14.December.2015

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Paris pact will secure earth for future, says Obama as world leaders hail deal  –   (International Relation)

  • Within four weeks of its setting the tragic backdrop of a global partnership against terrorism, Paris united the world again, this time to fight the bigger threat of climate change, as world leaders hailed the new climate deal by 195 countries.
  • U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday called it a big step forward in securing the planet for future generations and said the agreement showed what was possible when nations stood together.

 

 

EPFO savings to cross Rs.10 lakh-cr. mark  –  (Governance)

  • The retirement savings managed and overseen by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) are set to cross the Rs.10 lakh- crore mark this month, making it the eleventh largest pension fund in the world.
  • With savings of over 8.5 crore employees in the formal sector from 6.32 lakh establishments, the EPFO is already India’s second largest non-banking financial institution with only Life Insurance Corporation of India having a bigger kitty.

 

RCE-Tirupati to focus on Eastern Ghats  –   (Environment)

  • In a major boost to the sustainable development of the Eastern Ghats, with special focus on its fragile environment, the United Nations University has sanctioned a Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) to Tirupati.
  • The RCE-Tirupati will be part of the Foundation for Environmentally Sustainable Development with Focus on health, education, awareness and livelihoods, which will have Ramamurthi Rallapalli, formerly Vice-Chancellor of Sri Venkateswara University, as its Chairman.

 

Dilip Kumar gets Padma Vibhushan, turns emotional  –    (Governance)

  • Ailing legendary actor Dilip Kumar, known as the “tragedy king of Bollywood,” turned emotional on Sunday when he was presented with Padma Vibhushan by Home Minister Rajnath Singh at his residence in suburban Bandra.
  • The 93-year-old veteran, who shot to fame withNaya Daur , Jugnu , Andaz and Devdas and went on to give sterling performances in over 60 Hindi films, was given the second-highest civilian award comprising a medal, certificate and shawl in the presence of the actor’s 71-year-old wife Saira Bano.

 

We are on the right track: Ansari  –    (International Relation)

  • The groundbreaking ceremony of the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) project provided yet another multilateral setting for a meeting between the Indian and Pakistani leadership this week, as Pakistan Prime Minister Nawa Sharif and Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari met along with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to press a button that forged the first piece of the pipeline.

 

Questions aplenty on Haryana panchayat poll law  –   (Indian Polity)

  • The Supreme Court judgment upholding the new Haryana panchayat law, which limits the voter’s freedom to choose his own candidate in a participatory democracy, offers limited and unidimensional explanations to questions and issues raised by parties in court.
  • The judgment by a Bench led by Justice J. Chelameswar does not explain why it considers the reasons for disqualification in Section 175 of the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act 2015, which include the lack of minimum educational qualification, electricity bill arrears, agricultural loan arrears and absence of a functional toilet at home, reasonable.

 

Differentiation now forward-looking: U.S.  –   (International Relation)

  • Differentiation in climate responsibility will now be a forward-looking concept, as opposed to the earlier backward-looking notion, a senior Obama administration official said hours after countries arrived at an agreement in Paris.
  • The earlier notion of differentiated responsibilities had accounted for the historical role of developed countries in high global carbon emissions, thought it could not be implemented.

 

 

Paris deal may bind India on emissions data    –   (International Relation)

  • The Paris Agreement on climate, adopted on Saturday by the member countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, creates an enhanced transparency framework that requires all countries to submit a national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions arising from human activity using standardised methodologies accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

 

N-deal hinges on Abe’s political skills   –   (International Relation)

  • The civilian nuclear deal between India and Japan which has been under negotiation since 2010 finally might move beyond the “nullification clause” which had been the major condition that Japan refused to compromise on in the previous rounds of negotiations.
  • However, complex legislative negotiation in Tokyo will determine how fast both sides can finalise the draft of the civilian nuclear energy treaty.

 

Hope on climate & a long road ahead    –   (International Relation)

  • The Paris Agreement on climate change marks a milestone in preserving the earth’s environment and provides a floor on which to build ambition and action. It is the outcome of a long struggle by millions of citizens around the world, aided by the weight of scientific evidence linking severe, more frequent weather events such as cyclones and droughts to man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The 195 country-parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — besides Palestine which joined in Paris — have acknowledged that global climate action can no longer be postponed.

 

U.S. civil society groups back India’s stand at WTO  –   (Economics)

  • India’s demand that the World Trade Organization take steps, on a priority basis, to safeguard the interests of poor farmers as well as the food security programmes in developing countries has received support within the U.S.
  • Several prominent U.S.-based civil society organisations including World Food Program USA, Oxfam America and ActionAid USA have asked Washington to agree to support the developing countries’ demands on food security and poor farmer issues.