Successful completion of Swachhta Pakhwada of Ministry in Civil Aviation

        About Swachhata Pakhwada:

• Swachhata Pakhwada started in April 2016 with the objective of bringing a fortnight of intense focus on the issues and practices of Swachhata by engaging GOI Ministries/Departments in their jurisdictions.
• An annual calendar is pre-circulated among the Ministries to help them plan for the Pakhwada activities.
• The Ministries observing Swachhata Pakhwada are monitored closely using online monitoring system of Swachhata Samiksha where action plans, images, videos related to Swachhata activities are uploaded and shared.
• After observing Swachhata Pakhwada, Ministries/ Departments announce their achievements through a press conference and other communication tools.
• For the Pakhwada fortnight, observing ministries are considered as Swachhata Ministries and are expected to bring qualitative Swachhata improvements in their jurisdictions.

NITI Aayog holds Dialogue on Health System for New India

         NITI Aayog’s “Development Dialogues”

• It aims to facilitate multisectoral conversations on India’s developmental issues, which constitute a part of the country’s 15 Year Vision document.

         Highlights:

• The dialogue focused on strengthening and further building on the existing blocks for Health Systems for a New India and prioritized four critical health systems issues for discussion and debate.
• These included expanding resources for health through pooling existing funds; expanding the role of the government as a strategic purchaser from both public and private providers to improve quality of healthcare services.
• Provision of equitable and integrated services; and leveraging technology as an enabler and aggregator. 

Global Warming

         Report on Global Warming:

• Global temperatures have continued to rise in the past 10 months, with 2018 expected to be the fourth warmest year on record.
• Average temperatures around the world so far this year were nearly 1C (1.8F) above pre-industrial levels. Extreme weather  has affected all continents, while the melting of sea ice and glaciers and rises in sea levels continue.
• The past four years have been the hottest on record, and the 20 warmest have occurred in the past 22 years.
• The warming trend is unmistakeable and shows we are running out of time to tackle climate change, according to the World Meteorological Organization, which on Thursday published its provisional statement on the State of the Climate in 2018.
• The WMO warned that, on current trends, warming could reach 3C to 5C by the end of this century. “Every fraction of a degree of warming makes a difference to human health and access to food and fresh water, to the extinction of animals and plants, to the survival of coral reefs and marine life.”

         About World Meteorological Organization:

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 191 Member States and Territories.
• The Organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• WMO was designated as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
• The annually published WMO Statements on the status of the World Climate provides details of global, regional and national temperatures and extreme weather events.
• It also provides information on long-term climate change indicators include atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, sea level rise, and sea ice extent.
• The year 2016 was the hottest year on record, with many weather and climate extremes, according to the most recent WMO report.

         WMO Strategic Plan:

• Disaster risk reduction
• The Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS)
• The WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS)
• Aviation meteorological services
• Polar and high mountain regions
• Capacity development
• Governance.

Informal BRICS Leaders' Meeting on the Margins of the G20 Summit

       About BRICS:

• BRICS is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Originally the first four were grouped as "BRIC" (or "the BRICs"), before the induction of South Africa in 2010.
• The BRICS members are known for their significant influence on regional affairs; all are members of G20.
• Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits. China hosted the 9th BRICS summit in Xiamen on September 2017, while South Africa hosted the most recent 10th BRICS summit in July 2018.
• In 2015, the five BRICS countries represent over 3.1 billion people, or about 41% of the world population; four out of five members (excluding South Africa) are in the top 10 of the world by population.
• As of 2018, these five nations have a combined nominal GDP of US$18.6 trillion, about 23.2% of the gross world product, combined GDP (PPP) of around US$40.55 trillion (32% of World's GDP PPP) and an estimated US$4.46 trillion in combined foreign reserves.
• Overall the BRICS are forecasted to expand 4.6% in 2016, from an estimated growth of 3.9% in 2015. The World Bank expected BRICS growth to increase to 5.3% in 2017.

         BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement:

• The BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) is a framework for the provision of support through liquidity and precautionary instruments in response to actual or potential short-term balance of payments pressures.
• It was established in 2015 by the BRICS countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The legal basis is formed by the Treaty for the Establishment of a BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, signed at Fortaleza, Brazil on 15 July 2014.
• It entered into force upon ratification by all BRICS states, announced at the 7th BRICS summit in July 2015.

         Objective:

• To provide protection against global liquidity pressures. This includes currency issues where members' national currencies are being adversely affected by global financial pressures.
• The CRA is generally seen as a competitor to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and along with the New Development Bank is viewed as an example of increasing South-South cooperation.