lost his life in the violent clash with Chinese troop, has been posthumously awarded Maha Vir Chakra (MVC), the second highest war time gallantry award.
• Five other personnel deployed there have been awarded Vir Chakra (VrC),  four of them posthumously — the third highest war time gallantry award.
• The President has approved awards of 455 gallantry and other defence decorations to the armed forces personnel and others on the eve of the 72nd Republic Day celebrations.

• India has successfully test-fired the new-generation Akash missile from an integrated test range off the Odisha coast.
• The Akash-NG (new-generation) missile will be used by the Indian Air Force to intercept high-manoeuvring low radar cross-section aerial threats.
• The Akash-NG system has been developed with better deployability compared to other similar systems. The test launch was carried out by a combined team of DRDO, BDL and BEL in the presence of the Air Force representatives.