Daily Mains Practice Questions 23-02-2023

KEY POINTS

·        Moscow has mobilised some 5,00,000 troops, more than twice the size of the forces it deployed to launch the invasion, for a widely expected spring offensive.

·        The West, Kyiv’s main financial and military backer, is sending armoured vehicles, precision bombs, battle tanks and missile defence systems to Ukraine to bolster its defensive and offensive capabilities.

·        In his surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden pledged America’s lasting support to the war-battered nation.

·        The past year has been disastrous for all parties. Mr. Putin, who wanted a quick victory, miscalculated Kyiv’s response and the West’s resolve to back it.

·        Ukraine inflicted huge human and material costs on Russia, but still lost swathes of its territories.

·        The West stays united, despite differences over its approach towards Russia, but has also been reeling under the economic costs of the war.

·        However, despite the setbacks, no side is ready for talks. Mr. Putin is ready to fight as long as it takes and the West is ready to arm Ukraine as long as it takes.

·        A long war would be catastrophic for Ukraine as the entire fighting is taking place within its borders. The country has lost land, weapons and tens of thousands of lives.

KEY POINTS

·        The Centre is expected to clarify, later this year, the specifics of a carbon trading market in India.

·         ‘Carbon markets’ are a catch-all term and need clarity, especially in the Indian context.

·        A decade or more ago, they meant stock-market-like exchanges that traded in ‘carbon offsets’ made legitimate under the Clean Development Mechanism.

·        Carbon credits became valuable because they could be used as permits in EU-ETS exchanges.

·        Such permits are a ‘right to pollute’ and being tradeable on an exchange, akin to shares, are expected to fluctuate in value depending on a company’s need to balance profitability and comply with pollution norms.

·        It has been doing this, partly, via the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme, where around 1,000 industries have been involved in procuring and trading energy saving certificates (ESCerts).

·        Whether carbon trading can meaningfully lead to emissions reductions in the Indian context is a question that can be answered only decades later.

·        It would, however, be a victory in itself, if it is able to mobilise domestic finance and accelerate the shift away from fossil fuel.

·        With that end in mind, the government must intervene to bring in the right amount of pressure on industry to participate in the market but not ignore proven non-market initiatives to achieve greenhouse gas reductions.

KEY POINTS

·        The sum and variation of our biological wealth, known as biodiversity, is essential to the future of this planet.

·        The importance of our planet’s biodiversity was strongly articulated at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada.

·        In response to this call, the Union Budget 2023 mentioned “Green Growth” as one of the seven priorities or Saptarishis.

·        The emphasis on green growth is welcome news for India’s biological wealth as the country is facing serious losses of natural assets such as soils, land, water, and biodiversity.

·        The National Mission for a Green India aims to increase forest cover on degraded lands and protect existing forested lands.

·        The Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes (MISHTI) is particularly significant because of the extraordinary importance of mangroves and coastal ecosystems in mitigating climate change.

·        The Prime Minister Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PM-PRANAM) for reducing inputs of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides is critical for sustaining our agriculture.

·        This mission seeks to harness the power of interdisciplinary knowledge for greening India and its economy, to restore and enrich our natural capital for the well-being of our people, and to position India as a global leader in applied biodiversity science.

KINDLY REVIEW

KINDLY REVIEW