1) Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023: The Bill amends the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969.
- Need: To keep pace with societal change and technological advancements and to make it more citizen-friendly.
- Key highlights:
- Provides for the appointment of a Registrar-General, India for issuing general directions for registration of births and deaths.
- Provisions for digital registration and electronic delivery of certificates of births and deaths.
- Create a National and State level database of registered births and deaths which would help in updating other databases.
- Facilitates registration process of adopted, orphan, abandoned, surrendered, surrogate children and children to a single parent or unwed mother.
- Enhance the penalties.
2) National Coal Index (NCI): The NCI has declined 238.3 points in May 2022 to 157.7 in May 2023.
- The decline indicates a strong supply of coal in the market, with sufficient availability to meet the growing demands.
- About NCI:
- Released by the Ministry of Coal every month.
- Combines coal prices from all sales channels, including notified prices, auction prices and import prices.
- The base year is FY 2017-18.
- It serves as a reliable indicator of market dynamics, providing valuable insights into coal price fluctuations.
3) Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS): According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Rs 570 crore have been saved using CFCFRMS.
- CFCFRMS was operationalised in 2022 as a national helpline to report all sorts of financial frauds and immediately prevent the stealing of funds by cheats.
- It has been made operational by Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under MHA, to integrate Law Enforcement Agencies and Banks and Financial Intermediaries.
- It leverages new-age technologies for sharing online fraud-related information and taking action in almost real-time.
4) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Jim Skea (UK) was elected as the new chair of the IPCC.
- It is an intergovernmental organization created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
- Objective: To provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies.
- IPCC is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change.
- Membership: 195 members.
- Prepares Assessment Reports, special reports, and methodology reports assessing the state of knowledge of climate change.
- However, it does not engage in scientific research.
- In 2007, the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
