Hello, hope you are having a relaxing Sunday! This week we talk about the recent youth climate summit, Indian PM visit to the USA, revamp of Mid-day meal and the Young India Fellowship application.
Blah, Blah, Blah, climate-neutral?
In this year’s Youth4Climate summit by the Government of Italy, 400 climate activists from 180 countries came forward with their ideas and proposals over the challenge of climate change. The proposed strategies have been sent to the United Nations Climate Summit scheduled for October 2021.
At the Summit, the limelight stayed on the questions posed by climate activists like Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate to the global leaders for their failed promises of creating green economies, achieving net-zero by 2050, and many more. Nakate talked about the promise by the developed countries to donate 100 billion euros a year to help the countries vulnerable to climate change, which still stays to be just some words lacking action and implementation.
A bit context about Youth4Climate -
Youth4Climate summit aims at developing concrete proposals for this year’s Pre-COP and COP 26 (Conference of the Parties). The event plans to direct the global decision-makers to develop a zero-emission world.
A recent research development-
Recent research showed the future impact of climate change, which may not be so far for us now. By 2100, the increase in global average temperature will impact agriculture severely by making areas like the Amazon basin barren. Along with this, increased incidences of heat stress may impact the people living in tropical regions.
(Sources: The Conversation, The Guardian, Reuters)
Reinventing & Reinforcing US-India relations
The Indian Prime Minister has been reinforcing a message in every public appearance that this decade is vital for India. In the light of this, he made a 3-day visit to the USA at the invitation of the US President in the last week of September. The key points of the visit were:
First, in-person meet with President Joe Biden
The leaders had an extensive discussion on the current Afghan crisis and its implications on both India and the US, along with China's growing assertiveness in global politics. The Strategic Clean Energy Partnership acted as a catalyst in the discussion.
First, in-person meet with Vice President Kamala Harris
The two leaders discussed the Covid-19 situation and the expedition of vaccines. Indo-pacific- a strategically crucial area was a major point of discourse. They emphasized India and the USA's future collaborations in the areas of Science, Information Technology and the Health Sector.
First in-person Quad Summit 2021
Boosting cooperation in the Indo-pacific region amidst China’s growing influence was a significant point of discussion. Infrastructural development and new initiatives: a supply chain initiative and deployment of 5G was the highlight of the Summit.
Meeting with the CEOs
The Indian Prime Minister met 5 CEOs of 5 major companies: Qualcomm, Blackstone, Adobe, First Solar and General Atomics.
There was an exchange of views around how to strengthen the current interventions around telecommunications, IT and the utilisation of schemes like Digital India.
(Sources: Business Line, The Hindu, India Today)
Mid-day meal now PM Poshan Scheme
On 29th September 2021, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) renamed the mid-day meal scheme as the ‘National Scheme for PM-POSHAN in Schools’ or the PM POSHAN scheme.
Mid-day meal scheme
The Mid-day meal scheme was launched in 1995. The scheme is aimed at ensuring that every child in elementary classes is provided with at least one cooked nutritious meal a day.
The goal of the scheme was to take care of the nutritional needs of the children, and parallelly increase the enrolment rate and also reduce the dropouts.
National Scheme for PM Poshan Shakti Nirman
The revamped scheme will be extended to students studying in pre-primary or Balvatikas which will expand the beneficiary base to 35.80 crores. A new provision has been added to the scheme which will focus on the students at the district level, who are vulnerable to deficiencies and Anaemia.
The missing areas
No financial raise for cooks and helpers despite protests taking place in several states like Assam. In Assam, Mid-day meal Cook and Helper associations are demanding a raise in the monthly salary from Rs 1,500 to Rs 9,600.
National Education Policy’s Breakfast Push Not in the Scheme: NEP has a provision of nutritious breakfast to be provided by schools, which will not be implemented yet as it requires more funds.
(Sources: Indian Express, Moneycontrol)
Young India Fellowship
Young India Fellowship has opened its application for the Class of 2023. PolicyFide would soon be conducting a session with a Young India Fellow, send in your questions at thepolicyfide@gmail.com
Details of the fellowship program-
If you want to know more about our research- follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.
If you liked the newsletter, go ahead and share it with your friends. We believe word of mouth is the best method to grow, and we look forward to your support.