17.11.22 Daily [Telangana] TSPSC Current Affairs

Telangana has become the tenth state to withdraw general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Its twomonth-old order was cited in court in the wake of the cashfor-MLA scandal in which BJP is demanding an investigation by the central agency.

In November 2018, then Andhra Pradesh chief ministerN Chandrababu Naidutook back the states general consent to CBI. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee andMeghalayachief minister Conrad Sangma too have withdrawn consent to the investigating agency.

The Finance Ministry has finalised the framework to issue sovereign green bonds in line with global standards, according to sources. The government intends to mobilise Rs 16,000 crore from the issuance of green bonds during the second half of the current financial year. It is a part of the borrowing programme for the second half of this fiscal.

These rupee-denominated papers will have long tenure to suit the requirement of green infrastructure projects.

The government is planning a total borrowing of Rs 5.92 lakh crore during the October-March period of the current fiscal.

The government had in the Budget for 2022-23 projected a gross market borrowing of Rs 14.31 lakh crore.

The Transport4All Challenge is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, that aims at enhancing the mobility experience of citizens. The Challenge focuses on digital innovation and invites cities, citizens, and innovators to join hands to develop contextual digital solutions to improve formal as well as informal public transport to better serve the mobility needs of all citizens.

Three Stages of the Challenge

The Transport4All through Digital Innovation Challenge comprises three stages:

Stage I PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Cities, with the support of NGOs, identify key recurring problems that citizens and public transport operators face

Stage II SOLUTION GENERATION: Startups develop prototypes of solutions to improve public transport with inputs from cities and NGOs

Stage III PILOT TESTING: Cities engage Startups for large-scale pilots and refine the solutions based on citizen feedback.

MoHUA launched the Urban Outcomes Framework 2022 in April, 2022 as an initiative to undertake a transparent and comprehensive assessment of cities based on cross-city outcomes across major sectors. The Framework also includes the third round of Ease of Living Index. The Ease of Living Index, as a 360-degree assessment, aims to evaluate cities across India based on the Quality of Life, Economic Ability, and Sustainability.

Recently theUnited Nations(UN)has decided to set up asatellite-basedmonitoring systemMARS: Methane Alert and Response Systemfor trackingmethane emissionsand alerting governments and corporations to respond.