Right to clean, healthy and sustainable environment

• In a landmark decision, the UN Human Rights Council has recently recognised, for the first time, that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right.
• The Council called on States to work together, and with other partners, to implement this newly recognized right.
• The resolution on the Human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment was adopted by a vote of 43 in favour, none against and 4 abstentions.
• China, India, Japan and Russian Federation, abstained from voting on the resolution.
• The resolution was proposed by five members comprises Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia and Switzerland.
• The resolution emphasises the rights to life, liberty and security of human rights defenders working in environmental matters, referred to as environmental human rights defenders.
• The right to a clean environment was rooted in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration.

Indian Space Association (ISpA)

• It is a private industry body to help boost space technology in India.
• It will be represented by leading homegrown and global corporations with advanced capabilities in space and satellite technologies. 
• ISpA will participate and work with ISRO and others on the issue of policy around space technology and domain.
• It will focus on capacity building and space economic hubs and incubators in India.
• Its founding members include Larson & Toubro, Nelco (Tata Group), OneWeb, Bharti Airtel, Mapmyindia, Walchandnagar Industries and Ananth Technology Limited.
• Other core members include Godrej, Hughes India, Azista-BST Aerospace Private Limited, BEL, Centum Electronics, Maxar India.

Two pillar solution

• The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (IF) has agreed a two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy.
• 136 countries including India have signed this historic pact to enforce a minimum corporate tax.
• Pillar One aims to ensure a fairer distribution of profits and taxing rights among countries with respect to the largest MNEs, including digital companies.
• This would entail reallocation of some taxing rights over MNEs from their home countries to markets where they have business and earn profits, regardless of whether firms have a physical presence there.
• Pillar Two seeks to put a floor on competition over corporate income tax, through a global minimum corporate tax rate that countries can use to protect their tax bases.
• Pillar Two which was initially proposed to be brought into effect from 2023 has now been deferred to 2024.

Background

• The US loses nearly $50 billion a year to tax cheats, according to the Tax Justice Network report, with Germany and France also among the top losers.
• India’s annual loss due to corporate tax abuse is estimated at over $10 billion.

• On May 22, 2012, a large meteor shower occurred near the town of Katol in Nagpur.
• The International team of scientists examined a section of the highly-shocked meteorite from Katol.
• The paper published this month in PNAS reports the first natural occurrence of a mineral called bridgmanite.
• The mineral was named in 2014 after Prof. Percy W. Bridgman, recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics.
• Prior to its naming in 2014, it was referred to as perovskite  because according to rules set down by the International Mineralogical Association, a mineral cannot be given a formal name until a specimen has been found that can be examined first hand. 
• Various computational and experimental studies have shown that about 80% of the Earth’s lower mantle is made up of bridgmanite.

Mineral Species

• Naturally formed - A mineral substance is a naturally occurring solid that has been formed by geological processes.
• Source - It can be found either on earth or in extraterrestrial bodies.
• A mineral cannot be given a formal name until a specimen has been found that can be examined first hand.
• Anthropogenic substances, i.e. those made by Man, are not regarded as minerals.
• Authority - The International Mineralogical Association was responsible for controlling the introduction of new minerals and mineral names.
• Mineraloid - A mineraloid is a substance that satisfies some, but not all of the parts of the definition. 
• For example, opal, does not have a characteristic crystalline structure, so it is considered a mineraloid.
• Note also that the "minerals" as used in the nutritional sense are not minerals as defined geologically.