Important reports and Indices Flashcards

Question 1

Q

INdia development update

Question 2

Q

Gender Vulnerability Index

Answer

A

Plan India

Question 3

Q

Global Wage Report

Question 4

Q

Global education monitoring Report

Question 5

Q

HUman capital index

Answer

A

WB

Part of World Development Report

(Note: Global Human capital report is published by WEF. HUman capital index is published as a part of World Development report by WB )

Question 6

Q

Indian state of forest report

Answer

A

Forest survey of India

Question 7

Q

Gender Parity Index

Question 8

Q

The Least Developed Countries Report

Answer

A

United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD)

Question 9

Q

Gender Inequality Index

Question 10

Q

Transformation of aspirational districts

Answer

A

NITI Aayog

Question 11

Q

Global Nutrition Report

Question 12

Q

The Technology and Innovation Report

Answer

A

United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD)

Question 13

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FINANCIAL STABILITY REPORT

Question 14

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EASE OF LIVING INDEX (iNDIA)

Question 15

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World development report

Question 16

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Sustainable tourism in the Indian Himalayan region

Answer

A

NITI Aayog

Question 17

Q

Global Corruption Report

Answer

A

Transparency International

Question 18

Q

LOGISTIC EASE ACROSS DIFFERENT STATES INDEX

Answer

A

MIN OF COMMERCE

Question 19

Q

World Economic situation and Prospects Report

Answer

A

UNCTAD & UN–Department of Economic & SocialAffairs (UN–DESA)

Question 20

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World inequality index

Question 21

Q

Red data book

Answer

A

Botanical survey of india

Question 22

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EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT INDEX (INDIA)

Answer

A

MHRD + NATIONAL UNI OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND ADMIN

Question 23

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energy transition index

Question 24

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FDI Confidence Index

Answer

A

AT Kearney

Question 25

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Government at a Glance Report`

Question 26

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Gini index

Question 27

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World Press Freedom Index

Answer

A

Reporters Without Borders

Question 28

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Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: PiecingTogether the Poverty Puzzle

Question 29

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Better life index

Question 30

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Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of DecentWork Report

Question 31

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National ambient air quality standard

Question 32

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global environement performance index

Question 33

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COMPOSITE DISTRICT INFRA INDEX

Answer

A

MIN OF DEVELOPMENT OF NE REGION

Question 34

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World Health Statistics World Tuberculosis Report

Question 35

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Global Slavery Index

Answer

A

Walk Free foundation, Australia based HumanRights Group

Question 36

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Inclusive Wealth Report

Question 37

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Red Book

Question 38

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Global manufacturing index

Question 39

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An Economy for the 99%

Question 40

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Report : A Glass Half Full: The promise ofRegional Trade in South Asia

Question 41

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Information and Economy Report

Answer

A

United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD)

Question 42

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World of Work Report

Question 43

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Healthy states, progressive India report

Answer

A

NITI Aayog

Question 44

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CITY LIVEABILITY INEX

Question 45

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Logistics performance index

Question 46

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World‟s Women Report – Once in 5 years

Answer

A

UN–Department of Economic & Social Affairs (UN–DESA)

Question 47

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World Power Language Index

Question 48

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World trade outlook indicator

Question 49

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Global Report on Trafficking in Persons

Answer

A

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Question 50

Q

e–Participation Index e–Government Development Index

Answer

A

UN–Department of Economic & Social Affairs (UN–DESA)

Question 51

Q

India state level disease burden report

Answer

A

ICMR + Institute for health metrics and evaluation + Public health foundation of India

Question 52

Q

Inclusive development index

Question 53

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Ease of living index (global)

Question 54

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The Energy Report

Question 55

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World Drug Report

Answer

A

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Question 56

Q

Global innovation index

Answer

A

INSEAD + Cornell uni + WIPO

Question 57

Q

National Air quality index

Question 58

Q

Habitat Commitment Index

Answer

A

UN–Habitat

Question 59

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World Water Development Report

Answer

A

UN–water

Question 60

Q

Human Development Index (HDI)

Question 61

Q

Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) 2019Global Report

Question 62

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STATES’ START UP RANKING

Question 63

Q

State energy efficiency preparedness index

Answer

A

NITI + BEE

Question 64

Q

World economy outlook

Answer 28

A

NITI Aayog

Answer 29

A

US Chamber of Commerce

Answer 30

A

United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD)

Answer 31

A

WEF + AT Kearney

Answer 32

A

NITI Aayog

Answer 33

A

internet and Mobile Association of India

Answer 34

A

CENTRE OF EQUITY STUDIES, NEW DELHI

Answer 35

A

International Organisation for Migration (IOM)

Answer 36

A

WEF

(Note: Global Human capital report is published by WEF. HUman capital index is published as a part of World Development report by WB)

Answer 37

A

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Answer 38

A

German Watch and Climate Action NetworkEurope

Answer 39

A

UN–Habitat

Answer 40

A

NITI + DPIIT + CII

Answer 41

A

Bank for international settlements (BIS)

Answer 42

A

MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Answer 43

A

Oxfam India

Answer 44

A

German Watch

Answer 45

A

United Nations International TelecommunicationUnion (UN–ITU)

Answer 46

A

UNEP & INTERPOL

Answer 47

A

United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD)

Answer 48

A

United Nations Industrial DevelopmentOrganization (UNIDO)

Answer 49

A

United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD)

Answer 50

A

NITI + MHRD

Answer 51

A

UNDP, Oxford & Human Development Initiative

Answer 52

A

NiTI Aayog

Answer 53

A

United Nations International TelecommunicationUnion (UN–ITU)

Answer 54

A

Lancet Planetary Health Journal

Answer 55

A

published annually as part of a partnership between Concern Worldwide, Ireland’s largest aid and humanitarian agency and Welthungerhilfe.

Answer 56

A

High-income countries are not included
jointly released by IFPRI+ Concern Worldwide + Welthungerlife
GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best
score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst
GHI composition: 3 dimensions and 4 indicators
1. inadequate food supply=1/3
  - entire pop including children and adults
2. child mortality= 1/3
  - under-5 MR
3. child undernutrition= 1/3
  - wasting = 1/6
  - stunting = 1/6
  - goes beyond calorie availability and consider aspects of diet qlty and utilization
GHI values > 50: extremely alarming while <10: low

Answer 57

A

India has slipped seven places to rank 101 among 116 countries (94th out of 107 in 2020). The level of hunger in India was ‘serious’ according to the report.
It ranked fourth among South Asian countries.
Only 15 other countries ranked below India on the Index.
Bangladesh (76), Nepal (76) and Pakistan (92) have fared much better than India on the index.
India’s score on the Index in the recent two decades has declined by 10 points.
Globally, India ranked among the worst in ‘child wasting’ or ‘weight for height’. Its performance was worse than Djibouti and Somalia.
child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8 percent, the highest wasting rate of any country.
India’s child stunting rate, 37.9 percent, is also categorized as very high.
In India, just 9.6 percent of all children between 6 and 23 months of age are fed a minimum acceptable diet.
INdia’s response:
1. India came out strongly against the publishers of the annual Global Hunger Index over the questions of methodology and data sources
2. Global Hunger Report 2021 has lowered the rank of India on the basis of FAO estimate.
3. Terming the FAO methodology “unscientific”, India said that “the scientific measurement of undernourishment would require measurement of weight and height, whereas the methodology involved here is based on Gallup poll based on pure telephonic estimate of the population, on the results of a ‘four question’ opinion poll”.
4. Also, India said that the “report completely disregards the government’s massive effort to ensure food security of the entire population during the Covid period, verifiable data on which are available. respondents were not asked anything about food support received from government or other sources

Answer 58

A

Global Hunger is moving from Serious to Moderate: With a 2019 GHI score of 20.0, the level of hunger and undernutrition worldwide is on the cusp of the moderate and serious categories. This score reflects a decline of 31 percent since 2000, when the global GHI score was 29.0 and fell into the serious category.
Highest in South Asia and Africa South of the Sahara: South Asia and Africa South of the Sahara are the regions with the highest 2019 GHI scores, at 29.3 and 28.4 respectively, indicating serious levels of hunger.
Inequality within countries: Inequalities within country borders allow hunger and undernutrition to persist even in countries that appear to be doing well according to national averages.
Climate change as a threat: Countries with high GHI scores are often also highly vulnerable to climate change but have the least capacity to adapt; several countries with low GHI scores are the least vulnerable and most ready.

Answer 59

A

by United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction(UNDRR)

published biennially

Answer 60

A

Threat to Asia-Pacific: Asia Pacific region accounts for 40% of the global economic losses due to extreme climate changes, with the greatest impact in the largest economies of Japan, China, Korea and India.
Miniscule Investment: About $5.2 billion was spent on reducing disaster risk between 2005 and 2017, representing just 3.8% of total humanitarian spending - or less than $4 for every $100 spent. Economic losses to the extent of 4% of GDP annually are projected if countries don’t invest in DRR.
Human losses and asset losses relative to GDP tend to be higher in the countries with the least capacity to prepare, finance and respond to disasters and climate change
Disasters may exacerbate conflict by placing additional stressors on fatigued governance systems and fuelling existing divides.
Displacement of People: About 265 million people have been displaced by disasters since 2008, which is more than three times as many as those forced from their homes by conflicts and violence.

Answer 61

A

WB

EODB index is a part of Doing Business report published by WB

Answer 62

A

This is the 17th edition; inaugurated in 2003
report measures the performance of countries across 10 different parameters (covered in next card).
This time two more parameters were considered namely, employing workers and contracting with the government but these are not included in the score and rankings.
It ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF) score that highlights the gap of an economy with respect to the global best practice. For example, a score of 75 means an economy was 25 percentage points away from the frontier constructed from the best performances across all economies and across time.

Answer 63

A

Starting a Business,
Dealing with Construction permits,
Electricity availability,
Property registration,
Credit availability,
Protecting minority Investors,
Paying Taxes,
Trading across borders,
Contracts enforcement, and
Resolving Insolvency.

Answer 64

A

10 EoDB sectors + 2 newly introduced in report of 2020

Answer 65

A

India was placed at 63rd position this time (2019) out of 190 countries marking an improvement of 14 places from its 77th position in 2018.
India’s score improved from 67.23 in the previous year to 71.0 this year.
India for the third consecutive year was present in the list of 10 economies where the business climate has improved the most.
India’s ranking improved basically on four parameters:
1. Starting a Business- India made starting a business easier by fully integrating multiple application forms into a general incorporation form,
2. Dealing with Construction Permits- For example, building a warehouse cost around 4% of the warehouse value as compared to 5.7% in the previous year,
3. Trading across Borders- with a single electronic platform- improved electronic submission methods for documents and upgrades to port infrastructure, import and export process became easier, and
4. Resolving Insolvency- Recovery rate under resolving insolvency has improved significantly from 26.5% to 71.6%. Also, the time taken for resolving insolvency has also come down significantly from 4.3 years to 1.6 years.
India continues to maintain its first position among South Asian countries. It was 6th (in 2014). Though still far behind China (31st).
The World Bank will now include Kolkata and Bengaluru, besides Delhi and Mumbai, for preparing ease of doing business report, in order to provide a holistic picture of the business environment of the country.
country lags in key metrics such as “Starting a business (Rank-136)’, “Enforcing
contracts (Rank- 163)” and “Registering property (Rank- 154)”.

Answer 66

A

1st: New Zealand

Last: Somalia

Answer 67

A

Starting a Business (Rank-136)

India made starting a business easier by abolishing filing fees for the SPICe company incorporation form, electronic memorandum of association
also replaced the value added tax with the GST fr which regtn is faster

Construction Permits (Rank-27)

streamlined the process by strengthening professional certification requirements.
It also improved building quality control by introducing decennial liability and insurance.

Trading across borders (Ranking-68):

enabling post-clearance audits, integrating trade stakeholders in a single electronic platform, upgrading port infrastructures, electronic sealing of containers and enhancing the electronic submission of documents by digital sign

Resloving Insolvency: IBC amendments

DB 2020 cites India as an example of successful implementation of reorganization procedures to resolve insolvency. India’s successful implementation of IBC assumes significance as resolving insolvency was the least reformed area across the world.

Getting Credit (rank-25): by amending its insolvency law. Secured creditors are now given absolute priority over other claims within insolvency proceedings

Answer 68

A

UNESCAP and UNCTAD

Answer 69

A

launched in 1979, maps the competitiveness landscape of 141 economies through 103 indicators organised into 12 pillars, arranged in 4 categories:
1. Enabling Env: institutions, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability
2. Human Capital: health, skills
3. Markets: product market, labour market, the financial system, market size
4. Innovation System: business dynamism and innovation capability.
Since 2018, the GCI 4.0 methodology is used by the Global Competitiveness Report. The GCI 4.0 provides guidance on what matters for long-term growth.
A country’s performance on the overall GCI is reported as a ‘progress score’ on a 0-to-100 scale, where 100 represents the ‘frontier’, an ideal state where an issue ceases to be a constraint to productivity growth.

Answer 70

A

Singapore has overtaken the U.S. to become the most competitive nation in the world
on average, most economies continue to be far from the competitiveness “frontier”
Asia-Pacific is the most competitive region in the world, followed closely by Europe and North America.
In South Asia, Sri Lanka is the most improved country
China (28th) is the best performer among the BRICS countries. The Russian Federation ranks 43rd, South Africa is 60th, India is 68th and Brazil is ranked 71st.

Answer 71

A

Compared to last year, India has moved down 10 places to rank 68th. India was ranked 58th last year.
It is among the worst-performing BRICS nations along with Brazil (ranked even lower than India at 71st this year).
India ranks high in terms of macroeconomic stability and market size, while its financial sector is relatively deep and stable despite the high delinquency rate, which contributes to weakening the soundness of its banking system.
In innovation, India is well ahead of most emerging economies and on par with several advanced economies.
India ranks beyond 100th on five pillars and features in the top 50 of just four pillars.

Answer 72

A

States’ gross fiscal deficit (GFD) has remained within the FRBM threshold of 3% of SGDP during 2017-18 and 2018-19. SGs have regularly met their fiscal deficit target of 3% of the GDP (except during 2016-17), mainly on account of reducing their expenditure (mostly towards social & infrastructural sectors) and increasingly borrowing from the market.
• Outstanding debt of states has risen over the last five years to 25% of GDP in 2019 as compared to 22% in 2015, posing medium-term challenges to its sustainability.
• Committed expenditures are on the rising trend, driven by interest and pension payments. higher revenue expenditure (more than 80% of the total expenditure) and lower capital expenditure.
• There has been a decline in the share of conditional and tied transfers while unconditional or general purpose transfers have become more dominant form of transfers, thereby providing greater fiscal autonomy to the states.
Since 2014-15, states have increasingly borrowed money from the market, which has reduced the availability of funds for businesses to invest
States now spend one-and-a-half times more than the Union government and employ five times more people than the Centre. Not only do states have a greater role to play in determining India’s GDP than the Centre, they are also the bigger employment generators
Various cesses and surcharges, in which States’ have no share, are becoming a disproportionate portion of overall divisible revenue. This is against the spirit of fiscal federalism and financial devolution process.

Answer 73

A

titled “Children Food and Nutrition- Growing Well in a Changing World”

For the first time in 20 years, UNICEF’s flagship report examines the issue of children, food and nutrition

report talks about the triple burden of malnutrition- under nutrition,
hidden hunger and overweight.

Answer 74

A

Triple burden of Malnutrition

Undernutrition:
1. Stunting:
  - 149mn children under 5 stunted
  - number of stunted children has declined in all continents, except in Africa
2. Wasting:
  - 50mn children under5 wasted
  - Contrary to common belief, most wasted children around the world live in Asia and not in emergency settings
HIdden hunger: lack of vitamins and minerals which harms children and women
- At least 1 in 2 children with hidden hunger
- over 340 mn children suffering frm deficiencies of essential micro-nutrients
- Iron-deficiencies reduces children’s ability to learn and iron deficiency
  anaemia increases women’s risk of death during or shortly after childbirth
Overweight: can lead to early onset of type-2 diabetes, stigmatization and
depression, and is a strong predictor of adult obesity
- 40 mn chldren under-5 overweight
- number of overweight children has increased in all continents,
  including in Africa
At the center of this challenge is a broken food system that fails to provide children with the diets they need to grow healthy. Food systems are becoming more complex
CC, urbanization and Globalisation are profoundly altering how and what children eat:
- 77% of processed food sales worldwide are controlled by just 100 large firms
- In cities, many poor children live in ‘food deserts’, facing an absence of healthy food options, or in ‘food swamps’, confronted with an abundance of high-calorie, low-nutrient, processed foods

Answer 75

A

Economic Intelligence unit

Answer 76

A

According to the report, the overall environment for financial inclusion has improved globally with India, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Mexico having the most favourable conditions for inclusive finance.
Within the overall framework for promoting digital financial inclusion, the report identified four basic enablers –
- allowing non-banks to issue e-money
- presence of financial service agents
- proportionate customer due diligence
- effective financial consumer protection
The report says, in India, regulations control for some of the risks inherent in digital financial services, and clear rules mark out spaces appropriate for innovation to achieve greater financial inclusion.

Answer 77

A

Learning Poverty is defined as the percentage of 10-year-olds who cannot read and understand a simple story.
WB estimates that 53% of children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read and understand a simple story by the end of primary school.
report has targeted to reduce by at least half the share of 10-year old who cannot read by 2030. Recommendations:

clear goals, means, and measures for literacy
assessment systems: proper design, implementation, documentation, and dissemination of results
Improving teacher quality
Role of families and communities: creating the right environment for learning
Multi sectoral approach: eg. better water and sanitation, health and nutrition etc.
Availability of quality, age-appropriate reading materials
Significance of home language
Redefining skill sets with the changing trends

Answer 78

A

introduced by WEF in 2006
four thematic Dimensions:
- Economic participation and Opportunity
- Educational attainment
- Health and Surviva;
- Political empowerment
2020 report, in addition to above four dimensions also examines gender gap prospects in the professions of the future.

Answer 79

A

World has closed 68.6% of its gender gap and at the current rate of change, it will take 99.5 years to close the overall gender gap. This is a marked improvement on the 108 years in the 2018 index.
Political Empowerment: It has the largest gender disparity with women in 2019 holding just 25.2% of parliamentary (lower-house) seats and 21.2% of ministerial positions.
- But it is also the most improved dimension this year
- This can be attributed to the “Role model effect” which may be reaping dividends in terms of leadership and wages
Economic Participation and Opportunity: It has the second-largest gap. It is the only dimension where progress has regressed. At this rate it will take 257 years to close this gap. The report highlights three primary reasons:
- Automation: women have greater representation in roles that are being automated
- Less representation in tech-driven profession
- other usual factors: Women spend at least twice as much time on care and voluntary work, lack of access to capital prevents women from pursuing entrepreneurial activity
Educational Attainment and Health and Survival: Progress in bridging both of these gaps are more advanced. Gender parity in the Health and survival gender gap has been already fully achieved in 40 countries.

Answer 80

A

India slipped four places to 112th rank and has closed two- thirds of its overall gender gap (score of 66.8%).
While India has improved in political empowerment, it has fallen in other three indicators.
India is the only country among the 153 countries studied where the economic gender gap is larger than the political one.
Only one-third of the Economic gap has been bridged. This can be attributed to below facts-
- Only one-quarter of women, compared with 82% of men, engage actively in the labour market.
- The female estimated earned income is mere one-fifth of the male income (among the world’s lowest).
- Women representation on company boards is also very low (13.8%).
Widening of Health and survival gap is mainly due to abnormally low sex ratios at birth in India (91 girls for every 100 boys), violence against women, forced marriages and discrimination in access to health
trend is more positive in terms of gender gaps in education.
- From primary to tertiary education, the share of women attending school is systematically larger than the share of men.
- However only 66% of women are literate compared with 82% of men

Answer 81

A

The greatest challenge preventing the economic gender gap from closing is women’s under-representation in emerging roles.

Report finds that even in countries where education attainment is relatively high, women’s skills are not always in line with those required to succeed in the professions of the future like AI, engineering and cloud computing.
In cloud computing, just 12% of professionals are women. Similarly, in engineering and Data and AI, the numbers are 15% and 26% respectively.

Answer 82

A

Inter-government panel on BD and Ecosystem services (IPBES)

Answer 83

A

UNEP

It is an annual science-based assessment of the gap between countries pledge on greenhouse gas emissions reductions and the reduction required to deliver global temperature increase below 2 degree Celsius by the end of this century.

Emissions Gap Report measures and projects three key trendlines:
o The amount of greenhouse gas emissions every year up to 2030
o The commitments countries are making to reduce their emissions and the impact these commitments are likely to have on overall emission reduction
o The pace at which emissions must be reduced to reach an emission low that would limit temperature increase to 1.5oC, affordably

Answer 84

A

The top four emitters (China, USA, EU and India) contribute to over 55 per cent of the total emissions over the last decade, excluding emissions from land-use change such as deforestation.
China, the EU28, India, Mexico, Russia and Turkey are projected to meet their targets with current policies. India, Russia and Turkey are projected to be ‘over perform’ their targets by around 15 percent.
In 2018, the world emitted a record high of 55.3 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent of GHG, up from the previous record of 54 gigatonnes set in 2017.
Report warns that the world has to cut its emissions by 7.6 per cent each year between 2020 and 2030 to get on track towards the 1.5°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
○ Report says collective ambition in NDCs must increase more than fivefold over current levels to deliver the cuts needed over the next decade for the 1.5°C goal.

Answer 85

A

by Deptt of consumer Affairs

tests conducted through BIS

findings:

Tests were conducted on various parameters such as Organoleptic and Physical Tests, Chemical test, Toxic substances and Bacteriological tests

A vast majority of the samples have failed to comply with the requirements of Indian Standard (IS) 10500:2012 in one or more parameters
Delhi has abysmal water quality, Chennai and Kolkata rank very low, and Mumbai is the only city with acceptable results.

Answer 86

A

by India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF)

Answer 87

A

WB

Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency and Clean Transportation made up 66% of all Green Bond commitments by World Bank.

Answer 88

A

index ranks 140 global cities based on their living conditions.

assesses which locations provide the best living conditions.

survey rates cities worldwide based on 30 qualitative and quantitative criteria, which fall into five general categories:

Stability
Health care.
Culture and environment.
Education
Infrastructure

Answer 89

A

topped by Vienna (Austria) for the second consecutive year

Answer 90

A

New Delhi has dropped by six places to rank 118th on the list.

Mumbai also fell two places since last year to rank 119th.

Reasons for decline in liveability in Indian cities:

Abuses against journalists.

Rise in Crime rates.

Climatic changes.

Constrained liveability conditions.

Answer 91

A

Covers 140 economies.

The study scores countries on four indicators — enabling environment; travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions; infrastructure; natural and cultural rankings.

Answer 92

A

Performance of India:

India is ranked 34, up six places from 2017.
India’s highest improvement was in enabling environment, by 10 places to 98.
The least improvement is in infrastructure as well as in natural and cultural rankings, by just three places each, but India’s rank was already high in the latter.

Global performance:

Spain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States are the world’s most travel-ready nations.

Answer 93

A

by Min of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

to assess the Status of Governance and impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and UTs. to provide quantifiable data to compare the state of governance in all states and UTs.
takes into consideration ten sectors: agri, env, health, public infra, commerce, HRD, judicial and public security, social welfare and dev, economic governance and citizen centric governance.
states and UTs are divided into three groups: a) Big States, b) North-East & Hill States and c) UTs.

Answer 94

A

Big States category: Tamil Nadu has topped followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
North-East and Hill States category: Himachal Pradesh ranked first, followed by Uttarakhand, Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim.
UTs: Puducherry topped followed by Chandigarh and Delhi.

Answer 95

A

Transparency International

ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption.
uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean

Answer 96

A

Global:

More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.
Denmark and New Zealand are at the top spot, followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland in the top ten.
Somalia is ranked last, preceded by South Sudan and Syria.

India: slipped two positions to the 80th rank, while its score remained steady at 41.

Answer 97

A

Tranparency International

Answer 98

A

Economic Intelligence UNit

based on
- electoral process and pluralism,
- functioning of government,
- political participation,
- political culture and
- civil liberties.
Based on the scores (on a scale of 0-10) on a range of indicators within these categories, it classifies a particular country as one of four types of regime:
o full democracy (22 countries)
o flawed democracy (54 countries)
o hybrid regime (37 countries)
o authoritarian regime (54 countries)

Answer 99

A

global

Norway topped the index, while North Korea was at the bottom.

India

India dropped 10 places in the Democracy Index’s global ranking to 51st place. India’s overall score fell from 7.23 in 2018 to 6.90 in 2019.
• Index categorises India under “flawed democracies”.
o These are countries that hold free and fair elections and where basic civil liberties are respected, but have significant weaknesses in aspects of democracy, such as problems in governance, an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation.

Answer 100

A

survey was conducted by Nutrition International in collaboration with the AIIMS and the Indian Coalition for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD).

survey tested the iodine content in samples of cooking salt from households to estimate the coverage of iodised salt.

Iodised salt is salt with at least 15 parts per million of iodine.

Answer 101

A

Gujarat produces 71% of salt in the country, followed by Rajasthan at 17% and Tamil Nadu at 11%.

76.3% of Indian households consumed adequately iodised salt.

Tamil Nadu (61.9%) has the lowest consumption of iodized salt despite being the third biggest producer of salt in the country. followed by Andhra Pradesh (63.9%), Rajasthan (65.5%), Odisha (65.8%) and Jharkhand (68.8%).

Salt-producing States have access to common (or non-iodised) salt and, therefore, they start consuming it since it is readily available.

Only 13 out of 36 States have achieved Universal Salt Iodisation or have 90% of households with access to adequately iodised salt.

Answer 102

A

released at COP14 to UNCCD

Answer 103

A

launched in 2020
initiative of MHRD
ARIIA considers all major indicators which are commonly used globally to rank most innovative education institutions/ universities in the world.
More than quantity, ARIIA will focus on quality of innovations and will try to measure the real impact created by these innovations nationally and internationally.
ARIIA 2021 primarily focusses on 9 main parameters:

Developing an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset through a series of activities.
Teaching and learning: Academic programmes related to innovation and entrepreneurship (I & E) and IPR offered by the HEI.
Dedicated infrastructure and facilities to promote innovation and entrepreneurship at HEI.
Generation of innovations/ ideas with the support of HEI and recognition received.
Ventures established with the support of the HEI and recognitions received.
Angel and VC fund/investment mobilized to support innovation and startups incubated at HEI, Promotion of collaboration for and co-creation of I&E initiatives.
Intellectual Property (IP), generation and commercialization.
Annual budget on promoting and supporting I&E activities: Total expenses towards I&E and IPR support activities, total revenue generated by HEI from incubation services to startups and commercialization of IP and innovations.
Participation of HEI in I&E initiative of MOE.

ARIIA 2021 classifies participating institutions into two major categories; technical and non-technical. Further, these rankings have been divided into seven sub-categories.

Publicly Funded Institutions: Sub Categories:
1. Institute of National Importance, Central Universities and Centrally Funded Technical Institutes.
2. State University & Deemed Universities (Government & Government. Aided)
3. Government & Government. Aided colleges/institutes
Private or Self- Financed Institutions: Sub categories:
1. Private or Self- Financed Universities.
2. Private or Self- Financed College/Institutes.
3. CFIs and General (non-technical)

Answer 104

A

Food and Land use Coalition (FOLU), a collaboration of food, farming and green research groups

These are the leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions (up to 30 per cent) driving CC
current methods of food production, consumption and land use systems incur ‘hidden’ environmental, health and poverty costs estimated at almost $12 trillion a year.
If action is not taken timely the costs will rise to more than $16 trillion a year by 2050.
It will also put the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Agreement climate targets out of reach.
an estimated $30 billion public investment is required to deliver the transition

Answer 105

A

Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

A data of several international migrants by origin, age and sex for all countries and areas are included in the report.

Answer 106

A

India is the leading country of origin of international migrants in 2019 with a 17.5 million-strong diaspora.
The number of migrants globally reached an estimated 272 million.
After India, Migrants from Mexico makes the second largest diaspora (11.8 million), followed by China , Russia , Syria , Bangladesh, Pakistan
In Europe, 82 million migrants were settled there, followed by North America (59 million) and North Africa and Western Asia (49 million).
USA is hosting the largest number of international migrants (51 million) while Saudi Arabia (13 million), Russia (12 million), England (10 million), France (8 million) and Italy (6 million) are also holding the large numbers of migrants.

Answer 107

A

published by India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative.

refer Sept week 3

Answer 108

A

produced by the IMD World Competitiveness Center
started in 2017
measures the capacity and readiness of 63 economies to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver for economic transformation in business, government and wider society.
examines three factors:
1. Knowledge: the capacity to understand and learn the new technologies;
2. technology: the competence to develop new digital innovations; and
3. future readiness: the preparedness for the coming developments.

Answer 109

A

India rose from 48th place in 2018 to 44th rank this year. In knowledge factor, India fared best in graduates in sciences and R&D productivity by publication.
US was ranked as the world’s most digitally competitive economy, followed by Singapore in the second place.
Sweden was ranked third on the list, followed by Denmark and Switzerland in the 4th and 5th place, respectively.
largest jump in the overall ranking was registered by China, moving from 30th to 22nd, and Indonesia, from 62nd to 56th.
Many Asian nations showed significant growth from last year in digital competitiveness, as Hong Kong and South Korea entered the top 10 for the first time

Answer 110

A

State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index

released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

rating has been designed collaboratively by MNRE, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF), ASSOCHAM and Ernst and young (EY)

Karnataka has emerged as the best state; Telangana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh come next in the rankings but all four have been graded A++.

Answer 111

A

by TRAFFIC

findings:

India, with the world’s largest wild tiger population, topped in the trafficking of tigers and tiger body parts

Answer 112

A

released by America based Freedom House, a US based watchdog.

top-3: Finland, Norway, Sweden

year 2019 was the 14th consecutive year of decline in global freedom

India at 83rd position along with Timor-Leste and Senegal among the bottom five of “free democracies”.
India witnessed the worst score decline among the world’s 25 largest democracies.
India’s overall score declined from 75 in 2019 to 71 in 2020, with civil liberties taking the biggest hit.
report treats Kashmir as a separate territory, downgraded the Union territory’s status from “partly free” to “not free” due to the Indian government’s abrupt revocation of Article 370 in August.

Answer 113

A

pushed India down four points from last year, bringing its score from 71 to 67.

This demoted the country from being a “free” to a “partially free” country.

Answer 114

A

first Gender Social Norms Index was recently released by UNDP

Answer 115

A

This index measures how social beliefs obstruct gender equality in areas like politics, work, and education, and contains data from 75 countries, covering over 80 percent of the world’s population.

Answer 116

A

close to 90 percent of men and women hold some sort of bias against women.
Almost half of those polled feel that men are superior political leaders.
More than 40 per cent believe they make better business executives and are more entitled to jobs when the economy is lagging.
28 per cent think it is justified for a man to beat his wife.
while men and women vote at similar rates, only 24 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide are held by women and there are only 10 female heads of government out of 193 Member States.

Answer 117

A

UN – Sustainable Development Solutions Network(SDSN)

Answer 118

A

eighth World Happiness Report
for the first time ranks cities around the world by their subjective well-being and digs more deeply into how the social, urban and natural environments combine to affect our happiness.
Finland is the world’s happiest nation for the third year running.
Nordic states dominated the top 10, along with countries such as Switzerland, New Zealand and Austria.
India is at 144th

Answer 119

A

an indicator of business activity — both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
It is a survey-based measures that asks the respondents about changes in their perception of some key business variables from the month before.
It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is constructed.
A figure above 50 denotes expansion in business activity. Anything below 50 denotes contraction.
Higher the difference from this mid-point greater the expansion or contraction.

Answer 120

A

US think-tank Freedom House.

report’s methodology is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948.

Freedom in the World assesses the real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals, rather than governments or government performance per se.

Countries are declared as “free”, “partly free” or “not free”.

parameters:

Electoral Process.
Political Pluralism and Participation.
Functioning of Government.
Freedom of Expression and Belief.
Associational and Organizational Rights.
Rule of Law.
Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights.

Answer 121

A

Freedoms in India have reduced resulting in India being classified as ‘partly free’.

India’s score was 67, a drop from 71/100 from last year downgrading it from the free category last year.

Reasons for the downgrade:

The government and its State-level allies continued to crack down on critics during the year.
attacks on press freedom have escalated dramatically
Security, defamation, sedition and contempt of court laws have been used to quiet critical media voices.

Answer 122

A

U.S. dropped three points over one year, down to 83/100.

China, classified as ‘not free’, dropped a point from last year going down to 9/100.

Pointing to a decline in global democracy over the last 15 years, the report said that nearly 75% of the world’s population lived in a country that faced deterioration over the last year.

The most free countries in the world, with a score of 100, are Finland, Norway and Sweden, while the least free with a score of 1 are Tibet and Syria.

Answer 123

A

MoHUA
evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development.
EoL framework:
- four components
  - Quality of life-35%- edu, health, housing, WASH, mobility, safety and recreation
  - economic ability- 15%- level of econ dev, econ opportunities
  - sustainabiity-20%- env, green space and buildings, energy consumption, city resilience
  - citizen preception survey-30%
- categorises cities into- Million+ and less than a Million
- includes all cities under Smart cities programme

Answer 124

A

Million+ category: Bengaluru emerged as the top performer followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai

In the Less than Million category: Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore

Answer 125

A

MoHUA
evaluate the complexities in local governance practice and promote the ethos of transparency and accountability.
examined the sectoral performance of 111 municipalities across five verticals which comprise of 20 sectors and 100 indicators in all totality.
1. services
2. finance
3. policy
4. technology
5. governance

cities are categorised into Million+ and Million-, just like EoLI

Answer 126

A

Million+: INdore, Surat, Bhopal

Million-: New Delhi MC, Tirupati, Gandhinagar

Answer 127

A

12 Indian Institutions have secured positions in top 100
IIT Madras has been ranked 30th in the world for Petroleum Engineering
IIT Bombay has been ranked 41st and IIT Kharagpur has been ranked 44th in the world for Minerals and Mining Engineering,
University of Delhi has been ranked 50th in the world for Development Studies.

Answer 128

A

by The Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations

It compares citizens own perceptions of their well-being in 153 countries.

ranks countries taking into consideration six variables:

GDP Per Capita (Purchasing Power Parity)
Social Support
Healthy life expectancy at birth
Freedom to make life choices
Generosity
Perceptions of corruption

Answer 129

A

focuses on the effects of Covid-19 and how people all over the world have fared

Despite COVID pandemic crisis, there has been no major change in the rankings of the countries compared to the previous data.

Unemployment during the pandemic is associated with a 12% decline in life satisfaction and a 9% increase in negative affect.

Finland remains the happiest country in the world.

Afghanistan, Zimbawe and Rwanda were in the bottom three

Answer 130

A

India has ranked 139 India’s rank in 2020 was 144.

India’s Neighbours: Pakistan-105, Bangladesh-101 China-84.

Answer 131

A

by WEF

four dimensions:

Economic Participation and Opportunity,
Educational Attainment,
Health and Survival and
Political Empowerment.

Over the Index, the highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest possible score is 0 (inequality).

Answer 132

A

For the 12th time, Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world. followed by Finland, Norway and New Zealand
Many countries have fared worse in this year’s rankings compared to last year’s, on account of economic performance.
gender gap in political empowerment remains the largest: women represent only 26.1 per cent of some 35,500 parliament seats and just 22.6 per cent of over 3,400 ministers worldwide. In 81 countries, there has never been a woman head of state

Answer 133

A

Overall Ranking: India has fallen 28 places- it is now ranked 140 among 156 countries.
Among Neighbours: It is now one of the worst performers in South Asia, trailing behind neighbours Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Political empowerment: India has declined on the political empowerment index as well by 13.5 percentage points.
In the index of education attainment, India has been ranked at 114.
India has fared the worst on “Health and Survival”, which includes the sex ratio, and economic participation of women.
The estimated earned income of women in India is only one-fifth of men’s, which puts the country among the bottom 10 globally on this indicator.

Answer 134

A

BN ranked 65th; INdia 140th
gender parity achieved: 72% by BN and 62.5% by India
BN 7th in political empowerment. BN is “the only country where more women have held head-of-state positions than men in the past 50 years.

Answer 135

A

flagship report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

India accounts for over one-sixth of the world’s population in 2019 (1.37 billion out of 7.71 billion)
It has grown at a rate (1.2% per year between 2010 and 2019) that is just over the world growth rate (1.2%)
India’s life expectancy at birth is lower than the world’s (69 years to 72).
It scores higher than the global average in terms of access to healthcare during childbirth, and also has a much lower adolescent birth rate.
India’s maternal mortality ratio in 2015 was 174 deaths per lakh live births (down from 448 in 1994) while the global MMR in 2015 was 216.
India’s fertility rate in 2019 is 2.3 births per woman, compared to 2.5 worldwide.

Answer 136

A

by NGO World Vision India and research institute IFMR LEAD
About the index:
1. provides insights on health, nutrition, education, sanitation and child protection.
2. The dimensions of the index include healthy individual development, positive relationships and protective contexts.
Key findings:
1. Kerala, TN, HP and Puducherry topped the charts.
2. Meghalaya, JH and MP featured at the bottom.
3. The data shows that even states that are performing best in overall child well-being, are not doing so well in indicators of health.

Answer 137

A

part of the Global Childhood Report released by Save the Children, a nonprofit that works for child rights.
India eranks 113 out of 176

Answer 138

A

by UNEP

In contrast to the Food Loss Index, the Food Waste Index measures total food waste (rather than loss or waste associated with specific commodities).

Answer 139

A

17% of all food available at consumer level (11% in households, 5% in food service and 2% in retail) was wasted in 2019 and around 690 million people had to go hungry.

around 931 million tonnes of food waste was generated in 2019. 61% of which came from households, 26% from food service and 13% from retail.

Food waste generation is found to be equally relevant across all income countries such as high, upper‑middle and lower‑middle income countries.

Developed Countries like Austria produce very low amounts of waste at 39 kg/capita/year. On the other hand, countries like Nigeria are producing waste at 189 kg/capita/year. This diverges from earlier narratives concentrating consumer food waste in developed countries, and food production, storage and transportation losses in developing countries.

Answer 140

A

For Indian homes, the waste in kg/capita/year was 50.

Answer 141

A

NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research) has released India’s first land records and services index, which evaluates the quality of land records in the country and the extent of their digitalization.
covers two aspects of the supply of land records: extent of digitalization and quality of land records.
1. first component, which aims to assess whether a state has made all its land records digitally available, has three dimensions—the text of the land records (also called the record of rights), the official map associated with a land , and the property registration process.
2. second component of the Index aims to assess if the land records are comprehensive and reliable–are ownership details updated as soon as a sale occurs, the extent of joint ownership, type of land use, land area on the record and on the map, and are encumbrances being recorded.
Established in 1956, NCAER is India’s oldest and largest independent, non-profit, economic policy research institute

Answer 142

A

M.P., West Bengal, Odisha top in land records digitisation in 2021 report
Bihar’s jump from the 23rd to 8th position in the index by making substantial progress in the digitisation of maps, textual records and registration process.
existing challenges:

lack of skilled manpower in land record departments in states
lack of effective integration across land records departments. eg. revenue department as the custodian of textual records, the survey and settlement department managing the spatial records and the registration department managing regtn
no state/UT has the provision for online mutation (updating ownership as the result of the registration of a transaction) on the same day as the registration.
weak linkage betn revenue deptt and survey and settlement deptt creating divergence between the land area reported by the textual and spatial record, enhancing the chances of legal disputes

Answer 143

A

NITI aayog + MoSPI+Global Green Growth Institute and United Nations in India
features:
1. index documents the progress made by India’s States and Union Territories towards achieving the 2030 SDG targets.
2. launched in 2018
3. SDG India Index computes goal-wise scores on the 16 SDGs for each State and Union Territory.
4. These scores range between 0–100, and if a State/UT achieves a score of 100, it signifies it has achieved the 2030 targets.
5. States and Union Territories are classified in four categories based on their SDG India Index score: Aspirant (0–49), Performer (50–64), Front-Runner (65–99), Achiever (100).

Answer 144

A

SDG India Index 2020–21 is more robust than the previous editions on account of wider coverage of targets and indicators with greater alignment with the National Indicator Framework (NIF).

The 115 indicators incorporate 16 out of 17 SDGs, with a qualitative assessment on Goal 17 , and cover 70 SDG targets.

marine ecosystems is for coastal states only, and scores on this one were not counted in the composite total.

This is an improvement over the 2018–19 and 2019–20 editions of the index, which had utilised 62 indicators across 39 targets and 13 Goals, and 100 indicators across 54 targets and 16 Goals, respectively.

Answer 145

A

country’s overall SDG score improved by 6 points - from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020–21.
India saw significant improvement in the SDGs related to clean energy, urban development and health in 2020.
However, there has been a major decline in the areas of industry, innovation and infrastructure as well as decent work and economic growth.
The Index shows some improvement in the SDG on inequality, but a look at the indicators used to assess this goal shows that the think tank has changed the goalposts.
It gives greater weightage to social equality indicators such as the percentage of women and SC/ST representatives in State legislatures and the Panchayati raj institutions, and the levels of crime against SC/ST communities.
The only economic indicator this year is the percentage of population in the lowest two wealth quintiles. The SDGs that do deal directly with wages and industrial growth better reflect the fact that India’s economy has taken a beating over the last year. But these are not acconted in this yr’s index
The Clean Water and Sanitation SDG also saw a five-point drop, despite flagship government schemes in this sector.
SDGs on eradication of poverty and hunger both saw significant improvement.

Answer 146

A

Currently, there are no states in the aspirant and achiever category; 15 states/UTs are in the performer category and 22 states/UTs in the front runner category.

Kerala retained its position at the top of the rankings (HP 2nd) in the third edition of the index, with a score of 75, followed by Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, both scoring 72.

At the other end of the scale, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing States. However, all States showed some improvement from last year’s scores, with Mizoram and Haryana seeing the biggest gains.

Answer 147

A

by Min of Education
PGI is a tool to grade all States and UTs on their performance across 70 indicators on school education.
First published in 2019 with reference year 2017-18.
The Indicators have been grouped into 2 Categories –
- Outcomes:
  1. Learning outcomes and quality: includes indicators like average scores in various subjects in elementary classes, 3rd class, 5th class and 8th class
  2. access: indicators like adjusted NER and retention rates at elementary and secondary levels
  3. infrastr ad facilities: inidcators like schools with labs, libraries, mid day meal coverage, functional DW supply etc.
  4. equity: indicators for difference in student performances wrt SC/ST rural-urban, wrt gender parameters across subjects
- Governance & Management:
  1. governance processes
Objective: To encourage States & UTs to adopt best practices like online recruitment and transfer of teachers, electronic attendance of students & teachers.

Answer 148

A

Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Kerala occupy the highest grade A++ in 2019-20.

PJ, Kerala and TN only 3 sttaes to score >900 out of 1000.

Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli are in the A+ category.

Punjab has scored the maximum points for governance and management.

Bihar and Meghalaya have scored the lowest in terms of infrastructure and facilities.

Answer 149

A

by UNESCO

EFA Development Index (EDI) is a composite index using four of the six EFA goals, selected on the basis of data availability. The goals are:

Universal primary education (UPE)

Adult literacy

Quality of education

Gender

Answer 150

A

Germanwatch 2. F; annually 3. (a) India 5th most vulnerable to CC (b) India’s rank has worsened from the 14th spot in 2017 to 5th in 2018 (c) INdia recorded the highest number of fatalities due to CC and the second highest monetary losses from its impact in 2018 (d) India’s high rank is due to severe rainfalls, followed by heavy flooding and landslide that killed over 1000 people. (e) Japan worst hit (f) results reflect the increasing damage caused by heatwaves, which scientists have found are being worsened by the CC

Answer 151

A

It is the World Bank’s semi-annual flagship publication on the state of the world economy.

It examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies.

It is issued twice a year, in January and June. The January edition includes in-depth analyses of topical policy challenges while the June edition contains shorter analytical pieces.

Answer 152

A

by Yale Uni, Columbia Uni in collab with WEF and Joint Research Centre of EU
ranks 180 countries on 32 performance indicators across 11 categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality.
index is a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of a state’s policies.
Biennial; first published in 2002, and designed to supplement the environmental targets set forth in the United Nations MDGs.
EPI was preceded by the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) published betn 1999 and 2005

Answer 153

A

India secured 168th rank. The country scored 27.6 out of 100 in the 2020 index. India’s rank was 177 (with a score of 27.6 out of 100) in 2018.
India scored below the regional average score on all five key parameters on environmental health, including air quality, sanitation and drinking water, heavy metals and waste management. It has also scored below the regional average on parameters related to biodiversity and ecosystem services too.
- Among South Asian countries, India was at second position (rank 106) after Pakistan on ‘climate change’.
- All South Asian countries, except Afghanistan, were ahead of India in the ranking.
The 11 countries lagging behind India were — Burundi, Haiti, Chad, Soloman Islands, Madagascar, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoir, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Liberia.
India performs worst in: Health, Air quality, heavy Netals, Ecosystem Vitality and Biodiversity
India performs best in: Fisheries, Ecosystem services, Water resources

Answer 154

A

by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)- A british company specialising in the analysis of higher education institutions around the world.
Previously, it was called Times Higher Education – QS world University rankings. The name changed since 2010.
It is the only international ranking to have received the approval of International Ranking Expert Group (IREG).
It rates the worlds top 1000 universities.
Uses six indicators:

Academic reputation.
Employer reputation.
Faculty/student ratio.
Citations per faculty.
International faculty ratio.
International student ratio.

Answer 155

A

Top three from India featured in top 200 and their rankings: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay (172), followed closely by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore (185), and IIT Delhi (193). However, all three have dropped in their rankings compared to the last year.
In total, 21 Indian higher education institutions have found their place among the world’s top 1,000 (It was 24 last year). Of these 21, 14 have fallen in rank over the past 12 months, while four have improved their position.
Indian higher education institutions perform strongly in research quality, even though they fail to increase their academic standing, teaching capacity, and levels of internationalisation at the same rate as their global competitors.
Reasons for poor performance of Indian institutions:
- Indian institutions got zero score on ratio of international faculty and students. India also scored poorly on faculty- student ratio.
- This is because India counts only full-time faculty, whereas American universities include even PhD students who are teaching or research assistants.

Answer 156

A

compiled by Nature Research

It serves as an indicator of high-quality research in the Natural and Physical Sciences. The index tracks contributions to research articles published in 82 high-quality natural science journals, chosen by an independent group of researchers.

The Index is updated monthly and also releases annual tables of country

Metrics include: article count, fractional count, and multilateral and bilateral collaboration scores.

Answer 157

A

The top five positions have gone to the United States of America, China, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan.

Performance of Indian institutions:

Three of the autonomous institutions of the DST, GoI have found their place among top 30 Indian Institutions.
These are the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata at 7th position, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore at 14th position and S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata at 30th position.
Globally the top-rated Indian institutions in this list are Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a group of 39 institutions at the 160th position and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore at the 184th position.

Answer 158

A

This is the fifth consecutive edition of these rankings.

This year ‘Dental’ category has been introduced for the first time bringing the total tally to 10 categories/subject domains.

Answer 159

A

by U.S. State Department

Observations made on Religious freedom in India:

The report takes note of the change in the status of Jammu and Kashmir, the (CAA) and the (NRC).
It discusses in detail mob lynchings and anti-conversion laws and related issues.
Lawmakers failed: The report notes, Issues of religiously inspired mob violence, lynching and communal violence were sometimes denied or ignored by lawmakers.
It details incidents of “cow vigilantism” and other types of mob violence.
The report also takes note of the Babri Masjid decision by the Supreme Court and the challenges to the 2018 reversal of a ban on some women entering the Sabarimala temple.

USCIRF had, in April, recommended to Secretary of State that the State Department downgrade India’s religious freedom to the lowest grade — ‘Country of Particular Concern (CPC)’. The Secretary of State is not obliged to accept the recommendation.

Answer 160

A

PMI is an indicator of business activity – both in the manufacturing sector and service sector.
PMI is a sentiment tracking index based on five major indicators: new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries and the employment environment.
PMI> 50 % indicates a positive development in the industrial sector, whereas a value below 50 percent indicates a negative situation
according to some experts, the PMI is more dynamic compared to a standard industrial production index.
For India, the PMI Data is published by Japanese firm Nikkei but compiled and constructed by Markit Economics

Answer 161

A

2153 individual billionaires; hv more wealth among them than 4.6Bn people combined
world’s richest 1% hv more than twice as much wealth as 6.9Bn people
An additional 0.5% tax on the wealth of the richest 1% over the next 10 years can create 117 million jobs in education, health and elderly care, etc.
From 2011 to 2017, average wages in G7 countries grew 3%, while dividends to wealthy shareholders increased by 31%.
INDIA: India’s richest 1% hold more than four times the wealth held by the 953 million who make up for the bottom 70% of the country’s population.

Answer 162

A

Globally, extreme poverty rates are 4% higher for women than men; this gap rises to 22% during women’s peak productive and reproductive ages; that is, 122 women aged 25-34 for every 100 men of the same age group live in extremely poor households, largely due to childcare responsibilities.
$10.8 trillion is the estimated minimum annual monetary value of the unpaid care work by women aged 15 and above globally — this is three times the size of the world’s tech industry.
Women do 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work every day, equivalent to 1.5 billion people working 8 hours a day with no remuneration.
Globally, 42% of working age women are outside the paid labour force, compared with 6% of men, due to unpaid care responsibilities.
80% of the estimated 67 million domestic workers worldwide are women. An estimated 90% of domestic workers have no access to social security such as maternity protection and benefits.
Worldwide, girls aged 5-9 and 10-14 spend on average 30% and 50% more of their time respectively on unpaid care work than boys of similar ages.

Answer 163

A

by WEF
first ever in 2020
India raked 72nd out of 82 countries; 1st Denmark; China45th
assesses the 82 economies on “10 pillars” spread across the following five key dimensions of social mobility:
- Health;
- Education (access, quality and equity, lifelong learning);
- Technology;
- Work (opportunities, wages, conditions);
- Protection and Institutions (social protection and inclusive institutions).

Answer 164

A

WEF
44Tn$ (>50% of world’s GDP) worth economic value generationis moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services and thus exposed to risks frm nature loss. Top 3 econmies with highest share of nature dependent sector are China, EU and USA.
main sectors dependent on nature: Construction, agriculture and food&Beverages
25% of world’s shared assessed plants and animal species that are threatened by human actions with a million species facing extinction,many within decades.

Answer 165

A

by WEF

inaugural in 2020

Social mobility: what is it?

In absolute terms, it is the ability of a child to experience a better life than their parents.
On the other hand, relative social mobility is an assessment of the impact of socio-economic background on an individual’s outcomes in life.
It can be measured against a number of outcomes ranging from health to educational achievement and income.
‘Sticky floor’ and ‘Sticky ceilings’ phenomenon: in high-income countries, since the 1990s, there is stagnation at both the bottom and the top end of the income distribution
Social mobility levels, then, can help us understand both the speed – that is, how long it takes for individuals at the bottom of the scale to catch up with those at the top – and the intensity – that is, how many steps it takes for an individual to move up the ladder in a given period – of social mobility.

Global Social Mobility Index,

focuses on drivers of relative social mobility instead of outcomes. It looks at policies, practices and institutions.
It uses 10 pillars, which in turn are broken down into five determinants of social mobility –
1. health,
2. education,
3. technology access,
4. work opportunities, working conditions and fair wages, and
5. social protection and inclusive institutions.

Answer 166

A

The Nordic nations hold the top five spots, led by Denmark in the first place (scoring 85 points), followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden (all above 83 points) and Iceland (82 points).
Among the G7 economies, Germany is the most socially mobile, ranking 11th with 78 points.
there are only a handful of nations with the right conditions to foster social mobility.
Most countries underperform in four areas: fair wages, social protection, working conditions and lifelong learning.
Looking at all economies and average income levels, those children who are born into less affluent families typically experience greater barriers to success than their more affluently born counterparts.
inequalities are rising even in countries that have experienced rapid growth.
In most countries, individuals from certain groups have become historically disadvantaged and poor social mobility perpetuates and exacerbates such inequalities.

Answer 167

A

The report has ranked India a lowly 76th out of the 82 countries profiled.
It lists India among the five countries that stand to gain the most from a better social mobility score.
It ranks 41st in lifelong learning and 53rd in working conditions.
The Areas of improvement for India include social protection (76th) and fair wage distribution (79th).

Answer 168

A

Creating a new financing model for social mobility:
- improving tax progressivity on personal income,
- policies that address wealth concentration and
- broadly re-balancing the sources of taxation
- mix of public spending and policy incentives must change to put greater emphasis on the factors of social spending.
More support for education and lifelong learning
Developing a new social protection contract: to offer holistic protection to all workers irrespective of their employment status, particularly in a context of technological change and industry transitions

Answer 169

A

by Eurasia Grp, one of USA’s most influential risk assessment companies

Answer 170

A

US and its broken domestic politics is the “top” global geopolitical risk of this year.
The top risks include the technological “decoupling” between the US and China and the challenges that it poses to the world besides the enduring US-China tensions.
Countries and governments will push back more and more against multinational corporations, with tougher nationalism-based regulatory frameworks.
The EU may increasingly push back against the unilateralism displayed by the US and China.
Climate change will challenge companies and countries equally, creating conflicts between controlling emissions and bottomlines.

Answer 171

A

India is one of the world’s top geopolitical risks for 2020. It is the 5th highest geopolitical risk.
controversial social policies at the expense of an economic agenda
A weakened economy will in turn feed further economic nationalism and protectionism, weighing on India’s troubled course in 2020.

Answer 172

A

by BEE in association with Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE)
It tracks the progress of Energy Efficiency (EE) initiatives in 36 states and UTs based on 97 significant indicators.
For a rational comparison, the States or Union Territories are grouped into four groups based on the aggregated Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES) required to meet the state’s actual energy demand across sectors.
Also, based on their efforts and achievements towards energy efficiency implementation, state are classified as
- Front Runner
- Achiever
- Contender
- Aspirant
findings:
- KN, HP, Haryana and Puducherry were the best performers
- Manipur, JH, RJ and J&K least performers

Answer 173

A

by Oxfam International
Focuses on the alleviation of global poverty

Global findings:

world had 2,153 billionaires in the world in 2019. The number of billionaires has doubled in the last decade, despite their combined wealth having declined in 2018.
World’s richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people.

Women related findings:

Globally, extreme poverty rates are 4% higher for women than men and this gap rises to 22% during women’s peak productive and reproductive ages.
Globally, 42% of working-age women are outside the paid labour force, compared with 6% of men, due to unpaid care responsibilities.
monetary value of unpaid care work globally for women aged 15 and over is at least $10.8 trillion annually –three times the size of the world’s tech industry.
80% of domestic workers worldwide are women and 90% of domestic workers have no access to social security such as maternity protection and benefits.

India specific findings:

India’s richest 1% hold more than four-times the wealth held by the bottom 70% of the country’s population.
combined total wealth of 63 Indian billionaires is higher than the total Union Budget of India at Rs 24,42,200 crore.

Answer 174

A

by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Global Findings:

global FDI remained flat in 2019 at $1.39 trillion, a one per cent decline from a revised $1.41 trillion in 2018.
- Reasons: This is against the backdrop of weaker macroeconomic performance and policy uncertainty for investors, including trade tensions.
Developing economies continue to absorb more than half of global FDI flows.
South Asia recorded a 10 per cent increase in FDI to $60 billion and this growth was driven by India, with a 16 per cent increase in inflows to an estimated $49 billion.
The FDI flows to developed countries remained at a historically low level, decreasing by a further six per cent to an estimated $643 billion.
Despite this, the United States remained the largest recipient of FDI, followed by China with flows of $140 billion and Singapore with $110 billion.
The FDI in the UK was down six per cent as Brexit unfolded.

India specific findings:

India was among the top 10 recipients of Foreign Direct Investment in 2019, attracting $49 billion in inflows, a 16 per cent increase from the previous year.

Answer 175

A

CDP is a global disclosure system; It collects and collates self-reported environmental data; It is aimed at measuring the carbon reduction activities undertaken by different companies and firms
Overall performance of India:
1. India is now among the top five countries globally when it comes to adopting science-based target initiatives (SBT) with as many as 38 Indian companies in 2019 committing to going beyond policy requirements to plan urgent climate action, a significant rise from 25 firms in 2018.
2. In 2019, up to 57 of the 59 responding companies stated that they have a process for risks assessment; 51 declared that their process of identifying, assessing and managing climate related risks is integrated into the company’s best management practices
3. Among the key focus areas of Indian firms is renewable energy. According to the report, 23 companies reported renewable energy targets in 2019, a 44% rise over 2018. Of these, Infosys, Dalmia Cement and Tata Motors have reported 100% RE consumption.
Global findings:
1. United States of America secured the top spot followed by Japan, United Kindom and France.
2. boards of 98% of the firms directly monitor climate change risks
3. Improvement in disclosure rate has primarily been driven by investors who are actively pushing companies to reveal climate risks and take steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

Answer 176

A

It is released annually by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
It provides a snapshot of the state of world democracy for 165 independent states and two territories.
The Index is based on five categories:
1. Electoral process and pluralism.
2. Civil liberties.
3. Functioning of government.
4. Political participation.
5. Political culture.
Based on their scores on 60 indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: full democracy; flawed democracy; hybrid regime; and authoritarian regime.

Answer 177

A

In 2019, India slipped 10 places to 51st position.
It is placed in the “flawed democracy” category, which also includes Bangladesh (5.88).
Its score, down from from 7.23 in 2018 to 6.90 in 2019, is its lowest ever since the Democracy Index was begun in 2006.
As per the report, erosion of civil liberties in the country is main reason.
1. The report mentioned the stripping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status with the repeal of Articles 370 and 35A, the various security measures that followed the bifurcation of the state including restriction of Internet access, and the exclusion of 1.9 million people from the final NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Assam.
2. On the CAA, the report says, “The new citizenship law has enraged the large Muslim population, stoked communal tensions and generated large protests in major cities.”

Answer 178

A

Norway (top-ranked with 9.87) is counted as a “full democracy”.
Following Norway at the top of the rankings are Iceland (9.58), Sweden (9.39) and New Zealand (9.26).
Other “full democracies” include Germany, the United Kingdom and France.
The United States, with a score of 7.96 is a “flawed democracy”, in the same category as India.
In 2019, the average global score fell from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44, the worst result since 2006.
China (2.26) and North Korea (bottom-ranked with 1.08) are categorised as “authoritarian regimes”.
Pakistan, with a score of 4.25, is categorised as a “hybrid democracy”.
The report describes the year in Asia as one filled with “drama and tumult,” with Hong Kong being the epicentre of protest in the continent.

Answer 179

A

by Transparency International
It is a composite index that draws from 12 surveys to rank nations around the globe.
The index is also based on expert opinions of public sector corruption and takes note of range of factors like
whether governmental leaders are held to account or go unpunished for corruption,
the perceived prevalence of bribery, and
whether public institutions respond to citizens’ needs.
It uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

Answer 180

A

Global findings:

More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43, thereby showing stagnation and even backsliding
Denmark and New Zealand have cornered the top spot, followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland
shows corruption is more pervasive in countries where big money can flow freely into electoral campaigns and where governments listen only to the voices of wealthy or well-connected individuals.
In the last eight years, only 22 countries have shown significant improvement on the CPI, while almost as many have declined.

India findings:

With a score of 41, India is at the 80th spot, shared with China, Benin, Ghana and Morocco; pakistan ranked 120th
cited unfair and opaque political financing and undue influence in decision-making and lobbying by powerful corporate interest groups

Answer 181

A

GTCI, launched in 2013, is an annual benchmarking report that measures the ability of countries to compete for talent.
It is released by INSEAD business school in partnership with Adecco Group and Google.
The report measures levels of Global Talent Competitiveness by looking at 70 variables such as ease of hiring, gender earnings gap, and prevalence of training in firms.

Answer 182

A

Switzerland, the United States and Singapore lead the index
The gap between talent champions and the rest of the world is widening.
A similar gap is also seen in the universe of artificial intelligence. AI talent is scarce and unequally distributed across industries, sectors, and nations. The emergence of AI in the workplace requires a massive re-skilling of the workforce. AI policies and programmes should work to minimise negative outcomes and increase access to AI for those left behind. AI could provide significant opportunities for emerging markets to leapfrog.
More than half of the population in the developing world lacks basic digital skills.
Some developing countries (e.g., China, Costa Rica, and Malaysia) can become talent champions in their respective regions, while others (e.g., Ghana and India) have significantly improved their capacity to enable, attract, grow, and retain talent over the past few years, and hence can be labelled talent movers.

Answer 183

A

India is placed at no. 72.
Although more could be done to improve the country’s educational system (68th in Formal Education), India’s key strength relates to growing (44th) talent, due to its levels of lifelong learning (40th) and access to growth opportunities (39th).
The country’s highest-ranked sub-pillar is employability, but the ability to match labour market demand and supply stands in contrast to the country’s poor mid-level skills.

Answer 184

A

ILO+ UNICEF

Findings:

160 million children were in child labour globally, accounting for almost 1 in 10 of all children worldwide.
The prevalence of child labour in rural areas is close to three times higher than in urban areas.
Global progress against child labour has stagnated since 2016.
72% of all child labour occurs within families, primarily on family farms or in family microenterprises.
Globally, 9 million additional children are at risk of being pushed into child labour by the end of 2022 because of COVID 19 pandemic.
The agriculture sector accounts for more child labourers, followed by services and industry.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence and largest number of children in child labour.

Answer 185

A

Freedom House Index for 2021 pushed India down four points from last year, bringing its score from 71 to 67. This demoted the country from being a “free” to a “partially free” country.

V-Dem, the world-renowned think-tank from Sweden, has similarly downgraded India and labelled India an “electoral autocracy”

EIU Report: India’s score dropping from an all-time high of 7.92 in 2014 to 6.61 in 2020, and its ranking has taken a nosedive from 27 to 53 out of 167 countries.

The Reporters without Borders’ Press Freedom Report has placed India 167th out of 183 countries. Freedom House has also given India a score of 2 out of 4 in terms of press freedom, and has stated that the Indian press is “partially free”.

Answer 186

A

BPIIT

IPRS pilot exercise was launched in 2018 with an objective of enhancing industrial infrastructure competitiveness and supporting policy development for enabling industrialization across the country.
The IPRS report is an extension of the India Industrial Land Bank which features more than 4,400 industrial parks in a GIS-enabled database.
It seeks to help investors identify their preferred location for investment.
These ratings are assigned on the basis of key existing parameters and infrastructure facilities etc.

Answer 187

A

OECD has developed an Action Plan called “Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan 13” to ensure that a multinational enterprise would report its profit correctly where it is earned.

This AP’s report is called Transfer Pricing Documentation and Country-by-Country Reporting or CbC report.

It provides a template for multinational enterprises (MNEs) to report annually and for each tax jurisdiction in which they do business the information set out therein.

What CBC contains?

Aggregated country-by-country information relating to the global allocation of income, the taxes paid, and certain other indicators of a multi-national company.
A list of all the constituent entities of the multi-national company operating in a particular jurisdiction and the nature of the main business activity of each constituent entity.

Answer 188

A

WMO

details in env and conservation f/c

Answer 189

A

central Zoo authority

Answer 190

A

released in 2021

The world suffered huge reverses in progress towards TB elimination in 2020 due to COVID

The biggest impact was felt in terms of detection of new cases due to highly curtailed access to diagnostics and restrictions imposed. From 2016-2019, the number of new cases rose continuously, but fell dramatically to 20 per cent in 2020. the gap between the number of people who actually got the disease and the new people who got diagnosed is estimated to be 4.1 Mn

India contributed the biggest drop in detection of new cases. Some 41 per cent of the total number of cases that dropped in 2020, as compared to 2019, came from India.

it has resulted in an increase in TB deaths. TB was ranked the 13th leading cause of death globally till 2019. now it is estimated to be the second leading cause, only after COVID-19.

The ‘End TB Strategy’ milestones for reductions in TB disease burden by 2020 were a 35 per cent reduction in the number of TB deaths. Instead, the global reduction in the corresponding time period has only been 9.2 per cent.

Answer 191

A

Satte of Food Agricultural report (SOFA)
State of World Forest Report (SOFO)
State of Agriculture Commodity Market Report (SOCO)
State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report (SOFIA)
The state of Food INsecurity and Nutrition in the World report (SOFI)

Answer 192

A

International Solar Alliance

Answer 193

A

latest Production Gap Report has revealed that 15 of the top fossil fuel producing countries, including India, are not prepared to meet the requirements of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Governments are in aggregate planning to produce 110 per cent more fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and 45 per cent more than would be consistent with limiting warming to 2°C, on a global level.
By 2040, this excess grows to 190% and 89%, respectively.
The 15 countries analysed as part of the report were responsible for 75 per cent of the world’s fossil fuel production in 2020.
They are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US).

India

India is the seventh-largest producer of fossil fuels among the 15 countries.
● As part of the Paris Agreement, India pledged a 33%–35% reduction in the “emissions intensity” of its economy by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.
● However, as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign, the government pledged to become a self-reliant producer of coal and made a plan to invest Rs 500 billion worth of infrastructure for coal extraction.

Answer 194

A

Singapore University for Technology and Design

In the 2020 Smart City Index, Hyderabad was placed at the 85th position (down from 67 in 2019), New Delhi at 86th rank (down from 68 in 2019), Mumbai was at 93rd place (in 2019 it was at 78) and Bengaluru at 95th (79 in 2019).

Answer 195

A

by INternational Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance

The report defines democracy as based on five core attributes: Representative Government, Fundamental Rights, Checks on Government, Impartial Administration and Participatory Engagement. These five attributes provide the organizing structure for this report.

Highlights:

The number of countries moving towards authoritarianism in 2020 was higher than that of countries going in the other direction, towards democracy.
The pandemic has prolonged this existing negative trend into a five-year stretch, the longest such period since the start of the third wave of democratisation in the 1970s.
Democratically elected Governments, including established democracies, are increasingly adopting authoritarian tactics.

Answer 196

A

by UNEP

4th annual report released in 2022

first published in 2016 with an alert to the growing risk of zoonotic diseases, four years before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answer 197

A

The Report identifies and offers solutions to three environmental issues that merit attention and action from governments and the public at large.

Urban noise pollution, wildfires and phenological shifts – the three topics of this Frontiers report – are issues that highlight the urgent need to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

Concerns:
● Wildfires are predicted to worsen in the coming years and decades. The trends towards more dangerous fire-weather conditions are likely to increase due to rising concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases and the attendant escalation of wildfire risk factors.
● Vulnerable areas: There has been a rapid expansion of cities towards forest areas in many regions in recent decades. This wild land-urban interface is the area where wildfire risks are most pronounced. For example, rising fires in California, United States.
● Lightning and pollution: With rising forest fires, the world is very likely to see more frequent incidences of lightning.
● Fire-induced thunderstorms are a new danger posed by rising wildfires. These thunderstorms contribute to more dangerous conditions for fires on the ground.
● Noise pollution in cities is a growing hazard to public health: Unwanted, prolonged and high-level sounds from road traffic, railways, or leisure activities impair human health and well-being.
● Phenological shifts occur when species shift the timing of life cycle stages in response to changing environmental conditions altered by climate change. The concern is that interacting species in an ecosystem do not always shift the timing in the same direction or at the same rate.
● These phenological shifts are increasingly disturbed by climate change, pushing plants and animals out of sync with their natural rhythms and leading to mismatches, such as when plants shift life cycle stages faster than herbivores.

Key Recommendations:

Increase vegetation in urban environments.
Provide soundscape planning (considers contextual characteristics of the place, including perceived acoustic parameters, physical features, natural factors, purpose, usage and user community).
Noise barriers along highways or railways
Preventive approach by engaging vulnerable groups. Appreciating and adopting indigenous fire management techniques.
Focus on long-range weather forecasting and remote-sensing capabilities such as satellites.
Increasing ecological connectivity through habitat corridors.
Promoting genetic diversity and increasing the chances of successful adaptation

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