Current Affairs Ranks & Reports

 India’s first ever National Report on the state of the Climate Crisis has been released. The report has been prepared under the aegis of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) with title “Assessment Of Climate Change Over The Indian Region”. The report analyses where India stands regarding long-term changes in climate patterns, and their attendant risks.
Key findings of the report:
  • It revealed that India’s average temperature has risen by 0.7 degrees Celsius between 1901-2018, citing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) as key reason of the temperature rise.
  • It also predicted two different scenarios related to India’s temperature rise by 2099. In a best-case scenario of immediate mitigation of emissions, India’s temperature will still rise by 2.7 degrees Celsius while in the worst-case scenario temperature will increase by 4.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
  • About the monsoon, it shows that the precipitation over north India has reduced by 6% between 1951-2015 because of the polluting aerosol “brown cloud”. The monsoon is also expected to become more extreme in the upcoming decades.
  • It also predicts the April-June heatwaves to become four times more frequent by 2099 as compared to that of 1976-2005.
  • It stated that the sea level near Mumbai is rising at the rate of 3 cm per decade while it is 5 cm per decade off the Bengal coast.
  • It mentioned that surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean including the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea have increased by 1 degree Celsius between 1951-2015 which is higher than the global average.
  • It also shows that the frequency of warm days and nights is expected to increase upto 55% and 70% respectively.

  •  India skipper Virat Kohli is the only cricketer to feature in Forbes’ list of the top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world for the year 2020. Kohli is ranked at number 66 with estimated earnings of $26 million. Swiss tennis great, Roger Federer has topped the list of world’s highest-paid athlete for 2020 with an estimated $106.3 million. Soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo ($105 million), Lionel Messi ($104 million ) and Neymar ($95.5 million) and NBA’s LeBron James complete the top 5 positions in the list. The factors used by Forbes’ for calculation were athletes’ revenue, including prize money, salaries, contract bonuses, endorsements, royalties, and appearance fees from June 1, 2019, until June 1, 2020.

      BRAC, an international development organization has topped the list of top 500 Global Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The list of the top 500 global NGOs of year 2020 was released by Geneva-based organization NGO Adviser. NGO Adviser releases the rankings of the top 500 global NGOs every year. The Bangladesh based international development organization, BRAC has retained its 1st rank in the list for the 5th consecutive year. The rankings are drawn by NGO Adviser by keeping in mind the various aspects such as the impact, innovation, governance and sustainability of the NGO.
    • About BRAC:
    BRAC is an international development organization based in Bangladesh. It was found in 1972 by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed to facilitate the returning war refugees with small-scale relief and rehabilitation project. Currently, the Bangladesh based organization is also having its presence in 11 countries of Asia and Africa. It is presently working in various fields like poverty alleviation through extending loans to the poor, nutrition, healthcare, gender equality, environment and employment etc. BRAC also runs a university, a bank, insurance company, a seed company among other things.

    Image result for ICMR Report says Delhi and Ahmedabad tops in added-fat consumption  The Indian Council of Medical Research conducted study on the food habits of the citizens of the country. The study said that vegetarians consume more fat than that of non-vegetarians. Also, among the metropolitan cities of India, Delhi and Ahmedabad topped the list in average consumption of added fat.
    • Highlights
    The survey was conducted by ICMR based on the data provided by the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau. According to the study, people whose diet relied on deep fried food consumed more added fat than those who ate boiled food. The report also said that highest intake of added fat was in the age group of 36 to 59 years and the least intake was in children under the age of five.
    • GoI on Nutrition
    India is a signatory of the resolution “Transforming our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Achieving Inclusive Growth is one of the main targets of Sustainable Development Goals. Under the target, India is stepping towards food security with Nutrition playing the major role.

      Hindi is the 3rd most spoken language of the world in 2019 with 615 million speakers. The 22nd edition of the world language database Ethnologue stated English at the top of the list with 1,132 million speakers. Chinese Mandarin is at the second position with 1,117 million speakers. Ethnologue brings out an yearly database of living languages of the world since its establishment in 1951. The current round of the database covers 7,111 living languages of the world. Ethnologue also contains data on languages which have gone out of use in recent history. This edition lists 348 such languages.

     On February 10, 2020, the Department of Public Enterprises operating under Ministry of Heavy Industries tabled the “Public Enterprises Survey” on the parliament. The report says that the net profit from the PSUs has increased by 15.5% as compared to the previous year.
    • Highlights
    The survey said that Indian Oil Corporation, NTPC and ONGC were the top three profitable PSUs in 2018-19. On the other hand, MTNL, BSNL and Air India were the highest loss-making PSU. Also, the survey noted that these three PSUs have been making losses for three consecutive years. The report also said that total income from Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) in the year 2018-19 was 24 lakh crore rupees. It was 20 lakh crore rupees the previous year. There has been an increase of 4.67%
    • Relative performance
    The enterprises such as MSTC, Chennai Petroleum Corporation and State Trading Corporation that were making profit last year (2017-18) incurred loss in the fiscal year 2019 (2019-19). There are a total of 348 CPSEs. Out of these 249 are operational, 13 are under closure or liquidation and 86 are under construction.

     Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) has ranked 3rd in MOOCLab’s Business School Rankings 2020 for its provision, design and delivery of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). IIM Bangalore succeeds HEC Paris (France) and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (USA). The 2020 edition of the rankings has surveyed 16 business schools across the world offering courses on the three leading MOOC platforms: Coursera, edX and FutureLearn. This is the first-ever Business School rankings based on the provision of MOOCs. 
    The college was ranked based upon 4 parameters:
    • School’s performance across the number of MOOCs provided.
    • Facilities of learning pathways.
    • Provision of credit-granting credentials.
    • School’s teaching quality.

      India has been ranked 40th out of 53 countries on a global intellectual property index 2020. India was placed at 36th position among 50 countries in 2019. India’s score, however, increased from 36.04 per cent (16.22 out of 45) in 2019 to 38.46 per cent (19.23 out of 50) in 2020, a 2.42 per cent jump in an absolute score. The US, UK, Sweden, France and Germany remained the top five economies on the intellectual property index in 2019 retaining their spots from the last year. The index was released as part of the annual report prepared by the Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) of the US Chambers of Commerce.

     As per World Steel Association data, India became the second-largest steel producer of crude steel after China  2019, by replacing Japan. India’s crude steel production in 2019 was at 111.2 MT, an increase of 1.7 per cent from 109.3 MT in 2018. China remains number one with 996.3 million tonnes in 2019. The United States and Russia rank fourth and fifth respectively.
    Here is the list of Top 5 Crude steel producers in the world in 2019:
    Rank Country Qty (mt)
    1. China 996.3
    2. India 111.2
    3. Japan 99.3
    4. USA 87.9
    5. Russia 71.6
     

     Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania has released the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report. India’s Observer Research Foundation (ORF) has been ranked at 27th position among 176 global think tanks (U.S. and non-U.S.). It was ranked at 118th position in the 2018 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.
    • About Global Go To Think Tank Index Report:
    The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania administers a research on the role that policy institutes play in the governments and civil societies around the world. TTCSP determines the evolving responsibility and character of public policy research organizations. The TTCSP was formed in 1989 and has focused on gathering data and conducting research on the think tank trends and the role think tanks play as civil society actors in the policymaking process. The 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report is the 14h edition of the report.
    • What is a Think Tank?
    Think tanks are those organizations that generates policy-oriented research, analysis, and advice on issues whether domestic or international. It also enables policy makers and the public to make well informed decisions about public policy. These are affiliated or independent institutions that are structured as permanent bodies. The aim of the index is to produce an inclusive and far-reaching report of international think tanks.


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