Current Affairs Question - December 2019

Explanation :

• Microdot Technology involves spraying thousands of the small dots laser etched with a PIN (Personal Identification Number) number, linked to the Vehicle Number, throughout the vehicle. As the polymer dots are 1mm by 1mm it is impossible to locate them.
• These can be read physically with a microscope and identified with an ultraviolet light source.
• The microdots and adhesive fix permanently and cannot be removed without damaging the vehicle itself.

Advantages

• A vehicle, which has microdots sprayed on its body, if stolen, can be easily identified with the help of this technology.
• Similarly, the use of fake spare parts can also be prevented as counterfeit ones can be singled out easily.

Explanation :

• On 17^th December, 2019, the government launched the National Broadband Mission(NBM) which aims to fast track growth of digital communications infrastructure, bridge the digital divide and provide affordable and universal access of broadband for all.
• The Mission is part of the National Digital Communications Policy, 2018.

Objective

• To provide broadband access to all villages by 2022.

Key Points of NBM

• The ambitious project will involve laying down around 30 Lakhs kilometre route Optical Fiber Cable, increase tower density from 0.42 to 1.0 tower per thousand of population by 2024 and significantly improve quality of services for mobile and internet.
• The mission envisages Rs 7 lakh crore investments in next 4 years.
• Developing a Broadband Readiness Index (BRI) to measure the availability of digital communications infrastructure and conducive policy ecosystem within a State/UT.
• Creation of a Digital Fiber Map of the Digital Communications network and infrastructure, including Optical Fiber Cables and Towers, across the country.

Impact

• It will help government to fast-track digital connectivity and bridge the digital divide as well as facilitate digital empowerment and inclusion.
• The mission by providing internet connectivity to 1 lakh villages, will push the economy to 5 trillion dollar milestone.

Explanation :

• Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile System (QRSAM) is a Short Range Surface to Air Missile system designed to protect moving armoured columns from aerial attacks.
• It is developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in association with Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Dynamics Limited.
• The all-weather and all-terrain missile, which can be mounted on a truck and stored in a canister, is equipped with electronic counter measures against jamming by aircraft radars.
• QRSAM uses solid-fuel propellant and has a range of 25-30 km.
• The missile system comprises of two four-walled radars apart from the launcher both of which encompass a 360-degree coverage, namely,

-The Active Array Battery Surveillance Radar

-The Active Array Battery Multifunction Radar

Explanation :

• The Organization was established upon a decision of the historical summit which took place in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco on 25^th September 1969, following the criminal arson of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
• OIC is the second largest intergovernmental organization after the United Nations with a membership of 58 countries, including Pakistan.
• The OIC has permanent delegations to the United Nations and the European Union.
• The official languages of the OIC are Arabic, English, and French.
• Headquarters: Jeddah, Saudia Arabia

Explanation :

• Hoolock Gibbon is the only Ape found in India, a primate species from the gibbon family of Hylobatidae.
• Two distinct species of Hoolock are found in India- Eastern and Western Hoolock Gibbon.
• Hoolocks are the second largest of the gibbons, after the Siamang.
• In India, both the species are listed on Schedule 1 of the Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act 1972.

Eastern Hoolock Gibbon (H. leuconedys)

• It is found in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India as well as in southern China and north-east Myanmar.
• It is listed as Vulnerable under the IUCN Redlist.

Western Hoolock Gibbon (H. hoolock)

• It inhibits in all the states of the north-east, restricted between the south of the Brahmaputra River and east of the Dibang River as well as eastern Bangladesh and north-west Myanmar.
• It is listed as Endangered IUCN Red List.

Explanation :

• Konda Reddis are found on both the banks of the Godavari River (East and West Godavari districts), in the hilly-forest region of Khammam (Telangana) and Srikakulam (Andhra Pradesh).
• This tribe has been recognized as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• Living in their natural habitat, the Konda Reddis have been eking out a livelihood by collecting minor forest products like honey, making a wide array of bamboo products such as baskets and cots besides cultivating jowar, bottle gourd and a few other traditional crops.
• The tribe is known for their eco-friendly practices such as use of household articles made of bamboo, bottle gourd, and seeds.
• They cultivate the crops in a distinct way called ‘Podu’. It is an ancient practice in hilly regions.

Criteria for identifying Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs):

• Pre-agricultural level of technology
• Low level of literacy
• Economic backwardness
• A declining or stagnant population

Explanation :

• Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna was launched in November 2015 to help loss-making discoms turn around financially, with support from their State governments.
• The scheme, optional for the states to join, envisaged state governments to take over 75 percent of the utilities debts and include it in their fiscal deficit calculations.
• It also requires distribution companies (discoms) to maintain commercial sustainability, and bring down the gap between average cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realized (ARR) to zero.
• UDAY envisages to have a permanent solution for past as well as potential future issues of power sector such as reducing interest burden on discoms by allowing states to take over the bulk of their debt, reduce the cost of power, increase operational efficiencies of discoms by providing capital and infrastructure like coal linkages and reduce in AT&C and transmission losses.

Explanation :

• The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an international treaty which was adopted and signed in 1982. The Convention came into effect in November, 1994.
• It replaced the four Geneva Conventions of April, 1958, which respectively concerned the territorial sea and the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the high seas, fishing and conservation of living resources on the high seas.
• Also known as Law of the Sea, UNCLOS divides marine areas into five main zones namely- Internal Waters, Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the High Seas.
• The Convention has created three new institutions on the international scene :
• -International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, headquartered in Hamburg (Germany)
• -International Seabed Authority, headquartered in Kingston (Jamaica)
• -Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, based in the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
• It provides for full money rights to nations for a 200-mile zone by their shoreline.

Explanation :

• The Sahitya Akademi was formally inaugurated by the Government of India on 12 March 1954. It was registered as a society on 7^th January 1956, under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• It gives 24 awards annually to literary works in the languages it has recognized and an equal number of awards to literary translations from and into the languages of India, both after a year long process of scrutiny, discussion and selection.
• Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is the central institution for literary dialogue, publication and promotion in the country and the only institution that undertakes literary activities in 24 Indian languages, including English.

Explanation :

• The houbara bustard, which lives in arid climates, comes in two distinct species as recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, one residing in North Africa (Chlamydotis undulata) and the other in Asia (Chlamydotis macqueenii).
• The population of the Asian houbara bustards extends from northeast Asia, across central Asia, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula to reach the Sinai desert
• The species have been categorised as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
• Population of Houbara is declining due to number of reasons, mainly habitat degradation, habitat loss, fragmentation and hunting.

Explanation :

• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched in 2015 with the aim of providing basic civic amenities like water supply, sewerage, urban transport, parks as to improve the quality of life for all especially the poor and the disadvantaged.
• The focus of the Mission is on infrastructure creation that has a direct link to provision of better services to the citizens.
• The mission’s thrust areas are Water Supply system, Sewerage, Septage, Storm Water Drainage, Urban Transport, Green Space and Parks, Reforms management and support, Capacity building.
• The Priority zone of the Mission is water supply followed by sewerage.
• Under this mission, 10% of the budget allocation will be given to states and union territories as incentive based on the achievement of reforms during the previous year.

Explanation :

• Pinaka Missile System has been jointly developed by various Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories viz Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Proof & Experimental Establishment and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL).
• Pinaka was designed to replace the BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher systems of the Indian Army.
• It is an artillery missile system capable of striking into enemy territory up to a range of 75 kilometres with high precision.
• It is a multifaceted system integrating high energy propulsion, sub-munition warheads, servo-controlled launcher configuration and fire control computer.
• The navigation system of the missile is aided by the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), also known as NAVIC.
• The system is based on the 8×8 vehicle. Each battery is composed of six launcher vehicles, six loader-cum replenishment vehicles and two command post vehicles.
• Each Pinaka rocket is capable of carrying a 100kg payload for a range of 40km. A single Pinaka battery can neutralise a surface area of 700m x 500m. The system can engage targets with a circular error probability (CEP) of one to two percent of range.

Explanation :

• Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index which helps us understand the growth of three sectors in the Indian economy such as mining, electricity and manufacturing and does not cover gas, water supply and construction.
• The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) is responsible for the compilation and publication of the IIP since 1950.
• It is compiled as a simple weighted arithmetic mean of production relatives by using Laspeyre’s formula.
• The base year of the index is given a value of 100. The current base year for the IIP series in India is 2011-12.

Explanation :

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.
• The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in the United States of America.
• The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council.
• It is assisted by a Registry, its administrative organ. Its official languages are English and French.
• The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.

Explanation :

• Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is a complication of delivery and the most common cause of maternal death, accounting for about 35% of all maternal deaths worldwide.
• PPH is commonly defined as a blood loss of 500 ml or more within 24 hours after birth, while severe PPH is defined as a blood loss of 1000 ml or more within the same time frame according to World Health Organisation (WHO).
• It is a major cause of morbidity and mortality with in the first 24 hours following delivery and this is regarded as primary PPH: whereas any excessive bleeding from the birth canal occurring between 24 hours and 12 weeks postnatally (after delivery) is termed as secondary PPH.

Causes

• Uterine atony
• Genital trauma
• Coagulation problem

Treatment

• The treatment of patients with PPH has 2 major components: (1) resuscitation and management of obstetric hemorrhage and, possibly, hypovolemic shock and (2) identification and management of the underlying causes of the hemorrhage.

Explanation :

• The Rare Earth Elements (REE) are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium.
• 15 REE are- lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu).
• The principal economic sources of rare earths are the minerals bastnasite, monazite, and loparite and the lateritic ion-adsorption clays.
• Although these elements are referred to as rare they are not particularly rare in the earth’s crust. Cesium is the 25th most abundant crustal element and lutetium, the scarcest REE, is about the 60th most abundant.

REEs are categorized as being either light or heavy:

• Light REEs (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium and scandium) are produced in global abundance and are in surplus supply
• Heavy REEs (terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium and yttrium) are produced mainly in China and are in limited supply.

Uses

• Their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties make them essential to such products as smartphones, electric cars, camera lenses, X-ray scanners, wind turbines, and computer hard drives.
• REE are essential raw materials for a wide range of applications, including metallurgy (metal refining and metal alloying), catalysts in the automotive and the petro-chemical industry, colouring of glass/ceramics, phosphors (LEDs, compact fluorescent lamps, flat panel displays), lasers, rechargeable solid state batteries (Ni-MH), fibre optics and others.
• Additionally, REE are vital elements in emerging technologies such as solid state fuel cells, superconductors, magnetic cooling, hydrogen storage and high performance permanent magnets.

Explanation :

• A fuel cell is a device that generates electricity by converting chemical energy into electrical energy. Every fuel cell has two electrodes called, respectively, the anode and cathode. The reactions that produce electricity take place at the electrodes.
• Hydrogen is the basic fuel, but fuel cells also require oxygen. One great appeal of fuel cells is that they generate electricity with very little pollution–much of the hydrogen and oxygen used in generating electricity ultimately combines to form harmless by product- water.
• The most common type of fuel cell for vehicle applications is the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. In a PEM fuel cell, an electrolyte membrane is sandwiched between a positive electrode (cathode) and a negative electrode (anode).

Examples

• Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells
• Direct methanol fuel cells
• Alkaline fuel cells
• Molten carbonate fuel cells
• Solid oxide fuel cells

Advantages

• Low-to-Zero Emissions
• High Efficiency
• Reliability
• Fuel Flexibility
• Energy Security
• Durability
• Scalability
• Quiet Operation

Explanation :

• The Sattriya dance form was introduced in the 15th century A.D by the great Vaishnava saint and reformer of Assam, Mahapurusha Sankaradeva as a powerful medium for propagation of the Vaishnava faith.
• Sattriya dance tradition is governed by strictly laid down principles in respect of hasta mudras, footworks, aharyas, music etc.
• This tradition, has two distinctly separate streams - the Bhaona-related repertoire starting from the Gayan-Bhayanar Nach to the Kharmanar Nach, secondly the dance numbers which are independent, such as Chali, Rajagharia Chali, Jhumura, Nadu Bhangi etc.
• One-act plays of Sattriya are called Ankiya Nat, which combine the aesthetic and the religious through a ballad, dance and drama. The plays are usually performed in the dance community halls (namghar) of monastery temples (sattras). The themes played relate to Krishna and Radha, sometimes other Vishnu avatars such as Rama and Sita.
• The dance is accompanied by musical compositions called borgeets, which are based on classical ragas.
• The instruments that accompany a traditional performance are khols (drums), taals (cymbals) and the flute.
• On 15 November 2000, the Sangeet Natak Akademi finally gave Sattriya Nritya its due recognition as one of the classical dance forms of India.

Explanation :

• NavIC, previously known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is an indigenous regional navigation satellite system being developed by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
• It consists of a constellation of seven satellites, three of which are in a geostationary orbit and four in a geosynchronous orbit.
• It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. An Extended Service Area lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30 degree South to 50 degree North, Longitude 30 degree East to 130 degree East.
• It will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users.
• In April 2016, with the last launch of the constellation's satellite, IRNSS was renamed Navigation Indian Constellation (NAVIC) by Indian government.

Applications

• Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation
• Disaster Management
• Vehicle tracking and fleet management
• Integration with mobile phones
• Precise Timing
• Mapping and Geodetic data capture
• Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers
• Visual and voice navigation for drivers

Explanation :

• The National Ganga Council, also known as the National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection, and Management of River Ganga was set up in 2016, replacing the National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA).
• The Council, formed under the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),1986, is chaired by Prime Minister.
• The jurisdiction of the National Ganga Council shall extend to the States comprising River Ganga Basin, namely, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Rajasthan,Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Haryana, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi and such other States, having major tributaries of the River Ganga.
• The Council is overall responsible for the superintendence, direction, development and control of River Ganga and the entire River Basin (including financial and administrative matters) for the protection, prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution in River Ganga and its rejuvenation to its natural and pristine condition and to ensure continuous adequate flow of water in the River Ganga and for matters connected therewith.

Explanation :

• Samagra Shiksha is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12, prepared with the broader goal of improving school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes.
• The vision of the Scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from pre-school to senior secondary stage in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for Education.
• It subsumes the three schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
• The major objectives of the Scheme are provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students; Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education; Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education; Ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions; Promoting Vocationalisation of education; Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 and Strengthening and up-gradation of SCERTs/State Institutes of Education and DIET as a nodal agencies for teacher training.

Significance

• The Scheme will help improve the transition rates across the various levels of school education and aid in promoting universal access to children to complete school education.

Explanation :

• The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) is a body constituted under the provisions of Section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013. The constitution of this authority is effective from 1st October 2018.
• The Companies Act requires the NFRA to have a chairperson who will be appointed by the Central Government and a maximum of 15 members.
• It can probe listed companies and those unlisted public companies having paid-up capital of no less than Rs. 500 crore or annual turnover of no less than Rs 1,000 crore.

Functions and Duties

• To recommend accounting and auditing policies and standards to be adopted by companies for approval by the Central Government
• To monitor and enforce compliance with accounting standards and auditing standards
• To oversee the quality of service of the professions associated with ensuring compliance with such standards and suggest measures for improvement in the quality of service
• To perform such other functions and duties as may be necessary or incidental to the aforesaid functions and duties.

Explanation :

• Extra Neutral alcohol (ENA) is a colourless food-grade alcohol without any impurities.It has neutral smell and taste, and typically contains 96% alcohol by volume (ABV).
• It is derived from different sources — sugarcane molasses and grains and is used in the production of alcoholic beverages such as whisky, vodka, gin, cane, liqueurs, and alcoholic fruit beverages.
• In India, almost 90% of ENA is used for potable alcohol, which accounts for an annual production capacity of nearly 2.7 Billion Litres.

Applications

• Essential ingredient in the manufacturing of several cosmetics and personal care products such as perfume, toiletries
• In the production of paints and ink for the printing industry
• In pharmaceutical products in products such as antiseptics, drug, syrups, medicated sprays, etc.

Explanation :

• In order to encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland, the Government of Nagaland organizes the Hornbill Festival every year in the first week of December.
• The Festival is named after the Indian Hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in folklore in most of the state’s tribes.
• The Festival is held at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama which is about 12 km from Kohima.
• The aim of the festival is to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland and display its extravaganza and traditions.

Significance

• The Hornbill Festival has contributed significantly to enhancing the state's tourism brand. Tourism promoters believe that the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland allows tourists to have an insight into the different tribes of Nagaland.
• It fosters understanding of the rich cultural heritage of the state, its resourceful architecture and its ethnic cuisine.

Great Hornbill

• The great hornbill (Bucerosbicornis) also known as the great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family.
• It is found in India, southwestern China, Bangladesh, western Thailand, mainland Southeast Asia, including Laos, the Malaysia Peninsula and Sumatra.
• Conservation Status
  • -IUCN Status: Vulnerable
  • -It is also listed in Appendix I of CITES

Ecological Significance

• Due to its large gape, Horbill is able to transport and disperse the seeds of various important trees like trees knema and Myristica, which tend to be too large for other organisms.

Explanation :

• On 2^nd December, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putinremotely inaugurated the “Power of Siberia” gas pipeline - a massive cross-border undertaking not only central to China’s energy security but also for bolstering special ties between Beijing and Moscow.
• The 30-year project is anchored by a $400 billion gas deal.
• The gas pipeline traverses three Russian constituent entities, namely the Irkutsk and Amur Regions and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
• Gas is being sourced from Chayandinskoye and Kovytka fields in eastern Siberia, and is then piped to Blagoveshchensk — the last town on the Russian side of the border. From there, it is tunneled under the Amur River, before entering Heihe on the Chinese side.

Statistics

• Length: around 3,000 kilometers.
• Diameter: 1,420 millimeters.
• Working pressure:9.8 MPa.
• Export capacity: 38 billion cubic meters per year.

Significance

• Power of Siberia contributes to socio-economic development in Russia’s Far East. The gas pipeline facilitates gas supplies to and gas infrastructure expansion in the Russian regions, as well as the advancement of state-of-the-art gas processing and gas chemical facilities.

Explanation :

• The Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) barter mechanism was established in January 2019 by the so-called E3 i.e. France, Germany and United Kingdom, to allow European entities to maintain trade with Iran.
• The basic aim is to circumvent U.S. sanctions against trade with Iran by bypassing dollar transactions.
• The barter mechanism is part of Europe's attempt to salvage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or "nuclear deal") which saw Iran cease work on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting of international sanctions.
• However, the system has not yet enabled any transactions.
• On 2^nd December, 2019, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden joined the INSTEX.

Explanation :

• Tanbo Art is a rice paddy art developed by the farmers of Inakadate village in Japan to beautify their paddy fields.
• It is done on rice paddies (tanbo) as the canvases on which to create giant paintings with different-colored rice plants. Seedlings that will grow to have leaves and florets of various colors (such as green, purple, and yellow) are planted in accordance with a plan to have a vivid picture appear as the plants grow. The colors of the art pieces change with the seasons.
• There are no dyes to create the different colors and hues.
• Often, hundreds of villagers work together to plant the rice by hand and create these massive works of art. While planting, different areas of the rice paddy are roped off, so people know which type of rice to put where- kind of like painting by numbers.
• Rice is planted in the spring, and then harvested in the fall. When it gets close to harvest, the color changes to a beautiful hue called koganeiro, which is often translated as golden or honey-colored.

Explanation :

• The Group of Twenty (G-20) is a forum for advancing international cooperation and coordination among 20 major advanced and emerging-market economies.
• Formed in 1999, the G-20 has a mandate to promote global economic growth, international trade, and regulation of financial markets.
• Members: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, United States and the European Union (EU)
• Together, the nations of the G20 account for around 80 percent of global economic output, nearly 75 percent of all global trade, and about two-thirds of the world’s population.
• The G20 Presidency rotates annually according to a system that ensures a regional balance over time. Reflecting its nature as an informal political forum, the G20 does not have a permanent secretariat.

Explanation :

• IOM, or as it was first known, the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe (PICMME), was born in 1951 out of the chaos and displacement of Western Europe following the Second World War.
• Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners.
• With 173 member states, a further 8 states holding observer status and offices in over 100 countries, IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It does so by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.
• IOM works to help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues, to assistin the search for practical solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced people.
• The IOM Constitution recognizes the link between migration and economic, social and cultural development, as well as to the right of freedom of movement.
• IOM works in the four broad areas of migration management:
  • Migration and development
  • Facilitating migration
  • Regulating migration
  • Forced migration

Explanation :

• The Accelerator Labs are UNDP’s new way of working in development. Together with our core partners, the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Germany, to find radically new approaches that fit the complexity of current development challenges.
• The labs aims to introduce new services, backed by evidence and practice, and by accelerating the testing and dissemination of solutions within and across countries.
• The lab will identify grassroots solutions together with local actors and validate their potential to accelerate development.
• The labs will also harness the potential of real time data and people’s energy to respond to rapidly evolving challenges that impact development.
• India's Accelerator Lab will be part of a network of 60 global labs covering 78 nations, that will test and scale new solutions to global challenges like climate change and inequality.
• The India Accelerator Lab will work with partners on innovative solutions to some of India’s most pressing challenges, such as air pollution, sustainable water management and climate-resilient livelihoods.