Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 04 December 2023 | Download PDF

On the first day of the 28th Conference of Parties or COP-28, member countries agreed to make operational a Loss and Damage (L&D) Fund meant to compensate countries already dealing with climate change.

About

• The ‘Loss and Damage’ (L&D) fund is a financial mechanism designed to address the irreversible consequences of climate change
• This fund recognizes and aims to compensate for the real losses incurred by communities, countries, and ecosystems due to the impacts of climate change. 

The Indian Space Research Organisation has announced a plan to launch its first X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) to investigate the polarisation of intense X-ray sources.

Key points

• • XPoSat is a satellite for low Earth orbit observation with a non-sun synchronous orbit at 650 km and a six-degree inclination.
• Two payloads enable simultaneous study of temporal, spectral, and polarization features of bright X-ray sources.

Primary Payload – POLIX:

• POLIX, developed by Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, measures polarization parameters in the medium X-ray energy range (8-30 keV) from astronomical sources.

Secondary Payload – XSPECT:

• XSPECT provides spectroscopic information within the energy range of 0.8-15 keV, contributing to comprehensive X-ray studies.

Mission Duration:

Expected mission life is around five years, ensuring an extended period for scientific observations.

Outdoor air pollution from all sources accounts for 2.18 million deaths per year in India, second only to China, according to a modeling study published in The BMJ.

Key points

• Fossil fuel-related air pollution causes 5.1 million annual deaths globally.
• This accounts for 61% of the 8.3 million total deaths from outdoor air pollution in 2019.
• Common conditions linked to these deaths include heart disease(30%), stroke(16%), lung disease(16%), and diabetes(6%).
• About 20% of deaths are undefined but likely related to high blood pressure and neurodegenerative disorders Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
• The study emphasizes the urgent need to transition to clean, renewable energy sources.

• Refraining from fresh commitments to contain global temperature rise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at COP-28, offered to host the 33rd edition of the annual summit due in 2028 in India.
• A proposal to host the Conference of the Parties (COP) must be approved by other signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 
• India had previously hosted the summit in 2002.

The UAE, host of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP-28), announced a $30-billion commitment to an investment fund called ALTÉRRA. 

Key points

• The privately managed fund aims to mobilise $250 billion globally by 2030 and be the largest of its kind.
• An unspecified amount has been earmarked for the development of over 6 GW (1 GW is 1,000 MW) of new clean energy capacity in India. 
• This includes establishing 1,200 MW of wind and solar projects that will begin producing clean power by 2025.
• ALTÉRRA has been established by Lunate, an independent global investment manager, and is domiciled in the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
• ALTÉRRA will have four key verticals namely: Energy Transition, Industrial Decarbonisation, Sustainable Living and Climate Technologies.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Bank of England (BoE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning cooperation and exchange of information in relation to the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd.

Key points

• The MoUestablishes a framework for the BoE to place reliance on RBI’s regulatory and supervisory activities
• The MoU also demonstrates the importance of cross-border cooperation to facilitate international clearing activities and the BoE’s commitment to deference to other regulators’ regime

About Clearing Corporation of India Ltd.

The Clearing Corporation of India Ltd was established in April 2001 to render guaranteed clearing and settlement functions concerning transactions in G-Secs, money, derivative markets, and foreign exchange

Odisha Regional Specific News

Odisha will host India’s one and only environmental film festival, All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF)

Key points

• The film festival will be organised at Gajapati district, and near Berhampur. 
• Gram Vikas is partnering with ALT-EEF to bring in-person screening of documentaries and short films, featuring Indian and international titles focused on environment, conservation and sustainability.
• Notably, actress Alia Bhatt’s production house Eternal Sunshine Productions has teamed up with ALT EFF 2023 to use the power of cinema to address environmental topics.

Odisha-born surgeon Mukut Minz was conferred with Lifetime Achievement award by PGIMER Chandigarh during its recent 3-day summit to commemorate five decades of achievements in organ transplantation.

Key points

• He has performed over 3500 successful kidney transplant
• He mentored the Odisha government’s plan to set up a kidney transplant unit at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack. 
• In 2014, he was awarded the Odisha Gourav Samman by the government of Odisha for his contribution in the field of organ transplantation. 
• He was also conferred with the Padma Shri for his contribution in medicine in 2017

A scientist from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in the state has discovered a new plant species of ‘wild okra’ that can be used for hybridisation to create a better variety having high disease resistance

Key points

• Till now 13 different species of wild okra have been discovered of which two are being harvested for consumption. 
• The new species is the 14th variety of the plant species and has been named ‘Abelmoschus Odishae’ after the state from where the type specimens were originally collected.

About the species

• The plant species is a perennial shrub up to 5 metre high with densely hispid prickly stem with retrorse hairs, large deep yellow flowers with around 8 (7-9) lanceolate epicalyx, ovoid to oblong bristly capsules, sub-reniform seeds with short, stout and non-spiral trichomes. 
• The species also has a seeds viability of 95 per cent.

With the onset of winter, migratory birds have started arriving at Hirakud Dam Reservoir with at least five new species sighted this year.

Key points

• The Hirakud Dam Reservoir extends up to the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border covering 533 sq km area and 5.5 sq km of the power channel.
• Five new species have been sighted in Hirakud lake. 
• These are Cotton Pygmy Goose, Little Tern, Purple Swamp Hen, Marsh harrier and Large Egret.

Two flagship events of the Tourism department – the Konark festival and international sand art festival – were inaugurated virtually by Chief Minister

Key points

• Konark Dance Festival is a five-day dance festival held every year in the month of December in the backdrop of the Sun temple in Konark, Odisha in India. 
• It is one of the biggest dance festivals held in Odisha
• The Sand festival celebrates sand sculptures produced by skilful sand artists. 
• The International Sand Artist Festival celebrates the spectacular displays of sand artists from India and from many other countries

All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Adda247.