PUNJAB

Ludhiana’s rank improves by 15 slots in world pollution chart, better air quality

At a time when Ludhiana has witnessed the worst times (loss of lives, huge setbacks for industries) on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, city’s air that was also among the most polluted in the world has somewhat become a bit cleaner.

According to a report prepared by IQAir, a Swiss organization, Ludhiana’s ranking among the major cities across the world has dropped by 15 places in 2020 as compared to previous years.

In the report, IQAir has data of cities of more than 105 countries. Out of the 30 most polluted cities globally, 22 are Indian cities.

As per the report, Ludhiana is at 142nd spot among the cities of the world. Of the eight cities of Punjab that feature in the list, Ludhiana is at 5th position whereas Fatehgarh Sahib is number one in Punjab with a rank of 38. Patiala is at the bottom with a rank of 181.

The report revealed that over the past three years, Ludhiana’s ranking on air pollution had come down among major cities of the world. While city was 95th in 2018, it’s position dropped to 127 in 2019 and 142 in 2020.

The report said whereas yearly average PM 2.5 in Ludhiana was 55.1 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) in 2018, it dropped to 49.3 µg/m3 in 2019 and then to 45.2 µg/m3 in 2020, a fall of 8.3% in PM 2.5 in 2020 as compared to 2019.

INTERNATIONAL

United Nations Office for Project Services

The United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS) has established a partnership with the Danish government to support India’s flagship project, Jal Jeevan’s mission in Uttar Pradesh. Highlights:

Aim: Provide strategic technical support for Jal Jeevan Mission (Water Project).

UNOPS should focus on establishing a scalable delivery model in the 11 key water protection areas in Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions in the Uttar Pradesh region.

The aim of Jal Jeevan’s mission: to provide every rural household with a fully functional household tap connection by 2024.

This is in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 6.

Earth Hour Is On 27th March

Earth Hour will be observed on March 27, 2021. Highlights:

“Earth Hour” is an annual initiative of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) started in 2007.

Every year it will be held on the last Saturday of March.

Encourage people from more than 180 countries/regions to turn off the lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm according to local time.

The idea is to avoid unnecessary lighting in the symbolic environmental protection call to save energy.

Impact: “Earth Hour” has become a catalyst for a positive impact on the environment. It uses the power of the people and collective actions to promote major legislative changes. World Wildlife Fund for Nature

It is the world’s leading conservation organization, working in more than 100 countries.

World Wildlife Fund for Nature was established in 1961 and is headquartered in Gland, Switzerland

NATIONAL

Draft Plan For District-Wise Export Promotion

After determining the products and services with export potential, the government has prepared draft regional export promotion plans for 451 districts Highlights:

The government’s goal is to achieve double-digit export growth from 500 districts within 3-5 years.

Require states, with the assistance of the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), to compile an annual “export ranking index” for districts related to export competitiveness.

Although foreign trade accounts for 45% of India’s GDP, most of the export promotion work is promoted by the center.

The district-specific approach requires states to identify potential export sectors and logistics bottlenecks that need to be resolved.

In the initial stage, products and services with export potential in each districts have been identified, and the State and District Export Promotion Committees institutional mechanisms are being established, and an action plan has been formulated to increase exports in each districts.

Cabinet Apprised National Health Mission

The Cabinet was informed of the progress of the National Health Mission (NHM) for 2019-20. Highlights:

The new initiatives introduced by NHM in 2019-20 are:

SAANS Initiative: The Social Awareness and Action for Neutralize Pneumonia Successfully (SAANS) initiative was launched to accelerate the action to reduce the number of deaths from childhood pneumonia.

SUMAN Initiative: The Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) initiative was launched with the goal of providing guaranteed, dignified, respectable and high-quality medical care for free, with zero tolerance for denial of service; all existing schemes for maternal and newborn care are all in one package.

Midwifery Services Initiative: The need of this is to create a cadre of Nurse Practitioners in Midwifery who are skilled, knowledgeable and able to provide compassionate women-centered, reproductive, maternal and newborn health care services prescribed by the International Federation of Midwives (ICM).

School Health and Wellness Ambassadors Initiative: This program was initiated in cooperation with the Ministry of Education under the AB-HWCs program, and aims to promote health and well-being through active lives among school children.

N V Ramana Recommended as Chief Justice of India

The current Chief Justice of India (Judge of the Supreme Court) recommends Supreme Court Supreme Judge Ramana (N.V. Ramana) as the next (48th) Supreme Judge. Highlights:

The judges of the Supreme Court of India and the Supreme Court of India are appointed by the President in accordance with Article 124(2) of the Constitution. As far as CJI is concerned, the outgoing Chief Justice of India(CJI) recommends his successor.

The Union Minister of Law forwards the recommendations to the Prime Minister, who in turn provides recommendations to the President. The Supreme Court ruled in the “Second Judge Case” (1993) that only the Supreme Court of the Supreme Court should be appointed to the position of CJI.

The collegiate panel of the Supreme Court is led by the Chief Justice of India and is composed of four other senior judges of the Supreme Court. The collegiate panel system is a system of appointment and transfer of judges developed through the Supreme Court’s judgments (judge cases) rather than through the parliamentary law or the provisions of the Constitution.

In 2019, the Standards Committee ruled that the Office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) falls under the jurisdiction of the Right to Know (RTI) Act of 2005.

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