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Prelim Bits 12-07-2018

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July 12, 2018

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

  • Third Intergovernmental Group of Experts (IGE) on consumer protection was recently convened by UNCTAD.
  • India was represented by Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
  • UNCTAD is a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964.
  • It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and part of the UN Secretariat.
  • It is a part of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG).
  • It was formed specifically to handle the problems of developing countries dealing with trade, investment and development issues.
  • Reports published by UNCTAD – World Economic Situation and Prospects Report, Trade and Development Report, World Investment Report, The Least Developed Countries Report, Information and Economy Report, Technology and Innovation Report and Commodities and Development Report.

Consumer Protection in India

  • The Consumer Protection Bill, 2018 was introduced in the Lok Sabha earlier this year to replace Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
  • The Bill enforces consumer rights and provides a mechanism for redressal of complaints regarding defect in goods and deficiency in services.
  • The Bill sets up a Central Consumer Protection Authority to promote, protect and enforce consumer rights as a class.
  • The Bill establishes Consumer Protection Councils at the district, state and national levels to render advise on consumer protection.
  • If a consumer suffers an injury from a defect in a good or a deficiency in service, he may file a claim of product liability against the manufacturer, the seller, or the service provider.
  • Consumers in India have been guaranteed rights by the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 of Parliament, namely:
  1. Right to Safety;
  2. Right to be informed;
  3. Right to choose;
  4. Right to be heard;
  5. Right to seek redressal;
  6. Right to consumer education.

Workshop on Greenhouse Gas Inventories in Asia (WGIA)

  • WGIA is an initiative of Government of Japan.
  • It is to improve the quality of Greenhouse Gas Inventories of Asian countries by building capacities through training and exchange of experience.
  • Members of WGIA - 15 countries including Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
  • India is hosting WGIA for the first time.
  • Workshop has been organized by the Ministry of Environment, Government of Japan and is being hosted by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in New Delhi.
  • GHG inventory experts from member countries participated along with representatives from UNFCCC, IPCC, FAO and other specialized agencies.

New Pigment in Mushroom

  • Goa University has recently reported the discovery of a new pigment from local wild mushrooms.
  • The mushrooms contain new suphur-rich melanin biopigment of immense bioindustrial, biomedical (anti-cancer, anti-tumour) and biotechnological potential.
  • It may be the world’s first sulphur-rich edible melanin.
  • A Ph.D student, who is a national scholar under Department of Science & Technology INSPIRE Project, cracked the problem in three years, which had eluded scientific community from 40 countries for the past 100 years.

INSPIRE Programme

  • "Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE)" is an innovative programme sponsored and managed by the Department of Science & Technology for attraction of talent to Science.
  • The basic objective of INSPIRE is to communicate to the youth of the country the excitements of creative pursuit of science, attract talent to the study of science at an early age.
  • It helps in building the required critical human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the Science & Technology system and R&D base.
  • A striking feature of the programme is that it does not believe in conducting competitive exams for identification of talent at any level.

Religious Minority Status to Jews

  • The Gujarat government has granted religious minority status to the Jewish community in the State.
  • Gujarat is the third state in India to accord minority status after Maharashtra and West Bengal.
  • It will enable the community to get benefits of welfare schemes formulated for religious minority communities.
  • Gujarat is home to about 170 Jews, mostly centered in the western city of Ahmedabad.
  • The city also is home to the only synagogue in the state, the Magen Abraham Synagogue, built in 1934.

 

Source: The Hindu, PIB

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