28 March 2024

• Economy: ILO's India Employment Report 2024 documented that youth unemployment rose from 5.7 per cent in 2000 to 17.5 per cent in 2019, with 82 per cent of employment remaining informal.
• Defence: Operation SANKALP, the Indian Navy's anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, completed 100 days of continuous deployment.
• Space: ISRO's PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-3 (POEM-3) successfully re-entered Earth's atmosphere from 650 km altitude, demonstrating responsible debris management.
• Environment: Black carbon, the second-most significant climate warming contributor after CO2, was highlighted as a policy priority with India's residential sector as the primary domestic source.

GS area: Economy (employment, labour)

The International Labour Organization released the India Employment Report 2024, the third such report, examining two decades of youth employment trends using National Sample Survey and Periodic Labour Force Survey data from 2000 to 2022.

Key findings:

• Youth unemployment: rose from 5.7 per cent in 2000 to 17.5 per cent in 2019 (before falling back somewhat post-COVID).
• Informality: approximately 82 per cent of employment in India remains informal.
• Real wages: stagnated or declined for regular workers over the study period.
• Skill gaps: 75 per cent of young workers cannot send an email with an attachment; 90 per cent lack spreadsheet skills. Only 4 per cent access formal vocational training.
• Gender: women's participation remains significantly lower than men's despite recent FLFPR improvements.
• Expected migration: 40 per cent of young workers expected to migrate to urban areas by 2030.

Policy recommendations: prioritise labour-intensive manufacturing, invest in the care economy and digital sectors, enhance women's participation, develop reliable labour market statistics.

Static linkage: Economy (employment, labour policy).

GS area: Defence, International Relations

The Indian Navy's Operation SANKALP completed 100 continuous days of deployment in the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and off the Somali coast.

• Launch date: December 2023, in response to escalating Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and attacks by Somali pirates.
• Purpose: counter piracy, prevent narcotics trafficking, ensure freedom of navigation in the western Indian Ocean.
• Assets deployed: warships, maritime patrol aircraft and coast guard vessels in rotation.
• Significance: India's role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean is demonstrated through sustained independent naval operations, not only bilateral exercises.

Static linkage: Defence (Indian Navy operations), international relations (Indian Ocean, SAGAR).

GS area: Science and Technology (space)

ISRO's PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-3 (POEM-3) successfully re-entered and burned up in Earth's atmosphere after completing its experimental mission. Key facts:

• Altitude: re-entered from 650 km.
• Purpose: POEM is the spent fourth stage of the PSLV rocket. Instead of being discarded as debris, it is used as an orbital platform for short-duration experiments in low Earth orbit.
• POEM-3 payloads: carried nine experimental payloads from Indian space technology start-ups.
• Debris significance: the successful controlled re-entry demonstrates ISRO's commitment to minimising space debris, a growing concern as the number of satellites increases. ISRO follows the "25-year rule" that decommissioned satellites in low Earth orbit should re-enter within 25 years.

Static linkage: Science and technology (ISRO, space debris).

GS area: Environment (climate change, air pollution)

Black carbon is a short-lived climate pollutant with significant warming impact:

• Definition: light-absorbing particulate matter produced by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biomass and biofuels.
• Climate warming: estimated to be the second-most significant contributor to human-caused climate warming after carbon dioxide.
• India's sources: the residential sector (cooking with solid fuels like firewood and dung cakes) is India's primary source, followed by the transport sector and industry.
• Dual effect: black carbon warms the atmosphere (absorbs sunlight) and can also accelerate glacial melting when it settles on the Himalayan glaciers.
• Mitigation: replacing solid-fuel cooking with clean fuels (LPG, biogas) under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana reduces black carbon emissions at source.

Static linkage: Environment (climate change, air quality, Himalayan glaciers).

• Solar waste report (MNRE/CEEW): India's 66.7 GW of installed solar capacity has generated 100,000 tonnes of solar panel waste. Projected to reach 600,000 tonnes by 2030 as early-generation panels reach end of life. No comprehensive solar waste recycling regulation exists yet.
• UNCTAD Global Trade Update: services exports rose 14 per cent globally while goods exports fell 6 per cent. India is among the top 10 global services exporters.
• MeerKAT Radio Telescope: 64-antenna array in South Africa launched in 2018. Discovered 49 previously unknown galaxies in March 2024. It is a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which will be the world's largest radio telescope.