• NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute (WRI), India, jointly launched the ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport’ in India as part of the NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) Project.
• The project aims at bringing down the peak level of GHG emissions  in transport sector in Asia in line with a well below 2-degree pathway, resulting in problems like congestion and air pollution.
• India has a massive and diverse transport sector, which is also the third most CO2 emitting sector.
• Data from IEA, 2020; Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, 2018 suggests that within the transport sector, road transport contributes to more than 90% of the total CO2 emissions.

NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA 2020-2023)

• The NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) aims to facilitate a paradigm shift to zero-emission transport across Asia.
• It is a joint programme of seven organisations that will engage China, India, and Vietnam in promoting a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transport in their respective countries.

• The project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI).
• The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) support the initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.
• Beyond the three countries, on the regional and global level, the program will maximize impact by reaching out to additional countries in Southeast Asia.

Nidhi Companies

• They are also called as Mutual Benefit Society.
• Every nidhi company should be registered under section 406 of the Companies Act, 2013.
• Their purpose is to cultivate the habit of thrift and savings among its members, receiving deposits from, and lending to, solely its members, for mutual benefit.

• A Nidhi to be incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013 shall be a public company and shall have a minimum paid up equity share capital of five lakh rupees.
• Every Company incorporated as a “Nidhi” shall have the last words ‘Nidhi Limited’ as part of its name.
• No Nidhi shall carry on the business of chit fund, hire purchase finance, leasing finance, insurance or acquisition of securities issued by any body corporate.
• A Nidhi shall not admit a body corporate or trust as a member
• Except as otherwise permitted under these rules, every Nidhi shall ensure that its membership is not reduced to less than two hundred members at any time.

• Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry has recently  inaugurated the “India-ASEAN Engineering Partnership Summit” organised by Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) with the support from Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Commerce.

India ASEAN Relationship

• ASEAN, with over 15 percent share in India’s global engineering shipment, is likely to be a key region to focus with a target of around USD 16 billion of exports for 2021-22.
• ASEAN as a region is the third largest export destination of Indian engineering products after EU and North America.
• Among the ASEAN member nations, Singapore and Malaysia are major export destinations for Indian engineering products.
• This year marks the 25thanniversary of India-ASEAN dialogue partnership and 10 years of the Strategic Partnership.

• According to the Union Environment Ministry, around 38,846.7 ha of protected forest land has been diverted for mining projects between 2011 and 2021.
• The highest diversion of protected forest took place in Odisha followed by Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.
• As per the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in 2006 (TN Godavarman Thirumalpad vs Union of India & Ors) the permission for mining cannot be granted inside any National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary.
• However, the mining activities can be permitted in Protected Forest (PF) areas by the concerned state government subject to prior approval of Central Government under the provisions of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
• Protection and management of forests is primarily the responsibility of concerned state/UT.