India re-elected member of UNESCO's executive board

India has been re-elected as the member of the UNESCO's executive board, its top decision-making body.The election was held at the 39th session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in Paris.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

It is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris.Its objective is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms.It has 195-member states and ten associate members.UNESCO implements its activities through the five programme areas: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information.

General Conference of UNESCO

The General Conference consists of the representatives of the States Members of the organisation.It meets every two years, and is attended by Member States and Associate Members, together with observers for non-Member States, intergovernmental organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).Each country has one vote, irrespective of its size or the extent of its contribution to the budget.The General Conference determines the policies and the main lines of work of the organisation.

Topic- GS-3-Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Source- AIR

22.5 lakh hectares brought under organic farming

Addressing the Organic World Congress 2017 at Greater Noida, Agriculture minister said that the government is promoting organic farming through many schemes and 22.5 lakh hectares have been brought under such cultivation so far.Organic farming has become a national and global requirement for providing nutritious food to people as well as to maintain sustainable production and soil health.India is one of the oldest organic agricultural nations of the world and a large part of the country still practices traditional organic farming.Currently 22.5 lakh hectares have been brought under organic farming and 3,60,400 farmers have benefited under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana.The government targets to bring 50,000-hectare area under organic farming in the northeast region and 45,863 hectares have been brought so far under such farming.

Adverse effect of Chemical fertiliser

The environment and social and economic issues are linked to chemical fertiliser based farming.Large part of chemicals is absorbed by the soil, air, and plants.Spraying of chemicals pollutes faraway plants and they seep into the ground and pollute water sources.Use of chemicals has led to climate change and created ecological imbalance and it is affecting human beings too.

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojajna-

Launched in 2016.Improve organic farming and soil health.Also known as Traditional Farming Improvement Programme.

Note-

Sikkim has become India's first fully organic state by implementing organic practices on around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land.

Topic- GS-3- Agriculture

Source- Indian Express

India inks energy work programme with IEA, key member countries

India has signed joint work programmes with the International Energy Agency (IEA) and some key members at IEA's latest ministerial meeting in Paris.The event focuses on energy security, clean energy technology and government-industry dialogue on investment and digitalization.

India’s achievement in Renewable Energy

The country's renewable energy installed capacity is 58.30 GW as per the recent government data.The government has an ambitious goal of increasing it to 175 GW by 2022 including 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind energy.

International Energy Agency

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-basedautonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis.IEA member countries are required to maintain total oil stock levels equivalent to at least 90 days of the previous year's net imports.Currently there are 29 states are part of it.India is not a member of it.

Topic- GS-3-Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Source- Economic India times

India Disaster Response Summit

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs inaugurated the ‘India Disaster Response Summit’ in New Delhi.It was organised jointly by theNational Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Facebookto leverage social media platforms to 'prepare, respond and recover' for, during and after a disaster.They focused on execution of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s ten-point agenda on Disaster Management which was listed by PM in Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016.India need to prepare itself for moving towards Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) from an approach of traditional Disaster Management.

Disaster mitigation 

Disaster mitigation measures are those that eliminate or reduce the impacts and risks of hazards through proactive measures taken before an emergency or disaster occurs.

Disaster Information Volunteers (DIV) programme

Where a network of trained volunteers would provide supplementary information on disasters in their local communities to assist Government relief efforts through the Facebook Workplace platform.The programme will be piloted in two disaster prone states - Assam and Uttarakhand.

NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority)

National Disaster Management Authority, abbreviated as NDMA is an agency of the Ministry of Home Affairs whose primary purpose is to coordinate response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster resiliency and crisis response.NDMA was established through the Disaster Management Act enacted by the Government of India in December 2005.The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairperson of it.

Topic- GS-3- Disaster Management

Source- PIB