Daily Current Affairs 12th,13th July 2020 |
International Events
· Special Parcel Train to Bangladesh
For
the first time the Indian Railways loaded special Parcel train Benapole in
Bangladesh with Dry Chillies from Reddipalem in Guntur District of Andhra
Pradesh state
National
Events
· New economic corridor projects in Haryana
Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Shri
Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of various Highway
projects as part of a new economic corridor worth over Rs 20 thousand crores in
Haryana on the July 14th
Source: PIB
·
Green
Railway
§ Indian
Railways on MISSION MODE of becoming a "Green Railway" by 2030( Net
Zero Carbon Emission)
§ Electrification
of all routes on Broad Gauge by December 2023
§ Solar
and wind energy to power the Railway electricity grid in a big way
§ Indian
Railways have completed electrification of more than 40,000 RKM (63% of BG
routes)
§ 18,605
km electrification work has been done during 2014-20 compared to 3,835 km in
2009-14
§ 365 km
major connectivity work has been commissioned during even during COVID period
§ 100 MW
of Solar plants have been commissioned on roof-tops of various buildings
including 900 stations; 400 MW are under different stages of execution
§ Indian
Railway has 51,000 hectares of land potential of installing 20 GW land-based
solar plants
§ One
project of 1.7 MW at Bina in collaboration with BHEL has already been installed
§ In the
Wind Energy sector, 103 MW wind-based power plants have already been
commissioned; planned to set up 200 MW wind energy plants in the next 2 years in
Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka
§ 100
per cent LED illumination of buildings and stations
§ Total
505 pairs of trains have been converted to HOG, unleashing approx 70 million
litre diesel/ Rs 450 crore per annum potential of saving
§ A
total of 69,000 coaches have been fitted with 2, 44,000 bio-toilets in Indian
Railways
Economy
Global hunger, obesity is getting worse due to coronavirus fallout
§ In particular, newly accessible data enabled
the revision of the entire series of annual undernourishment estimates for
China back to 2000, resulting in a substantial downward shift of the series of
the number of undernourished in the world.
§ The number of
people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014.
§ Current estimates
are that nearly 690 million people are hungry, or 8.9 % of the world
population – up by 10 million people in one year and by nearly 60 million in
five years.
§ In 2019, close to
750 million – or nearly one in ten people in the world – were exposed to severe
levels of food insecurity.
§ Considering the
total affected by moderate or severe food insecurity, an estimated 2 billion
people in the world did not have regular access to safe, nutritious and
sufficient food in 2019.
§ World is not on
track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030. If recent trends continue, the number of
people affected by hunger would surpass 840 million by 2030.
§ A preliminary assessment suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic may add between 83 and 132
million people to the total number of undernourished in the world in 2020
depending on the economic growth scenario.
§ Globally, the burden
of malnutrition in all its forms remains a challenge. According to current
estimates, in 2019, 21.3 % (144.0 million) of children under 5 years of
age was stunted, 6.9 % (47.0 million) wasted and 5.6 % (38.3
million) overweight.
§ The world is
making progress but is not on track to achieve the 2025 and 2030 targets for
child stunting and low birth weight, and for exclusive breastfeeding, is on
track only for the 2025 target.
§ Only in Asia, and globally in
upper-middle-income countries are there enough fruits and vegetables available
for human consumption to be able to meet the FAO/WHO recommendation of
consuming a minimum of 400 g/person/day.
§ The most
conservative estimate shows they are unaffordable for more than 3 billion
people in the world. Healthy diets are estimated to be, on average, five times
more expensive than diets that meet only dietary energy needs through a starchy
staple.
§ The cost of a
healthy diet exceeds the international poverty line (established at USD 1.90
purchasing power parity (PPP) per person per day), making it unaffordable for
the poor. The cost also exceeds average food expenditures in most countries in
the Global South: around 57 % or more of the population cannot afford a
healthy diet throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.
§ All diets have
hidden costs, which must be understood to identify trade-offs and synergies in
relation to other SDGs. Two hidden costs that are most critical relate to the
health (SDG 3) and climate-related (SDG 13) consequences of our dietary choices
and the food systems that support these.
§ Under current food
consumption patterns, diet-related health costs linked to mortality and
non-communicable diseases are projected to exceed USD 1.3 trillion per year by
2030. On the other hand, the diet-related social cost of greenhouse gas
emissions associated with current dietary patterns is estimated to be more than
USD 1.7 trillion per year by 2030.
§ Shifting to
healthy diets can contribute to reducing health and climate-change costs by
2030, because the hidden costs of these healthy diets are lower compared to
those of current consumption patterns. The adoption of healthy diets is
projected to lead to a reduction of up to 97 % in direct and indirect
health costs and 41–74 % in the social cost of GHG emissions in 2030.
Source:
FAO
Appointments
§
Dr Vidhu P. Nair (presently Director
in the Ministry)
has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Turkmenistan.
§
Shri Hemant
Harishchandra Kotalwar(presently
Joint Secretary on deputation to NSCS)
has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Czech Republic.
Source: MEA
Awards
·
NTPC Ltd has won CII-ITC
Sustainability Award 2019, under Outstanding Accomplishment in Corporate
Excellence Category. Also, the company has received Commendation for
Significant Achievement in the category of CSR.
NTPC is a central PSU under Ministry of Power and India’s
largest power Generation Company
Source: PIB
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