[Mission 2022] QUIZ – 2021: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 10 November 2021

Solution: b)

The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.

A key task for the COP is to review the national communications and emission inventories submitted by Parties. Based on this information, the COP assesses the effects of the measures taken by Parties and the progress made in achieving the ultimate objective of the Convention.

The COP meets every year, unless the Parties decide otherwise. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March, 1995. The COP meets in Bonn, the seat of the secretariat, unless a Party offers to host the session. Just as the COP Presidency rotates among the five recognized UN regions – that is, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe and Others – there is a tendency for the venue of the COP to also shift among these groups.

Solution: c)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a new programme to secure and strengthen critical infrastructure in small island states against disasters induced by climate change. Infrastructure for Resilient Island States or IRIS is the first major initiative by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) started by India in 2019.

Solution: c)

What is Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)?

The effort is to climate-proof critical infrastructure in member countries. Twenty-six countries, including the US, Germany, UK, Australia, Brazil, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Japan are already part of the coalition.

The coalition will not create any new infrastructure — rather, it will serve as a ‘knowledge centre’ for member countries to share and learn best practices with respect to disaster-proofing of infra. It will work towards making existing and upcoming infrastructure in member countries more robust and resilient against climate disasters such as floods, heat, cyclones, forest fires, and rain.

The aim of CDRI is to minimise the damage and disruptions.

CDRI is India’s second international climate initiative; the first was the International Solar Alliance (ISA), launched at the 2015 Paris climate change conference.

Solution: d)

International Solar Alliance (ISA), launched at the 2015 Paris climate change conference.

ISA’s main objective is to promote large scale harnessing and exploitation of solar energy. Equatorial and tropical regions get very good sunlight for most of the year, which is sufficient to meet the energy demands of many countries in this belt.

ISA is working towards boosting the use of solar power in the region, mainly by bringing down the cost of technology and finance, which can facilitate rapid, mass deployment of solar energy. It hopes to do so by aggregating the demand from a large number of countries, standardising equipment and grid, and promoting research and development.

ISA and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) are an attempt by India to claim climate mission leadership at the global level.

Solution: a)

In India, revenue deficit is one of the major reasons for a large fiscal deficit. This means that the government cannot finance its revenue operations by the resources it generates.

Undertake developmental expenditure: This is done because the internal resources of the government are not adequate to undertake development expenditure. It must borrow money from the market.

CAD is financed by external flows. If government borrows from outside it would increase our external capital deficit, but not affect the short-term CAD.