CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
NHRC sets up panel to assess Covid-19 impact on human rights
- The National Human Rights Commission has constituted an 11-member expert committee to study impact of Covid-19 on human rights and future response of the government.
- The expert panel would be headed by Dr K S Reddy, president of Public Health Foundation of India. The expert committee would assess the impact of Covid-19 on human rights of people, especially marginalised and vulnerable sections of the society, including migrant labourers.
- The expert panel would also suggest the future policy for the Centre and state governments. The committee has public health experts and members of civil society who have vast experience in social sector and human rights
- The expert panel would study in detail the migrant crisis that had unfolded at the beginning of pandemic from the public health perspective and how it was addressed by the states. Best practices being followed abroad and even in India would also be studied in detail and woven in policy recommendations to the government.
- NHRCwould also seek views of different ministries including health and family welfare, labour, women and child development, food and public distribution, agriculture, social justice and empowerment and tribal affairs. According to sources, NHRC would issue an advisory to the state governments and the Centre making the findings of the expert panel as the basis.
About National Human Rights Commission:
- Headquarters: New Delhi, India
- Justice H. L. Dattu, Chairman
USAID, MNRE Announce New Partnership To Expand Clean Energy Development
- In a step toward increasing US-India collaboration for clean energy development, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) have announced the launch of a partnership between the USAID-supported South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE) and MNRE’s national technical institutions.
- SAGE is a US government consortium that will provide advanced technical knowledge on clean energy development embedded in the US Department of Energy’s National Laboratories to MNRE’s National Technical Institutions and other public institutes under this new partnership.
- MNRE Secretary Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi and USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia Javier Piedra launched the partnership on the sidelines of the ongoing US-India Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) meetings.
- SAGE will contribute significantly towards achieving the goals of US government’s Asia Enhancing Growth and Development through Energy (Asia EDGE) Initiative, a primary pillar of the US government’s Indo-Pacific vision in South Asia, and the US-India Strategic Energy Partnership.
- To maximise the impact of this partnership, the SAGE consortium in discussion with MNRE and its technical institutions, the National Institute of Wind Energy and the National Institute of Biomass Energy has identified several key topics.
- The SAGE is a consortium consisting of USAID, the US Department of Energy and three of the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories — Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
About United States Agency for International Development:
- Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
- Acting Administrator: John Barsa
About Ministry of New and Renewable Energy:
- Raj Kumar Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge)
- Constituency: Arrah
CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL
U.S. to formally withdraw from WHO in 2021
- The U.S. has sent a letter officially notifying the United Nations that it is leaving the World Health Organization, starting the formal process of withdrawal that President Trump first started in April when he halted funding to WHO.
- The Trump administration has notified Congress and the United Nations that the United States is formally withdrawing from the World Health Organization.
- The United States’ notice of withdrawal, effective July 6, 2021, has been submitted to the UN Secretary-General, as per sources.
- The spokesperson for Secretary-General António Guterres stated he had received the notice and “is in the process of verifying with the World Health Organization whether all the conditions for such withdrawal are met.” Those conditions “include giving a one-year notice and fully meeting the payment of assessed financial obligations.”
- President Donald Trump stated he was halting funding to the organisation in mid-April and announced his intention to withdraw from the WHO in May.
- Trump consistently accused the organization of aiding China in allegedly covering up the origins of the virus and allowing its spread.
About WHO:
- Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
- Director-General: Tedros Adhanom
India funded new school infrastructure inaugurated in Nepal
- A new four-storey school building built with Indian assistance of Rs 1.94 crore for students pursuing both vedic and modern education was inaugurated in Nepal’s Ilam district, according to the Indian embassy.
- The new building of Shri Saptmai Gurukul Sanskrit Vidyalaya, which was setup in 2009 and has unique qualification of imparting vedic as well as modern education including Sanskrit, was inaugurated through video conferencing that was attended by Nepalese officials, school management committee and members of the Indian Embassy, a statement issued by the Indian mission here stated.
- The new school building was built at a cost of Nepali Rupees 13 million (INR 1.94 crore).
- The new school infrastructure has ten class rooms, hostel block with nine dormitories for residential students, four study rooms, warden office, one living room and one conference hall, the statement stated.
- India has provided financial assistance to Nepal for the construction of several such schools with an aim to upgrade the education for the Nepalese students, especially after most of the educational infrastructures suffered damage in the massive 2015 earthquake, killing 9,000 people in various parts of the Himalayan nation.
About Nepal:
- Capital: Kathmandu
- Prime minister: KP Sharma Oli
- Currency: Nepalese rupee
