Solution (a)

As per coal ministry of India, India is the second-largest importer, consumer and producer of coal, and has the world’s fourth-largest reserves. It mainly imports from Indonesia, Australia and South Africa.

Coal India is the world’s largest coal mining company by production and accounts for over 80% of India’s output of the fuel.

Indian utilities are currently scrambling to secure coal supplies as inventories hit critical lows after a surge in power demand from industries and sluggish imports due to record global prices push power plants to the brink.

Thus, coal ministry of India has asked state-run Coal India to diversify its interests to areas such as electric vehicles and charging stations.

Article Link: Why is India facing a coal shortage?

Solution (b)

The report titled 2021 State of Climate Services is released recently by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Highlights of the report:

Water-related hazards like floods and droughts are increasing because of climate change.

In the past 20 years, terrestrial water storage – the summation of all water on the land surface and in the subsurface, including soil moisture, snow and ice – has dropped at a rate of 1cm per year. 

The biggest losses are occurring in Antarctica and Greenland, but many highly populated lower latitude locations are experiencing significant water losses in areas that are traditionally providing water supply, with major ramifications for water security.

The situation is worsening by the fact that only 0.5% of water on Earth is useable and available freshwater.

Water-related hazards have increased in frequency over the past 20 years. Since 2000, flood-related disasters have risen by 134% compared with the two previous decades.

The report makes strategic recommendations for policy makers to improve the implementation and effectiveness of climate services for water worldwide:

• Invest in Integrated Resources Water Management as a solution to better manage water stress, especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs);    
• Invest in end-to-end drought and flood early warning systems in at-risk LDCs, including for drought warning in Africa and flood warning in Asia;
• Fill the capacity gap in collecting data for basic hydrological variables which underpin climate services and early warning systems;
• Improve the interaction among national level stakeholders to co-develop and operationalize climate services with information users to better support adaptation in the water sector. 
• Join the Water and Climate Coalition. This is organized by WMO in response to the need for integrated policy developments and improved practical solutions. The coalition provides countries with support to improve assessment of water resources as well as forecasting and outlook services for water.

Article Link: Wake up to the looming water crisis, report warns

Solution (d)

State of the Education Report for India 2021 report has been released recently by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Highlights of the report:

• The gross enrolment ratio (GER) for elementary schools has increased from 81.6 in 2001 to 93.03 in 2018-19 and stands at 102.1 in 2019-2020, overall retention is 74.6 per cent for elementary education and 59.6 per cent for secondary education in 2019-20.
• The overall availability of computing devices (desktops or laptops) in school is 22 per cent for all India, with rural areas seeing much lower provisioning (18 per cent) than urban areas (43 per cent). 
• Access to the internet in schools is 19 per cent all over India – only 14 per cent in rural areas compared to 42 per cent in urban areas.
• The total number of teachers in the system grew by 17 per cent from 8.9 million teachers in 2013-14 to 9.4 million in 2018-19. 
• The overall pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) changed from 31:1 in 2013-14 to 26:1 in 2018-19.
• Half of India’s 9.43 million school teachers are women.
• On average, 86 per cent of schools across the country – 89 per cent of urban schools and 85 per cent of rural schools – are accessible by road. In hilly or mountainous states and union territories, such as in the north-east, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, the proportion drops to between 59 per cent and 68 per cent.

Article Link: Only 19% schools across India have access to internet: UNESCO report

Solution (c)

The Henley Passport Index ranks the passports of countries according to the number of destinations their holders can visit without a prior visa. The rankings are based on the analysis of data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Japan and Singapore stood at the top of this year’s list, with their passports holders allowed to travel visa-free to 192 countries, while South Korea and Germany share the second position. For the third consecutive year, Japan has secured the top position. Meanwhile, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, and Yemen are among the least powerful.

India, which held the 84th rank last year, fell down to the 90th position, with its passport holders allowed to travel visa-free to 58 countries. India shares the rank with Tajikistan and Burkina Faso.

Article Link: The world’s most powerful passports in 2021

Solution (b)

Jim Corbett is a national park in India located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand state. It is the first national park of India established in 1936.

The park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative.

The park encompasses the Patli Dun valley formed by the Ramganga river. It protects parts of the Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests and Himalayan subtropical pine forests ecoregions. It has a humid subtropical and highland climate.

Forest covers almost 73% of the park, while 10% of the area consists of grasslands. It houses around 110 tree species, 50 species of mammals, 580 bird species and 25 reptile species.

Article Link: The story of Corbett National Park