Solution (a)

The Hunger Hotspot Report is jointly released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Findings of the report:

• Report highlights that in 23 countries and acute food insecurity is likely to further deteriorate in the outlook period from August to November 2021. Most number of countries that will face acute food shortage are from African Continent. 
• Ethiopia and Madagascar are new highest-alert hotspots.
• Conflict and violence prone countries like Afghanistan, Central Sahel, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, northern Nigeria, northern Mozambique, Myanmar, the Sudan and Yemen are likely to continue driving food insecurity. This can happen through population displacement, abandonment of agricultural land, loss of life and assets, disruption of trade and cropping, and loss of access to markets, for example. Crucially, violence is also likely to disrupt access to humanitarian assistance.
• In the Near East and North Africa, the economic impact of COVID-19 is overlapping with socio-economic damages caused by the protracted conflicts in Yemen and the Syrian Arab Republic, leading to a significant rise in poverty and food insecurity.
• Amongst the hunger hotspots, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen are classified as having Extreme access constraints of humanitarian aid.

Article Link: These countries need urgent action to beat famine, deaths in the next 4 months: FAO

Solution (c)

e-RUPI is a cashless and contactless digital payments medium, which will be delivered to mobile phones of beneficiaries in form of an SMS-string or a QR code.

This will essentially be like a prepaid gift-voucher that will be redeemable at specific accepting centres without any credit or debit card, a mobile app or internet banking. 

e-RUPI will connect the sponsors of the services with the beneficiaries and service providers in a digital manner without any physical interface.

The one-time payment mechanism has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India on its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform, in collaboration with the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and National Health Authority.

Use cases of e-RUPI:

• e-RUPI is expected to ensure a leak-proof delivery of welfare services. 
• It can also be used for delivering services under schemes meant for providing drugs and nutritional support under Mother and Child welfare schemes, TB eradication programmes, drugs & diagnostics under schemes like Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, fertiliser subsidies etc.

Article Link: e-RUPI: Voucher system ahead of digital currency

Solution (b)

IIP is an indicator that measures the changes in the volume of production of industrial products during a given period.

It is compiled and published monthly by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Base Year for IIP is 2011-2012.

The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Eight core industries are: Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.

The factory production data (IIP) is used by various government agencies such as the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), private firms and analysts, among others for analytical purposes. The data is also used to compile the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the manufacturing sector in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on a quarterly basis.

Article Link: Output at the eight infrastructure industries still lags pre-pandemic

Solution (d)

Strait Island is an island of the Andaman Islands. It belongs to the North and Middle Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Strait Island is known for its caves of birds’ nests and deer.

Strait Island is a tribal reservation Island thus entry of outsiders is prohibited. It was recently told in Lok Sabha that this status has prevented tribal population of Strait Island from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Article Link: All Great Andamanese in good health on Strait Island

Solution (d)

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) are non-binding national plans highlighting climate actions, including climate related targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions, policies and measures governments aim to implement in response to climate change and as a contribution to achieve the global targets set out in the Paris Agreement.

The NDCs combine the top-down system of a traditional international agreement with bottom-up system-in elements through which countries put forward their own goals and policies in the context of their own national circumstances, capabilities, and priorities, with the goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions enough limit anthropogenic temperature rise to well below 2 °C (3.6 °F) above pre-industrial levels; and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 °C.

Article Link: China, India miss UN deadline to submit plans for cutting emissions