#GS3: – 01. India’s Logistics Cost

India gained six places and ranked 38 among 139 countries in the Logistics Performance Index 2023. In 2014, it ranked 54. Singapore topped the ranking, followed by Finland. The US was ranked 17,while China, UK and South Africa came a joint 19th. India’s logistics cost is 7.8% to 8.9% of GDP. Logistics cost was 8.6% to 9.8% in 2013- 14 and dropped to 7.8% to 8.9% in 2021-22, an early 100-basispoint reduction.

-National Council for Applied Economic Research

#GS3: – 02. Credit Rating of Developing Countries

Credit rating agencies need to improve the way they rate the credit-worthiness of countries in order to correctly reflect the default risks of developing economies, saving billions in funding costs. Massive opaqueness in credit rating Methodologies makes it challenging to Quantify the impact of qualitative factors on credit ratings.

The sign if I cant presence of qualitative factors in credit rating methodologies also gives rise to bandwagon effects and cognitive biases amply reflected in various studies, generating concerns about the credibility of credit ratings. Institutional Quality, proxied mostly by the World Bank’s World wide Governance Indicators(WGIs),emerges as the foremost determinant of a developing economy’s credit rating, which presents a problem since these metrics tend to be non-transparent, perception based, and derived from a small group of experts, and cannot represent the ‘willingness to pay’ of the sovereign. Enhanced transparency in credit rating may compel the use of hard data and likely result in credit rating upgrades for a good number of sovereigns. This will help them access private capital, which has been assigned the central role by G-20 in addressing global challenges such as climate change and supporting the energy transition.

-Chief economic advisor VAnan-thaNageswaran

#GS3: – 03. Regulation in Emerging Technologies

Regulation in emerging technologies has to be such that it doesn’t lose sight of innovation. At the moment, we will not be prescriptive on standards. We will let the technology evolve. The market itself will encourage inter operability; the customer will not be willing to adopt it otherwise.
-Consumer Affairs Secretary

#GS2: – 04. India-Japan relations

A pan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has finalized alo an of approximately₹932 crore to support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiatives in India. Loan will Fund projects over seen by NITIA ayog. These projects a reset to impact 112aspirational districts and500aspi rational blocks nationwide. Based on consultations with NITIA ayog, policy actions in five fields, such as health and nutrition, education, agricultre and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development, and basic infrastructure are prioritized and identified as policy matrix pillars are set in those fields.

Key Terms/Issues : JICA

#GS3: – 05. Combined COP for Climate Change & Biodiversity?

Climate change and biodiversity Need to be approached jointly For the ‘triple bottom line’ of People, Planet and Profits to gain traction and raise our chances of fending off a dismal future. The West wants fossil fuels choked while the Global South eyes solutions in carbon dioxide removal, renewable energy and nuclear power along with direct efforts to compress emissions. Transitioning away from fossil fuels is a marathon exercise, not as print. Developing nations like India cannot afford such abrupt shifts. Their energy needs necessitate continued reliance on fossil fuels, at least in the near term. Demanding a rapid phase-out without offering tangible, well-funded alternatives is akin to asking children to walk before they can crawl. A combined CoP for climate and bio diversity, focusing on the environment as a whole, could be one answer. In terms of logistics, it would also cost much less than organizing two separate meetings every year. Estimated at $4-6 trillion annually, climate and biodiversity finance needs a 600% increase to meet 2030 targets.Our proposal of a ‘Fund of Funds’ envisions money from both public and private sources that can work in conjunction with innovative solutions like green bonds, blended finance, carbon credits and a financial transactions tax. -CUTS International Secretary General Pradeep S. Mehta
Key Terms/Issues : Fund of Funds

#GS3: – 06. Bretton Wood twins and RBI

It’s sad that the Brett on Woods twins still reflect a Western view. It was not long ago that he IMF was a harsh critic of capital controls and tried to brainwash all emerging economies into full capital account convertibility. Some nations took that advice and dismantled all controls—but to their cost, as they found during the Asian currency crisis of 1997. It was only much later that the Fund Recanted and accepted that capital controls have a role to play in developing economies. It is no surprise that RBI rejected the IMF’s charge. Our central bank has always held that its interventions
in the forex market are not aimed at securing any specific level of the rupee’s value vis-à-vis the US dollar, but are guided by the need to prevent unwarranted volatility that could de-stabilize markets. At our stage of development, policy makers have consistently argued, we need a flexible exchange-rate system—with a manage drat her than free float. Indeed, a turn around on external-sector parameters is one of the big success stories of the reform process initiated in 1991. The rupee is now fully convertible for all current account transactions and has limited—but
increasing—convertibility on the capital account. This is what works for us. Under a classic trilemma of macroeconomics, an economy that is open to capital in flows and out flows can only fix its currency’s for ex value at the cost of lost autonomy over monetary policy. As a partially open one, India has sought a managed float (for stability) that doesn’t weaken RBI’s policy tools. It demands a fine balance, but RBI has done a better job of it than the IMF gives it credit for.
-Commentary in News

#GS2:- 07 Malnutrition

Malnutrition and hunger make individuals more susceptible to diseases and affects their productivity, income and quality of life, even as poverty limits people’s access to safe and nutritious food. Globally, an estimated 148 million children are suffering from stunted growth, 45 million children are affected by wasting and almost 38 million are overweight. Approximately 735 million people—9% of the world’s population—are experiencing chronic hunger, and over 2 billion people are facing moderate to severe food insecurity. This challenge is compounded by the impact of global crises like the covid pandemic that set back progress on SDGs; climate change and its impact on land, soil and food sources, and on vulnerable populations, including children; the consequences of rapid urbanization and migration, and human itarian crises arising from war and civil strife. Despite these formidable challenges, India has reshaped, reoriented and reimagined its nutrition landscape, with policies and programmes that
focus on the first 1,000days of life, from conception till two years of age. The Joint Child Malnutrition estimates report for 2023shows a decline in India’s share the global burden of stunting from 30% to 25% over the last decade.