Climate change
- Developed countries had committed to providing $100 billion annually from 2020.
- This year’s edition of the COP will be held in Poland and will be the 24th such meeting i.e. COP 24
- 21st COP was held in Paris t in 2015.
- At 21st Cop, countries had agreed to take steps to limit global warming to 2 degrees below pre-industrial levels.
- Countries so far aren’t agreed on what constitutes climate finance. For example, does improving efficiency in a thermal plant count as climate finance?
- Global Stocktake (GST) refers to a proposed five-yearly-review of the impact of climate change action undertaken by countries.
- Under the Paris Agreement, each country has to present a climate action plan every five years
RBI reserves
- RBI has total reserves of Rs 9.6 lakh crore.
- The currency and gold revaluation reserves alone account for Rs 6.9 lakh crore.
- One of the contentious issues between the government and the RBI was the size of the reserves which was reckoned as excessive by the government. The government held that it should receive a larger share of the surplus.
- The other components of the reserves include
- the contingency fund — Rs 2.31 lakh crore,
- the asset development fund of Rs 22,811 crore,
- the investment revaluation account of Rs 13,285 crore and
- foreign exchange forward contracts valuation account at Rs 3,282 crore.
- Economic Capital Framework (ECF) is the capital which is needed to protect RBI against future losses. It was adopted last year.
- Capital Conservation Buffer (CCB) is the capital buffer that banks have to accumulate in normal times to be used for offsetting losses during periods of stress.
- The Central government is the sole shareholder of the RBI.
RBI
- Till now, the RBI board has not been involved in any policy-related matters but is engaged in providing a broader vision to the regulator.
- Review of banks under prompt corrective action by the Board for Financial Supervision (BFS).
- BFS comprises the governor, four deputy governors and a few board members.
Environment Clearances
- In a first, the effects on human health and the environment will feature as part of mandatory clearances necessary to grant Environment Clearances (EC) for new thermal power plants.
- The criteria will apply not only to coal- and lignite-based thermal power plants, but also to waste-to-energy plants.
Neighbourly
It is a Google app which helps people source local information from their neighbours.
CAATSA
CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act) seeks to prevent countries from buying Russian weapons or Iranian oil.
BASIC
The 27th BASIC meet was held in Delhi.
