Announcement of Global Peace Index

The fifteenth version of the Global Peace Index (GPI) announced by using Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) Sydney, the GPI is the worlds leading measure of world peacefulness. The index ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness. This record affords the most complete data-driven evaluation to date on trends in peace, its financial value, and how to boost peaceable societies.

Iceland stays the most peaceable country in the world, a position it has held because 2008. It is joined at the pinnacle of the index through New Zealand, Denmark, Portugal, and Slovenia. Afghanistan is the least peaceable country in the world for the fourth consecutive year, followed with the aid of Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and Iraq.

The biggest enchancment in peacefulness in South Asia happened in Pakistan, which ranked 150th globally and 6th in the region, by using moving up two notches from the previous years ranking.

Release of SIPRI Yearbook

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute that is SIPRI has released the SIPRI Yearbook 2021. The file assesses the current status of armaments, disarmament and global security. China is in the center of huge modernisation and expansion of its nuclear weapon inventory, and India and Pakistan also appear to be increasing their nuclear arsenals.

According to the yearbook, India possessed an estimated 156 nuclear warheads at the begin of 2021 in contrast to one hundred fifty at the begin of last year, whilst Pakistan had a hundred sixty-five warheads, up from a hundred and sixty in 2020.

Russia and the U.S. collectively possessed over 90% of world nuclear weapons and have big and steeply-priced modernisation programmes underway.

Over 73% women want menstrual leave: Study

A survey has said that around 73 per cent of Women want companies to allow them to take menstrual leave while 86.6 per cent are in favour of a menstrual-friendly workplace where hygiene methods and support are available to women.

The Menstrual Hygiene Survey 2023, conducted by Everteen, a feminine hygiene brand, also pointed out that 71.7 per cent of the participants in the survey do not want the menstrual leaves to be paid, fearing that it may make companies reluctant to hire female employees. Nearly 10,000 women in the age group of 18 to 35 years participated in the survey that was conducted in multiple cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Patna.

Also, 86.6 per cent of women are in favour of the concept of a menstrual friendly workplace where females are not hesitant in discussing the subject openly, and menstrual hygiene methods and support infrastructure is made available to women. Besides, 68.9 per cent of women have taken a leave of absence from work during menstrual periods, the survey stated.

The survey recommended that corporates need to make it a priority to adopt practices for a menstrual-friendly workplace. Researchers from the UVA School of Medicine, Flo Health, University College London, Technische Universitaet Berlin and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine too found menstrual symptoms hurt workplace productivity of many women.

New panel formed to guide Project Cheetah

Following the death of six cheetahs, including three newborn cubs, within a period of two-and-a-half months at the Kuno (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, the Centre has set up yet another high-level panel of national and international experts to oversee and monitor the ambitious Project Cheetah in India.

It will also provide advice on cheetah introduction to the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department and the NTCA. It will open the cheetah habitat for eco-tourism and suggest regulations to further this. It will also provide suggestions on how to involve the community in the projects activities.

In October last year, the ministry had constituted a Cheetah Task Force to monitor Indias cheetah introduction programme.

WMO Approves Global Tracker for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The World Meteorological Congress has made a groundbreaking decision to approve a newgreenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring initiative, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

This initiative aims to support urgent action in reducing heat-trapping gases that contribute to rising global temperatures. The newly establishedGlobal Greenhouse GasWatch will address critical information gaps, integrating various observing systems, modeling capabilities, and data assimilation under one comprehensive framework.

The unanimous support from WMOs 193 members highlights the growing importance of greenhouse gas monitoring and the need to strengthen the scientific foundation for https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change mitigation efforts.

Rs 30,000 crore of disaster funds given to states in one year

Probably in one of the highest yearly spend towards disaster mitigation, the Centre has released more than Rs 30,000 crore of disaster funds to states and Union Territories since the beginning of the pandemic last year.

Up to 50% of this fund has been allowed to be used for Covid-19 containment measures that may include setting up of quarantine centres, buying of medical equipment, providing for ambulances and expenditure towards testing and tracing of cases.

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal have got the highest share of the State Disaster Relief Management Fund (SDRMF), including Rs 8,257 crore contribution made from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). While MP has received Rs 3,700 crore of disaster fund till March 31, Maharashtra has received Rs 3,640 crore and Bengal Rs 3,260 crore. The total funds released to 28 states/UTs is more than Rs 31,500 crore during the just concluded 2020-21 financial year.

Govt’s LPG plan for poor hits price wall in urban slums

Only half of the households in urban slums fully depend onLPG(liquefied natural gas supplied in cylinders) for cooking, while the rest continue to use traditional fuels — either as a supplement or exclusive Source Of Energy — due to issues of affordability, availability and taste preference.

According to a CEEW (Council on Energy, Environment and Water) study of clean energy access in six states, 16% of the 656 households surveyed in 83 slums acrossBihar, Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh Home to a quarter of Indias urban slum Population still use highly-polluting traditional fuels such as firewood, dung cakes, Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture residue, charcoal, and kerosene as their primary source of energy for cooking.

The study says 12% of the surveyed households did not seek LPG connection, even though they were aware of the governments Ujjwala scheme envisaging freeLPG connectionto poor households. The high recurring expenditure on refills deter them from procuring an LPG connection.

McDonald’s plans Rs 100 crore investment to open 30 outlets this fiscal

Westlife Development, which operates McDonald’s restaurants in southern and western region in India, plans to invest Rs 100 crore to open up to 30 outlets of the quick service restaurant brand in the current financial year.

The company, which now witnesses more than half of its sales from convenience channels such as delivery, takeaways and drive-thru, is bullish about Growth in FY’22, leaving out the next 2-3 months.

In the last quarter of the 2020-21, 55-60 per cent of the company’s sales came from convenience channels and 40-45 per cent from in-store business.

Westlife Development reported narrowing of loss to Rs 6.45 crore for March quarter 2020-21, helped by higher income. It had posted a net loss of Rs 25.26 crore in January-March period a year ago.

Its revenue from operations stood at Rs 357.58 crore, up 6.31 per cent from Rs 336.35 crore in March quarter 2019-20.

67% Indians prefer US for higher education: Report

About 67 per cent of Indians prefer the US for higher Education, reveals a new report by fin-tech platform Prodigy Finance.

The report on the State of Higher Education in Study Abroad Market, showed that besides the US, Indian students prefer the UK and France at 8 per cent each for pursuing their master’s degree abroad.

Most students who went abroad for higher education were fromMaharashtra(20 per cent), Karnataka (15 per cent), Delhi (12 per cent) and (8 per cent).

Almost 70 per cent who travelled abroad for higher education last year were male and 30 per cent were female, the report showed.

Rs 13,000 crore given to farmers directly

The government has transferred about Rs 8,180 crore to the accounts ofPunjabfarmers and Rs 4,670 crore toHaryanafarmers directly against the sale of their wheat crop, the food ministry said.

Till Monday, 22.2 million tonnes of wheat was procured during this Rabi Marketing Season compared to 7.6 million tonnes during the same period last year. The procurement was less during this period in 2020 crops as there was strict nationwide lockdown.

The ministry also said nearly 38% of the procurement so far has come from Punjab, followed by Haryana (32%) and Madhya Pradesh (23%).