Daily PIB 9th November 2023

• Climate Services Report 2023: Recently, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released Climate Services report 2023. 

Key findings: Less than 25 per cent of health ministries across the world utilise climate information and services to monitor health risks related to climate sensitivity. It highlights health protection as a priority in almost all countries and identifies the need for high-quality information for better decision making. While extreme heat causes the greatest mortality of all extreme weather, heat warning services are provided to health decision makers in only half of the affected countries; Climate change mitigation leading to reducing air pollution can save lives; and Investments to improve the capabilities of the health sector to safeguard the most vulnerable are insufficient. 

• World Meteorological Organization: It is originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. It was established in 1950.It is the specialized agency of the United Nations  for meteorology(weather and climate), operationa hydrology and related geophysical sciences. Currently it has a membership of 187 countries. Its supreme body is the World Meteorological Congress, which consists of representatives of all members. It meets at least every four yearsto set general policy and adopt regulations. A 36-member Executive Council meets annually and implements policy. Headquarters:  Geneva, Switzerland. 

• Legal Literacy and legal Awareness Program: Since 2012, Department of Justice (DoJ), Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India has been implementing Access to Justice Scheme in North Eastern States including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and in UT of Jammu & Kashmir. Major focus: Legal Empowerment of community, dissemination of simplified Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials in local languages and dialects and capacity development of Panchayati Raj Functionaries and Village Chiefs on formal justice delivery system. The aim is to empower the poor and disadvantaged sections of society to seek and demand justice services. The Programme also seeks to improve the institutional capacities of key justice service providers to enable them to effectively serve the poor and disadvantaged. 

• National Coal Index: The NCI is a price index which reflects the change in the price level of coal on a particular month relative to the fixed base year. This price index combines the prices of coal from all the sales channels- Notified Prices, Auction Prices and Import Prices. It has been rolled out on 4th June 2020 and the aim is to have an index that will truly reflect the market price. The base year is FY 2017-18.The concept and design of the Index as well as the Representative Prices have been developed by the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. The Index is meant to encompass all transactions of raw coal in the Indian market. This includes coking and non-coking of various grades transacted in the regulated (power and fertilizer) and non-regulated sectors. The NCI’s upward movement indicates rising demand of coal because of upcoming festive season and winter in the country, which will encourage coal producer to take maximum benefit by further scaling-up domestic coal production to meet the growing energy demands.