SPR 2023 | INDICES IN NEWS

Global Economic Prospect (GEP) Report; World Bank

• Context:
  • The World Bank has released its latest report on Global Economic Prospects, outlining a slowdown in global growth due to a variety of factors including elevated inflation, higher interest rates, reduced investment, and disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 
  • The report warns that any additional negative developments, such as a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic or escalating geopolitical tensions, could push the global economy into recession, marking the first time in more than 80 years that two global recessions have occurred within the same decade.

Key-highlights of Global Economic Prospects Report:

• Growth Projections:
  • According to the report, the global economy is projected to grow by 1.7% in 2023 and 2.7% in 2024.
  • The downturn in growth is expected to be widespread, with forecasts in 2023 revised down for 95% of advanced economies and nearly 70% of emerging market and developing economies. 
  • Over the next two years, per-capita income growth in emerging market and developing economies is projected to average 2.8%, a full percentage point lower than the 2010-2019 average.
• Impact on Developing Countries
  • The report highlights that the crisis facing development is intensifying as the global growth outlook deteriorates. Emerging and developing countries are facing a multi-year period of slow growth driven by heavy debt burdens and weak investment as global capital is absorbed by advanced economies. 
  • This will result in a weakness in growth and business investment, compounding the already-devastating reversals in education, health, poverty, and infrastructure, as well as the increasing demands from climate change. 
  • In Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for about 60% of the world’s extreme poor, growth in per capita income over 2023-24 is expected to average just 1.2%, a rate that could cause poverty rates to rise, not fall.
• Advanced Economies
  • Growth in advanced economies is projected to slow from 2.5% in 2022 to 0.5% in 2023. Over the past two decades, slowdowns of this scale have foreshadowed a global recession. 
  • In the United States, growth is forecast to fall to 0.5% in 2023, the weakest performance outside of official recessions since 1970. In 2023, Euro-area growth is expected at zero percent, and in China, growth is projected at 4.3% in 2023.
• Emerging Market and Developing Economies:
  • Excluding China, growth in emerging market and developing economies is expected to decelerate from 3.8% in 2022 to 2.7% in 2023, reflecting significantly weaker external demand compounded by high inflation, currency depreciation, tighter financing conditions, and other domestic headwinds. 
  • By the end of 2024, GDP levels in emerging and developing economies will be roughly 6% below levels expected before the pandemic. Although global inflation is expected to moderate, it will remain above pre-pandemic levels.
• Investment Growth
  • The report also offers a comprehensive assessment of the medium-term outlook for investment growth in emerging market and developing economies. 
  • Over the 2022-2024 period, gross investment in these economies is likely to grow by about 3.5% on average—less than half the rate that prevailed in the previous two decades. 
  • The report suggests a menu of options for policymakers to accelerate investment growth, such as establishing sound fiscal and monetary policy frameworks and undertaking comprehensive reforms in the investment climate.

• Context:
  • The European Intelligence Unit (EUI) recently released the Global Liveability Index 2022.
• About
  • It ranked 173 cities on the basis of their liveability or living conditions, which was determined by five factors : stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
  • When ranking, out of the five factors, the EUI attaches the highest weightage to stability and culture and environment, which account for 25% each.
  • It is followed by healthcare and infrastructure with 20% each and education with 10%. 
  • The list, for the first time, included five Indian cities; Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Bangalore.
• Rank of Indian Cities: All five scored poorly, ranked between 140 and 146.
  • Delhi: 140
  • Mumbai: 141
  • Chennai: 142
  • Ahmedabad: 143
  • Bangalore: 146
• It is in contrast, since the silicon valley of India topped the ‘Ease of Living Index 2020’, which was released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• The most livable city according to the index is Vienna.
• The Syrian capital, Damascus is the least livable city in the world.
• Key observations: 
  • Bangalore received a score of 46.4, out of 100, in infrastructure.
  • Pakistan’s largest city Karachi was one of the five least livable cities in the world in the index, but it has still scored better than Bangalore in terms of infrastructure.
  • The infrastructure score is based on the quality of roads, public transportation system, international links, energy provision, telecommunications, water, and availability of good quality housing.
• About the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
  • The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) was created in 1946.
  • It is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group and the world leader in global business intelligence

• Financial Stability Report: Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

Financial Stability Report: Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

• Context:
  • Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the 23rd issue of its Financial Stability Report (FSR).
  • The FSR is published biannually.
  • It reflects the collective assessment on risks to financial stability and the resilience of the financial system.
  • The Report also discusses issues relating to development and regulation of the financial sector.
• Financial Stability Report: Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  • Reserve Bank released the 26th issue of the Financial Stability Report, which reflects the collective assessment of the Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on risks to financial stability and the resilience of the financial system
• Highlights:
  • The global economy is facing formidable headwinds with recessionary risks looming large. The interplay of multiple shocks has resulted in tightened financial conditions and heightened volatility in financial markets.
  • The Indian economy is confronting strong global headwinds. Yet, sound macroeconomic fundamentals and healthy financial and non-financial sector balance sheets are providing strength and resilience and engendering financial system stability.
  • Buoyant demand for bank credit and early signs of a revival in investment cycle are benefiting from improved asset quality, return to profitability and strong capital and liquidity buffers of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs).
  • The gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) fell to a seven-year low of 5.0 per cent and net non-performing assets (NNPA) have dropped to ten-year low of 1.3 per cent in September 2022.
  • Macro stress tests for credit risk reveal that SCBs would be able to comply with the minimum capital requirements even under severe stress scenarios. The system-level capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) in September 2023, under baseline, medium and severe stress scenarios, is projected at 14.9 per cent, 14.0 per cent and 13.1 per cent, respectively.
  • Stress tests for open-ended debt mutual funds showed no breach in limits pertaining to interest rate, credit and liquidity risks. Consolidated solvency ratio of both life and non-life insurance companies also remained above the prescribed minimum level.

World Competitiveness Index, 2022

• Context:
  • Recently, the annual World Competitiveness Index was released by the Institute for Management Development (IMD).
• Background
  • TheWorld Competitiveness Index is a comprehensive annual assessment that serves as a global benchmark for country competitiveness.
  • Global Indices and India’s Rankings represent the country’s performance on indicators that range from social to economic factors along with political indicators as well.
  • IMD is a Swiss foundation, based in Switzerland, dedicated to the development of international business executives at each stage of their careers.
  • The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), first published in 1989, is a comprehensive annual report and worldwide reference point on the competitiveness of countries.
• Key Highlights of the Report
  • Top Global Performers:
  • Europe: Denmark has moved to the top of the 63-nation list from the third position last year, while Switzerland slipped from the top ranking to the second position and Singapore regained the third spot from fifth.
  • Asia: The top-performing Asian economies are Singapore (3th), Hong Kong (5th), Taiwan (7th), China (17th) and Australia (19th).
  • Others: Both Russia and Ukraine were not assessed in this year’s edition due to the limited reliability of data collected.
• India’s Performance: Performance on four Parameters:
  • Economic performance: It has improved from 37th in 2021 to 28th in 2022.
  • Government efficiency: It has improved from 46th in 2021 to 45th in 2022.
  • Business efficiency: It saw a huge improvement from 32nd rank in 2021 to 23rd in 2022.
  • Infrastructure: It on the other hand, saw no change at
• How are rankings computed?
  • The essential building block for the rankings is the standardized value for all the criteria (i.e., STD value).
  • The first step is to compute the STD value for each criterion using the data available for all the economies.
  • Then they rank the economies based on the criteria that are used in the aggregation: a combination of hard and survey data.
• Reasons for India’s Good Performance
  • Major improvements in the context of retrospective taxes in 2021
  • Re-regulation of a number of sectors, including drones, space and geo-spatial mapping.
  • Significant improvement in the competitiveness of the Indian economy
  • India as a driving force in the global movement to fight climate change and India’s pledge of net-zero by 2070 at the COP26 summit also sits in harmony with its strength in environment-related technologies in the ranking.

Global Hunger Index, 2022

• About the index
  • Annual Report: It is an annual report (peer-reviewed) published by Concern Worldwide of Ireland and Welthungerhilfe (a German non-profit organization).
  • It was first produced in 2006. It is published every October.
  • The 2021 edition marks the 16th edition of the GHI.
  • The annual index is designed to measure and track hunger at the global, national, and regional levels and to assess progress and setbacks in combating hunger.
  • It ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst, although neither of these extremes is reached in actuality.
• GHI indicators:
  • The GHI score is based on four indicators:
  • Undernourishment: Share of the population with insufficient caloric intake.
  • Child Wasting: Share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute under nutrition.
  • Child Stunting: Share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic under nutrition.
  • Child Mortality: The mortality rate of children under the age of five.
  • The GHI is prepared by European NGOs of Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
  • The GHI is an annual report and each set of GHI scores uses data from a 5-year period. The 2022 GHI scores are calculated using data from 2017 through 2021.
• Performance of Countries on GHI 2022:
  • India (107) ranked below Sri Lanka (64), Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), and Pakistan (99).
  • Afghanistan (109) is the only country in South Asia that performs worse than India on the index.
  • India’s score of 1 places it in the ‘serious’ category.
  • China is among the countries collectively ranked between 1 and 17 having a score of less than five.
  • The 2022 GHI score for the world is considered “moderate”, but 18.2 in 2022 is only a slight improvement from 19.1 in 2014.
  • The reasons behind the drop in the position of several developing Countries remain to be the overlapping crises such as conflict, climate change, the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the Ukraine war, which has increased global food, fuel, and fertilizer prices.
• Methodology:
  • The Global Hunger Index was informed by the official data source of the Government of India.
  • The data from National Family Health Survey (NFHS) has been used while ranking India.
  • The NFHS data confirms disconcertingly high child mortality rates and chronic malnutrition persist in India, despite clear progress in the past few years.
  • Although the instances of child mortality are on the decline, a still large proportion of children still suffer from the devastating consequences of acute and chronic malnutrition.
  • The government has also criticized the indicator FAO uses to measure food security- the prevalence of undernourishment.
  • This indicator has been scrutinized and approved by countries through the UN Statistical Commission and the UN Economic and Social Council in 2015.
• India’s Concerns
  • The Government of India has raised concerns over the Global Hunger Report 2022.
  • It has referred to the index as an erroneous measure of hunger and suffers from serious methodological issues.
• What is the issue?
• The Government of India has rejected the report based on the following reasons:
  • Three out of the four indicators used for the calculation of the index are related to the health of Children and cannot be representative of the entire population.
  • The FAO estimate is based on the “Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)” which is an “opinion poll” based on “8 questions” with a sample size of “3000 respondents” (small sample size).
  • The report is not only disconnected from ground reality but also chooses to deliberately ignore the food security efforts of the Government of India, especially during the pandemic.
  • The reaction from the government might have made two fundamental mistakes.
  • No access to the latest NSS data: The FAO doesn’t have access to the latest, 75th round of the NSS data on consumer expenditures conducted in 2017-2018. It’s not publicly available.
  • Lack of understanding regarding statistical protocols: All of the methodological details regarding how FAO measures food security are public knowledge and explained yearly in the technical notes.
• Initiatives to Eradicate Hunger/Malnutrition:
  • POSHAN Abhiyan
  • Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana
  • Food Fortification
  • National Food Security Act, 2013
  • Mission Indradhanush
  • Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme
  • Eat Right India Movement

Global Gender Gap Index 2022

• Context:
  • Recently, the Global Gender Gap Index for 2022 was released and it ranks India at 135 out of 146 countries.
  • In 2021, India was ranked 140 out of 156 countries.
• What is the Global Gender Gap Index?
  • The report is annually published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
  • Calculation
    • On each of the four sub-indices as well as on the overall index the GGG index provides scores between 0 and 1, where 1 shows full gender parity and 0 is complete imparity.
    • It measures scores on a 0-to-100 scale, which can be interpreted as the distance covered towards parity or the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed.
    • It benchmarks gender parity across four key dimensions or sub-indices —
      • economic participation and opportunity
      • educational attainment
      • health and survival
      • political empowerment
    • The report aims to serve “as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men on health, education, economy and politics”.
    • According to the WEF it is the longest-standing index, which tracks progress towards closing these gaps over time since its inception in 2006.
• How has India fared on different sub-indices?
  • India has approximately 662 million (or 66.2 crore) women.
  • India’s (135th) global gender gap score has oscillated between 0.593 and 0.683 since the index was first compiled.
  • In 2022, India scored 0.629, which is its seventh-highest score in the last 16 years.
  • In 2022, India’s overall score has improved from 0.625 (in 2021) to 0.629.
• Different sub-indices
• Political Empowerment
  • Of all the sub-indices, this is where India ranks the highest (48th out of 146).
  • This includes metrics such as the percentage of women in Parliament, the percentage of women in ministerial positions etc.
  • However, notwithstanding its rank, its score is quite low at 0.267. Some of the best ranking countries in this category score much better. For instance, Iceland is ranked 1 with a score of 0.874 and Bangladesh is ranked 9 with a score of 0.546.
  • Moreover, India’s score on this metric has worsened since last year – from 0.276 to 0.267. The silver lining is that despite reduction, India’s score is above the global average in this category.
• Economic Participation and Opportunity
  • Here, too, India ranks a lowly 143 out of the 146 countries in contention even though its score has improved over 2021 from 0.326 to 0.350.
  • Last year, India was pegged at 151 out of the 156 countries ranked. India’s score is much lower than the global average, and only Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are behind India on this metric.
  • This includes metrics such as the percentage of women who are part of the labour force, wage equality for similar work, earned income etc.
• Educational Attainment
  • Here India ranks 107th out of 146, and its score has marginally worsened since last year. In 2021, India was ranked 114 out of 156.
  • This sub-index includes metrics such as literacy rate and the enrolment rates in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
• Health and Survival
  • This includes two metrics: the sex ratio at birth (in %) and healthy life expectancy (in years).
  • In this metric, India is ranked the last (146) among all the countries. Its score hasn’t changed from 2021 when it was ranked 155th out of 156 countries.
• Where does India stand amongst its neighbors?
  • India ranks poorly among its neighbours and is behind Bangladesh (71), Nepal (96), Sri Lanka (110), Maldives (117) and Bhutan (126).
  • Only the performance of Iran (143), Pakistan (145) and Afghanistan (146) was worse than India in South Asia
  • In 2021, India ranked 140 out of 156 nations.

World Press Freedom Index, 2022

• Context:
  • India’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index 2022 has fallen down to 150th position from last year’s 142nd rank out of 180 countries.
  • The top three positions for countries with the highest press freedom were taken by the Nordic trio of Norway (a score of 92.65), Denmark (90.27) and Sweden (88.84).
• Key-highlights of the index:
  • Top performing countries include Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Finland while North Korea remained at the bottom of the list.
  • The rankings of India’s neighbours have also come down, with the index placing Pakistan at 157th position (145th last year), Sri Lanka 146th (127th), Bangladesh 162nd (152nd) and Myanmar at 176th (140th) position.
  • Nepal has significantly improved its global ranking by 30 points from 106th position last year to 76th position in 2022.
  • Russia’s position has also come down from 150th last year to 155th this year, while China climbed up by two positions (from 177th to 175th).
• What is RSF and what’s the objective of this Index?
  • International NGO- RSF is an international NGO whose self proclaimed aim is to defend and promote media freedom. Headquartered in Paris, it has consultative status with the United Nations.
  • Objective- The objective of the World Press Freedom Index, which it releases every year, “is to compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories” in the previous calendar year.
  • Definition of Press Freedom- The RSF defines press freedom as “the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety.”
• What are the findings with regard to world press freedom?
  • Increase in Polarisation- In terms of global trends, the report flags a “twofold increase in polarisation amplified by information chaos — that is, media polarization fuelling divisions within countries, as well as polarisation between countries at the international level.”
  • Divisions in Democratic societies- It notes that “within democratic societies, divisions are growing” due to the spread of “opinion media” modelled on Fox News, and the rise of “disinformation circuits” amplified by how social media functions.
  • Ranking- The top three positions for countries with the highest press freedom were taken by the Nordic trio of Norway (a score of 92.65), Denmark (90.27) and Sweden (88.84).The world’s 10 worst countries for press freedom include Myanmar (176th), China (175), Turkmenistan (177th), Iran (178th), Eritrea (179th) and North Korea (180th).
• What does the Index say about India?
  • Press freedom is in crisis -The report states that in India, “the violence against journalists, the politically partisan media and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis”.
  • Violence against Journalist- Describing India as “one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the media”, the report notes that “journalists are exposed to all kinds of physical violence including police violence, ambushes by political activists, and deadly reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt local officers”
  • Online attacks- It highlights that “supporters of Hindutva, the ideology that spawned the Hindu farright, wage allout online attacks on any views that conflict with their thinking.”

• Context:
  • The Global Gender Gap Index is released by the World Economic Forum. It was first introduced in 2006 to benchmark progress towards gender parity.
  • World Economic Forum (WEF) released Global Gender Gap (GGG) Index for 2022. 
  • Objective: It is the longest-standing index which tracks progress towards closing these gaps over time since its inception in 2006. 
  • The index benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions of:
    • Economic Participation and Opportunity, 
    • Educational Attainment, 
    • Health and Survival, 
    • Political Empowerment
  • Scoring: The Index measures scores on a 0 to 100 scale
  • India’s ranking: India has been ranked at 135 out of 146 countries. 
  • It is an index that is designed to measure gender equality.
• Global Key findings: 
  • In 2022, the global gender gap has been closed by 68.1%. At the current rate of progress, it will take 132 years to reach full parity.
  • Across the 146 countries, the Health and Survival gender gap has closed by 95.8%, Educational Attainment by 94.4%, Economic Participation and Opportunity by 60.3% and Political Empowerment by 22%. 
  • No country has yet achieved full gender parity, although the top 10 economies have closed at least 80% of their gender gaps, with Iceland (90.8%) leading the global ranking. 
  • Other Scandinavian countries such as Finland (86%, 2nd), Norway (84.5%, 3rd) and Sweden (82.2%, 5th) feature in the top 5.
• Key findings about India: 
  • India’s global gender gap score has oscillated between 0.593 and 0.683 since the index was first compiled.
  • In 2022, India scores 0.629, which is its seventh-highest score in the last 16 years. 
• Economic Participation and Opportunity- 
  • India ranked 143 in this subindex even though there has been an increase in the share of women in professional and technical roles. 
  • Although the gender parity score for estimated earned income improved; while values for both men and women diminished, they declined more for men.
  • India and Sri Lanka have progressed on closing the gender gap in the share of women in senior positions. 
• Health and Survival-
  • India is ranked the last (146) among all the countries. 
  • This sub-index includes Sex ratio at birth and Healthy Life Expectancy. 
  • The five countries with gender gaps larger than 5% in this sub-index are Qatar, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, China and India. 
  • Sex ratio at birth remains relatively low in large, populated countries such as India and Pakistan, whereas Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran and Sri Lanka have reached parity. 
• Political Empowerment-
  • This sub-index includes- percentage of women in Parliament & percentage of women in ministerial positions etc. 
  • Among all the sub-indices India ranks the highest in this one (48th out of 146). Although its score is quite low at 0.267. 
  • In India and Nepal women have held the highest office in the country or participated more widely in government.
• Educational Attainment- 
  • India ranked 107th in this sub-index with a score of 0.961. 
  • This section includes literacy rate (%), enrolment in primary, secondary and tertiary education. 
• Steps taken by govt. to reduce the gender gap in all aspect of social, economic and political life: 
  • Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP): ensures the protection, survival and education of the girl child. 
  • Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK): aims to empower rural women with opportunities for skill development and employment. 
  • Working Women Hostel (WWH): ensures the safety and security for working women. Scheme for Adolescent Girls: aims to empower girls in the age group 11-18 and to improve their social status through nutrition, life skills, home skills and vocational training. 
  • Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandna Yojna: aims to provide maternity benefit to pregnant and lactating mothers. 
  • Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana: aims to provide housing under the name of the woman also. 
  • Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY): aims to enable a large number of Indian youth including women to take up industry-relevant skill training in securing a better livelihood. 
  • DeenDayal Upadhyay National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM): focuses on creating opportunities for women in skill development, leading to market-based employment. 
  • Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: empowers women and protects their health by providing LPG cylinder free of cost. 
  • Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna(SSY): Under this scheme, girls have been economically empowered by opening their bank accounts.

Global Multidimensional Poverty Index MPI 2022

• Context:
  • Recently, the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2022 was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
• Key Highlights of the Index:
• Global Data:
  • 1.2 billion people are multidimensionally poor.
  • Nearly half of them live in severe poverty.
  • Half of poor people (593 million) are children under age 18
  • The number of poor people is highest in Sub Saharan Africa (579 million), followed by South Asia (385 million). The two regions together are home to 83% of poor people.
• Impact of Pandemic:
  • The data do not, however, reflect post-pandemic changes.
  • According to the report the Covid-19 pandemic could set back the progress made in poverty reduction globally by 3-10 years.
  • The most recent data on food security from the World Food Programme suggest that the number of people living in food crises or worse increased to 193 million in 2021.
• Key Findings about India:
• Data:
  • India has by far the largest number of poor people worldwide at 22.8 crore, followed by Nigeria at 9.6 crore.
  • Two-thirds of these people live in a household in which at least one person is deprived of nutrition.
• Reduction in Poverty:
  • The incidence of poverty fell from 55.1% in 2005/06 to 16.4% in 2019/21 in the country.
  • The deprivations in all 10 MPI indicators saw significant reductions as a result of which the MPI value and incidence of poverty more than halved.
  • As many as 41.5 crore people moved out of poverty in India during the 15-year period between 2005-06 and 2019-21.
  • Improvement in MPI for India has significantly contributed to the decline in poverty in South Asia.
  • South Asia now has not the lowest number of poor people than Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Relative Reduction in Poverty:
  • The relative reduction from 2015/2016 to 2019/21 was faster: 11.9% a year compared with 8.1% from 2005/2006 to 2015/2016.
• Performance of States:
  • Bihar, the poorest state in 2015-16, saw the fastest reduction in MPI value in absolute terms.
  • The percentage of poor in Bihar fell from 77.4 % in 2005-06 to 52.4 % in 2015-16 and further to 34.7 % in 2019-21.
  • However, in relative terms, the poorest states have not quite caught up.
  • Of the 10 poorest states in 2015/2016, only one (West Bengal) have emerged out of the list in 2019-21.
  • The rest (Bihar, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan) remain among the 10 poorest.
  • Across states and union territories in India, the fastest reduction in relative terms was in Goa, followed by Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
• Poverty among Children:
  • Poverty among children fell faster in absolute terms, although India still has the highest number of poor children in the world.
  • More than one in five children in India are poor compared with around one in seven adults.
• Reduction of Poverty Region Wise:
  • The incidence of poverty fell from 36.6% in 2015-2016 to 21.2% in 2019-2021 in rural areas and from 9.0% to 5.5% in urban areas.

About Global Multidimensional Poverty Index:

• The index is a key international resource that measures acute multidimensional poverty across more than 100 developing countries.
• It was first launched in 2010 by the OPHI and the Human Development Report Office of the UNDP.
• The MPI monitors deprivations in 10 indicators spanning health, education and standard of living and includes both incidence as well as intensity of poverty.

• Context:
  • Recently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released ‘Emissions Gap Report 2022.
• About the Report
  • This is the 13th edition of the Report.
  • Title: ‘The Closing Window — Climate Crisis Calls For Rapid Transformation of Societies’
  • Content: An overview of the difference between where greenhouse emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to avert the worst impacts of climate change. 
• Key Findings
  • The world is falling short of the goals set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement adopted in 2015.
  • No credible pathway is currently in place to restrict global warming to under 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
  • The top seven emitters (China, the EU27, India, Indonesia, Brazil, the Russian Federation and the United States of America) plus international transport accounted for 55 percent of global GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions in 2020. 
  • In India and six other top emitters, emissions have rebounded in 2021, exceeding pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
  • Collectively, G20 members are responsible for 75 percent of global GHG emissions.
  • The global average per capita GHG emissions was 6.3 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) in 2020. 
  • The report finds that the world must cut emissions by 45 percent to avoid global catastrophe.
• Suggestions
  • The world needs to reduce greenhouse gasses by unprecedented levels over the next eight years.
  • There is a need for alternative technologies in heavy industry, to reverse the rise in carbon intensity of global steel production.
  • Urgent transformation is needed to deliver the enormous cuts needed to limit GHG emissions by 2030.
  • To be on the most cost-effective path to limiting global warming to 2°C or 1.5°C, these percentages must reach 30% and 45%.
• United Nations Environment Programme:
  • It is the leading global environmental authority established in 1972.
  • It sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system.
  • Headquarters: Nairobi, Kenya.
  • Major Reports: Emission Gap Report, Global Environment Outlook, Frontiers, Invest into Healthy Planet.
  • Major Campaigns: Beat Pollution, UN75, World Environment Day, Wild for Life, etc.

• Context:
  • United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) recently presented the Drought in Numbers, 2022 report at the ongoing 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15) which highlighted India’s vulnerability to droughts.
  • The report assessment analysed droughts and their impacts on life and livelihood over 122 years covering 196 countries.
• Highlights of the Report
• Indian scenario:
  • India has featured in the assessment as one of severely drought-impacted countries.
  • Nearly two-thirds of the country suffered drought during 2020-2022.
  • India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reduced by 2 to 5 percent between 1998 and 2017 due to severe droughts in the country.
  • Many parts of India fall under the list of regions that are vulnerable to drought globally. 
  • Geographically, India’s drought vulnerability compares with that of sub-Saharan Africa.
  • India features on the Global Drought Vulnerability Index, which is part of the assessment. 
• Global scenario:
  • Droughts inbetween 1998 and 2017 caused economic losses of approximately $124 billion. 
  • The number and duration of droughts around the world have increased by an alarming 29% since 2000.
  • An entire new generation is growing up being “water scarce”.
  • Climate change alone will cause 129 countries to experience an increase in drought exposure in the next few decades.
  • The report notes that women and girls in emerging and developing countries may spend up to 40 per cent of their caloric intake fetching water.

• Context:
  • NITI Aayog has launched the State Energy & Climate Index-Round I.
• About 
  • The State Energy & Climate Index (SECI) Round I ranks the states’ performance on 6 parameters, namely
    • DISCOM’s Performance 
    • Access, Affordability and Reliability of Energy
    • Clean Energy Initiatives 
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Environmental Sustainability
    • New Initiatives. 
  • The parameters are further divided into 27 indicators.
  • Based on the composite SECI Round I score, the states and UTs are categorised into three groups: Front Runners, Achievers, and Aspirants.
  • The States have been categorised based on size and geographical differences as larger and smaller States and UTs. The index is based on 2019–20 data
• Top Performers 
  • Gujarat, Kerala, and Punjab have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger states. 
  • Goa, emerged as the top-performing state in the smaller states category, followed by Tripura, and Manipur.
  • Among UTs, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Daman & Diu/Dadra & Nagar Haveli are the top performers.
  • It  is the first index that aims to track the efforts made by States and UTs in the climate and energy sector.
• Suggestions: 
  • This edition of the report reveals that some of the important data is not available at the state level.
  • There is a need to develop a robust mechanism for capturing such data so that it can be incorporated in future editions of the report.
  • Synergy and partnership among the Centre and the States will be critical for achieving energy and climate-related goals and making the country self-reliant in the energy sector. 
  • Achieving the ambitious climate targets would require a conducive policy environment to encourage investment. 
  • The best practices of the States should be regularly documented and disseminated through mediums such as SECI to promote peer–to–peer learning.
  • For instance, each State can learn from the best performing States/UTs.