1) Social Hostilities Index (SHI): The Washington-based think tank Pew Research Centre has recently come out with a study that puts India at the top of its index of social hostilities involving religion in 2020 in the context of the impact of Covid restrictions.
- India’s SHI in 2020 was worse than neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan
- The report covered 198 countries. The SHI measures acts of religious hostility by private individuals, organizations or groups. The index comprises 13 metrics, including religion-related armed conflict or terrorism and mob or sectarian violence.
- Among the most populous countries, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh had “very high” social hostilities involving religion.
2) National Bamboo Mission (NBM): The Restructured National Bamboo Mission is a centrally sponsored scheme (CSS).
- It aims to increase the area under bamboo plantation in non forest Government and private lands, improve post-harvest management , To promote product development keeping in view market demand, by assisting R&D, entrepreneurship etc.
- Implementation: It is being implemented through the state nodal department which is nominated by the State/UT governments concerned.
3) Lusophone world: India is strategically engaging with a new geopolitical grouping: the Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking countries). In line with it, India is hosting the International Lusophone Festival in Goa. Portuguese ruled over Goa between 1510 till 1961.
- The Lusophone world is spread over nine countries across four continents, and Portuguese is the most widely-spoken language in the Southern Hemisphere.
4) Paris Club: it is a group of officials from major creditor countries whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries.
- Founded in 1956 with headquarters in Paris (France)
- India is not a member of the club and acts as an ad-hoc participants
5) World Soil Day 2022: it is observed every year on December 5, to highlight the value of healthy soil and to promote the sustainable management of soil resources since 2014 (first official soil day)
- Regenerative agriculture: It is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity and improving the water cycle
- Reversative agriculture (organic or natural farming) — a low-cost approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Organic farming does not use chemicals, but it does increase organic matter content, microorganism population and plant availability of both micro- and macro-nutrients.
