National
'Fast Tracking Freight in India: A Roadmap for Clean and Cost-Effective Goods Transport' Report
⇒ NITI Aayog, RMI and RMI India’s new report, ‘Fast Tracking Freight in India: A Roadmap for Clean and Cost-Effective Goods Transport’, presents key opportunities for India to reduce its logistics costs.
The freight transport is essential to economic development. Due to the rising demand for goods and services, freight transport demand is expected to grow rapidly in the future.
The freight transport is plagued by high logistics costs and contributes to rising CO2 emissions and air pollution in cities.
According to the report, India has the potential to:
- Reduce its logistics cost by 4% of GDP
- Achieve 10 gigatonnes of cumulative CO2 emissions savings between 2020 and 2050
- Reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions by 35% and 28%, respectively, until 2050
As India’s freight activity will five-fold by 2050 and about 400 million citizens will move to cities. In such a situation, a whole system transformation can help uplift the freight sector.
This transformation will be defined by tapping into opportunities such as efficient rail-based transport, the optimisation of logistics and supply chains, and shift to electric and other clean-fuel vehicles.
Clay Stranger, Managing Director, RMI said these solutions can help India save ₹311 lakh crore cumulatively over the next three decades.
Report Outline:
This report outlines solutions for the freight sector related to policy, technology, market, business models and infrastructure development.
In the report, the recommendations include:
- Increasing the rail network’s capacity
- Promoting intermodal transport
- Improving warehousing and trucking practices
- Policy measures and pilot projects for clean technology adoption
- Stricter fuel economy standards
NewsOnAir Radio Live stream Rankings
⇒ Recently, Prasar Bharati Audience Research released NewsOnAir Radio Live stream Rankings. These rankings are based on fortnightly data, from May 17 – May 31, 2021.
More than 240 Radio Services of All India Radio are livestreamed on NewsOnAir App, Prasar Bharati’s official App. These All India Radio Streams on NewsOnAir App have a large number of listeners not just in India, but globally, in more than 90 countries.
NewsOnAir Universal Top 3 streams:
- Vividh Bharati National (Rank 1)
- News 24*7 (Rank 2)
- AIR Malayalam (Rank 3)
NewsOnAir Top 3 Indian Cities:
- Pune (Rank 1)
- Bengaluru (Rank 2)
- Hyderabad (Rank 3)
NewsOnAir Top 5 Countries (rest of world):
- France (Rankk 1)
- USA (Rank 2)
- Australia (Rank 3)
- UK (Rank 4)
- Fiji (Rank 5)
International
75th session of the United Nations General Assembly
⇒ Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare digitally addressed the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on 11 June 2021.
Union Minister spoke on Resolution 75/260 of UNGA. The Resolution 75/260 of UNGA concerns the Implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the political declarations on HIV/AIDS.
During the address Union Minister said: Important Points are-
ACT:
In India, the HIV & AIDS Prevention and Control Act, 2017, provides a legal and enabling framework to safeguard the human rights of infected and affected populations.
HIV prevention model:
India’s unique HIV prevention model is centered around the concept of ‘Social Contracting through which the ‘Targeted Interventions Program’ is implemented with support from civil society.
The program is aimed at behaviour change, communication, outreach, service delivery, counselling & testing and ensuring linkages to HIV care.
Free anti-retro-viral treatment:
India is providing free anti-retro-viral treatment to close to 1.4 million people. Indian drugs are also reaching millions of People living with HIV in Africa.
National AIDS Control Program:
India’s National AIDS Control Program has been Revised, Revived and Revamped to focus on hard-to-reach and at-risk populations.
India is gradually transitioning the people living with HIV to Dolutegravir. Dolutegravir is a safer and efficacious anti-retro-viral medication regimen.
Important Day
World Day Against Child Labour 2021
⇒ World Day Against Child Labour is observed every year on 12 June around the world. The World Day Against Child Labour was first observed in 2002 by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a United Nations agency.
Theme:
The theme for the World Day against Child Labour 2021 was “Act now: end child labour!”. It was focused on action taken for Elimination of Child Labour.
Focus:
This year’s World Day Against Child Labour was focused on action taken for the 2021 International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.
Week of Action against Child Labour:
This year’s World Day Against Child Labour celebrated with a “Week of Action against Child Labour”, marked from 10-18 June 2021.
The events and activities carried out during this week were an opportunity for partners to showcase progress in carrying out their “2021 Action Pledges.”