Fossil fuel air pollution
Why in news?
- A new Greenpeace report has estimated the global cost of air pollution from fossil fuels at around $2.9 trillion per year, or $8 billion per day — 3.3% of the world’s GDP.
Key highlights:
- India is estimated to bear a cost of $150 billion, or 5.4% of the country’s GDP, which is the third-highest absolute cost from fossil fuel air pollution worldwide.
- China and the US are estimated to bear the highest absolute costs from fossil fuel air pollution, respectively at $900 billion and $600 billion.
- Globally, air pollution is estimated to cause 4.5 million premature deaths each year. This includes 3 million deaths attributable globally to PM2.5, which is one of the principal pollutants in northern Indian cities including Delhi.
- Globally, PM2.5 is also estimated to cause the loss of 62.7 million years of life, 2.7 million emergency room visits due to asthma, 2 million preterm births and 1.75 billion work absences. The 2 million preterm births include 981,000 in India and over 350,000 in China.
- Additionally, the report links approximately 350,000 new cases of child asthma in India to nitrogen dioxide, which is a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion. As a result of this, over 1.28 million more children in India live with asthma, which is linked to fossil fuel pollution.
United States Trade Representative
Why In news?
- The US on Monday removed India from its list of developing countries that are exempt from investigations into whether they harm American industry with unfairly subsidised exports.
Crucial highlights:
- The United States Trade Representative (USTR) eliminated a host of countries including Brazil, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Africa and Argentina from getting special preferences under the methodology for countervailing duty (CVD) investigations, stating that the previous guidance that dated back to 1998 “is now obsolete”.
- The US removed India from the list on account of it being a G-20 member and having a share of 0.5% or more of world trade.
- The move has cast a shadow on India being able to restore preferential benefits under the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) as part of its trade talks with the US, as only developing countries are eligible for it.
- For purposes of US CVD law, the USTR therefore considers countries with a share of 0.5% or more of world trade to be developed countries. India’s share in global exports was 1.67% in 2018. In global imports, it was 2.57%.
Exercise Ajeya Warrior 2020
Why in news?
- Indian and British armed forces on began their joint ‘Ajeya Warrior’ exercises in the Salisbury Plain of central southern England to train troops in counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations.
- Exercise Ajeya Warrior 2020 can be termed as the shining example of long-standing strategic ties between India and United Kingdom.