1) Bonn Climate Meet: Recently, Delegates to the Paris Agreement met in Bonn, Germany, paving the way to some key decisions for the UN Climate Conference (COP 28) in Dubai in 2023.
Key Highlights:
- Global Stocktake: Technical discussions were held on the Global Stocktake (GST), producing a short Framework on the elements to be included in the stocktake exercise.
- Advancing Post-2030 Ambition: Parties and civil society representatives used the meeting to focus on post-2030 ambition, particularly through advancing the work on the Global Stocktake.
- Funding Arrangements for Loss and Damage: Discussions focused on implementing balanced funding arrangements to address Loss and Damage (L&D) caused by climate change, particularly for vulnerable communities.
- Climate Finance Alignment: The EU emphasizes the need to align global financial flows with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
- Post-2025 Climate Finance Goal and Funding Arrangements: Constructive and substantive discussions took place in the technical expert dialogues regarding the new post-2025 climate finance goal and funding arrangements, including a fund for loss and damage.
- Urgency of Adaptation: Developed countries, including the EU, acknowledge the urgency of addressing adaptation needs.
2) Flaws In NIRF Ranking: The National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF), established by the Ministry of Education, recently announced its national rankings for universities which have been found flawed by various experts.
- The NIRF releases rankings across various categories:‘Overall’, ‘Research Institutions’, ‘Universities’, and ‘Colleges’, and specific disciplines like engineering, management, pharmacy, law, etc.
- NIRF ranks institutes by their total score; it uses five indicators to determine this score:
- Teaching, Learning & Resources (30% weightage).
- Research and Professional Practice (30%).
- Graduation Outcomes (20%).
- Outreach and Inclusivity (10%).
- Perception (10%).
- Issues with NIRF Ranking: Academic communities are worried about how the indicators are made and the methods used. The evaluationfocuses on research and professional practices, with attention to bibliometric measures sidelining other forms of intellectual contributions, such as books, book chapters, monographs, non-traditional outputs like popular articles, workshop reports, and other forms of grey literature.
3) International Day of Yoga 2023: The 9th International Day of Yoga (IDY) was celebrated on June 21st with various events and initiatives taking place across the country.
Key Highlights:
- Promoting Tribal Artisans: Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd (TRIFED) collaborated with the Ministry of Ayush to supply yoga mats exclusively made by tribal artisans.
- Ocean Ring of Yoga: Indian Navy and Merchant ships will organize yoga demonstrations at ports and vessels of friendly countries, fostering global participation.
- Yoga from the Arctic to Antarctica: Coordination between the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Ayush to organize yoga events in countries along the Prime Meridian line and UN member countries, including Himadri and Bharati research stations.
- Yoga Bharatmala and Yoga Sagarmala: Indian armed forces, including Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Border Security Force (BSF), and Border Roads Organization (BRO), will form a chain of yoga demonstrations, including yoga demonstrations on flight deck of INS Vikrant.
- National Level Initiatives: The Prime Minister will lead yoga at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, demonstrating a global commitment to yoga.
