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  • Dassault Rafale Fighter Jets

    The five Rafale fighter jets that landed in Ambala will resurrect the Number 17 Golden Arrows squadron of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:

    Q.What is “Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)”, sometimes seen in the news?

    (a) An Israeli radar system

    (b) India’s indigenous anti-missile programme

    (c) An American anti-missile system

    (d) A defence collaboration between Japan and South Korea

    Dassault Rafale

    (Refer image for specifications)

    • The state-of-the-art 4.5 Generation Rafale jet can reach almost double the speed of sound, with a top speed of 1.8 Mach.
    • With its multi-role capabilities, including electronic warfare, air defence, ground support and in-depth strikes, the Rafale lends air superiority to the Indian Air Force.

    Armed with modern arms

    • Each aircraft has 14 storage stations for weapons. The jets come with one of the most advanced Meteor air-to-air missiles.
    • The 190-kg missile has a Beyond Visual Range (BVR) of over 100 km, travelling at a top speed of Mach 4.
    • The Rafale jets also come with SCALP, the air-to-ground cruise missile with a range over 300 km. It is a long-range deep strike missile.
    • The MICA air-to-air missile on Rafale is for both, close-quarter dogfights, and for BVR.
    • IAF has also asked for HAMMER (Highly Agile and Manoeuvrable Munition Extended Range), which is an air-to-ground precision-guided missile that can be used against bunker-type hardened targets within the range of 70 km.

    What is so special about Rafale fighter jet?

    1. India in September 2016 inked a direct deal with the French government to purchase 36 new Rafale fighter jets in a 7.87 billion euro deal that is likely to bring major work to the Indian private sector in terms of offsets under the make in India policy.
    2. The Rafale deal for 36 jets includes over 3 billion euros of work for the Indian industry over the next 7-8 years.This has a huge potential to develop direct and indirect employment opportunities.
    3. High-end technology like engine know-how, major structural assembly is also likely in India, besides a chunk of avionics work.
    4. India will also get latest weapons like the Meteor and Scalp missiles as part of the contract, besides a 5 year support package that assures high availability of the fighter.
    5. India will pay a 15 % advance and deliveries are to start in three years.

    India Specific enhancements

    The Rafale deal caters to specific Indian air force needs. The fighter jet will be modified by France to meet the following:

    • Helmet mounted sights and targeting system to give the pilots lightening quick ability to shoot off weapons.
    • Ability to taken off from high altitude airbases like Leh on a ‘cold start’ – for quick reaction deployment
    • radar warning receiver to identify hostile tracking systems
    • A towed decoy system to thwart incoming missile attacks
    • French industrial support for fighter for 50 years

    VITAL Stats

    • 7.87 billion Euro: Deal cost. This includes weapon systems, five year support, training, infrastructure and warranties. 15% to be paid in advance.
    • 91.7 million euros: as per contract, if other costs like weapons, training etc not counted, per unit price of single seat Rafale is 91.7 million euros
    • 75 % availability: French side will ensure that at any given point, at least 75 percent of the fleet is combat worthy. Failing which, heavy penalities to be invoked.
    • 67 months delivery: All aircraft ordered to be delivered within 67 months with first one coming in by 36 months
    • 50% offsets: Indian industry to get major boost as French side will invest half of deal value in Make in India products or technology transfer. Indian Partners to be firmed up within a year.
    • 328 million Euros: Saved by negotiation efforts by the Indian side on the Rafale deal, according to defence ministry sources.
    • 28/8: according to deal, India to get 28 single seater jets and 8 twin seaters for training.

    For an edge over China

    • While China’s J20 Chengdu jets are called fifth-generation combat jets, compared to 4.5 generation Rafale, the J20 have no actual combat experience.
    • Whereas the Rafale is combat proven, having been used by the French Air Force for its missions in Afghanistan, Libya and Mali.
    • It has also been used for missions in Central African Republic, Iraq and Syria. Rafale can also carry more fuel and weapons than the J20.

  • HRD Ministry to be renamed as ‘Education Ministry’

    The Union Cabinet has approved the renaming of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) to the Ministry of Education to more clearly define its work and focus.

    Before reading this newscard, try this PYQ from CSP 2019:

    Q.The Ninth Schedule was introduced in the Constitution of India during the Prime Ministership of:

    (a) Jawaharlal Nehru

    (b) Lal Bahadur Shastri

    (c) Indira Gandhi

    (d) Morarji Desai

    A flip-back

    • With the renaming, the Ministry got back the name that it had started out with after Independence, but which was changed 35 years ago when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister.

    Who were some of India’s early Education Ministers?

    • The Ministry which was focussed on education from the primary classes to the level of the university was headed by some of the stalwarts of Indian politics in its early years.
    • For more than a decade after Independence, the Ministry was led by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
    • He was followed by Kalulal Shrimali and the eminent jurist M C Chagla, with the poet-educationist Humayun Kabir holding the portfolio for a short while in between.
    • Later Education Ministers of India included Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who went on to become President.
    • The last Education Minister of India was KC Pant, who served in the post in 1984-85, after which the name of the Ministry was changed.

    Under what circumstances did the Ministry of Education become HRD?

    • Upon becoming PM in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi, who had surrounded himself with a new crop of advisers, showed restlessness for change and innovation in a number of areas.
    • He accepted a suggestion that all departments related to education should be brought under one roof.
    • There was some opposition from academic circles who complained that the country no longer had a Department with ‘education’ in its name. Some newspapers wrote editorials criticizing the change of name.
    • But the decision had been made, and subsequently, in 1986, the government cleared a new education policy – the second in the country’s history, and one that was to survive until now.

    Under HRD roof

    • On September 26, 1985, the Ministry of Education was renamed as the Ministry of Human Resource Development, and P V Narasimha Rao was appointed Minister.
    • Related Departments such as those of Culture and Youth & Sports were brought under the Ministry of HRD, and Ministers of State were appointed.
    • Even the Department of Women and Child Development – which became a separate Ministry with effect from January 30, 2006 – was a Department under the Union HRD Ministry.

    Were changes made in the Ministry even afterwards?

    • Yes, changes were made from time to time. After Atal Bihari Vajpayee became PM in 1998, the government decided to separate the Department of Culture from the Ministry of HRD.
    • In October 1999, a new Ministry of Culture came into being, with the late Ananth Kumar in charge.
    • The Department of Youth too was separated from the Ministry of HRD, and Ananth Kumar was given charge of this new Ministry as well.
    • With these decisions of the Vajpayee government, the HRD Ministry remained ‘HRD’ only in name – for all practical purposes, it was back to being a ministry for education.

  • Digital divide in India

    The COVID-19 induced lockdown highlights India’s great digital divide.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q.What are the various facets of Digital Divide in India? Discuss how the Digital India initiative has impacted ruling out India’s digital divide?

    What is Digital divide?

    A digital divide is any uneven distribution in the access to, use of, or impact of information and communications technologies between any number of distinct groups, which can be defined based on social, geographical, or geopolitical criteria, or otherwise

    What are the implications of the digital divide?

    Political

    In the age of social media, political empowerment and mobilization are difficult without digital connectivity.

    Governance

    Transparency and accountability are dependent on digital connectivity. The digital divide affects e-governance initiatives negatively.

    Social

    Internet penetration is associated with greater social progress of a nation. Thus digital divide in a way hinders the social progress of a country.

    Rural India is suffering from information poverty due to the digital divide. It only strengthens the vicious cycle of poverty, deprivation, and backwardness.

    Economic

    The digital divide causes economic inequality between those who can afford the technology and those who don’t.

    Educational

    The digital divide is also impacting the capacity of children to learn and develop.
    Without Internet access, students can not build the required tech skills.

    Facets of the great Digital Divide in India

    • Education is just one area that has highlighted the digital divide between India’s rural and urban areas during the lockdown.
    • The trend is evident everywhere — telemedicine, banking, e-commerce, e-governance, all of which became accessible only via the internet during the lockdown.
    • The divide exists despite the rise in the number of wireless subscribers in India over the past few years.

    1) Telecom facility, not digital progression

    • According to a report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on June this year, the country had over 1,160 million wireless subscribers in February 2020, up from 1,010 million in February 2016.
    • This is a rise of 150 million subscribers in five years or 30 million per year.
    • The growth has been evenly distributed in urban and rural areas, with the number of urban subscribers increasing by 74 million (from 579 million to 643 million) and rural subscribers by 86 million (from 431 million to 517 million).
    • But this growth only indicates the rise in basic telecommunication facility.

    2) The Urban-Rural Divide

    • Services such as online classrooms, financial transactions and e-governance require access to the internet as well as the ability to operate internet-enabled devices like phones, tablets and computers.
    • Here the urban-rural distinction is quite stark.
    • According to the NSSO conducted between July 2017 and June 2018, just 4.4 rural households have a computer, against 14.4 per cent in an urban area.
    • It had just 14.9 per cent rural households having access to the internet against 42 per cent households in urban areas.
    • Similarly, only 13 per cent people of over five years of age in rural areas have the ability to use the internet against 37 per cent in urban areas.

    3) Regional Divide

    • States too greatly differ in terms of people that have access to computers or in the know-how to use the internet.
    • Himachal Pradesh leads the country in access to the internet in both, rural and urban areas.
    • Uttarakhand has the most number of computers in urban areas, while Kerala has the most number of computers in rural areas.
    • Overall, Kerala is the state where the difference between rural and urban areas is the least.

    4) Digital Gender Divide

    • India has among the world’s highest gender gap in access to technology.
    • Only 21 per cent of women in India are mobile internet users, according to GSMA’s 2020 mobile gender gap report, while 42 per cent of men have access. The report says that while 79 per cent of men own a mobile phone in the country, the number for women is 63 per cent.
    • While there do economic barriers to girls’ own a mobile phone or laptop, cultural and social norms also play a major part.
    • The male-female gap in mobile use often exacerbates other inequalities for women, including access to information, economic opportunities, and networking.

    5) Others

    • The earning member of the family has to carry the phone while going out to work.
    • Access to phones and the internet is not just an economic factor but also social and cultural.
    • If one family has just one phone, there is a good chance that the wife or the daughter will be the last one to use it.

    Programmes for Addressing the Challenges in Bridging the Digital Divide:

    India taking significant steps towards acquiring competence in information and technology, the country is increasingly getting divided between people who have access to technology and those who do not. 

      • The Indian government has passed Information Technology Act, 2000 to make to e- commerce and e-governance a success story in India along with national e-governance plan. 
      • Optical Fibre Network (NOF-N), a project aimed to ensure broadband connectivity to over two lakh (200,000) gram panchayats of India by 2016.
      • Digital Mobile Library: In order to bridge the digital divide in a larger way the government of India, in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Computing (C–DAC) based in Pune.
      • Unnati, is a project of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) which strives to bridge the digital divide in schools by giving the rural students with poor economic and social background access to computer education.
      • E-pathshala: to avail study materials  for every rural and urban student. 
      • Common Service Centres: which enabled the digital reach to unreachable areas. 

    Initiatives of State Government:

    • Sourkaryan and E–Seva: Project of the government of Andhra Pradesh to provides the facility for a citizen to pay property taxes online.
    • The Gyandoot Project: It is the first ever project in India for a rural information network in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh which has the highest percentage of tribes and dense forest. The project was designed to extend the benefits of information technology to people in rural areas by directly linking the government and villagers through information kiosks

    Way forward

    1.Infrastructure

    • The promotion of indigenous ICT development under Atmanirbhar Abhiyan can play a significant role. The promotion of budget mobile phones is the key.

    • The creation of market competition between service providers may make services cheaper.

    • Efficient spectrum allocation in large contiguous blocks should be
      explored.

    • We should also explore migration to new technologies like 5G. It would resolve some of the bandwidth challenges.

    2.Digital literacy

    • Digital literacy needs special attention at the school / college level.

    •  The National Digital Literacy Mission should focus on introducing digital literacy at the primary school level in all government schools for basic content and in higher classes and colleges for advanced content.

    • When these students will educate their family members, it will create multiplier effects. Higher digital literacy will also increase the adoption of computer hardware across the country.

    3.Language

    • State governments should pay particular attention to content creation in the Indian regional languages, particularly those related to government services.

    • Natural language processing ( NLP) in Indian languages needs to be promoted.

    4.Role of regulators

    • Regulators should minimize entry barriers by reforming licensing, taxation, spectrum allocation norms.

    • TRAI should consider putting in place a credible system. This system will track call drops, weak signals, and outages. It ensures the quality and reliability of telecom services.

    5.Cybersecurity

    • MeitY will need to evolve a comprehensive cybersecurity framework for data security, safe digital transactions, and complaint redressal.

    Telecom ombudsman

    • The government should also set up telecom ombudsman for the redress of grievances.

    Conclusion

    • The Standing Committee on Information Technology in January 2019 concluded that the digital literacy efforts of the government are far from satisfactory.
    • Clearly, internet penetration is not deep enough. At one level, we all recognise that the internet has become indispensable.
    • On another level, it still doesn’t have adequate attention of the decision-makers.
    • The most crucial need of the hour is to ensure uninterrupted internet services.

    Back2Basics: Digital India Initiatives

    • Over the past decade, governments have been trying to improve internet access in the country.
    • In 2011, the BharatNet project was launched to connect 0.25 million panchayats through an optical fibre (100 MBPS) and connect India’s villages. Its implementation began only in 2014.
    • In 2014, the government launched the National Digital Literacy Mission and the Digital Saksharta Abhiyan.
    • In 2015, the government launched several schemes under its Digital India campaign to connect the entire country.
    • This includes the PM Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan, launched in 2017, to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 60 million households.

  • What is the Gandhi-King Initiative?

    A Bill to promote Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr’s legacies has been passed in American Senate.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q. Discuss how the civil rights movement in America is paralleled by India’s freedom struggle under Mahatma Gandhi.

    Gandhi-King Initiative

    • The initiative is an exchange program between India and the U.S. to study the work and legacies of Gandhiji and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
    • It will establish annual scholar and student exchange programs for Indians and Americans to study the leaders’ legacies and visit historic sites in India and the U.S.
    • The visits will be relevant to India’s freedom struggle and the U.S.’s civil rights movement.

    Gandhi-King Global Academy

    • The bill also seeks to establish the Gandhi-King Global Academy, a conflict resolution initiative based on the principles of nonviolence.
    • It proposes the establishment of the United States-India Gandhi-King Development Foundation set up by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the GoI, organized under Indian law.
    • The Foundation, which has a proposed budget authorized of up to $ 30 million per year for five years through 2025.
    • It is tasked with administering grants to NGOs that work in health, pollution and climate change, education and empowerment of women.

  • [pib] Atal Innovation Mission launches ‘AIM-iCREST’

    NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), has launched AIM iCREST – an Incubator Capabilities enhancement program for a Robust Ecosystem, focused on creating high performing Startups.

    Note the following things about AIM-iCREST

    1) Meaning of the acronym as it gives the central idea of the initiative

    2) Aims and objective

    3) Technological partners

    AIM-iCREST

    • AIM iCREST, as the name suggests, has been designed to enable the incubation ecosystem and act as a growth hack for AIM’s Atal and Established incubators across the country.
    • Under the initiative, the AIM’s incubators are set to be upscaled and provided requisite support to foster the incubation enterprise economy that will help them to significantly enhance their performance.
    • This will be complemented by providing training to entrepreneurs, through technology-driven processes and platforms.
    • The program aims at going beyond incubator capacity building.  This is a first of its kind initiative for advancing innovation at scale in India.

    Various partners

    • AIM has joined hands with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation – organizations that can lend credible support and expertise in the entrepreneurship and innovation space.
    • These partnerships will provide global expertise and showcase proven best practices to the AIM’s incubator network.

    An initiative for incubators

    • India needs world-class incubators fostering world-class startups leveraging the tremendous innovation talent of our country.
    • For the first time in the Government, the Incubator capacity development program is being extended to the entire portfolio of supported Atal incubators.
    • This programme is unique also in its design – it is a combination of interactive practices in the field of incubation; enabling the incubators to support sustainable and successful startups.

    Back2Basics: Atal Innovation Mission

    • Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is NITI Aayog’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India
    • AIM has been established to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in a holistic manner through various initiatives at school, university and industry levels
    • The Atal Innovation Mission has thus two core functions:
    1. Innovation promotion: to provide a platform where innovative ideas are generated.
    2. Entrepreneurship promotion: Wherein innovators would be supported and mentored to become successful entrepreneurs at Incubation Centres.

  • The South Asian-Gulf Migrant Crisis

    The pandemic has exacerbated the plight of the migrant workers in the Gulf countries. This article examines the issue and suggests the ways to deal with it.

    Context

    • The Covid-19 exposed the precarious conditions of migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
    • Employers have used the crisis as an opportunity to retrench masses of migrant labourers without paying them wages or allowances.

    Impact of Covid-19

    • The South Asia-Gulf migration corridor is among the largest in the world.
    • The South Asian labour force forms the backbone of the Gulf economies.
    • The pandemic, the shutdown of companies, the tightening of borders, and the exploitative nature of the Kafala sponsorship system have all aggravated the miseries of South Asian migrant workers.
    • They have no safety net, social security protection, welfare mechanisms, or labour rights.
    • Now, thousands have returned home empty-handed from the host countries.
    • Indians constitute the largest segment of the South Asian workforce.
    • Gulf migration is predominantly a male-driven phenomenon.
    • A majority of the migrants are single men living in congested labour camps.
    • The COVID-19 spike in these labour camps has mainly been due to overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions.

    Nationalisation of labour in Gulf

    • Now, the movement for nationalisation of labour and the anti-migrant sentiment has peaked in Gulf countries.
    • Countries like Oman and Saudi Arabia have provided subsidies to private companies to prevent native lay-offs.
    • However, the nationalisation process is not going to be smooth given the stigma attached to certain jobs and the influence of ‘royal sheikh culture’.

    Challenges and solutions

    • The countries of origin are now faced with the challenge of rehabilitating, reintegrating, and resettling these migrant workers.
    • The Indian government has announced ‘SWADES’ for skill mapping of citizens returning from abroad.
    • But implementation seems uncertain.
    • Kerala, the largest beneficiary of international migration, has announced ‘Dream Kerala’ to utilise the multifaceted resources of the migrants.
    • Countries that are sending migrant workers abroad are caught between the promotion of migration, on the one hand, and the protection of migrant rights in increasingly hostile countries receiving migrants, on the other.

    Way forward

    • The need of the hour is a comprehensive migration management system for countries that send workers as well as those that receive them.
    • No South Asian country except Sri Lanka has an adequate migration policy.

    Conclusion

    The pandemic has given us an opportunity to voice the rights of South Asian migrants and to bring the South Asia-Gulf migration corridor within the ambit of SAARC, the ILO, and UN conventions.

    Original article:

    https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-south-asian-gulf-migrant-crisis/article32215146.ece

  • What is Green-Ag Project?

    The Union government has launched the Green-Ag Project in Mizoram, to reduce emissions from agriculture and ensure sustainable agricultural practices.

    Note the following things about Green-Ag Project:

    1)Core objective

    2)Implementing agencies

    3)Regions of Implementation

    Green-Ag Project

    • The Green-Ag project is designed to achieve multiple global environmental benefits in at least 1.8 million hectares (ha) of land in five landscapes, with mixed land-use systems.
    • It aims to bring at least 104,070 ha of farms under sustainable land and water management.
    • The project will also ensure 49 million Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) sequestered or reduced through sustainable land use and agricultural practices.

    Implementing agencies

    • The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility, while the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation, and Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW) is the national executing agency.
    • Other key players involved in its implementation are the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Environment Ministry (MoEF&CC).

    Regions of implementation

    The project has been launched in high-conservation-value landscapes of five States namely

    • Madhya Pradesh: Chambal Landscape
    • Mizoram: Dampa Landscape
    • Odisha: Similipal Landscape
    • Rajasthan: Desert National Park Landscape
    • Uttarakhand: Corbett-Rajaji Landscape

  • Ammonia Pollution in Yamuna River

    For the second time in a week, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) had to reduce water production capacity by 25 per cent after high levels of ammonia were detected in the Yamuna River.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2019:

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    1. Agricultural soils release nitrogen oxides into the environment.
    2. Cattle release ammonia into the environment.
    3. Poultry industry releases reactive nitrogen compounds into the environment.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 and 3 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 2 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    What is Ammonia and what are its effects?

    • Ammonia is a colourless gas and is used as an industrial chemical in the production of fertilizers, plastics, synthetic fibres, dyes and other products.
    • Ammonia occurs naturally in the environment from the breakdown of organic waste matter, and may also find its way to ground and surface water sources through industrial effluents or through contamination by sewage.
    • If the concentration of ammonia in water is above 1 ppm it is toxic to fishes.
    • In humans, long term ingestion of water having ammonia levels of 1 ppm or above may cause damage to internal organs.

    A cause of concern

    • The level of ammonia in raw Yamuna water was 1.8 parts per million (ppm).
    • The acceptable maximum limit of ammonia in drinking water, as per the Bureau of Indian Standards, is 0.5 ppm.

    Where does Ammonia come from?

    • Ammonia is produced for commercial fertilizers and other industrial applications.
    • Natural sources of ammonia include the decomposition or breakdown of organic waste matter, gas exchange with the atmosphere, forest fires, animal and human waste, and nitrogen fixation processes.

    How is it treated?

    • The DJB at present does not have any specific technology to treat ammonia.
    • The only solution it adapts is to reduce production at its water treatment plants.
    • In addition to this, the board mixes raw water that carries a high concentration of ammonia with a fresh supply.
    • The amount of chlorine added to disinfect raw water is also increased when high levels of ammonia are detected.

    What is the long-term solution to the problem?

    • Stringent implementation of guidelines against dumping harmful waste into the river, and making sure untreated sewage does not enter the water are two things pollution control bodies are expected to do.
    • But, a more organic method agreed upon by environmentalists and experts is to maintain a sustainable minimum flow, called the ecological flow.
    • This is the minimum amount of water that should flow throughout the river at all times to sustain underwater and estuarine ecosystems and human livelihoods, and for self-regulation.
    • The lack of a minimum ecological flow also means an accumulation of other pollutants.

  • Report of the All India Tiger Estimation 2020

    India’s tiger population has reached a new high at 2,367.

    Before reading this newscard, try these PYQs:

    1. The term ‘M-STrIPES’ is sometimes seen in the news in the context of: (CSP 2017)

    (a) Captive breeding of Wild Fauna

    (b) Maintenance of Tiger Reserves

    (c) Indigenous Satellite Navigation System

    (d) Security of National Highways

    Q.Consider the following protected areas: (CSP 2012)

    1. Bandipur
    2. Bhitarkanika
    3. Manas
    4. Sunderbans

    Which of the above are declared Tiger Reserves?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

    (c) 2, 3 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    All India Tiger Estimation

    MP-tops-country-with-526-tigers-as-per-All-India-Tiger-Estimation-2018
    • The tiger count is prepared after every four years by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) provides details on the number of tigers in the 18 tiger reign states with 50 tiger reserves.
    • However, this time, the census also included data collected from the rough terrains of north-eastern states which were not possible due to logistic constraints before.
    • The entire exercise spanned over four years is considered to be the world’s largest wildlife survey effort in terms of coverage and intensity of sampling.
    • Over 15, 000 cameras were installed at various strategic points to capture the movement of tigers. This was supported by extensive data collected by field personnel and satellite mapping.

    Details of the report

    • India has 70% of the world’s tigers, says the report.
    • Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of tigers at 526, closely followed by Karnataka (524) and Uttarakhand (442).
    • Chhattisgarh and Mizoram saw a decline in tiger population and all other States saw a “positive” increase, according to a press statement.

    Implementing CATS frameworks

    • India had embarked upon assessing management interventions through the globally developed Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS) framework.
    • This framework will now be extended to all fifty tiger reserves across the country.

    Back2Basics: Project Tiger

    • Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme launched in April 1973 during PM Indira Gandhi’s tenure.
    • In 1970 India had only 1800 tigers and Project Tiger was launched in Jim Corbett National Park.
    • The project is administrated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
    • It aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats, protecting them from extinction etc.
    • Under this project the govt. has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and funded relocation of villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.

  • Nutrition security along with food security

    • The “State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” was recently released.

    About the report

    • It is published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other UN agencies including the WHO.
    • The report estimated that 820 million people worldwide did not have enough to eat in 2018, up from 811 million in the previous year.
    • At the same time, the number of overweight individuals and obesity continue to increase in all regions.

    Highlights of the report

    • The number of people going hungry has risen for the third year running to more than 820 million. After decades of decline, food insecurity began to increase in 2015.
    • Africa and Asia account for more than nine out of ten of the world’s stunted children, at 39.5% and 54.9% respectively.
    • However at the same time, obesity and excess weight are both on the rise in all regions, with school-age children and adults affected particularly.

    India scenario

    • The number of obese adults in India has risen by a fourth in four years, from 24.1 million in 2012 to 32.8 million in 2016.
    • While India’s undernourished population has dropped by roughly the same fraction in 12 years, from 253.9 million in 2004-06 to 194.4 million in 2016-18.

    Compared with China

    • The report has a section on economic growth in China and India, and its effect on poverty.
    • Between 1990 and 2017, the two countries had an average GDP per capita growth rate of 8.6 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively, the report said, citing World Bank.
    • In both countries, the increase in GDP per capita has been accompanied by poverty reduction.