DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

International Day of the Elderly

The United Nations observes October 1 as International Day for Older Persons as part of its efforts to raise awareness about healthy ageing.

About

• A recent UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) report, "World Population Prospects 2022," predicted significant shifts in global demographic patterns in the coming decades.
• According to the report, people over the age of 65 will account for 16% of the global population by 2050.
• By 2050, India's population will have surpassed that of China to become the world's most populous country.
• By 2050, eight countries, including India, will account for more than half of the world's growing population.

World population demographics

• Between 1950 and 2010, global life expectancy increased from 46 to 68 years. In 2019, there were 703 million people worldwide who were 65 or older.
• The region of Eastern and South-Eastern Asia had the most elderly people, followed by Europe and Northern America.
• Over the next three decades, the global population of older people is expected to more than double, reaching more than 1.5 billion by 2050.
• Between 2019 and 2050, all regions will see an increase in the number of older people. The greatest increase is expected in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia.

What are the issues at stake?

• This demographic shift will have a significant impact on the country's healthcare systems.
• The elderly have a higher prevalence of noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, as well as disabilities related to vision, hearing, or mobility.
• The shift in demographic structure will put additional strain on public health systems that are not designed to provide universal health care in addition to social security measures such as old-age and disability pensions.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities, with the last three years focusing on the socioeconomic, environmental, health, and climate-related impacts on the lives of older people, particularly older women, who make up the majority of older people.
• The Indian economy must continue to mitigate the fiscal costs associated with an increasing old-age dependency ratio.

The elderly population must be protected.

• Elders have a wealth of knowledge and experience. They contribute to the workplace on a macro and financial level, and on a local level to their communities and individual networks in terms of experience.
• They can provide an important generational link for the next generation, such as support and stability to families and society as a whole.
• They aid in the transmission of values and morals to the next generation. As a result, we are helping to raise better people and responsible citizens.
• Informally, many older people contribute to the economy by caring for their grandchildren or other family members.

Schemes for the welfare of the elerdy

The Government of India is implementing various schemes and programmes to provide senior citizens with a healthy, happy, empowered, dignified, and self-sufficient life, as well as strong social and intergenerational bonding.

AVYAY (Atal Vayo Abhyudaya Yojana):

• It falls under the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment's Central Sector Scheme.
• AVYAY articulates each of the current schemes, future plans, strategies, and targets and maps them to schemes/programs, accountabilities, financials, and clear outcomes.
• This Plan addresses the top four needs of senior citizens: financial security, food, health care, and human interaction/a dignified life.

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP):

• Under the Ministry of Rural Development, this programme provides financial assistance ranging from Rs.200/- to Rs.500/- per month to elderly, widows, and disabled people who are below the poverty line (BPL) and meet the eligibility criteria prescribed in the NSAP guidelines. In the event of the breadwinner's death, the bereaved family receives a lump sum of Rs.20,000/-.

The National Programme for the Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE)

• It was launched in 2010-11 with the primary goal of providing comprehensive and dedicated health care facilities to elderly people over the age of 60 at various levels of primary, secondary, and tertiary health care.

International Efforts:

International Day of the Elderly

• Every year on October 1st, this holiday is observed.
• The theme for 2022 is Resilience of Older People in a Changing World.
• The United Nations General Assembly declared October 1 as International Day of Older Persons (resolution 45/106) on December 14, 1990.
• This was preceded by initiatives such as the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing, which was adopted by the World Assembly on Ageing in 1982 and endorsed by the UN General Assembly later that year.
• The United Nations Principles for Older Persons were adopted by the General Assembly in 1991 (resolution 46/91). The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing was adopted by the Second World Assembly on Ageing in 2002 to respond to the opportunities and challenges of population ageing in the twenty-first century and to promote the development of a society for the elderly.

Melting of Arctic Ice & Ocean acidification

The western Arctic Ocean's altering chemistry has just been brought to light by a research team.

Information about the study

• Research findings: Three to four times quicker than other ocean waters, the acidity levels in Arctic seas are rising, according to the study.
• Seawater typically has a pH of 8.1, making it alkaline.
• The team also discovered a significant link between the rate of ocean acidification and the accelerated rate of glacier melting.

Reasons:

Scientists Cite sea-ice melt as the principal factor responsible for this abrupt pH drop since it affects surface water in three main ways:

• The water beneath the sea ice, which previously lacked carbon dioxide, is now open to the atmosphere's carbon dioxide and may readily absorb it.
• Because the ocean and meltwater are light and can't easily mix, the carbon dioxide is concentrated near the surface.
• The seawater's capacity to convert carbon dioxide into bicarbonate is weakened by meltwater, which also causes a sharp drop in the pH of the ocean.

Data progression

• For the first time, data from 1994 to 2020 are included in an examination of Arctic acidification.

Predictions:

• According to scientific predictions, this area's Arctic Sea ice won't survive the region's increasingly warm summers by the year 2050.

Consequences:

• As the ocean's chemistry becomes more acidic, the diverse population of marine life, plants, and other living organisms that depend on a healthy ocean could experience potentially fatal issues.
• For instance, crabs inhabit a crusty shell made of the calcium carbonate found in ocean water.
• Fish and marine birds depend on plankton and plants for sustenance, just as polar bears do, and many people consume a lot of seafood.

Arctic Area

• Location: Generally speaking, it refers to the area north of latitude 66° 34' N, above the Arctic Circle, which contains the Arctic Ocean with the North Pole at its centre.
• Arctic Council: The Arctic Council is made up of the eight Arctic States of Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States.
• Resources and population: The Arctic is home to almost four million people, of whom around a tenth are regarded as indigenous.
• The Arctic Ocean and its surrounding continent have drawn significant interest from the world's scientific community and are a major research priority for decision-makers.
• The Arctic has an impact on the earth's ecosystem's biogeochemical, oceanic, and atmospheric cycles.
• Mineral Resources: The Arctic region possesses significant quantities of zinc, lead, placer gold, quartz, and rich amounts of coal, gypsum, and diamonds.
• A fourth of the rare earth reserves in the world are found in Greenland alone.
• Resources for hydrocarbons are also abundant in the Arctic. India is the third-largest consumer of electricity worldwide.
• Therefore, the Arctic may be able to meet India's needs for energy security.

Threats:

• Twice as quickly as the rest of the globe, the Arctic is warming.
• The loss of Arctic sea ice is a result of global warming brought on by greenhouse gases.

Polar amplifying:

• The Arctic amplification phenomena happens when the white sea ice thins or melts, allowing dark ocean or land surfaces to absorb more solar heat and release it back into the atmosphere.

Implications of Arctic warming (on India)

Rising Sea Level:

• The Greenland ice sheet is essential for maintaining the sea level since it stores the second-largest amount of ice behind Antarctica.
• Sea level rise along the Indian coast is occurring more quickly than the global average pace, according to the World Meteorological Organization's assessment, "State of Global Climate in 2021."
• The melting of sea ice in the northern areas, particularly the Arctic, is one of the main causes of this increase.

Climate change

• As the permafrost in the Arctic thaws, carbon and methane, two of the main greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, are released.

Biodiversity:

• Climate change is having an effect on biodiversity, particularly marine species and dependent species, by warming the Arctic Ocean and the seas in the area, acidifying the water, and changing salinity levels.

Connectivity:

• The Arctic will have the shortest maritime distance connecting America, Europe, and North East Asia due to the melting of its ice cap and its physical location.
• The conventional East-West route through the Malacca Strait and Suez Canal, which is now used for international maritime trade, will probably be changed as a result of this.
• Due to the catastrophic weather events the nation experiences and the significant reliance on rainfall for water and food security, the relationship between the impact of the changing Arctic and the monsoons in India is becoming more and more significant.

Geopolitics:

• The Arctic ice loss is also escalating the geopolitical situation.
• China referred to itself as a "Near-Arctic State" in its White Paper on Arctic policy from 2018.
• The US, China, and Russia, as well as NATO, are vying for position and influence in the region as a result of the opening of the shipping lanes and the potential for increasing resource extraction.

Way Forward

• The issue is that we are unsure of exactly what influences how quickly ice flows and, consequently, enters the ocean.
• Studying previous sea level changes can help with the issue of not comprehending the process.
• Approximately 125,000 years ago, during the most recent interglacial, Earth was almost as warm as it is today.
• To lessen and alleviate the effects of human-caused climate change on the glaciers, we urgently need to take action

Read Also: Artic Sea

Global Innovation Index 2022

• India was recently ranked 40th out of 132 in the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022 rankings (WIPO).
• In 2021, India was ranked 46th, up from 81st in 2015.

What are the Report's Highlights?

Countries are ranked as follows:

• For the 12th year in a row, Switzerland is the most innovative economy in the world in 2022, followed by the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
• China is closing in on the top 10, while Turkey and India break into the top 40 for the first time.

India's performance:

• India leads the lower middle-income group in terms of innovation.
• It continues to lead the world in ICT services exports and ranks first in other indicators such as venture capital receipt value, startup, and scaleup finance, science and engineering graduates, labor productivity growth, and domestic industry diversification.

R&D Expenditure Increase:

• The top global corporate R&D spenders increased their R&D expenditure by nearly 10% to over USD 900 billion in 2021, higher than in 2019 before the pandemic.

Growth in Venture Capital (VC):

• It increased by 46% in 2021, reaching levels comparable to the late 1990s internet boom years. Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa are experiencing the most rapid growth in venture capital.

What precisely is the Global Innovation Index?

• The Global Innovation Index, which is published annually, has long been regarded as a leading indicator of an economy's innovation performance.
• The GII is used by many countries to assess and improve their innovation ecosystems, as well as as a reference in economic plans and/or policies.
• The UN Economic and Social Council recognized the GII as an authoritative benchmark for measuring innovation in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals in its 2019 resolution on Science, Technology, and Innovation for Development (SDGs).
• Index indicators include:

Institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, and create outputs are among the parameters used to calculate the index.

What exactly is WIPO?

• WIPO is the world's leading organization for intellectual property (IP) services, policy, information, and collaboration.
• It is a self-sustaining United Nations agency with 193 member states.
• Its goal is to lead the development of a balanced and effective international intellectual property system that promotes innovation and creativity for the benefit of all.
• The WIPO Convention, which established WIPO in 1967, outlines its mandate, governing bodies, and procedures.

What are India's Related Initiatives?

India's Digital Future:

• India began it's Digital India journey in 2015, to create a trillion-dollar digital economy in the next few years.
• Digital technologies are used in a variety of applications, such as mapping capital assets with GIS technology and revolutionizing payments with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
• In fact, India will account for 40% of global real-time digital transactions in 2021.

2020 National Education Policy:

• To boost innovation even further, the National Education Policy was implemented, which promoted the spirit of inquiry by establishing incubation and technology development centers.
• Over 9000 Atal Tinkering Labs encourage young people to create solutions to society's problems.

Structural Reforms in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR):

• India has undertaken structural reforms to strengthen its IPR regime, including modernization of IP offices, reduction of legal compliances, and facilitation of IP filing for start-ups, women entrepreneurs, small industries, and others.

• Domestic patent filings have increased by 46% in the last five years.

36^th National Game

The Prime Minister recently opened the 36th National Games in Gujarat.

About National Games

• The National Games are a part of the Olympic movement, which captured the nation's attention in the 1920s. To advance Olympic sports in the country, the National Games in India were originally intended to be the Indian Olympic Games.

• The first Indian Olympic Games, held in Lahore in 1924 in United Punjab.
• Beginning in 1940, the Indian Olympic Games were referred to as the National Games. Athletes from several Indian states compete against one another in a range of sports disciplines in this competition.

OBJECTIVE

• They are held for Indian athletes, sporting organisations, etc. as their objectives.
• They aid in educating states and UTs about the importance of creating top-notch sports infrastructure around the world.
• It makes an effort to engage a large number of young people in sports activities.
• It seeks to instil a sports culture in people from all walks of life and to inform them of the importance of sports in fostering a wholesome society.
• Jurisdiction: The Indian Olympic Association is solely responsible for determining the National Games' duration and rules.

What were the 36th National Games' main highlights?

• Event: The National Games, which are being hosted after seven years, will feature 36 disciplines in which the greatest athletes from India will participate.
• Mascot: "SAVAJ," the official mascot for the 36th National Games, represents the personality attributes of a sportsman who excels: self-assurance, vigour, a strong sense of motivation, an innate will to succeed, a strong sense of focus, a natural leader, and a goal-setter.
• Savaj is a portrayal of the Asiatic Lion, which is currently extinct everywhere but the wilds of India.

Read Also: National Sports Day 2022