• The International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF) was launched on 18 October 2019 by public authorities from Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, India, Kenya, Morocco and the European Union, representing almost half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
• There are also seven Observers for this International Platform.

The International Platform aims to

• Exchange and disseminate information to promote best practices in environmentally sustainable finance
• Compare the different initiatives and identify barriers and opportunities to help scale up environmentally sustainable finance internationally
• While respecting national and regional contexts, enhance international coordination where appropriate on environmentally sustainable finance issues. Where appropriate, some willing members could strive to align initiatives and approaches.

The ultimate objective is to:

1. Scale up the mobilisation of private capital towards environmentally sustainable finance at global level
2. Promote integrated markets for environmentally sustainable finance

• India’s proposal to include Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant and Bengal Florican in Appendix I of UN Convention on migratory species was unanimously accepted recently at the ongoing 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.

• The Global Health Security (GHS) Index is the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across the 195 countries that make up the States Parties to the International Health Regulations (IHR [2005]).
• It lists the countries best prepared for an epidemic or pandemic.
• The GHS Index is a project of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (JHU) and was developed with The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). 
• It aims to set a high threshold for preparedness against epidemics that can lead to pandemics.

Subordinate Courts

• Appointment of District Judges – The appointment, posting and promotion of district judges in a state are made by the governor of the state in consultation with the high court.

A person to be appointed as district judge should have the following qualifications:

1. He should not already be in the service of the Central or the state government.
2. He should have been an advocate or a pleader for seven years.
3. He should be recommended by the high court for appointment.

Recent Development:

• The Supreme Court has recently held that subordinate judicial officers cannot apply or compete for direct appointment as District Judge even if they have a previous experience of seven years as an advocate.
• The only opportunity to be District Judges is through promotion in accordance with the Rules framed under Article 234 and proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution, a 3-judge Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra declared.
• The judgment also noted that judicial officers directly appointed under Article 233 cannot continue as District Judges.
• They would be reverted to their original posts and the respective High Courts would consider their promotion in accordance with the prevailing Rules in case they were superseded by their juniors.

• The Indian Navy Hydrographic Survey Ship, INS Jamuna is on a deployment to carry out Joint Hydrographic Survey off the South – West coast of Sri Lanka.
• A team of Sri Lankan Navy hydrographers including officers and sailors have also been embarked onboard for the duration of the survey.

• Until now, there is no upper limit for the central subsidy.
• Recently, the Cabinet decided to cap the Centre’s premium subsidy under these schemes for premium rates up to 30% for unirrigated areas/crops and 25% for irrigated areas/crops.
• At present, under PMFBY and RWBCIS, farmers pay a premium of,

1. 2% of the sum insured for all foodgrains and oilseeds crops of Kharif;
2. 1.5% for all foodgrains and oilseeds crops of Rabi; and
3. 5% for all horticultural crops.

• The difference between actuarial premium rate and the rate of insurance premium payable by farmers, which is called the Rate of Normal Premium Subsidy, is shared equally between the Centre and the states.
• However, states and Union Territories are free to extend additional subsidy over and above the normal subsidy from their budgets.
• While PMFBY is based on yield, RWBCIS is based on proxies and farmers are provided insurance protection against adverse weather conditions such as excess rainfall, wind and temperature.
• The number of insured farmers under RWBCIS is relatively low.

• The National Museum in New Delhi has decided to keep meat out of the ‘Historical Gastronomica’ event that it is hosting on its premises until February 25, allegedly after “a couple of MPs” reacted to the menu posted online by the Ministry of Culture.
• The event, presented by the Museum along with One Station Million Stories (OSMS), claims to treat visitors to “The Indus dining experience” through a “specially crafted menu that strictly includes ingredients that were identified by archaeologists & researchers from sites of the Indus-Saraswati Civilisation”.
• The people of the Indus Valley Civilisation grew and ate a variety of cereals and pulses.
• There is archaeological evidence for cultivation of pea (matar), chickpea (chana), pigeon pea (tur/arhar), horse gram (chana dal) and green gram (moong).
• Several varieties of wheat have been found at Harappan sites, as well as barley of the two-rowed and six-rowed kinds.
• There is evidence that the Harappans cultivated Italian millet, ragi and amaranth, as well as sorghum and rice.
• The Harappans were the earliest known people to grow cotton.
• They produced cotton cloth hundreds of years before anyone else.
• In fact, the Greek word for cotton is sindon, a word derived from Sind which is a part of the Indus Valley Civilization region.

• India will switch to the world's cleanest petrol and diesel from April 1 as it leapfrogs straight to BS VI emission compliant fuels.
• India will join the select league of nations using petrol and diesel containing just 10 parts per million of sulphur as it looks to cut vehicular emissions that are said to be one of the reasons for the choking pollution in major cities.
• The Sulphur content of BS-VI fuel, which is 5 times lower than that in BS-IV fuel, is one of the major differences between the two.
• With BS-VI fuel, for every one kilometre, a car will emit 80% less particulate matter and nearly 70% less nitrogen oxide.

• Recently, Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport (IGI) Airport becomes 1st single-use plastic-free airport of India.
• Single-use plastics are goods that are made primarily from fossil fuel based chemicals (petrochemicals) and are meant to be disposed of right after use often, in minutes.
• Single-use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and serviceware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags.
• We produce hundreds of millions of tons of plastic every year, most of which cannot be recycled, while some of it can be recycled.
• As only around 13% of the plastic items are recyclable, the rest ends up either buried in the land or water bodies, eventually reaching the oceans, leading to polluting of water bodies and killing of marine life.
• Most of the plastic is not biodegradable and over a period of time the plastic breaks up and releases toxic chemicals into the water bodies, which in turn make their way into food and water supplies.

• The government to launch Tilhan Mission to make the country self-reliant in oilseed production.
• Recently, there has been major rifts between India and Malaysia over Palm oil.
• Oilseed crops are the second most important determinant of agricultural economy, next only to cereals within the segment of field crops.
• The self-sufficiency in oilseeds attained through “Yellow Revolution” during early 1990’s, could not be sustained beyond a short period.
• Despite being the fifth largest oilseed crop producing country in the world, India is also one of the largest importers of vegetable oils today.
• There is a spurt in the vegetable oil consumption in recent years in respect of both edible as well as industrial usages.