New Development Bank
- During the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (2014), the leaders signed the Agreement establishing the New Development Bank (NDB).
- In the Fortaleza Declaration, the leaders stressed that the NDB will strengthen cooperation among BRICS and will supplement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global development, thus contributing to collective commitments for achieving the goal of strong, sustainable and balanced growth.
- The NDB is a multilateral development bank established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa with the objective of financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)
- Union Government’s flagship irrigation programme.
- Out of about 141 m.Ha of net area sown in the country, about 65 million hectare (or 45%) is presently covered under irrigation. Substantial dependency on rainfall makes cultivation in unirrigated areas a high risk, less productive profession. Empirical evidences suggest that assured or protective irrigation encourages farmers to invest more in farming technology and inputs leading to productivity enhancement and increased farm income.
- The overreaching vision of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) is to ensure access to some means of protective irrigation to all agricultural farms in the country, to produce ‘per drop more crop’, thus bringing much desired rural prosperity.
Some specific objectives of PMKSY
- Enhance the adoption of precision - irrigation and other water saving technologies (More crop per drop).
- Enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices.
- Promote extension activities relating to water harvesting, water management and crop alignment for farmers and grass root level field functionaries.
- Explore the feasibility of reusing treated municipal waste water for peri - urban agriculture.
- Attract greater private investments in irrigation.
India Energy Outlook
- According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) ‘India Energy Outlook’ report, India’s energy demand is expected to more than double over the next 25 years
- Thanks to rising income, population growth and urbanization, there is a huge potential for energy demand growth in India, which is home to about a fifth of the world’s population but uses only about 6% of the world’s energy. India’s energy demand is expected to more than double over the next 25 years, according to the IEA’s India Energy Outlook.
- India recently declared its ‘Association’ status with the IEA. To be a member country of the IEA, a country must first be an OECD member, which India is not.
- India has a vision of ensuring 24×7 affordable and environment friendly ‘Power for All’ and deeper engagement with IEA is a component of achieving this vision.
- With enhanced cooperation with the IEA, India would be able to play a more visible and influential role in the future global energy governance landscape. “Association” status would facilitate India’s participation in meetings of the standing groups, committees and working groups that constitute the IEA governance structure.
- Shared areas of co-operation under ‘Association’ include energy security, energy data and statistics, energy policy analysis, energy efficiency, energy technologies, renewables, electricity security, and grid integration.
Law Commission’s 267th report
- The Law Commission of India laid out bare the danger of hate speech to the Central government in its 267th Report released recently.
- The Commission headed by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan, called for action from the government and Parliament.
- The top law advisory body to the government urged the expansion of the penal law. It drafted a new law — The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2017 — inserting new Sections to fortify democracy against hate speeches.
- “Indisputably, offensive speech has real and devastating effects on people’s lives and risks their health and safety. It is harmful and divisive for communities and hampers social progress. If left unchecked, hate speech can severely affect right to life of every individual,” the Commission warned.
- It said even a speech that does not incite violence has the potential of marginalising a section of the society, thus contradicting popular legal and judicial concepts about the ambit of hate speech.
- The Supreme Court in 2014 had referred to the Law Commission for means to arm the Election Commission to crack down on hate speech. Its reference to the Law Commission was on whether it was “proper to define hate speech and make recommendations to Parliament to strengthen the Election Commission to curb the menace of hate speeches irrespective of, whenever made.”
- …Incitement to violence cannot be the sole test for determining whether a speech amounts to hate speech or not…
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