Gross Domestic Climate Risk Report

• According to a recent analysis titled "Gross Domestic Climate Risk," the majority of Indian states face a significant risk of building environment damage as a result of climate change threats.
• India contains nine states in the 50 high-risk states, including Punjab, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala, and Assam, according to the Cross-Dependency Initiative's (XDI) rating of Gross Domestic Climate Risk.
• Global company Cross-Dependency Initiative's (XDI) specializes in analyzing climate risk for governments, financial institutions, and businesses.

Study on Gross Domestic Climate Risk:

• The report was released by the Cross Dependency Initiative, or XDI, which is based in Australia.
• Being one of the businesses estimating the costs of climate change, XDI is a member of the Climate Risk Group.
• According on projected damage to the built environment from extreme weather and climate change, such as flooding, forest fires, and sea level rise, the research rates more than 2,600 jurisdictions throughout the world in 2050.
• The term "built environment" describes elements of the environment that have been constructed by people to facilitate human activities, such as homes and businesses.
• The paper also reveals which of these jurisdictions experiences the biggest modelled harm escalation between 1990 and 2050.
• The report's main goal is to guide investors in selecting long-term investment locations.
• In 2,600 States and provinces around the world in 2050, the index determined the "Physical Climate Risk" to built environments, such as buildings and properties.
• The index gave each region an Aggregated Damage Ratio (ADR), which represents the overall amount of harm that region’s-built environment would endure in 2050. A high ADR indicates greater risk.

The findingnding of the report:

2050 Global Climate Risk Profile:

• The most vulnerable nations are China and the United States, which have the most provinces among the top 50 regions in the world for climate risk.
• China is home to more than half of the top 50 provinces in the world. With 18 states ranking among the top 100, the US has the second-most high-risk states after China.
• More than half of the states and provinces in the top 100 are collectively owned by China, India, and the US.
• The most vulnerable region is South East Asia, which has the highest increase in harm from 1990 to 2050.
• Worldwide, riverine and surface flooding, or flooding combined with coastal inundation, inflict most of the damage.
• Two of China’s largest sub-national economies – Jiangsu and Shandong – top the global ranking.
• With 114 of the top 200 regions located on the continent of Asia, the continent heavily dominates the ranking.
• Asia dominates the list, accounting for 114 of the top 200 regions, including Pakistan, Indonesia, and the majority of the South East Asian nations.
• In 2022, devastating flooding ruined more than 9 lac homes in Sindh province and devastated 30% of Pakistan's land.

Climate Risk Profile for India by 2050:

• By 2050, 14 Indian states are expected to continue to be among the top 100 climate-risky regions in the world.
• Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh are the 14 Indian states that rank among the top 100 in the world for damage risk.

States that are most at risk:

• The analysis predicts that Bihar, which currently ranks 22nd globally, will be the most climate-vulnerable province in India by the year 2050.
• With rankings of 25 and 28, respectively, Uttar Pradesh and Assam are the next two states.
• Nonetheless, Assam tops the list of the top 50 most vulnerable places globally, increasing climatic impacts by an astounding 330 percent between 1990 and 2050.
• High-risk provinces will have an average 110% increase in damage risk by 2050 under high emissions scenarios like the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5.
• With a current temperature increase of 0.8 degrees, all 27 of India's states and more than 75 percent of its districts are extreme event hotspots, which results in a 5% decline in GDP.
• Climate-vulnerable states in India will lose more than 10% of their gross state domestic product if global warming exceeds 2-degree thresholds

The objective of the Report:

• While there is a correlation between densely populated locations and high levels of economic activity and property wealth, the ranking data may be important for investors as well.
• Together with infrastructure planning and adaption strategies, it can help state and provincial governments make climate-resilient investment decisions.
• In order to assess the susceptibility of global supply chains, the finance sector can directly compare major global industrial hubs like Mumbai, New York, and Berlin using a like-for-like technique.

UPI-PayNow Linkage

• Singapore's PayNow and India's UPI have been formally merged.
• The integration of UPI and PayNow is a significant milestone that will enable frictionless cross-border transactions between the two nations.
• The first nation with whom cross-border Person to Person (P2P) payment services have been launched in Singapore.
• The UPI-PayNow collaboration is the first of its kind in the world to include cloud-based infrastructure and involvement from non-bank financial companies.

What are PayNow and UPI?

• A single smartphone application may instantly and quickly transfer money between two bank accounts using the UPI, or Unified Payments Interface, real-time payment system.
• A VPA is a special number that is given to a person to make it easier to transfer money using a digital payment system. When making payments, this user-generated identity can be used in place of sensitive bank account information.
• It removes the danger of the remitter disclosing bank account information. UPI allows users to transfer or receive money and supports both Person-to-Person (P2P) and Person-to-Merchant (P2M) payments.
• Retail clients in Singapore can use PayNow, a quick payment system, through partnering banks and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NFIs).
• With the help of their Foreign Identification Number (FIN), Singapore National Registration Identity Card (NRIC), or mobile number, users can send and receive quick payments from one e-wallet or bank account to another in Singapore.

Significance:

• Retail transactions that cross international borders frequently cost more and have less transparency.
• The establishment of infrastructure for cross-border payments between Singapore and India, therefore, requires the combination of UPI and PayNow.
• This connection is also closely related to the G20's aims for financial inclusion, which include promoting faster payments, less expensive transactions, and more transparent cross-border payments.
• The integration intends to make cross-border payments for remittances, trade, and travel between the two countries more efficient, quicker, and transparent.
• The connectivity enables "real-time payment linkage," which enables quicker and more affordable remittances between the two countries.
• Since the project enables quicker and more affordable financial transfers between the two nations without the requirement of utilizing the other payment system, it is anticipated to have a significant positive impact on the Indian diaspora in Singapore, particularly migrant workers, and students.
• According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) report Population of Overseas Indians (2022), there are currently 6.5 lakh Indians living in Singapore, including non-resident Indians and people of Indian descent.
• According to the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) Remittance Survey, 2021, Singapore's proportion of the total inward remittances to India in 2020–21 was 5.7%.
• The system's integration will result in a 10% reduction in the cost of sending remittances.

Digital Payments in India:

• During the fiscal year (FY) 2021–2022, the volume of digital payments in India increased by 33% year over year (YoY). The most popular platform for digital transactions during the period was NPCI's universal payment interface (UPI), which was responsible for 452.75 billion transactions for a total of $8.27 lakh crore up till the end of February.
• According to NPCI, the overall number of UPI transactions in February 2022 was nearly twice as high as it was a year earlier. 229.2 billion UPI transactions of 4.25 lakh crore were made in February 2021.
• India has seen a significant increase in the usage of digital payment apps, particularly since the pandemic drove people to stay indoors and place orders for food and other goods via online marketplaces. Many online retailers and aggregator platforms had disabled cash payments in order to prevent interaction with delivery personnel.
• The most popular UPI app in February 2022 was PhonePe, which had 212 crore transactions. Google Pay came in second with 152.4 crore transactions.
• Since 2019, India has been the top market for digital payments. With 2550 crore in real-time payments, India was the largest market, followed by China (1570 crore) and South Korea (600 crores). The US was rated ninth with 120 crore transactions.

Vostro Accounts & Its Functioning

• In order to facilitate the settlement of rupee payments for trade between India and Russia, 20 Russian banks have established Special Rupee Vostro Accounts (SRVA) with partner banks in India.
• The nodal officers for all major domestic banks have also been mentioned in order to resolve concerns that exporters may encounter under the arrangement.

SRVA Agreement:

• A Vostro account is a balance held in the domestic currency of the domestic bank—in this case, the rupee—for the benefit of the foreign bank.
• For instance, ICICI Bank would have a Vostro Account if CITI Bank, New York opened an account in rupees there.
• It is used by domestic banks to offer international banking services to their customers who have needs for international banking.
• Wire transfers, business transactions, receiving deposits, and document gathering on behalf of another bank are all examples of banking services.
• Foreign financial markets are more accessible to domestic banks, and they can provide services to international clientele without having to set up shop abroad.
• The SRVA is a separate arrangement that uses freely convertible currencies and functions as an adjunct to the current system.
• For commerce to be facilitated by the current systems, positions and balances in such currencies as the US dollar and the pound must be maintained.

Framework:

• There are three crucial elements: invoicing, currency rate, and settlement.
• All exports and imports must be valued in Indian National Rupee (INR) and invoiced in that currency.
• The market would decide the exchange rate between the currencies of the trading partners.
• The Final Settlement is also paid in Indian Rupees.

Eligibility Criteria of Banks:

• In order to start an SRVA, banks from partner nations must first approach an authorized domestic dealer bank, which will then request permission from the top banking authority.
• It would be the responsibility of the domestic banks to make sure that the correspondent bank is not from one of the nations listed in the most recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Public Statement on High Risk & Non-Cooperative Jurisdictions.
• Several SRV accounts for various banks from the same nation may be opened by authorized banks.

Functioning:

• Correspondent banks from the trading partner countries must open SRVA accounts with authorized domestic dealer banks.
• Domestic importers must pay the bills for the supply of goods or services from the international seller/supplier (in INR) into the SRVA account of the correspondent bank.
• Similarly, balances in the designated account of the correspondent bank of the partner country are to be used to pay domestic exporters the export earnings (in INR).
• Under the aforementioned rupee payment mechanism, Indian exporters may get advance payments in Indian rupees from foreign purchasers against exports.

Vostro vs. Nostro account Comparison:

• Latin terms that mean "ours" and "yours," respectively, are Nostro and Vostro. A Vostro Account is one that is once again administered by a correspondent bank on behalf of another bank.
• A Nostro Account is described as a record of deposits kept by a bank with a foreign bank in the currency of the country holding the funds.
• The distinction between the two is that it is written from the perspectives of the depositor and holder, two different banks.
• LORO Account: If two banks each hold a Nostro Account with a third bank, then in this case, one bank's Nostro Account with the third bank would be another bank's Loro Account.

The desire for the SRVA:

• The SRVA would decrease the net demand for foreign money, for the settlement of current account-related trade flows, according to the Economic Report (2022-23).
• Also, it would lessen the necessity for keeping foreign exchange reserves and the reliance on foreign currencies, reducing the vulnerability of the nation to outside shocks.
• Indian exporters may receive advance payments in INR from foreign customers and, after the rupee settlement system gains traction, may promote INR as a global currency.
• Reduced Exposure to External Shocks: A nation would be less at risk from external shocks if it depended less on foreign currencies.
• Rupee as an International Currency: After the rupee settlement system develops traction, it will eventually promote the rupee as an international currency.
• According to the Bureau for International Settlements Triennial Central Bank Survey 2022, 88% of all transactions are conducted in U.S. dollars. The INR contributed 1.6%.

Survey of India

• The Survey of India will continue to be the ultimate authority on maps showing State and federal boundaries, according to the Indian government.

About:

• After the Department of Science and Technology published its rules in 2021, the Survey of India (SoI) lost its exclusive right to produce high-resolution maps.
• The National Geospatial Policy of India was published by the government in December 2022, allowing any private organization to produce high-resolution maps.
• The government has now made it clear that Survey of India would continue to be the deciding authority on maps that deal with State and national boundaries and will continue to maintain the CORS (Continuously Operating Reference Stations) that are required to produce correct digital maps.

CORS (Continuously Operated Reference Stations): what are they?

• The infrastructure required to produce precise digital maps is CORS. They keep an eye on the crust of the Earth to precisely measure the earth's characteristics.
• It consists of a GPS receiver and a reliable antenna that stream raw data continually.

India's National Geospatial Policy:

• It intends to advance the geospatial data sector in the nation and provide a national framework for utilizing such data to enhance citizen services.
• To advance the geospatial economy, it seeks to develop Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure (GKI) like the Integrated Data and Information Framework and National Digital Twin.
• It proposes to establish a Geospatial Data Promotion and Development Committee ('GDPDC') to develop and carry out suitable policies, strategies, and initiatives in order to make valuable geospatial data easily accessible.

About Survey of India:

• It is the oldest scientific department of the Government of India, having been founded in 1767.
• With its main office in Dehradun, it serves as the Government of India's advisor on all survey-related issues, including geodesy, photogrammetry, mapping, and map reproduction.
• It is the nation's Department of Science and Technology's National Survey and Mapping Organization.

Miniscule Objects

• A recent study at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has demonstrated that a brain-inspired image sensor can identify minute items like cellular components or nanoparticles that are undetectable to modern microscopes by going beyond the diffraction limit of light.

What kind of technology is this?

• The method, which makes use of optical microscopy, a neuromorphic camera, and machine learning algorithms, represents a significant advance in the ability to identify objects smaller than 50 nanometers.
• Optical microscopes cannot discriminate between two objects that are smaller than a specific size due to the diffraction limit (typically 200-300 nanometers).
• The human retina turns light into electrical impulses, and the neuromorphic camera imitates this process.
• Each pixel functions independently in neuromorphic cameras, producing sparser and fewer data. The procedure resembles how the human retina functions.
• It enables much greater temporal resolution "sampling" of the environment via the camera.
• Each pixel in conventional cameras records the amount of light hitting it, and these pixels are gathered together to recreate an image of the subject.
• The experiment focused laser pulses at high and low intensity and measured the variation in the fluorescence levels to identify individual fluorescent beads smaller than the limit of diffraction.
• The camera records the signal as an "ON" event as the light intensity rises, while an "OFF" event is reported as the light intensity falls.
• Reconstructing frames required pooling the data from these occurrences.

What role does this technique play?

• This method can be used widely to precisely track and comprehend stochastic processes in physics, chemistry, and biology.
• It will make it easier to comprehend biological processes like self-general organization norms.
• Using this method, the group was also able to closely monitor the motion of a fluorescent bead flowing freely in an aqueous solution.

What is Stochastic process?

• It is a procedure that makes use of chance and is also referred to as the random process.
• For instance, in radioactive decay, each atom has a predetermined probability of disintegrating at any given time.

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