Nobel Prize in Peace for 2023
GS Paper - 1 (Literature)
Narges Mohammadi, jailed Iranian women’s rights advocate, won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize on 6 October 2023. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.
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- Mohammadi is one of Iran's leading human rights activists, who has campaigned for women's rights and the abolition of the death penalty.
- She is currently serving multiple sentences in Tehran's Evin Prison amounting to about 12 years imprisonment, according to the Front Line Defenders rights organisation, one of the many periods she has been detained behind bars. Charges include spreading propaganda against the state.
- She is the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a non-governmental organisation led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
- Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the 122-year-old prize and the first one since Maria Ressa of the Philippines won the award in 2021 jointly with Russia's Dmitry Muratov.
- The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 11 million Swedish crowns, or around $1 million, will be presented in Oslo on 10 Dec. 2023, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.
Arunachal Yak churpi gets GI tag
GS Paper - 3 (IPR)
Slightly sour and salty churpi, a naturally fermented cheese prepared from milk of Arunachali yak, reared in the high altitude areas in Arunachal Pradesh, has received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag, which boosts the hairy bovine species' conservation.
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- Rich in protein, churpi is used as a substitute for vegetables by tribal yak herders in the vegetation-starved cold and hilly mountainous regions of the state.
- It is also mixed in vegetables or meat curry and is eaten with rice as a staple food in the tribal households. It is considered an integral part of the tangible cultural and tribal heritage of Arunachal Pradesh.
- The National Research Centre on Yak (NRCY) based at Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh, an agency under the Indian Council for Agriculture Research, in December last year had submitted an application seeking GI tag to boost its conservation.
- The GI tag, which was approved, would provide a geographical identification and prevent production of the items in other places.
- Yaks are reared in high altitude areas in the Himalayan region but the Arunachali yaks are a unique breed in respect to their body shape, size, strain and weight.
- Arunachali yaks are also the only registered yak breed in India. There are nearly 1,000 yak herders, mainly belonging to the Brokpa and Monpa tribe in West Kameng and Tawang districts.
- The breed is reared by tribal yak pastoralists who migrate along with their yaks to higher reaches (at an altitude of 10,000 ft and higher) during summers and descend to mid-altitude mountainous regions during winters.
- Since the product is prepared at such a high-altitude, it is also expected to provide benefits to the tribal herders against cold and hypoxia besides providing enriched nutrition.
- Yak milk is creamy white, thick, sweetish, fragrant and rich in protein, fat, lactose, minerals and more solids than cow milk.
- Although raw yak milk is scarce due to the remote habitat of yak rearing, most of it is processed into traditional products like chhurpi (wet soft cheese), churkam (hard cheese) and Mar (butter), and a small portion of raw milk in the form of butter tea for their own consumption.
World's first green bond standards to avoid greenwashing
GS Paper - 3 (Economy)
European Union lawmakers approved new standards for companies issuing "green" bonds to help investors pick sustainable companies and avoid greenwashing or misleading climate-friendly claims. The European Parliament voted in favour of the new voluntary standard for the use of a "European Green Bond" label, calling it the first of its kind in the world.
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- Europe is the world's biggest issuer of green bonds, accounting for more than half of global volume in 2021, though issuance is still only 3% to 3.5% of the overall bond market.
- It will also give the company issuing the bond more certainty that their bond will be suitable to investors who want to add green bonds to their portfolio.
- This will increase interest for this kind of financial product and support the EU's transition to climate neutrality.
- Companies who want to label their bonds as "green" in the EU would have to disclose information about how the bond's proceeds would be used.
- At least 85% of funds raised would have to be allocated to activities in line with the EU's "taxonomy" of sustainable activities.
- Firms would also have to show how these investments feed into their plans to transition to a net zero carbon emissions economy.
- The standards set up a registration system and supervisory framework for external reviewers of European green bonds. EU states, which have a joint say on the standards, gave the nod earlier this year.
