| | 5 THINGS FIRST | PM Modi at world leaders’ summit at COP 26 in Glasgow; West Bengal winter session of assembly begins; Delhi and Kerala allow schools to reopen for all classes; IHS Markit India Manufacturing PMI October data release; ICC World Cup T20: England Vs Sri Lanka | |
| | 1. G20 takes pledge on emissions and coal but… |  | - Leaders of the world's biggest economies made a compromise commitment Sunday to reach carbon neutrality “by or around mid-century” as they wrapped up a two-day summit that was laying the groundwork for the UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
- Carbon neutrality or “net zero” emissions mean a balance between greenhouse gases added to and removed from the atmosphere. Some countries have set 2050 as their deadline for net zero emissions, while China, Russia and Saudi Arabia are aiming for 2060.
- The Group of 20 leaders also agreed to end public financing for coal-fired power generation abroad, but set no target for phasing out coal domestically — a clear nod to coal-dependent countries including China and India.
- The future of coal, a key source of greenhouse gas emissions, has been one of the hardest things for the G-20 to agree on. At the Rome summit, leaders agreed to “put an end to the provision of international public finance for new unabated coal power generation abroad by the end of 2021.” That refers to financial support for building coal plants abroad, something Western countries have been moving away from and major Asian economies are now doing the same.
- Youth climate activists Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate issued an open letter to the media as the G-20 was wrapping up, stressing three fundamental aspects of the climate crisis that often are downplayed: that time is running out, that any solution must provide justice to the people most affected by climate change and that the biggest polluters often hide behind incomplete statistics about their true emissions.
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| Box | | 2. As the world meets again to talk climate change… |  | The summit - The United Nations climate summit, known as COP26 this year, formally opened in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Sunday, kicking off two weeks of intense diplomatic negotiations by almost 200 countries on how to tackle the common challenge of global warming.
- COP is short for Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
- First held in 1995, it also serves as the meeting of parties to the 1992 Kyoto Protocol that first committed countries to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and those that signed on to the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The plan- The Paris accord set a target for limiting global warming below 2 degrees Celsius but left it up to each country to submit its own emissions reduction targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions.
- Governments were required to submit their new NDCs five years after Paris, but that deadline was pushed back a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The big issue- Among the top issues at COP26 is the question of how poor countries will afford the expense of ditching cheap fossil fuels in favour of renewable energy while adapting to the inevitable effects of global warming already “baked into” the atmosphere.
- There is a consensus that rich nations, whose greenhouse gas emissions are largely responsible for climate change, have to pay up. The question is how much.
- The slow pace of action has angered many environmental campaigners, who are expected to stage loud and creative protests during the summit.
The leaders- More than 100 world leaders will attend the start of the summit Monday and Tuesday, known as the high-level segment, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
- Germany's Angela Merkel, who presided over the first COP, will make one of her last international trips as chancellor.
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| | 3. When WhatsApp chats are the only proof… |  | - While granting bail to Aachit Kumar, a 22-year-old studying in London and an accused in the cruise liner drug bust case, a special NDPS court has held that merely on the basis of WhatsApp chats, it cannot be gathered that he used to supply contraband to Aryan Khan (23) and Arbaaz Merchant (26), especially when Khan, with whom he chatted, has already been granted bail by the Bombay high court.
- While Kumar was granted bail on Saturday, the detailed order was made available on Sunday. Kumar was arrested on October 6 on the basis of the now-retracted statement of Khan.
- The prosecution had submitted that though Kumar was found with a small quantity of 2.6gm of ganja, his role was that of a supplier. Kumar’s advocate had objected to him being termed ‘peddler’ and said that there was nothing to show that there was any conspiracy between Khan and Kumar.
- Rejecting the prosecution’s submission that Kumar was Khan and Merchant’s ‘ganja supplier’, the judge said, “...respondent [Narcotics Control Bureau] failed to bring on record specific evidence to show that applicant [Kumar] is dealing in business of supplying the contraband.”
- The judge added: “Except WhatsApp chats with accused no 1 [Khan], there is no other evidence to show that the applicant was indulging in such activity. Merely on the basis of WhatsApp chats, it cannot be gathered that applicant used to supply contraband to accused nos 1 & 2 (Merchant), especially when the accused no 1, with whom there are WhatsApp chats of applicant, is granted bail by the HC.”
- The special NDPS court also said that as Khan and Merchant, with whom Kumar allegedly acted in conspiracy, have been granted bail, the conspiracy charge was not applicable to him.
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| | 4. Why it’s time to reduce petrol and diesel prices |  | - No respite: Petrol and diesel prices continued their upward trajectory for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday, touching Rs 109.34 a litre and Rs 98.07 a litre respectively in Delhi and Rs 155.15 a litre and Rs 106.23 a litre respectively in Mumbai.
- No relief: In Kolkata, while retail price of petrol touched Rs 109.79 per litre, that of diesel was quoting at Rs 101.19 per litre while in Chennai, petrol and diesel prices were Rs 106.04 and Rs 102.25 per litre respectively.
Case for cutting taxes- Excise collection from petroleum products in the first half of the current fiscal — April-September FY22 — is 79% higher than the collection in the same period pre-Covid, that is in H1 FY20. As against Rs 95,930 crore earned in April-September 2019, this year’s excise collections have crossed Rs 1.71 lakh crore. They are also 33.6% higher than the excise earned in H1 FY21.
- The government’s fiscal deficit has narrowed down to 35% of its budgetary estimates at the end of September 2021, as per the Controller General of Accounts (CGA). That not only compares extremely favourably with the 114.8% fiscal deficit of the last fiscal for the same period — attributed to increased spending due to Covid-19 pandemic — but is also much better than the 93% fiscal deficit for the first half of 2019-20 fiscal year.
- Last year, when crude oil prices had crashed to $19 a barrel — they are now at $85 a barrel — excise duty on petrol was hiked from Rs 19.98 per litre to Rs 32.90 per litre while diesel’s excise duty now comes to Rs 31.80 per litre. Even if one accounts for the Rs 1.34 lakh crore oil bonds issued by the UPA government that are to be repaid over the next four financial years, only Rs 10,000 crore is due to be repaid this fiscal.
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| | | 6. What’s the Pope’s visit to India really for? |  | The visit of Pope Francis to India, after he accepted PM Narendra Modi’s invite, will be the first Papal visit since 1999, when Pope John Paul II had visited India. What this means- The acceptance of Modi’s invite by the Pope is a turnaround from the lows of 2017 when Catholic leaders in India were unable to get Modi to invite the Pope, who, in 2016 had said that he was “almost sure” to visit India the following year when he visited Bangladesh and Myanmar.
- While Roman Catholics constitute just 1.5% of India’s population, numbering around 20 million, Christian missionaries are often accused by right wing Hindu organisations of proselytising by offering monetary incentives, especially in poor tribal regions. The Modi-Pope hug and the visit could ease off the heat on missionary organisations from Hindutva organisations.
- In fact, on the same day that Modi extended the invite to the Pope, the RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosable demanded that “people who are converted have to announce that they are converted” as they “take double benefits.”
Why the Pope’s visit matters- Attacks on Chrisitans in India invite worldwide condemnation from the largely Christian-majority western hemisphere countries, with a US State Department report on International Religious Freedom censuring India with specific mention of the cancellation of “FCRA licenses of five Christian-linked NGOs” and “cutting off their foreign funding”, in addition to the killings of two Christians in police custody for violation of Covid-19 curfew in Tamil Nadu.
- Last month, a report titled ‘Christians under attack in India’ by Association of Protection Civil Rights, United Christian Forum and United Against Hate said that India saw more than 300 incidents of hate attacks against Christians in the first nine months of the current year. Even as recently as October 3, a church in Roorkee was vandalised by a 200-plus strong mob allegedly belonging to right-wing Hindu organisations who also attacked the worshippers gathered for Sunday prayers.
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| | 7. Pak Islamist group calls of protest after deal with govt |  | - A hardline Pakistani Islamist group called off a protest march to the capital Islamabad on Sunday after reaching a deal with the government, ending two weeks of clashes that left at least seven policemen dead and scores injured on both sides.
- The Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) began the march calling for the release of jailed leader Saad Rizvi and the expulsion of France's ambassador over publication of caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammad in a French satirical magazine.
- The TLP, a radical Sunni Muslim group founded in 2015 to tackle actions it considers blasphemous to Islam, has mounted multiple protest marches marred by bloodshed that have twice brought Islamabad to a standstill.
- The government previously agreed to have parliament vote on kicking out the French ambassador but backtracked, saying to take such action would isolate Pakistan internationally.
- In the latest protest, a march from Lahore to Islamabad along Pakistan's busiest highway, TLP militants repeatedly clashed with police, paralysing traffic as they threatened to blockade Islamabad if their demands were not met.
- On Wednesday, four policemen were killed and hundreds wounded when militants opened fire with automatic weapons. No one has been arrested over the killings. Three policemen died in earlier clashes in Lahore. More details here
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| | 8. Taliban supreme leader makes first public appearance |  | - In a bid to quell growing speculation that their spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, was dead, the Taliban on Sunday stated that the Islamist movement’s supreme leader made an appearance in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar on Saturday. He is the ultimate authority over the Taliban's religious, military and political affairs.
- What he did: The Taliban said he visited the Darul Uloom Hakimah madrassa to “speak to his brave soldiers and disciples.” They added that Akhundzada, who’s also known as Amir-ul Momineen, or commander of the faithful, also gave a religious message and prayed for Taliban martyrs and wounded fighters.
But, but, but...- No photographs or videos of the said visit and public appearance of the reclusive leader were released by the Taliban. According to Reuters, the only verified image of his dates back to May 2016, obtained from a Taliban Twitter feed. Akhundzada took charge in 2016 after his predecessor Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike.
- Moreover, the Taliban has a history of covering up their leaders’ deaths and concocting tales of their being alive — the most famous instance being that of Mullah Omar, the founder of Taliban, whose death in May 2013 the Taliban not only kept hidden from the world till 2015 when it finally admitted that he was no more but also kept issuing statements in his name till July 2015.
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| | 9. Japan’s ruling coalition manages to hold its majority in polls |  | - Japanese PM Fumio Kishida managed to scrape through a lower house of parliament election with his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) winning more than 233 seats — the minimum required for a majority in the 465-member house though the party’s performance is being described as its worst showing in 12 years. The LDP’s final tally is expected to be much lower than the 276 seats it had in the outgoing house — a clear indication that the party’s policies in recent years have failed to enthuse voters.
- Just how close and tough the election was can be gauged from Kishida’s own estimate before the polls of the total seats he was expecting, which was 233. While the LDP, which is in a coalition with Koemito, is expected to get a comfortable majority, it will fall short of the 305 seats the coalition had in the outgoing house.
- The LDP has been battered by a series of missteps, not the least of which was the mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis in the world’s third largest economy, with the pandemic exacerbating the income disparity between the rich and the poor in a country which has the second highest poverty rate among G7 nations and the 9th highest poverty rate among OECD countries. While average Japanese household income fell 3.5% between 2014-19, the richest 10% of Japanese saw an increase in their wealth.
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| | | Answer to NEWS IN CLUES |  | Manmohan Singh. The former PM, who could speak but not read Hindi — with his speeches often written in Urdu — was on Sunday discharged from AIIMS where he had been admitted since October 13 after complaining of fever, weakness and general uneasiness. Singh, apart from I K Gujral, is the only other PM to have been born in pre-independence undivided India, in Pakistan. He is also the only PM to serve two terms without getting elected to the Lok Sabha. Only Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had longer stints than him as PM.
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| Written by: Rakesh Rai, Judhajit Basu, Sumil Sudhakaran, Tejeesh N.S. Behl
Research: Rajesh Sharma | |
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