Daily News Simplified - DNS

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SL. NO.

TOPICS THE HINDU

PAGE NO.

1 No deal as longest climate talks end 01

2 Maternity scheme exclusionary, need benefits for all 05

3 Running low on gas- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana 11

4 Mallakhamba 07

5 Ajanta and Ellora Caves 07

Dated: 16. Dec. 2019 DNS Notes - Revision

Title 1. No deal as longest climate talks end (Page 01)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper III: Environment

Theme Climate Change Talks

Highlights Article 6 of Paris Climate Deal relates to developing of market and non-market-based approaches to mitigation of greenhouse emissions. Salient Features of Article 6 of Paris Climate Deal: Market Mechanisms

• Some countries choose to pursue voluntary cooperation in the implementation of their NDCs to

• allow for higher ambition in their mitigation and adaptation actions and to promote sustainable

• development and environmental integrity.

• The use international transferred mitigation outcomes shall apply robust accounting to ensure

• the avoidance of double counting. Emissions resulting from this mechanism shall not be used to

• demonstrate achievement of host Party’s NDCs if used by another Party to demonstrate

• achievement of its NDCs.

• Use of internationally transferred mitigation outcomes to achieve the NDCs shall be voluntary

• and authorized by participating Parties. The mechanism shall aim to:

• Promote the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions while fostering sustainable development

• Incentivize and facilitate participation in the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions by public and private entities

• Contribute to the reduction of emission levels in the host Party, which will benefit from mitigation activities resulting in emission reductions that can also be used by another Party to fulfil its NDCs.

• Deliver an overall mitigation in global emissions. Non-Market Mechanisms Development of Integrated, holistic and balanced non-markets approach to be developed to assist in the implementation of their nationally determined contributions. There approaches shall aim to o Promote mitigation and adaptation ambition o Enhance public and private sector participation in the implementation of the NDCs o Enable opportunities for coordination across instruments and relevant institutional arrangements. The issue of framing rules for setting up a new carbon market under the Paris Agreement was deferred entirely to next year. Reasons for failure: 1) Attitude of US: USA had decided to pull out of the Paris Climate deal. It will be ceased to be member from the November 2020. 2) Accounting for climate finance, reporting standards and management of past carbon credits during the Kyoto period. 3) Developed countries failure to provide adequate funding and technology transfer to developing countries. Compensation for Loss and Damage: There has been a demand from developing countries fixing liability for damages caused by rising temperatures. There is a demand for compensation for the losses that developing countries incur due to changes in climate. However, there was no agreement on this issue as well due to resistance from developed countries principally USA. Agreement of Gender: One of the achievements of this COP was agreement on enhanced gender action plan. Gender item is not a problem of women but all of humanity. Strengthen the role and empowerment of women. Gender Action Plan sets out in five priority areas 1) Capacity building, knowledge management and communication: 2) Gender balance, participation and women’s leadership

Dated: 16. Dec. 2019 DNS Notes - Revision

3) Coherence 4) Gender-responsive implementation and means of implementation 5) Monitoring and reporting Enhanced Action: Paris Climate Deal aims at avoiding a temperature increase of more than 1.5 Celsius by the end of the Century. So far, the world is on course for a 3 to 4-degree Celsius rise, with potentially catastrophic consequences. There was expectation from all countries to increase their climate actions in view of recent scientific assessments that show that the world was not doing enough to prevent the extreme impacts of climate change. Some countries, especially the most vulnerable ones like the small island states, were pushing for language directing all countries to update their climate action plans by next year to reflect new realities. Such demands were resisted mainly by big developing countries like China, India and Brazil, which had been arguing that countries be asked to deliver on their past and current promises before being asked to make any new commitments. These developing countries pointed out that current situation was a direct result of developed countries not meeting their targets in the pre-2020 period. They have demanded an assessment of the performance of developed countries on climate action, including their obligation to provide finance and technology to the developing world. Final Call of the COP 25 called Chile Madrid Time for Action emphasized on: 1) Urgency of enhanced ambition by all countries. However, there was no direction to update climate action plans by next year. 2) The demand of the developing countries for setting up a two-year work program to assess the performance of developed countries, was also not included in the final agreement. 3) The special reports of IPCC brought out this year a. Climate Change and Land b. The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate Were also not mentioned in the final agreement. There was only appreciation and gratitude to the IPCC for coming out with the two special reports.

Dated: 16. Dec. 2019 DNS Notes - Revision

Personal Notes

Dated: 16. Dec. 2019 DNS Notes - Revision

Title 2. Maternity scheme exclusionary, need benefits for all (The Hindu Page 05)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper II: Social Issues

Theme Critique of PMMVY

Highlights Context:

• In 2016, the Government had launched Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) as a conditional cash transfer scheme for the benefit of pregnant and lactating mothers.

• However, this article highlights that this scheme is non-supportive and exclusionary in nature and hence has failed to provide optimum benefits to the targeted beneficiaries.

About Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) Objective: Provide Maternity benefit in form of cash transfer to compensate the wage loss to the women during childbirth and childcare Benefits: Conditional cash transfer of Rs 5,000 for the birth of first child. (The remaining cash incentive of up to Rs 1,000 is to be given under a separate scheme called the Janani Suraksha Yojana) Eligible Beneficiaries: Available to all Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) except those in regular employment with the Central Government or State Government or Public Sector Undertaking. Conditionalities imposed: The amount is disturbed in three instalments upon meeting several conditionalities — registration of pregnancy, at least one ante-natal check-up, registration of childbirth and vaccinations. Implementation Agency: Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Flaws in the Scheme Exclusionary in nature: • The benefits are available only for the birth of the first child and does not cover

subsequent births. • Registration for the scheme requires an applicant to provide her husband’s Aadhaar

details along with her own, affecting single women which include unwed mothers, deserted wives and widows.

• A mother seeking benefits needs to provide proof of address of her marital home, which proves challenging for a newlywed expecting a child. This is because often such women reside in their natal home during pregnancy.

• The minimum age of the women to be eligible under the scheme is 19 years and hence excludes the women who may have got married before the age of 18. It is being said that almost 30-35% of the fist-time mothers are under the age of 18 years and hence are excluded under the scheme.

Cumbersome process • The application process involved in the scheme is considered to be prohibitive in nature. A

total of 6 application forms consisting of around 30 pages need to be filled by the beneficiaries.

• Further, as many 9 IDs need to be produced such as Aadhaar Card of the husband and Wife, Voter ID Card, Ration card, Passbook etc.

Unambitious Government Targets The Government has set before itself a target of covering 53 lakh women every year. However, the Government's target is only around 43% of the total 123 lakh first births in India in a year. Way Forward There is an urgent need for undertaking review of the scheme and make it more inclusive by removing restrictions on the number of children and including unwed mothers, deserted wives

Dated: 16. Dec. 2019 DNS Notes - Revision

and widows. Further, the amount of money disbursed under the scheme should be at least par with the minimum wages.

Personal Notes

Dated: 16. Dec. 2019 DNS Notes - Revision

Title 3. Running low on gas- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (The Hindu Page 11)

Syllabus Mains: GS Paper III – Indian Economy

Theme Diversion of LPG Subsidies

Highlights Context: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has highlighted certain concerns in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. About Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

• It aims to provide LPG connections to poor households. Under the scheme, an adult woman member of a below poverty line family identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) is given a deposit-free LPG connection with financial assistance of Rs 1,600 per connection by the Centre.

• Eligible households will be identified in consultation with state governments and Union territories.

• This scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Concerns raised by the CAG Inclusion Errors: lack of due diligence in KYC checks and failure of deduplication exercise leading to release of connections to unintended beneficiaries viz. males, minors, multiple connections to same individual / household etc. Delays in Distribution: lack of adequate distributors in rural areas leading to delay in supplies of refills and inability to deliver the refills at residences of the beneficiaries Risk of Diversion: Risk of diversion of domestic cylinders for commercial use was noticed as 1.98 lakh PMUY beneficiaries had an average annual consumption of more than 12 cylinders which seems improbable in view of their BPL status.

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Dated: 16. Dec. 2019 DNS Notes - Revision

Title 4. Mallakhamba (The Hindu Page 07)

Syllabus Prelims: Art and Culture

Theme About Mallakhamba

Highlights • Mallakhamba is a traditional sport, in which a gymnast performs aerial yoga postures and wrestling grips on a hanging wooden pole, cane, or rope.

• The word Mallakhamba also refers to the pole used in the sport. The pole is usually made from Indian rosewood polished with castor oil. The name Mallakhamba derives from the terms malla, meaning wrestler, and khamb, which means a pole.

• In 2013, Madhya Pradesh declared Mallakhamba the state sport.

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Dated: 16. Dec. 2019 DNS Notes - Revision

Title 5. Ajanta and Ellora Caves (The Hindu Page 07)

Syllabus Prelims: Indian History and Culture

Theme About Ajanta and Ellora Caves

Highlights Ajanta paintings

• The greatest specimen of Buddhist art in Gupta times is the Ajanta cave paintings. They were built from a period spanning from 1 cent to 7 cent AD. But most work was done in Gupta age.

• They depict various scenes from the life of Buddha and his previous births. They are life-like, natural and have brilliant colors even after all these centuries. Ajanta paintings were dominated by buddha, bodhisattva, jataka stories, natural scenery, animals etc. But it cannot be said that Guptas patronized these paintings.

• Eyes are half closed and Expression of emotions through hand gestures. Even Birds and animals are shown with emotions. Different hairstyle for every woman in the painting. Various techniques were used to render depth into the painting

• Even though the theme is religious in most paintings, we also find a glimpse of the lives of the princes, kings, common man etc.

• The compositions of these paintings are large in extent, but the majority of the figures are smaller than life size. Principal characters in most of the designs are in heroic proportions. Centrality is one of the main features of the composition so that attention is at once drawn to the most important person in each scene.

• Both the fresco the tempera styles were used. The fresco style paintings are made on wet plaster and the tempera style paintings are made on dry plaster.

Personal

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Dated: 16. Dec. 2019 DNS Notes - Revision