• Recently, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released the first global report on the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) namely, “Money Laundering and the Illegal Wildlife Trade Report”. 
• The report comes amid increasing international concern that the crime could lead to more zoonotic diseases in the future. 
• The report has also described IWT as a global threat, which also has links with other organised crimes like modern slavery, drug trafficking and arms trade.  
• It also highlighted that criminals are frequently misusing the legitimate wildlife trade, as well as other import-export type businesses, as a front to move and hide illegal proceeds from wildlife crimes.

• The latest Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) has brought out by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. 
• India has ranked 3rd among the top 10 countries that have gained in forest areas in the last decade, 2010-2020. 
• This report assesses the state of forests, their conditions and management for all member countries. 
• The Asian continent reported the highest net gain in forest area in 2010-2020, according to the report. 
• The top 10 countries that have recorded the maximum average annual net gains in forest area are China, Australia, India, Chile, Vietnam, Turkey, the United States, France, Italy and Romania.
•  The forest area managed by local, tribal and indigenous communities in India increased from zero in 1990 to about 25 million ha in 2015. 
• However, the naturally regenerating forest rate is disappointing, according to the assessment.

• The Nature Index is a database of author affiliation information collated from research articles published in an independently selected group of 82 high-quality science journals. 
• The database is compiled by Nature Research.
• The Nature Index provides a close to real-time proxy of high quality research output and collaboration at the institutional, national and regional level.

• Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre has recently attended a consultation meeting of Education Ministers of E9 countries.
• The consultation is the first of a three-phased process to co-create an initiative on digital learning and skills, targeting marginalised children and youth, especially girls.

E9 Initiative

• The initiative aims to accelerate recovery and advance the Sustainable Development Goal 4 agenda by driving rapid change in education systems.
• Spearheaded by the UN, the E9 countries includes Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan.
• The E9 countries will have the opportunity to benefit from this global initiative and accelerate progress on digital learning.

International Solar Alliance (ISA) has recently launched two new initiatives

1. World Solar Bank
2. One Sun One World One Grid Initiative

World Solar Bank

• The proposed World Solar Bank would cater to the need for dedicated financing window for solar energy projects across the members of ISA.
• It is expected to provide low-cost financing at favorable terms for solar
• energy projects as well as engage in co-financing with other multilateral/bilateral development financial institutions.

One Sun One World One Grid Initiative

• The ‘One Sun One World One Grid’ vision was laid down by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India at the first assembly of the ISA.
• The initiative aims to create an interconnected green grid that will enable solar energy generation in regions with high potential and facilitate its evacuation to demand centers.

Sugar production in India

• Sugar industry is broadly distributed over two major areas of production- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Punjab in the north and Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the south.
• South India has tropical climate which is suitable for higher sucrose content giving higher yield per unit area as compared to north India.
• The crushing season is also much longer in the south than in the north.
• For example, crushing season is of nearly four months only in the north from November to February, whereas it is of nearly 7-8 months in the south where it starts in October and continues till May and June.
• The co-operative sugar mills are better managed in the south than in the north.
• Most of the mills in the south are new which are equipped with modern machinery.
• Over half of sugar mills are located in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and about 60 per cent of the production comes from these two states.

• India ranks 48th amongst 131 countries in terms of its innovation performance as measured using the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020.
• India entered the top 50 innovating countries for the first time in 2020 since its inception in 2007, by improving its rank from 81 in 2015 to 48 in 2020.
• India ranks first in Central and South Asia, and third amongst lower middle-income group economies.
• The GII is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.
• It seeks to assist economies in evaluating their innovation performance.

Seven Pillars of GII and India’s ranking

1. Knowledge and technology outputs (KTO) – 27
2. Market sophistication – 31
3. Business sophistication – 55
4. Human capital and research (HCR) – 60
5. Institutions – 61
6. Creative output – 64
7. Infrastructure – 75