The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.

Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century.

How does it work ?

The Paris Agreement works on a 5- year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action carried out by countries. By 2020, countries submit their plans for climate action known as nationally determined contributions.

In their NDCs, countries communicate actions they will take to reduce their Greenhouse Gas emissions in order to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Countries also communicate in the NDCs actions they will take to build resilience to adapt to the impacts of rising temperatures. 

To better frame the efforts towards the long-term goal, the Paris Agreement invites countries to formulate and submit by 2020 long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LT-LEDS).

LT-LEDS provide the long-term horizon to the NDCs. Unlike NDCs, they are not mandatory. Nevertheless, they place the NDCs into the context of countries’ long-term planning and development priorities, providing a vision and direction for future development.

How are countries supporting one another ?

The Paris Agreement reaffirms that developed countries should take the lead in providing financial assistance to countries that are less endowed and more vulnerable, while for the first time also encouraging voluntary contributions by other Parties. Climate finance is needed for mitigation, because large-scale investments are required to significantly reduce emissions. Climate finance is equally important for adaptation, as significant financial resources are needed to adapt to the adverse effects and reduce the impacts of a changing climate.

The Paris Agreement speaks of the vision of fully realizing technology development and transfer for both improving resilience to climate change and reducing GHG emissions. It establishes a technology framework to provide overarching guidance to the well-functioning Technology Mechanism. The mechanism is accelerating technology development and transfer through it’s policy and implementation arms.

Not all developing countries have sufficient capacities to deal with many of the challenges brought by climate change. As a result, the Paris Agreement places great emphasis on climate-related capacity-building for developing countries and requests all developed countries to enhance support for capacity-building actions in developing countries.

How it tracks progress made by countries ?

With the Paris Agreement, countries established an enhanced transparency framework (ETF). Under ETF, starting in 2024, countries will report transparently on actions taken and progress in climate change mitigation, adaptation measures and support provided or received. It also provides for international procedures for the review of the submitted reports. 

The information gathered through the ETF will feed into the Global stocktake which will assess the collective progress towards the long-term climate goals.

The mirror is the real you, where you run to prove it not. Not only mirror shows your external appearance also it shows how your thoughts and attitude be. Even a accused can confess his feel of guilt on the court, but a man doesn’t on mirror. Lot of people don’t ever look at windows, as they try to hide their original in themselves.

The mirror can question you anytime, it has the power to touch your soul where nobody cannot. The mirror influence either you in good or bad ways but it runs through you. Mirror knows a demon behind your smile and an angel behind your anger.

The mirror smiles on you if you smiles at seeing it or it cries if you’re in tears. It will not only helps you to beautify your skin,hair it also influences your habit. If you’re in love, then definitely you’ll always with a mirror. If you’re in depression, then you’ll never take a look on it.

Literally you’re naked before the mirror, your cunning skills, your intelligence, your knowledge, your everything fails before a mirror. You can’t hide anything from it. So try to be yourself whatever the situation demands. You should be only,the you.

The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole. Since 1906, the global average surface temperature has increased by more than 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius)—even more in sensitive polar regions. And the impacts of rising temperatures aren’t waiting for some far-flung future–the effects of global warming are appearing right now. The heat is melting glaciers and sea ice, shifting precipitation patterns, and setting animals on the move.

While many people think of global warming and climate change as synonyms, scientists use “climate change” when describing the complex shifts now affecting our planet’s weather and climate systems—in part because some areas actually get cooler in the short term.

Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas, and a range of other impacts. All of those changes are emerging as humans continue to add heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, changing the rhythms of climate that all living things have come to rely on.

The “greenhouse effect” is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping, like the glass walls of a greenhouse, hence the name. humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution. Changes that have historically taken thousands of years are now happening over the course of decades.

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON OUR FUTURE

The direct consequences of man-​made climate change include:

• rising maximum temperatures
• rising minimum temperatures 
• rising sea levels 
• higher ocean temperatures 
• an increase in heavy precipitation (heavy rain and hail)
• shrinking glaciers
• thawing permafrost

The indirect consequences of climate change, which directly affect us humans and our environment, include: 

• an increase in hunger and water crises, especially in developing countries
• health risks through rising air temperatures and heatwaves 
• economic implications of dealing with secondary damage related to climate change 
• increasing spread of pests and pathogens
• loss of biodiversity due to limited adaptability and adaptability speed of flora and fauna  
• ocean acidification due to increased HCO3 concentrations in the water as a consequence of increased CO₂ concentrations
• the need for adaptation in all areas (e.g. agriculture, forestry, energy, infrastructure, tourism, etc.)

As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a loan is considered a “bad loan”, or an NPA when the interest due for any quarter is not fully paid within 90 days from the end of the quarter. However, this time period may vary based on the terms and conditions agreed upon by the bank and the borrower.

When a bank offers a loan, it charges interest on the amount, which is why it is regarded as an asset to the bank. When the borrower stops paying the interest, or the principal, or both, the lender loses money. Such a loan then becomes a non-performing asset (NPA) for the bank. The banking industry in India is seriously affected by the NPA crisis with the rising number of defaulters.

he economic fallout of the pandemic is expected to push up non-performing assets (NPAs) of the banking sector, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday, estimating the ratio of gross NPAs may rise to 12.5% by March next year, in a baseline scenario.  The central bank’s Financial Stability report (FSR), noted the NPA ratio could jump to as high a level as 14.7% in the event of severe stress.

the report reveals that nearly half of the outstanding credit till April 30, was under moratorium, somewhat higher than estimates provided by bankers.  A total of 48.6% customers by number and 50.1% by value had made use of the moratorium till April 30. While 66.6% of borrowers at state-owned banks opted for the deferral, the share for customers at private sector banks was 49.2%.  Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) had granted a moratorium to 49% of their customers.

The level of deferrals, availed of by borrowers, is being closely monitored as it reflects the potential stress in the system. Analysts at Macquarie had estimated the extent of loans under moratorium at 25-30% at the end of May. “The regulatory dispensations that the pandemic has necessitated in terms of the moratorium on loan instalments and deferment of interest payments may have implications for the financial health of banks going forward,” RBI cautioned.

Banks have observed there is a declining trend in the number of borrowers who want to delay repayments. HDFC said the share of its retail loan book, under moratorium, was down to 7% as of June 15 from 21% in May. Axis Bank reported that 9.7% of its outstanding loan book was under moratorium as of June 30; in April this number was 25%.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to adversely impact lives, livelihoods, and the economy in India, with a devastating second wave wreaking havoc even as the threat of a third wave looms large. Rising uncertainty has reduced consumer and business confidence. This follows an economic slowdown during the three years preceding the pandemic. With investments and trade performance weak, the Indian economy was firing mainly on consumption, which the first and second waves of the pandemic have hit badly.

Renewed restrictions to curb the current coronavirus wave have stalled economic activity, leaving many millions out of work and pushing economists – who have broadly been bullish – to downgrade their views for the second time since early April

India’s unemployment rate soared to a near one-year-high of 14.73% in the week ending May 23, according to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), reflecting the impact of the economic slowdown.

The Reserve Bank of India has kept its monetary policy loose, including several liquidity measures, and was expected to stay on an easy course for this fiscal year.

While calls have increased for more fiscal stimulus to speed up the economic healing, the government has limited space to respond to challenges posed by the health crisis.

“If the Indian government increases spending … it will probably prevent a loss in economic output in the short term, but this simultaneously puts more pressure on the sustainability of debt in the longer term, essentially mortgaging their future,” said Rabobank’s Eijkelenburg.

“India’s policymakers find themselves between a rock and a hard place when it comes to decisions on additional fiscal stimulus.”

Experts expressed apprehensions about the emergence of new and more virulent strains of the novel coronavirus, which might necessitate the re-imposition of lockdowns across the country, leading to a further (and possibly dramatic) reduction in growth estimates and adding to dampening demand. Complicating matters further is the fact that, as one economist noted, it is not known how consumers and households will react following the end of the second wave: How would household savings be impacted? Will consumers be reticent about spending again?

India’s already stressed banking sector, which is saddled with legacy non-performing assets, remains of concern. Experts fear a fresh wave of bankruptcies that add stress to the books of commercial banks, and that loan repayment schedules could be further delayed. India’s non-banking financial sector – which has traditionally lent to small and medium enterprises likely to be most affected by first and second wave lockdowns – could also contribute to the stress on the banks that lend to them. Similar fears hold about how pressure on microfinance institutions could systemically affect the banking sector.

Born in 1927 in Tehri district in what is now Uttarakhand, Bahuguna grew up surrounded by sal, oak and fir trees and sweeping pasture lands. Bahuguna, who died with Covid-19 on Thursday aged 94, was known the world over as the man who taught Indians to hug trees to protect the environment. He was one of the main leaders of the Chipko movement in northern India in the 1970s. In Hindi, chipko literally means “hugging”.

A devastating flood in Uttarakhand in 1970 had come as a rude awakening for villagers. Three years later, Bahuguna and fellow activists began embracing trees. Young men took an oath in blood to protect nature.Very soon, women in the Himalayas became an integral part of the movement too, embracing trees and tying rakhis – a symbolic red thread tied around a brother’s wrist during the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan – onto the bark of trees. They walked in the snow and took away tools from loggers to stop felling.

Bahuguna, who grew up in the Himalayas, connected the dots well. He wrote that deforestation led to erosion of fertile land and pushed the men out of the villages to look for jobs in cities.

This left women to “bear all the responsibilities of collecting fodder, firewood and water, apart from farming”. Not surprisingly, the Chipko movement became an important milestone in the fight to secure women’s rights.

Over the years, Bahuguna, with his flowing beard and trademark bandana, went from strength to strength. College students and women joined him in greater numbers. They staged peaceful demonstrations, hugged trees and went on fasts.

It yielded results: a fast in 1981 led to a 15-year ban on commercial felling of trees in Uttarakahand. Two years later, he marched 4,000km (2,500 miles) in the Himalayas to draw attention to environmental degradation.

In 1992 he shaved his head and went on a fast to protest at the Tehri dam, India’s tallest. He was among those who lost their ancestral homes due to its construction.

Bahuguna was a charismatic ascetic, a spartan man of Gandhian principles. He lived in a small ashram, denounced violence and was essentially non-political. He believed in self-reliance and not in “so much foreign trade”. He despised materialism.

To become energy secure in a “non-violent and permanent society”, he said, India needed to produce biogas from human waste, harvest solar and wind energy and hydro power from the run of the river. Improve machines so they consume less energy, he suggested.

OYO Rooms was started as Oravel in 2011 by the then 18-year-old Ritesh Agarwal. After graduating from the Peter Thiel Fellowship program, Oravel pivoted to Oyo Rooms – a chain of branded budget hotels across several cities in India. OYO Rooms is the country’s largest budget hotel chain with about 1 million rooms in 23,000 hotels all over India.The company is backed by investors like the Softbank Group, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Lightspeed India and is one of the leading startup unicorns in the hotel industry.

The teenage boy – Ritesh Agarwal is the young Founder & CEO of OYO Rooms – the fastest-growing branded network of hotels offline & online. A college dropout, who once wanted to sit for an engineering exam, Ritesh today heads among the most valuable start-up by a person who never studied beyond school. The journey of our hero began rather early than normal!

Born to a humble family in Cuttack, his journey of becoming a successful entrepreneur wasn’t a very smooth one. In fact, in the era of start-ups, he had to face certain difficulties in trying to battle it out to make his unconventional idea work.

To pursue his passion for becoming an entrepreneur, he enrolled in the Indian School of Business & Finance, Delhi but left college mid-way to start his own company. He was hesitant about his decision but from the beginning, he was very clear about what he wanted to do and took some tough choices to accomplish his dreams.

Ritesh was born to a business class family in Bissam Cuttack in Orissa and attended the Sacred Heart School in Rayagada, Orissa. During the growing up days in Rayagada, Odisha, it was all about fun and learning for him but his ways were rather unconventional from those of other kids. His fun elements included screwing around with the computer and trying hard to find opportunities to make mistakes so that he could learn new stuff. And doing that he gained a keen interest in software!

This started with the idea of it, moved on to know about it and then the hunger just went on increasing. To quench his thirst, he borrowed his elder brother’s books for programming. Some of the basic languages like Basic and Pascal were taught in the school itself and the rest he managed to learn from Google. He even sold sim cards to survive, afraid his family would end his entrepreneurial dreams and summon him back home to Odisha if they knew of his struggles.

In Kota(Rajasthan), where he was ostensibly preparing for his IIT entrance exams, Ritesh says he couldn’t wait every weekend to slip out to Delhi and meet those doing their own thing. This 19-year-old had traveled for months staying at budget hotels, attended customer calls every day, and immersed himself in every possible experience to learn about budget hotel customers and their expectations. That was the kind of on-the-ground learning that helped him pivot Oravel to Oyo.

He has traveled all over the country and during such travels, discovered the problem with budget hotels. At the age of 17, he launched Oravel travels, modeled after Airbnb, which later branched out to become OYO rooms. Soon he discovered that the problem with budget hotels was bigger than just availability, so, to counter other issues, he launched OYO.

In 2014; the company raised Rs. 4 Cr from Lightspeed Venture Partners (LSVP) and DSG Consumer Partners, at a pre-money valuation (valuation of a company before investment or financing) of Rs 14 Cr. What motivated Ritesh, even more, was that by now the company was clocking gross bookings of more than Rs.1 Cr. per month.

Since then; OYO Rooms has gone on to become India’s first technology-driven network of standardized branded budget hotels and has also widely expanded its presence to 20,000+ hotels and more than 1 million rooms in 337 cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Jaipur, Hyderabad, etc.

Additionally, their OYO Rooms mobile app has been downloaded more than 10 million times and more than 5 million bookings have been made so far. The app ranks amongst the best-rated apps on Google Play Store and has also been listed as one of the top three apps in the ‘Travel & Local’ category.

The company has also raised another $25 Million from Lightspeed, Sequoia and others. In the latest news, OYO’s founder Ritesh Agarwal has purchased $2 billion in shares from venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed venture partners.

Goods and service tax is indirect tax or consumption tax that are employed on goods and services in India the goods and service tax is imposed on every step in the production process it is collected from point of conception and not the point of origin like previous taxes it is comprehensive multistage and destination based tax. The tax rates rules and regulations are governed by the GST council which consists of the financial ministers of the central government and all the states. GST are divided into 0% 5% 12% 18% 28% rate of taxes. There is a special rate of 0.25 percent On rough precious and semi precious stone and 3% on gold. Pre GST the statutory tax rate for most goods where about 26.5% post GST most of the goods are expected to be in the rate of 18% tax range.

The GST replaced existing multiple taxes live it by the central and state government positive outcome of the GST includes the travel time in interstate moment drop by 20% because of disbanding of interstate check post. The Asim Pargupta committee which was put in place back end technologies and logistics later came to be known as GST network. Later came or for rolling out a uniform taxation regime in the country. The GST was strongly opposed by the opposition Indian National Congress it is one of the few sessions that have been held by the parliament where a panel of federal and state financial ministers decided to revise GST rates on 28 goods and 53 services the party’s reported that they found virtually no differences between the GST and existing taxation system they argued that the GST would increase existing rate on commodities like daily goods while reducing rates on luxury items and also affected for the middle lower middle and four income groups importantly. The reverse charge mechanism is where the GST liable fish on the receiver a tax on the behalf of unregistered smaller materials and services suppliers. And the goods get the eligibility of income taxes which are not enjoyed by the under jasta dealers.

Alcohol for human consumption petrol and petroleum products like petroleum Crude high speed Diesel motor spirit natural gas aviation turbine fuel and no GST applicability. Revenue distribution that are earned from GST were equally shared in interstate seller and buyer on 50-50 basis between the central and respective state governments. The GST council is the governing body of 33 members consisting of two members from Central and 31 members from 28 states and three union territories with legislature the GST council is an Apex member committee to modify reconcile or to procure any law or regulation based on the contacts of GST tax in India. The GST council is responsible for any revision or a enactment of rules aur any rate changes of the goods and services. The gstn software air is developed by the the Infosys technology and information technology network that provides the computer resources is maintained by NIC, goods and service tax network (GSTN) economic profit organisation formed for creating a a sophisticated network accessible to stakeholders government and taxpayers to access information from single source portal. The value addition in case of manufacturers make biscuits by sugar flour another for materials for manufacturing of biscuits the manufacturer then sells the biscuits to the warehouse and then the process continues till the biscuits reaches the final stage the GST is lived on the value addition such as the monetary value added at its States to achieve the final sale to the end customer.

Since the GST tax is the point of conception centre tax revenue will go to the the Karnataka not to Maharashtra. The advantage of goods and service tax are details to remove the cascading effect to tax higher threshold for goods and service tax registration composition scheme for small business simple online facility for GST compliance increased efficiency in logistics helps in single price reduction some of the disadvantage of goods and service tax are increase in cost of software adapting to a complete online access in system GST will mean an increase in operational cost. Some of the indirect taxes are Central excise duty cess state VAT Central sales tax purchase tax luxury tax entertainment tax and taxes on advertisement