Mains Focus-9th June 2018

Table of Contents

The government is not yet ready to sign the Hague treaty on the inter-country abduction of children by parents fleeing a bad marriage
The government has long held the view that the decision could lead to harassment of women escaping marital discord or domestic violence
There has been immense pressure from the U.S. on the government to sign the treaty

A committee constituted by the Centre to examine legal issues involved in international parental abduction submitted its report in April, opposing a central provision of the Hague Convention
It said that the criterion of habitual residence of the child, which is used to determine whether the child was wrongfully removed by a parent as well as to seek the return of the child to the country of habitual residence, was not in the best interest of the child
It also recommended setting up of a Child Removal Disputes Resolution Authority to act as a nodal body to decide on the custody of the child as well as a model law to deal with such disputes
The government is contemplating assigning the National Commission for Protection of Children the responsibility to adjudicate on such cases along with a judicial expert

What is ‘Science Based Targets’?

Science Based Targets is a joint initiative of CDP, the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and WWF.
It is an initiative to drive corporate climate actions globally.
It sets emissions reduction targets to ensure that the transformational action is aligned with current climate science.
It is ‘science-based’ as it is in line with the scale required to keep global temperature increase below 2°C compared to pre-industrial temperatures.
‘Science-based target setting’ is a way of boosting companies’ competitive advantage in transition to a low-carbon economy.

Uniqueness of this Initiative

It is the criterion that companies need to commit to setting supply chain or ‘scope 3’ targets. That is, if more than 40 per cent of a company’s emissions occur in its supply chain, then the company has to commit to reducing those emissions as well as its direct emissions.
This has the potential to rapidly escalate the impact of science-based target setting on global emissions, since all companies operate within a value chain.

For India-Its Significance

India has committed to generate at least 40% of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources.
A decrease in carbon emission intensity of GDP by 33 to 35% by 2030 has also been committed.
Indian companies and multinationals operating in India have a major role in this.Sixteen Indian companies have committed to set science-based targets.
They have secured themselves competitive advantage in the transition.
Mahindra Sanyo Steel became the first Indian company to set its science-based target. Globally, it is also the first steel company to set a target.