20 April 2024

• Elections: ECI releases Phase 1 final voter turnout: 66.14 per cent. Phase 2 is scheduled for 26 April 2024 covering 88 seats.
• Space: India is a signatory to the Artemis Accords (signed 2023). Sweden joined as the 38th signatory.
• Population: UNFPA's State of World Population 2024 puts India at 1.44 billion with a Total Fertility Rate of 2.0.
• Environment: Global Forest Watch data: India lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover. Sixty per cent of the loss was in five northeastern states.
• Water: Gross Fixed Capital Formation data shows private investment declined from a peak of 27 per cent of GDP (2007-08) to 19.6 per cent (2020-21).

GS area: International Relations, Science and Technology

India signed the Artemis Accords in 2023. Sweden joined as the 38th signatory, continuing the expansion of this space governance framework.

Key facts:

• Artemis Accords: Non-binding principles for civil space exploration, established in 2020 by the US State Department and NASA.
• Thirteen principles including peaceful purposes, transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registration of space objects, release of scientific data, protecting heritage, and deconfliction.
• Legal basis: Built on the Outer Space Treaty (1967), the foundational multilateral space governance document.
• Related treaties India has signed:
  • Rescue Agreement (1968)
  • Liability Convention (1972)
  • Registration Convention (1976)
  • India has not signed the Moon Agreement (1979)
• India's 2023 signing: Timed alongside Chandrayaan-3's mission. India joins 38 countries including the US, UK, Japan, Australia, and UAE.
• Geopolitical note: China and Russia are not signatories and have proposed their own joint lunar programme.

Static linkage: science and technology, international relations, space governance.

GS area: Society, Population

UNFPA's State of World Population 2024 report covered reproductive rights and global population dynamics.

Key facts:

• India's population: 1.44 billion (surpassed China in 2023 as the world's most populous country).
• India's TFR: 2.0, below the replacement level of 2.1.
• Child marriage in India: 23 per cent of women aged 20-24 were married before turning 18 (2006-2023 period).
• Gender-based violence: Women with disabilities face violence at 10 times the rate of women without disabilities globally.
• UNFPA: United Nations Population Fund. Established in 1969. Part of the UN system. Promotes reproductive health and gender equality.

Static linkage: population, social indicators, gender, international organisations.

GS area: Environment, Ecology

Global Forest Watch (World Resources Institute) data shows India lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover over the recent reporting period.

Key facts:

• States most affected: Assam, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Manipur together account for about 60 per cent of India's total tree cover loss.
• Drivers: Shifting cultivation (jhum) in the northeast, illegal logging, infrastructure projects, and forest fires.
• India's forest claim: According to India's Forest Survey of India (FSI), India has about 21.71 per cent of its land area under forest and tree cover. The definition difference (satellite canopy cover vs. officially recorded forest land) creates discrepancies with Global Forest Watch figures.
• Green India Mission: A National Mission under the NAPCC. Targets increasing forest cover by 5 million hectares and improving quality of forests on another 5 million hectares.

Static linkage: environment, forests, northeast India.

GS area: Economy (investment, growth)

India's private sector Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) peaked at 27 per cent of GDP in 2007-08 and has been subdued since.

Key facts:

• GFCF: A measure of fixed capital growth (buildings, machinery, and infrastructure). It captures additions to the physical capital stock. A rising GFCF indicates productive investment driving future growth capacity.
• Decline trajectory: Private GFCF fell to 19.6 per cent of GDP in 2020-21, affected by the COVID-19 shock.
• Government GFCF: Has risen sharply under the capital expenditure push since FY 2021-22. The government is trying to crowd in private investment through infrastructure spending.
• Why private investment matters: Sustained growth above 7 per cent requires private business investment. Government capex alone cannot sustain high growth.
• Investment crowding in: The theory that government infrastructure spending creates demand for private goods and services, stimulating private investment. Evidence from India's current cycle is mixed.

Static linkage: economy, investment, growth.

GS area: Physical Geography, Environment

The Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, once the world's fourth-largest lake, has shrunk to a fraction of its original size due to Soviet-era irrigation diversions.

Key facts:

• Historical size: One of the world's four largest lakes at its peak. Now mostly the Aralkum Desert.
• Cause: Soviet irrigation canals from the 1960s diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, the sea's two main feeders, to grow cotton in Central Asia.
• Environmental consequences: Dust storms carrying pesticide and fertiliser residues from the exposed lake bed; loss of fishery; localised climate change (hotter summers, colder winters); health crises in surrounding communities.
• UNESCO recognition: The Aral Sea memory is on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register as a documentary heritage.
• Similar cases: Lake Urmia in Iran and Lake Hamoun on the Iran-Afghanistan border are undergoing comparable desertification.

Static linkage: physical geography, water resources, environmental disasters.

• Longevity India Initiative (IISc): The Indian Institute of Science launched an initiative on healthy ageing research. India's elderly population (60 and above) is projected to double from 140 million to 300 million by 2050.
• Phase 2 scheduled: The Election Commission confirmed Phase 2 of the Lok Sabha election for 26 April 2024, covering 88 constituencies in 13 states and UTs including all 20 Kerala seats and 14 Karnataka seats.
• Plastic crisis in the Arctic: A report by the Arctic Contamination Assessment Programme found petrochemical pollution and toxic chemical accumulation threatening indigenous communities (Aleut, Yupik, Inuit) who depend on Arctic food webs.