GOA

• Ease of doing business: Goa government has just 40 days to implement 80 reforms

• As part of the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) for 2019, the department of industrial policy and promotion(DIPP) has outlined 80 reforms that Goa has to implement as part of a nation-wide exercise to improve the ease of doing business. The department of industries trade and commerce is the nodal agency and has been asked to coordinate with other including Goa, urging states to implement the reforms by February 28. Interestingly, DIPP has done away with the earlier practice of conducting the ease of doing business rankings based on compliance documents uploaded by the state government. This year, DIPP has sought feedback from industry bodies, private consultants deployed in state governments and users of government services.

• The reforms stipulated by DIPP can be broadly categorized under the following categories—transparency enablers, single-window systems, land records, land allotment for industry, environment compliance, construction enablers, labour regulations, taxation and contract enforcement.

• One of the key reforms outlined by DIPP is the elimination of physical acceptance of documents for applications or registration.

INTERNATIONAL

• First human rights TV channel Launched in London

• The world’s first television channel dedicated to human rights was launched in London by the International Observatory of Human Rights (IOHR). It would be a web-based channel and would deliver human rights issues to audiences in over 20 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The broadcasts of the channel can be viewed via the netgem.tv interactive platform.

• The programmes are currently broadcasted in English and eventually hopes to broadcast in other languages including Farsi, Turkish, Arabic and Russian.

Global Risks Report

• The Global Risks Report 2019 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) describes changes occurring in the global risks landscape from year to year and identifies global catastrophic risks. The report also examines the interconnectedness of risks and considers how the strategies for the mitigation of global risks might be structured.

• The top-five risks by impact, facing the world are weapons of mass destruction; failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation; extreme weather events; water crises; and major natural disasters.

• Rising geopolitical and geo-economic tensions are the most urgent risk in 2019.

NATIONAL

• UN raises concern on India’s definition of forests

• A technical assessment by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of India’s submission on forest cover has raised concerns about the country’s definition of forests, which experts say exaggerates forest cover and inadvertently masks deforestation.

• The global body has recommended that India delineate areas under orchards, and bamboo and palm cultivation for an accurate assessment of carbon stocks of forests. The exaggeration could fall at least in the range of 5-12% of the forest cover.

• The government considers an area of one hectare (ha) or more with at least 10% canopy cover, irrespective of land use and ownership, including all land that meets the forest thresholds —

• Tree crops, fruit orchards, bamboo and agro-forestry — as a forest.

• India submitted its Forest Reference Levels (FRL) in 2018 to the UN’S Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), which is an effort to value the carbon stored in forests to create incentives for developing countries to protect their environment. The FRL is a baseline for the assessment of emission reduction through forests. Emission reduction efforts under REDD+ can be monetised through a market mechanism.

·         ASER Report 2018

• The Annual Status of Education, ASER report by the NGO Pratham which measures the learning outcomes has been released. The report was based on an annual household survey which covered 5.46 lakh children in 596 rural districts across the country.

The important findings from the ASER 2018 survey are:

• For the first time since the introduction of the Right to Education Act, India witnessed tangible improvements in the quality
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